The People's Choice - Week 9

Daylight Savings Time is in our rear view mirror, and Thursday night football is just around the corner. (We'll discuss that further on Monday.) In between those two events, you, the Internet, have selected a lineup for the People's Pigskin. The Internet's favorite fantasy football team may be 2-6, but we're putting on a brave face and, with your help, fielding this lineup against the Arcadia Roses.

Quarterback: It's unanimous. You, the Internet, want to see Eli Manning take on the New England Patriots for the first time since this game. Well, you've got it. Eli takes the field late Sunday afternoon.

Running back: There were two clear winners in this poll to select two starters. They are Ray Rice (facing the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night) and Michael Bush (hosting the Denver Broncos in a late afternoon game).

Wide receiver/Flex: Three wide receivers dominated the voting, so all three are going to get starts over the third-place running back (Danny Woodhead). Your winning receivers are Larry Fitzgerald (in a late afternoon game against the St. Louis Rams), Plaxico Burress (visiting the Buffalo Bills) and Wes Welker (in a late afternoon game against the New York Giants.

Yes, the people who run this blog have noticed the "Q"s next to Burress and Welker. All indications are that both players should play today. However, if they can't, we have backups available to plug in, and we'll let you know if we're forced to use them.

There were no changes at tight end (Jason Witten, taking on the Seattle Seahawks), defense/special teams (the Pittsburgh Steelers, who play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night) or kicker (John Kasay, looking to bounce back against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

Thanks again for your contributions. We'll be back with the People's League predictions.

As Ugly as It Gets

It's hard to tell whether the People's Pigskin had a worse weekend than Tim Tebow, but they are definitely running neck and neck.

The Internet's favorite fantasy football team lost a butt-ugly 81-64 matchup to the LA Lockouts. Our season record is now 2-6, and the losing streak now stands at five games.

Here are all the charisma-challenged details.

Tony Romo, QB: 18 of 35 passing for 203 yards, 1 rush for 9 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception and 10 fantasy points. It would be nice to say Romo's stats would be better if the Philadelphia Eagles let him play more. But the Dallas Cowboys offense stank just as much as the defense. No, Jerry Jones isn't pushing a panic button, but he's probably considering turning down future opportunities to play on Sunday night.

Ray Rice, RB: 18 rushes for 63 yards, 7 receptions for 36 yards, 3 touchdowns and 27 fantasy points. Feast your eyes on the only bright spot in this report. Rice maximized his opportunities in the red zone and produced a season-high fantasy score.

DeAngelo Williams, RB: 7 rushes for 26 yards, 2 receptions for 13 yards and 3 fantasy points. Williams is being paid like a featured back but certainly isn't be expected to perform like one at this point.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR: 3 receptions, 98 yards and 9 fantasy points. Most of Fitzgerald's points came on one catch early in the game. Other than that, he fully earned his spot on this list.

Wes Welker, WR: 6 receptions, 39 yards and 3 fantasy points. Welker was a victim of a Pittsburgh Steelers defense that had the New England Patriots' collective number on Sunday.

Danny Woodhead, Flex: 0 rushes, 0 receptions and 0 fantasy points. Woodhead, on the other hand, was a victim of Kevin Faulk's comeback.

Jason Witten, TE: 4 receptions, 28 yards and 2 fantasy points. The good news: Witten was targeted 12 times and clearly remains a go-to guy in the Dallas Cowboys offense. The bad news: It doesn't do any good to be the go-to guy if your offense isn't going anywhere.

Pittsburgh Steelers, D/ST: 3 sacks, 1 safety, 17 points allowed and 8 fantasy points. Say what you want about Troy Polamalu's hair, but his slapping the ball out of the end zone did wonders for his team's fantasy score.

John Kasay, K: 0 for 1 on field goals, 3 for 3 on extra points and 2 fantasy points. You know you're having a bad week when one of the top kickers in fantasy football misses his only field goal attempt of the game.

Bench: This loss could have been different with a different set of starters. Eli Manning scored 21 points from the bench. Percy Harvin scored 10, and Damian Williams scored 6, a week after those two players gave us 1 point combined.

What do we do now? We get ready for our next matchup and hope things will get better. This week's opponent is the Arcadia Roses, who beat the Pigskin 122-86 earlier in the season. And this week's bye week victims are Williams, Brandon Pettigrew and Percy Harvin. And this week's polls are open. They will stay open through Saturday night, which should be plenty of time to round up some friends and get them to vote. Thanks.

OK, This One Hurt

If you play fantasy football for any length of time, eventually you will suffer a beatdown like the one the People's Pigskin experienced.

The Internet's favorite fantasy football team lost to the Arcadia Roses by a score of 122-86. This lowered our season record to 2-3.

Here are the scoring details, which are almost as gory as some of the signs from the Wall Street protests.

Eli Manning, QB: 24 of 39 passing for 420 yards, 3 rushes for 5 yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, 1 fumble lost and 20 fantasy points. This season, the People's Pigskin seems to be collecting quarterbacks with a propensity for late turnovers.

DeAngelo Williams, RB: 9 rushes, 1115 yards, 1 touchdown and 17 fantasy points. As so often happens in fantasy football, most of Williams' points came from a single play. But we'll take it all the same.

Joseph Addai, RB: 6 rushes for 19 yards, 1 reception for 6 yards and 1 fantasy point. Addai left the game in the first quarter with a hamstring injury. That's something we'll have to monitor throughout the week.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR: 4 receptions, 66 yards and 6 fantasy points. Fitzgerald's fantasy points dropped for the third straight week.

Wes Welker, WR: 5 receptions, 124 yards and 12 fantasy points. That point total would be much higher if Darrelle Revis hadn't stopped him from scoring on his 73-yard catch.

Percy Harvin, Flex: 1 rush for 12 yards, 1 reception for 11 yards and 2 fantasy points. Someone on the Minnesota Vikings must have remembered that they had Adrian Peterson on the active roster.

Brandon Pettigrew, TE: 4 receptions, 39 yards, 1 touchdown and 9 fantasy points. That touchdown helped the Detroit Lions reach 5-0 for the first time since this man was president.

Pittsburgh Steelers, D/ST: 1 interception, 3 sacks, 17 points allowed and 6 fantasy points. No one will confuse this year's Steelers with the Steel Curtain, but as long as they keep winning, no one in Pittsburgh will mind.

John Kasay, K: 3 for 3 on field goals, 3 for 3 on extra points and 13 fantasy points. Don't look now, but the 41-year-old Kasay is now the third-highest fantasy scorer among kickers. We may have a debate about what to do with him when his bye week comes up.

Bench: This report will be short but not sweet. Plaxico Burress scored 4 fantasy points. Everyone else was on a bye week, injured or ignored by his team.

This week, we get several of those bye-week players back, including Jason Witten, Tony Romo and Ray Rice. But we send Fitzgerald to the bench for this week's matchup against Team Brotherton. And we certainly need your help filling out our roster. Therefore, the lineup polls are now open (below the NASCAR polls on the right side of this page) and will close Saturday night. Please do your part to help us turn this ship around. Thanks.

The People's Choice - Week 5

It's Sunday morning again. And if you're reading this blog, chances are your morning routine includes setting your fantasy football lineup. The People's Pigskin is able to set its roster thanks to you, the Internet. You overcame the many questions that arise during bye weeks and picked this lineup for this week's People's League matchup against the Arcadia Roses.
Quarterback: Tony Romo's much-needed week off helped make this selection easy. You chose to start Eli Manning instead of taking a chance on the waiver wire. Manning hosts the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday.
Running back: There were two clear-cut winners of this poll. Fortunately, there are two clear-cut spots for running backs in the starting lineup. They go to Joseph Addai (who takes on the Kansas City Chiefs) and DeAngelo Williams (who faces the New Orleans Saints).
Wide receiver: As should be expected by now, the winner of this poll was Larry Fitzgerald, who visits the Minnesota Vikings this week. In second place, we have a tie between Wes Welker and Percy Harvin. Turning to the points projections as a tiebreaker, Welker (19) easily beats out Harvin (13) for the starting spot. He'll play in a late afternoon game against the New York Jets.
Flex: This battle between the third-place running back (Michael Bush) and the third-place wide receiver (Percy Harvin) goes to Harvin by virtue of the points projections (13-9). He gets the Arizona Cardinals today.
Tight end: It's always fun to have a fantasy player take the field in prime time to help you cement a win or erase an afternoon deficit. This week, thanks to Jason Witten's bye week, that role falls to Brandon Pettigrew, who will entertain the Chicago Bears on Monday night.
There were no changes at defense/special teams (the Pittsburgh Steelers, who face the Tennessee Titans) or at kicker (John Kasay, who visits the Carolina Panthers).
Thanks again for your votes. We'll be back later this morning with the People's League predictions.

Back Down to .500

The People's Pigskin had almost as bad a weekend as the Philadelphia sports fans.
The Internet's favorite fantasy football team lost to the t-bay jacks Young'ry Buccs by a score of 113-98. The final dagger was a touchdown run by LeGarrette Blount, which made what happened to our quarterback irrelevant. (More on that in a moment.) The loss drops our record to 2-2.
Here are the scoring details:
Tony Romo, QB: 34 of 47 passing for 331 yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 interceptions and 19 fantasy points. See if this sounds familiar. Romo got off to a blazing start and then took just enough off the table for his Dallas Cowboys to lose.
Ray Rice, RB: 25 rushes for 66 yards, 2 receptions for 64 yards, 1 touchdown and 18 fantasy points. Rice got the only offensive touchdown scored by either team in Sunday night's return (and turnover) fest against the New York Jets.
Joseph Addai, RB: 11 rushes for 41 yards, 1 reception for 7 yards and 4 fantasy points. Addai's Indianapolis Colts had better figure out some way to win that doesn't involve sending Peyton Manning to Lourdes.
Larry Fitzgerald, WR: 8 receptions, 102 yards and 10 fantasy points. Fitzgerald became the top receiver in Arizona Cardinals history on Sunday. But he lost the spotlight to a receiver who forgot to get tackled.
Wes Welker, WR: 9 receptions, 158 yards, 1 touchdown and 21 fantasy points. Welker -- currently the NFL's leading receiver, by the way -- actually accounted for about two thirds of Tom Brady's passing in a bounceback victory over the Oakland Raiders.
Danny Woodhead, Flex: 2 rushes, 13 yards and 1 fantasy point. Woodhead left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury.
Jason Witten, TE: 8 receptions, 94 yards, 1 touchdown and 15 fantasy points. Witten found the end zone for the first time this season. Just goes to show you don't need a bunch of touchdowns to be dominant in this game.
Pittsburgh Steelers, D/ST: 17 points allowed and 1 fantasy point. It doesn't take long for a team to go from Super Bowl contender to looking long in the tooth. And James Harrison's eye socket fracture certainly won't help things.
John Kasay, K: 3 for 5 on field goals, 2 for 2 on extra points and 9 fantasy points. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Bench: Eli Manning scored 18 points in a come-from-behind New York Giants victory. Michael Bush added 13 points, and Percy Harvin (who sat in favor of Woodhead) scored 10.
Now we turn for the first time this NFL season to bye weeks. This week's recipients of a free week off are Romo, Rice, Witten and Mike Sims-Walker. That's why this week's lineup polls (now appearing below the NASCAR polls) look a little slimmer than usual. Nevertheless, we need your help picking a lineup to face the Arcadia Roses. Please feel free to vote now and/or leave a comment about what we should do next. Thanks.