Monday Morning Quarterback

By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer

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O.K., I admit it. I haven’t been taking Baltimore seriously enough. Their defense is legit.

Drew Brees has to be mentioned in MVP talks at this point. In the last three weeks, he’s thrown nine touchdown passes against the likes of Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Baltimore. His 7.8 YPA on the season is also remarkable. It’s been mentioned from time to time, but Nick Saban’s decision to go with Daunte Culpepper over Brees is proving to be a franchise-crushing one.

I’m usually against players losing their roles because of injury, but Damon Huard simply cannot be benched at this point.

When all is said and done, Larry Johnson’s name will be brought into the greatest running backs of all-time conversation.

Just when we think Michael Vick has turned the corner, the Falcons can’t win the game they are supposed to. Still, it’s hard to argue with Vick’s fantasy production, even in losing efforts.

Jamal Lewis is having a mini-resurgence with Brian Billick calling the plays, but call me when he breaks 4.0 YPC in a game.

I was always under the assumption Bill Parcells was a good coach, and therefore, smart. His excuse of “the chart said so” is laughable regarding his decision to go for a 2-point conversion in the first quarter of a game. It’s easy to second-guess these things after the fact, but I was doing it during the fact; it’s amazing how shortsighted coaches can be sometimes. There’s a 99.9 percent chance of making the extra point, and a 40 percent chance of making the 2-point conversion, with endless possibilities of score combinations left in the game being played.

Tatum Bell owners should be worried. Not only is turf toe an injury likely to linger, as we’ve all heard by now, but even Mike Shanahan recently admitted that it’s Mike Bell who fits Denver’s system better. Even once he regains his health, a time-share looks likely here.

Go ahead and consider Jon Kitna a top-8 fantasy quarterback option.

I’m convinced Maurice Jones-Drew, Michael Turner, Brandon Jacobs, Marion Barber and Jerious Norwood could all be stars when/if given the chance.

Chad Johnson is finally openly complaining about his involvement in the offense. Expect that to directly result in more catches in the ensuing weeks, as there’s often a causal relationship with complaining and production. I still have high hopes for this offense too. That said, I’d rather own T.J. Houshmandzadeh on my fantasy team.

Where did that come from, Ronnie Brown?

It’s repetitive at this point, but Peyton Manning is playing football at a different level than everyone else right now.

Tony Romo is a top-15 fantasy quarterback from here on out.

R.I.P., Minnesota Vikings – Brad Johnson is taking you nowhere.

I was very critical of Minnesota taking Troy Williamson over Mike Williams; looks like we were both wrong.

Who would have thought that the Saints would be 6-2, and Reggie Bush would be having one of the most disappointing seasons in the NFL? The fact his teammate is the odds-on favorite to win Rookie of the Year just makes it that much more ironic.

The Giants are proving they can win ugly and when not playing well – a very good sign. Next week’s tilt against a fired up Bears squad should be a good one.

What an anticlimactic Steelers’ season – no 2-6 team has ever made the playoffs. When not throwing interceptions, Ben Roethlisberger is actually playing extremely well. Yes, I realize that was contradictory.

Good thing I had to face Steven Jackson this week. If only the Rams started to involve him in the passing game, then he’d really be a valuable fantasy back.

Sorry Carnell, I won’t be calling you “Cadillac” again anytime soon.

And finally, I’ll leave you with an actual quote John Madden said during last night’s game: “The best thing would be a touchdown. The worst thing would be a turnover. And the next best thing would be a field goal.” I officially give up.


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18 responses to “Monday Morning Quarterback”

  1. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    Addai being the man: awesome…took them long enough
    Maroney not being the man yet: can’t NE see how much better he looks than Dillon? I get the feeling he’s not going to live up to his fantasy potential this year.
    Cadillac: I don’t know if I’ll start him ever again. I’m on a 5-game winning streak in a league where 3 of my first 4 picks were Edge, Caddy, and Randy Moss.
    Huard: should start over Trent Green. I’ve been nothing but impressed when I’ve seen him, and Green looked done even before his concussion.
    Romo: Brady 2.0
    49ers: the offense stunk and the D dominated…I’m in shock
    T. Bell: I’m worried about him a lot, but hope M. Bell’s subpar performance helps him get back to shouldering most of the load for this season at least.
    Furrey: I hate you…now please turn back into a pumpkin
    Gabriel: I hate trying to count on a Pats WR for consistent production…even worse, I know if I ever drop him, he’s going to explode that very week.
    Vick: I love how even on a terrible passing game, he leads my team in rushing.

    Hoops – I think the Warriors are going to drive me insane, in both real life and fantasy. Nelson is crazier than I remember…starting guys at positions they’ve never played, then ripping them and changing his mind after one game where they shockingly didn’t play great. I hope Biedrins finds a way to get big minutes somehow, and I hope Dunleavy can find his niche as a 6th man…though I think Pietrus could be a good fit there too. My dream is still a Dunleavy/Maggette trade, as for some reason Maggs can’t seem to get big minutes under Papa Dunleavy, and I think he’d be a perfect fit at SF with the Warriors…I think they have to try and get him somehow.

  2. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Addai – I’m as stoked as you are. I expect big things.
    Maroney – I’m as worried as you are. It’s definitely going to take a Dillon injury (still a distinct possibility) for Maroney to even approach his potential.
    Cadillac – In the “experts league” I drafted for RotoWire, I seriously start Wali Lundy over him at this point. Caddy is extra worthless for me since it’s PPR. Such a disappointment. Thank God I got Westbrook in round 2 and my WRs are sick.

    Nice job pulling off a 5-game win streak with those early picks. In my main league, I’ve been playing w/o any guys from the first 2 rounds (I traded for S. Alexander) and lead the league in scoring. I’m not, however, having the same fortune as you in the win/loss department (4-5). I really need Alexander back in a hurry.

    Huard- Couldn’t agree with you more.
    Romo- Man he looks good to me. At this point, Parcells should be getting at least some criticism for taking so long to make the switch.
    49ers- good point, pretty much the opposite of what I expected as well.
    Vick – Even if inconsistency in real life football should be expected, I think he’s definitely a top-3 QB for fantasy from here on out.

    Hoops- Nelson is crazy, you’re right. I think he should probably realize it will take more than 1 game to adjust to a completely new system, especially considering J-Rich missed the entire preseason…That Dunleavy/Maggette deal makes sense (especially considering LA’s coach and all) and would be great for G. State. I def. predict Maggette gets dealt this year, supposedly Dunleavy Sr. hates him….

    On a side note, I strongly recommend everyone check out Andris Biedrins shoot free throws. Make it a point to witness this, and I promise, you won’t be sorry. Not only did he shoot 30.6 percent from the charity stripe last year, his one-handed motion makes Anthony Mason look like Steve Nash.

  3. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    I’ll forgive you for moving my post, heck, I’ll even click on a link or two since you actually agree with most of my points!

    I’ve definitely had some luck on my winning streak, but hopefully I can get some RB’s to emerge and support my Vick/Boldin/TO/Winslow/SD D core. Julius Jones is my only current consistent RB, and with the presence of Barber, he’s hard to be that confident in. I tried to grab Lundy to start over Caddy, but wasn’t high enough in the waiver wire. 3 weeks ago I felt stacked at RB, now, I’m scrambling…that’s the way of fantasy I suppose.

    You know, I’ve watched chunks of every Warriors game so far, and I haven’t seen the 1-handed shot yet. I fondly remember a game last year where Biedrins was 6-6 from the floor, and 0-6 from the stripe. I just wish they’d hire Rick Barry as an assistant and make him teach every sub-70% FT shooter to do it underhanded…that would be priceless.

  4. TV Avatar
    TV

    I dont know why anyone thinks that the Pats should start Maroney over Dillon. If you watch them Maroney dances all over the place and Dillon runs straight ahead. I watched last night and wasnt overly impressed with Maroney to think he should be the full time back. The bigger question is why didnt the Pats run more against Indy? I know they were down in the 3rd but why Belli hit the panic button down by a td with 20 minutes to play is surprising. I dont see Maroney doing much more than splitting time with Dillon this year and you can bet that Dillon will continue to score more tds than Maroney b/c he is a load near the goalline.

    I too am happy to see Addai becoming the featured back. It is sad though that even if he gets most of the carries he wont score a ton of points for you b/c the Colts simply dont run the ball enough. At least he finally got a td last night!

    I think Carnell Williams is a nice buy low option at this point. I bet you can get him for almost nothing in most leagues (not mine b/c his owner thinks he is still worth a first round type guy) and the Bucs schedule should give him some opportunities to put some points up on the board. They still have Chicago and Pittsburgh on the board but both teams have given up more yards on the ground recently so they arent as dominant as you would think. Also in week 16 TB plays the mighty Cleveland defense and in week 17 they play Seattle who has up until now been one of the worst defenses against the run in the nfl. If you are in the playoffs and can trade a guy that isnt going to help you I think it might be wise to grab him to stash him for the playoffs.

    I dont think Vick is a top 3 fantasy qb the rest of the year though in weeks 12, 13 and 14 he has some nice matchups. I just dont trust the guy. There are at least 5 guys I would rather have in my lineup including McNabb, both Mannings, Brees, and Delhomme (yes Delhomme…look at that schedule!!!)

    I cant believe the 49ers. Bryant and Smith started off so well and they have just regressed from week 3 on. I wish I could pawn Bryant off on someone but nobody wants him.

    My season is probably done though I have an outside chance of making the playoffs since the rest of my division continues to suck as much as I do. There very well might be a 6-7 team that makes the playoffs this year in our league b/c everyone is so inconsistent. My keeper was SA, my second round pick was Chad Johnson, my next pick was Randy Moss. How is that 0 for 3 in the first 3 rounds. I turned to Dillon in the 4th, Addai in the 5th and Matt Jones in the 6th. Yikes. Even with the trade of Moss for Boldin my team is still awful. Last year my running backs (Alexander and Edge) combined to average nearly 45 points a game in my league. Through this week my running backs have averaged 18 points…cant win with that kind of craptastic production from running backs. The continued lingering of Alexander’s foot injury is just driving the nail deeper and deeper into my playoff chances.

    One final note, my tight end (Winslow) scored more points for me than my three wide receivers COMBINED!!! Johnson, Berrian and Bryant combined for 6.6 points this week (/cry) and Winslow had 7.8. You know your team is awful when your WR combine for less than 10 points and you know your team is probably one of the worst ever in fantasy history when your tight end outplays all of them combined!

    At this point all I can do is laugh. Funny thing is that with Brady’s awful start last night I somehow have a chance to win this week. I have 57 points and the guy Im playing has 81. A decent game by the Seattle defense and a td or two and I could actually pull off a major upset. I figure Seattle’s defense will score a td and have like 28 points going into the 4th quarter and Oakland will score a td or two in garbage time to cause me to lose!

  5. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Thanks for the clicks Keith…Gotta love the Romo switch after you got T.O….More and more NBA players should give the underhand FT shot a try….You’ve got to check out Biedrins…Aside from the FT shooting tho, I like his game, and so does Nellie actually. He could become a force, in time.

  6. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    TV – While I admit Maroney hasn’t lived up to my insanely high hopes and he does dance around at times, he is getting almost a half yard more per carry and is a much better receiver. Plus, Dillon’s fumble last night was pretty costly. Although Dillon is still the man at the goal line, I will give him credit there…I don’t know why NE didn’t pound it more also, was it too obvious? Why not attack the other’s weakness, just like they did against Minny the week before.

    Before this past week, in that “experts league,” I offered Caddy and H. Miller for Gates and was rejected….My top 3-4 QBs would be McNabb, Peyton then Vick/Bulger, with a middle group including Palmer, Eli, Brees, etc….I just think Vick’s rushing stats can’t be underestimated.

    One thing which might benefit you as for tonight’s game and your fantasy league is all the rain that’s supposed to fall. I could see it being a pretty low scoring game tonight. Bad news about Berrian’s injury, but I think M. Jones might be worthwhile soon, although Garrard somewhat limits his upside. Hopefully, S. Alexander will be back next week.

  7. Jeremy Avatar
    Jeremy

    Good stuff. Cadillac Williams is killing me too! More like a damn Pinto.

  8. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Keith – I take it back about Biedrins, I just caught him tonight and he was going normal w/ his FT shooting. I guess it was just a random, one-time adjustment the other night. Too bad.

  9. tv Avatar
    tv

    Lol I win! 9 sacks and I pull out a victory by 4 points (sacks are a point each in my league)

    Quick bball question. Do I drop Josh Smith for Villanueva? Vill looks like the real deal and I have a chance to grab him. Smith is ranked highly and I thought that he would actually score more than 10 points a night but apparently he and the Hawks didnt get the memo that said he should step up this year.

    Thoughts???

  10. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    I assume this is a pretty shallow league if Villanueva is still available. I know J. Smith hasn’t had a great start to the year, but no way should you drop him. I’m all for picking up Villanueva, but you have to have someone else to drop over Smith. Give me other options if you want advice there. Smith will start scoring more, and the steals/blocks combo will be huge.

  11. TV Avatar
    TV

    Here is my roster:

    G: T. McGrady
    G: J. Smith
    F: S. Marion
    F: E. Brand
    C: Y. Ming
    U: J. Johnson
    B: B. Wallace
    B: C. Kaman
    B: D. West
    B: R. Felton

  12. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    Romo is making my TO trade look good…dropping that bomb almost led to a stroke though, not to mention that blocked FG (I don’t like having 3 Dallas players)…I was set to lose after that, but Winslow’s 20-something yards in the last 2 minutes of the Browns game eeked me out a win. Thanks for making me sweat, TO.

    I think Biedrins is mixing in the 1-handed shot, but I missed his attempts last night. I saw about half the game and saw a little more of what I’d been hoping for: Baron running the point for 48 minutes, Dunleavy spending more time on the bench, Pietrus getting a serious go, Ellis coming in for instant offense (and nearly getting decapitated)…I don’t know what it is about Dallas bringing out the best in the Warriors, but I like it. Once J-Rich’s knee gets healthy, I think they’ll be fairly solid.

    I can’t imagine a scenario where I would drop Josh Smith; he’s been a 2nd half guy the last 2 years anyway, and he could easily average 15/8, 1.5 3pts and 2+ blocks…that’s money. I’m actually hoping for another down week or two, and then I’ll make a couple offers for him. Villanueva is a stud though, but like Roto says, you have to have a better candidate to drop.

    I’ve dropped Dunleavy and Frye for Q. Richardson and H. Warrick in my league, and am currently hoping for Francis’ ankle to get healthy, and Livingston to get the PT he deserves.

    I’m trying to come up with a package for a decent RB1/2, now that I’m not sure about T. Bell ever getting a full-time gig again. I’m thinking a Branch &Caddy/Edge package could get an under-performing RB who could be good for the stretch…any idea about good ones to target? I’m thinking maybe Portis after a couple down weeks? I wanted Steven Jackson, but after last week, that’s probably out of the question. Maybe Gore? (though he’s probably not that big an upgrade)

  13. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    TV – Love your team, that’s about as stacked as it gets….Since you already have two centers in Ming and B. Wallace, I’d recommend you drop Kaman for Villanueva. That’s David West, not Delonte, right? So ya, keep Josh Smith, and dump Kaman instead.

  14. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Keith – Ya that T.O. trade really looks good for you….Warriors look like they really could be interesting, too bad Dunleavy has sucked so much for me (and you, before you dumped him)….The Bucks ripped Toronto off in that Villanueva deal…I like Ford and all, but he is a terrible defender, and M. Williams can step right in there…Villanueva is legit.

    Frye’s weak start has surprised me, and I like the Warrick pick up. As long as Swift doesn’t take away too many minutes, Warrick should continue to have value this year…Livingston’s PT is def. worrisome, but hopefully the minutes start creeping up….

    I like your idea of trading those guys in a 3-for-1 deal in football….I like that offer for Portis, and go ahead and at least try for S-Jax….If those both fail, I’d do it for Gore, as his schedule really starts to lighten up now…He’s been so-so for a few weeks now and makes a fine buy low candidate….Other more obvious guys to go after include Kevin Jones, Willie Parker, Ronnie Brown and Chester Taylor. Also, I still really like B. Westbrook, but he’s not going to be easy to get obviously.

    On a side note, what are your thoughts about the A’s possibly moving to Fremont? I assume you live in the Bay Area, yes?

  15. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    By the way, how legit do the Utah Jazz look?!!

  16. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    Yeah, I have to give it to you on the Jazz…with Boozer, AK-47 and Okur up front, they’re pretty tough…and with D.Williams getting better and a pretty deep bench (with shooters), they’re going to be good until the injuries roll in.

    I’ve always liked the idea of a more downtown stadium, and had hoped they could pull something of in San Jose (coincidentally where I currently reside), but never thought it particularly realistic. I used to like the Colliseum before the Raiders trashed it (I watched one A’s/Red Sox game from the top of Mt. Davis and thought the plane with the Ford Motors ad had the better view), and have been hoping for some kind of stadium for a long time. Fremont is kind of sticking it to the Giants since it’s so close to Santa Clara County and the coveted Silicon Valley $$$ without actually getting into the whole asinine territorial rights debate. The new site is also a lot closer to where I am currently, which would be nice, but being that it could take 5 years for a stadium, who knows if I’ll still be here. Most of all, I’m just glad it’s still in the Bay Area, and think it should be an improvement in most areas…just not quite optimal. I hope some team ends up in Las Vegas…I just don’t want it to be one of MY teams!

  17. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    I admit, a big reason Utah might not make it to the playoffs this year is the fact their main guys are so injury-prone, so that is a legitimate concern still.

    As for the A’s, I think a new stadium is obviously needed – that place is pretty much a dump. And once they stopped carrying those awesome Philly Cheese steak sandwiches (seriously, the best I’ve ever had), I’m ready to move on.

    I wonder what Al Davis would do if a new baseball stadium is built and not one for the Raiders. Obviously, it would be nice to see more people go to A’s games as well, but like you said, this is years away even if it does happen. I live close to Sacramento right now, and the whole Arco Arena/new arena thing is a pretty big deal. Speaking of Vegas, don’t be surprised if that’s where the Sac Kings end up.

  18. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    If anyone can get a team in Vegas, it’s the Maloofs!

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