1 week down ... Gimme More

Sunday number one is officially in the books. And man, what a Sunday it was. Odds are you've already read plenty about it, but what good is having a blog if I don't get to chime in as well on such a huge day in history.

Britney Spears is back.

OK so maybe that has little to do with fantasy football. But big deal. Some things are bigger than fantasy football (expecting a fat Britney joke here? Too bad). As a mom of two, and just a few months removed from shaving her head, she could have looked a lot worse. Now let's see how her new album sounds.

This week's review is dedicated to the former Mrs. Federline.

The Good
Think Britney in her Toxic video. Doing exactly what you get paid to do. In Britney's case, look hot and put out a catchy song. In Eric Karabell and Scott Engel's cases, hit the nail on the head in their fantasy football predictions. It's pretty easy to put Peyton Manning and LaDanian Tomlinson at the top of the rankings at their respective positions. And it's no surprise that Peyton was the #3 scoring QB and LT was the #4 scoring RB (even against a tough Bears defense that shut him down in the first half).

Props to Karabell for putting Shawn Alexander fifth in his rankings (Engel had him 10th). Alexander scored the same number of points as LT and helped me stay alive through week one of Survival Football. Plaxico Burruss (#13 Karabell/#15 Engel) shed his Plexi-Glass moniker at least for this week, and was one of the last Giants standing after his 100-yard, 3-TD night in primetime. And Terrell Owens (4/3) showed once again that you can be a cancer in the clubhouse, but be a stud in fantasy.

At tight end, both Karabell and Engel went out on a limb and put Antonio Gates at #1. It paid off, as he was the #2 scoring TE this week. This was really the lone bright spot for the gurus at this position. And at team defense, the "let's put Baltimore and Chicago 1-2" plan backfired. But the gurus did do well predicting Minnesota (8/6) and San Diego (4/5) would have good weeks. The two teams ranked 1 and 6 in scoring this week.

The Bad
Britney walking out of a gas station restroom without any shoes on. Just a sign that things are a little crazy, but not full-out nuts just yet. There's room for improvement. So these are players who were ranked high, had bad weeks, but will likely rebound and be ranked near the top of our guru's predictions in the coming weeks.

It all started Thursday night, about 72 hours before Britney took the stage in Vegas. Drew Brees, ranked #2 by both Karabell and Engel, took the field against an Indianapolis defense who had lost three starters from their Super Bowl squad. Looked like a safe and smart pick, right? Less than 200 yards, 2 picks and a fumble lost later ... we found out that it wasn't so smart. But with his weapons, Brees has to bounce back. Ditto for Reggie Bush (10/8). Under 50 combined yards and no scores won't cut it for a guy that many owners (including myself) took in the first three rounds.

Outside of the Big Easy, some other highly ranked big names had bad days. Steven Jackson (2/2) and the second overall pick in most leagues, totalled 61 yards and lost two fumbles. Only needs to average 163 yards per game over the next 15, and he'll hit the 2,500 total yards he is shooting for. But with Orlando Pace going down for the season, Jackson's numbers could take a hit (along with Bulger, Holt, and other Ram players). And Larry Johnson (3/3) combined for less than 100 yards and no scores in KC's loss to the Texans.

Tight ends proved to be a big swing and a miss for our Bristol-based gurus. Tony Gonzalez (2/2) and Todd Heap (4/5) combined for 57 yards - the same amount Eric Johnson (not ranked in top 25) had by himself. By the way ... with the offense that New Orleans is going to put up this year, grab Johnson if he's still available. I don't think this week was a fluke. Chris Cooley (6/6) and Vernon Davis (7/4) also had terrible weeks.

On the defensive side of the ball, Denver managed to stink it up fantasy wise in a win against Buffalo. After being ranked 9th by both gurus, they finished the week ranked 24 in fantasy scoring. With Dre Bly and Champ Baily at corner, along with some serious talent at D-Line and linebacker, Denver should improve and score more sacks and INTs in the coming weeks.

Let's just hope none of these players go off and do something crazy like marry a backup dancer.

The Ugly
You wake up one morning, are surfing around on the internet, and see a story that Britney Spears shaved her head in a salon the night before. You had an inkling something crazy might happen, but didn't really expect it. We'll devote this section to low-ranked guys who are names you should know, but had a week that was tough to predict - unless you make a living predicting those kinds of things.

I don't imagine that Adrian Peterson (Minn.) woke up this past weekend, logged onto ESPN.com and saw that Eric Karabell had him ranked as the #37 running back option in fantasy football. Something like that probably wouldn't serve as motivation for a high draft pick who had a successful college career toting the rock. But maybe he did. Peterson was the #1 scoring running back this week, totalling 160+ yards and a score. Scott Engel ranked Peterson at #23, in case you were wondering. Two other running backs who busted out with big weeks were LaMont Jordan (29/30) and Chris Brown (42/39). Both were top-five scoring RBs for the week.

Another rookie who got no love from Karabell was WR Calvin Johnson. Not ranked in the top 50, all the former GT standout did was put up 70 yards and a score, totalling as many fantasy points as Tory Holt. Again, give a little credit to Engel, he had CJ ranked at #38. Other pass catchers who had nice days despite low predictions: Randy Moss (yes, that Randy Moss) who was ranked 26 and 33 by Karabell and Engel, respectively. Moss was the #2 scoring WR in fantasy this week. And Ronald Curry (46/41) scored more fantasy points than Steve Smith, Chad Johnson, or Marvin Harrison this week.

Jason Witten (14/15) was ranked in the middle of the pack by our gurus, behind such fantasy stars as Owen Daniels and Daniel Graham. The #1 fantasy scoring tight end, Witten had a 100+ yard day and added a touchdown for the Cowboys.

As I detailed earlier this week, picking a kicker week to week is a semi-crap shoot. Thanks NFL kickers for proving my point. While top-ranked Adam Vinatieri was the #4 kicker this week, he was topped by Jason Hanson (15/18), Lawrence Tynes (not ranked), and Mason Crosby (NR/19).

Finally, two teams came out of nowhere to have strong fantasy weeks defensively. First off, the Cincinnati Bengals (15/19). Who Dey? The #3 fantasy scoring defense this week, that's who. Even more surprising were the Houston Texans. Ranked 20 and 30 by Karabell and Engel, respectively, the Texans, led by Mario Williams' 2 sacks and a fumble recovery, were the #2 scoring fantasy defense in the league this week. Can either of these teams keep it up and become a real threat in fantasy and in the NFL? We'll have to wait for Karabell and Engel's week 2 rankings to see.

This week's grades:
Karabell D+
Engel D

And in another instance where things are bigger than fantasy football - doctors are optimistic that Kevin Everett will be able to walk again. As a Buffalo Bills fan, and a football fan, this is great news. You hate to see serious injuries occur to anyone on any team. Hopefully Everett has a full and speedy recovery.