Meat Loaf used to say that two out of three ain't bad. Well, with last week's sleeper, I did manage to get two out of three. I gave you the right position, and I gave you the right team. . .I just gave you the wrong player. Tennessee Titans' wide receiver LaVelle Hawkins had just three catches for 18 yards on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. The better pick probably would have been his teammate Nate Washington, who had two touchdowns on the afternoon, despite having only 37 total yards.
Undaunted, we get back on the horse and try again this week, since the Vikings have the week off and we can look around the league at things.
This week's sleeper pick comes from the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers down in the Big Easy tomorrow afternoon. The Buccaneers are coming off of a bye, having lost to the Chicago Bears in jolly ol' England the previous week, while the Saints were the victims of what might be the upset of the year thus far, as they fell to the previously winless St. Louis Rams. The Bucs have been really up and down this season, and have been a markedly better team at home than they are on the road. They even beat these same Saints at home, 26-20, back in Week 6.
But this game is in New Orleans, and that could spell bad things for the Buccaneers. The Bucs' defense is 29th in the NFL in total yardage, which is a bad sign when you're going against Drew Brees and company. But rather than going with a member of the Saints' passing game, I'll be going with a running back that could take big advantage of the fact that New Orleans will again be without Mark Ingram.
Chris Ivory, who spent the first six weeks of the year on the Physically Unable to Perform list, rushed for 716 yards last season as a rookie, averaging 5.2 yards per carry. The Saints are going to try to work him into the offense with Ingram missing the game with a foot injury, and he could be someone that you could plug into a flex spot. He might be splitting carries with Pierre Thomas, but he could still be a decent play.
Ivory is only owned in 1% of all Yahoo! leagues, according to their numbers, so he could be a decent pick-up not only for this week, but going forward as the Saints work him more and more into the offense.