Who should I start this week?

[BMetts]

So I'm in first place in my league, and hoping to stay there. If you were me, who would you start this week? My roster is as follows:

QB Ben Roethlisberger
QB Brad Johnson
QB Alex Smith
RB Brian Westbrook
RB LaDainian Tomlinson BYE
RB Julius Jones BYE
WR Jerricho Cotchery
WR Andre Johnson
WR Plaxico Burress
WR Rod Smith
WR Marques Colston
WR Eddie Kennison BYE
TE Chris Baker
D/ST Falcons
D/ST Chargers BYE

I'm trying to trade for a decent TE and a backup RB, but until then, this is what I'm stuck with. Any suggestions?

[OGLESBYC]

i say drop colston and pick up another rb just to start this week and i def wouldnt start brad johnson because they play the bears this week i would probally start big ben because they play the bengals and you never know which def the bengals will bring but 2 of there linbackers are out right now pollock and therman but you def need to pick up another rb just for this week

chris

[sivjosh]

If you are on Yahoo!, I think Colston might be TE-eligible.

[BMetts]

I'm on ESPN. I would pick up a RB from the waiver wire, but there's nobody decent left. I've proposed a trade to one of my leaguemates:

Ahman Green and Kellen Winslow
for
Eddie Kennison and Alex Smith

Dunno if they'll bite, but we'll see.

[eaglefan52081]

i dont think they will go for that. try to pick up a promising back like norwood or deangalo

[Insane Irish]

Your QB's are H U R T I N G .....!!!!
I would say start Alex Smith for sure. Bad matchup for B. Johnson & Ben is NOT a good fantasy player, and he looked terrible the other night too.

Plus you only have 1 RB this week. (pretty bad planning)

Anyway, if asking who to start, you should include the following:

1) Scoring system (standard, custom, PPR, TD league???)
2) # of starters for each position (2 RB's?/ 3 WR's??)
3) What team the player is playing against.

[BMetts]

Alrighty, so my leaguemate turned down my trade (as expected), so I went ahead and picked up Cedric Benson from the waiver wire and dropped Eddie Kennison (who's been pretty worthless so far anyway). I also dropped Baker and picked up Todd Heap. I only have to start one RB, so if Westbrook isn't able to go on Sunday (he's Q right now), I'll be able to plug Benson in there and hopefully get lucky.
Here's how my starting lineup looks right now.

QB: Alex Smith, SF (vs. Phi)
RB: Brian Westbrook, Phi (@SF)
RB/WR: Jerricho Cotchery, NYJ (@Buf)
WR: Andre Johnson, Hou (vs. Was)
WR: Plaxico Burress, NYG (@Sea)
TE: Todd Heap, Bal (@Cle)
D/ST: Falcons D/ST (@NO)
K: Jeff Wilkins, StL (@Ari)

Bench:
Ladianian Tomlinson, SD (BYE)
Julius Jones, Dal (BYE)
Rod Smith, Den (@Dal)
Ben Roethlisberger, Pit (vs. Cin)
Brad Johnson, Min (vs. Chi)
Marques Colston, NO (vs. Atl)
Chargers D/ST (BYE)
Cedric Benson, Chi (@Min)

Scoring is standard ESPN scoring. (http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/fo...flrulesscoring)

Let me know if you have any more suggestions!

[elway4ever]

Todd heap was a free agent??

Westbrook should be fine... he is on of my team and I was reading up on him..

he didn't practice at all last week and still played in the game!

He should be fine!

[mackey]

How many teams are in the league? I have a hard time understanding how you have such a thin roster, but a player like Todd Heap is on the WW. Very strange.

[BMetts]

mackey: There's 13 teams in the league. I was very lucky to pick up Heap, as there wasn't really anyone else available.

So I lost 81-75, thanks to the stupid Falcons defense doing nothing to stop the Saints. Fortunately Westbrook went off against SF, or else it would have been much worse.

So my decision for this week is who to start at running back. I've got Tomlinson, J. Jones and Westbrook; Tomlinson is playing against the Ravens, the best rushing D in the league, while Jones is playing the Titans, one of the worst, and Westbrook is on fire. I don't want to sit Tomlinson, but don't you think I have two solid RBs to justify that decision?