Now it can be told! (1 Viewer)

[Gr00vus]

So all drafts are done, I figured I'd take the opportunity to write some stuff down here so I can go back and laugh at myself at the end of the season. So here are some random pre-2005 season (well almost) noodlings. Feel free to play along or castigate what I've put here - whatever flips your cookie.I like the Rams offense tons this year - greatest show on turf type like. The only caveat is the shallowness of the offensive line folks. If the starting five get dinged up the whole thing will derail, probably with a Bulger injury resulting. That said, I like everyone on this offense, especially Bulger, Jackson and Curtis for FF purposes.I think the Eagles win the super bowl - they look like the most complete team to me right now. Now that the season's started I think the Owens craziness will stay below the surface as long as the team is winning. I think they're obviously the class of the NFC, with Carolina, Minny, St. Louis, and Atlanta in a second tier.The Pats D is still a big questionmark for me in their quest for another title - I like the Colts to take the AFC title. Their D has improved, and the offense can win games by itself - they really need to get home field for the playoffs though. Baltimore would look better if they had a quarterback.I think the Jets offense is in for a tough season. I don't think Pennington is 100%, and he may never be. It doesn't look like he can throw down field with authority. Without the deep threat, Coles and McCariens don't seem like feature receivers to me, despite some of the numbers they've put up in the past. Can Curtis Martin do it again? Not to the level he did last year - he gets 1000 yards at least, but I wouldn't expect a ton more.The Giants offense becomes a pleasant surprise. Really good talent at the skill position creates a solid support net for Eli to become productive, gaining momentum as the season moves along. Brandon Jacobs looks like the real deal and they'll have to find ways to get him on the field.Surprise team of the year - Miami Dolphins. They should have a tough defense, and they also are loaded at the skill positions. Hudson Houck whips the offensive line into shape and by midseason they're road grating people giving Williams AND Brown plenty of room to wreck havoc and give Gus Ferrote enough protection to be an effective NFL QB (see Drew Brees 2004). They give their division mates fits, finish ahead of the Jets and make a run at the last wild card spot.Carnell Williams is gold this year - top 12 FF running back. He'll make quite a few FF seasons work out right this year. Period, end of discussion. Relatedly, the Bucs return to playoff contention.Ahman Green returns to top 10 running back status. The reports of the Green Bay offensive line degradation are greatly exaggerated. Yeah the lost their starting guards from last year, but it's not like they're going with a 3 man line as a result. He breaks a few more long ones, scores a few more tds, and people will wonder how he was going at the end of the second round come January 2006.Byron Leftwich steps up again this year, approaching top 10 qb status. The Jags offense opens up and young receiving weapons Williams, Jones and Willford help out old man Jimmy Smith to create a threatening passing game. The running backs are just good enough to not let teams completely sell out, letting Lefty do his bidding.Brandon Jones takes Tyrone Calico's job, and Steve McNair is better for it.Arnaz Battle puts up better numbers than Lloyd, and becomes a useful FF WR3.Hmmm that's all I've got for now. Questions? Comments? Why don't you guys throw some spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks so we can all have a laugh at the end of the season.

 

[Sagan]

I personally think that the Indy D will bear watching. One of the things that made the STL Defense attractive in some recent times was the need of opponents to play catch-up. I think that Indy has put together some good pieces with the signing of Simon and the development of talent they already had.I drafted them relatively early and several folks in my league cursed me for it.

 

[Kit Fisto]

Dolphins, huh? Pass it to the left, bro.

 

[Gr00vus]

Dolphins, huh?

Pass it to the left, bro.

Whatever it takes to keep Ricky's head together - you afraid of a little reefer madness Kit?

Wait, I know - you're a Jets fan right?

 

[Kit Fisto]

Dolphins, huh? 

Pass it to the left, bro.

Whatever it takes to keep Ricky's head together - you afraid of a little reefer madness Kit?

Wait, I know - you're a Jets fan right?

No, no... I'm down.But an unabashed Pats homer.

 

[Cenobite]

I have Caddy, A. Green, and the Fins D. Your mouth to the fantasy god's ears!

 

[Gr00vus]

So how'd I do so far?"I like the Rams offense tons this year - greatest show on turf type like. The only caveat is the shallowness of the offensive line folks. If the starting five get dinged up the whole thing will derail, probably with a Bulger injury resulting. That said, I like everyone on this offense, especially Bulger, Jackson and Curtis for FF purposes."Well they got off to a real good start, and then everone got hurt. Bulger, Jackson and Curtis were all doing well until Bulger got knocked out for good. I also noted the injury potential for wrecking it all. I give myself a here"I think the Eagles win the super bowl - they look like the most complete team to me right now. Now that the season's started I think the Owens craziness will stay below the surface as long as the team is winning. I think they're obviously the class of the NFC, with Carolina, Minny, St. Louis, and Atlanta in a second tier.":X Anytime I think I know anything about football I'll look back at this one and be humbled. At least Carolina went to the playoffs. I give myself 3 here."The Pats D is still a big questionmark for me in their quest for another title - I like the Colts to take the AFC title. Their D has improved, and the offense can win games by itself - they really need to get home field for the playoffs though. Baltimore would look better if they had a quarterback."Looks good so far, we'll revisit after the playoffs, but for now I give myself a here."I think the Jets offense is in for a tough season. I don't think Pennington is 100%, and he may never be. It doesn't look like he can throw down field with authority. Without the deep threat, Coles and McCariens don't seem like feature receivers to me, despite some of the numbers they've put up in the past. Can Curtis Martin do it again? Not to the level he did last year - he gets 1000 yards at least, but I wouldn't expect a ton more."Nailed this one with the exception of Martin getting 1000 yards. An easy here."The Giants offense becomes a pleasant surprise. Really good talent at the skill position creates a solid support net for Eli to become productive, gaining momentum as the season moves along. Brandon Jacobs looks like the real deal and they'll have to find ways to get him on the field."Nailed this one too, although Jacobs didn't get as many chances as I thought due to Tiki going aggro. Another easy here."Surprise team of the year - Miami Dolphins. They should have a tough defense, and they also are loaded at the skill positions. Hudson Houck whips the offensive line into shape and by midseason they're road grating people giving Williams AND Brown plenty of room to wreck havoc and give Gus Ferrote enough protection to be an effective NFL QB (see Drew Brees 2004). They give their division mates fits, finish ahead of the Jets and make a run at the last wild card spot."Ding ding ding - we have a winner! They didn't quite make that playoff run, but they had a nice season (and won me some money to boot). A very large here."Carnell Williams is gold this year - top 12 FF running back. He'll make quite a few FF seasons work out right this year. Period, end of discussion. Relatedly, the Bucs return to playoff contention."Well Carnell ended up #19 in FBG's scoring for the year, he was only about 26 points off 12th for the season. If he's not hampered by injury and misses two games I think he does end up top 12. The Bucs did return to playoff contention. I give my self a here."Ahman Green returns to top 10 running back status. The reports of the Green Bay offensive line degradation are greatly exaggerated. Yeah the lost their starting guards from last year, but it's not like they're going with a 3 man line as a result. He breaks a few more long ones, scores a few more tds, and people will wonder how he was going at the end of the second round come January 2006.":X So when I'm bad I'm very bad. He wasn't doing well at all even before he got hurt, so I won't use that as an excuse. I give myself a large for this one."Byron Leftwich steps up again this year, approaching top 10 qb status. The Jags offense opens up and young receiving weapons Williams, Jones and Willford help out old man Jimmy Smith to create a threatening passing game. The running backs are just good enough to not let teams completely sell out, letting Lefty do his bidding."Lefty was really heating up before he went down with the broken ankle. He ended up at #21 in FBG's rankings for the season in only 11 games, 83 points behind #10. He was around 17th in ppg scoring. I have to give this one a not as good as I thought, but not horrible either."Brandon Jones takes Tyrone Calico's job, and Steve McNair is better for it."Well he did, and McNair was, and then Brandon went down for the season. In terms of NFL pundification it was good, but for fantasy purposes it didn't help too many people much. I still give myself a for this one, and I'm intrigued by the prospects for Jones next season."Arnaz Battle puts up better numbers than Lloyd, and becomes a useful FF WR3."Well that didn't hit. Battle looked good when he played at somewhere near 80% health, but the jury's still out on this one because of all the injuries. Bottom line though is he didn't put up the numbers or become a useful WR3 so I get a for this one.Looks like I went 7-2-1 (well 7-5-1 if you really count 3 for the NFC stuff). I can live with it.How'd everyone else do with their prognostications - honestly?