http://youtu.be/iZ8Qb9qm7N4
There are two schools of thought around whether I was stupid or gutsy this weekend. Regardless, I was certainly LOFTY. On one side, you have the more traditional view that you should “never sit your studs,” a stance I’ve taken in the past.
And the other side of the argument is the “play the matchups” contingent, the ones who throw statistics at you to convince you it’s time to let your hot player ride the bench.
I played the matchups this weekend, and it came back to bite me. Oh, did it bite.
To my credit, Leonard Hankerson was slotted to start in place of Pierre Garcon. As the X receiver, he should have been Robert Griffin III’s first read on most plays, and I expected to see him go off against a woeful Bengals defense.
Instead, I got 56 receiving yards, good for 5.6 points. You could say that’s not bad for a flex play, but when the player that would have started in his place in Larry Fitzgerald…
Facing a pretty terrible matchup against the sometimes challenging Eagles secondary, Fitzgerald was dangerous with Kevin Kolb under center. Kolb hasn’t exactly looks Fitzgerald’s way, and though they said they’d try to get Fitz the ball, I didn’t think Kolb would make it happen this week.
But he did.
Fitzgerald racked up 114 yards against the Eagles and made it into the end zone to reward his owners for the first time this season. I missed it because, ironically, I was desperate for a win and looking for points wherever I could get them.
What We Should Learn From This
Start your studs. Play your matchups. The choice is yours. But the lesson I learned in Week 3 (again) is to never sit a stud for a longshot play.
0-3, here I come.
H/T Kissing Suzy Kolber for video
