I probably will be moving Manning up a tad and McCown down a tad, but my reasons for the initial rankings are the following:
Arizona just suffered horrendous losses on the defensive side of the ball. They positively will be throwing all day as they will not be able to stop ANYONE. This game will be high scoring.
- Star rookie corner Antrel Rolle tweaked an already sore knee
- The secondary took yet another blow when their other starting corner David Macklin went down with a hamstring injury.
And on that note, San Francisco also suffered more defensive injuries (their best defensive players: Plummer and Peterson). This to a unit that is already the worst in the NFL at defending the pass.
McCown may not be that good, but he has quality receivers that will get open all day long. I think he has a huge game.
Tennessee is over their heads against Indianapolis, but they have a good DL. Good enough to rush 3 and drop 8 in coverage like every other team has tried against the Colts. In my opinion, Manning will play dink and dunk football and setup the rushing TDs and FGs to win this game.
and finally, when I ran the Arizona / SF Game through the Game predictor, Warner (the Arizona QB that the stats were based on was off the charts). I know McCown is not Warner and I have reduced the output significantly because of that. But in the end, this is about as good a matchup as any QB could ever face. Drew Bledsoe had a lifetime to throw last week agaisnt this SF team. Do you really think McCown is going to get rattled with no pass rush and a bunch of lame defenders limping to cover Fitzgerald and Boldin?
I may miss big on this one, but I think you could be looking at McCown's low side (at 10) and his high side could be a Top 5 play this week.
Before I publish my comment on David's projections and the comments above, let me clarify by saying that I have the highest respect for Joe and David and the entire FBG site - it is one of the very best FF sites for the money and absolutely THE best msg boards/forums. (I was a member under the Captain Hook alias before this number so don't give me the five digit crap).That said, I absolutely cannot reconcile Dodd's rankings/projections with his comments in this thread (and I give him props for posting in this thread and changing the AZ reception yards as a response to a previous post).
The projections for McCown and the Arizona offense:
26/42 for 258 yards and 1.5 TDs
98 yards rushing and 0.8 TD (Shipp+Arrington+McCown)
"They positively will be throwing all day as they will not be able to stop ANYONE. This game will be high scoring."
How does this comment get reflected by 42 passing attempts (Warner was averaging 45 for the first three weeks) and only 258 yards and 1.5 TD against
one of the worst defenses in the league?
"McCown may not be that good, but he has quality receivers that will get open all day long. I think he has a huge game." IS NOT REFLECTED IN THOSE NUMBERS
The projections for Rattay and the San Francisco offense:
17/29 for 206 yards and 1.5 TDs
98 yards rushing and 0.8 TDs (Barlow+Gore+Rattay+Battle)
against one of the other terrible defenses in the NFL missing even more personnel in this week's game.
Again, " This game will be high scoring."
I think it will be high scoring too David, but how do the comments justify the projections or vice versa?