Thursday night's game was fun only for New England Patriots fans, daily fantasy gamers who guessed right and season-long owners who had LeGarrette Blount or the Pats' defense/special teams in their lineups. Otherwise, the 27-0 beatdown of the Houston Texans was a rough day in Fantasyland -- especially for those of us who stuck Rob Gronkowski into our lineups.
There were no Gronk spikes, because he didn't even catch a pass. There was little we could do, though, because the game could easily have played out differently: For example, had the Texans scored a couple of quick touchdowns, the Pats might have passed more and leaned on Gronk -- and a close game would have had him involved in the second half.
The bottom line is, you put your studs in and play the odds that are in their favor. Had you not played Gronk, you would have felt foolish had he pulled in, say, four passes for 60 yards and a pair of scores; but you shouldn't feel foolish for playing him and not getting anything in return due to an unexpected game flow.
Enough looking back, though. It's time to look ahead to the weekend. As you set your fantasy lineups, be sure to take advantage of our Roster Advisor tool to get an edge on your opponents. And for those taking part in the Eliminator Challenge, you also can get an edge here with the Survivor Guide.
Our weekly ESPN Insider cheat sheet provides a rundown of the greatest hits from all of our Insider fantasy football content. In this file, you'll find answers to the top questions of the week, along with injury updates, matchup advantages and wild-card plays from Eric Karabell, Tristan H. Cockcroft, Matt Bowen, Scott Kacsmar, Mike Clay, Al Zeidenfeld and ESPN NFL Nation reporters. It's all the best tips, distilled into one handy file.
Here's what our experts are saying about Week 3: