Drew Brees, a fan of the Mojo Man. Clearly.

Drew Brees, who I can only imagine reads my article and hangs on my every word each week, was my top JOCK last week and he came through for me. He put up 445 yards and 3 touchdowns against the Jaguars. What a great week! With his Bye Week behind him and the Rams and Texans ahead of him on the schedule, things are only looking better and better for him.

With any luck you people listened to me and ran out and made sure you had him starting last week. If not, besides the fact that I am very hurt emotionally, correct yourself and read my new list of JOCKS and JOCKS with newfound vigor and commitment.

Weekly Mojo: Perfection

It is nice to know I am right some of the time! The Patriots remain undefeated and the 1972 Dolphins are getting nervous. That prompted a nice little lunch conversation between me and few of my friends on Monday. Not all of my pals are Patriots fans like me – heaven help them – but we all love football as a whole and love fantasy football even more. So we talk about things. We beat ideas into the ground.

The talk swirling around my honey BBQ chicken quesadilla at Friendly’s was this: If you were Bill Belichick and the playoffs and home filed advantage were already wrapped up would you let your starters, mainly your quarterback Tom Brady, keep playing just to go for that elusive undefeated season record.

I think every true sportsman and athlete wants to win every time they step on the field, and they should. But given the option of 16-0 or WORLD CHAMP I think everyone would rather be the champ.

We all agreed on that point.

But it is a tough call for the Patriots to make if they come off their Bye Week next Sunday and continue the pace they have been on. Can a coach really deny his players a shot at a perfect season? A coach over in Japan denied his starting pitcher a perfect game with the Japanese Championship on the line. The Chunichi Dragons’ starting pitcher, Daisuke Yamai, retired every batter that stepped up to the plate for eight straight innings. His team, however, only gave him one run of support. So with the game on the line his coach pulled the perfect starter and brought in his closer to pitch the ninth inning. The closer, Hitoki Iwase, whiffed all three players and they won the championship.

Make no mistake though; we Americans have much bigger egos to stroke than they do in Japan. I am not sure how players would respond after being benched if a perfect season was on the horizon. Even if their subs went on to keep it perfect.

I am going to stick by my gut on this one and say the only way Belichick doesn’t start his studs is if they lose a game before the playoffs. If you own any Patriots and they lose, be ready to see your boys sitting sometime soon thereafter. That could mean no Brady or Moss for those teams entering into a championship game themselves.

Jocks and Jokes

JOCKS

Lee Evans (WR, BUF) – Evans is back just like I thought he would be. There is just something about Week 8 that turns his game around. Week 9 cemented it though as a full on comeback. His schedule gets tough for a bit now with Miami, New England and Jacksonville on the docket, but make no mistake about it, he is back to being start worthy no matter who the opponent is. Ride him the rest of the year.

Adrian Peterson (RB, MIN) – I wonder where the Vikings would be in the standings if they had just gone with Peterson all year as the starter instead of continually trying to work Chester Taylor into the game plan somehow. It was nice they let Peterson break the single-game rushing record last week before giving some carries to Taylor though. I wish they would have let him break 300-yards though. I wonder if this means Brad Childress would bench his studs if he was facing perfection.

Priest Holmes (RB, KC) – Wow! I never thought I would see his name up here again. But with Larry Johnson hurt and maybe even hurt real badly, Holmes becomes a very nice pickup. Don’t go thinking he will be the same runner that helped so many fantasy teams win their leagues a few years back. But if he stays healthy and Johnson is gone for good, Holmes can easily supply so solid fantasy points for you. I would take the risk and add him.

JOKES

Patrick Crayton (WR, DAL) – Let me just check this one more time before putting this guy down too much. Yup. No catches for exactly zero yards last week. It’s Week 10 people and I warned you last week about this type of player. Sleepers are gone! If a guy is still not playing above his draft spot by now, he is not going to. Crayton is nothing more than an aggravation. I guarantee the week you bench him he gets two touchdowns and 100-yards. Then when you use him he turns in another goose egg. Get rid of him and let him be someone else’s headache.

Shaun Alexander (RB, SEA) – Head, shoulder, knees and toes! I loved that song as a child. I had no idea it was a list of injuries Alexander would get in one season. This guy is a walking billboard for health insurance. Coach Mike Holmgren says the Seahawks are going to a pass-friendly offense and has already shown signs of not wanting to stick with Alexander. If you can still trade in your league, find an Alexander fan and talk about his pre-draft rank and make a trade as fast as you can.

LaMont Jordan (RB, OAK) – After an amazing start of the year, Jordan has ground to almost a complete stop. He looks bad, runs bad and plays bad. Justin Fargas is about to take over and complete the phase out of Jordan from Oakland. He is safe to drop in all leagues now. At the start of the year I urged you all not to rely on ANY Raiders and worried through Week 4 that Jordan was going to make me eat those words. But not anymore.