While I will admit that he’s probably better at this than I am, he does just about everything I hate when it comes to his “Love ‘em, Hate ‘em” column. He picks about 50 guys for each, he says he doesn’t pick the obvious ones (even though this week he loves Marshawn Lynch and Steven Jackson - if you have either of those guys, they were your first round pick, do you really need to be told to start them?), and this week he decided not to grade his picks anymore because he feels it’s a waste of time (or maybe because his week three picks stunk like a monkey).

While some of my picks recently have also had the reek of monkey on them, I will continue to stand by my decisions and grade my performance be it good, bad, or ugly. Let’s look at how I did last week.

Starts

QB David Garrard, Jacksonville: Garrard played well last week, but he filled the dreaded role of “game manager” which is a nice way of saying he did a nice job handing the ball to Taylor and MJD and getting out of the way. Miss.

RB Julius Jones, Seattle: Jones went for 140 and a score last week, which is even more than I predicted. Plus, that touchdown run was quite possibly the most impressive run he’s ever had - looks like Julius has turned it around just in time for his bye week. Hit.

RB Ray Rice, Baltimore: I’m an idiot. Miss

WR Chansi Stucky, New York Jets: Stucky played well, coming up with 42 yards and a score, just not quite as well as I thought he would. The touchdown keeps it from being a total bust. Push.

WR Lee Evans, Buffalo: Buffalo may have looked past this game a little bit, and Trent Edwards looked past Lee Evans a lot. He’s your best receiver - throw him the ball!!! Maybe I’m just bitter. Miss.

Ride the Pine

QB Carson Palmer, Cincinnati: Palmer didn’t do a great job in leading the Bengals, but if you started him last week, you were probably satisfied with 286 and a touchdown. Better than I thought he would do. Miss.

RB Willie Parker, Pittsburgh: Only 20 yards for Fast Willie last week, and now he’s not playing against Baltimore - sucks to own Parker right about now. Hit.

RB Jamal Lewis, Cleveland: Lewis only touched the ball 15 times in this game, but he had 75% of the Browns rushing attempts and tied for the team lead in receptions. He turned that all into 77 total yards and not much else. While I’m mot completely sure I got this one right, I’m calling it close enough. Hit.

WR Andre Johnson, Houston: This pick, however, was pretty clear-cut. 2 catches for 29 yards equals one big hit.

WR DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia: 40 receiving yards and 9 return yards. At least he didn’t drop the ball on the three yard line this week. Hit.

Week three totals: 5-4-1

Overall totals:15-13-3

On to this weeks picks:

Time to Shine:

QB Jake Delhomme, Carolina: Jake couldn’t throw last week against the Vikings, but another week with Steve Smith paired with a Falcon team who has managed to beat two of the worst teams in football comes to town spells good news for Delhomme owners. Carolina shows Atlanta who is the top dog in this division, and Delhomme goes for 250 and a couple scores.

RB Earnest Graham, Tampa Bay: With all the Aaron Rodgers hubbub, Green Bay’s suspect run defense has gone largely unnoticed. 150 yards a game given up on the ground. Even with half their secondary injured and the other half gimpy, Tampa would be wise to let Graham do most of the heavy lifting. 100 yards and a score from the big fella.

RB Chris Perry, Cincinnati: Perry is still getting comfortable with his role as a starter, but last week he showed some flashes of what he can do when he’s healthy. He should put up some good numbers against a Browns defense that give up 145 rushing yards a game and isn’t too hot against the pass either. 110 yards and a touchdown.

WR Isaac Bruce, San Francisco: New Orleans can’t stop anybody and J.T. O’Sullivan has been surprisingly good so far this year. Did I mention New Orleans can’t stop anybody? 80 yards and a score for Bruce.

WR Andre Johnson, Houston: After his debacle in game two, you may be a little hesitant to start Johnson this week. Don’t be. Houston can’t afford to go 0-3 and they’ll pull out all the stops this week. They’ll still lose, but there won’t be a stop left in the Houston locker room that hasn’t been pulled. Johnson gets 120 and a score this week.

Ride the Pine:

QB Jason Campbell, Washington: Campbell has played very well the last two weeks and has looked like the starter Jim Zorn was hoping he’d be. But playing on the road against a super-hot Dallas team has me worried that we’ll see a regression from the Redskins’ quarterback this week.

RB Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh: With Parker out with an injury, Mendenhall gets his first chance as a starter in the NFL. An unfortunate text message to Ray Rice may have Rashard wishing that Fast Willie was feeling better. Mendenhall will be seeing a lot of Ray Lewis Sunday, and not in a good way.

RB Correll Buckhalter, Philly: It’s looking more and more like Brian Westbrook will not be a go this week against the Bears, so Buckhalter should get the bulk of the carries. If you grabbed him off the waiver wire this week hoping just that, you need to calm down right about now. The Bears defense is still good (only 71 yards a game given up on the ground). Buckhalter has been in the league 8 years and has never been a starter - there’s a reason for that. Look for Philly to throw and Correll to pick up a lot of blitzes - does your fantasy league give points for that?

WR Roddy White, Atlanta: The Falcon offense has looked pretty good this year and Matt Ryan has shown the ability to be an NFL quarterback. Of course, I might be an NFL quarterback if I got to play against the Lions and Chiefs. The Panthers are no Chiefs, and this week is the first big game for the Falcons since Michael Vick left town. A long day for Ryan means an uneventful day for Roddy White.

WR Brandon Lloyd, Chicago: Lloyd might be the feel good story of the year so far. He’s gone from one of the worst free agent signings in Washington Redskin history (which is saying something when Dan Snyder is involved), to the leading receiver in the greater Chicagoland area. While he probably wasn’t as bad as he was in Washington, he definitely isn’t as good as he’s been for the Bears. The Eagles will bring him down to earth some this week.

*Quick note: If you have any Lions, Colts, Dolphins, Patriots, Giants, or Seahawks sit them all this week - they’re on bye (if I were Matt Berry, I would count those all as hits next week - that is, if I still bothered to grade my picks).