What We Were Right About/Wrong About – Week 7

My beautiful wife loves me and hates me right now. She loves me because I just cleaned our entire house, then took our 13-month-old son for a run in the jogging stroller, giving her some alone time. She hates me because I did it all because I was pouting about how horrible my fantasy team played this week, and I needed to blow off some steam.


At this point, the only thing that will make me feel better until next Sunday is a marathon of Entourage — or Seinfeld. 
That's right, even fantasy "experts" like me are wrong quite often. How many actually admit when they're wrong though? While this was a bad week for yours truly, if you're a first time reader, trust me, there are plenty of good ones. But still, I owe my readers full disclosure — so here we go...


We Were Right About -
Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens, Bengals WR - It's very sad, but in reviewing my predictions from last Friday, this may be the only thing I really nailed - a comeback performance from Chad Ochocinco. The Falcons' secondary is nothing to write home about, and I saw this one as a shootout. Chad got back on track with 10 catches for 108 yards and a score, while T.O. continued his solid play with nine catches for 88 yards and a TD. While many have been hating on Carson Palmer as a fantasy option, he should be solid moving forward with his top two guys, plus Jordan Shipley and Jermaine Gresham all playing well.


Kenny Britt, Titans WR - Okay, I'm torn about this one. I could very easily have put Britt under the "wrong about" category. I told a couple of my subscribers to bench Britt, after hearing that he would not start this week against Philly. Despite his solid play this year, I just feared him going right back into Jeff Fisher's doghouse after getting into a bar fight early Friday morning. In fairness, Hakeem Nicks — who is expected to play — was the owner's other option when I told him to bench Britt. The 6'3", 218 pounds of stud went off after being benched for nearly the entire first half, hauling in seven passes for 225 yards and three TDs. Oops. Sorry to the owners who listened to me and benched him.


So, why is he under the "right about" category? Well, in fairness to myself, I have jocked the guy big time since he was drafted 30th overall by Tennessee last year. I ranked him extremely high throughout the offseason in both my dynasty and seasonal rankings, and stuck by him while everyone else called him "third on the depth chart" behind Justin Gage and Nate Washington, and discarded him when he was in Fisher's doghouse. So, I have to give myself some credit here.


We Were Wrong About -

Darren McFadden, Raiders RB - Sorely wrong here. The Raiders destroyed the Broncos, 59-14, thanks in part to four freaking scores by McFadden, who was on my avoid list this week. As was Mike Bush, who rushed for 52 yards and a score himself.


Jabar Gaffney, Broncos WR - With Nnamdi Asomugha on Brandon Lloyd, I figured Gaffney, who had hauled in 20 balls in his previous three games, was in for a big one. I even started him in my "league that I care about most," and got burned. I guess we all learned that the members of the Broncos prolific passing attack are human after all - even though Knowshon Moreno made a nice return to action scoring twice.


Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers QB - I just didn't like the matchup against Miami, and figured the Steelers would rely on the running game. He proceeded to light up the Dolphins for 302 yards and two scores. Big Ben is obviously proving he's more than just a "matchup" quarterback. Consider him a safe start for the remainder of the season.


Rashard Mendenhall, Steelers RB - Like I said earlier, I was counting on Mendy having a big week after the return of Roethlisberger. Unfortunately, he gained only 37 yards on 15 carries. Still, would have been tough to bench him. 
Chris Ivory, Saints RB - After gaining 158 yards on 15 carries last week, Ivory looked like a solid play against Cleveland's less than stellar run defense. My, oh my did I get this whole game wrong, as Ivory had only 48 yards on the same amount of carries, and Cleveland took down the defending Super Bowl champs.


Ryan Mathews, Chargers RB - There is perhaps no player that I am more frustrated with. I own him in my "main" dynasty league, and expected him to be a productive every week starter in his rookie year. After Norv Turner's coach speak, it looked like this would be the week that owners would get burned for benching him. It was quite the opposite, as Mathews saw only eight carries and had an embarrassing 15 yards. No more excuses. I don't care if San Diego is playing from behind, Mathews barely saw the field. Not good for his outlook moving forward, especially with Mike Tolbert getting the goal line carries.