Week 7

I went into Week 7 with a mission: I would have a better QB or TE before my next match up. I knew from my previous attempts to trade for TEs that the owner of Dallas Clark was willing to trade him. Just in case, I picked up Desmond Clark from the waiver wire to cover myself. Strangely, Desmond Clark would be the pivotal player in the trade. I wanted to give up as many of my recent waiver pickups as possible to acquire Clark, whose owner was in sad need in several positions due to injuries. Fantasy Football Hint: Always keep an eye on the roster of everyone in your league, because you never know when someone else’s bad luck might prove a boon for you. While my trading opponent wanted my best RB & WR for Clark, I was able to work it down to just Wayne for Clark. I didn’t think this was an even trade and said I would not make a trade without requiring something extra added to the pot. Expecting to have the negotiations fall apart, I made a ludicrous offer: My opponent would give up Dallas Clark, Marvin Harrison, & Rudi Johnson for Reggie Wayne, Dyshawn Wynn, & Desmond Clark. To my surprise, my trade partner accepted a trade offer I had just made in jest.

I always think it is hard to analyze a trade at the time it is made, but at the same time I don’t hindsight is not necessarily useful either. At the time, I thought I got one of the best TEs (Dallas Clark) in the league, one of the best receivers (Harrison) in the league who was just having a slow start, and a solid RB (Johnson) who also was having a slow start due to injuries. Johnson and Harrison were the first 2 picks for my trade partner, while Wayne was my 4^th. While I gave up Wayne, a solid performer, I still had Housh and a number of solid WRs waiver pickups who could cover Wayne. Otherwise, I gave up two useless waiver pickups (Wynn & Desmond Clark) that had good weeks recently, but little guarantee of future success. Desperation can make us do stupid things, and I think that played a big part in my trade partners decision. Wynn had only one good week, before getting a season ending injury, and Desmond Clark never materialized as a solid TE (which is exactly why I didn’t want to rely on him).

Of course, when looking back at the trade. It is harder to judge it favorably for me. WayneClark did as well as can be expected from a TE, but an injury left me scrambling for a back up a few weeks later. Rudi Johnson only had one good game for me, before I dropped him in disgust. And what can be said about Harrison, except that he never played for my team. In the end, the trade I didn’t want to make, is exactly what I made: Dallas Clark for Reggie Wayne. performed well until the end of the season, while I struggled to find a reliable replacement.

All that being said, I was really excited by my match up. Although my opponent had a much better QB than I did, we were matchup pretty evenly at WR and TE, while I had much better RBs, K, and DEF (or so I thought). I really thought I could come out on top once again, if I could just solve my problem at QB. I tried trades to no avail, and then scoured the waiver wire but still couldn’t find a solid guy. The biggest problem is that nearly every team in my league had 3+ guys (I guess expecting injuries), while I had 2 or really just 1 since Rivers sucked so bad.

With rivers on a bye, I really had no choice but to play Schaub. I really like him, having watched him play as Vick’s back up for the past few years, so I was hopeful he would have a solid game against Tennessee. I felt Housh and Crayton would do well, had confidence in Portis & Addai, loved Clark and the rest. SD was on a bye, so my DEF was KC who I picked up due to experts at Yahoo—although I felt confident with their predictions that KC would destroy Oakland. Yahoo predicted my numbers at 81 compared to just 69 for my opponent, so I really had no concerns this week, which turned out to be a big mistake. Schaub had a miserable game, Crayton actually lost me points, and Addai got hurt. Even Housh scored less than 9 points. Luck can be a fickle thing.
Looking at my roster, there really is nothing I could have done differently. Stalworth did well at W/R, but I never would have played him before Crayton even if I knew he was going to get hurt that week. Norwood and the Falcons were in the midst of their coach departure, so I knew he would not be of any value, and my two veteran pick ups: Harrison played a little and Johnson not at all. I could have tweaked here and there if I knew exactly how the scores would have fallen, but I could never predict what happened. And here’s another important Fantasy Tip: Sometimes luck just doesn’t fall your way. When it is on your side, enjoy it while it lasts because it could easily be gone tomorrow. At the end of this week, I was starting to worry my trade may not have been as great as I thought. I wasn’t second guessing myself just yet, but a cornel of uncertainty was beginning to form. If only Harrison and Johnson could have a miraculous healing like T.O., my problem would be solved. Of course, that would require a great deal of luck…Week 7 ends at 5-2.