Plaxico Burress (10-204, 2 TD) – I had a good feeling Burress was going to be cranked up for this game after being benched from the starting lineup a week ago for being late for a meeting. Didn’t he get the joke from the NFL Network ad, “Tom Coughlin’s Comedy Hour - Starts at 8:00; Don’t be late”? Eli Manning was certainly motivated to track down Plax firing the ball his direction 17 times, or roughly half of his pass attempts. And the Lambs. Oh, the Lambs... Extremely accommodating with their 5’10” corner backs. If Burress can stay focused, early indications are this is going to be one of my bigger pre-season gaffs passing on Burress time and again in every league I entered. And the unfortunate thing is I’ve always liked Manning’s fantasy prospects. It doesn’t add up...

Brett Favre (303 Yd, 4 TD) – Yeah, there were other 4 TD performances this week from the Manning brothers, but Favre gets some appreciation for working with very little at his disposal. In fact, as the game went on things just got worse and worse. It was like a train wreck that I couldn’t look away from. Yet somehow the old warrior persevered, kept heaving the ball around to the unknowns in white, and just fell short on the comeback. Similar to LaDainian Tomlinson a week ago though, probably quite a few fantasy comebacks came through thanks to that cannon arm.

Neil Rackers (6 FG, 1 XP) - Six field goals, 4 of them from 40+ yards and 1 extra point to boot, for a total of 19 points before distance bonuses. In one game Rackers racked up more points than the kicker for the Jets, 49ers, Packers, Ravens, Lions, Bears and Texans has all season. For those value-based drafting fans out there, Rackers has nearly doubled the season to date points of the 12th ranked kicker for a nifty +23 value differential. That is better than the 1st to 12th ranked TE. When exactly did the first TE in your league get drafted? And those 7 touchbacks in the game were impressive too. Stud kicker? Apparently so.

Comments From The Couch

• I find myself still doing a triple take every time I look at the NFL standings. The Redskins are undefeated? How the heck did that happen?
  
  
• So last week in a dynasty league I had both Kevin Jones and Clinton Portis off on a bye. It was just bad luck their bye weeks fell on the same week when the schedule came out since I carried them over from the prior year. Anyway, not having much in the way of currently productive backups, Chris Perry and Michael Pittman got the start and accumulated a pitiful grand total 0.5 points. I lost the game of course, but it was close, by only 3 points. Those clowns couldn't manage a measly 40 yards between them. This week Pittman goes off to the tune of 18.6 points. Every year Pittman screws me in new and mysterious ways. It doesn't matter if I own him or not, that guy is my fantasy nemesis.
  
  
• Did Marcus Pollard catch the ball in bounds for the potential game winning TD? I'm not sure how they overturn that call when the call on the field was a TD, but as a sliver of a silver lining for Lions fans, at least squeaking out a win against a previously unbeaten team didn't overshadow the fact that the Joey Harrington experiment has gone on long enough.
  
  
• The only problem is the Lions don't have any one else to turn to who might be able to right the ship. Maybe if the NFC North could assemble some sort of all-star team they could be competitive. I'm not sure there is an all-star head coach in the bunch though.
  
  
• Are player losses catching up with New England? Perhaps. San Diego is a very talented team and the Pats have more than earned the benefit of the doubt not to write them off prematurely. Time for Bill Belichick to start pulling some rabbits out of his hat though.
  
  
• Hold it Pepsi. Don't change the name of the weekly NFL rookie award to the Diet Pepsi Cadillac Williams Rookie of the Week award just yet. Didn't I warn you last week Gruden? Didn't I warn you?!?
  
  
• Tony Gonzalez is not happy with his lack of involvement in the offense. How do you think fantasy owners feel Tony? Pretty soon you're going to get benched for ... Dwayne Carswell?
  
  
• From last week, why not to watch football with my wife... the first thing she points out is, "I think the font size on Ben Roethlisberger's jersey is smaller than normal."
  
  
• Why not to let my wife proofread my articles... now she is using phrases like "ticky tack" and "unflappable" just to annoy me.
  
  
• I normally watch the Monday Night game a bit on delay so I can skip through a lot of the crap, but I did happen to see the halftime show last night. Who possibly thought the 60 Seconds with Jimmy Kimmel plus Jessica Alba "how to make toast" bit was worthy of making the airwaves? That was absolutely horrendous. ABC must truly think its football viewers have the I.Q. of a walnut.
  
  
• Sixty-two pass attempts? If Marc Bulger makes it through this season in one piece I'll be shocked.
  
  
• I'd love to give some comments on the debut performance of Brooks Bollinger as the Jets QB, but this game ranked dead last in my "ones to watch" list this week. Considering the Jets only scoring drive shows: 4 plays, -2 yards and a FG, I feel safe that was the right call.
  
  
• Who saw the Bills kick return at the end of the first half against the Saints? Terrence McGee zigzags back and forth across the field for an 82 yard return, a half dozen blockers in front of him and steps from the end zone for a score that would give the Bills the lead, and he trips over one of his own players and gets tagged down. Unbelievable! That about sums up the Bills this season. They are 90% of the way towards being a good football team, and then they trip themselves up anointing a not even close to ready for primetime QB into the starter's role.

And The Winner Is…

You know how I feel about kickers, but can I deny a kicker who hits 6 FG in a soccer obsessed country is our Groin Shot winner for this week? I thought not. Rackers, time to post some donuts the next few weeks fella so you can fall back in the pack with the rest of your outcast special team buddies. Otherwise, someone is going to be drafting you in the 5th or 6th round next year. Ha, ha. Well, that I’d like to see.