Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
A lot of this is like last week, but I did highlight where I made some updates. Would appreciate anyone that can take these stats and break them down even further or offer some slight different POV on them as well.
The weekly exploit/avoids are towards the bottom.
AFC East:
New England:
Week 1: Chad Pennington 16/21, 167, 2TD…game was a blowout but this was a decent week for owners.
Week 2: Phillip Rivers 19/30, 179, 2 TD and 2 INT…seems like they were just giving up short passes early in the season, however QBs posting 2 TD a week is good new for owners.
Week 3: Trent Edwards 10/20, 97, 0TD…rookie but you can see he was very limited.
Week 4: Carson Palmer 21/35, 234, 1TD and 2 INT…a stud QB and they pretty much limited him most of the night. Great pair of WR to throw to, and he really had a sub par night for Carson Palmer.
Week 5: Derek Anderson 22/43 287, 2TD, 3INT…In terms of FF, any owner who was forced to start Anderson had to be at least satisfied. The 3 INT maybe erase 1 of the TD but he still racked up close to 300 yds.
Week 6: Tony Romo 18/29 199, 2TD, INT…Romo was held in check throughout the day with a few bursts here and there.
Overall the Pats are from a pushover in the passing game. However, they have allowed 2 TD in 4 different games and that could give FF owners some reason for optimism. Not sure I like Cleo Lemon without Chris Chambers now on offense.
Buffalo:
Week 1: Jay Cutler 22/39, 304 TD/INT
Week 2: Big Ben 21/34, 242, TD/INT
Week 3: Tom Brady 23/29, 311, 4TD
Week 4: Pennington 32/39, 290, TD/2INT
Week 5: Tony Romo 29/50 309, 2TD/5INT
Week 6: Bye
What does all of this mean? They have faced a lot of quality NFL Qbs…Penny and Cutler are middle of the road right now. They are playing tough even though they are giving up a lot of yds. The Interceptions seem meaningless as they are allowing about 300 yds a game. However they have only 2 games where the Qb threw for 2+TD.
New York Jets:
Week 1: Tom Brady 22/28, 297, 3TD…can’t fault them against the Pats.
Week2: Kyle Boller 23/35, 185, 2TD…a lot of FF owners will take that and run almost every week.
Week 3: Trent Green 23/36, 318, TD/INT…Miami was down 31-13 in the 4th…lot of garbage time stats here.
Week 4: Trent Edwards 22/28, 234, TD/INT…rookie QB has success on your secondary?
Week 5: Eli Manning 13/25, 186, 2TD/INT…they had him contained for most of the day. Penny really did lose them this game.
Week 6: Donovan McNabb, Pass: 22 - 35 - 278 - 1 TD / 1 INT
3 games of 2+ TD, Brady has the most impressive yds, Green was in garbage time really, the other 3 outings are a mixed bag. Pretty soft secondary but they are not exactly stiff on the run either so offense are doing whatever they like right now. I have a feeling most Qbs can expose this secondary when they want to. McNabb did post close to 300 yds although he was not in total rhythm most of the day.
Miami:
Week 1: Jason Campbell 12/21, 222, 2 INT
Week 2: Tony Romo 14/29, 186, 2TD
Week 3: Pennington 15/22, 124, 2 TD
Week 4: CulPepper 5/12, 75, 2TD…3 rushing TD just for S&G.
Week 5: Matt Schaub 20/34, 294, INT
Week 6: Derek Anderson, Pass: 18 - 25 - 245 - 3 TD / 0 INT
You look at Miami and you see that they have not been beaten for a lot of yards most weeks. But they also are allowing an atrocious amount of rushing yards typically. They are at #4 on the depth charts at Free Safety…the kid looked lost out there against Houston and Schaub should have had a couple of TD in that game, ended up with a couple of PI calls. The Dolphins are terrible on defense right now in almost every aspect of the game, I expect if they do stiffen up on the ground that most teams will just take to the air and go bombs away on them. They are giving up 1 TD per 19-20 attempts…and that is without CPepp’s 3 rushing TD factored in.
10/18/07: As I said last week, they are awful in the secondary as much as they are against the run. Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards destroyed the Miami Dolphins this past Sunday. Trauma surgeons may need to be standing by at the game on Sunday when Brady rolls into town.
AFC North
Pittsburgh:
Week 1: Anderson/Frye 17/38, 218, TD, 2 INT…sent Frye to QB3 for Seattle…ouch!
Week 2: J.P.Losman 15/25, 154…Buffalo was awful with Losman under center.
Week 3: Alex Smith 17/35, 209, TD/INT…they look good against the inferiors for sure.
Week 4: Warner/Leinart 21/35, 225, TD…their pass defense was not the problem in this game really.
Week 5: Matt Hasselbeck 13/27, 116, INT…just destroyed the Seahawks passing game…really the run as well in this one.
Week 6: Bye
There is no doubt they are a tough tough tough pass defense. And when you factor in they were short handed in the secondary last week…this group is awesome. They have not faced the upper tier QBs so I would question that a bit but compared to what other teams are doing, they look great.
Baltimore:
Week 1: Carson Palmer 20/32, 194, 2TD…considering the Qb, I don’t think this was that bad.
Week 2: Kellen Clemens 19/37, 260, TD/2INT…got the job done, but not the best.
Week 3: Warner/Leinart 24/40, 311, 2 TD…They were ahead by about 20 at one point…then they started to get soft. Had a hammer lock on Leinart though.
Week 4: Derek Anderson 10/18 204, 2 TD/INT…3rd game of 2+ TD for the season.
Week 5: Trent Dilfer 12/19, 126, TD/INT…look at the Qb here before you give them any kudos.
Week 6: Gus Frerotte, Pass: 19 - 36 - 208 - 0 TD / 5 INT…Not every Qb is going to light them up.
I don’t think they are studs but you have to take into account they are stiff stiff stiff against the run. Teams would rather take their chances thru the air really. In fact I think they still do have a pretty solid secondary. I wouldn’t just wheel out my Qb against them and expect great numbers against them.
10/18/07:We talked about it last week but Frerotte may not be the best example. I don’t think you should always expect great numbers from your Qb against the Ravens. They did have one of their starting CB go down this past weekend and will be out 4-6 weeks…that is cause for optimism for a Qb facing them. Still not a pushover by any stretch.
Cleveland:
Week 1: Big Ben 12/23, 161, 4TD
Week 2: Palmer 33/50, 401, 6TD/2INT
Week 3: McPepp 14/26, 226, TD
Week 4: McNair 34/53, 307, TD/INT
Week 5: Brady 22/38, 265, 3 TD
Week 6: Cleo Lemon, Pass: 24 - 43 - 256 - 2 TD / 2 INT
The fact is they have given up 15 TD this season. Can a guy like Cleo Lemon exploit them this week? I am sure he will get “Good/Great Match up” this week but it’s CLEO LEMON!!! This secondary has faced Palmer and Brady so it’s understandable to get lit up by them, they also have made McNair and Big Ben look like Brady and Palmer in terms of FF production.
10/18/07: Cleo Lemon was terrible in the 1st half, Cleveland got up big and played prevent a lot in the 2nd half, allowing Cleo to have impressive FF numbers. I’ll talk about Cleo in depth below.
Cincinnati:
Week 1: Steve McNair 20 - 34 - 203 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Derek Anderson, Pass: 20 - 33 - 328 - 5 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 24 - 37 - 248 - 3 TD / 2 INT
Week 4: Tom Brady, Pass: 25 - 32 - 231 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Bye
Week 6: Damon Huard, Pass: 25 - 35 - 264 - 2 TD / 0 INT
The Bengals have just been rocked on many weeks. They were OK against McNair week 1 but then they allowed 11 TD over the next 3 weeks. Can the injured Damon Huard do anything against this secondary? I am more inclined to bet on Dwayne Bowe at WR as Joseph is OUT/Suspended.
10/18/07: They made Damon Huard look like a Pro Bowler on Sunday.
AFC South:
Indianapolis:
Week 1: Drew Brees, Pass: 28 - 41 - 192 - 0 TD / 2 INT…everyone is keeping Brees and crew down, not sure this was any great achievement looking back.
Week 2: Vince Young, Pass: 17 - 27 - 184 - 1 TD / 0 INT…VY had another 50+ on the ground but they pretty much held him in check. In NFL terms though, VY had a solid game, no mistakes really till the last play and even then you can’t fault the guy.
Week 3: Matt Schaub, Pass: 27 - 33 - 236 - 1 TD / 2 INT…considering Schaub didn’t have Andre Johnson in this game I think he did pretty well.
Week 4: Jay Cutler, Pass: 13 - 21 - 131 - 1 TD / 1 INT…pretty pedestrian numbers.
Week 5: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 18 - 23 - 143 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 6: Bye
What I see and take form this are several things. 1st, even in games where the Qbs are having success, they want to try and keep Manning off the field so they run even more than they usually do. Not many teams are going to try and defeat the Colts by airing it out as Indy can match them score for score all day if they want to. They are really only allowing about 150-175 yds a week thru the air and only 1 TD. Besides Brees, most of the other game the Qbs are only throwing it around 25-27 times a game, that’s not much in the NFL…and these teams are LOSING!!! It’s not like the recipe is working or anything but they still are doing it. So I think most weeks you are going to be fairly disappointed when your Qb faces Indy.
Jacksonville:
Week 1: Vince Young, Pass: 11 - 18 - 78 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Joey Harrington, Pass: 12 - 20 - 200 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Jay Cutler, Pass: 16 - 23 - 222 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: Huard/Croyle, 25 - 43 - 279 - TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Matt Schaub, Pass: 19 - 31 - 259 - 0 TD / 1 INT
The Jags have not exactly been beating down the best of the NFL Qbs, however they are a mighty stiff defense as of late. They are not giving anything away on defense anywhere right now. They had KC pretty much shutout till the very end of that game. I want to see them face someone with a real Qb…Schaub would be a great test but he is missing his WR1/WR2…but it still will be worth monitoring.
10/18/07: Made life miserable for Schaub on Sunday.
Tennessee:
Week 1: David Garrard, Pass: 17 - 30 - 204 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Peyton Manning, Pass: 28 - 42 - 312 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Drew Brees, Pass: 29 - 45 - 225 - 0 TD / 4 INT
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: Joey Harrington, Pass: 16 - 31 - 87 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Byron Leftwich, Pass: 2 - 8 - 28 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 20 - 31 - 274 - 1 TD / 0 INT
They are playing at a very high level as well. Manning had 300+ and a TD but 42 attempts to get there, really not that bad an effort. Mixed bag of Qbs other than manning but they are really playing hard right now. This week they travel into hostile Tampa Bay but I see them able to shut down the Bucs as they will have a hard time running it and also do not possess anyone outside of Joey Galloway who will likely be blanketed this week.
10/18/07: Had 1 breakdown against Galloway and it cost them the game literally.
Houston:
Week 1: Damon Huard, Pass: 22 - 33 - 168 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 2: Jake Delhomme, Pass: 27 - 41 - 307 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Peyton Manning, Pass: 20 - 29 - 273 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Joey Harrington, Pass: 23 - 29 - 223 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Cleo Lemon, Pass: 15 - 27 - 151 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Trent Green…KO!!!
Week 6: David Garrard, Pass: 22 - 34 - 221 - 2 TD / 0 INT
The Texans really only have 1 poor showing and a lot of that was done by the incredible play of Steve Smith helping Jake Delhomme out. The improvement of their DL has made them much improved with a better overall pass rush and also they have been good against the run minus Ronnie Brown last week. I can’t see where David Garrard would be a great play this week really.
10/18/07: Didn’t look very good against Garrard, not sure if means Garrard is good or if Houston has a suspect secondary. 3rd game of the season with multiple TD.
AFC West:
Oakland:
Week 1: Jon Kitna, Pass: 27 - 36 - 289 - 3 TD / 2 INT
Week 2: Jay Cutler, Pass: 23 - 33 - 269 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 3: Derek Anderson, Pass: 18 - 37 - 248 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 4: Trent Green, Pass: 14 - 25 - 158 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 5: Bye
Week 6: Philip Rivers, Pass: 14 - 21 - 156 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Since week 1, they have been a lot better against the pass. Detroit has a lot of weapons so I wouldn’t fault them too much in week 1. 3 TD vs 6 INT the next 3 weeks…I know many people laugh that they are in 1st place but this defense is not as bad as some imagine it to be. Anderson and Green had trouble completing passes. Rivers might have his hands full on Sunday. This is going to be a big game for a young team, Oakland, on Sunday. The Chargers need this one badly as well but I wouldn’t think Rivers has an explosion or anything.
10/18/07: Played OK but LT destroyed them…Rivers did complete 66% of his passes but he just didn’t produce good FF numbers. Oakland likely could have been exploited had SD chosen that route.
San Diego:
Week 1: Rex Grossman, Pass: 12 - 23 - 145 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Tom Brady, Pass: 25 - 31 - 279 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Brett Favre, Pass: 28 - 45 - 369 - 3 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Damon Huard, Pass: 17 - 29 - 284 - 2 TD / 2 INT
Week 5: Jay Cutler, Pass: 23 - 36 - 232 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Daunte Culpepper, Pass: 24 - 37 - 230 - 1 TD / 2 INT
People are going to point to last week’s game and think SD is back, they really are not and here is why. I don’t consider Cutler an upper tier QB and in fact I don’t like anything Denver is doing right now on offense. Has Henry scored yet??? 1 TD, that’s right. All that said, they were lit up by Tom Brady, Brett Favre…you can live with those but Damon Huard? Almost 300 yds and 2 TD in a game they lost. Culpepper is not a guy I pin my dreams on every week but he is coming off a skewed 5 TD performance, but the match up IMO is great. If Curry is healthy and Porter can be effective…might not be a bad match up, would prefer a healthy Jordan though to catch balls o.o.t.b. though.
10/18/07: I have to see them shut down a top5-10 Qb before I am going to give them much in the props department.
Denver:
Week 1: J.P. Losman, Pass: 14 - 21 - 97 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Josh McCown, Pass: 8 - 16 - 73 - 1 TD / 3 INT
Week 3: David Garrard, Pass: 14 - 20 - 154 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Peyton Manning, Pass: 20 - 27 - 193 - 3 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Philip Rivers, Pass: 13 - 18 - 270 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 6: Bye
While the 1st 3 weeks were really impressive, they did it against very average to poor Qbs. When they faced Manning and Rivers they got smoked pretty good to the tune of 5 TD vs 0 INT. They get a bye this week but they could easily be 0-5 right now. I think if you have a solid QB option you plug him in. It is possible the Travis Henry issue was a distraction to the team this week. He went form a possible season ending knee injury that wa mostly smoked up on the internet, to a season ending suspension that he has managed to stave off for a few weeks it appears.
Kansas City:
Week 1: Matt Schaub, Pass: 16 - 22 - 225 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Rex Grossman, Pass: 20 - 34 - 160 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 3: Kelly Holcomb, Pass: 14 - 28 - 165 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Philip Rivers, Pass: 21 - 42 - 211 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 5: David Garrard, Pass: 20 - 27 - 218 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 6: Carson Palmer, Pass: 26 - 43 - 320 - 2 TD / 2 INT
KC is a hard team to gauge and here is why. Despite what they did against Jax on Sunday…and really it was 1 big run by MJD that made those stats looks that good…Fred Taylor did not tear it up…but KC is pretty good at stopping the run. They don’t get gashed every other play as some others in the league. You would think that more teams would try to pass it more on them yet they don’t. SD tried but Rivers simply failed. When you look at this body of work they have done well against Grossman, Holcomb, and Rivers…2 of them are not real starters in this league. Schaub did alright but it was his 1st start so it was actually really solid and they won 20-3 so he wasn’t asked to do a lot. Garrard was effective but didn’t bury them or anything. We’ll see what they are made of at home this week against Carson Palmer.
10/18/07: Could have been worse vs Palmer. 2 TD but 2 picks as well. They are playing solid right now…also that was the most attempts anyone has tried on them.
NFC East:
Dallas:
Week 1: Eli Manning, Pass: 28 - 41 - 312 - 4 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Trent Green, Pass: 23 - 40 - 287 - 2 TD / 4 INT
Week 3: Rex Grossman, Pass: 15 - 32 - 195 - 0 TD / 3 INT
Week 4: Marc Bulger, Pass: 11 - 24 - 114 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Trent Edwards, Pass: 23 - 31 - 176 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Tom Brady, Pass: 31 - 46 - 388 - 5 TD / 0 INT
Very mixed reviews I think. They have had some injuries in their secondary but shutting down Rex Grossman, Bulger and the rib injury, and Trent Edwards does not impress me. What does New England do best? Throw the ball although they can run it too, but Brady and crew should have a good time in Dallas on Sunday even if the game is a little tougher. They walked right thru that trap game against Cleveland and manage to win handily, the same could not be said of Dallas. The defense is opportunistic though and they have 10 INT on the season…they will need them this week if they have any hope of winning against the Pats.
10/18/07: It’s Tom Brady and the Pats folks, they aren’t that bad but when you have 2 CB injured and 1 not playing at all…not making excuses but TJax won’t know what hit him this week.
Washington:
Week 1: Trent Green, Pass: 24 - 38 - 219 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Donovan McNabb, Pass: 28 - 46 - 240 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Eli Manning, Pass: 21 - 36 - 232 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: Jon Kitna, Pass: 16 - 29 - 106 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 6: Brett Favre, Pass: 19 - 37 - 188 - 0 TD / 2 INT
This is somewhat impressive. They have a very solid secondary. My question and I hope Skins fans will take the time to educate us on their DL…where is the pressure coming form because without getting heat on the Qb, no secondary can survive. They shut down McNabb, Manning was meh, and what they did to Kitna was criminal. Now they will have their hands full with Brett Favre this weekend but I am thinking they are up to the challenge. Imagine the Skins at 4-1…are they really that good? I don’t think Green bay is all that great so they certainly are beatable.
10/18/07: Continue to shut down good Qbs and that’s the real key here. McNabb, Manning, Kitna, Favre…those are top10 Qbs really and they are just confusing them and shutting down the passing lanes. Shawn Springs’ father, former Dallas RB Ron Springs is in a come, not expected to survive…Springs may or may not be available this week and he probably will not be all there in the game. Minor thing to think about for us, but it’s there.
NY Giants:
Week 1: Tony Romo, Pass: 15 - 24 - 345 - 4 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Brett Favre, Pass: 29 - 38 - 286 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Jason Campbell, Pass: 16 - 34 - 190 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Donovan McNabb, Pass: 15 - 31 - 138 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Chad Pennington, Pass: 21 - 36 - 229 - 1 TD / 3 INT
Week 6: Joey Harrington, Pass: 18 - 39 - 209 - 0 TD / 1 INT
They have gone from the outhouse to the penthouse the last few weeks. After having Romo and Favre take a blowtorch to that secondary in weeks 1 and 2, they have bounced back hard. OK, Campbell doesn’t count, but McNabb and shut down Penny for most of the day. Those guys do have weapons at their disposal and they couldn’t get it done…I know McNabb was missing Westbrook but he did nothing against the Giants. They travel to Atlanta on MNF, might be seriously going 4-2 after this week…crazy talk after the way they started the season. I’m not totally sold on them being a good pass defense but they should be able to handle Joey and Lord Byron.
10/18/07: Got Harrington benched for the rest of the season.
Philadelphia:
Week 1: Brett Favre, Pass: 23 - 42 - 206 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Jason Campbell, Pass: 16 - 29 - 209 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Jon Kitna, Pass: 29 - 46 - 446 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 4: Eli Manning, Pass: 14 - 26 - 135 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Bye
Week 6: Chad Pennington, Pass: 11 - 21 - 128 - 0 TD / 1 INT
When all is said and considering the injuries that they have sustained, they actually have held up pretty well. 206 yds on 42 attempts is really good against Favre. Kitna had a lot of yards but didn’t really do the damage those numbers would first indicate. They have a good chance to help the Jets usher in the Kelly Clemens era this weekend. I don’t see where Pennington will light them up short of being able to exploit some injuries, but other teams have not really done that.
10/18/07: Really started to play well and they are actually not 100% healthy in the secondary yet.
NFC North:
Green Bay:
Week 1: Donovan McNabb, Pass: 15 - 33 - 184 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Eli Manning, Pass: 16 - 29 - 211 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Philip Rivers, Pass: 27 - 36 - 306 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 4: Kelly Holcomb, Pass: 21 - 39 - 258 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Brian Griese, Pass: 15 - 25 - 214 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Jason Campbell, Pass: 21 - 37 - 217 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Other than Rivers, they haven’t really been bad. Griese had his moments but that should not have lost Green bay the game when you look at the stats…Favre really hurt them in that loss. Manning had a bum shoulder, McNabb was in his 1st game back from his ACL tear…I could try and find excuses for why they are just average but really they have played pretty solid.
10/18/07: Still playing strong. Campbell had a rushing TD which salvaged a mediocre Sunday for him.
Detroit:
Week 1: Josh McCown, Pass: 30 - 40 - 313 - 2 TD / 2 INT
Week 2: Tarvaris Jackson, Pass: 17 - 33 - 166 - 0 TD / 4 INT
Week 3: Donovan McNabb, Pass: 21 - 26 - 381 - 4 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Brian Griese, Pass: 34 - 52 - 286 - 2 TD / 3 INT
Week 5: Jason Campbell, Pass: 23 - 29 - 248 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 6: Bye
We all know they are bad. McCown had his best day, McNabb his best day, Griese had almost 300 yds and 2 TD, Campbell had his best day of the season…they are not good, far from it.
Chicago:
Week 1: Philip Rivers, Pass: 22 - 31 - 190 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Damon Huard, Pass: 19 - 28 - 175 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Tony Romo, Pass: 22 - 35 - 329 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 4: Jon Kitna, Pass: 20 - 24 - 247 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Brett Favre, Pass: 29 - 40 - 322 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 6: Tarvaris Jackson, Pass: 9 - 23 - 136 - 1 TD / 0 INT
The Bears are another team that is tough to gauge because of all the injuries. They shut down Rivers mostly week 1, Huard week 2, Romo lights them up in week 3, Kitna was bottled up till late in that game, and Favre was doing fine against them till he started to throw interceptions. 2 games of over 300 yds, another for about 250 over the past 3 weeks but both of their CB have had injuries…although Tillman was in the line up and very productive against Brett Favre on Sunday. I doubt TJax lights them up this week or Holcomb for that matter.
10/18/07: TJax is no way to measure their secondary.
Minnesota:
Week 1: Joey Harrington, Pass: 23 - 32 - 199 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 2: Jon Kitna, Pass: 22 - 33 - 245 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Damon Huard, Pass: 20 - 29 - 206 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Brett Favre, Pass: 32 - 45 - 344 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Bye
Week 6: Brian Griese, Pass: 26 - 45 - 381 - 3 TD / 2 INT
Favre has a sensational game but that was special moment where he broke Marino’s record. The Vikes dropped the hammer down pretty good on the lesser Qbs although they did fare well against Kitna too. When you consider how great they are at stopping the run, its hard to imagine why they aren’t giving up more yards thru the air. Griese will have his moments this weekend but I don’t see him posting 20 points like he did last week.
10/18/07: Back to back weeks of about 350+ yds thru the air. They are stout against the run so I imagine all teams will try and play bombs away with them. 7 TD vs 5 INT in 5 games is not all that bad though.
Tampa Bay:
Week 1: Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 17 - 24 - 222 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Drew Brees, Pass: 26 - 44 - 260 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Marc Bulger, Pass: 17 - 26 - 116 - 0 TD / 3 INT
Week 4: David Carr, Pass: 19 - 41 - 155 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Peyton Manning, Pass: 29 - 37 - 253 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Kerry Collins, Pass: 10 - 20 - 125 - 0 TD / 0 INT,
Vince Young, Pass: 11 - 14 - 120 - 0 TD / 1 INT
The Bucs are better than people think. Manning had a good day without Harrison by his side but the overall picture for the Bucs has been pretty good. Now granted when you shut Brees down right now, it doesn’t seem to carry as much weight as all the other teams are doing it too, but they have not been torched for 300 yds yet, and they also have only 1 game with over 2 TD and that was against Manning. This is not a pushover for opposing Qbs for sure. While I do think the Titans are going to march into TB and win the game, I don’t expect superstar numbers form Vince Young this weekend.
10/18/07: Bucs continue to be a very difficult team to pass the ball on. 5 TD vs 7 Picks in 6 games. Only Manning had 2+ TD in a game.
Carolina:
Week 1: Marc Bulger, Pass: 22 - 42 - 167 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Matt Schaub, Pass: 20 - 28 - 227 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Joey Harrington, Pass: 31 - 44 - 361 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 15 - 25 - 176 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Drew Brees, Pass: 29 - 47 - 252 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 6: Tim Rattay, Pass: 12 - 24 - 159 - 0 TD / 3 INT
Harrington of all people has had the most success of anyone right now. They are not a super easy team to put points on. They are going to travel this week to AZ who now have Warner starting…not sure if that is good or bad. Warner does well off the bench, will be different when he is actually out there from the 1st snap.
10/18/07: 1st 3 weeks…5TD/No INT…2nd 3 weeks…0TD/5 INT…Jeckyll and Hyde for sure.
Atlanta:
Week 1: Tarvaris Jackson, Pass: 13 - 23 - 163 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: David Garrard, Pass: 17 - 25 - 272 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Jake Delhomme, Pass: 10 - 18 - 109 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Matt Schaub, Pass: 28 - 40 - 317 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Vince Young, Pass: 20 - 33 - 157 - 0 TD / 3 INT
Week 6: Eli Manning, Pass: 27 - 39 - 303 - 2 TD / 2 INT
Schaub and Garrard found success, but they have held their own on other weeks. Part of it is teams know they can run the ball on Atlanta, but they are not swiss cheese in the secondary as some believe. They did a number on Vince Young last week but Young is still learning the ropes in the NFL and he is going to have some bad games. Not the best, not the absolute worst you could be facing either.
10/18/07: Not as bad as some think, certainly not good though.
New Orleans:
Week 1: Peyton Manning, Pass: 18 - 30 - 288 - 3 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 10 - 16 - 243 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Vince Young, Pass: 14 - 22 - 164 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: David Carr, Pass: 10 - 17 - 119 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 26 - 43 - 362 - 2 TD / 1 INT
The Saints can be passed on. Carr was not a good test, and they still managed to lose that game. Why Hasselbeck is so far down on the cheat sheets this week is beyond explanation. I understand he has Branch and Hackett out, but DJ Hackett hasn’t been a part of the offense yet this season. Still ahs Engram in the slot, Burleson lined up wide, and likely Seneca Wallace or Obunwhatever on the other side. I think Hass will be fine, and the game is in Seattle for crying out loud.
10/18/07: Hass was bottled up till the 4th quarter and then the real NO Saints showed up and let him move up and down the field most of the 4th quarter before the Seahawks just self destructed.
NFC West:
Seattle:
Week 1: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 19 - 27 - 201 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Matt Leinart, Pass: 23 - 37 - 299 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Carson Palmer, Pass: 27 - 43 - 342 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 4: Trent Dilfer, Pass: 12 - 33 - 128 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 5: Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 18 - 22 - 206 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 6: Drew Brees, Pass: 25 - 36 - 246 - 2 TD / 0 INT
They have only given up 3 passing TD on the season, not much at all really. A couple of 300 yd games here and there as well. Factor in Drew brees has been awful this season and I don’t see how most owners can start Drew Brees this week. He should remain kind of quiet, especially in that hell hole up in Seattle. The Nest is not a fun place to play football for the opposition.
10/18/07: Did not play well at all on Sunday. They let David Patten beat them all day.
Arizona:
Week 1: Alex Smith, Pass: 15 - 31 - 126 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 22 - 36 - 281 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Steve McNair, Pass: 20 - 27 - 198 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Kyle Boller, Pass: 8 - 10 - 83 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 17 - 32 - 244 - 2 TD / 2 INT
Week 5: Gus Frerotte, Pass: 24 - 43 - 262 - 3 TD / 3 INT
Week 6: Vinny Testaverde, Pass: 20 - 33 - 206 - 1 TD / 0 INT
The Cardinals have given up 5 TD the past 2 weeks. They do get David Carr however so I don’t anticipate large FF points for him this week. Big Ben’s numbers a little deceptive as the Steelers were playing form behind and FWP was doing nothing on the ground that day. Frerotte’s numbers a mixed bag…a pick for every TD is not good. 43 attempts for 262 yd is not that impressive either.
10/18/07: Did not like the TD they gave to Steve Smith…blown coverage but otherwise they contained alright.
San Fran:
Week 1: Matt Leinart, Pass: 14 - 28 - 102 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 2: Marc Bulger, Pass: 24 - 41 - 368 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 13 - 20 - 160 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 23 - 31 - 281 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Steve McNair, Pass: 29 - 43 - 214 - 0 TD / 0 INT,
Week 6: Bye
Pretty solid outside of allowing Bulger to throw for 368 yds. Just 1 game of 2 TD. Looks like they have a bye this week.
St Louis:
Week 1: Jake Delhomme, Pass: 18 - 27 - 201 - 3 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Alex Smith, Pass: 11 - 17 - 126 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 14 - 22 - 151 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Tony Romo, Pass: 21 - 33 - 339 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Kurt Warner, Pass: 14 - 28 - 190 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Matt Leinart, Pass: 7 - 13 - 100 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Kyle Boller, Pass: 18 - 30 - 184 - 0 TD / 1 INT
The Rams are all over the place but understand one thing…teams can run almost at will so they tend to not have to pass the ball that much. I imagine most teams could as Dallas showed but at the same time there is no reason to press the issue. They are on the road at Baltimore this week. McNair has been pretty stale most weeks but if they want to light up St. Louis I believe they can.
10/18/07: 5 of their 6 games the Qb has had at or under 200 yds passing but that’s because they can’t stop the run.
Top 10 Qbs that have sensationally terrific over the top OMG please don’t hurt them too bad match ups this week:
Tom Brady: What can you say? He faces the Miami Dolphins and the Pats might be down to their 3rd string RB so exploiting the Dolphins pathetic run defense might not be in the cards on Sunday. Brady should destroy the Miami Dolphins and their vacant Safety position. Donovon Darius had to leave the game on Sunday with flu like symptoms…cut on Tuesday. They are so bad it’s unreal. Brady could have 400 yds and 5 TD in this game is the Pats actually needed that many points but they won’t.
Tony Romo: The Cowboys could use a game where they can get healthy after being drubbed by the Pats last week. I still maintain that the Vikes secondary is a victim of them being so tough against the run. Griese was playing from behind last week and had an 83 yd play to Hester that helped inflate his numbers somewhat. Still Romo, Owens, and Witten should have no trouble moving the ball thru the air this week.
Carson Palmer: The Jets allow a lot of yards on the ground but Cinci has had Rudi banged up and there has been some talk about Chad Johnson being a cancer…all that said I expect Cinci to do what they do best and that’s take it to the air at home this week.
Next group of Qbs that I think have pretty good match ups and can be exploited.
Eli Manning: The Giants are doing very well right now. I do expect them to run the ball for as much as they can but that only leads to defenses pinching up and then you get Eli going up top to Plax, or down the middle to Shockey…the Giants have 3 RB they can use right now, all of them have their merits. The offense is sound and Eli is the head of the whole thing and will continue to benefit from it.
Matt Hasselbeck: Bailed out owners and myself last week in the 4th quarter. The guy is a top 10 Qb this year. Has the Rams rolling into town, even with all the injuries they have suffered, I expect him to continue to chuck the ball as the running game for Seattle has been terrible this season.
Marc Bulger: If he is playing, I expect him to do fairly well at Seattle. Probably won’t be high on a lot of cheat sheets this week but I would expect him to do well with the time he has had off. I just hope he can survive behind that OL.
Drew Brees: Playing Atlanta this week…that has to make him a start for most owners.
Donovan McNabb: He really has 1 great game all season. They are playing Chicago at home, and the Bears defense is not even close to what it was last season. As I write this I can smell something in the air…hold your nose up…smell it? Something not right about this match up this week. While I have him in this category, I am starting to think he is the weakest play of all of them in here.
Jeff Garcia: He has the match up but I want to emphasize a couple points with Garcia. 1st is that outside of Joey Galloway he has almost no weapons on offense, not even a Pittman to dump the ball to OOTB, so I think there is a limited ceiling for him. 2nd is that even with a good match up he doesn’t need to put up big numbers for the Bucs to win. I don’t see the Bucs getting passed all over and the game will likely be tight allowing Gruden to try and run the ball as much as possible…he doesn’t want to see Roy, Calvin, Shaun, and Mike, not to mention Kevin Jones on the field all day.
Bad Qbs with pretty nice match ups.
Chad Pennington: He has pissed away a lot of solid match ups over the past several weeks. I wouldn’t start him unless you absolutely have to. He is likely going to lose his job in the next couple of weeks.
Byron Leftwich: Starter for the remainder of the season. Has a nice match up against NO on the road this weekend. The Saints are terrible at stopping anyone but has Lefty been in the system long enough to do much? Jaws on MNF said Leftwich is a bad fit in Atlanta…we’ll soon find out.
Boller/McNair: Get to face the Bills, should be an easy match up but I question putting either one in your starting line up right now.
Jason Campbell: The Boo Birds in Washington will come out…”JC is a good solid Qb”…spare us all please. He had a rushing TD last week that made up for an average day. Now I will be the first to admit that he is a young Qb, only his 2nd season, doesn’t deserve to be picked on in the “he’ll never amount to anything” POV…that is a completely wrong POV, however he is what he is right now, and that’s a young Qb that should not be starting for most owners on their FF rosters. I don’t hate the guy, I just don’t want to rely on him or too many other Skins for that matter on my team.
Top10 Qbs with rough match ups this week.
Peyton Manning: I am not advocating you bench the guy this week but he has a hard game on MNF on the road in JAX. I expect him to do alright but I am not about to pencil him in for 300/3TD in this game. I think it will be surprisingly low scoring as Jax will give them fits on defense.
Jon Kitna: Faces the Bucs this weekend, can’t be viewed as a good match up and I expect him to have subpar numbers on Sunday but nothing as bad as what the Skins did to him. Also Kevin Jones is expected to get a lot more carries and that might have an impact on their passing numbers.
Matt Schaub: Defenses are finding out that without Andre Johnson the Texans are lot more pedestrian in their passing game. Schaub will likely still scrape up 200 yds but he really needs all of his weapons back.
Middle of the Road…guys that I wouldn’t be overly excited about either way.
David Garrard: Has not thrown an interception but still far from a top10 potential week in week out.
Damon Huard: Oakland is not terrible against the pass but I think KC will try and get LJ going early and often. The passing game will be secondary.
Big Ben: Since week 1, Ben has avg about 200 yards and a TD every week give or take a little. That is not good and will put you behind by a good 10-15 points depending what your set up is in most leagues. God forbid you played him and faced teams that had Brady, Romo, even Matt Hasselbeck the past 3-4 weeks. Plays Denver on the road this week, I wouldn’t expect big numbers from him.
Brian Griese: Philly has been playing well the past few weeks in their secondary despite injuiries. Griese has tossed 7 TD in 3 weeks but I would expect an average week from him in Philly. He shouldn’t have anything close to what he racked playing from behind last week.
D.Culpepper: Meh!
Bad Qbs with either bad match ups or just plain bad period.
Cleo Lemon: Many in here will think Lemon had 4 TD last week, I found my welfare check for the rest of the season…WRONG!!! Lemon was (expletive) awful last week in the 1st half of the Miami game and definitely helped Miami fall behind 24-3. Yes he managed to get them back in the game during the 2nd half but the Miami radio play by play announcers were calling for Beck in the 1st half…fans want Beck…I know fans don’t run the team. But when they sent Chambers away on Tuesday they basically are waving the white flag. I don’t expect Cleo to come close to what he did on Sunday anytime again this season. I also expect him to be sitting down by about week 9 or 10…he has to so Miami can see what Beck is going to bring to the table because they are going to walk across that podium early in New York come April.
Tavaris Jackson…9/23 last week and that doesn’t stand for September 23rd.
Kerry Collins
Tim Rattay…I’m sure getting reps this week will help…NOT!!!
Trent Edwards...I don’t understand how Losman is not back out there.
Jay Cutler…terrible match up this weekend against Pittsburgh
Trent Dilfer…Uh…Uh…Uh…
High Scoring games
Atlanta at New Orleans
New York at Cincinnati
St Louis at Seattle
Low Scoring Games
Arizona at Washington
Tennessee at Houston
Pittsburgh at Denver
Good Luck this weekend everyone
The weekly exploit/avoids are towards the bottom.
AFC East:
New England:
Week 1: Chad Pennington 16/21, 167, 2TD…game was a blowout but this was a decent week for owners.
Week 2: Phillip Rivers 19/30, 179, 2 TD and 2 INT…seems like they were just giving up short passes early in the season, however QBs posting 2 TD a week is good new for owners.
Week 3: Trent Edwards 10/20, 97, 0TD…rookie but you can see he was very limited.
Week 4: Carson Palmer 21/35, 234, 1TD and 2 INT…a stud QB and they pretty much limited him most of the night. Great pair of WR to throw to, and he really had a sub par night for Carson Palmer.
Week 5: Derek Anderson 22/43 287, 2TD, 3INT…In terms of FF, any owner who was forced to start Anderson had to be at least satisfied. The 3 INT maybe erase 1 of the TD but he still racked up close to 300 yds.
Week 6: Tony Romo 18/29 199, 2TD, INT…Romo was held in check throughout the day with a few bursts here and there.
Overall the Pats are from a pushover in the passing game. However, they have allowed 2 TD in 4 different games and that could give FF owners some reason for optimism. Not sure I like Cleo Lemon without Chris Chambers now on offense.
Buffalo:
Week 1: Jay Cutler 22/39, 304 TD/INT
Week 2: Big Ben 21/34, 242, TD/INT
Week 3: Tom Brady 23/29, 311, 4TD
Week 4: Pennington 32/39, 290, TD/2INT
Week 5: Tony Romo 29/50 309, 2TD/5INT
Week 6: Bye
What does all of this mean? They have faced a lot of quality NFL Qbs…Penny and Cutler are middle of the road right now. They are playing tough even though they are giving up a lot of yds. The Interceptions seem meaningless as they are allowing about 300 yds a game. However they have only 2 games where the Qb threw for 2+TD.
New York Jets:
Week 1: Tom Brady 22/28, 297, 3TD…can’t fault them against the Pats.
Week2: Kyle Boller 23/35, 185, 2TD…a lot of FF owners will take that and run almost every week.
Week 3: Trent Green 23/36, 318, TD/INT…Miami was down 31-13 in the 4th…lot of garbage time stats here.
Week 4: Trent Edwards 22/28, 234, TD/INT…rookie QB has success on your secondary?
Week 5: Eli Manning 13/25, 186, 2TD/INT…they had him contained for most of the day. Penny really did lose them this game.
Week 6: Donovan McNabb, Pass: 22 - 35 - 278 - 1 TD / 1 INT
3 games of 2+ TD, Brady has the most impressive yds, Green was in garbage time really, the other 3 outings are a mixed bag. Pretty soft secondary but they are not exactly stiff on the run either so offense are doing whatever they like right now. I have a feeling most Qbs can expose this secondary when they want to. McNabb did post close to 300 yds although he was not in total rhythm most of the day.
Miami:
Week 1: Jason Campbell 12/21, 222, 2 INT
Week 2: Tony Romo 14/29, 186, 2TD
Week 3: Pennington 15/22, 124, 2 TD
Week 4: CulPepper 5/12, 75, 2TD…3 rushing TD just for S&G.
Week 5: Matt Schaub 20/34, 294, INT
Week 6: Derek Anderson, Pass: 18 - 25 - 245 - 3 TD / 0 INT
You look at Miami and you see that they have not been beaten for a lot of yards most weeks. But they also are allowing an atrocious amount of rushing yards typically. They are at #4 on the depth charts at Free Safety…the kid looked lost out there against Houston and Schaub should have had a couple of TD in that game, ended up with a couple of PI calls. The Dolphins are terrible on defense right now in almost every aspect of the game, I expect if they do stiffen up on the ground that most teams will just take to the air and go bombs away on them. They are giving up 1 TD per 19-20 attempts…and that is without CPepp’s 3 rushing TD factored in.
10/18/07: As I said last week, they are awful in the secondary as much as they are against the run. Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards destroyed the Miami Dolphins this past Sunday. Trauma surgeons may need to be standing by at the game on Sunday when Brady rolls into town.
AFC North
Pittsburgh:
Week 1: Anderson/Frye 17/38, 218, TD, 2 INT…sent Frye to QB3 for Seattle…ouch!
Week 2: J.P.Losman 15/25, 154…Buffalo was awful with Losman under center.
Week 3: Alex Smith 17/35, 209, TD/INT…they look good against the inferiors for sure.
Week 4: Warner/Leinart 21/35, 225, TD…their pass defense was not the problem in this game really.
Week 5: Matt Hasselbeck 13/27, 116, INT…just destroyed the Seahawks passing game…really the run as well in this one.
Week 6: Bye
There is no doubt they are a tough tough tough pass defense. And when you factor in they were short handed in the secondary last week…this group is awesome. They have not faced the upper tier QBs so I would question that a bit but compared to what other teams are doing, they look great.
Baltimore:
Week 1: Carson Palmer 20/32, 194, 2TD…considering the Qb, I don’t think this was that bad.
Week 2: Kellen Clemens 19/37, 260, TD/2INT…got the job done, but not the best.
Week 3: Warner/Leinart 24/40, 311, 2 TD…They were ahead by about 20 at one point…then they started to get soft. Had a hammer lock on Leinart though.
Week 4: Derek Anderson 10/18 204, 2 TD/INT…3rd game of 2+ TD for the season.
Week 5: Trent Dilfer 12/19, 126, TD/INT…look at the Qb here before you give them any kudos.
Week 6: Gus Frerotte, Pass: 19 - 36 - 208 - 0 TD / 5 INT…Not every Qb is going to light them up.
I don’t think they are studs but you have to take into account they are stiff stiff stiff against the run. Teams would rather take their chances thru the air really. In fact I think they still do have a pretty solid secondary. I wouldn’t just wheel out my Qb against them and expect great numbers against them.
10/18/07:We talked about it last week but Frerotte may not be the best example. I don’t think you should always expect great numbers from your Qb against the Ravens. They did have one of their starting CB go down this past weekend and will be out 4-6 weeks…that is cause for optimism for a Qb facing them. Still not a pushover by any stretch.
Cleveland:
Week 1: Big Ben 12/23, 161, 4TD
Week 2: Palmer 33/50, 401, 6TD/2INT
Week 3: McPepp 14/26, 226, TD
Week 4: McNair 34/53, 307, TD/INT
Week 5: Brady 22/38, 265, 3 TD
Week 6: Cleo Lemon, Pass: 24 - 43 - 256 - 2 TD / 2 INT
The fact is they have given up 15 TD this season. Can a guy like Cleo Lemon exploit them this week? I am sure he will get “Good/Great Match up” this week but it’s CLEO LEMON!!! This secondary has faced Palmer and Brady so it’s understandable to get lit up by them, they also have made McNair and Big Ben look like Brady and Palmer in terms of FF production.
10/18/07: Cleo Lemon was terrible in the 1st half, Cleveland got up big and played prevent a lot in the 2nd half, allowing Cleo to have impressive FF numbers. I’ll talk about Cleo in depth below.
Cincinnati:
Week 1: Steve McNair 20 - 34 - 203 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Derek Anderson, Pass: 20 - 33 - 328 - 5 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 24 - 37 - 248 - 3 TD / 2 INT
Week 4: Tom Brady, Pass: 25 - 32 - 231 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Bye
Week 6: Damon Huard, Pass: 25 - 35 - 264 - 2 TD / 0 INT
The Bengals have just been rocked on many weeks. They were OK against McNair week 1 but then they allowed 11 TD over the next 3 weeks. Can the injured Damon Huard do anything against this secondary? I am more inclined to bet on Dwayne Bowe at WR as Joseph is OUT/Suspended.
10/18/07: They made Damon Huard look like a Pro Bowler on Sunday.
AFC South:
Indianapolis:
Week 1: Drew Brees, Pass: 28 - 41 - 192 - 0 TD / 2 INT…everyone is keeping Brees and crew down, not sure this was any great achievement looking back.
Week 2: Vince Young, Pass: 17 - 27 - 184 - 1 TD / 0 INT…VY had another 50+ on the ground but they pretty much held him in check. In NFL terms though, VY had a solid game, no mistakes really till the last play and even then you can’t fault the guy.
Week 3: Matt Schaub, Pass: 27 - 33 - 236 - 1 TD / 2 INT…considering Schaub didn’t have Andre Johnson in this game I think he did pretty well.
Week 4: Jay Cutler, Pass: 13 - 21 - 131 - 1 TD / 1 INT…pretty pedestrian numbers.
Week 5: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 18 - 23 - 143 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 6: Bye
What I see and take form this are several things. 1st, even in games where the Qbs are having success, they want to try and keep Manning off the field so they run even more than they usually do. Not many teams are going to try and defeat the Colts by airing it out as Indy can match them score for score all day if they want to. They are really only allowing about 150-175 yds a week thru the air and only 1 TD. Besides Brees, most of the other game the Qbs are only throwing it around 25-27 times a game, that’s not much in the NFL…and these teams are LOSING!!! It’s not like the recipe is working or anything but they still are doing it. So I think most weeks you are going to be fairly disappointed when your Qb faces Indy.
Jacksonville:
Week 1: Vince Young, Pass: 11 - 18 - 78 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Joey Harrington, Pass: 12 - 20 - 200 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Jay Cutler, Pass: 16 - 23 - 222 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: Huard/Croyle, 25 - 43 - 279 - TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Matt Schaub, Pass: 19 - 31 - 259 - 0 TD / 1 INT
The Jags have not exactly been beating down the best of the NFL Qbs, however they are a mighty stiff defense as of late. They are not giving anything away on defense anywhere right now. They had KC pretty much shutout till the very end of that game. I want to see them face someone with a real Qb…Schaub would be a great test but he is missing his WR1/WR2…but it still will be worth monitoring.
10/18/07: Made life miserable for Schaub on Sunday.
Tennessee:
Week 1: David Garrard, Pass: 17 - 30 - 204 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Peyton Manning, Pass: 28 - 42 - 312 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Drew Brees, Pass: 29 - 45 - 225 - 0 TD / 4 INT
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: Joey Harrington, Pass: 16 - 31 - 87 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Byron Leftwich, Pass: 2 - 8 - 28 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 20 - 31 - 274 - 1 TD / 0 INT
They are playing at a very high level as well. Manning had 300+ and a TD but 42 attempts to get there, really not that bad an effort. Mixed bag of Qbs other than manning but they are really playing hard right now. This week they travel into hostile Tampa Bay but I see them able to shut down the Bucs as they will have a hard time running it and also do not possess anyone outside of Joey Galloway who will likely be blanketed this week.
10/18/07: Had 1 breakdown against Galloway and it cost them the game literally.
Houston:
Week 1: Damon Huard, Pass: 22 - 33 - 168 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 2: Jake Delhomme, Pass: 27 - 41 - 307 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Peyton Manning, Pass: 20 - 29 - 273 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Joey Harrington, Pass: 23 - 29 - 223 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Cleo Lemon, Pass: 15 - 27 - 151 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Trent Green…KO!!!
Week 6: David Garrard, Pass: 22 - 34 - 221 - 2 TD / 0 INT
The Texans really only have 1 poor showing and a lot of that was done by the incredible play of Steve Smith helping Jake Delhomme out. The improvement of their DL has made them much improved with a better overall pass rush and also they have been good against the run minus Ronnie Brown last week. I can’t see where David Garrard would be a great play this week really.
10/18/07: Didn’t look very good against Garrard, not sure if means Garrard is good or if Houston has a suspect secondary. 3rd game of the season with multiple TD.
AFC West:
Oakland:
Week 1: Jon Kitna, Pass: 27 - 36 - 289 - 3 TD / 2 INT
Week 2: Jay Cutler, Pass: 23 - 33 - 269 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 3: Derek Anderson, Pass: 18 - 37 - 248 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 4: Trent Green, Pass: 14 - 25 - 158 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 5: Bye
Week 6: Philip Rivers, Pass: 14 - 21 - 156 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Since week 1, they have been a lot better against the pass. Detroit has a lot of weapons so I wouldn’t fault them too much in week 1. 3 TD vs 6 INT the next 3 weeks…I know many people laugh that they are in 1st place but this defense is not as bad as some imagine it to be. Anderson and Green had trouble completing passes. Rivers might have his hands full on Sunday. This is going to be a big game for a young team, Oakland, on Sunday. The Chargers need this one badly as well but I wouldn’t think Rivers has an explosion or anything.
10/18/07: Played OK but LT destroyed them…Rivers did complete 66% of his passes but he just didn’t produce good FF numbers. Oakland likely could have been exploited had SD chosen that route.
San Diego:
Week 1: Rex Grossman, Pass: 12 - 23 - 145 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Tom Brady, Pass: 25 - 31 - 279 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Brett Favre, Pass: 28 - 45 - 369 - 3 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Damon Huard, Pass: 17 - 29 - 284 - 2 TD / 2 INT
Week 5: Jay Cutler, Pass: 23 - 36 - 232 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Daunte Culpepper, Pass: 24 - 37 - 230 - 1 TD / 2 INT
People are going to point to last week’s game and think SD is back, they really are not and here is why. I don’t consider Cutler an upper tier QB and in fact I don’t like anything Denver is doing right now on offense. Has Henry scored yet??? 1 TD, that’s right. All that said, they were lit up by Tom Brady, Brett Favre…you can live with those but Damon Huard? Almost 300 yds and 2 TD in a game they lost. Culpepper is not a guy I pin my dreams on every week but he is coming off a skewed 5 TD performance, but the match up IMO is great. If Curry is healthy and Porter can be effective…might not be a bad match up, would prefer a healthy Jordan though to catch balls o.o.t.b. though.
10/18/07: I have to see them shut down a top5-10 Qb before I am going to give them much in the props department.
Denver:
Week 1: J.P. Losman, Pass: 14 - 21 - 97 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Josh McCown, Pass: 8 - 16 - 73 - 1 TD / 3 INT
Week 3: David Garrard, Pass: 14 - 20 - 154 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Peyton Manning, Pass: 20 - 27 - 193 - 3 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Philip Rivers, Pass: 13 - 18 - 270 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 6: Bye
While the 1st 3 weeks were really impressive, they did it against very average to poor Qbs. When they faced Manning and Rivers they got smoked pretty good to the tune of 5 TD vs 0 INT. They get a bye this week but they could easily be 0-5 right now. I think if you have a solid QB option you plug him in. It is possible the Travis Henry issue was a distraction to the team this week. He went form a possible season ending knee injury that wa mostly smoked up on the internet, to a season ending suspension that he has managed to stave off for a few weeks it appears.
Kansas City:
Week 1: Matt Schaub, Pass: 16 - 22 - 225 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Rex Grossman, Pass: 20 - 34 - 160 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 3: Kelly Holcomb, Pass: 14 - 28 - 165 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Philip Rivers, Pass: 21 - 42 - 211 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 5: David Garrard, Pass: 20 - 27 - 218 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 6: Carson Palmer, Pass: 26 - 43 - 320 - 2 TD / 2 INT
KC is a hard team to gauge and here is why. Despite what they did against Jax on Sunday…and really it was 1 big run by MJD that made those stats looks that good…Fred Taylor did not tear it up…but KC is pretty good at stopping the run. They don’t get gashed every other play as some others in the league. You would think that more teams would try to pass it more on them yet they don’t. SD tried but Rivers simply failed. When you look at this body of work they have done well against Grossman, Holcomb, and Rivers…2 of them are not real starters in this league. Schaub did alright but it was his 1st start so it was actually really solid and they won 20-3 so he wasn’t asked to do a lot. Garrard was effective but didn’t bury them or anything. We’ll see what they are made of at home this week against Carson Palmer.
10/18/07: Could have been worse vs Palmer. 2 TD but 2 picks as well. They are playing solid right now…also that was the most attempts anyone has tried on them.
NFC East:
Dallas:
Week 1: Eli Manning, Pass: 28 - 41 - 312 - 4 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Trent Green, Pass: 23 - 40 - 287 - 2 TD / 4 INT
Week 3: Rex Grossman, Pass: 15 - 32 - 195 - 0 TD / 3 INT
Week 4: Marc Bulger, Pass: 11 - 24 - 114 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Trent Edwards, Pass: 23 - 31 - 176 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Tom Brady, Pass: 31 - 46 - 388 - 5 TD / 0 INT
Very mixed reviews I think. They have had some injuries in their secondary but shutting down Rex Grossman, Bulger and the rib injury, and Trent Edwards does not impress me. What does New England do best? Throw the ball although they can run it too, but Brady and crew should have a good time in Dallas on Sunday even if the game is a little tougher. They walked right thru that trap game against Cleveland and manage to win handily, the same could not be said of Dallas. The defense is opportunistic though and they have 10 INT on the season…they will need them this week if they have any hope of winning against the Pats.
10/18/07: It’s Tom Brady and the Pats folks, they aren’t that bad but when you have 2 CB injured and 1 not playing at all…not making excuses but TJax won’t know what hit him this week.
Washington:
Week 1: Trent Green, Pass: 24 - 38 - 219 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Donovan McNabb, Pass: 28 - 46 - 240 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Eli Manning, Pass: 21 - 36 - 232 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: Jon Kitna, Pass: 16 - 29 - 106 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 6: Brett Favre, Pass: 19 - 37 - 188 - 0 TD / 2 INT
This is somewhat impressive. They have a very solid secondary. My question and I hope Skins fans will take the time to educate us on their DL…where is the pressure coming form because without getting heat on the Qb, no secondary can survive. They shut down McNabb, Manning was meh, and what they did to Kitna was criminal. Now they will have their hands full with Brett Favre this weekend but I am thinking they are up to the challenge. Imagine the Skins at 4-1…are they really that good? I don’t think Green bay is all that great so they certainly are beatable.
10/18/07: Continue to shut down good Qbs and that’s the real key here. McNabb, Manning, Kitna, Favre…those are top10 Qbs really and they are just confusing them and shutting down the passing lanes. Shawn Springs’ father, former Dallas RB Ron Springs is in a come, not expected to survive…Springs may or may not be available this week and he probably will not be all there in the game. Minor thing to think about for us, but it’s there.
NY Giants:
Week 1: Tony Romo, Pass: 15 - 24 - 345 - 4 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Brett Favre, Pass: 29 - 38 - 286 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Jason Campbell, Pass: 16 - 34 - 190 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Donovan McNabb, Pass: 15 - 31 - 138 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Chad Pennington, Pass: 21 - 36 - 229 - 1 TD / 3 INT
Week 6: Joey Harrington, Pass: 18 - 39 - 209 - 0 TD / 1 INT
They have gone from the outhouse to the penthouse the last few weeks. After having Romo and Favre take a blowtorch to that secondary in weeks 1 and 2, they have bounced back hard. OK, Campbell doesn’t count, but McNabb and shut down Penny for most of the day. Those guys do have weapons at their disposal and they couldn’t get it done…I know McNabb was missing Westbrook but he did nothing against the Giants. They travel to Atlanta on MNF, might be seriously going 4-2 after this week…crazy talk after the way they started the season. I’m not totally sold on them being a good pass defense but they should be able to handle Joey and Lord Byron.
10/18/07: Got Harrington benched for the rest of the season.
Philadelphia:
Week 1: Brett Favre, Pass: 23 - 42 - 206 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Jason Campbell, Pass: 16 - 29 - 209 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Jon Kitna, Pass: 29 - 46 - 446 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 4: Eli Manning, Pass: 14 - 26 - 135 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Bye
Week 6: Chad Pennington, Pass: 11 - 21 - 128 - 0 TD / 1 INT
When all is said and considering the injuries that they have sustained, they actually have held up pretty well. 206 yds on 42 attempts is really good against Favre. Kitna had a lot of yards but didn’t really do the damage those numbers would first indicate. They have a good chance to help the Jets usher in the Kelly Clemens era this weekend. I don’t see where Pennington will light them up short of being able to exploit some injuries, but other teams have not really done that.
10/18/07: Really started to play well and they are actually not 100% healthy in the secondary yet.
NFC North:
Green Bay:
Week 1: Donovan McNabb, Pass: 15 - 33 - 184 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Eli Manning, Pass: 16 - 29 - 211 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Philip Rivers, Pass: 27 - 36 - 306 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 4: Kelly Holcomb, Pass: 21 - 39 - 258 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Brian Griese, Pass: 15 - 25 - 214 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Jason Campbell, Pass: 21 - 37 - 217 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Other than Rivers, they haven’t really been bad. Griese had his moments but that should not have lost Green bay the game when you look at the stats…Favre really hurt them in that loss. Manning had a bum shoulder, McNabb was in his 1st game back from his ACL tear…I could try and find excuses for why they are just average but really they have played pretty solid.
10/18/07: Still playing strong. Campbell had a rushing TD which salvaged a mediocre Sunday for him.
Detroit:
Week 1: Josh McCown, Pass: 30 - 40 - 313 - 2 TD / 2 INT
Week 2: Tarvaris Jackson, Pass: 17 - 33 - 166 - 0 TD / 4 INT
Week 3: Donovan McNabb, Pass: 21 - 26 - 381 - 4 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Brian Griese, Pass: 34 - 52 - 286 - 2 TD / 3 INT
Week 5: Jason Campbell, Pass: 23 - 29 - 248 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 6: Bye
We all know they are bad. McCown had his best day, McNabb his best day, Griese had almost 300 yds and 2 TD, Campbell had his best day of the season…they are not good, far from it.
Chicago:
Week 1: Philip Rivers, Pass: 22 - 31 - 190 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: Damon Huard, Pass: 19 - 28 - 175 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Tony Romo, Pass: 22 - 35 - 329 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 4: Jon Kitna, Pass: 20 - 24 - 247 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Brett Favre, Pass: 29 - 40 - 322 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 6: Tarvaris Jackson, Pass: 9 - 23 - 136 - 1 TD / 0 INT
The Bears are another team that is tough to gauge because of all the injuries. They shut down Rivers mostly week 1, Huard week 2, Romo lights them up in week 3, Kitna was bottled up till late in that game, and Favre was doing fine against them till he started to throw interceptions. 2 games of over 300 yds, another for about 250 over the past 3 weeks but both of their CB have had injuries…although Tillman was in the line up and very productive against Brett Favre on Sunday. I doubt TJax lights them up this week or Holcomb for that matter.
10/18/07: TJax is no way to measure their secondary.
Minnesota:
Week 1: Joey Harrington, Pass: 23 - 32 - 199 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 2: Jon Kitna, Pass: 22 - 33 - 245 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Damon Huard, Pass: 20 - 29 - 206 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Brett Favre, Pass: 32 - 45 - 344 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Bye
Week 6: Brian Griese, Pass: 26 - 45 - 381 - 3 TD / 2 INT
Favre has a sensational game but that was special moment where he broke Marino’s record. The Vikes dropped the hammer down pretty good on the lesser Qbs although they did fare well against Kitna too. When you consider how great they are at stopping the run, its hard to imagine why they aren’t giving up more yards thru the air. Griese will have his moments this weekend but I don’t see him posting 20 points like he did last week.
10/18/07: Back to back weeks of about 350+ yds thru the air. They are stout against the run so I imagine all teams will try and play bombs away with them. 7 TD vs 5 INT in 5 games is not all that bad though.
Tampa Bay:
Week 1: Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 17 - 24 - 222 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Drew Brees, Pass: 26 - 44 - 260 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Marc Bulger, Pass: 17 - 26 - 116 - 0 TD / 3 INT
Week 4: David Carr, Pass: 19 - 41 - 155 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Peyton Manning, Pass: 29 - 37 - 253 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Kerry Collins, Pass: 10 - 20 - 125 - 0 TD / 0 INT,
Vince Young, Pass: 11 - 14 - 120 - 0 TD / 1 INT
The Bucs are better than people think. Manning had a good day without Harrison by his side but the overall picture for the Bucs has been pretty good. Now granted when you shut Brees down right now, it doesn’t seem to carry as much weight as all the other teams are doing it too, but they have not been torched for 300 yds yet, and they also have only 1 game with over 2 TD and that was against Manning. This is not a pushover for opposing Qbs for sure. While I do think the Titans are going to march into TB and win the game, I don’t expect superstar numbers form Vince Young this weekend.
10/18/07: Bucs continue to be a very difficult team to pass the ball on. 5 TD vs 7 Picks in 6 games. Only Manning had 2+ TD in a game.
Carolina:
Week 1: Marc Bulger, Pass: 22 - 42 - 167 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Matt Schaub, Pass: 20 - 28 - 227 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Joey Harrington, Pass: 31 - 44 - 361 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 15 - 25 - 176 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Drew Brees, Pass: 29 - 47 - 252 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 6: Tim Rattay, Pass: 12 - 24 - 159 - 0 TD / 3 INT
Harrington of all people has had the most success of anyone right now. They are not a super easy team to put points on. They are going to travel this week to AZ who now have Warner starting…not sure if that is good or bad. Warner does well off the bench, will be different when he is actually out there from the 1st snap.
10/18/07: 1st 3 weeks…5TD/No INT…2nd 3 weeks…0TD/5 INT…Jeckyll and Hyde for sure.
Atlanta:
Week 1: Tarvaris Jackson, Pass: 13 - 23 - 163 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 2: David Garrard, Pass: 17 - 25 - 272 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Jake Delhomme, Pass: 10 - 18 - 109 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Matt Schaub, Pass: 28 - 40 - 317 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 5: Vince Young, Pass: 20 - 33 - 157 - 0 TD / 3 INT
Week 6: Eli Manning, Pass: 27 - 39 - 303 - 2 TD / 2 INT
Schaub and Garrard found success, but they have held their own on other weeks. Part of it is teams know they can run the ball on Atlanta, but they are not swiss cheese in the secondary as some believe. They did a number on Vince Young last week but Young is still learning the ropes in the NFL and he is going to have some bad games. Not the best, not the absolute worst you could be facing either.
10/18/07: Not as bad as some think, certainly not good though.
New Orleans:
Week 1: Peyton Manning, Pass: 18 - 30 - 288 - 3 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 10 - 16 - 243 - 2 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Vince Young, Pass: 14 - 22 - 164 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: David Carr, Pass: 10 - 17 - 119 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 26 - 43 - 362 - 2 TD / 1 INT
The Saints can be passed on. Carr was not a good test, and they still managed to lose that game. Why Hasselbeck is so far down on the cheat sheets this week is beyond explanation. I understand he has Branch and Hackett out, but DJ Hackett hasn’t been a part of the offense yet this season. Still ahs Engram in the slot, Burleson lined up wide, and likely Seneca Wallace or Obunwhatever on the other side. I think Hass will be fine, and the game is in Seattle for crying out loud.
10/18/07: Hass was bottled up till the 4th quarter and then the real NO Saints showed up and let him move up and down the field most of the 4th quarter before the Seahawks just self destructed.
NFC West:
Seattle:
Week 1: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 19 - 27 - 201 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Matt Leinart, Pass: 23 - 37 - 299 - 1 TD / 1 INT
Week 3: Carson Palmer, Pass: 27 - 43 - 342 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 4: Trent Dilfer, Pass: 12 - 33 - 128 - 0 TD / 2 INT
Week 5: Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 18 - 22 - 206 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 6: Drew Brees, Pass: 25 - 36 - 246 - 2 TD / 0 INT
They have only given up 3 passing TD on the season, not much at all really. A couple of 300 yd games here and there as well. Factor in Drew brees has been awful this season and I don’t see how most owners can start Drew Brees this week. He should remain kind of quiet, especially in that hell hole up in Seattle. The Nest is not a fun place to play football for the opposition.
10/18/07: Did not play well at all on Sunday. They let David Patten beat them all day.
Arizona:
Week 1: Alex Smith, Pass: 15 - 31 - 126 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 22 - 36 - 281 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Steve McNair, Pass: 20 - 27 - 198 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Kyle Boller, Pass: 8 - 10 - 83 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 17 - 32 - 244 - 2 TD / 2 INT
Week 5: Gus Frerotte, Pass: 24 - 43 - 262 - 3 TD / 3 INT
Week 6: Vinny Testaverde, Pass: 20 - 33 - 206 - 1 TD / 0 INT
The Cardinals have given up 5 TD the past 2 weeks. They do get David Carr however so I don’t anticipate large FF points for him this week. Big Ben’s numbers a little deceptive as the Steelers were playing form behind and FWP was doing nothing on the ground that day. Frerotte’s numbers a mixed bag…a pick for every TD is not good. 43 attempts for 262 yd is not that impressive either.
10/18/07: Did not like the TD they gave to Steve Smith…blown coverage but otherwise they contained alright.
San Fran:
Week 1: Matt Leinart, Pass: 14 - 28 - 102 - 1 TD / 2 INT
Week 2: Marc Bulger, Pass: 24 - 41 - 368 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 13 - 20 - 160 - 1 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 23 - 31 - 281 - 2 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Steve McNair, Pass: 29 - 43 - 214 - 0 TD / 0 INT,
Week 6: Bye
Pretty solid outside of allowing Bulger to throw for 368 yds. Just 1 game of 2 TD. Looks like they have a bye this week.
St Louis:
Week 1: Jake Delhomme, Pass: 18 - 27 - 201 - 3 TD / 0 INT
Week 2: Alex Smith, Pass: 11 - 17 - 126 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 3: Jeff Garcia, Pass: 14 - 22 - 151 - 0 TD / 0 INT
Week 4: Tony Romo, Pass: 21 - 33 - 339 - 3 TD / 1 INT
Week 5: Kurt Warner, Pass: 14 - 28 - 190 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Matt Leinart, Pass: 7 - 13 - 100 - 0 TD / 1 INT
Week 6: Kyle Boller, Pass: 18 - 30 - 184 - 0 TD / 1 INT
The Rams are all over the place but understand one thing…teams can run almost at will so they tend to not have to pass the ball that much. I imagine most teams could as Dallas showed but at the same time there is no reason to press the issue. They are on the road at Baltimore this week. McNair has been pretty stale most weeks but if they want to light up St. Louis I believe they can.
10/18/07: 5 of their 6 games the Qb has had at or under 200 yds passing but that’s because they can’t stop the run.
Top 10 Qbs that have sensationally terrific over the top OMG please don’t hurt them too bad match ups this week:
Tom Brady: What can you say? He faces the Miami Dolphins and the Pats might be down to their 3rd string RB so exploiting the Dolphins pathetic run defense might not be in the cards on Sunday. Brady should destroy the Miami Dolphins and their vacant Safety position. Donovon Darius had to leave the game on Sunday with flu like symptoms…cut on Tuesday. They are so bad it’s unreal. Brady could have 400 yds and 5 TD in this game is the Pats actually needed that many points but they won’t.
Tony Romo: The Cowboys could use a game where they can get healthy after being drubbed by the Pats last week. I still maintain that the Vikes secondary is a victim of them being so tough against the run. Griese was playing from behind last week and had an 83 yd play to Hester that helped inflate his numbers somewhat. Still Romo, Owens, and Witten should have no trouble moving the ball thru the air this week.
Carson Palmer: The Jets allow a lot of yards on the ground but Cinci has had Rudi banged up and there has been some talk about Chad Johnson being a cancer…all that said I expect Cinci to do what they do best and that’s take it to the air at home this week.
Next group of Qbs that I think have pretty good match ups and can be exploited.
Eli Manning: The Giants are doing very well right now. I do expect them to run the ball for as much as they can but that only leads to defenses pinching up and then you get Eli going up top to Plax, or down the middle to Shockey…the Giants have 3 RB they can use right now, all of them have their merits. The offense is sound and Eli is the head of the whole thing and will continue to benefit from it.
Matt Hasselbeck: Bailed out owners and myself last week in the 4th quarter. The guy is a top 10 Qb this year. Has the Rams rolling into town, even with all the injuries they have suffered, I expect him to continue to chuck the ball as the running game for Seattle has been terrible this season.
Marc Bulger: If he is playing, I expect him to do fairly well at Seattle. Probably won’t be high on a lot of cheat sheets this week but I would expect him to do well with the time he has had off. I just hope he can survive behind that OL.
Drew Brees: Playing Atlanta this week…that has to make him a start for most owners.
Donovan McNabb: He really has 1 great game all season. They are playing Chicago at home, and the Bears defense is not even close to what it was last season. As I write this I can smell something in the air…hold your nose up…smell it? Something not right about this match up this week. While I have him in this category, I am starting to think he is the weakest play of all of them in here.
Jeff Garcia: He has the match up but I want to emphasize a couple points with Garcia. 1st is that outside of Joey Galloway he has almost no weapons on offense, not even a Pittman to dump the ball to OOTB, so I think there is a limited ceiling for him. 2nd is that even with a good match up he doesn’t need to put up big numbers for the Bucs to win. I don’t see the Bucs getting passed all over and the game will likely be tight allowing Gruden to try and run the ball as much as possible…he doesn’t want to see Roy, Calvin, Shaun, and Mike, not to mention Kevin Jones on the field all day.
Bad Qbs with pretty nice match ups.
Chad Pennington: He has pissed away a lot of solid match ups over the past several weeks. I wouldn’t start him unless you absolutely have to. He is likely going to lose his job in the next couple of weeks.
Byron Leftwich: Starter for the remainder of the season. Has a nice match up against NO on the road this weekend. The Saints are terrible at stopping anyone but has Lefty been in the system long enough to do much? Jaws on MNF said Leftwich is a bad fit in Atlanta…we’ll soon find out.
Boller/McNair: Get to face the Bills, should be an easy match up but I question putting either one in your starting line up right now.
Jason Campbell: The Boo Birds in Washington will come out…”JC is a good solid Qb”…spare us all please. He had a rushing TD last week that made up for an average day. Now I will be the first to admit that he is a young Qb, only his 2nd season, doesn’t deserve to be picked on in the “he’ll never amount to anything” POV…that is a completely wrong POV, however he is what he is right now, and that’s a young Qb that should not be starting for most owners on their FF rosters. I don’t hate the guy, I just don’t want to rely on him or too many other Skins for that matter on my team.
Top10 Qbs with rough match ups this week.
Peyton Manning: I am not advocating you bench the guy this week but he has a hard game on MNF on the road in JAX. I expect him to do alright but I am not about to pencil him in for 300/3TD in this game. I think it will be surprisingly low scoring as Jax will give them fits on defense.
Jon Kitna: Faces the Bucs this weekend, can’t be viewed as a good match up and I expect him to have subpar numbers on Sunday but nothing as bad as what the Skins did to him. Also Kevin Jones is expected to get a lot more carries and that might have an impact on their passing numbers.
Matt Schaub: Defenses are finding out that without Andre Johnson the Texans are lot more pedestrian in their passing game. Schaub will likely still scrape up 200 yds but he really needs all of his weapons back.
Middle of the Road…guys that I wouldn’t be overly excited about either way.
David Garrard: Has not thrown an interception but still far from a top10 potential week in week out.
Damon Huard: Oakland is not terrible against the pass but I think KC will try and get LJ going early and often. The passing game will be secondary.
Big Ben: Since week 1, Ben has avg about 200 yards and a TD every week give or take a little. That is not good and will put you behind by a good 10-15 points depending what your set up is in most leagues. God forbid you played him and faced teams that had Brady, Romo, even Matt Hasselbeck the past 3-4 weeks. Plays Denver on the road this week, I wouldn’t expect big numbers from him.
Brian Griese: Philly has been playing well the past few weeks in their secondary despite injuiries. Griese has tossed 7 TD in 3 weeks but I would expect an average week from him in Philly. He shouldn’t have anything close to what he racked playing from behind last week.
D.Culpepper: Meh!
Bad Qbs with either bad match ups or just plain bad period.
Cleo Lemon: Many in here will think Lemon had 4 TD last week, I found my welfare check for the rest of the season…WRONG!!! Lemon was (expletive) awful last week in the 1st half of the Miami game and definitely helped Miami fall behind 24-3. Yes he managed to get them back in the game during the 2nd half but the Miami radio play by play announcers were calling for Beck in the 1st half…fans want Beck…I know fans don’t run the team. But when they sent Chambers away on Tuesday they basically are waving the white flag. I don’t expect Cleo to come close to what he did on Sunday anytime again this season. I also expect him to be sitting down by about week 9 or 10…he has to so Miami can see what Beck is going to bring to the table because they are going to walk across that podium early in New York come April.
Tavaris Jackson…9/23 last week and that doesn’t stand for September 23rd.
Kerry Collins
Tim Rattay…I’m sure getting reps this week will help…NOT!!!
Trent Edwards...I don’t understand how Losman is not back out there.
Jay Cutler…terrible match up this weekend against Pittsburgh
Trent Dilfer…Uh…Uh…Uh…
High Scoring games
Atlanta at New Orleans
New York at Cincinnati
St Louis at Seattle
Low Scoring Games
Arizona at Washington
Tennessee at Houston
Pittsburgh at Denver
Good Luck this weekend everyone
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