How to Deal with a Headache

The polls for the People's Pitstop lineup will close in a couple of hours, so please vote if you haven't done so already. While you consider your vote, it's time for a little talk about football.

One of the strengths of fantasy football, as opposed to the real thing, is that a fantasy team doesn't have to worry about chemistry or character. It's a meritocracy  in the best sense of the word. All that matters is whether you get the job done on the field. A fantasy player doesn't care if the players are wacky or arrogant or even mean. Whether that player is a well-adjusted human being is someone else's problem.

In the National Football League, it doesn't work that way. Coaches do have to worry about whether a player is hurting the team. This week, Brad Childress decided that Randy Moss was hurting the Minnesota Vikings, and the coach made the extreme (and, apparently, unilateral) decision to let the malcontent go. Moss, of course, has landed on his feet with the Tennessee Titans, and he'll get a bye week to learn the offense, so his production shouldn't be an issue with his new team.

How will his move to his third team of this season affect everyone else? First, we look at the Vikings.

Brett Favre: He's probably too busy applying ice packs to various parts to notice Moss' absence.

Adrian Peterson: He was and remains the featured back. No big change here.

Percy Harvin: As he demonstrates here, Rice doesn't need to run a go route to score, so he'll be fine.

Now, how about the Titans?

Vince Young: What quarterback wouldn't want a new toy like this one? At least until that toy starts acting funny.

Chris Johnson: The Titans offense runs through Johnson until further notice.

Kenny Britt: His injury may have been one reason the Titans were attracted to Moss in the first place. Once Britt gets healthy, he'll appreciate the attention Moss gets from defensive backs, but he might not appreciate the way Moss becomes the weapon of choice when it comes to deep throws.

Good thing the People's Pigskin isn't affected by this stuf...wait a minute. We have Britt and Young on our roster?

(Gulp.)

(Nah, Britt will be fine. Really.)

We'll be back with the NASCAR poll results.