Everybody knew the Moore boys, Mewelde of the Steelers and Lance of the Saints, would be fantasy relevant around this time of the year, didn't they? Same for the Cardinals' Steve Breaston and the Ravens' Le'Ron McClain, right?
(IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT McCLAIN CAN DO, CHECK OUT THIS CLIP OF HIM RUNNING THROUGH A STEELERS DEFENDER.)
And who didn't expect the resurrections of Deuce McAllister and Muhsin Muhammad, former fantasy studs toiling for the Saints and Panthers to happen in the same week?
Of course, we at The Fantasy Buzz kid because we care. Truth is, nobody could have predicted all of these sudden surges.
Our fantasy players here, too, are scratching our heads on how we were so wrong on the likes of McClain ("He's behind Willis McGahee and Ray Rice!"), the Texans' Steve Slaton ("Too small for full-time duty"), Bronco Michael Pittman ("Fourth on the Denver depth chart for Pete's sake"), Jerious Norwood ("The Falcons never give him a chance") and the Bucs' Warrick Dunn ("Is he still playing?").
All of all of them are producing above or right around the level of upper-round picks such as Joseph Addai, Brandon Jacobs, Fred Taylor and Darren McFadden.
No matter how much we crunch the stats, study preseason games or pore over the seemingly infinitesimal supply of tips, team talk and other tidbits available in the Internet age, there always will be surprises throughout an NFL season. How we react often is what determines if our teams are playoff bound -- rather than our inability to channel Nostradamus at our drafts.
Which brings us to this point: If you're not making moves, you're probably not winning. It's all too easy to fall in love with your entire roster, refusing to concede someone like Rice just might not be among this season's breakout rookies.
Owners who are willing to set aside a roster spot or two that they can churn regularly can add a difference-maker just as easily as the owner who lucks into a pick such as the Patriots' Wes Welker in 2007.
A fantasy owner could have completely whiffed on running-back selections yet still been among the elite by last season's end by picking up Earnest Graham and Ryan Grant. Good roster flexibility helps, especially if you can land one solid backup at the key positions and also avoid weeks where you have multiple players on byes.
Clearly, it's more art than science, but you can't be afraid to take the plunge, sometimes every week, even if it means risking dropping a player you were in love with on draft day but has yet to produce. It also means not being afraid of the possibility that the player you drop winds up helping a fellow owner down the road.
So which of this week's hot pickups might be the real thing? McAllister and Muhammad have limited upside but also proven track records and are in solid offenses. Mewelde Moore and Breaston likely will have good value, but lose a lot of it once the players they replaced return from injuries.
McClain and Norwood seem the most intriguing. McClain already was a factor, even when McGahee was in the lineup. Norwood's always had potential (his career per-carry average is 6.3 yards) but no regular duty. That's still the situation, but he's again piling up yardage in limited carries and could be huge if anything happens to Michael Turner.
Bulldogs vs. Bruins: UCLA wins
Fresno State beat UCLA 36-31 last Saturday, but when it came around to Sunday and Monday the Bruins edged the Bulldogs 60.4-54.68 in a fantasy football matchup of alumni -- and you can blame those darn J-E-T-S ... Jets, Jets Jets!
The Jets defense/special teams, represented by former Bruins defensive end Kenyon Coleman, carried the day with 21 fantasy points via five sacks, four fumbles, three interceptions and a touchdown off an interception against the Cardinals.
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