Intestinal fortitude

The mark of a true competitor resides in the ability to continue through adversity. If it's fighting through an injury and willing your team to a victory, there are few who show this kind of intestinal fortitude.

And thankfully, I have a couple of these players on my team.

God, I love fantasy football.

I advanced to the championship game in my keeper league after taking down the defending champions yesterday. It was in the same fashion that I've enjoyed for most of the season: my opponent has an off week and my team takes full advantage. I won with Minnesota's defense and Adrian Peterson still to play.

Next week won't be so easy. I'm playing the one team who has rolled through its competition all year long with Tom Brady and Brian Westbrook leading the way. He averaged 181.42 points per game as compared to my 157.76.

I'm hoping my recent pick-ups in the past few weeks will help. I grabbed wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery of the waivers after it was speculated that his season was over. But he played through the pain and has been fairly consistant these past few weeks. He's a nice improvement over Amani Toomer as my third receiver, and a good complement player to Larry Fitzgerald and Greg Jennings.

My running back situation is my strength. With Steven Jackson, Adrian Peterson and Brandon Jacobs coming on strong, I seem to have three potential No. 1 backs starting. Quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Vince Young have good matchups next week, playing Cleveland and the Jets, respectively. Mason Crosby is averaging double digits as a kicker and TE Chris Cooley has been a nice grab from free agency.

I'm projected to score 189.45 points next week, but we'll see. I'm thinking I need at least 200-plus points to even compete. Let's see who's on the waivers this week.