FANTASY FOOTBALL LINEUP TIPS

October 26, 2005 6:00 PM ET

As if the usual bout of injuries, matchups, bye weeks, and typical fantasy football challenges weren't enough, week seven brought yet a new obstacle into the mix. Hurricane Wilma (among more significant problems) forced fantasy owners to make critical lineup decisions as early as Friday afternoon.

Rather than waiting to hear about game-time decisions and gameday inactives, owners whose options included Chiefs and Dolphins, who kicked off at 7 pm EST last Friday, had to commit to some of their players without perfect information. Such is life, and notably, such will be life for much of the second half of the fantasy season—when the NFL stages nationally televised games on Thursdays and Saturdays during weeks 12, 15, 16, and 17.

Veteran fantasy owners are accustomed to this process late in the season, but week seven's surprise kickoff and the growing popularity of non-Sunday games has revealed a disturbing problem with many fantasy league rules. It has come to my attention that your league may have a rule in place that forces you to finalize your entire lineup prior to the week's first kickoff.

No, no, no, no, no. No. No!

If the service with which you administer your league does not offer you the ability to swap players who have yet to play for other players who have yet to play, you're clearly using the wrong service. But even worse, if your Commissioner has implemented this ridiculous rule, it's time to log a formal protest. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Get this rule changed before the Falcons and the Lions kick off on Turkey Day at 12:30 pm EST.

Let's for a moment explore how devastating this rule could have been to your fantasy fortunes this week.

 

More Fantasy Football Lineups Tips --- Top-three fantasy receiver Randy Moss was doubtful all week long with groin and rib injuries. He did little more than light running throughout the week, and as of Friday night when the Chiefs and Fins kicked off, he was looking like a definite no-go. On Sunday, however, he was not only active but in the starting lineup and catching a touchdown. It sure would have been nice to have him in the lineup, huh?

What about Steve McNair? The Titans signal caller was questionable on the injury report, but given his history of playing through injury, there was little reason to expect that the warrior wouldn't play in a favorable matchup with the Cardinals. Many owners with Jake Delhomme or Tom Brady on the bye had McNair in their week-seven lineups as of Friday evening, only to find out Saturday that he didn't even make the trip to Arizona. So even though McNair had nothing whatsoever to do with the K.C.-Miami game, you had to lock him in Friday. This despite the fact that you would have found out over 24 hours before his kickoff that he wasn't suiting up. Brilliant!

A Thursday or Saturday kickoff can and will force you to make tough decisions—for example, choosing between an active Ronnie Brown on Friday versus an injured Kevin Jones on Sunday. Again, not unlike injuries and bye week challenges, this is part of fantasy football. But it makes absolutely no sense for your rules to force you to decide on Friday between Kevin Jones and another injured runner (Julius Jones, for instance this week) when both of them are playing on Sunday.

So if you were victimized by this ill-conceived rule last Friday—or even if you weren't, if it's in place in your league—I implore you to take action. Or, if you really prefer, you can just leave Torry Holt and his big fat goose egg in your lineup.

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