I've touted Justin Gage (owned in 22% of CBS Sportsline leagues) as a viable receiver once, and it's a good thing I'm no sissy because I'll do it again.

(HERE'S A CLIP OF GAGE CATCHING A PASS INTENDED FOR BO SCAIFE, WHO GOT NAILED BY FORMER BUCHANAN HIGH AND FRESNO CITY COLLEGE STAR MATT GIORDANO. THE BALL CLANGED OFF GIORDANO'S HELMET AND ABOUT 10-15 YARDS TO GAGE. IT'S PRETTY COOL.)

Hey, I probably was the only one on the planet touting Dan Orlovsky, and he produced more points in his three-week window of fame than Brett Favre. Then Orlovsky got hurt, and who knows if he wouldn't be starting even with Daunte Culpepper in Detroit? So there, take that neysayers.

But getting back to Gage -- who I took some flak for having in my lineup two weeks ago over Steve Breaston -- the receiver has added a new dimension to the Titans run-heavy offense.

Last week he caught four passes for 147 yards, bringing in two touchdowns. Unfortunately, I didn't have him in my lineup. That figures.

It happens to the best of us.

OK, yesterday we talked about adding a player that hasn't had much fantasy worth before they have a breakout week and the bandwagon rushes to add that player.

I have added Kenneth Darby because of the injury situation to Steven Jackson, and even picked up Samkon Gado in case something happens to Darby. Well, that might've been a bit premature because it looks like Antonio Pittman will get the start. But at least we advised two things: 1. Don't start Darby against a tough Jets defense unless you absolutely had to, and 2. We added Gado in case something happens to Darby, but that rationale also works for both in case something happens to Pittman.

As for another of my situations, I talked about how I had added Selvin Young in case something happens to Ryan Torain, which it did. I also received Titans WR Justin Gage in the four-player trade, shipping Justin Fargas and Ricky Williams to an owner who needed RB help.

We've all seen those ESPN commercials prior to the fantasy football season. You know, the ones that tell you to find next year's Earnest Graham, Ryan Grant or Greg Jennings.

Well, we already know the likes of this year's Steve Slaton, Tim Hightower and Eddie Royal to name a few breakout fantasy players.

Slaton was taken all the way back in the 11th round with the 127th overall pick in The Fresno Bee League II draft. Hightower, now the starting RB in Arizona, went three rounds and 40 picks later and Royal was taken in Round 15 at No. 170.

Clearly if people knew how successful those three would be, they wouldn't have lasted in the double-digit rounds.

But what about when the draft's over? Then your stud goes down (Willie Parker, Brian Westbrook, Reggie Bush, etc.)? You need some help and it probably is going to come in the form of someone who went undrafted.

Since we're late in the season, we must acknowledge there has been a lot of attrition at the RB position. One way to alleviate this could be by adding someone to your roster who hasn't done anything, yet, but has the potential thanks to an injury here and there.

Pick up the decent starter right before they become a decent starter? What? Buy a few shiny rocks before you verify they're really gold?

OK, so your star player has had some good weeks and some bad ones. You figure that's fine, as long as it all averages out.

Well, The Fantasy Buzz believes sometimes consistency is a better measure of fantasy worth -- even if the average of a lightly regarded player is a little bit less than the average of a star player.

Let's take a look at two quarterbacks:

Dan Orlovsky, Lions: Over the past three weeks Orlovsky -- yes, that QB who ran out of the end zone for a safety -- has posted steady outings of 12, 19 and 16 points for a three-week average of just under 16.

Brett Favre, Jets: The ol' man has a three-week average just over 9 after outings of 7, 4 and 17 points. But if you want to throw in the 45 he scored in the game prior to that, then Favre's four-week average is just over 18.

But ask yourself if you would rather have a good Favre half the time or a consistent Orlovsky all the time?

(I'LL DEFEND MY SUGGESTION OF ADDING ORLOVSKY IF YOU NEED QB HELP, BUT WATCHING HIM RUN OUT OF THE BACK OF THE END ZONE FOR THAT SAFETY AGAINST THE VIKINGS NEVER GETS OLD -- ESPECIALLY WITH "I RAN" BY FLOCK OF SEAGULLS PLAYING IN THIS CLIP.)

Well, I pretty much thought my work was done by Friday, setting Clinton Portis and Justin Fargas as my starting RBs and choosing Eddie Royal over Tim Hightower at my flex position.

The first two choices were made based on the advice of Steve Lloyd, Fresno Fantasy Guru, who offered his take on The Fantasy Buzz's call for advice in Friday's edition of The Bee.

Remember, in fantasy football, everyone's an expert.

Well in Saturday's edition of The Bee, we asked about the flex position. And, after reviewing stats and all that, I chose Royal against a weak Dolphins pass defense.

On a return e-mail from Lloyd, he felt the same way, saying:

Regarding Hightower vs. Royal, I'd definitely lean toward Royal. Miami's pass defense is its weakest link and while the Dolphins are semi-tough against the run, their secondary has been exposed many many times. Marshall should attract plenty of attention and a guy like Hightower really has his value tied to TDs. If he doesn't put up a TD, it's probably not going to be a pretty statline. I'm always leery of starting guys who are in time-shares as well. Hightower has scored in 5 of 7 games, but I'm guessing your league is not just TD-only, and Edge still does get some goal-line carries.

Good luck tomorrow!

-- Steve

But then comes along a late e-mail from a Bee reader named Richard, and now I have a lot of thinking to do (not fun, since I thought I already had it all figured out as I had said.)

You know what they say: Everyone's an expert when it comes to ...

Well, we at The Fantasy Buzz would like to give you a chance at becoming a fantasy football expert by asking you to weigh in on one Fresno Bee league owner's predicament.

Sports copy editor Delton Lowery, that's me, already has asked for your opinion on his running back situation. Bee reader Steve Lloyd was the first to answer the call.

Lloyd, a Fresno Fantasy Guru, said he'd start Clinton Portis (despite a tough matchup) and Justin Fargas ahead of Tim Hightower and Ricky Williams.

(TF Buzz note: I've already adjusted my lineup accordingly. Thanks, Steve. By the way, here's a clip of the Raiders beating the Broncos last season, including a Fargas TD and postgame interview.)

But for all of you who still are itching to show off your fantasy expertise, you still have a chance by tackling my next question:

At the flex position, would you start Hightower (at the Rams) or receiver Eddie Royal (vs. the Dolphins)?

You know what they say: Everyone's an expert when it comes to ...

Well, we at The Fantasy Buzz would like to give you a chance at becoming a fantasy football expert by asking you to weigh in on one Fresno Bee league owner's predicament.

Sports copy editor Delton Lowery, that's me, has several running back options this week.

Question: What two backs would you start between Clinton Portis, Tim Hightower, Justin Fargas and Ricky Williams? (The latter three have good matchups. Portis has a tough draw vs. the Steelers. Is that enough to pull the Redskins' stud RB from my lineup?)

(HERE'S PORTIS IN WEEK 4 VS. THE COWBOYS, JUST IN CASE ANYBODY DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE CAN DO.)

Answer: You know what, I will not say what I have going on so far, leaving the comments to be unbiased with my humble opinion.

So please, submit suggestions on this blog or e-mail sports@fresnobee.com and we might publish them in Sunday's column in The Bee. We have before, and we'll do it again!

Stay tuned to The Fantasy Buzz tomorrow when I ask which two of my stud receivers I should start, and if any of them are good enough to use as my FLEX over my third RB.

There's a popular saying The Fantasy Buzz thinks is right on the money, with last week in mind in particular: "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good."

We'd rather just be right all the time and not have to worry about luck, but things don't work like that in fantasy football.

So let's take a look back, specifically at some of the advice in The Fantasy Buzz blog.

First we blogged that owners should start Brad Johnson if he's a go in Dallas, what with Tony Romo hurt and the fact the Cowboys were facing the Rams.

(THE NFL LIVE CREW FROM ESPN TOUTS JOHNSON'S KNOW-HOW PRIOR TO LAST WEEK'S START. WE STILL THINK THE 40-YEAR-OLD'S SMARTS WILL PROVE USEFUL AS ROMO IS OUT AT LEAST THE NEXT THREE WEEKS.)

Then we went out on a limb Sunday morning and said "JTO will go vroom" for San Francisco against the N.Y. Giants.

Well, the Rams kept Johnson from getting his badge as the new sheriff in town, and JTO -- aka the 49ers' J.T. O'Sullivan -- was stuck in bumbling-stumbling-fumbling gear against the Giants.

But for all the points those two did not get, would you believe us if we told you each scored more points than Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre? In fact JTO's 12 were more than Manning (5) and Favre (4) -- combined. The 40-year-old Johnson scored 9 points.

Hey, we at The Fantasy Buzz are not perfect. Especially me, Bee sports copy editor Delton Lowery, despite how big my head gets sometimes.

Heading into last week's games I blogged you should start Brad Johnson if he's a go in Dallas with an injured Tony Romo and the fact the Cowboys were facing the Rams. I also went out on a limb and said "JTO will go vroom" for San Francisco against the N.Y. Giants.

(HERE'S HIGHLIGHTS OF JTO REVVING UP IN WINS AGAINST THE SEAHAWKS AND LIONS SET TO METALLICA'S "ENTER SANDMAN.")

Well, the Rams kept Johnson from getting his badge as the new sheriff in town, and JTO -- aka J.T. O'Sullivan -- was stuck in bumbling-stumbling-fumbling gear against the Giants.

But ... I got the last laugh.

I traded for JTO as my bye week starter and his 12 points were more than Saints star Drew Brees, the feared QB my fantasy team was going up against. Brees scored just 7 points and, for those scoring at home, that was even less than JTO's 12 and the 9 points the 40-year-old Johnson had.

(TF Buzz note: This column was written Saturday and, as of Sunday morning, Tony Romo will suit up but not start. This probably means Brad Johnson is starting, so we'd go with him because he'll probably be pulled ONLY if the Cowboys are losing to the Rams. We don't think that'll happen. If you have Romo, we hope you found a backup like two of our readers, who's comments are at the end of this blog entry.)

The Fantasy Buzz knows Tony Romo owners must be having a week to remember. Or, is it that a week to forget?

First word was that the Dallas Cowboys quarterback had a broken finger and would miss four weeks or more. By the Buzz's estimation that meant Romo's backup, Brad Johnson, would be a serviceable replacement for at least a week since Dallas is playing the awful Rams and a great Cowboys offense got even better with receiver Roy Williams coming to town via a trade with Detroit.

But it didn't take long for Romo to trigger hope he'd make a miracle comeback -- to the point he now seems at worst 50-50 to start this week.

So the Buzz finds itself somewhat withdrawing its original advice of going with Johnson in favor of the usual route of turning to a starter on another team -- whether it's someone you already own or can add via a trade or waivers.