Waiver Wire Week 4

Waiver Wire Week 4

By Chris Goudey
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

After Weeks 1 and 2, where there were many players who seemingly came out of nowhere to produce great fantasy numbers, Week 3 in the NFL didn’t give us many surprises. This should be a relatively quiet week on your waiver wire, except for two players who everyone will rush to get. Let’s break them down game by game and see what’s out there for you to pick up:

Tennessee-Miami
What an ugly game this was. Miami QB Daunte Culpepper sure doesn’t look like the Culpepper we used to know in Minnesota. This was one of his best matchups of the year, and he couldn’t even throw a TD pass. For the Titans, starting RB Chris Brown sat out and Travis Henry took his place. Henry wasn’t great however, rushing for just 60 yards. If Brown is out for a significant period, then Henry would be worth owning, but you’ll need to pay attention to the injury reports and see how that plays out. Tennessee TE Bo Sciafe had his second strong week in a row and could be picked up as a bye-week fill-in.

Jacksonville-Indianapolis
Indianapolis had to count on its defense in this one, as the Jags’ defense did a real nice job of slowing down Peyton Manning and friends. The only significant player in this one for our purposes was Jacksonville RB Maurice Jones-Drew. It looks like Jones-Drew will be sharing the RB duties with Fred Taylor going forward, as he put up a very solid 135 total yards and scored a TD on a reception. If you have Fred Taylor, you should have already had Jones-Drew, but if not, make sure he’s your first acquisition this week.

Washington-Houston
‘Skins fans must be relieved this week, as the team finally looked like it was supposed to look this year. QB Mark Brunell set an NFL record for consecutive completions at the start of the game, so now the question is which Brunell are we going to see this year -- this guy or the one who threw for under 100 yards in Week 2? I wouldn’t rush out to pick Brunell up, but you could do worse as a backup. RB Clinton Portis returned for this one and looked like the Portis of old, with 2 TDs. He didn’t have a full workload this game, as backup Ladell Betts came in and got the same amount of carries. Betts actually looked better than Portis, with 124 yards and a TD. If you own Portis you should already have Betts, but if not, like Jones-Drew, make sure he’s your first pickup this week. For the Texans, it looks like Ron Dayne is going to be their starting RB, as he had 14 carries to Sam Gado’s one. If you own Wali Lundy, it’s time to cut bait with him as he didn’t have a single carry. Dayne could do well in this system, so if you need RB depth go ahead and pick him up. QB David Carr had another solid week and is really starting to live up to what people thought he’d be. He’s a great guy to get for a bye-week fill-in.

Green Bay-Detroit
This game went as expected – an aerial shootout with almost no defense. At QB, Brett Favre and Jon Kitna were great and both threw for over 340 yards and at least 2 TDs. I wouldn’t start either guy on a weekly basis but they will be fine with a good matchup. At RB, Detroit’s Kevin Jones finally had a good game, so if someone got frustrated and dropped him, he’s worth picking back up. Hopefully you listened to my advice last week and/or in the pre-season and picked up Pack WR Greg Jennings. He showed he’s a true deep threat with 101 yards and a TD on only 3 catches. With the Pack likely to be behind most of the year, Jennings should remain a viable target as they pass to catch up. Most of Detroit’s receiving damage came from their stud WR, Roy Williams. Mike Furrey, the Lions' 2nd WR, only had an OK game, so he’s not worth picking up yet.

N.Y. Jets-Buffalo
The Jets are playing very well so far this year under new coach Eric Mangini and have surprised many pundits, including me, who thought they’d be awful. Anyway, they had no real fantasy surprises this week. QB Chad Pennington is probably gone off your waiver wire now after throwing for over 300 yards each of the first two weeks, and WRs Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery should be gone as well. For Buffalo, QB J.P. Losman had a nice game yardage-wise with 328, and WR Lee Evans finally got off the schneid and put up 107 yards. Evans is another guy who might have been dropped after a horrid Weeks 1 and 2, so if he’s out there snap him up immediately as he’s a top-20 WR. The Bills’ 2nd-year WR Roscoe Parrish had a career-best 101 yards and a TD, but I’d like to see him do it again before I picked him up. The Bills are a running team at heart, and other than Evans I don’t think any of their WRs are viable yet.

Cincinnati-Pittsburgh
The only player in this game that had should be available and had fantasy ramifications is Cincy WR Chris Henry. Even with the return of 2nd WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Henry had 5 catches and 2 TDs, so it looks like the Bengals might actually have 3 WRs worth playing on a weekly basis in TJ, Henry, and of course Chad Johnson. The entire Steeler offense was the running of Willie Parker, but of course he’s gone in your league.

Carolina-Tampa Bay
Not much fantasy relevance to report in this game, other than the return of stud WR Steve Smith. Smith was his old self, with 117 yards, and made Jake Delhomme a weekly starter again. Delhomme went for 272 yards and a TD and he even made Keyshawn look good! The only news on the Tampa side is the injury/spleen removal of QB Chris Simms. Simms had been awful all year so he was likely on your waiver wire, but he’ll be out for likely the season now. Rookie Bruce Gradkowski takes over the starting role, and if you want to win a fantasy league, you shouldn’t be starting a rookie QB. Tampa TE Alex Smith looked good, with 4 catches for 72 yards, so he could be a good bye-week guy for you.

Chicago-Minnesota
I’m sure someone in your league jumped on the Rex Grossman train last week, so he’s probably gone now but if not and you need a QB, he’s the one to get. Everyone else in this game did about as expected, except Vikings WR Travis Taylor did better than he has all year. He could be picked up as WR depth but isn’t worth starting yet, as he’s most likely the #2 WR now behind Troy Williamson.

Baltimore-Cleveland
If you haven’t listened to me by now and picked up Browns WR Braylon Edwards, then it’s your loss. Against one of the top defenses in the game, all Edwards did was go for 116 yards and a TD. He’ll definitely be gone after this week so get him now! QB Charlie Frye actually had a great game and is almost looking like a decent play on a bye week. For the Ravens, it was more of the same on offense: Steve McNair, Jamal Lewis and Derrick Mason. 2nd WR Mark Clayton had a nice game with 8 catches for 74 yards, so he could be a decent bye-week guy to target as well.

N.Y. Giants-Seattle
I don’t know why the Giants don’t just play no-huddle the whole game. The last two weeks QB Eli Manning has gone nuts as soon as they started playing it and he looks so comfortable. By now you’ve probably heard that the Madden curse has struck again and RB Shaun Alexander is out indefinitely with a broken foot. If you’re a smart Alexander owner, you already have Maurice Morris as his backup, but if not, the race to the waiver wire begins ... NOW! Morris will be the target of every player in your league so make sure you get him first. For Seattle, the 4-headed WR law-firm tandem of Jackson, Engram, Burleson, and Branch looked very strong. As I said last week, it’s going to be hard to get a weekly play out of that group other than Darrell Jackson. Now that Alexander is out they will probably throw more, so just see who breaks out and target him.

Philadelphia-San Francisco
This was probably the best game to watch from a fantasy perspective, unless you were a Donte’ Stallworth owner. The Eagles WR pulled up lame in warm-ups and sat this one out, frustrating owners across the land and leaving many a goose-egg on the weekly box score. This was good news, however, for his running-mate, Reggie Brown, as he caught a 50-yard flea-flicker pass on the first play and just kept it up from there. Brown ended up with 106 yards, and if Stallworth stays out of the lineup that will continue. The rest of QB Donovan McNabb’s passes were spread out evenly. For the 49ers, I’m now aboard the Alex Smith train. Smith faced a heavy pass rush from the Eagles all day and was very impressive, throwing for 293 yards, a TD, and more important, NO interceptions. He also rushed for 39 yards, looked very poised in the pocket and spread the ball around to 7 different receivers. Fantasy star RB Frank Gore was only decent in this game and then left with bruised ribs in the 4th quarter. It looks like Gore will play this week, so keep him in the lineup. The RB to target this week is Gore’s new backup, Michael Robinson. Robinson, a rookie who was converted from QB, ran very hard and had 2 goal-line TDs in Gore’s absence. Robinson looked really strong and Gore has been very injury-prone previously, so should he go out, Robinson should step in and do well. At TE for the Niners, their rookie stud Vernon Davis has a broken leg and will be out at least 4 weeks. Their TE from previous seasons, Eric Johnson, stepped in and put up 82 yards and a TD against the Eagles, so he’s someone to target as a bye-week guy and/or a starter now that Smith is turning into a reliable QB.

St. Louis-Arizona
Here is where the other race to the waiver wire will take place. Rumors are rampant that Arizona coach Dennis Green is about to make a QB switch and put hotshot rookie Matt Leinart in the lineup ahead of Kurt Warner. If ever a rookie QB was going to do well, Leinart would be the guy to do it. He has all-world WRs in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin and a RB to take pressure off him in Edgerrin James. Leinart is definitely worth picking up but don’t be surprised if he struggles. Ben Roethlisberger is the only rookie QB in recent memory to do well and part of the reason is because he was only asked to throw a handful of times per game. Leinart will be asked to do much more than that. He definitely has the pedigree to do well, but if you do get him I wouldn’t put him in the lineup just yet. Other than this news there was nothing of relevance as far as the waiver wire is concerned from this game.

Denver-New England
For whatever reason, Denver just handles the Patriots with ease almost every time they play. Jake Plummer looked very good and cemented his starting role for now, as did RB Tatum Bell. WR Javon Walker did what the Broncos brought him in to do – be the home-run threat. The Patriot rush game was shut down by the Broncos, and Tom Brady ended up throwing the ball 55 times in an attempt to catch up. When the Pats picked up WR Doug Gabriel in the preseason, it was thought that he would immediately step in and become the #1 guy. It took 3 weeks but it now looks like Gabriel has assumed that role and should be picked up immediately. Brady will continue to spread the ball around amongst Gabriel, Troy Brown, Reche Caldwell, TE Ben Watson and all of his RBs, but Gabriel should be the guy he targets most often.

Atlanta-New Orleans
For all the hoopla surrounding the Saints’ return to the Superdome, this really was a pretty boring game. The Falcons couldn’t get their ground game going, and when that happens they are going to be hard-pressed to do anything offensively. Michael Vick has shown by now that he’s not a NFL-caliber passer and this game showed that when he has to throw, he struggles. The Saints played some strong defense, ran the ball well with Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister, and WR Marques Colston continued his emergence as a top-shelf player. I’ve been telling you for 3 weeks now to pick up Colston and this is the last chance you’ll get. Hopefully you already either have him or can get him now.

Hopefully Week 4 will be a bit more exciting than Week 3 and we can get some more QBs and RBs to become waiver-wire pickups. There are always going to be some WRs you can pick up on a weekly basis, but when injuries in the backfield happen, that’s when the fun begins!