Each week of games is another day in the classroom for fantasy football
2001. Study and you have a chance at passing the course at the end
of the semester. Fall asleep after closing the local bars and you
will receive an "F". Here is what we learned Week 3...
There are a lot of Bad Football Teams in
the NFL Buffalo, Washington, Dallas, Seattle, Detroit, and
Arizona are bad in biblical proportions. And that list doesn't include
teams that may be as bad but have hidden it with a good performance
like New England or Cleveland. There are more bad teams then there
are good ones in the NFL. Why is that? Mostly poor decisions like
moving Rob Johnson into an offense with quick decision making. Or
spending a ton of cash on old players - Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders
- and ones that don't fit - Jeff George. Coaches can suck, see the
piece below but without players there isn't much they can do. Of
course, they aren't always innocent. Marty Schottenheimer had Jeff
George as the starter and introduced the West Coast offense. Might
as well have Michael Jordan in a home run hitting contest. The good
thing is that there will be plenty of times for fantasy owners to
sit back and watch as their players run roughshod over these losers.
Herman Edwards is not Long for the Job
Jumping the gun, yes I am. The game Monday night was a classic case
of the coaching staff not reacting to what was going on against
them both offensively and defensively. Before the rant, I did not
lose a bet on the game, I did not bet on the game, and advised people
in my office not to bet on the game. Edwards did not make any adjustments
at the half to stop the 49ers running game. And they stopped using
Curtis Martin - Herman, he is the best player on the team and maybe
the best in Jets history. Martin had 10 touches the first quarter,
and 10 the rest of the game. In between the Jets did things like
trying long passes to Mathew Hatchette when they had great field
position. They are on the 50-yard line down by six and start the
drive by trying for the lucky break. Idiocy! Two plays later, they
punt. This was a very winnable game - oh I am not a Jets fan, either
-thrown away by the coaching staff. Edwards did the correct thing
by focusing the problem on the players not the fact that they couldn't
get out of their own way on the sidelines. We won't mention the
delay of game penalty that took them out of field goal range.
Jeff Garcia is Having a Problem
The running game has taken a ton of points away from last year's
darling but worse than that he has only one receiver. Terrell Owens
is the only guy he can throw to, as Streets and Stokes are weak.
The tight ends are rookies and have been shaky. He is also hampered
by the fact that the defense is keeping the 49ers in the game. That
means Garcia doesn't have to throw the ball as much. At this point,
Garcia is on pace for 21 touchdowns and 3,100 yards, which pales
in comparison to the 35 touchdowns and 4,300 yards he had in 2000.
He does have Carolina and Atlanta on the docket but it may be a
good time to trade him before everyone else catches on that this
is 2001 and not 2000.
Defense Wins
Whenever a friend, talk show host, or bar companion starts talking
the talk about how this team or that kills because they have scored
a ton of points, point them in the direction of the Broncos/Ravens
game. Defense wins. It helps to have an offense to go with it but
in the battle of great offense and great defense, great offense
struggles to win. The Ravens beat the Broncos last season in the
playoffs and now Week 3. These are not coincidences as the Ravens
stop the run and force the Broncos to push the pass. It is easier
to defend the pass when a team can't stop the run. The closer to
the playoffs the more important this becomes as weather can get
bad and scores end up lower.
San Diego is for Real
Please don't take this as affirmation that the Chargers are headed
to the playoffs, deep in the playoffs, or, stop the madness, the
Super Bowl. What this means is that the Chargers are going to be
competitive in most games for two simple reasons. They can play
defense. See above. The other reason is that they have been able
to run the ball. When you can play defense and run the ball, you
control the game. If they had a better field goal kicker, they'd
be set. Wade - wide righty - Richey may have to win a couple games
and the Chargers may wish that John Carney wasn't gangplanked in
the offseason. Two other positives for San Diego are the fifth place
schedule - Cleveland is this week's opponent - and Doug Flutie.
Flutie may not be the best quarterback in the game and can lose
some if given too much to do but he is very inventive and can win
games that seem lost.
Eddie Kennison is not the Answer
Kennison was the boss a few weeks back when Ed McCaffrey went down.
We all remembered his rookie season and tossed in the fact that
he led his last two teams in receiving. The real sympathetic added
the litany of bad quarterbacks he has played with - Tony Banks,
the Billy Joes, and Cade McNown. What we forgot was that the guy
couldn't play. He is fast, somewhat shifty, but can't or won't catch
the ball over the middle. In two starts he has three receptions
and 13 yards. For McCaffrey that might've been one drive. We don't
think anyone will take him off your hands so it is either hold him
or drop him. Remember when Alvin Harper went to the Buccaneers,
this looks worse.
Washington Will Get Worse Before They Get
better
This is only the beginning Redskin fans as the worst is still yet
to come. Rumors of Westbrook being cut have floated as well as being
traded to Tampa for Shaun King. Westbrook has had a mercurial career
in Washington with injuries and fights with teammates but he is
the second best offensive player on the team. Dropping him makes
no sense and trading him for a player that is obviously, to even
a casual viewer, not a starting NFL quarterback makes little as
well. This is where the Redskins are headed. They have little clue
how to get out of this mess - start by giving Stephen Davis the
rock - and are willing to blowup the team before trying to patch.
Snyder doesn't know squat about football and Schottenheimer's knowledge
of players seems to go no further than Kansas City - hence the big
buys of Donnell Bennett and Kevin Lockett, former Chiefs. A good
guess down the road is Schottenheimer being fired by the end of
the second season. Snyder will then put a coach in place with little
experience and probably hire a personnel guy. The coach with little
experience - an offensive or defensive coordinator from a Super
Bowl team - probably fails and is tossed on the pile along with
the personnel guy. This will take a long time but a little intelligence
early in the process - keeping Charlie Casserly and Brad Johnson
- might've had them in place to compete in a mediocre division.
Mark Bond can be found,
most days, listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn, eating hot sausage sandwiches
topped with BBQ chips, chili, and coleslaw, slapping back Cuervo
shooters, and rambling on about those warm evenings spent with Janet
Reno. He is not related to James Bond but has the same air of sophistication
of Sean Connery. Mark is currently annoying his workmates at Jackpot
Sports, home of the first daily fantasy baseball game, the Reggie
Jackson Fantasy Baseball Challenge, plus weekly and seasonal Fantasy
Football games.
