Rosenberg's Fantasy Sports: Keep top guns in action

By STU ROSENBERG
srosenberg@modbee.com

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Stop!

Don't do it. Not now. Not in Week 16. Not with everything hanging in the balance.

The "it" to which we are referring? Sitting, for any reason other than injury or coach-ordered, playoff-preservation benching, the fantasy football behemoths who have carried you to the verge of a championship or a money spot.

Poor matchup? Sub-zero temperatures? Meteor shower? At this point, the only thing that should matter is having the best players available and playing them.

You didn't draft or trade for DeAngelo Williams or Steve Smith (you're my boy, Blue!) to sit him on the road against the Giants, just as I didn't draft Tony Romo with the intent of benching him. Ever. Not even against punishing defenses like the one he faced and struggled against at Pittsburgh two weeks ago or the one he'll see Saturday when the Ravens pay a visit to Irving.

At this point, it's imperative that owners resist the temptation to become Joe Micro-manager and insist upon "fixing" things that aren't broken and thinking about everything so much that you stop thinking at all (paralysis by analysis). Sixteen weeks into the season, you have to stick with and have faith that the people who have been getting the job done all season will continue to do so.

Sure, Romo could play Three Flies Up with the Ravens' secondary for four quarters or get knocked into the middle of February by Ray Lewis (at least Tony Siragusa can't sit on him!), but he could also rise to the occasion and deliver a three-TD, 250-yard game ... because that's what good players do: They make plays. Same with Smith, who is one of the league's shortest receivers, but one who will catch the ball in the face of sextuple coverage by a family of giraffes with laser beams on their heads if the game is on the line.

For example: You could pick up and play a wideout like Johnnie Lee Higgins, who has made a handful of big-gain plays this season, and hope the Raiders fall far enough behind that 1) they have to throw on every play; 2) that the opposition is so far ahead that the owners' grandchildren are subbed in for the second half; 3) the owner's grandchildren aren't very good and Higgins is able to slip into the end zone once as he did last week against New England's junior varsity defense.

But imagine your frustration if Higgins tanks, while Smith (or Larry Fitzgerald or Reggie Wayne) pulls a 10-catch, 150-yard, two-TD rabbit out of his hat while sitting on your bench?

If you have to go down, at least go down swinging with your top dogs. Effective managers know their personnel, play to strength and stay out of the way when the ball's in play, so to speak. So go with your best and let them take care of the rest.

• SECOND HELPING — A fourth consecutive 1,100-point week (Pierre Thomas, you're a saint!) has carried us all the way from ninth place to second ... and wishing the season ended yesterday. But, to borrow a line from Dewey Cox, we're gonna walk hard down life's rocky road and see if we can't see this thing through.

Good luck to all ... except for the Ravens, of course.

• OUR WEEK 16 LINEUP -- QB: Tony Romo (vs. Ravens); RB: Pierre Thomas (at Lions) and Warrick Dunn (vs. Chargers) or Tashard Choice (vs. Ravens); WR: Steve Smith (at Giants) and Antonio Bryant (vs. Chargers) and possibly WR Lance Moore (at Lions ... over Dunn or Choice if I'm feeling lucky); TE: Jason Witten (vs. Ravens); K: Nick Folk (vs. Ravens); D/ST: Steelers (at Titans).

Stu Rosenberg's fantasy sports column runs Fridays. Reach him at srosenberg@modbee.com or 578-2300.