Wednesday Morning Quarterback

By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer

I keep hearing how Jason Campbell looks so good, but the guy hasn’t gotten more than 6.4 YPA in a game since Week 5, and Todd Collins was an immediate upgrade when he came into Thursday’s game…The Bears need a running back…Kyle Orton is overrated. So he drinks Jack Daniel’s – big deal. All that makes him any different is that he’s dumb enough to be photographed. Oh, and as a player, he’s simply beyond horrific (51.6 completion percentage, 5.1 YPA for his career).

I have no idea why I keep picking the Dolphins ATS. This team is historically bad. Last week they allowed a rookie QB who entered with a 1:5 TD:INT ratio throw four scores without a pick and two Buffalo RBs to eclipse 100 rushing yards…John Beck may very well not be the long-term answer at quarterback; in fact, odds are he’s not. However, we don’t know for sure after only four starts, so Miami’s decision to start Cleo Lemon Sunday is egregious. Why let a silly thing like going in the history books as the first 0-16 team take precedence over the future of a $900 million franchise?

Carson Palmer has been absolutely awful the last two weeks and is in the midst of his worst season as a pro. The Bengals as an 8.5-point road favorite this week is a joke…This week in Triple-D 2.0 – DeDe Dorsey is averaging a whopping 9.1 YPC this season…If you take away one third quarter run, Steven Jackson gained 37 yards on 17 carries against the soft Bengals’ defense last week.

While I’m not even close to giving up on him, Shaun McDonald is currently a better wide receiver than Calvin Johnson…While probably the third best team in the NFL right now, this Dallas squad would have almost certainly won the last three Super Bowls…As sure as Drew Peterson is guilty, Marion Barber is the superior running back to Julius Jones.

With last week’s matchup with Oakland in the books and upcoming tilts against St. Louis and Chicago, you get the feeling Ryan Grant is going to be on a lot of winning fantasy teams this year…With tickets to this week’s Colts/Raiders game, I’m going to have to do some serious tailgating to make it watchable. I’ll put the over/under on Joe Addai TDs at 2.5.

Earnest Graham is an unstoppable force…As crazy as it sounds, I’m starting Sage Rosenfels during a Week 15 fantasy playoff game this week…I can’t believe how frequently quarterbacks get killed when sliding feet first. It’s almost as if defenders don’t realize he’s down without being touched. The rule actually ends up typically leaving QBs in the most vulnerable position possible. Flags rarely get thrown when it happens, too.

Reggie Williams is averaging an astounding 11.5 yards per target this season. To put that into perspective, Reggie Wayne led the NFL with 9.5 YPA last season…I can’t believe how good Fred Taylor has been over the past three weeks. I refused to ever touch him again in a fantasy league after his groin fell off the bone the year I took him early, but he’s proven to be extremely durable as he’s gotten older.

While never practicing, Plaxico Burress often has poor first quarters, but his step appeared to be sprier last week – just in time for the fantasy playoffs…Donovan McNabb only throwing multiple touchdowns in two games this season looks especially bad when you consider he has quite possibly the most difficult running back to game plan against at his disposal…The Giants are 9-4 and haven’t beaten a single team with a winning record this season.

In a battle of attrition, Vince Young vs. Philip Rivers was one of the uglier quarterback duals of the season…Kerry Collins finished with -0.7 YPA Sunday…Antonio Cromartie is having a rather odd season – his nine interceptions lead the NFL, but his 27 tackles rank 171st among defensive backs.

Adrian Peterson’s box score last week was the most surprising of the year…In the history of the NFL, no team had ever had two different defensive tackles have interceptions in the same game. Minnesota had three different DTs pick off the 49ers Sunday…If I’m an NFC team, I do not want to see the Vikings in January…Your guess is as good as mine as to why Shaun Hill wasn’t playing over Trent Dilfer to begin with.

Gutsy performance from Larry Fitzgerald last week…Bryant Johnson was held to just one catch, but he was targeted nine times and has scored in consecutive games, making him a fine fantasy start this week if Anquan Boldin (toe) remains sidelined. New Orleans’ secondary is very inviting…Kurt Warner has thrown 12 touchdowns over the past five games. He’s also been picked off eight times over the last three contests. His fantasy value relies heavily on your league’s scoring system.

The Steelers aren’t even in the same stratosphere as this Patriots team…How is the spread not in the 30 range against the Jets? New England’s average margin of victory at home this season is 23.5 points, the Jets are one of the worst teams in the league, and the whole spygate factor is a legitimate thing. New England should just go for two after every touchdown…Tom Brady is officially the most unlikable player in sports.

Nothing’s more frustrating than having a fantasy season end at the hands of Mike Shanahan, but so was the case for me when I started Travis Henry over Selvin Young last week. Then again, I fully admit I was asking for it in the first place…That said, giving Young the heavier workload was the right move, and he should continue to do so. But why must Shanahan insist on being so secretive? Would the Chiefs have really game planned differently knowing Young was starting over Henry?…Brandon Marshall is ill…Jay Cutler will unquestionably enter 2008 as a top-10 fantasy quarterback.

I don’t have much to say regarding the Browns/Jets game, but these Levitra commercials drive me crazy. Listen, erectile dysfunction is nothing to joke about, and if I had it, I highly doubt I’d refer to it by a cute pet name such as “E.D.” It just seems a bit miscast as an abbreviation.

Very frustrated I took Baltimore and the points last week – that game had letdown written all over it after the Ravens nearly beat the Pats the week before. At least my boy Anthony Gonzalez came through…How about Peyton Manning’s line? He threw for 249 yards and four scores – all on just 13 completions…Is it just me, or are there an inordinate amount of terrible quarterbacks in the league right now?

The Saints are a better team with Aaron Stecker at running back than they were with Reggie Bush…Forget the Tuesday resignation, Bobby Petrino should have been fired on the spot after punting on 4th and 10 down by 20 points with 2:15 left on the clock. You are trying to tell me that decision gave Atlanta the best chance of winning that game? Good riddance…It’s safe to say Arthur Blank’s MNF interview didn’t go over so well…Believe it or not, Drew Brees has thrown just three fewer TD passes this season compared to last with three more games still to play.


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18 responses to “Wednesday Morning Quarterback”

  1. Paul R Avatar

    It was kind of unrealistic that Atlanta could score 3 TDs in 2 minutes, so I can see why they chose to punt. They were still in their own zone on 4th down and ten, so they chose not wanting to end up losing by more of a blowout than it already was.

  2. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    It was definitely unlikely, but I think it’s terrible reasoning to choose to lose by fewer points over a higher probability of winning, no matter how small that chance is. The goal is to win, right? Not lose by the least amount of points. This has become common practice among coaches, and it needs to stop. Common sense simply has to win out at some point.

  3. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    I think S-Jax has had 50+ yard runs in 3 games in a row…and his rushing numbers outside that have been terrible. As an owner, I’m far from confident in him going into the second round…and these Dayne/Chatman/Fargas/Hackett injuries have not helped my depth. Watching Graham and Grant tear it up just blows my mind. Every year, in every sport, you could put together a playoff team with undrafted players. It’s crazy I tell ya. I’m glad I don’t own any Denver backs.

  4. Steve Avatar
    Steve

    Tom Brady is officially the most unlikable player in sports.

    Really?

  5. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Keith – I think you’re right on stating you could put together a competitive team in most fantasy leagues with all undrafted players – although thinking about it, basketball would be the toughest.

  6. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Steve – I exaggerated with the MOST unlikable, but Brady has become pretty grating lately. Whereas a guy like Tony Romo has a perma-grin, knowing he hit life’s jackpot, Brady hasn’t cracked a smile in weeks and comes off as entitled. I can’t stand his constant bitching to the refs, and him showing up Gostkowski last week wasn’t cool. While Ricky Williams gets slammed in the media for smoking a plant, Brady is the “Golden Boy,” despite fathering two illegitimate children! (Not that Ricky doesn’t have 8 or 9 of those himself).

    Brady’s always kind of been this way, with his exaggerated first down signals and all, but I guess it’s just more in your face now with all that winning. He’s having the best season ever by a QB and I’m jealous of his model-slaying ways, but he is a little annoying, no?

  7. Dreamweapon Avatar
    Dreamweapon

    Gregg Easterbrook called Brady a “smirking sybarite” a few weeks ago in a TMQ article, I think that pretty much sums it up. As much as I hate the Cowboys (above all others….even the Lakers, Duke basketball and Notre Dame football), I would infinitely rather have a beer with Romo than Brady.

  8. Start Selvin Avatar
    Start Selvin

    But Romo’s perma-grin bugs me just as much. Did he get sprayed by the Joker or what?

    I don’t think Brady really showed up Gostkowski but rather expressed honest frustration that happened to be broadcast (I think that’s what you’re talking about). Pats have a real pack-mentality approach and it works, so even to go after a teammate isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it’s allows less margin for error. While Romo can play Mr. Happy Go Lucky, the Patriots blanket-party strategy while mean (boo hoo), seems to be working quite nicely within and without.

    I’ll also add – the refs have been a problem for the Pats this year (particularly in Indy) and Brady often has a right to be upset. The Baltimore game might have been decided because Brady laid into the refs so much they finally started calling things they should have been calling all night.

    Heck I’m just coming to the defense of my annoying QB. As if he needs it. Plus we Sox fans feel a slightly-less-yet-similar way about Derek Jeter.

  9. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Dreamweapon – I still need to get around to writing that H2H column, but new material keeps coming about during my laziness – like a 1 pt. loss last week. Agreed on the beer partners.

  10. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Start Selvin – All good points. I could easily see Romo’s permagrin being annoying as well.

  11. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Did you guys hear that Clemens is going to be named in th Mitchell report? I can’t believe it!! Anyone who seriously acts surprised by that must have been living in a cave.

  12. Dreamweapon Avatar
    Dreamweapon

    I don’t know what to tell you; Romo has had ample opportunities to date megahot women himself but actually turned them down to focus on the team. “Bros before hos” personified. He’s a Sconnie boy, salt of the earth. He has managed to get along fine with one of the most grating athletes in all of pro sports (post-Albert “Joey” Belle, anyway); Brady picks on the weakest member of his own team. I know which persona I’m more predisposed to liking.

    Brady is a GOP stoolie and seems to me like a total tool. Like Easterbrook said, what charity work has he done? People who have had everything handed to them in their life, but then barely lift a finger to help others despite their incredible fortune, and who actually advocate for the further widening of our already sickening division of haves and have-notes in our society, make me sick. Did you know that as recently as the Eisenhower administration (GOP, I note), the top tax rate was over 90%?!?!? Now the megarich bawl like a bunch of goddamned bitches if they are forced to pay an estate tax after their death; no, they say, their pampered, spoiled rotten children should get all $1B instead of just $900M. The only way the megarich get megarich is off the sweat of others. Nothing in this world, nothing at all, is truly “worth” more than about $1M/yr IMO. Does the market bear more? Sure, and that’s just an example of what economists call “market failure”, which is half the reason central gov’ts even exist. And even the big bucks should really be reserved for ultrahazardous jobs like repairing satellites in orbit or SpecOps guys. Brady plays a game. What has happened to us? Being an American used to mean something. We used to be better than other societies, more open and egalitarian, more helpful towards one another. I hate it, and Brady is a symbol of it. I’m a hardcore Libertarian (small gov’t/military, no wars of aggression/expansion, no farm subsidies, minimal or no tariffs, legalize it, etc.), I’m not Democratic sympathizer, but backing the morally bankrupt GOP, which transparently only gives a shit about the top-5% of earners, and which effectively wants to see the imposition of a class system in our country, is just beyond the pale. Maybe he’ll have a Damascene revelation, like Barkley did when he switched sides, but I’m not holding out any hope.

    Admittedly, I guess I would probably love him if he was on the Skins or Pack, but then again, he was merely “good” as opposed to “great” until this year, when he was given an All-Time-caliber receiving corps. Plus, just how “good” he legitimately was in the past is definitely up for debate. We’re talking about a team that was winning Super Bowls by a single field goal. I am completely prepared to accept that knowing an opponent’s defensive calls, even if just for the 2nd half of a game, is easily worth 3 points and probably much more.

  13. Dreamweapon Avatar
    Dreamweapon

    Re: Clemens–OMFG! [g] In other news, the sun rose in the East this morning!

    I was a little more surprised by Pettitte, though. The Big Winner(TM) here is plainly Bonds, who just went from being on a tiny isolated island to being just another guy in the crowd. Plus, he can just point out that half the pitchers he was facing were on the juice anyway, so there was little if any competitive advantage gained.

  14. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Wow. Excellent comments Dreamweapon. Really good stuff.

  15. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Barry! Barry! Barry!

  16. Steve Avatar
    Steve

    For the record, I don’t *like* Brady — just can’t say I dislike him more than guys like Mark Chmura, Mike Vick, Mike Tyson, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, blah blah blah.

    Brady could easily pass for Tucker Carlson’s cousin or something, and that’s plenty unlikeable

  17. Steve Avatar
    Steve

    Dreamweapon, I love your way. Yet oddly, every time I express similar thoughts they call me a communist.

    Props to labor; screw wealth.

  18. Start Selvin Avatar
    Start Selvin

    Holy moly Dreamweapon. Holy moly.

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