Friday, March 2, 2001

Week Five fantasy tips

By Andy Hanacek, Associate editor and XFL analyst

Meanwhile, in New York, Hitmen head coach Rusty Tillman has said he’ll show the XFL this week what he’s all about, regarding his growing feud with NBC announcer Jesse Ventura. What if that means Tillman is going to resign? Wouldn’t that be a surprise? Tillman has said he wants no part of the ratings circus, so why wouldn’t he get out while he can save his reputation? But that’s just a feeling I have. Of course, it wouldn’t surprise me if Tillman punched Ventura either. If that happens, the XFL will lose a lot of credibility with a lot of people. And if Tillman should leave, the XFL would lose a potential ratings-boosting character, which they desperately could use right now. At any rate, here’s my Week Five fantasy tips:

• San Francisco Demons QB Mike Pawlawski injured his neck last week against Las Vegas and will miss at least three weeks. QB Pat Barnes steps in after a pretty bad showing last week in the second half in relief. With a full week to prepare, Barnes might play better. He has the receivers to throw to, and RB Terry Battle has helped balance the offense a bit.

• Avery Watch 2001: Avery missed last week’s Enforcers game with internal bleeding in his left thigh. Avery sustained the injury in the Week Three game against the Birmingham Bolts, and team doctors didn't consider it very serious at the time. Avery said they thought it was just a deep thigh bruise early in the week. But the bruise began to spread, and was about a foot long last Saturday. Thus, the doctors got a late start on treating the injury and Avery was forced to miss the Week Four game. Avery said that he will be back this week. He is listed as questionable for the game, so I’d still be careful. LeShon Johnson is a quality replacement who ran well on the outside last week against the new top defense in the league, the Hitmen. He faces the No. 2 defense, Las Vegas, this week.

• After two missed field goals and a verbal assault on the kicking game by teammate Tommy Maddox in Week Two, Los Angeles Xtreme PK Jose Cortez has hit six straight field goals, including the game-winner in Week Three.

• Hitmen QB Wally Richardson has proven he can handle his team in tough conditions, and if he throws the ball half as well as he did in rainy weather last week in Soldier Field, the Hitmen will be in better shape.

• If you’re in a league that doesn’t count interceptions against quarterbacks, Maddox and Enforcers QB Tim Lester aren’t bad signal-callers. But, with six and five interceptions, respectively, they can be poison in leagues that penalize for interceptions.

• League-leading rusher Rashaan Salaam of the Memphis Maniax is averaging 101 yards per game and has three rushing touchdowns on the year.

• This week’s game between the San Francisco Demons and Birmingham Bolts could turn into an aerial display. Both teams’ defenses are middle-of-the-pack units. The Demons are ranked first and the Bolts are ranked second in passing offense.

• The Xtreme have a nice one-two punch at receiver that they’ve taken advantage of thus far this season. Jermaine Copeland is clearly more of a possession receiver while his counterpart, Darnell McDonald, has done more of the scoring. Copeland has 29 catches for 292 yards while McDonald has just 15 receptions for 213 yards and four touchdowns.

• Keep an eye on Hitmen RB Joe Aska. He carried the ball 25 times vs. the Enforcers for 59 yards and had a one-yard TD dive. He could become the featured back in NY/NJ.

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2000 - 2001 Season