Viva Murillo!
Luckily for us, the one area where fantasy football differs greatly from professional football is job security. It might not be a good as a seven-figure signing bonus, but it can help you make decisions that will benefit your team.
In the NFL, job security is harder to find than an objective announcer working a game featuring Brett Favre. With eight weeks in the books, many players and coaches don't have the slack they enjoyed on opening weekend. Steve Slaton has five touchdowns on the year ... but he also has five lost fumbles. Now the team is non-committal about his starting job. David Garrard isn't allowed to audible out of running plays anymore; Jim Zorn isn't allowed to call plays for his team -- and he's the head coach.
In fantasy football, Garrard isn't starting for any winning teams and Zorn doesn't do anything but destroy his players' values anyway. But the Slaton development could be tough for fantasy teams. Even Kevin Smith losing touches to Maurice Morris will have an impact. Throw in a few key injuries to tight ends like Cooley and Daniels and many fantasy owners -- even ones leading their divisions -- will have some tough choices to make.
It also presents some great opportunities for struggling fantasy teams to make up some ground on the league leaders. You can take advantage of a key injury or time share situation by using the waiver wire to remove the good remaining options (nobody wants to see the Slaton owner pick up Ryan Moats except, well, the Slaton owner). You can also try to trade for players that will help you catch up just as other teams are stumbling. Or you can stand pat and hope other teams slip to within striking distance while your players get hot (might Kevin Walter benefit from Daniels' injury?).
But whatever you do, remember this -- you can lose the rest of your games this season and you're still coming back next year. You can't get fired. You have something nobody in the NFL has: Complete and total job security. Go ahead and take whatever chances you want to take. Make a big trade, start a waiver wire prospect or bench that under-performing starter. Just don't play like a hesitant coach with an egomaniac owner hovering over your shoulder. You make all your decisions, all the time. To use a Bill Parcells analogy, you buy all the groceries and you cook all the dinners.
Too many fantasy owners play like they have several eyes watching them. They want to make decisions that won't be criticized at work or on the weekends or on the Internet. Like a difficult press conference, they don't want to have to answer the tough questions if they fail.
But you know what? There are no difficult press conferences in fantasy football. Your team has just one fan -- you. The fact that nobody else cares about your team is an advantage. You have no expectations and you don't owe any explanations. At this point in the season -- where circumstances might cause some top teams to stumble -- take advantage of the situation and make decisions without the burden of intense scrutiny. No matter what happens -- win, lose or lose miserably -- you'll still have a job when the season's over. Play fearless and good luck this week.
You can reach Michael Murillo at vivamurillo@gmail.com.
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