A Sigh of Relief

Whew ... that was a close shave.

The People's Pigskin survived a Monday night charge by t-bay cuervonatersXXL and won by a score of 110-107. That puts your favorite fantasy football team at the top of the People's League with a record of 4-0. And we couldn't have done it without you. Here's the scoring breakdown.

Peyton Manning, QB: 33 for 46 passing for 352 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception, 1 rush for minus-1 yards and 20 fantasy points. Manning won't be happy with his team's last-second loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but fantasy players will be happy if it means he's still playing when the fantasy playoffs come around.

Michael Turner, RB: 16 rushes for 50 yards, 3 receptions for 28 yards and 7 fantasy points. Obviously, the rushing numbers were not very good, but it would be good news if Turner is being used as a safety valve on passing plays.

Darren McFadden, RB: 12 rushes for 47 yards, 6 receptions for 82 yards and 12 fantasy points. The big story here is the hamstring injury McFadden suffered against the Houston Texans. Early reports indicate the injury is not serious, but it will warrant monitoring throughout the week.

Calvin Johnson, WR: 6 receptions for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns, 1 rush for 2 yards and 20 fantasy points. It's always a good sign when sports writers are advising NFL teams to keep calling your player's number.

Chad Ochocinco, WR: 3 receptions, 59 yards and 5 fantasy points. On the other hand, it's not such a good sign when your player lines up across the field from someone having an epic fantasy day.

Justin Forsett, Flex: 19 rushes for 65 yards, 2 receptions for 10 yards and 7 fantasy points. Forsett's situation changed dramatically Tuesday when the Seattle Seahawks traded for Marshawn Lynch. How dramatically it changed remains to be seen.

Antonio Gates, TE: 7 receptions, 144 yards, 2 touchdowns and 26 fantasy points. As far as the People's Pigskin is concerned, Vincent Jackson can just go ahead and take the season off. The San Diego Chargers clearly did not miss him Sunday.

Tennessee Titans, D/ST: 1 interception, 6 sacks, 1 kickoff returned for a touchdown, 26 points allowed and 13 fantasy points. Their opponents called them dirty, and their top draft pick was lost for the season, but the Titans defense did its job, at least for fantasy players, unlike ...

Jeff Reed, K: 0 for 2 on field goals, 2 for 2 on extra points and 0 fantasy points. The Cuervonaters started an inactive kicker, and the Pigskin might as well have done the same. Reed has a bye week, and it's safe to say he won't be missed around here.

Bench. It was a decent week to be a backup Pigskin quarterback. Chad Henne scored 14 points, while Vince Young scored 11. Kenny Britt scored 8, and Kevin Smith scored 3.

This week, the People's Pigskin will face the 3-1 Fighting Amish, and we need a new lineup. The polls are now open. The kicker poll will close Tuesday night, so we can make a waiver wire request. The other football polls (located below the NASCAR ones) will close Sunday morning. You know what to do.

We'll be back with a look at this week's NASCAR track.

Monday's Racing Summary

Before we get to the auto racing, here's a quick update on the People's Pigskin. The Internet's favorite fantasy football team currently leads t-bay cuervonatersXXL by a score of 110-97. That lead might not get us through the night, however. The Cuervonaters have Ronnie Brown and Anthony Fasano playing in the Monday night game between the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. The Pigskin will need them to have a night like Jay Cutler had Sunday night (without the concussion part, of course).

As for the People's Pitstop, your favorite fantasy NASCAR team scored 261 points during Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway. The season total is 7,740, leaving us 59,524th overall on Yahoo Sports and dropping us one spot, to 75th, in the Fans of From the Marbles league.

Here's how we got here.

Jimmie Johnson: Started 21st, finished 2nd and 88 fantasy points. Fantasy NASCAR players will be disappointed that Johnson did not lead a lap, but since Johnson moved into the points lead, it's a safe bet that he'll get over it.

Jeff Burton: Started 23rd, finished 18th, 2 laps led and 66 fantasy points, including 10 for leading a lap. This was Burton's last race for the People's Pitstop this season. From a fantasy perspective, it can be described the same way as his season: OK but nothing to write home about. Yes, he's one of the drivers who made the Chase, but he did not win a race, and he has to be considered a long shot to get a checkered flag, much less the Sprint Cup.

Ryan Newman: Started 6th, finished 9th and 74 fantasy points. Here's a very interesting chart of Newman's day. It shows that even though he spent a good portion of the day near the front of the pack, he never found a way to get to the front of the pack.

Sam Hornish Jr.: Started 18th, finished 36th and 20 fantasy points. To the growing list of words and phrases you never want to hear associated with your driver's performance, add the phrase "drive shaft."

And don't forget the 10 points we got from Kasey Kahne for taking the pole and the 3 points we got from Jeff Gordon for qualifying 3rd. Without their contributions, our performance would look a lot worse.

Now, NASCAR takes its act to California (Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, to be specific), and the People's Pitstop needs another lineup. The polls are now open and will stay open until Thursday night.

Also, for you fantasy football fans, we have a poll that asks which kicker should get Jeff Reed's spot in our lineup. That poll will close Tuesday night, so we can put in the waiver request before the Wednesday morning deadline. Please vote now.

We'll be back with a summary of our football team's performance.

The People's Choice - Week 4

We've made it to another Sunday, and once again, it's time for us to thank you, the Internet, for selecting the People's Pigskin lineup for this week's People's League matchup against t-bay cuervonatersXXL. Here are the results.

Quarterback. Raise your hand if you're surprised Peyton Manning was the unanimous choice this week. OK, put your hand down, Jon Lovitz. Manning gets the Jacksonville Jaguars today.

Running back. Knowshon Moreno's injury may have made this poll easier. We have a tie at the top: Michael Turner (playing the San Francisco 49ers) and Darren McFadden (playing the Houston Texans). They get the starting spots.

Wide receiver. Calvin Johnson wins this poll and gets to face the Green Bay Packers this afternoon. The runner-up was Chad Ochocinco, who need to forget about his cereal long enough to play the Cleveland Browns.

As for the flex spot, Justin Forsett got more votes than Kenny Britt, so Forsett plays for the Internet's favorite fantasy football team this week. He gets the St. Louis Rams.

There were no changes at tight end (Antonio Gates, who plays the Arizona Cardinals) or kicker (Jeff Reed, who plays the Baltimore Ravens). As we discussed earlier in the week, you chose to replace our previous defense with the Tennessee Titans. They face the Denver Broncos this afternoon.

Again, thanks for voting. A new poll dealing with the issue of bye weeks is available now. The results of the football polls appear below. Enjoy the games, everybody!

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Quick Defense Poll and Week 3 Results

First things first: Bye week season is upon us, and for the People's Pigskin, that means finding a defense/special teams unit to fill in for the Minnesota Vikings. A new poll is up, and this one needs to close TONIGHT, because ESPN will process waiver requests on Wednesday morning. Here is a look at the candidates:

Seattle Seahawks: 2nd among D/STs with 42 fantasy points, including 26 last week. They visit the St. Louis Rams this week.

Tennessee Titans: 4th among D/STs with 32 fantasy points, including 14 last week. They host the Denver Broncos this week.

Chicago Bears: 5th among D/STs with 28 fantasy points, including 13 Monday night. They visit the New York Giants this week.

Indianapolis Colts: Tied for 7th among D/STs with 26 fantasy points, including 9 last week. They visit the Jacksonville Jaguars this week.

If our request is rejected (because someone who's actully lost a game made a request for the same defense), we'll offer another poll. In the meantime, please vote now. We'll wait.

(Whistling the "Jeopardy" theme)

OK, back to the football. Thanks to the frequently intelligent votes of you, the Internet, the People's Pigskin beat the Chicago VinSethBears by a score of 115-91. That means the World Wide Web's favorite fantasy football team is the only team in the People's League with a record of THREE-AND-OH, BABY!

Here's a breakdown of the results.

Peyton Manning, QB: 27 for 43 passing, 325 yards, 3 touchdowns, 2 rushes for minus-1 yard and 25 fantasy points. We're going to have to speak to Manning about that trying-to-run thing.

Michael Turner, RB: 30 rushes for 114 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 receptions for 11 yards and 18 fantasy points. Looks like that groin injury isn't a problem at all. The only thing hurt in Sunday's overtime game was Garrett Hartley's employment status.

Darren McFadden, RB: 25 rushes for 105 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 receptions for 17 yards and 17 fantasy points. Another running back who had a strong day while watching a kicker suffer.

Dwayne Bowe, Flex: 2 receptions, 61 yards, 1 touchdown and 12 fantasy points. Never underestimate the value of trickery.

Calvin Johnson, WR: 6 receptions, 56 yards, 1 rush for 2 yards and 5 fantasy points. Like the rest of Detroit Lions, Johnson can't wait for Matthew Stafford to heal.

Chad Ochocinco, WR: 4 receptions, 34 yards and 3 fantasy points. Mr. Eight-Five doesn't have a backup quarterback to use as an excuse. Looks like he's going the "Tweet about my injuries" route instead.

Antonio Gates, TE: 7 receptions, 109 yards, 1 touchdown and 16 fantasy points. Rotowire.com says it best: "Gates continues to be Philip Rivers' most trusted pass catcher and seems like the person who is benefiting the most from Vincent Jackson's absence."

Minnesota Vikings, D/ST: 2 interceptions, 1 fumble recovered, 1 sack, 10 points allowed and 11 fantasy points. Don't cry about losing them to a bye week. Despite the strong outing against the Lions, this defense ranks 17th with only 20 fantasy points.

Jeff Reed, K: 1 for 1 on field goals, 5 for 5 on extra points and 8 fantasy points. Ironically, the butt-whipping that the Pittsburgh Steelers delivered to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers held Reed's point total down.

Bench: Chad Henne put up 20 points, while Justin Forsett scored 9. Kenny Britt and Vince Young scored 8 apiece.

Next up for the People's Pigskin is a date with the 2-1 t-bay cuervonatersXXL. It's time for you, the Internet, to help us find the way to 4-0. The defense poll will close tonight, but the other football polls (located below the NASCAR ones) will close Sunday morning. Please vote.

We'll be back with a look at this week's NASCAR track.

The People's Choice - Week 3

For football fans, the acronym should be TGIS: Thank goodness it's Sunday!

Another round of NFL games are on the slate, and the People's Pigskin is ready for its People's League matchup against the Chicago VinSethBears. Thanks to everyone for voting on our lineup. Here are the results.

Quarterback. Peyton Manning? Really? You want to start the player who leads quarterbacks in ESPN fantasy points? Well, OK, if you insist. He gets the Denver Broncos.

Running back. Knowshon Moreno threw a wrench in the works by injuring his hamstring. But that's OK. You, the Internet, rose to the occasion and voted to start Michael Turner (who faces the New Orleans Saints) and Darren McFadden (who plays against the Arizona Cardinals).

Wide receiver. Calvin Johnson may not have won a game yet (though that may change today against the Minnesota Vikings), but he won this week's poll. He and runner-up Chad Ochocinco (who plays the Carolina Panthers) get the wide receiver spots.

Dwayne Bowe finished third, but since he isn't injured, he gets the flex spot for his game against the San Francisco 49ers, which hasn't changed quarterbacks but has changed softball-throwing reporters.

No changes at tight end (Antonio Gates, who faces the Seattle Seahawks), defense (the Minnesota Vikings) or kicker (Jeff Reed, who gets the Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Thanks again for voting. The results appear below. Feel free to vote in our quick gameday poll. We'll be back with results.

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What We Have in Common with the Bucs

In fantasy football, they never ask "How?" They always ask "How many?"

For the People's Pigskin, the answer to that question was "Enough." The Internet's favorite fantasy football team managed to beat the Hudson Valley Hawks by a score of 101-82. Therefore, like the unlikely Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Pigskin boasts a record of 2-0.

Here's how we got there.

Peyton Manning, QB: 20 of 26 passing, 255 yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 rushes for negative-3 yards and 22 fantasy points. The oh-so-hyped Manning Bowl looked more like a scrimmage thanks to Peyton and the rest of the Indianapolis Colts.

Michael Turner, RB: 9 rushes for 75 yards and 7 fantasy points. Turner left the game early with a groin injury, though the Atlanta Falcons are saying it's not serious.

Darren McFadden, RB: 30 rushes for 145 yards, 2 receptions for 8 yards and 14 fantasy points. All McFadden couldn't do is score a touchdown for the Oakland Raiders, who needed the help of Bruce Gradkowski to beat the St. Louis Rams.

Calvin Johnson, WR: 4 receptions, 50 yards, 1 touchdown, a 2-point conversion and 13 fantasy points. All Johnson couldn't do was win the game for the Detroit Lions.

Chad Ochocinco, WR: 4 receptions, 44 yards and 4 fantasy points. He had Johnson's day, except for the touchdown and the loss.

Dwayne Bowe, Flex: 4 receptions, 45 yards and 4 fantasy points. Ditto.

Antonio Gates, TE: 5 receptions, 57 yards, 2 touchdowns and 17 fantasy points. Neither Gates nor the rest of the San Diego Chargers seemed to miss Vincent Jackson much Sunday.

Minnesota Vikings, D/ST: 14 points allowed, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 sacks and 7 fantasy points. Normally, a team with defensive numbers like that plays well enough to win. Unfortunately, no team with Brett Favre under center is normal.

Jeff Reed, K: 4 for 4 on field goals, 1 for 1 on extra points and 13 fantasy points. If you're on a team that wins a game 19-11 and is down to its fourth quarterback, the only way you can score fantasy points is by kicking.

Bench. Our winning margin could have been even larger. Knowshon Moreno scored 17 points, and Kenny Britt scored 6. Of course, the margin also could have been smaller. Chad Henne scored only 8 points. And if we had played Vince Young, whose point total was negative-3, there might not have been a victory at all.

Regardless, it's time to put that game in the archives, enjoy the Monday night game and set our sights on week 3 against the Chicago VinSethBears. The lineup polls are now open (beneath the NASCAR ones) and will stay open until Sunday morning. Please vote now.

We'll be back with a look at this week's NASCAR track. Here are the results from the snack poll.

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The People's Choice - Week 2

Everybody ready for kickoff? Good, because another football Sunday is upon us, and thanks to you, the Internet, the People's Pigskin is ready for its People's League matchup against the Hudson Valley Hawks. Here is the starting lineup you helped choose for the Web's favorite fantasy football team.

Quarterback. In one of the least suspenseful polls of all time, Peyton Manning took all the votes. He gets his brother and the New York Giants tonight.

Running back. Half the votes went to Michael Turner, who faces the Arizona Cardinals. For the other spot, Darren McFadden edged out Knowshon Moreno. McFadden has his home opener against the St. Louis Rams.

Wide receiver. Calvin Johnson, who faces the Philadelphia Eagles and hopefully will hang on to the ball this time, and Chad Ochocinco, who gets to play the Baltimore Ravens, beat out Dwayne Bowe for the two receiver spots.

As far as the flex is concerned, Moreno and Bowe drew an equal number of votes. They are also projected to score the same number of points. Since we have no other way to break this tie, we flipped a coin. (No, you weren't invited to watch.) Bowe won the toss and elected to start as our flex. He travels to Cleveland to face the Browns.

No major surprises at tight end (Antonio Gates, who faces the Jacksonville Jaguars), defense (the Minnesota Vikings, who get the Miami Dolphins) or kicker (Jeff Reed, who plays against the Tennessee Titans). However, those of you who voted "get a free agent" have inspired a rule change: If you choose that option, you will be asked to leave a comment offering a suggestion for which free agent to target.

Thanks again for voting. The results appear below. A quick football poll is now open. Good luck, everyone.

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The People's Choice - Week 1

Thanks to you, the Internet, the People's Pigskin has its lineup for its season debut, a People's League matchup against Beanie's Weenies. Here's who you selected for our starting lineup.

Quarterback. It really was never a contest here. Everyone chose Peyton Manning to start against the Houston Texans.

Running back. A mild surprise here. Michael Turner, as expected, starts in one spot. He gets the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, Darren McFadden gets the other starting spot over Knowshon Moreno and Justin Forsett. McFadden faces the Tenneessee Titans.

Wide receiver. All your votes went to three receivers: Calvin Johnson (who faces the Chicago Bears), Dwayne Bowe (who gets the San Diego Chargers tomorrow night) and Chad Ochocinco (who faces the New England Patriots). Since Ochocinco and Bowe got more votes than either Moreno or Forsett, we're using Ochocinco for the flex spot.

No surprises either at tight end (Antonio Gates, who faces the Kansas City Chiefs tomorrow night) or kicker (Jeff Reed against the Atlanta Falcons).

The poll results appear below. The polls for next week's NASCAR Sprint Cup race are available now. Please vote now, and enjoy the games!

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The Draft Results Are In

It's not quite as momentous or historic an event as, say, the invention of the Big Mac, but it's a moment of pride nonetheless.

The People's Pigskin has completed its second annual draft, and as a result, the Internet's favorite fantasy football team has a fairly strong lineup to test the theory that the masses can do just as well as the "experts" in running a fantasy team. Here are the round-by-round results.

Round 1. The People's Pigskin drew the ninth spot out of 10 teams, and all six of the players selected in the who should top our draft board polls were taken in the first seven picks. We responded by taking the best player left, Michael Turner. No truly shocking picks, except Tony Romo's pick at No. 10 overall.

Round 2. One of the side effects of picking 9th in a 10-team draft is picking again three picks later. Drew Brees didn't make it to this round, so we took the second-rated quarterback on our board, Peyton Manning. And a few weeks ago, you would have won a few bets if you guessed that someone would pick Arian Foster in the second round of a fantasy draft.

Round 3. Time to get a receiver, but none of our top four receivers made it this far. (Brandon Marshall almost did.) We took Calvin Johnson.

Round 4. Again, a quick turnaround. We took Knowshon Moreno, the winner of this year's T.J. Houshmandzadeh award for "player whose name the people who run this blog will be able to spell in their sleep by Halloween."

Round 5. Dallas Clark continued his habit of coming off the draft board ridiculously early (in the fourth round, along with Vernon Davis), but we got the tight end who was ranked second on our board, Antonio Gates.

Round 6. Time to get a second receiver. We went with Chad Ochocinco, who, despite his ongoing love affair with himself, manages to put up solid numbers season after season.

Round 7. This round saw a run of tight ends, but we were able to avoid it by taking Dwayne Bowe.

Round 8. Time to get Turner and Moreno a backup. We went with Justin Forsett, since his numbers won't go south if Matt Hasselbeck still have a gimpy back. (By the way, this was the round where the first defense/special teams, the New York Jets, was selected.)

Round 9. Since the Jets escaped our grasp, we went with the next-best option, according to our draft board, the Minnesota Vikings. They went eight picks after NFL2K10 RedZone took the first kicker, Nate Kaeding. And you probably already know what I would say here, so let's just move on.

Round 10. Time for another receiver. We went with Robert Meachem.

Round 11. We missed out on our chance to get Donovan McNabb as our backup QB, so we picked Chad Henne instead.

Round 12. Three more kickers found homes in this round, but we selected Kenny Britt as a backup receiver.

Round 13. Santonio Holmes did not make it down to us in this round, so we grabbed a third QB in Vince Young.

Round 14. We rounded out our running game with Darren McFadden, while two other players drafted kickers, including NFL2K10 RedZone, who made David Akers his backup kicker. Or something.

Round 15. The boneheaded move of the night goes to the People's Pigskin, which forgot about Montario Hardesty's injury and drafted him. Just goes to show that you don't need to have any intelligence to write about fantasy football. (Don't worry; we already have a waiver claim on Kevin Smith to take his spot.)

Round 16. Four teams waited until this round to draft a kicker, including the People's Pigskin, which selected Jeff Reed.

What do you think of our lineup? Feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the football lineup polls are open. Most of them will stay open until Sunday morning. The one about the Vikings defense/special teams will close Thursday, since the Vikings play the New Orleans Saints in the season opener. Feel free to vote now.