Fantasy Look: Week 13 Preview
Patrick Daly
Friday April 22, 2005
At this point it’s a pretty easy thing to keep track of, with only the Columbus Destroyers and Grand Rapids Rampage mathematically eliminated from playoff contention so far. With five weeks remaining in the regular season it doesn’t look like many teams will sew up a playoff berth too early, so you probably won’t have to worry about too many teams resting their starters as they prepare for the postseason.
As is normally the case, injuries will continue to take their toll at this point, which is no more truer than in Orlando where the Predators will be without QB Joe Hamilton for at least two weeks after suffering a shoulder separation against the New York Dragons last week. The Predators signed a familiar face in QB Connell Maynor, who will back up QB Chris Sanders this week against the Georgia Force. That means you may want to think twice about starting WR/LB Cory Fleming or OS Jimmy Fryzel, with Sanders a big question mark.
The Predators are also expected to be without DS Kenny McEntyre, which will have an impact on one of the league’s top defenses. Orlando will also be without WR/LB Justin Skaggs, who has shown a lot of promise so far but has not put up noteworthy fantasy numbers so far.
Injuries have had an impact in Arizona at the quarterback position where the Rattlers are expected to return QB Sherdrick Bonner in place of QB Joe Germaine. With the current situation, starting either quarterback is risky, but regardless of who plays, OS Siaha Burley returns to the field after a bye week still leading the league in receiving touchdowns and he should get his chances to score no matter who plays at quarterback, especially against an Austin Wranglers defense that has given points away pretty freely.
A change that wasn’t made due to injury, but to take advantage of an opportunity, was Georgia’s trade for OS Chris Jackson. After only two weeks with the Force, Jackson has accounted for eight total touchdowns, which has been great for the team, but hasn’t helped any fantasy owners with OS Troy Bergeron on their roster. Bergeron’s numbers had already fallen a little with WR/LB Derek Lee coming on strong, but Jackson’s arrival has definitely had an impact.
The Las Vegas Gladiators are certainly welcoming the bye this week, which gives them a chance to rest their wounded. OS Marcus Nash had a wild four-game stretch that included 42 catches for 634 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns, but had been shut down the past two weeks, partially due to a hamstring injury suffered last week. The rest should do him good before the Gladiators head to Chicago to face the Rush in a critical American Conference showdown, however if the Nash’s injury lingers, keep an eye on WR/DB Ricky Ross, who had a solid game against the Philadelphia Soul after Nash left the game.
Finally, you have to like the matchup of the New Orleans VooDoo and Grand Rapids Rempage if you have QB Andy Kelly, OS Aaron Bailey or WR/DB Carl Bond. Only the Wranglers have given up more points than the Rampage, although Austin has played one more game so far. Bond has been impressive since WR/DB Jacques Rumph went down and if you we’re smart enough to snatch him up he should give you some good points.
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
