The Guru Gridiron Report: Week 4 Bench/Start Quarterbacks

SO far we have had some great success this season, but week 4 delivers the first serious challenge of the season and the biggest of its type we will see all season long. The bye weeks have started and in week 4 you will see 6 teams taking the week off and they include; New York Giants, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, and Detroit Lions.

Expect to see an active free agency for wide receivers and quarterbacks, but not as much on the runningback side. Examining the 6 teams that have the week 4 bye, fantasy owners will miss roughly 10 wide receivers and 5 quarterbacks, while losing only 5 runningbacks. SO grab the wide receivers if they are still out there and you are in need. As for the quaterbacks, here are our recommendations:

QUARTERBACKS YOU MUST START
Week 4 shapes up to be a week that quarterbacks who haven't shined so far can have breakout games. One game of key interest is a developing tornado of passing over the Ohio at Cleveland vs. Cincinnati. We look for Derek Anderson to have a strong performance to save his job throwing no less then 3 TDs. On the other side, we see Carson Palmer continuing to improve from his last week performance and adding 3 himself. Another shootout will occur down in New Orleans, only the Saints will be on the bigger end. Drew Brees will continue his hot hand, while counterpart J.T. O'Sullivan will have a 2 TD performance and both will collect plenty of yards. Finally, will the real David Garrard please show himself on the field of play. Week 4 against Houston at home provides Garrard a breakout opportunity with possible healthy wide receivers.

Others: Tony Romo, Kurt Warner, Jay Cutler, Philip Rivers

Other Quarterbacks To Consider Starting With Some Risk
There are some very good mid-tier quarterbacks to start this week and we start with Trent Edwards against the hopeless St. Louis Rams. We expect the Rams to play a little tougher and the Bills to run the ball, but Edwards should have a solid game. Jason Campbell will be playing from behind in Dallas and he will sneak a bomb or two pass the Dallas defenders. Matt Ryan and Jake Delhomme will exchange pleasantries in a tough NFC South battle. Its a risk to guess how many of the passes they throw land for TDs or INTs, but we expect allot of passes thrown. You have to like the numbers. Aaron Rodgers is facing his biggest test of the season. We have to say start him if you don't have a higher tier QB, but beware that Tampa can make life hard on the young QB. We do think that the Green Bay offense matches up well with the Tampa Bay defense. If Aaron Rodgers does well expect Brian Griese to throw 60 more passes this week playing catch up.
Others: Matt Schaub, Kerry Collins, Brett Farve, Ben Roethlisberger

Please Bench These Quarterbacks
Gus Ferotte didn't play to expectations, so bench him until he shows us he's worth it. JaMarcus Russell will not have success against San Diego except for some late dirt in a likely blowout game. I apologize on behalf of all fantasy football experts if you've been forced to start Joe Flacco, but again bench him. Here is our surprise of the week. We do not like Donovan McNabb going to Chicago and performing well against the fast moving Bears Linebackers. This would be a week to bench McNabb.
Others: JaMarcus Russell, Kyle Orton,

Sleeper Quarterbacks
We only have two sleepers this week. Trent Green should provide a quick, but short spark for the Rams at home against Buffalo. He should be able to get 225 yards and 1, maybe 2 TDs. We also like Damon Huard against Denver. Cutler's crew will wipe out KC, but with home field and a big deficit to dig out of Huard can easily get enough junk points to add up.

Good luck. Next are our Runningbacks!

The True Guru