Cedric Benson was facing the Ravens, and I didn’t feel good about it at all.  I already did the Benson mea culpa last week, so I was on board – but this was a tough match up.

The Ravens haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in 40 games, and although I now have some confidence in Benson, I saw this as a big stinker in the making.  My options weren’t extensive; I mainly narrowed it down to Jerome Harrison as an alternative.

But, I was stuck. Frozen. Considering I had most of my big boys on bye, I needed to make the right decision.  It was critical.

As you can imagine, I participate in long time leagues.  Our owners are all friends, and we talk a lot, I mean a lot about our leagues. (For some reason, it becomes more important the older we get – go figure?)

So, Sunday morning tends to generate a lot of chatter about the impending games, and this week wasn’t any different.  I called a fellow owner just to, well, pick his brain.

He’s in a different division and I was playing his early season rival.  If anyone could give me unbiased advice – he could.  We often trade expertise and I needed to cash in some good will.

Me-  “I want to go with Jerome Harrison over Benson – the Ravens scare the hell out me.”

Fellow owner- “Stupid move – Cincy and Baltimore are rivals – especially this year – it’s going to be a grinder. Stick with Benson.”

His immediate certainty surprised me the most – he didn’t waffle at all.

Me-  “But…. Baltimore’s D…. Harrison is playing….”

Fellow owner- “I don’t care.  You really think Harrison is that much better? You’re wrong.”

I stuck with Benson and he racked up 120 yards on the ground along with a TD.

As for Harrison, a healthy Jamal Lewis stole the show with 31 carries for 117 yards while Harrison ended up with a measly 21 rushing yards on the day.

The story has a happy ending, of course.  I won handily.

What’s the point?

Tap your fellow owners knowledge.  Keep talking in a cooperative effort because no one knows your league better than – well, YOUR LEAGUE.  You may not be as fortunate to have such upstanding league mates, but highly competitive leagues tend to have a sense of camaraderie. This is a good example of talking to a “non-division owner” to gain some insight that you may be otherwise lacking.