FanHouse DBrickashawFerguson

WHO YA GOT???
While it's easy to sit back before the draft and know who you want, it's a helluva lot harder to make those calls when the pressure of the clock counting down is squared all up on your shoulders. (Although in fairness, if you're playing in the most perfect and free fantasy football league of all time, then it's a lot easier to deal with those decisions.)

So that's why Fantasy FanHouse (with the help of Mock Draft Central's ADP report) is here to help you through the tough picks, with a little thing I like to call: Fantasy Coin Flips.

Early Round QB: Peyton Manning vs. Tony Romo
If you follow what we write here at FanHouse, you know that I am an unabashed basher of Romo. Not because he won't help lead the Cowboys this year, but just because he's overrated in fantasy. (No, seriously, Cowboys fans, re-read that before you comment. Please.) Peyton carries the injury risk, yes. And Romo has weapons, sure. But unlike most years, Peyton's going to be fighting for the playoffs while Romo is going to be taking it easy in December with the NFC East on cruise control. Plus, the value in Peyton Freaking Manning at this point is too good to pass up.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: Chad Pennington enters 2008 trying to prove yet again that he -- wait, what? Who? Really? Didn't he retire? Oh. I see. It doesn't seem like Brett Favre wants to play in New York this year, he's basically said so much in the most diplomatic way possible, which means this is the year where Favre stops having fun. This is the year he stops looking like a kid again, to support the cliche. And it can be argued that that magic has perpetuated itself, and has been the reason Favre is still considered -- rightfully or not -- one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Without it, I can imagine 2008 being a disaster for Favre -- bad play and missed games. And then the New York media jumps in and the misery just compounds. That's how I see 2008 rolling. Oh, plus, they don't have a decent backup quarterback. Heat Index: 6

It was supposed to be so easy (good lookin', Mike Skinner). Heavily recruited out of Danville, VA, J'Courtney Williams was a 4-star prospect set out to cover two needs for the Cavaliers, the first being the heir apparent to brilliant if somewhat foolhardy linebackers like Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham. The other, well, it should be obvious how he could replace D'Brickashaw Ferguson.

Well, to paraphrase something Homer Simpson once said, Al Groh would be lying if he said his men weren't committing crimes. Williams only manifested the "foolhardy" portion of the bargain, getting involved in a low-level credit card scam that wasn't particularly bright in planning or execution. According to reports, a student claimed his wallet was stolen at the Virginia's main athletic center, and...okay. Stop right there.

Now, I realize that Virginia students tend to have a reputation as being well-to-do, and maybe I'm just getting old, but it's probably not wise to nab some poor teen's card when a: his parents probably see the bill and b: it's probably not blessed with the sort of credit limit you'd prefer for your jag/spree. Worse yet, Williams couldn't even be bothered to buy anything cool with his ill-gotten goods. Supposedly, he was found out after making 19 purchases at a Tuttle dorm vending... That's not even Treehouse ballin'. Maybe you can help me out in the comments, but I mostly remember Tuttle having a computer lab and I dunno, maybe some snack machines. And an elevator. That was pretty cool. But otherwise, you're gonna risk your college career for that? Then again, maybe the whole snack machine thing relates to his marijuana charges as well.

Groh was swift with the guillotine, and Williams has been dismissed from the program; all things considered between Olu Hall, Parham, Brooks and Williams, I probably shouldn't be so quick to criticize Groh for recruiting seemingly nothing but linebackers and tight ends. It's been mentioned that Louisville, Kentucky and Mississippi State were among the schools Virginia beat out for J'Courtney, and if I were a betting man, I wouldn't count out the one that took a flyer on Willie Williams. No relation?

Welcome to another successful installment of Five Questions with an Enemy Blogger, where each week, via email, I will be exchanging hot questions and [sometimes] answers with a rival blogger about their team and the upcoming matchup.

This week I sat down with Brian Bassett of The Jets Blog, an independent column that covers the New York Jets.

Dan Benton: "The Bills, Brian? The Buffalo Bills? What in the world happened to the Jets on Sunday?"

Brian Bassett: "Oy! Don't get me started. I did say that you shouldn't overlook any games, but fans had to feel good about their teams' chance going into last week to square their record. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the whole game, but the offense had to bear most of the burden ... being unable to score more than 20 points against a team that had a number of key contributors off the field is very frustrating as a fan."