MIDWEEK FANTASY DECISIONS

By Ralph Mancini, Fantasy Football Insiders Senior Writer

To those fantasy aficionados who are under the gun to reinforce your team by Wednesday or Thursday---it’s crunch time.

To say that the start of the 2007 NFL season has had more twists and turns than you can shake a stick at would be a gross understatement.

Injuries have hit most teams with a vengeance sending many owners scrambling for the waiver wire, but picking free agents isn’t all that easy when two or three different players are often rumored to inherit the same role.

Case in point: the tragedy that is Carnell “Cadillac” Williams and his season-ending torn patella tendon have many an owner rolling the dice on Michael Pittman and Earnest Graham as the dynamic duo pegged to fill in as feature backs.

But then comes word of negotiations to bring in recently-retired Corey Dillon, followed by whispers of a possible Bucs trade for Minnesota back Chester Taylor. What’s next—can Erric Rhett and James Wilder be far behind?

If that wasn’t enough drama for you, then you hear conflicting reports about Denver back Travis Henry and how he thought his season was over after his latest injury against Indianapolis this past Sunday. All of the sudden, backup Selvin Young becomes the pick to click.

X-rays on Henry’s knee, however, come up negative and the former Bill now believes that he should be ready to suit up for week five.

Handcuffing your stars with their backups may seem like the logical solution, but trying telling that to fantasy owners of Giant mega back Brandon Jacobs, who insured their prized runner by picking Rueben Droughns in the late rounds of the drafts---only to find out that the previously unheralded Derrick Ward would end up taking the baton and doing a surprisingly impressive job.

The problem with that is that many of those same Jacobs owners didn’t have the necessary waiver priority in order to add Ward to their rosters.

Fantasy football is an inexact science designed to leave you staring at your computer screen at 2:30 a.m. trying to project the contributions of Aaron Stecker versus those of DeShawn Wynn. It’s sheer madness.

One way to shed light on the matter is to carefully analyze injuries and make an educated guess as to whether a specific ailment is serious enough to limit a player for the rest of the season upon his return.

One of the more mind-blowing injuries was the one suffered by star receiver Andre Johnson, who after a blazing start succumbed to what is being termed as a sprained PCL in his knee.

A simple knee sprain this is not. In fact, subsequent reports had Johnson telling reporters how he’s “learning to walk again.” What?

Turns out, PCL sprains are terribly painful, which could make running and cutting unbearable. Johnson is probably looking at four more weeks on the shelf.

Back in 2005, then Minnesota Viking receiver Nate Burleson also sprained his PCL, and despite coming back only weeks later, never truly recovered the quickness he displayed earlier in the year. Knowing this should make most fantasy owners put a giant red flag by Johnson’s name.

In shallow leagues, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to outright drop Houston’s top wide out. The same argument may also apply to quarterback Jake Delhomme, who may or may not require season ending surgery.

Bone bruises to receivers Anquan Boldin and Hines Ward are also keeping people up late at night, as both are still in pain and far from certain to be suiting this coming Sunday.

That said, Houston’s Andre Davis becomes this week’s top free agent pickup. Those who remained unconvinced of his abilities after posting four receptions for 70 yards in week three are surely singing a different tune this week after the former Brown left Atlanta’s secondary in the dust with five catches and 117 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown. Davis is a legitimate deep threat that has even head coach Gary Kubiak singing his praises. With improving gunslinger Matt Schaub at the helm, the immediate future looks bright for Davis. Now let’s just hope he stays in one piece.