Week 4 Free DraftDay.com Challenge: Beat me! Win money!

Each week, I’m going to challenge our readers in a FREE Fantasy Football Weekly Salary Cap Challenge game, allowing them the chance at a $250 prize pool. Last week, you all responded by crushing me, humiliating me and shaming my ancestors. Rather than take my ball and go home – I decided to take regroup and come back for another beating!

First, let’s look at last week’s winners and their winnings:

1. Burtonguster – 188.12 ($40)
2. GregoryGrub – 183.64 ($28)
3. 2ToN – 176.42 ($22)
4. Ifoundnemo – 176.22 ($17)
5. Tyriontheimp – 173.52 ($13)
6. Soundwave – 171.34 ($10)
7. Qkey25 – 168.94 ($9)
8. Barracuda – 167.92 ($7)
9. Pachinko – 158.50 ($6)
10. Emack7 – 158.46 ($5)

Congrats to those players – including Eric Mack, my cohort with SI.com, who also runs his own Free Weekly Salary Cap game. You can join that one too!

Five Lessons Learned

Each week, I want to do a quick post-mortem on what happened, good or bad, with my team selections. Here we go:

1. The Cardinals defense is for real. I loaded up on Eagles (three players!) and I was rewarded with 23.70 total points.
2. Wes Welker is going to be fine this season.
3. The 2012 Niners defense is not the same as the 2011 version.
4. Grabbing a running back that is involved in the passing game is important. Marshawn Lynch nearly rushed for 100 yards, but LeSean McCoy basically scored as much as he did, despite just 78 total yards.
5. Going with a QB-WR combo did not pay off for me this week (Tony Romo-Dez Bryant – 18.52 pts total), but I’m stubborn. I’ll probably go with this strategy again.

My Week 4 DraftDay.com Lineup

For the rest of the season, I’m going to be posting my lineup below. Am I putting myself at a complete disadvantage? Yes. Am I cocky enough to think I can overcome this disadvantage? Absolutely. Do I hate people that interview themselves? Of course.

Fill out your own lineup and win some dough!

QB Robert Griffin III, WAS vs. TB – $19,150: He’s one of the most dynamic playmakers in the game, and despite the Buccaneers’ improvements defensively, they’re still one of the worst units in the NFL. (Back-to-back weeks picking the quarterback that’s going up against my Bucs – that can’t be good.)

RB Doug Martin, TB vs. WAS – $12,000: Speaking of bad defenses, Martin should be able to shred this defense on the ground and through the air. Tampa Bay is leaning on him heavily each week.RB Cedric Benson, GB vs. NO – $9,050: No defense has been worse against the run than the Saints. They’re allowing 215 rushing yards per game! And they’ve allowed the most rushing TDs (six) in the league.

WR Larry Fitzgerald, ARI vs. MIA – $13,750: It looks like Kevin Kolb isn’t quite as bad as we thought. The Dolphins’ secondary, however, is. While they have allowed only three receiving touchdowns this season, they have given up an average of 309 passing yards each game.

WR Vincent Jackson, TB vs. WAS – $10,850: The Redskins have allowed the most passing touchdowns (10) in the NFL. I’d rather lean this way than on Josh Freeman.

TE Owen Daniels, HOU vs. TEN – $8,400: The Titans are tied for allowing the second-most passing touchdowns (eight) in the NFL, and the Texans are proving to be an offensive juggernaut again.

FLEX Malcom Floyd, SD vs. KC – $9.850: While the Chiefs have been stingy yardage-wise, they have given up eight passing touchdowns this season, and they can’t force turnovers (one INT).

K Mason Crosby, GB vs. NO – $8,200: Anyone going up against that Saints defense should do well, much less a kicker on a team with a chip on its shoulder after Monday night’s ref debacle.

DEF Cardinals, ARI vs. MIA – $7,950: The Cards face a rookie quarterback, a horrible receiving corps and an injured running back (Reggie Bush).

Don’t forget, you can always go back and edit your lineup up through Sunday morning. So if one of your players is declared inactive, you’ll be able to jump in and switch him out. One of my favorite features of this game is the “Rapid Replace” option, which allows you to change out one player with another player in ALL of your DraftDay.com lineups that week.

Let’s get it on!