PLAY YOUR STUDS?????

I was raised to do three things: Love your neighbor as yourself, put family first and PLAY YOUR STUDS in fantasy football. And for the first 39 years of my life, I've done a pretty good job of doing all three.....until today. Two weeks ago I really wondered if I should play my studs all the time. As you look at the rankings, week after week, players ranked outside the Top 40 routinely finish above players in the Top 10.
For example, this week I was considering benching Maurice Jones-Drew (my first round pick, #3 overall) for Ryan Torain. I didn't do it because MJD was my STUD. Ryan Torain outscored him by like 17 and I lost by 3. I also played Miles Austin. Now, if I would have gambled on Mike Williams of Seattle I would have had ten more points. Kevin Kolb was 19 spots higher than Tom Brady. Over and over you see players ranked lower finishing way higher....than even your STUDS.
Obviously, you don't want to be the guy who sits Andre Johnson when he goes off for 30 fantasy points. And most Sundays I think you stick with the STUDS. But, if you get a feeling, if you have a hunch, if you feel like doing something crazy - GO FOR IT! The Holy Spirit gives us the freedom to do some crazy stuff every now and then. So, what I'm saying is this: I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO NOT PLAY YOUR STUDS. Do with it what you will!
Now for everyone who likes to see if I'm improving in my picks - like anyone really cares. I'll say it again - YOU CAN'T PREDICT THIS STUFF! Here's how I did in Week Six. Getting better....except for Tight Ends - (Ben Watson #1 + Antonio Gates goes down = tough week)
POSITION..... WEEK 4......... WEEK 5 ***......... WEEK 6
QUARTERBACK....248 / 9.9.....278 / 11.2........240 / 9.6
RUNNING BACK...836 / 16.72...1112 / 22.24....632 /12.64
WIDE RECEIVER..1502 / 30.4...1373 / 27.46....1335 / 26.7
TIGHT END......165 / 8.25....254 / 12.7........252 / 12.6

*** = I picked names out of a hat.
The scores reflected are total points and # of spots, on the average, I was wrong about any individual player. To get my points, I rank the Top 20 QBs, Top 20 RBs and WRs, and the Top 25 TEs. Then, I find the difference of where they finished for the week (on ESPN scoring) compared to where I ranked them. If I did not have them in the Top 20, 50, 25 and they finished there, I take the next available spot, 21,51 or 26 and add the difference to my score.