So this week, Chris Braithwaite, GM of the Dyna Hards, has taken on the baton of The Replacements, and a bang up job he’s done too. Except for not having scored David’s efforts from week 7. Of course, you could lay that all on Neil Hawke of the DynaForOne Firebirds who failed to produce anything for week 8. But hey, Chris is here now, so let’s blame him eh? Anyway… on with Chris’ Replacements…
| Player | Projection |
| QB Mike Glennon | 14.560 |
| HB Donald Brown | 3.925 |
| HB Roy Helu | 6.000 |
| WR Stevie Johnson | 4.200 |
| WR Jarius Wright | 4.200 |
| WR Jacoby Jones | 3.375 |
| WR Philly Brown | 3.200 |
| TE Chase Ford | 3.425 |
| TE Jacob Tamme | 1.400 |
| K Cairo Santos | 7.400 |
| P Brad Wing | 0 |
| DT Ian Williams | 0.500 |
| DE Ray McDonald | 1 |
| DE Jason Hatcher | 1 |
| LB Perry Riley | 2.5 |
| LB Bruce Irvin | 1.5 |
| LB Jabaal Sheard | 0.5 |
| LB Vincent Rey | 2 |
| CB Adam Jones | 5.575 |
| CB Sean Smith | 3.550 |
| S Dashon Goldson | 2 |
| S Husain Abdullah | 4.025 |
| Total | 75.835 |
QB
The options are Mike Glennon or no one. Hey Lovie, now I know how you feel. Honestly, what I’d give for Kyle Orton or something.
RB
Donald Brown has a chance to be sneaky effective as the steady veteran hand behind Branden Oliver, so he could grab a bit of yardage on receptions and as a change of pace (that change being down to “no pace”.)
Roy Helu has been good for about 40 to 50 yards a game combined for most of the season, and there’s always a chance for a TD I guess, so he’s option 2. The Vikings D is mediocre against the run and terrible defending passes to RBs, so he might be able to break a couple of mediocre plays.
I’d normally play 3 RBs, but honestly there are absolutely no other options.
WR
Alas, pickings are still fairly slim at WR. Stevie Johnson is a must play. Washington has been pretty dreadful against the pass most weeks, so Jarius Wright is a potentially good play, so he can slot in. Football Outsiders reckons that Pittsburgh have been pretty dreadful against #3 WRs, so Jacoby Jones might be able to take advantage there. Maybe it’ll be another shootout. And for my number 4, I fancy a girl called Philly, so I’m taking Philly Brown of the Panthers. Look, that can’t be any worse logic than any of the other picks.
TE
The pickings at RB are so ridiculously slim I have to drop down to TEs and hope for some short TDs. Let’s go back to the “Washington sucks” well (it is a deep well) and grab Chase Ford of the Vikings as my #1 guy, despite his injury. He looks like the only chap with a chance at being actually useful, so the other guy is gonna have to be a hope for a 1 catch, 1 yard, 1 TD line. That is Jacob Tamme’s career, so yep, that’s happening.
K
Cairo Santos. Look, he’s Brazilian, his name is a capital city and he’s playing the Jets at home. Lets not overthink this.
P
Where MFL doesn’t even bother to make projections. My rule has always been “pick the guy with the worst offence against the best defence”, hence Dyna Hard’s roster having the punters for the Jags and Raiders. Which takes my two best options away here. The best option seems to be to hope that the Steelers used up most of their aerial attack last week, with the only person capable of doing anything in the air being P Brad Wing. Yep, a pun will work.
DT
The Rams OL managed to lose Scott Wells, Rodger Saffold and Jake Long to injury, moving Greg Robinson to LT. So its now weaker at 4 positions, and gave up a tonne of sacks last week anyway. Williams should be able to get a tackle for loss or two at a minimum.
DE
The logic above also holds for Ray McDonald of the 49ers. The Vikings OL isn’t great shakes either, and Jason Hatcher isn’t a bad bet to grab a sack.
LB
A theme is likely to emerge on this defence: some teams suck, lets hope they suck towards specific players. The Vikings aren’t very good, so Perry Riley isn’t a bad start. Bruce Irvin grabbed a couple of sacks against the Panthers last week on consecutive plays, and he gets to play against the Raiders this week. He should be able to grab one. The Bucs aren’t great, and Jabaal Sheard is due a sack or two, so maybe this is his week. And Vinny Rey is good for a big play every few weeks and gets to play the Jags, so a Bortles pick or fumble or whatever seems to be decent odds.
CB
1: Highlight “Bortles pick or fumble or whatever seems to be decent odds.” 2: CTRL+C. 3: CTRL+V. 4: Type Adam Jones. It’s extremely tempting to double down and pick one of Terence Newman or Leon Hall, but for the sake of variety lets remember that the Jets are playing and Sean Smith exists. He might have a decent chance at a pick if the Jets have a QB who can throw it close enough to him.
S
I have heard of Dashon Goldson and the Brian Hoyer train is slowly falling off the tracks, so he might have a chance to do something or other quite decent. Beyond that, safety options are very limited. And just in case Vick’s passes don’t get close enough to Sean Smith, lets give Husain Abdullah the chance to grab one or two.
