Sunday Stylings

I hate Frank Gore

wait... let me put that in bold I hate Frank Gore

One of the keys to winning in fantasy football is having those impact players on your team, or at least not play against you. I can not overstate how much I hate Frank Gore. I played against Frank Gore in basically every league I was in and it turns out that it dealt me a serious blow in the winning department. It’s probably Frank Gore’s Karmic hitmen getting back at me for passing on him in so many drafts. It could also be that the Seahawks’ front seven has more holes in it than Sonny Corleone at his most recent toll booth visit. They had no answer for Gore at all, they just stood there, standing trout faced in amazement that that Gore had the audacity to run past them that fast. Gore finished the day with 16 carries for 207 yards and 2 TDs. On top of that he added 5 catches for 39 yards to lead the 49ers in receiving. This was one of those days where playing against Gore could ruin your day. That is unless…..

You also played against someone who had Chris Johnson. I loved Chris Johnson this week but there are very few people around that could have predicted this bombshell. 16 caries for 197 yards and 2TDs. He then went on to lead the Titans in receiving with 9 catches for 87 yards and a TD. It was silliness on each of these runs; his third touchdown was a 90 yard draw, in which, he was seemingly stopped about five yards into it. In one league Johnson and Gore, with the help of Matt Schaub single-handedly beat one of my teams. I Hate Frank Gore. Well enough with that, lets get on to Sunday’s happenings:

The Week 2 Allstar Team

QB: Matt Schaub: He burned a lot of people last week against the best defense of all time, the Jets, and seemed to be walking into the fryer again this week heading to Nashville. I said give a pass to the Texans’ offence and even I didn’t think I’d be this right. 4TDs for Schaub, two to Andre 3000, and 357 yards proved he is worthy, at least for one week, of all the preseason hype around him. Look for him to keep this show going next week when the Texans host Jacksonville.

RB: Chris Johnson : Don’t keep this performance in your head too long, he heads to the Jets next week, who I’m pretty sure are some sort of hybrid between the ‘85 Bears and steroids.

RB: Frank Gore: Franklin came alive this week. Also, I hate him.

WR: Mario Manningham: Before you read any more, go see if Manningham is available in your league. It’s ok, I’ll wait……………… alright, I hope you’ve put in a waiver claim on him. He looked great against the Cowboys piling up a stellar 10-150-1 game. That’s a score now in the first two games to start his career. He looked great in preseason and he’s looked great through two weeks. Get him on your team now and reap the rewards later. This guy has game changing ability.

WR: Andre Johnson: I guess we can now call it the “Darrell Revis Effect” or THE DRE. Revis is going to take out a personal ad for the rest of the season reading: if you have an all-world receiver who’s coming to town, call THE DRE and he‘ll be shut down. Revis held Randy Moss to 4 catches for 24 yards this week, last week he held Johnson to 4-35. Turns out when Andre 3000 doesn’t suffer from the dreaded DRE he is going to get you. Against what is supposed to be a legit Titans secondary, Johnson went crazy and caught 10 balls for 149 and 2TDs. He had a beautiful TD grab that he tipped up to himself at the back of the end zone. Just pure beauty. Look for Johnson to keep this going unless Revis gets traded to the Texans’ opponents every week.

WR: Vincent Jackson: There were others to pick from here but it was crazy to see Jackson get so consistently open down field. The Ravens defense is clearly missing Bart Scott and Rex Ryan. Jackson hauled in 6-141-1 and just seemed to grab everything thrown his way, making Rivers look good in the process. That’s two good weeks in a row for Jackson, I think you can count on him to be a top 15 option for the rest of the season.

TE: Tony Gonzalez: Turns out that Tony G was the perfect fit for Matt Ryan and the Falcons. A 7-71-1 was a great line for a week that was not kind to tight ends. I love Gonzalez’s chances of challenging Witten as the top tight end this year.

5 People I was dead wrong on

Steve Smith: Looks like the demise of Jake Delhomme may have been a tad premature, I mean who believed that non-sense anyways? Definitely not me, that’s for sure. Delhomme rebounded a bit this week throwing for 300+ yards and turning the ball over only once., WOW!!! What was the main contributor to this epic turn around? It turns out It was targeting Steve Smith 15 times and letting him make plays on the ball. I still think there’s going to be ups and downs depending of the quality of game that Delhomme has but it looks like Smith is back as a number one threat.

Santana Moss: Stupid Santana Moss. This is what I get for having faith in that midget, If you started him over someone like, oh I don’t know, Steve Smith, that’s my bad. For some reason the ‘Skins were not able to ‘finish the job’ this week when it came to scoring. They made four red zone trips and came away with nine points. Nine. That’s terrible. If this is how Washington’s offence is operating there’s going to be a lot of losses in the future in the nation’s Capital.

Thomas Jones: It’s not unusual to have thought this one was had potential written all over it. He finished with 14-54 which isn’t great but this was more of a usage issue than an effectiveness issue. He seems to be firmly entrenched in a full time share with Leon Washington but he will continue to get the majority of goal line touches so don’t lose faith yet.

Kellen Winslow: I gave him no credit coming into the year and no credit the last few weeks but it really looks like he and Lord Byron have developed a decent connection and with Antonio Bryant out, he’s going to see a lot of passes come his way. After watching Tampa fall to my Bills this week I think I can predict that they’re not going to be good this year. If they’re not good that means they’ll be playing from behind a lot, which means a lot of passing: all good news for Winslow. If he’s still out there in your league go grab him, he may not play on your team but he could be used as good trade bait in a few weeks.

Aaron Rogers: I had him as my number one QB this week and he was given every opportunity to come through on it. I was going to throw Greg Jennings onto this list but I don’t think that I’m the only one who didn’t see his zero catches coming. Why didn’t Rogers do better than his middle of the pack 261-1 day? One man: Antwan Odom. Odom reeked havoc on Rogers all day collecting 5 sacks and seemed to be playing on the Packers side of the line of scrimmage all day. You may need to readjust your projections for Rogers and the Packers for that matter; both are going to struggle until they get the offensive line all on the same page.

5 People I got dead on

Chad Ochocinco: He said he would score, I believed him, he made us both look good. The Artist formally known as Chad Johnson made the most of his 4 catches, turning it into 91 yards and a TD. He looked sharp and focused even when it was not involved in the play. I was high on EightFive coming into the year and he has only lived up to my praise so far.

Donald Driver: For as much as I got Moss wrong, I think I got Driver right. He was the focal point of the Pack’s aerial assault , collecting 99 yards on 6 catches and a score. I have my doubts that Jennings stays out of the action on a full time basis. If Green Bay has a weaker defensive opponent, there’s no reason not to start Driver.

Brent Celek: I thought “The Tent” would pitch himself up about 8 yards down field to be Kolb’s safety valve and that’s exactly what he was. He grabbed 8 passes for 104 yards in a week where many were down on him. Celek could very well be a top 10 option at tight end by the end of the year but I would really play the match ups with him for right now. That being said, he seems like a plus player in PPR leagues.

Fred Jackson: He dominated on the ground again this week and it’s looking more and more like he’ll kill Marshawn Lynch’s value when he comes back.

Denver’s Defense: Denver’s checklist: keet the Browns off the field, check. Browns can’t move the ball when they have it so keep Josh Cribbs from returning one, check. The Broncos have a pretty soft schedule and apparently a pretty good defense, who knew? This week they limited the Browns to 6 points, had 4 sacks (all from Elvis Dumervil), 2 fumble recoveries and a pick. I’d say that’s a pretty decent week.

Injuries and Options:

Brian Westbrook left the game with an ankle sprain, the same ankle he had repaired this summer. If LeSean “The Real” McCoy is available in your league, go get him now. He’s a Westbrook clone who is at a point of his career where he’s a bit more durable. He should rack up the points if Westbrook isn’t in the lineup.

Jerious Norwood go drilled on his one carry and left the game with a sore head. Probably from thinking about how he didn’t see that guy who was trying to take his head off. Jason Snelling came as his replacement and took 6 carries and even grabbed a short TD pass. There’s really no need to grab Snelling unless you really feel like you need Turner’s handcuff, which is Norwood as soon as he’s back.

Matt Hasselbeck tried to be a good man for a lot of his owners by trying to tough out a TD run which cost some people, like me, a victory this week. Instead of sliding feet first, Rogaine’s least successful customer decided it would be prudent to dive head first and leave your bad back exposed to the hardest hitting linebacker in football. Result? Bruised ribs. No info yet on how long he’s out for but you want no part of Seneca Wallace if he’s in the line up.

Week 2 Pick Ups

Laurent Robinson STL- Last week it was 5-87, this week it was 6-54 plus a TD. It seems like Robinson, not Donnie “Fumbs” Avery is the number one receiver on this team. He plays in a weak division and the Rams have a weakish schedule. He’s definitely a good pick up to anyone who is in need of receiver depth.

Byron Leftwich TB- Threw 3 TDs this week and looked pretty good last week. I think he may possess more value than someone like David Garrard at this point. If he can keep up this kind of consistency, he’s going to be someone that is always out there on waivers putting up 15 points a week.

Cadillac Willliams TB- He looks explosive and has scores in both games this year. Get him now if you’re not too late.

Steve Smith NYG- While I think we just witnessed the peak of his upside, he is criminally under owned in PPR leagues. Whether he scores or not, he seems to be good for 6-8 catches and 65-90 yards. A touchdown is just a bonus.

Trent Edwards Buf- My main man T Ed has put up two good games in a row and could be a nice bye week filler for you. You may want to grab him now before someone else does.

Mike Sims-Walker: In my game previews this week I boasted, “don’t look for too much else from any other Jags with the possible exception of Mike Walker”. I’ve liked Mike Sims-Walker since he was just Mike Walker, presumably before his parents got divorced. Walker was close last week and busted out in a big way against the Cards. He totaled 6-106-1 on 9 targets and is quickly becoming Garrard’s favorite target. He may be someone to stash on the bench and see if he can work on the consistency for a few weeks.

The Worst Play of the Week

He may also win worst name of the week but Legedu Naanee made what could possibly be the most unheralded bad play of the year. As the Chargers were driving to win the game, Naanee caught the ball about 2 yards away from the first down marker, on about the 15 yards line. He had two options: get the first down by continuing on the slant he was running or cut back and get out of bounds to get the first down and stop the clock. Naanee decided that the best option was to juke and shake, all while standing still mind you, looking for a way to get to the end zone. He got hit from behind about a second later, failing to get the first down which left the Chargers 3rd and 2 with the clock still running. He took a run out of the playbook because Rivers needed to pass to make sure the clock stopped if there was no touchdown on the play. So they pass incomplete and now they’re 4th and 2. Next play, Ray Lewis blows up the line and kills Sproles in the backfield, ending the game. All Naanee had to do was fall forward and get that first down. Rivers could have then spiked the ball and set up something that could work. If anyone has the new Madden let me know if Naanee’s awareness rating is zero. I doubt we’ll be seeing much more of this Naanee and his stupid name in the future.