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The Sports Reps TalkFantasy Sports Talk Author: Jonny and Donny
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Week 9: Fantasy Football In-Review
Wednesday, 9 November, 2011
If Aaron Rodgers had a personal theme song it would be "Who Gon Stop Me" by Jay-Z and Kanye West off the album "Watch The Throne". -->LISTEN HERE (EXPLICIT VERSION)<-- Because at this rate no one will be stopping him anytime soon. Rodgers had another monster game for all fantasy purposes completing 21 passes for 247 yards and 4 touchdowns. By far Aaron Rodgers is the leading candidate for the leagues Most Valuable Player and is showing no intentions of slowing down. The Packers as a team are rolling as well remaining undefeated at 8-0. At times their defense has looked shaky allowing points in bunches to several of their opponents (23+ points allowed in 5 of their 8 games, 14+ in 7 of their 8 games). And although the most common cliche in the NFL is "Defense wins championships", we are all aware of how much of a passing league the NFL has become and it seems like it does not matter how many points the Packers give up on defense, Aaron Rodgers and the offense will just continue to outscore their opponents on offense. So jealous of all you Aaron Rodgers owners. I would now like to take the time to show some love for a team that has not received even close to the amount they deserve. That team is the Cincinnati Bengals. Yes, Bengals, not "Bungles". This team had some serious youth injected into them at the draft when they added Andy "Red Rifle" Dalton and A.J. Green. These two have helped revive the franchise almost to the point of being considered favorites to win the AFC North. Chances are they will not even sniff the grand stage of the Superbowl in Indianapolis, but there is no reason to believe they will not make a strong attempt at it. Lead by Dalton and Green on offense and a surprisingly stingy pass defense, the Bengals are tied with the Baltimore Ravens atop the AFC North standings with a 6-2 record and have won 5 games in a row. I never could have predicted this in a million years considering what the Bengals were going into the season with, essentially nothing. Young inexperienced players, a disgruntled Carson Palmer still on the roster, a patch-work defense and a head coach that has went from the hot seat to being talked about as a Coach of the Year candidate. This is what they were working with at the beginning of the season and turned a complete 180. The Bengals deserve some serious credit considered what they started with and what they have accomplished so far. The second half is where the challenge really begins. Their upcoming schedule looks like this: PIT, @BAL, CLE, @PIT, HOU, @STL, ARI, BAL. This is where Andy Dalton will need to play like the experienced quarterback he has looked like all season long. The match-up against the Rams and Cardinals may look like a cake walk but lets see how the team fares first against the Ravens, Steelers twice and a Texans team that most likely will have Andre Johnson back. And come week 17 they could be in line for a playoff spot and the match-ups against those weaker teams are classic look ahead spots. Do not give up on the Bengals quite yet. Like I said, 8 games ago, they were not supposed to be in the position they are in right now. It is now time for my always controversial list of in-season MVP candidates. The number one spot is occupied by the same man as last week and barring any sort of catastrophic breakdown, I do not see it changing anytime in the near future. 1) Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers - I honestly do not know what else to say about Rodgers. Unstoppable. No one is even close to him right now. Lets see if he can keep it up in the second half. 2) Eli Manning, QB, New York Giants - You can't spell "Elite" without "Eli". Peyton's younger brother just continues to impress as the weeks go on. With only 1:36 to go in the game against New England, Eli Manning lead his Giants 80 yards down the field to score the game winning touchdown thus defeating the favored Patriots 24-20. The Giants are 6-2 right now and with the way their division rivals are playing, it looks quite favorable down the stretch for G-men. Eli has looked great this season and has his Giants primed to run away with their division. I guess it runs in the family. 3) Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans - After avenging their early season loss to the Buccaneers this past weekend, Drew Brees has his Saints ready to take control of the NFC South. Brees leads the league in passing yards (3004) and is second to Aaron Rodgers with 21 touchdown passes. The only knock against Brees, like I mentioned last week, is that he is second in the league with 11 interceptions thrown. However, if anyone has a legit chance at taking Rodgers off of his thrown, it is Brees. 4) Wes Welker, WR, New England Patriots - Normally when the words "Patriots" and "MVP" are mentioned in the same sentence it is followed by the reference of Mr. Tom "UGG" Brady. Not this time though folks. The only spectacular thing about Tom Brady this season is the fact that he is friends with Wes Welker. Welker has been the top guy in New England this year (from a statistical perspective) and has posted astronomical numbers through the first 8 games of the season and has been absolute gold for all fantasy owners. His 66 catches and 960 yards are tops in the league and his 6 touchdowns are tied for second in the league. Chances are he will not win MVP with the way the gentlemen above are playing but he very well could be the skill-player MVP of the fantasy world. 5) LeSean McCoy, RB, Philadelphia Eagles - McCoy has scored a touchdown in every game so far this season for the Eagles and is absolute dynamite with Michael Vick coming out of that backfield. McCoy has over 1000 total yards already this season to go along with 28 receptions and 11 total touchdowns. Although the Eagles are struggling to contend in the NFC East, LeSean as shown up every game for them and is making a strong case for MVP consideration. Rankings subject to change with bye weeks yet to be completed. Could any fantasy team be on more of a roll than our ESPN team? We have now won 5 games in a row and are currently tied for 1st overall in league standings after starting the season off 1-3. Week after week we seem to have two guys come out and put up monstrous numbers for us. This week it was the rookie Julio Jones (3 REC, 164 TOTAL YDS, 2 TDs) and the rolling pin Mike Tolbert (3 REC, 142 TOTAL YDS, 1 TD). And if these performances were not enough, we decided to keep my boy DeMarco Murray (4 REC, 186 TOTAL YDS) on the bench because we simply just did not have enough room in our lineup. Not to sound over confident (I have a history of such), but with the way our team looks and at the rate we are putting up large point totals, I cannot help but think that we will keep on rolling and dominate if we are fortunate enough to make playoffs seeing as how only 4 teams move on to the fantasy postseason. There is a lot of the same going on in our Yahoo! league in terms of domination for my team. This week I defeated Jared (@JPDClinton) 167.98-138.68 while posting a league-high point total for that week. Maybe you should let your mustache set your lineups next time Jared. I was also able to improve my record to 8-1 and would love nothing more than to continue rolling into the playoffs picking up 'W' after 'W'. Vincent Jackson (7 REC, 141 YDS, 3 TDs) EXPLODED against the Packers this week and returned to the form I anticipated when I chose to keep him at the beginning of the year. Expect him to be a BOOM of the week with numbers like that. Andy Dalton (22 COMP, 217 YDS, 3 TDs) also continued to produce quite nicely as my spot fantasy starting quarterback. The one guy I was the most happy to see perform this week was Wes Welker (9 REC, 155 TOTAL YDS). After a drop in production over the Patriots last 2 games (12 REC, 84 YDS, 1 TD), Welker returned to his usual ways tearing up the Giants defense in a 24-20 loss. That being said, the Giants dominated Brady overall for almost all of the game, It also looks like the puzzle of how to get Brady consistently off of his game has been solved, pressure. The crumbling offensive line of the Patriots is not helping either. But as long as Welker keeps taking those screen and short passes for long distances and touchdowns, all is good in the world of fantasy football. Jon was also able to pick up an ever-so crucial win against Matt (@deadasmatt) defeating him 114.06-90.02. Jon's point totals were lead by Tony Romo (19 COMP, 279 YDS, 2 TDs) and Atlanta's DST. His pick-up of Chris Ogbonnaya (Yes I had to look up how to spell his last name) did not pan out the way he may have anticipated this week but there are rumors floating around that Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty may both be held out for the rest of the Browns season. Normally you would think that this is great news for Jon seeing as how he owns the default starting running back in Cleveland. Lets not get ahead of ourselves now. Jon is also a Hillis and Hardesty owner. Dayum. He is however managing without the two and is only 2 games back of his division leader. His divisional match-ups will be make or break for his playoff chances and it could come down to his last match-up of the season. It is now time for the main feature of this blog, the Booms, Bums and Waiver Wire Pickups of the week. BOOMS: VINCENT JACKSON (SD-WR): Like I stated earlier, Jackson torched Green Bay's defense in a high scoring game. Jackson faces Oakland this Thursday has all the potential in the world to dominate that Raiders defense. An obvious piece of advice would be to start VJax with confidence this week. If only his quarterback could stop playing like crap... WILLIS MCGAHEE (DEN-RB): The only reason I am choosing McGahee right here is because I never thought I would this season. This was obviously a breakout game for veteran running back gaining 163 yards on the ground and scoring 2 touchdowns. It is very possible we could see a couple more decent games out of McGahee with Tebow running show in Denver but games like this consistently for the remainder of the season are not very likely. After a game like this McGahee could definitely be a guy that you could trade to someone that needs a running back for an upcoming week. Trade him while he is hot because before you know it he could be standing next to Brady Quinn, on the sidelines. Honorable Mentions: Aaron Rodgers (GB-QB) (Obviously), Matt Moore (Mia-QB) (Not obviously), Roy Helu (Was-RB) (One-hit wonder, thanks Shanahan) BUMS: DEZ BRYANT (DAL-WR): I am going to get right into this. Dez Bryant is the type of guy that could, and probably should, be blowing up the stat sheet almost every week. He has all the potential in the world to dominate on the field and light a fire under a very mediocre Cowboys team. But every week he is only able to muster average numbers. This week he recorded only 4 catches for 76 yards. That is not BAD, but it is not what he should be settling for. I hear it from millions of people all the time that Dez Bryant is this great playmaker and an incredible talent. Sure, he may be physically talented, but when it comes to his focus and results on the field, he is no better than any 4th or 5th string wide receiver in the league. Although Romo is losing games for the Cowboys, he still is putting up big numbers and Bryant has yet to take advantage and make himself a real difference maker for the Cowboys. Example: Miles Austin has played in two-and-half less games than Bryant this season (left last weeks game with hamstring injury) and has been able to record the same stats as Bryant short of 40 receiving yards). I am extremely disappointed with Bryant this year and have no interest of owning him on my team anytime soon. All hype, no results. Things most definitely could change any instance for Dez but not only could he not pull his pants in a mall, he also cannot pull his socks up to produce for the Cowboys. MATT SCHAUB (HOU-QB): Boy does Dez Bryant make me furious. Anyways, moving along. Matt "Stump the" Schaub is next on the list. Against a very inferior Cleveland Browns team, Schaub put up a stinker completing only 14 passes for 119 yards. Arian Foster was able to dominate the ground game for the Texans but this is inexcusable for a guy that often puts up huge fantasy points for the Texans. It very well could just be a minor stumble for Schaub as he should get back on track this coming weekend against a depleted Tampa Bay defense. Oh wait! Maybe thats why the Bucs brought in Albert Haynesworth, to stop the Houston offense (#sarcasm). Or, maybe to just occupy a large amount of the field come gameday. Either way Schaub and Foster should still be able to dominate. Honorable Mentions: Michael Vick (Phi-QB), LeGarrette Blount (TB-RB) (He was benched late in game in favor of Kregg Munchkin, I mean Lumpkin), Curtis Painter (Ind-QB) (Not that he was good in the first place, he just sucked something awful this weekend) WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS: LAURENT ROBINSON (DAL-WR): Robinson will be a popular pickup this week especially with Miles Austin missing the next 2-4 weeks with his hamstring injury. Robinson helped has helped his cause lately by catching 10 passes for 135 yards and 2 touchdowns in the last 2 weeks. Robinson could be a very good play at the flex spot this weekend against a Bufflao team that does let up big yardage to their opponents despite leading the league in turnovers on defense. I would not be surprised if he ends up having a better game than Dez Bryant, a feat that has not been too difficult this season. ANTONIO BROWN (PIT-WR): Antonio Brown is quickly putting the fantasy world on watch. With Emanuel Sanders out with a knee injury and Hines Ward regressing faster than the speed of light, Brown has taken full advantage of playing on the same field as the speedster Mike Wallace finding constant holes in coverages and putting up great numbers over the last couple of weeks. In his last 3 games Brown has caught 21 passes for 278 yards and 1 touchdown, exceeding his season totals leading up to week 7 (18 catches, 262 yards, 0 touchdowns in first 6 games of the season). Brown is on fire and can run side by side with Mike Wallace. It looks like Pittsburgh has found their receivers of the future and Brown looks to be one of them. His week 9 match-up against a very good Cincinnati pass defense will be a tough one but I would still roll with him this week. Go grab him if he is available in your league. Honorable Mentions: Jake Ballard (NYG-TE), Michael Bush (Oak-RB) (Until DMC returns), Steve Breaston (KC-WR) Is anyone else loving the New York Giants labeled as underdogs to the San Francisco 49ers as much as I am this week? I will most definitely be throwing down on them this weekend, I sense a roll coming on for that team. For fantasy purposes, I expect Matthew Stafford to come up big against a division rival Bears team, Greg Jennings should have a HUGE week against the Minnesota Vikings and my sleeper of the week is in the hands of Ravens tight end Ed Dickson. He needs to have a big game if he wants to stop Dennis Pitta from becoming Baltimore's number one tight end. DO NOT FORGET THERE ARE THURSDAY NIGHT GAMES FROM HERE ON OUT!!! Thanks for stopping by and more importantly than ever... Don't forget to set your lineups
