Fantasy Friday episode 4:The career backup gets his big break

So let’s address the obvious and get it out of the way:

The Buccaneers have been horrible offensivly. Their normally solid defense has been, subpar. The team has ousted its new starting quarterback in favor of a guy that the new head coach said is his “career backup.”

Only three games into this young season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in turmoil.

So their, the obvious is out there. Now, let’s talk about somethings to look for in this weeks match up against the Redskins.

• Quaterback Josh Johnson is getting his first career start. He looked way rather serviceable in his first pro appearance against the Giants last week. Hell, at times, he looked…good. He was effective on the short pass, and showed that he is not afraid to run with the ball either. So this is good news. The bad news is, can he keep it up? Johnson is unproven, but has a tremendous upside. He has physical tools. He is mobile and exciting. He is also the guy that has an overall rating of 38 in Madden 10 this year. While you can’t base reality of ratings on a video game….the stuff on Madden is usually pretty accurate.

  If you are a dreamer, pick Johnson up, maybe he will surprise some people with his legs and pick you up some fantasy points during the week your starter is on a bye. Don’t give him much more credit than that until you see him actually play a full game or two…and win.

• All three components–Cadillac Williams, Derrick Ward & Earnest Graham–of the Bucs running back by committe philosophy are battling injuries right now. Maybe Clifton Smith will see some carries this week? I for one hope so. I see Smith as a poor mans Kevin Faulk in the years to come. He can return kicks, has good hands out of the back field, and once the team gives up on either Williams or Graham, Smith will see more playing time.
• While we are talking about Madden 10, if you look at ESPN.com and their simulation of this week, Mike Nugent is supposed to kick five field goals. If you have him on your team…maybe you’ll get lucky. But I doubt it.

MORE FROM MY ESTEEMED COLLEAGUE, AARON FISCHMAN…

Aaron Fischman is a correspondent for Fanball.com, providing in-depth coverage of the Los Angeles Dodgers (DodgerBlueBlog.com). Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, he’s had a great passion for baseball from a very young age. Currently double-majoring in Communications and Political Science at UC Davis, he also co-hosts a weekly sports talk show on KDVS 90.3 fm.

You can find his articles and interviews on DavisSportsDeli.com. Additionally, Aaron does play-by-play and color commentary for UC Davis sporting events.

Aaron can be found on Twitter as @AaronHartF

Aaron has been kind enough to find time in his busy schedule to chime in on the happenings with his fantasy football team in each Friday’s edition of WhatTheBucs.com Fantasy Friday Series.

My team is 2-1 now thanks in large part to the Baltimore defensive unit. They are my Hero of Week 3 (I will go singular here since their entire D counts as one player on my fantasy team). On Sunday, they absolutely shut down the Cleveland Browns, only surrendering 3 points and picking off 4 passes. A decent amount of my Baltimore D points came from the low points against total (3 i.e. merely a FG), but where I really racked up the points was with the 2 sacks and 4 interceptions.No one ever said that the Hero of the Week had to make a strong performance out of nowhere.

Everyone and their non-football following aunt and grandpa knew that in Baltimore, the Ravens’ D would stifle the Cleveland offense. Furthermore, everyone has been stopping the Browns this season as well as the end of last season. So, their heroics did not come as a surprise to many of you…I’m sorry, but the predictability of their success shouldn’t make the performance any less notable.

I should point out that my league does not reward any points for this, but regardless, I find it impressive that the D only allowed 126 passing yards. In addition, I want to credit Ravens’ Linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo. I don’t usually like former UCLA Bruins, but Ayanbadejo recorded a sack and an interception (always a good stat line for an LB) along with 4 tackles.

He also does good things in the community as he stands up for people and causes that he believes in. Before I get too sappy on you guys, thanks for reading and please check back to see who my hero or goat is going to be next week!

Comments, questions, concerns? Talk it up! Leave a comment below or contact me at thomas.gemkow@tampabayraysfan.com and as always, follow me on Twitter @ThomasGemkow