9/16/08
- Off the top, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan and his massive
ego have never been a favorite but here's to his gutsy call
to go for the win on a two-point conversion at home this week
against division rival, and main challenger for the division
title, San Diego. Not to mention the play call that went to
rookie wide receiver Eddie Royal.
- Carson Palmer - two games, 228 yards passing, no touchdowns,
three interceptions. Ouch.
- LaDainian Tomlinson - two games, 152 total yards, no touchdowns.
Ouch.
- Does everyone agree that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers
is doing his part in winning over the fans in Green Bay? Apparently
the shadow cast by Brett Favre isn't so big after all.
- The Chiefs said they had to get rookie Jamaal Charles more
involved in the offense and they did, much to the chagrin of
Larry Johnson and LJ owners. This was either a motivational
ploy by the Chiefs to get Johnson to improve his performance
or else Johnson has worn out his welcome and the team is looking
beyond this year. Given the state of the team and its quarterbacking
situation, Johnson's bad attitude and his salary cap number,
it says here that he won't be long for Kansas City and it's
time to unload Johnson from your FF roster even if it means
taking 50 cents on the dollar.
- Keeping with the Chiefs, they have now lost 11 straight games,
which is a franchise-record. Their last win was against the
Raiders, one of the worst teams in the league in 2007. If the
Chiefs don't win next week on the road in Atlanta, there next
solid chance for a win is in week 13 against the Raiders. Throw
this on top of the team alienating their best player in Johnson
and it's hard not to conclude that Herm Edwards is the most
overrated head coach in the league.
- The verdict is in on the Jaguars revamped offensive line
and the results aren't pretty. The team was forced to play the
Bills this week minus all of their interior offensive line starters
with center Brad Meester expected to miss three to more four
weeks and guards Vince Manuwai and Maurice Williams on injured
reserve. The offense managed only 98 yards on 27 carries on
the ground, bringing their season totals to 131 yards on 44
carries. Worse yet, Maurice Jones-Drew limped off in the second
half with an apparent knee or ankle injury.
- How bad are the St. Louis Rams? They have lost 15 of 18,
including six in a row where the average margin of loss has
been 23 points. The defense has given up almost 1,000 yards
in two games despite one of their opponents missing both of
their starting receivers. On offense, the team has yet to run
a play in the red zone, their lone touchdown coming on a 45-yard
Torry Holt reception that, although a great play, certainly
had an element of luck to it. In addition, they have converted
three of 23 third downs on offense. It might be time to take
a hair cut on your Rams players and see what you can package
them off for because this offense doesn't seem capable of getting
into the end zone.
- Although the Saints defense isn't comparable to the Giants,
owners of Redskins offensive players can breathe a sigh of relief
after the offense upped its output from 209 yards to 455 yards
against the Saints. Proven commodities Clinton
Portis, Santana
Moss and Chris
Cooley all upped their performances in the team's come from
behind win over New Orleans. Perhaps most importantly, quarterback
Jason
Campbell's performance improved dramatically and he showed
much more command of the west coast offense. However, what shouldn't
be discounted in assessing Campbell's performance is that the
Saints were without cornerbacks Mike
McKenzie and Randall
Gay, linebacker Scott
Fujita and safety Roman
Harper and they lost backup cornerback Aaron
Glenn during the game.
- Based on a standard FF scoring system, Bills quarterback
Trent Edwards has accumulated 30 points over the team's first
two games. Edwards has thrown for 454 yards and two touchdowns
and his totals would be even more impressive if the Bills hadn't
been ahead early against Seattle in week one.
- Aaron
Rodgers owners, let's see how good he looks in week three
at home against Dallas before we heap too much praise on him.
The Packers first two opponents (Minnesota and Detroit) are
a combined 0-4.
- With Chris Perry contributing nothing to the Bengals running
attack (2.7 yards per carry) despite opposition defenses consistently
playing two safeties deep to negate wide receiver Chad Johnson
and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, look for the team to get backup Kenny
Watson more involved. It says here Watson will take over as
the main option on first and second down, allowing Perry to
contribute more as a receiver, a role he is much better suited
to.
- Suffice it to say that head coach Mike Holmgren's farewell
(failure?) tour is not going according to plan. With the team
0-2 and five of their top six wide receivers on the pre-training
camp depth chart expected to miss next week's game, the Seahawks
will likely dress Courtney
Taylor, rookie Michael Bumpus (don't recall his name on
my pre-season cheatsheets) and recently signed veterans Koren
Robinson and Billy
McMullen at the position. Look for them to open up in the
Single Wing or maybe the T formation for next week's home game
against the Rams. This week's casualty was undrafted rookie
Logan
Payne, who suffered ligament damage in his knee and is likely
out for the year. If you're looking for a wide receiver in a
deep league, the choice is Robinson due to his familiarity with
the offense from his prior stint in Seattle.
- With the Titans once again displaying a stout run defense
thanks in large part to defensive tackle Albert
Haynesworth, look for teams to abandon their rushing attacks
when facing Tennessee. Based on that, cornerbacks Cortland
Finnegan and Nick
Harper are solid options in IDP leagues. Finnegan is the
more talented of the two so Harper will see more balls thrown
his way and the former CFLer has good hands.
- Hope you didn't overpay to get Matt
Cassel in the hopes he would perform in a Brady-like manner.
His first start since 1999 (that's right, high school) resulted
in a caretaker performance that was more reminiscent of Bears
quarterback Kyle
Orton than it was of Tom
Brady. It's likely that head coach Bill Belichick is attempting
to bring Cassel along slowly and the playbook will likely open
up Cassel gains experience. Be on the lookout for a Cassel acquisition
in a few weeks once his current owner has grown frustrated.
- Here's a name to think about - Raiders running back Michael
Bush. A projected 1st round pick heading into his senior year,
Bush fell to the Raiders in the 4th round of the 2007 draft
due to a broken leg suffered early in his senior year. After
spending all of 2007 injured, Bush didn't receive a carry during
week one but busted out in week two with a 16 carry, 90 yard,
one touchdown performance. With Justin Fargas expected to miss
time due to an injured groin and the Raiders committed to not
overusing rookie standout Darren McFadden, Bush could be in
line for 10 carries a game including goal line carries and maybe
more if the Raiders don't fall behind early in their games.
- Speaking of Fargas, it will certainly not be a surprise if
his injury leads to an unproductive 2008 season. In his previous
five years, he had one productive starting caliber season and
one productive season as a backup and has proven to be injury
prone. It's best to avoid players that have a proven record
of ineffectiveness and injury.
- Lions head coach Rod Marinelli was hired based on his defensive
acumen. Rams head coach Scott Linehan and Raiders head coach
Lane Kiffin were hired for their offensive acumen. The Lions
defense and the Rams offense are horrendous but Marinelli and
Linehan seem secure in their positions. Kiffin's Raiders just
posted 300 yards on the ground and he might get fired by owner
Al Davis. Just a thought.
- If you have Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe or tight end
Tony Gonzalez and word comes out that Tyler Thigpen may take
over the quarterbacking duties for an extended period of time,
it might be time to make a move. Thigpen looked awful behind
center and his accuracy (14 of 33) left a lot to be desired.
Of course, he may have outplayed Raiders quarterback JaMarcus
Russell (6 of 17) in that game.
- Here's a candidate for your IDP league - Lions strong safety
Daniel Bullocks. The 2006 2nd round pick missed all of 2007
due to injury and lost his starting spot to Dwight Smith during
training camp. However, the team moved Smith to free safety
for week two in place of the ineffective Gerald Alexander and
inserted Bullocks at strong safety, where he was in on 12 tackles.
With the Lions to likely be trailing early and often, Bullocks
will certainly have plenty of tackle opportunities.
- With safety Sean
Jones out at least two more weeks with a knee injury, the
Browns porous secondary figures to get picked on even more until
he returns. The situation worsened this week with defensive
end Robaire
Smith suffering a season-ending injury to his left Achilles
tendon. With pass rushing linebacker Antwan Peek also out for
the season and Kamerion
Wimbley unable to provide much pressure on opposition quarterbacks
(just four sacks in 18 games since recording 11 during his rookie
season in 2006), the Browns pass rush is simply not able to
mask the team's deficiencies in the secondary.
- Great spin coming out of San Francisco this week regarding
2006 1st round pick Manny
Lawson, who didn't play a single down on defense. The word
from the 49ers was that Lawson didn't play because the team
played the entire game with an extra defensive back on the field
(likely to shadow Seahawks tight end John
Carlson). However, there were certainly short yardage situations
or substitutions at the other three linebacker spots, none of
which resulted in Lawson seeing the field.
- The scuttlebutt during training camp and early in the season
is that the Eagles want to find a role for backup running back
Lorenzo
Booker. Which begs the question - why? Once starting wide
receivers Reggie
Brown and Kevin
Curtis return, the team will arguably have their most depth
at the position during head coach Andy Reid's entire tenure
in Philadelphia. Throw in a solid receiving option at tight
end in L.J.
Smith, that running back Brian
Westbrook needs 25 touches a game and that Correll
Buckhalter is also a solid running back and there's no rationale
explanation for the team wanting to get Booker more involved.
This is either a smoke screen put out by the team to force opposition
defenses to account for Booker or else the team is delusional
about what Booker can contribute.
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