Archive for November, 2007

Oh, you weren’t starting to settle into a nice little butt groove going into the last week before playoffs were you? I’m sorry. If you didn’t notice, several starters just fell apart this week leaving you in the position to grab up the next starter before you playoff opponents or in great need of grabbing your back ups if you didn’t handcuff.

This week we’ll combine the injury report and waiver wire.

Philip Rivers, QB SD
Keep your eye on Rivers. Even though he has been inconsistent, he could emerge as a promising starter for your playoff run if another owner has already given up on him.

Kolby Smith, RB KC
If no one picked him up last week, does 150+ yards and 2 TDs convince you? Of course, that was against Oakland, but Smith should get his yards as the focus of the Kansas City offense as long as Larry Johnson stays out.

Roddy White, WR ATL
Harrington is going to look to White when they make a play. He’s consistent if you have a hit or miss WR that might give you trouble in the playoffs.

Trent Edwards, QB BUF
If you are hurting–and I mean hurting–at QB, you are probably stuck with one of the Trents. Trent Edwards was not much more than a game manager during his previous stint as a starter in Buffalo. He needs to meet a guy name Lee Evans before he will make his mark fantasy-wise, but for the moment, he will start over J.P. Losman to end this season. If you just need a starter, he is breathing and starting for the moment for the Bills.

Trent Dilfer, QB SF
He’s the other Trent. With Alex Smith in recovery, Dilfer put up decent numbers–250+ yards and 2 TDs. It’s hard to say which Trent would be a better addition to your roster, but Dilfer does have the better match up this week with Cleveland.

Anthony Thomas, RB BUF
Marshawn Lynch looks to be out again this week, so as long as Thomas’ own injury from Sunday is minor, he should get the start. Considering the Buffalo Trent, Trent Edwards, is back as a starter for the first game in his new stint, look for them to give Thomas plenty of carries against Washington.

Adrian Peterson, RB CHI
Peterson is now the full-time starter with Cedric Benson ending his dismal season with injury on Sunday. Don’t expect big numbers because the Bears don’t have an easy street schedule to end the season, but Peterson can be a decent number 2 RB.

Andre Hall and/or Cecil Sapp, RB DEN
The value here is all about injuries. Travis Henry is out with his knee, and Selvin Young was hurt last week and sat out Sunday. Andre Hall tweaked his own ankle in the game Sunday but played through the injury. Depending upon who returns, Hall and Young could split carries or if everyone is hurt, Cecil Sapp could start for the Broncos. Shanny is unpredictable, and this call could all come down to a game time decision.

Patrick Cobbs, RB MIA
With Ricky Williams ending his NFL season with less than 20 yards and a fumble and Chatman going out again Monday night with a neck injury, the Dolphins might have to look at Cobbs for the remainder of the season or until Chatman gets back in shape. He’s a dangerous start, but he could be a factor against the Jets.

Reuben Droughns, RB NYG
He wasn’t completely dismal against the Vikings tough run D and unless Derrick Ward returns to start this week, look for Droughns to get the start again against the low-ranked Chicago run defense.

Tony Scheffler, TE DEN
Back from injury, Scheffler has become a factor with Jay Cutler in the second half of the season. Consider picking him up if you need a good back up TE for the playoffs or have an underperforming TE–even one like Greg Olsen or Owen Daniels.

LJ Smith, TE PHI
Some owners gave up on him as he struggled to get healthy at the beginning of the year, but LJ is now back to his usual in Philadelphia. I think Scheffler has the bigger upside, but Smith can be consistent as long as the Eagles QB situation doesn’t get too chaotic.

Sidney Rice, WR MIN
He’s hit or miss, but if you want a big play WR to help you out for this final week of glory or in your playoff run, Rice has big play ability.

New Orleans’ Reggie Bush is still whining about his injuries a bit, so he is a game time decision–always ominous–for Sunday. Make sure you check the reports before you set your roster. Stecker would fill in, but you really want Bush for this one. He said earlier in the week that he could play through the pain and be a tough guy, but check the reports tomorrow morning just in case.

Carolina’s Vinny Testaverde came in Friday with a stiff back–what did he do Thursday night? He may be in danger of losing the start to David Carr this week. For Steve Smith owners, that’s right, pray for Vinny to get it together. David Carr hates Steve Smith because Smith made fun of his little gloves. They never play nice together.

This week I decided to take a little looksey in my search logs and answer the questions you were asking Google instead of asking me. It seems several people are scared about what to do if they have Tom Brady here at the end of the season. I am sure you are all quaking with fear here at the end of the season with losing record with that unpredictable rascal Brady on your team? Sure you are.

What you wondering is whether they are going to start sitting Brady for the playoffs pretty soon–don’t count on it. The Patriots have already stated more than once that they want to focus on playing complete games. Whether they have a bunch of pent up aggression from the spy camera scandal at the start of the season or whether they just don’t want to blow a game to the Colts like they did last year, the Patriots are not going to let themselves fall into complacency here at the end of the season.

Now the smart move, if you are still listening rather than jumping up and down fist pumping because Brady just scored another touchdown–I hate you, by the way–you should pick up Matt Cassel–not because of his dashing Brady-like appearance but because he gives you two strong plus points.

If anything were to happen to the force that is Tom Brady this season, Cassel would be the guy to step in and throw those lazy shots over the middle to Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and the speedster Wes Welker. If you don’t think Brady’s nagging shoulder is going to take him out this season, then the second bonus of having Cassel on your team is that if they do start sitting Brady, you have a decent play to fill in at QB until the Brady-ster returnsl to glory. If the Patriots’ contract with the devil expires and they LOSE a game this season, they just might sit Brady for playoffs and let Cassel get some reps in to boost the ol’ confidence.

Of course, if you want to avoid having to make a call altogether about whether Brady will sit/start, the easy solution is to carry a second starting QB on your roster and plug them in when necessary–say a sly old dog like Kurt Warner or even a chippy young thing like a turning around Vince Young or J.P. Losman could even give you some decent fantasy points down the stretch. These QBs just might still be on the wire in your leagues, and have mostly easy match ups to close the season.

Minnesota rookie Adrian Peterson has been updated to questionable for this week against the New York Giants. By questionable, Minnesota probably means “scaring the Giants defensive game plan.” I have to doubt that they would throw him to the wolves on his first game back from injury against the bruising Giants blitz attack unless they agree that they have no offense besides their running game. If he does suit up, I would expect Chester Taylor to still have the start. If you are praying for his return this week, make sure you have another smart play.

The Buffalo Bill’s rookie RB Marshawn Lynch, without a doubt the second-best rookie RB in the league this year, will not play again this week against Jacksonville. From what I hear, the Jacksonville defense is pretty tough, so I wouldn’t have liked to see the second best rookie breaking out against them on his return from an ankle injury. Maybe we will see him back in week 13 against Washington, and maybe running backs will start putting up the points they used to before the NFL changed to an all-throwing league.

R.I.P. LJ’s 2007 Fantasy Season

He came in with such high hopes this season–heralded as one of the top RBs in fantasy and setting a franchise record with his latest contract with the Chiefs.

And then, he went and performed like a back up for the first four games of the season. I’ll hold that against him considering he was killing one of my fantasy teams by stinkin’ up the joint. Luckily, he came back to form in week 4 and exploded weeks 6 through week 9, when the Packers forced him to leave the game with an official undisclosed injury.

A now an moment of silence for LJ…

That’s all that has been coming out the Kansas City camp since his injury, but now, we finally get confirmation that he has a Lisfranc fracture similar to what Kevin Jones suffered from last season. Since they are being so quiet, and LJ vows to return, they may feel that his injury is not going to be that major, but considering that he sits this week against Oakland, the only good match up he has left is week 14 in Denver. After that game, he faces Tennessee for week 15–not helping you much in the playoffs–and then Detroit for most championships in week 16.

It seems unlikely that he will make it back by then–or even make it back in time to not share carries with Kolby Smith on his return, so for fantasy purposes, his season is probably done. Move on, nothing to see here. Just a undisclosed injury trying to keep your fantasy hopes alive. Give up the roster spot and pick up someone with a brighter future ahead unless you are in some kind of crazy keeper league. LJ might play again this year, but probably not best to hold out for it to be your team unless you are stacked at RB.