10/07/08
- Off the top, to all Michael
Turner's owners, he is a good back and put up solid numbers
this week against a decent defense for the first time in 2008.
Perhaps he's not a guy that should be benched but if you have
solid options, his schedule isn't favorable over the next few
weeks. My point was that maybe
it's time to sell high on him and it says here it still is.
- With the Texans 0-3 and starting quarterback Matt Schaub
on the shelf due to a bad cold, Sage Rosenfels had a chance
to turn in a solid game and take over the reins in Houston and
for 57 minutes it looked like he would. Not only that, it would
have made him the top Fantasy Football quarterback on the waiver
wire this week. Alas, with two critical fumbles, Rosenfels solidified
his spot on the bench. Here's what Andre Johnson owners need
to know - his breakout performance in 2008 came this week with
Rosenfels at the helm and Schaub will be back in next week.
With Schaub at the helm, Johnson has one good game and two duds.
- Down in Miami, it's looking more and more like the Ronnie
Brown-Ricky Williams platoon system is becoming the Ronnie
Brown show. Brown's carries have risen each week from six
to 11 to 17 to 24 while Williams' have went from ten to 11 to
16 to 13. It's also worth noting that it was in Brown's third
game last year that he hit his stride and he held true to form
this year.
- Keeping with running back platoon systems, don't read much
into DeAngelo Williams' big week-five performance. Williams
went off for 148 total yards and three touchdowns but it was
against the Chiefs pathetic defense and none of the touchdowns
were in short yardage. At this point, Panthers head coach John
Fox is basically alternating backs with Williams getting a few
more touches and rookie 1st round pick Jonathan Stewart getting
short yardage and goal line work.
- Down in Houston, it looked it was going to be the Steve Slaton
show based on the rookie's solid performance thus far in 2008.
Slaton is on pace for over 1,500 total yards and 12 touchdowns
but Ahman Green stole some of Slaton's thunder this week courtesy
of his 12 carry, 47 yard performance. Slaton still managed a
solid performance thanks to two touchdowns (both from in close)
but the bottom line is that he had 17 touches compared to 12
for Green. Looks like Texans head coach Gary Kubiak doesn't
want to overwork his diminutive rookie so Green figures to be
in the mix.
- Speaking of rookie running backs, the league has gone gaga
over Bears rookie Matt Forte and although he has looked good,
he has went from 155 to 85 to 61 total yards over the past weeks.
Worse yet, his rushing yards have declined every week from 123
to 92 to 89 to 43 to 36. Add in that this week's 61 total yards
came against a soft Lions defense and it's beginning to look
like Forte may be hitting the rookie wall early. With backup
Kevin Jones getting acclimated to the Bears offense and the
team not wanting to wear the rookie down, it looks like Forte
may be rested more frequently than he was early on in 2008.
- Keeping with yardage trends, Dolphins wide receiver Greg
Camarillo keeps getting better every week. The man who ended
last season's Dolphins winless streak is becoming quarterback
Chad Pennington's go to receiver in Miami. He's decent bye week
filler and his yardage total has increased from 37 in week one
to 68 this week and there are a couple of softies on the Dolphins
schedule over the coming weeks. It also doesn't hurt that the
team's running attack has been heating up.
- Was there talk last week about the Cardinals benching quarterback
Kurt Warner? Warner torched the Bills this week even without
wide receiver Anquan Boldin in the lineup, utilizing an array
of short passes to backups Steve Breaston and Early Doucet.
Warner's obviously a turnover machine when not given much time
in the pocket but he's still one of the best in the league when
the pass protection is decent.
- Benals wide receiver Chad
Johnson was held in check this week against a Cowboys secondary
that has struggled thus far in 2008. With quarterback Carson
Palmer back in the saddle, there was some hope that Johnson
would finally put up a solid performance but he managed just
three receptions for 43 yards. Worse yet, Palmer has quit looking
Johnson's way, targeting him only five times against Dallas,
which surprisingly enough is only two off of his season high
of seven targets. Fellow wideout T.J.
Houshmandzadeh is clearly Palmer's main option now and Houshmandzadeh
has 48 targets this season to Johnson's 29. Palmer even targeted
third receiver Antonio
Chatman more times than Johnson this week.
- Chargers tight end Antonio Gates continues to struggle and
it's looking more and more like he will not regain his status
as the league's best tight end this season. The big worry entering
the season was that he had undergone surgery on a torn plantar
plate in his left big toe but it now appears that a hip injury
is greatly affecting his ability to get separation from defenders.
With two solid wide receivers for the first time in Chris Chambers
and Vincent Jackson, quarterback Philip Rivers has looked Gates
way much less than in previous seasons. Over the last four seasons,
Gates was targeted between 114 and 140 times but he is on pace
for only 86 targets in 2008. Basically the only thing keeping
Gates from being a total bust is that he has three touchdowns.
- Keeping with tight ends, if there wasn't enough evidence
entering the season that Patriots Ben Watson wasn't a top shelf
fantasy tight end, there certainly should be now. Watson missed
the first two weeks of the season and has just three receptions
for 17 yards and no scores over the past two weeks. He was used
sparingly in his 2008 debut but was on the field for most of
the team's offensive plays this week and was not a big part
of the offense.
- Hard to believe the small market Bills forked over $37.25-million,
four-year extension to wide receiver Lee
Evans. Evans is a solid top receiver but is clearly not
an elite receiver capable of consistently beating double teams
and is certainly not worthy of being the third highest paid
wide receiver in the league behind Larry Fitzgerald and Steve
Smith. With Fitzgerald getting $40-million over four years,
it is almost comical the Bills cough up just $2.75-million less
for Evans over the same number of years.
- The Vikings defense took a big hit with the news that middle
linebacker E.J.
Henderson was placed on injured reserved after dislocating
two toes on his left foot. With Pro Bowl tackles Pat
Williams and Kevin
Williams in front of him, Henderson was free to roam and
attacking opposition ball carriers. Rookie David Herron gets
the first crack at replacing Henderson but look for the team
to add veteran depth to the linebacker position either through
a trade or a free agent signing.
- The Rams placed tight end Randy
McMichael on injured reserve rather than wait the roughly
eight weeks it would take for the broken bone in his lower right
leg to recover. With new offensive coordinator Al Saunders utilizing
the tight end heavily in his previous stops, there was some
hope McMichael would be in line for a solid season in 2008 provided
the team's offensive line performed well and didn't require
his help in pass protection. However, the line has performed
below average at best and that likely means McMichael's replacement,
2006 2nd round pick Joe
Klopfenstein, won't be a solid performer in the passing
game. Klopfenstein has been a bust thus far and this is likely
his last chance with the organization.
- 49ers wide receiver Isaac Bruce scored two more touchdowns
this week giving him four on the season and his 275 receiving
yards have come on only 14 receptions, good for 19.6 yards per
reception. Makes you wonder if the Rams wished they hadn't waived
the future Hall of Famer. They gave up on Bruce because they
wanted to add a young, deep threat opposite Torry Holt and provide
an opportunity to expensive, bust Drew Bennett.
- Looks like Brian Griese's injured shoulder is going to take
Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden off the hook for his dubious
decision to remove Jeff Garcia from the starting line up. The
egotistical Gruden benched Garcia after he was injured during
opening week and it's highly likely part of the reason was Garcia's
outspokenness regarding his contract situation. Griese lost
a fumble and threw six interceptions against four touchdowns
over three and a half games as the team's starter but looked
lost at times against both the Packers and Broncos. Gruden's
explanation that the team was pleased with Garcia's improved
health rings hollow and he's lucky Griese's injury gave him
an excuse to make the switch at quarterback without looking
like a complete fool.
- It's likely time to dump Martin Gramatica from your fantasy
line up. Gramatica has now missed two game winning field goals
and it's likely that head coach Sean Payton has lost his patience
with him.
- With tight end Tony Scheffler out with a possible sports
hernia and rookie wide receiver Eddie Royal out with an ankle
injury, look for Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan to increase
Brandon Stokley's workload over the next couple of weeks. With
defenses putting a major emphasis on limiting the damage done
by Brandon Marshall and Scheffler and Royal out, Stokley figures
to be the recipient of many Jay Cutler passes until the injury
situation is resolved.
- It looks like the writing's on the wall for Bengals running
back Chris Perry. Despite having only a couple of practices
under his belt and four days to learn the playbook, recently
signed Cedric Benson was given 10 carries this week to Perry's
13. One of those carries resulted in his fifth fumble and it
came early in the fourth quarter with the Bengals trailing the
Cowboys by only a single point.
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