Fantasy Football's Real and Surreal of Week Four

Is Denver circa 2008 the Colts of years' past in disguise?

The Colts have always had a superb offense, but a below-average defense. This year, the Broncos are top-two in both points scored and yards gained per game, and bottom-four in points allowed and yards allowed per game.

In other news, firings filled the air this past week, with Detroit's Matt Millen, the Rams' Scott Linehan, and the Raiders' Lane Kiffin were all fired after poor performances early in the year. Ed Hochuli seemed to blow another call, this time a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty on the Panthers after they returned an interception for a touchdown; and the top-four teams in the NFC might all be in the NFC East.

Let's get to this week's real and surreal.

Headline: Brett Favre throws for career-high six touchdowns in a shootout against the Cardinals

After giving up an average of only 16 points and 174 passing yards in their first three games, the Cards allowed 280 passing yards and 56 points to the Jets. Five teams haven't even scored 56 points all year, including the Patriots and Colts. In a fantasy perspective, I like Laveranues Coles more than Jerricho Cotchery for the rest of the year. If you take out week one when Coles had one catch, Coles has 90 more receiving yards and two more touchdowns and catches than Cotchery. I don't think either one is surreal, but on the other hand I don't believe they are real. I think Favre is for real. You won't see six or even five touchdowns again, but 250 yards and two touchdowns a game is what I'd expect for the rest of the year. I wouldn't mind if you sold high, however, as his value won't be higher than it is now.

Headline: Larry Johnson runs all over the Broncos, with 198 yards and two scores

No. No, LJ is not real. Not even close. Sell high! If you exclude week four, the Broncos still gave up 30 fantasy points per game to opposing running backs, which would be the third-most if the Broncos had a bye last week. (The Broncos' average fan. points allowed to running backs went up only eight-tenths of a point if you include last week. In fact, the Saints had more fantasy points between Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas against them in week three.) On the Broncos' side of the game, Jay Cutler had another good game, throwing for more than 300 yards and a score, and I think he is a top-three QB from here on out. Brandon Stokely had seven catches for 80 yards, but I doubt he gets 80 yards in any game for the rest of the season. He's surreal.

Headline: No-name wide receivers had huge games for both the Saints and 49ers, as the Saints won by 14

I'll go through each wide out that had a big game, starting with San Fran's Arnaz Battle. Battle had seven catches for 120 yards, but he's surreal. I don't think he's the 49ers WR you want; I'd rather have both Bryant Johnson (who was out with a hamstring injury) and Isaac Bruce (who had 54 yards and a score) for the rest of the year. J.T. O'Sullivan didn't do particularly well, but you shouldn't panic. For the Saints, Lance Moore had 100 yards and two scores on seven receptions, one on a long catch (33 yards) and one in the red zone (five yards). As Marques Colston heals from his finger injury, Moore is the WR you want in New Orleans. He's for real. Robert Meachem had 99 yards and a score on only two catches, one a 52-yarder, and the other a 47-yard touchdown. I'm not a fan of boom-or-bust WRs, which Meachem is—he had 86 yards on only two catches last week, including a 74-yarder—so I wouldn't want Meachem on my team. That being said, he should have a few more big games in him, with a lot of one- or no-catch performances. Think of him as a poor man's Lee Evans or Joey Galloway. Deuce McAllister also made a comeback, with 20 carries for 73 yards and a score as Reggie Bush was absent for most of the game. Deuce should get 15 carries a game; he's for real. You shouldn't panic with Bush either, but Pierre Thomas owners should feel free to drop him.