'House Check: The Claim of the Week

Every Tuesday night, we'll give you an update on our FanHouse fantasy football league. Who hit on their sleepers? Who made the shrewd pickups? Who's practicing what they preach? In 'House Check, you'll find out.

Ryan Dembinsky made the absolute pickup of the year this week, claiming the 49ers defense off waivers in preparation for their Week 4 game against St. Louis. I was lucky enough to make the same add just minutes before game time in another of my leagues, and I can attest to the sheer dominance of the San Francisco D this week.

With five sacks, three turnovers and three touchdowns, not to mention a shutout of the Rams, the 49ers defense posted one of the four best defensive performances in the last eight years. It was highlighted by the top IDP in the land, Patrick Willis, who scored me 30 points with his INT return for TD and 2.5 sacks in this week's game. In our FanHouse league, Ryan rode the 42-point defensive performance to an easy victory and the top score of the week.

After four weeks, Ryan's at the top of Division 2, while Tom Mantzouranis and Shane Bacon are tied atop Division 3 (Tom gets the slight edge with a lead in total points). Division 1 is something else entirely, with all four teams in the division sitting at 2-2.

Waiver Wire Work

The top waiver priority sits with Sean Lalley, who's had to suffer from the awfulness of Darren McFadden's performance this season. Two options present themselves on the wire: Mewelde Moore and Sammy Morris. You can't count on a passing TD from Moore at any other point this season, and Morris will be very hit-or-miss, as is the nature of the Patriots' rotation at RB. However, New England has relied on Morris in the past, and if an owner can be patient with him, he could provide some help down the stretch.

At WR, Mohamed Massaquoi is the big name of the week, but don't sleep on Josh Morgan, who's available in 71 percent of Fleaflicker leagues, including ours. He was a big sleeper coming into this season, and while Vernon Davis has emerged as the top passing threat in the offense, game planning for him could lead to some one-on-one deep routes for Morgan, which could mean some long TDs and some nice weeks for his fantasy team.

The emergence of Marcedes Lewis and Jermichael Finley have left quality options on the wire at TE, thereby thwarting my plans to trade Vernon Davis (I also have Brent Celek). Ori Schwartz and Will Brinson both have their one quality TE on a bye this week, so I fully expect both Lewis and Finley to be snapped up by Wednesday. If one or both can't land those quality options, I'll be looking into trading Davis to one of them.

Defensively, the Broncos are sitting on the wire after being cut by Tom Herrera before Week 4's game against Dallas. Tom was surely scared by Denver's matchup against the Dallas offense, but the Broncos' D is looking matchup proof, and I would start them against anyone, including New England this week.

With four Saints and the Packers defense on bye, I've got a lot of work to do to get ready for Week 5. I'm going to try and pick up Massaquoi and Morgan, as well as that matchup-proof Denver D. I'll also be keeping an eye on how the waiver claims shake out on Wednesday, and then try to move my extra TE for a little help at RB or WR.