In week 6 my squad returned to its former dominating self, putting up the highest point total in my league, just enough to beat the second highest point total for the week. A four touchdown performance from Ladanian Tomlinson and solid efforts from the rest of my squad were enough to secure the win and remain in first place. For the second week in a row, I left Willie Parker on the bench, so I will rectify that mistake this week...
....Quarterbacks....
Donovan McNabb had only two touchdowns in week 6—a disappointing game for him, and a good one for any other quarterback in the league. Not to worry though, several dropped passes and a touchdown via a reverse play will only plague him for one week, and everything should return to normal in week 7 against an average Tampa Bay defense. As for Michael Vick and Jon Kitna, it was pretty much the same thing: 14 points for Vick, and 15 for Kitna. I still like Vick because he is leading the league in yards per carry, and despite the fact that his completion percentage is horrible, he still has a higher threshold for points every week than Kitna (at least that's what I keep telling myself). So here I go throwing Vick in against another good defense (Pittsburg), while Kitna will stay on the bench against a mediocre Bills team. I'll give Vick one more week before I seriously consider keeping him on the bench...McNabb and Vick at QB...
....Running Backs....
Willie Parker has been putting up great numbers lately, and I haven't been reaping the benefits at all. Now that Pittsburg is playing a sieve of a run defense (Atlanta), I have no choice but to play him. Also, Lamont Jordan has reached the point in the season where I know he is not going to be even mildly productive because the Raiders are possibly the worst team in the history of the NFL. I finally dropped him so I could pick up an extra kicker since mine is on bye. Even though Reggie Bush didn't really do much against the Eagles last week (four catches for 35 yards), he is still among the league leaders in receptions, so there is no way he can be on the bench." Tatum Bell will continue to occupy the WR/RB swing slot for me after a decent 85 yards rushing and a touchdown. I'd better find another RB, though, since I only have three, and running backs get injured more than any other position....Parker, Bush, and Bell at RB, RB, and WR/RB respectively...
....Wide Receivers....
I now have two great receivers and question marks for all my other WRs. T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Darrell Jackson are both must-starts every week, as Chad Johnson continues to do a lot of talking and not much else, allowing his receiving mate to go off every week. As for Jackson, with Shaun Alexander on the bench, the Seahawks are a heavy passing team and Jackson is continuing to put up big reception numbers and frequent touchdowns. For the rest, I don't know what to expect on a weekly basis. Chris Chambers is by far the best receiver on the team, but Joey Harrington likes throwing to the other Dolphin receivers more than him for some reason. Maybe he's just used to throwing to the second string players. But Chambers is one of the best in the league at scoring touchdowns when the game's outcome has already been determined, so I'll stick with him for now. Marques Colston is on bye, so I don't have to contemplate his status, and my only tough decision this week was whether to leave Donald Driver on the bench after resting his rib injury during his bye week in week 6. He hasn't been scoring that many points in the last 2 games before the bye, so I'll have to wait and see if he is healthy, and then maybe consider re-inserting him in week 8.
...The Rest....
I appear to have an easy win on hand for week 7, with Yahoo! predicting a 203 to 145 win. My opponent has one thing that I don't...Matt Leinart. Some moron in my league was dumb enough to drop him before the Monday night game where he threw two touchdowns and over 200 yards against the best defense in the league...but I was too low on the waiver list to grab him...The consolation is that my team is far superior to his (here are some of his starters for the week: Wes Welker, Jericho Crotchery, and Keenan McCardell at WR, Maurice Morris and Maurice Jones-Drew at RB). OK, I'll stop because it's obvious his team is horrible and has no chance to take me down. But we'll see...
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
It's all up for grabs now...
With one last second field goal, John Carney single-handedly leveled the playing field in the NFC East, not to mention solidifying New Orleans as the NFC South leader by a game over Carolina.
As it stands now, the Eagles are 4-2, the Cowboys and Giants are tied at 3-2, and the Redskins are in big trouble at 2-4, having just lost to Tennessee! Despite being in the lead, the Eagles are in no way the frontrunner for the division. That honor goes to the Giants, who everyone dismissed after a 1-2 start(a narrow loss to Indianapolis, an amazing comeback win against Philly, and a horrible blowout to Seattle). The Giants are the winners of two straight(dominating performances against Washington and on the road against Atlanta). The Giants have played a much tougher schedule than the Eagles and are only a half-game back, and have already beaten Philly in Philadelphia!
If the Giants can steal a road win at Dallas on Monday night, their stock to win the division will skyrocket, regardless of if the Eagles stay ahead by a half-game with a win in Tampa. They will have made it through the most difficult part of their schedule with a 4-2 record, and will be in control of the division having beaten all three teams, two on the road.
The Cowboys have other plans, and after a sluggish start in Dallas before eventually throttling the Texans, Dallas is looking strong on both sides of the ball. With Bledsoe connecting with TO and Terry Glenn on a regular basis, and Julius Jones and Marion Barber taking advantage of the extra safety help (tied up doubling the receivers), the Cowboys offense looks unstoppable at times. It's important to note that the Cowboys' offense has not put up a dominating performance for an entire game though, which could be their eventual downfall against New York.
New York already showed that it is a difficult team to put away, and if the Cowboys let up on either side of the ball, the Giants will be able to take them out. Tiki Barber is a man on a mission in his last season, leading the league with 533 yards rushing on 102 carries. And when Barber is finding room to run, Eli Manning can open it up with play-action and deep balls to Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress. When the run game isn't working, the Giants have struggled this year, so if Dallas is able to stop the run throughout the contest, they will likely be able to hold on a for the win.
My prediction is Dallas will jump out early on New York, and then play it safe, and try to run out the clock. Giants' coach Tom Coughlin will be conservative in the early-going, choosing to run often, and not succeeding against a strong Dallas defensive front. As the game wears on, Coughlin will open things up in the passing game, and it should be just enough to give the Giants the W, and put them well on their way to winning the NFC East.
As for the Eagles in Tampa Bay, they better show up for both halves this week. With the defense taking a step back against New Orleans (no sacks, and barely any pressure on the QB), the offense needs to step up and put points up on the board throughout the game, not just in bunches. The Saints used a lot of quick 3-step drops to elude the pressure, and I'm sure every team in the league will watch the tape to see how the Saints beat the pressure. The question now is whether or not the Eagles can find an answer for the new approach their opponents will be using. We shall see in the coming weeks...
As it stands now, the Eagles are 4-2, the Cowboys and Giants are tied at 3-2, and the Redskins are in big trouble at 2-4, having just lost to Tennessee! Despite being in the lead, the Eagles are in no way the frontrunner for the division. That honor goes to the Giants, who everyone dismissed after a 1-2 start(a narrow loss to Indianapolis, an amazing comeback win against Philly, and a horrible blowout to Seattle). The Giants are the winners of two straight(dominating performances against Washington and on the road against Atlanta). The Giants have played a much tougher schedule than the Eagles and are only a half-game back, and have already beaten Philly in Philadelphia!
If the Giants can steal a road win at Dallas on Monday night, their stock to win the division will skyrocket, regardless of if the Eagles stay ahead by a half-game with a win in Tampa. They will have made it through the most difficult part of their schedule with a 4-2 record, and will be in control of the division having beaten all three teams, two on the road.
The Cowboys have other plans, and after a sluggish start in Dallas before eventually throttling the Texans, Dallas is looking strong on both sides of the ball. With Bledsoe connecting with TO and Terry Glenn on a regular basis, and Julius Jones and Marion Barber taking advantage of the extra safety help (tied up doubling the receivers), the Cowboys offense looks unstoppable at times. It's important to note that the Cowboys' offense has not put up a dominating performance for an entire game though, which could be their eventual downfall against New York.
New York already showed that it is a difficult team to put away, and if the Cowboys let up on either side of the ball, the Giants will be able to take them out. Tiki Barber is a man on a mission in his last season, leading the league with 533 yards rushing on 102 carries. And when Barber is finding room to run, Eli Manning can open it up with play-action and deep balls to Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress. When the run game isn't working, the Giants have struggled this year, so if Dallas is able to stop the run throughout the contest, they will likely be able to hold on a for the win.
My prediction is Dallas will jump out early on New York, and then play it safe, and try to run out the clock. Giants' coach Tom Coughlin will be conservative in the early-going, choosing to run often, and not succeeding against a strong Dallas defensive front. As the game wears on, Coughlin will open things up in the passing game, and it should be just enough to give the Giants the W, and put them well on their way to winning the NFC East.
As for the Eagles in Tampa Bay, they better show up for both halves this week. With the defense taking a step back against New Orleans (no sacks, and barely any pressure on the QB), the offense needs to step up and put points up on the board throughout the game, not just in bunches. The Saints used a lot of quick 3-step drops to elude the pressure, and I'm sure every team in the league will watch the tape to see how the Saints beat the pressure. The question now is whether or not the Eagles can find an answer for the new approach their opponents will be using. We shall see in the coming weeks...
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