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QBs cause problems for players

Notes:+

By JOHN COTEY
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 25, 2002

Chances are, Kurt Warner, Jeff Garcia and Daunte Culpepper were the first quarterbacks taken in your draft.

Chances are, you spent Sunday and Monday cursing them.

Have three prolific quarterbacks ever had such a simultaneously horrid start? The trio combined for 576 yards passing, one TD and nine interceptions. They have eight TD passes and 16 interceptions for the season.

In most leagues, the interception is minus points, and without touchdowns to offset them they are killers. The nine the trio collected is the same that Jake Plummer, Rodney Peete, Quincy Carter, Trent Dilfer, Shane Matthews, Jon Kitna, David Carr and Gus Frerotte combined for, except the latter had four TDs.

Based on fantasy football rankings from dot-coms ESPN, cbssportsline and Yahoo, Warner's preseason ranking among all players was 3.3. On Yahoo, he is 1,872 in fantasy-points scored rankings.

Garcia and Culpepper's average preseason rating was 9.7, and they are down to 1,329 and 706.

None of the top five fantasy scorers at quarterback, according to Yahoo, were drafted in your first round and possibly slipped past the second. The top five: Donovan McNabb (average preseason ranking of 19), Tom Brady (109), Aaron Brooks (26.3), Jay Fiedler (84.3) and Drew Bledsoe (43.6).

The skinny: If you're not trying to deal Garcia, you're making a mistake. Culpepper has value to bring you a solid runing back. As for Warner, stand pat.

PATRIOT GAMES: New England fans who let personal preferences cloud their draft judgment are lucky. The defense has been incredible, Brady (131st by ESPN, 71st by Yahoo and 125th by CBS) and ex-Pat Bledsoe have been great finds, Troy Brown is a pass-catching machine, and Adam Vinatieri is clutch.

HELLO? HELLO?: Monday Night Football ratings dipped to an all-time low after Marshall Faulk was injured, as viewers rushed to add Trung Canidate to rosters. If you did, you may want to grab the guy who will start if Faulk can't play -- Lamar Gordon.

YOU ARE KILLING ME!: Warner, Culpepper, Randy Moss, Derrick Alexander, Steve McNair, Tiki Barber (50 yards vs. league's worst run defense?), Shaun Alexander, Terrell Owens, Stephen Davis, Isaac Bruce, Corey Dillon, Mike Anderson, Johnnie Morton.

ROOKIE DU JOUR: In Week 1, it was Donte' Stallworth. Week 2, Josh Reed. And in Week 3, the emerging rookie class of wide receivers welcomes Andre' Davis of Cleveland. Davis, out of Virginia Tech, leads all receivers with four touchdowns (two this week) on 150 yards receiving.

Other rookie wide receivers you might want to grab include Louisville product and current Patriot Deion Branch, and keep your eye on Dallas' Antonio Bryant, who is a real NFL quarterback away from stardom.

TIP OF THE WEEK: After hours analyzing the offensive-defensive matchups, huddled thinking with various experts and wide-ranging statistical breakdowns, it is clear fantasy players should avoid Stephen Davis, Rod Gardner, Matthews, Owens, Garcia, any 49er RB, Michael Vick, Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James this week.

Trust me.

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