Drew Brees had very little of what scouts looked for in an NFL Quarterback prospect when he came out of Purdue. That just shows you, ability and talent are two things that don’t always match up. Drew has always had the ability, he’s forever been a student of the game that finds ways around defenses. He’s worked as hard as anyone. He’s been as accurate as any quarterback over the last handful of years, and his good habits have made him a force in the league. He’ll never be fast, but he’ll always be lightning quick with his decisions and footwork. He’ll never have a top-notch arm, but he’ll always be able to find a way to make every throw. He’ll never be 6’5″ but he’ll rarely get a ball tipped at the line of scrimmage, and he doesn’t need to see over his offensive line if he already knows exactly where everybody is going to be with his eyes closed. Give him his due, Drew is one of the best I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot….
The Eagles will do things like this. Why? It’s because they rarely commit to running the ball. If they ran the ball more on Sunday, twice as much, they still wouldn’t be a team in the top half of the league in carries. But they would have won the game. That’s right, there were plenty of places to run, and they have two very talented backs both very capable of running to open space. But the Eagles will do things like this. Andy Reid has proven to be a great coach, but he’s also shown that he won’t change a game plan that he thinks should work. That ability to make a change is something he doesn’t have, and because of this the Eagles have suffered. But then again, they’ll beat the best teams in the league. I’m just saying, the Raiders? Only Philly….
Tony Scheffler goes wild on Monday Night Football, and now we can all fully commit to Josh McDaniels doing what he wants instead of getting the ball to the guys on fantasy teams. If he took anything from Bill Belichick, it’s that you win games by using all your players, not just the popular ones. Tony hadn’t done much this year, but Josh saw a mismatch and slammed Tony down the Chargers’ collective throats. Brandon Marshall owners, sorry. Knowshon owners, not tonight. Eddie Royal owners, F your couch – unless special teams counts. You get the picture? Proceed with caution…. I don’t care if you thought Sydney Rice was a bust after two years of showing talent only to disappoint, because Brett Favre doesn’t think Rice is a bust, and that’s enough for me to believe. If Rice’s 12 catches for 187 yards and 2 touchdowns over the last 3 weeks didn’t get him owned in fantasy leagues, I’m willing to bet that his 6 grabs for 176 yards does. Brett has shown an appreciation for Rice’s toughness, his big frame, and his ability to beat a corner in man to man coverage. I think that’s something Brett goes back to a couple times this season as defenses continue to stack up against Adrian Peterson and company….
Speaking of Adrian Peterson, 22 carries for 143 yards? Against the Ravens? DIRTY! AP is an interesting cat. He doesn’t have huge games against normally porous defenses, but the run-stuffing D from Baltimore, no problem. The big man went off for 6.5 yards a clip, and certainly opened up some room for Brett to get the job done. I just think Adrian Peterson is one of those guys you play every game he’s healthy – he’s a beast, hitting him can’t be fun…. Watching Tom Brady throw 5 touchdowns in the 2nd quarter of the Patriots game against the Titans is basically the reason I have Sunday Ticket. I don’t think I’ll ever get it again, too much money for me, but watching that live was something else. The highlights were great, sure, but this was like watching Tiger Woods dominate his opponents. The world was Tom’s on Sunday, his throws were perfect, the snow didn’t get in his way, and he had me locked into a 45-0 game, in the first half, when I had the choice of any game on TV. Priceless…..
Rashard Mendenhall has turned into a very good blocker suddenly. I don’t know if it was Omar Epps letting him know what’s up or what, but Mendenhall was never considered a good pass-blocker, most cringed at the idea of him picking up blitzes, but recently he’s become a de-cleating blocker from the RB position. Now, blocks aren’t going to get you fantasy points, but the fact that Pittsburgh doesn’t have to replace their best back on passing downs will open up a lot of opportunity for last year’s 1st round pick, and that’s worth noting. Those waiting for him to start losing time to Willie Parker might end up waiting forever…. But Ben Roethlisberger is going to throw the ball, so don’t expect many 30 carry games for the big bad Illinois sophomore. Over his first 5 seasons as a starter, Ben tossed seven games with 300+ yards. This year, in 6 games, he has three. One of those was Week 6’s 417 yard performance against the Browns. He’s got plenty of weapons he trusts, the coaching staff trusts him, get used to Big Ben throwing the ball a lot, these aren’t your dad’s Steelers….
Lost in the shuffle of huge performances this week was some garbage stats that would make Derek Anderson’s Week 5 look normal. Kerry Collins and Mark San-CHEZ (as pronounced by the clowns in the broadcast booth during the Jets/Bills games) not only gave Anderson a run, but made Derek look down right impressive. Now Derek’s Week 6 of 9 for 24, 122 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT and 51 QB rating isn’t good, but that’s his 2nd best performance in his 4 games played this year. Last week’s 2 for 17, 26 yard, and 1 INT with a 15.1 QB rating was downright slimy, and I didn’t expect to see anything like it the rest of the season. Color me WRONG!!! I call on San-CHEZ to deliver his stats to the jury:
Lucky: “What do you have to say for yourself Mark?”
Mark: “10 for 29, 119 yards, 5 INTs, that makes a single digit QB rating of 8.3. Sorry.”
Lucky: “Apology accepted, but don’t do that again or we’ll ship you to Cleveland.”
Not only was Sunday a wake up call for Mark’s NFL honeymoon, but he basically lost his team the game. But wait, not to be out done, I’ll now call one Kerry Collins to the stand:
Kerry: “What do you want?”
Lucky: “Kerry, can I call you Kerry, like the chick from Sex and The City, or that scary girl from that horror move, or that one girl from…”
Kerry: “Okay, I get it, girl name, what they hell do you want?”
Lucky: “It looks like you’ve been drinking…”
Kerry: “So what, it’s Monday Morning, of course I’ve been drinking. Who doesn’t drink in the morning? You’d drink to if you looked like a drunk from the day you were born. Now what the hell do you want?”
Lucky: “That explains it. Now just list your numbers for the jury of people that don’t get paid to pass a football.”
Kerry: “2 for 12, -7 yards, 1 INT… QB Rating, 4.9. You have any Busch Light?”
Lucky: “4.9? Oh my good lord, you were half as good as a rookie that had 5 interceptions and completed just over 33% of his passes. How do you pass for negative yardage anyway?”
Kerry: “FML…”
To Kerry’s credit, I saw at least 5 absolute drops on Sunday. He didn’t stand a chance…. What do Michael Turner and Matt Forte have in common? Well, disappointment shows it’s ugly head. Both of these guys were sure-fire Top 5 fantasy picks, and neither has run the ball very effectively. Forte has looked worse, but both had yard-per-carry averages that would make Tim Hightower’s numbers look effective. Michael has been better, but neither has been good. Both were supposed to have more help this season, and thus have more room to run with improved passing games. What the hell happened to that idea?