Archive for November, 2007

Not only has this year been a year for the quarterback, but this entire season has been week looks to be a horrible week to be a running back. Most of the starters around the league are banged up in some way.

Just take a look at the hit list sitting this week:

• Larry Johnson - Kansas City Chiefs
  foot injury that could be worse
• Marshawn Lynch - Buffalo Bills
  knee injury keeping him out this week at the very least
• Shaun Alexander - Seattle Seahawks
  lucky to have an injury to blame on his weak performances lately

Unfortunately for our fantasy teams, these three represent some of the few running backs not splitting carries this year in the NFL, a trend that is hurting many a team. The NFL is trying to kill fantasy football, I swear.

You may have been one of those sneaky folks that, knowing Ricky Williams was bound to get reinstated this year, stashed him away in your injured reserve (if you league is lucky enough to have such an option) or kept your eye on him in the free agent pool.

Unfortunately for you, Ronnie Brown broke out to a huge first half of the season, and he made it look like Ricky had missed his chance. When Brown went down, the speculation again came up that Ricky would have an impact since his application for reinstatement was coming up for review in just a few weeks.

Enter Jesse Chatman.

Chatman, although few thought he had it in him, has put up big enough yards these last two games to be considered a solid running back as well.  Some of it may just be the good play of the Miami offensive line, but Chatman still has made a good enough impression to make it hard for Ricky to jump into a starting role.

Several teams have faced injuries and complete breakdowns thus far this season. Who is beefing up for a strong finish and who should you avoid?I got your answers…bet you thought I was going to leave you hanging on that one.

Green Bay went from being unexpectedly good at throwing the ball to developing a running game–with just one RB too. Now that they have Ryan Grant, they might even pose a threat to the Cowboys in the NFC. A Super Bowl for the NFC like the Colts-Patriots was for the AFC could happen in week 13 when the Packers face the Cowboys on Thursday night. I am sure they are going to lose–Go Cowboys!–but regardless of who wins out, if you can grab any starter off Green Bay, go after them.

In addition to the regular waiver wire advice, I’d like to add to it a couple of players that I have read about who I don’t trust at the moment, but they could prove to be valuable assets to your team if you want to sit on them a week to see how they do or–if you are ballsy enough–use them this week.

Leonard Pope, TE Arizona Cardinals

The big boy had 2 TDs against Detroit last week after putting up only 2 TDs in nine games.  If Warner starts to use him like he did in the Detroit game more regularly, he could be a consistent starting TE.  Otherwise, lightning strikes every now and then.   Arizona plays the Bengals this week.  Considering the defense those Cincinnati boys don’t play, he could be worth grabbing and starting this week.  Fine, I said it.

I’ll make this week brief because, frankly, there aren’t too many players worth grabbing in leagues that aren’t probably already grabbed.  Here are a few notes gathered from suggestions around the Web.  If they are available, go after them, but don’t be too hopeful that they will be there in the free agent pool.

Kellen Clemens, QB New York Jets

I have talked about him before, but if he is still available, grab him now.  He is coming off a bye week of practice as the starting QB and should have a nice core of healthy receivers to throw to in Week 11.

JaMarcus Russell, QB Oakland Raiders
John Beck, QB Miami Dolphins

I’ll lump these two together because they are purely speculative.  If you are mopping it up in a dynasty league, you should definitely have one of these two on your roster as a QB of the future.  If you are hurting so bad at QB that you don’t have tears anymore, use a roster spot for Russell he could–emphasis on “could”–have a big impact with the Raiders when they finally decide to stop bruising McCown week after week.

The games aren’t even over, but already, there have been several injuries that could go on to help your team. On the injury side…

Brian Griese, QB Chicago Bears

Brian Griese was knocked out for the Bears this week, so Rex Grossman may or may not be returning top his fluctuating position as one of the most inconsistent and sometimes just plain bad starting QBs in the league.

Adrian Peterson, RB Minnesota Vikings

Two running backs had season-changing events in the Packers/Vikings game. Adrian Peterson–the star (only existent member) of the Vikings offense–went down with an injury to his knee. Watch the injury reports but now might not be a bad time to make sure Chester Taylor isn’t available on you wire if you are in need of a solid running back.

Making a run for the playoffs? If you have already locked up your place, it’s time to start thinking about who you can acquire to blow up in those crucial three weeks. Don’t go doing anything drastic like dropping your studs or trading away top performers for a slew of average Joes, but if you can pick any of these guys off the waiver wire or find some “equal value” trades without letting on your motive, go for getting guys with good schedules.

The top teams to target are the Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers and Tennessee Titans according to the stats and analysis of CBSSports.com.

With the Patriots eliminating the Colts in the “Battle of the Unbeatens” this past Sunday, only a couple of teams remain on the Patriots roster that could stop them from breaking the famous Miami undefeated season.

Apparently, the NFL has decided to take advantage of the hunt to take down the beast. After the Colts showdown had unusually high results for Sunday afternoon football ratings–surprise, surprise considering there are usually a couple of decent games going on at the same time with equal amount of hype–the Patriots game against the Steelers was pushed back to the same time slot rather than being an “early” 1 p.m. game. The time slot perhaps suggests that the NFL, or at least CBS, believe that the Steelers will be the one to take down Brady’s boys.

I know it’s mid-season, but you may already be thinking about what system you would like to operate your league on next year.

The best experience I had thus far with a fantasy football system is ESPN.com now that they have made their fantasy system free, but another free option is Flea Flicker.

Flea Flicker doesn’t appear as graphically pretty as ESPN, but it does do several notable things like giving you player rankings based upon custom scoring to tell you how many WRs better than the one on your roster are available or providing graphs and charts of your points broken down by position. One of the cooler features unique to the site is the ability to handle blockbuster trades between multiple teams and even involving future draft picks.

Several players are worth grabbing after performances this week–or finally be cleared by Johnny Law

Chris Henry, WR Cincinnati Bengals

Chris Henry got 8 touchdowns last year as the third receiver for the Bengals. You might remember him. He comes back Week 10 after serving his suspension from the NFL commissioner. Even though the Bengals have stunk it up as of late, they should start making use of Henry almost immediately. He has already been practicing with the team for a couple of weeks. Look for him on your waiver wire, and especially grab him if Ocho Cinco misses any playing time with his head injury–although I don’t see it swelling any bigger.