Weekend Recap: Week 3

The famous philosopher Socrates once said, "The unexamined life isn't worth living." The same applies to fantasy football. What good is playing it if you don't pay attention to what the heck goes on? If you're not going to examine what happened, is it really worth playing? I know, I know, first the Socrates quote, and now the fantasy football rambling. The nerdiness is at an all-time high right now. Before all three viewers hit the "X", let's examine this past week. - Tyler Thigpen is bad news for Dwayne Bowe and Tony Gonzalez owners. Thigpen started out the game terrible, at one point throwing for negative yards and an INT, and only finished marginally better. If by some chance Herm Edwards starts him over Damon Huard next week, you'd be smart to do your best to sit Bowe and Gonzalez. - Gus Frerotte is a bit more stable of a quarterback than Tavaris Jackson, but he isn't exactly good enough to make you scoop up Bernard Berrian and company. He's still little more than a deep threat; take away Berrian's 48 yard reception, and you have 2 catches for under 40 yards. - Good news Bengals' owners and fans alike. They didn't completely fail this week! Palmer was solid, albeit not great. Houshmandzadeh hauled in twelve passes. However, it seems like Chad Johnson didn't get the memo about showing up. He had a measly three receptions for 29 yards. Cincy has a great chance to keep it up next week as they play the struggling Browns. - Let's get one thing straight: Brian Griese won't throw for over 400 yards again. Nor will he throw the ball 67 times. Take this game with a grain of salt. - Ditto with Ronnie Brown. - On the other hand, I could see more of the same numbers from Drew Brees. He only threw 9 incomplete passes (compared to his 39 completions) and threw for 421 yards. Despite all of that, he somehow managed to only throw one touchdown pass. Still, it's great to see Brees have this great of a start to the season after his rough start the first four games last year. - Could Brandon Lloyd, yes, the same Brandon Lloyd who completely fell off the map in Washington, be making a comeback in Chicago? He's had 11 receptions for over 200 yards the past two weeks. Both came against pretty good defenses, too (Carolina and Tampa Bay). He's someone to keep an eye on, but don't pick him up unless your WR core is thinner than Nicole Richie. - In other Bears news, Matt Forte is looking like the best RB the Bears have ever drafted. Heck, he probably is the best one they've ever drafted in the past decade. Of course, when your competition is Cedric Benson and Curtis Enis, it doesn't take much. - Brandon Marshall, provided he can keep his nose clean (literally, don't hang out with Matt Jones), could be a top WR for years to come in this league. He followed up his 18 catch performance with a 6 catch, 155 yard game. Geez, what a slacker! - Willis who? Ray Rice, who's that? It's all about Le'ron McClain in Baltimore. Seriously. Pick him up if you need a running back in deeper leagues; he's looked good so far. - Paging the Steelers offensive line. Steelers offensive line, you're needed in the game against the Eagles. Yeah, they didn't show up. When that happens, Big Ben and Willie Parker suffer big time.