Ten for Tuesday: Week 8 NFL Football

It is nice to see Eli Manning switch back to the pouty-faced Ellie that I’ve known and loved for so long. Ellie is back to his inaccurate throws, shame-faced box crab looks, and more importantly, the Giants losing games. Not only did they lose on Sunday, but the Eagles just absolutely destroyed them. The Giants have fallen in love with this Eli guy, the guy they gave more money too than any other team pays any other quarterback, but with Eli you get Ellie, and that’s the guys playing right now…..   I had forgotten, but Steven Jackson is one of the best players in football. How do I know that? Well, while everyone else in America was watching a good football game, I was viewing the car-wreck that was Detroit hosting St. Louis. There’s something about it, I just couldn’t keep my eyes off of this game. Nobody should have to see something like that, but here I was, in awe. Steven Jackson was straight beasting everybody on the Lions team. I think he even had time to boo Matthew Stafford. While watching the game I learned a couple more things…    Marc Bulger is a terrible quarterback. Despite not getting much offensive line help, it’s hard for me not to tear into this guy. He steps backward every time he throws, setting his receivers up to get blasted, he’s gun shy, he’s basically the opposite of everything good. His best day isn’t close to Ellie’s saddest tear-filled outing….    And once again, the all stars from these two teams couldn’t get together to win more than 5 games. Steven Jackson would still be trying to carry the team on his back while a poor quarterback option failed to get the ball to Calvin Johnson. The offensive line would be a little better, but still not good. The Defensive line would have a couple players to rush the pass, but still get eaten up on the ground, and the Ramlion secondary would still get eaten up by opposing quarterbacks. All that and they would not get to play each other, what car-wreck of a game would I watch then?

It’s hard for me to say that Shawn Merriman is back, but at least he’s got a couple sacks to his name. The “Lights Out” dance artist himself was back in action. It seems like playing against the Raiders shouldn’t even count for season stat totals, but the bottom line is that the NFL still recognizes the Raiders as a team, and Merriman’s two sacks against “NFL Starting QB” Jamarcus Russell were his first sacks of the season…..     Speaking of JaMarcus Russell, I can’t even stand behind this kid anymore, it’s not his poor ability to see the field (see tunnel vision), or his consistent practice of overthrowing receivers, it’s not even his lack of mobility and terrible footwork, I don’t even think it’s his hideous work ethic and carelessness, but his absolute lack of reality kills me. After the game this guy had the mental clown work to claim that he played well. If you play crappy, at the very least you can keep your mouth shut and just try harder. JaMarcus obviously has problems keeping his mouth shut…..

Marques Colston is borderline unguardable. Drew Brees likes to get everyone involved, hitting open receivers all over the field, but when things get tight and Drew needs that 15 free yards, he just throws a ball about 12 feet in the air in the direction of Colston. Colston has great jumps for a big guy, and even more impressive are his ball skills. He always grabs the ball at the height of his jump, and his timing is perfect….   The Titans finally got a win, and I have to be honest, Vince Young had something to do with that. He may have looked uncomfortable at times, and his 15 for 18 passing performance may look better than it actually was, but his 12 rushes for 30 yards were bigger than they looked. Defenses have to pay attention to him. But even more important than anything Vince did was how the Titans called plays with Vince in there. They went back to being a run-centric team, throwing just 18 times while rocking 49 attempts on the ground. If it takes Vince to get that coaching staff to commit to what makes this offense good, then Young’s presence is more important than anyone gives him credit for……

I really appreciate John Fox pulling his own head out of his tail pipe just in time to eliminate me from a survivor pool, but what took so long? You have an overpaid game-managing quarterback with two great running backs and an offensive line that consistently mauls opposing defensive lines. Yet this guy fell in love with throwing the ball when he was down a few points. Maybe it was his offensive coordinator, but that is the head coach’s fault too. If I have Jake Delhomme at QB, and DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart running the ball, I’m running the ball 70% of the time at the very least….  Speaking of offenses that don’t know who they are, how long can Bills coaches have jobs in Buffalo? Their game against Houston was a situation where their run game was working. They were up for 3 quarters, have two very good running backs, have no good quarterbacks, and yet you have Lynch and Jackson getting just 9 rushes each. Ridiculous. It makes me sick.

Carolina Panthers vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL Pick

no banners

Carolina Panthers (-3) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The Panthers have actually been a better road team than a home team over the years, especially when it comes to covering. Another thing begging me to bet the Bucs, Carolina should have lost last week. They were down 17-2 midway through the 3rd quarter. Now, they aren’t often a road favorite, and historically the Panthers aren’t a great favorite bet, but all things are going out the window this week because I don’t see Carolina losing to the Bucs to go 1-4. Carolina isn’t one of the bottom 5 teams in football, and the Bucs are. I thought the Bucs would be decent this year, but the re-build is going to be tough, and Carolina has enough to get it done. Defensively, they’ve actually been solid, but the offense has put them in absolutely no place to succeed. With Tampa Bay struggling to stop the run, I think DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart have great weeks leading their team to victory. Steve Smith has a knack for getting into the end-zone against this division rival, and I expect him to make a visit in Week 6. A tough pick for me, my rules tell me Bucs, my mind tells me Carolina – you know what they say, mind over gambling on the Bucs!

One for Wednesday

Bye Week Warriors: Okay, so there’s always an option or two to grab on your bye week, but here’s a couple things that people often forget about bye weeks. 1- During a bye week, most leagues will see undervalued or disappointing players get dropped, players that have no right being on the waiver wire. You can’t forget about these guys just because you weren’t the idiot that dropped them. Guys like John Carlson, Dallas Clark, Anthony Fasano, Matt Hasselbeck, Anthony Gonzalez, etc.. All I’m saying here is, when searching the waiver wire, don’t just click on “Last Game” to order the fantasy players, because that is likely to ignore all the best options in the bunch. The 2nd thing is this, if your team is full of hits, not a single miss in the bunch, but you’re still going to have to drop one for bye week help, don’t feel too bad about taking a little bit of a value hit in a trade to get the guy you want. Look at it like this, if you are going to drop Jonathan Stewart because he’s your worst option and you already have 4 good running backs, then instead of dropping him for Steve Breaston, feel free to offer him up for someone like Dwayne Bowe, Jericho Cotchery, or maybe even a Chad Johnson. People will undoubtedly need help at running back, and Stewart is one talented cat that many would like to get their hands on. Anyway, those are all good examples, but even a lesser guy like Hines Ward is a better option than Breaston. Be creative in your maneuvers – value in trades isn’t always a must – especially if you’re dropping a guy anyway.

theRUNDOWN Review: Week 3

There’s not much to be said about this group, not all that impressive, and not extremely disappointing either – which is too bad, because either or is at least interesting to reminisce about. As is, this is how this group did this week. LT’s 23 on Monday Night Football gave me a nice boost to get over the century mark and roll to 108 on the week – still, next week will be better!

QB: Tony Romo vs. Packers: I got 16 points from Tony because of his long touchdown pass to Miles Austin – still despite the rolling gut feeling that he was “going off”, I would have been better off taking one of the quarterbacks from the Saints/Broncos game. Dang me!

RB: LaDainian Tomlinson vs. New York Jets: Tomlinson didn’t have a great day, I have to be honest, he carried the ball a bunch of times and managed just 2.7 yards per carry or something gross like that. Still, the Chargers handled the Jets and Tomlinson punched two in from close range. You can’t argue with his 23 fantasy points I guess, but 2.7 per against the Jets? He’ll turn things around, right?

RB: Michael Turner vs. KC: Big Mike in the Wood had a HUGE day, touchdown wise anyway. He didn’t pile up the 200+ yards like he did in Week 1, but Turner did put 3 touchdowns on the Chiefs – I had to love that. He posted 28 points for me.

WR: Plaxico Burress vs. Bengals: 3 catches for 45 yards, 7 fantasy points in a ppr league – thanks Plax. I ditched Brandon Marshall and Larry Fitz so I could put you on my squad – last time I do that!

WR: Steve Smith vs. Minnesota: 4 grabs for 70 yards, but the Panthers needed to get Smith the ball more. Still, it was a risky selection and it back fired a little. 11 points for a WR in a PPR league isn’t much to get excited about.

TE: Jeremy Shockey vs. Denver: Shockey had 8 receptions for 75 yards, not a bad day for the big guy. Anytime a tight end can get my 15 fantasy points I have to appreciate their efforts.

K: Josh Brown vs. Seattle: 8 fantasy points form Mr. Brown and he got booed like he was Johnny Damon leaving for the Yankees- I love that. Still, 8 points is probably an all time high for kickers in this deal for me.

D: Patriots vs. Miami: I don’t know how much they scored. I’m not checking. They got handled. I’ll take a zero and be happy about it.

PAPA’S Week 1 SLEEPERS

David Garrard: Garrard threw another interception without tossing or rushing for a touchdown. He had just 167 yards, which gives him, what, 4 fantasy points? Oops! F

Aaron Rodgers: For how out of sync the Packers looked against Dallas, Rodgers put up some solid numbers. His late touchdown run was a nice helper, and he did throw for just under 300 yards in this one. I think Aaron’s 19 fantasy points were nice. I’ll take an A- just because he didn’t toss a touchdown.

JT O’Sullivan: JT put up 189 yards and two touchdown passes without an interception. He didn’t tear up the yardage totals, but he put in some nice work going for 19 fantasy points of his own – I bet that gets him into the top 10. A

Maurice Jones Drew: “Best runner in Jacksonville hits gold against a Bon Sanders-less Colts team.” Yep! MJD went for 100+ rushing, 50+ receiving, and scored a big touchdown on way to a Jaguars win. Gotta love the short guy (little is a lie, he’s freaking solid). 25 points grades out as an A+

Julius Jones: The Hawks rushed for 245 yards against the worst defense in football, St. Louis, and Julius took 22 rushes for 140 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a pass, giving him 21 fantasy points on the day. A+

Sammy Morris: Down 21-6 at half time the Patriots weren’t in the running mode. Yeah, I didn’t see this coming – obviously. Morris had 3 points giving me an F for this sleeper pick.

Chad Ocho Cinco: Carson Palmer had a really nice day, but it was TJ, not Chad, that was getting it done for the Bengals. Ocho Cinco had Cinco fantasy points. F

Anthony Gonzalez: 2 catches for 37 yards, Peyton went to Marvin more, and Dallas Clark came back this week and stole some looks from Anthony – still, Gonzo grabbed 2 balls for 37 yards in the Colts loss. D for this one.

Derrick Mason: 4 grabs for 42 yards – apparently I was wrong about the Ravens being behind in this one and having to throw to catch up. Mason had 8 fantasy points – that’s a C- maybe.

Todd Heap: 2 catches for 32 yards – I’m beginning to want to drop Mr. Heap. 5 fantays points, maybe a D+

Buffalo: Not a great showing from the Bills – they did enough to get my 8 fantasy points in my game, but they didn’t do what I needed them to do this week, that’s for sure. C-

Papa’S Week 1 Splinter-Butts (bench him, son)

Jamal Lewis: 12 rushes for 56 yards, not bad. 3 catches for 27 yards, not bad. No scores was a bummer, but Jamal didn’t have as bad a game as I thought he’d have. 10 fantasy points for a guy that you should trade for if you can. Boy, does Brady Quinn start next week though?

DeAngelo Williams or Jonathan Stewart: Williams had 10 carries for 27 yards (also 2 catches for 17 yards) and Stewart had 7 carries for 15 yards – but he did have a touchdown. Still, if you started either back hoping for a decent fantasy game, you were tricked. Sitting these guys was a good call.

Chris Perry: You know what, against a very good rush defense Chris had a fine day. 20 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown. I was wrong about his outing, he was a solid start with 16 fantasy points (2 catches for 19 yards as well).

Hines Ward: Hines had his first touchdownless week this season, and he grabbed just 4 passes for 34 yards. Nothing exciting about that.