The Source

It’s the halfway point of the season! Depending upon where you are in your league, you are either really looking forward to the next nine weeks, or you’re thinking about giving ice hockey a second chance.

I’ve played a lot of fantasy football over the past two decades, and while every season is different, this season has been REALLY different. Looking back over the first half of the season we see that the scoring machine which was Tom Brady got to play less than 15 minutes of football this season. Big Brother Manning isn’t even in the top 10 of scoring at his position in many scoring systems. The new, hot thing at wide receiver, Braylon Edwards, cannot catch a ball to save his life and cannot be classified as anything other than a huge disappointment at the midway point. Reggie Wayne is suffering right along with his quarterback. The running back situation is a total mess. Your top five running backs could all be considered some level of disappointing. LT, AP, Addai and Frank Gore are all having subpar seasons. Only Brian Westbrook has been producing, and even he has missed or been limited in more than a couple of games.

The NFL proper has been just as crazy. Detroit and Cincinnati are both still looking for their first victory, but honestly that is not TOO much of a surprise. Still, having two teams that are winless this far into the season is a little strange. Indianapolis and San Diego both have losing records, and Indianapolis is four games out of first place because Tennessee is unbeaten! Although it seems that it should be statistically impossible, every team in the NFC East has a better than 500 record while in three of the other seven divisions 4-3 is good for at least a first-place tie.

On a side note, I have not been able to get my pictures uploaded onto my computer so far this week. They were not allowing you to take pictures with Franco Harris, Dan Rooney or the third guest speaker who was Robin Cole, but we did manage to get some great pictures of them by themselves, either onstage or at the table where they were signing autographs. We now have a banner with all three of their signatures. I will do my best to get them up before the next article. Now, let’s see how well I was able to navigate last week.

Quarterbacks who I liked were Donovan McNabb and Marc Bulger. I’m having a hard time judging this one, McNabb threw for just over 250 yd., ran for another 25, did not throw any interceptions, but also did not throw any touchdowns. He did however run in a touchdown. Bulger threw for over 300 yd. and a touchdown, but also threw an interception. Neither one is a bad performance, and in actuality both of them are fairly good. But, I think I am holding myself to a higher standard the further into the season we go, so while I could probably make sense that both of these would be good calls, I’m going to go with a double push.

Quarterbacks who I did not like were Drew Brees and whoever played quarterback for Dallas. Drew officially goes down as fantasy God for this season. It doesn’t matter if he has weapons, where he is playing, what the weather is like, he’s going to score regardless. This is a bad call. Brad Johnson did not make any mistakes and threw for a touchdown, but with a total of 122 yd. passing, that is a pretty bad performance, so this is a good call

Running backs who I thought might do well were Thomas Jones and Steve Slaton. This one is another tough call. Neither one went over 100 yd. but both scored a touchdown. Running backs have to be your touchdown makers, so while neither one of these are outstanding performances, I think that the two of them combined warrant more than a double push, so I’m going to go with one good call and a push to even things out.

Running backs who I thought might do poorly were Michael Turner and Brandon Jacobs. Turner contributed 58 total yards and no touchdowns while Jacobs accounted for 53 total yards and no touchdowns. That would almost be bad enough for one player, let alone two, so a double good call here.

Wide receivers who I suggested starting were Lee Evans and Calvin Johnson. Evans went over 100 yd. receiving which is always good for a receiver and Johnson pulled in a touchdown. I expected even more from Evans, so a push and a good call here.

Wide receivers who I suggested sitting were Terrell Owens and anybody on Baltimore or Oakland. Owens had less than 40 yd. total and no touchdowns, that’s a good call.. I was right on the money with the Baltimore/Oakland game with exactly one touchdown being thrown to a wide receiver, so that’s another good call

When you total it all up, it is 7-1-4, my best week so far! That brings my season total to a respectable 48-28-12. Let’s see how I can do this week.

Quarterbacks who remind me of Sir Francis Drake

Kurt Warner. The old man seems to throw a couple of touchdowns every week regardless of who he is going against. St. Louis has definitely been playing better ball since the change at head coach, but Arizona is officially in the playoff hunt now, so I think Warner should get at least two.

Jay Cutler. He has been in a bit of a slump recently, but I think that at home against Miami he can get things going again, as long as somebody is blocking Joey Porter

Quarterbacks who remind me of Roald Amundsen

Jason Campbell. I think that after the Steelers were held without a sack last week, they are going to go after the young kid with everything on Monday night. Campbell might surprise everybody, but I think he is going to face more pressure than he has up to this point in his short career.

Matt Schaub. Minnesota should be well rested and they’re playing at home. I imagine Minnesota is going to try to control the ball with AP, giving the Texans a limited number of opportunities. I would be shocked at another three touchdown performance from Matt.

Running backs who remind me of Sir Henry Morton Stanley

Matt Forte. Rookies usually wind up hitting the wall somewhere shortly after midseason. However, Chicago is coming off of their bye week and, oh yeah, they are at home against Detroit

Brandon Jacobs. I warned against him last week, and that worked out. If you saw the big guy on the sideline, he was not happy with being shut down.. It’s not like the Dallas defense is a pushover, but I think the big guy who runs angry is going to run angry and find the end zone at least once

Running backs who remind me of David Livingstone

Thomas Jones. Another reversal from last week. I think that on the road in Buffalo, his streak of successive games with a touchdown will come to an end

Anybody running the ball for Houston. Can you tell I really think Minnesota is going to win this game? Minnesota has a tough defense, especially against the run. If I think they are going to play the pass tough after coming off of their break, then you can probably guess what I think they’re going to do against the run


Wide receivers who remind me of Ernest Shackleton and his crew

Reggie Williams. Wanted to go a little off base here. He scored last week and is going against Cincinnati, I think he might very well get another

Larry Fitzgerald. His partner got all of the touchdowns this past week, but I think Larry will be the beneficiary of a weak St. Louis secondary this week

Wide receivers who remind me of the Robinson family

Anybody on Tampa Bay or Kansas City. Another double bet on this one, only way I get credit for two good calls is if there are no touchdowns to a wide receiver


Plenty of movement in the power rankings this week, so let’s take a look

http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/standings?leagueId=293451


1. The Flood. (1) it was a fairly low scoring week overall, and the Flood have managed to move into the number one spot in overall scoring as well as holding onto the number one spot in the power rankings. The roster has shown that anybody can step up on any given week as evidenced by the tight end being the leading scorer on their team this past week, saving what could have been a very disappointing performance and getting the point total for the week up to a respectable number. There are all kinds of questions though. How much longer before Willie Parker can contribute? Will Holmes get suspended? Their hold on the number one spot is far from secure

2. size7 poopShooters. (3) man, if that was what a limited Westbrook can do, then this team cannot wait to see him back at 100%. It’s not just Westbrook of course, even though they lost their game this past week, they are getting decent production from all of the important positions. Right now they are on the outside looking in as far as a playoff position goes, but the roster’s overall ability to score points is what the power rankings are all about, and right now I think the Shooters are about the strongest in the league

3. Dreaded Mercenaries. (2) the injury to Romo is definitely hurting the Mercenaries. They have lost three games in a row, and while they are still number two in overall points, if the rest of their roster does not pick it up soon, they may find themselves falling and not just in the power rankings, but in the official standings as well


4. Damaged Denial.(4) does anybody question my exclamation that the powers of voodoo are at the beck end call of this team? They remain unbeaten and showed that they are able to score points with the best of them. It is getting very tricky to accurately rank this team. Looking over their roster, it really does not seem that they should be scoring this many points, but you can’t argue with the fact that they are. It is very possible that I have underestimated a number of the players on their roster… then again… voodoo.

5. Twittering Witty Wombats. (5) they ran into the unstoppable force which is Damaged Denial, but hold onto the number five ranking as they still had a decent week as far as points go. This team might be up for the Broken Mirror award at the end of the season as the unluckiest team seeing as how no team has had more points scored against them so far this year



6. Cowering Code Monkeys.(7) I have spent a decent amount of time this past week coming up with some award names that I plan on giving out at the end of the season. These will be awards for things like unluckiest team, luckiest team, best/worst owner and so on. Right now the Monkeys are my favorite to win the award for best owner. If that happens, the award will forever be known as the Golden Monkey award. Now, there are only nine overall points scored separating the teams ranked six through eight on the power rankings, and the Monkeys have the lowest of those three, but it only seems natural that their climb continues, so they have to move up to number six.

7. San Hosers. (9) Roy did not take long to get going in Dallas, already getting his first touchdown. It seems like things might be starting to gel for this team. If LT was producing on the same level that he has in the past few years, this team might be ranked in the overall top three. As it is, they jump up the rankings a couple of spots and look to break into the top half next week.



8. Evil Midnight Bombers.(6) they drop a couple of spots, but this is another situation where it is more based on the performance of the teams below them. They’ve had to produce without Joseph Addai, and that has definitely affected their ranking. They keep on winning games, but they need Joseph to return to the lineup and produce as expected in order to move back up the rankings.

9. Team Fenix. (8) they slide down one more spot, but once again this is more a result of the performance of the teams around them. Everybody ranked sixth through ninth is extremely close in not only overall points, but in what I see as strength of lineup. It looks like at the halfway point, the league might be starting to shake out. I think that there are clearly your top four teams, then the Wombats trying to find their place, then six through nine followed by the Bloodsuckers trying to convince everybody they belong in the middle pack, and finally the cellar dwellers




10. The Bloodsuckers. (10) right now it is looking like they may have settled into the number 10 spot. The middle pack is starting to pull away a little bit as the Bloodsuckers have fallen at full 60 points behind Fenix. It seems like they may have staked a lot on Derek Anderson performing as he did in the early part of 2007, and that clearly has not happened. Combine that with the spectacular fall from grace of Larry Johnson, and it’s starting to look like the Bloodsuckers may have to look forward to next year. They are not out of it yet, at least as far as the playoffs go, but it’s starting to look like the sun may be rising on these creatures of the night



11. Team Jackie. (11) here is the thing.. They started two players who were not even playing last week and have had an open spot on their roster for several weeks now. Despite all of this, they managed to score exactly as many points as the number one ranked team this past week. How competitive might they have been? Shockingly, they are STILL right in the mix for a playoff spot. I don’t know about you, but that worries me. If this team somehow manages to make it into the playoffs, I would be willing to place a bet on them to win the championship game. If they have stayed alive so far, why would anybody count them out until they are officially eliminated?

12. Pavlov’s Altoids. (12) 0-8, 359 points out of first place, 38 points more than last week. 151 points behind their closest competition. ‘Nuff said.

Halloween is this weekend, and so is the time change for North America. With as strange as this season has been so far, I would suggest everyone throw salt over their left shoulder, don’t step on any cracks, enjoy the extra hour of sleep and partake in an extra candy bar or two! By the time the next article is up, we will have a new president and hundreds of thousands of children will be coming down from their sugar highs.

We are moving into quite the exciting time of the year, not just for football fans, but for the country in general. We’re coming up on what has to be one of the most historic presidential elections in the history of our nation. It doesn’t really matter what NFL team you root for, there’s some kind of excitement in the air (OK, except maybe for Cincinnati and Detroit fans).

And, it doesn’t really matter who you are voting for in the presidential election, it should still be a fantastic feeling knowing that you have the ability to go out and have your vote counted. Whether you’re voting for one of the two men who will almost certainly become president, or for one of the smaller third-party candidates who don’t really have any legitimate chance of winning this year, your vote still matters. It will either play some small role in the election of our president, or you will make the statement that what this country needs most is a more balanced playing field where more people have an actual shot. George Washington believed that the worst thing that could happen to our political system was the formation of political parties. I’m not sure if anybody could say he was wrong.

What does this all have to do with football you might ask? Well, not a whole lot, but you don’t get football and politics confused very often and it does let me mention that there’s going to be a political rally at a local club that my family owns this coming Thursday. I’m going to go mostly because the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers himself, Dan Rooney and the man who made the immaculate reception, Franco Harris are both going to be in attendance! I’m not sure if they are allowing pictures or what the exact rules are going to be, but if I get a chance to take any good photos, I will upload them next week.

Now, let’s move back into how things are going in the world of football. Big Brother Manning did not throw a single touchdown pass for only the 22nd time in his entire career, Larry Johnson has completely lost his mind in Kansas City, one Roy Williams broke his arm in Dallas and is done for the season while another Roy Williams just got traded to Dallas, Seattle started a wide receiver at quarterback and nobody in the league can beat St. Louis anymore. Pretty status quo for this season. Let’s run through some of my predictions from last week and see how I did.

Quarterbacks that I thought were going to do well were Big Brother Manning and Chad Pennington. Who would have thought Chad Pennington would have been the better of the two? Manning was clearly a bad call, and while Pennington wasn’t terrible, he was still Pennington and that is bad enough, going with two bad calls.

Quarterbacks that I thought would perform poorly were Aaron Rodgers and Kerry Collins. The Green Bay quarterback had a great game, so that’s the third bad call in a row. However, even though the Tennessee quarterback led his team to another victory, he threw for no touchdowns and barely over 100 yd.. I get on the scoreboard with a good call!

Running backs that I favored were Willie Parker and Marion Barber. Even though I write this on Tuesday, and the guy who replaced Willie Parker (who stepped in a hole during practice on Wednesday) scored three touchdowns, still going to be hard on myself and give myself a bad call. There’s a possibility that in future predictions I might come back and adjust something if an injury later in the week changes things, then again I may just leave things as they are and try to predict things Nostradamus style. Barber scored a touchdown and went over 100 yd. though, so that’s a good call.

Running backs that I warned against were Thomas Jones and Reggie Bush Thomas Jones had a great day yardage wise, I’m in a masochistic mood, so even though I could probably go with a push, going to go with bad call. Reggie Bush wound up tearing something during a punt return, did not score and did not get much yardage, so that’s a good call.

Wide receivers that I suggested were Santana Moss and Andre Johnson. Santana had a very nice game, getting into the end zone as well as decent yardage. Even though Andre did not score a touchdown, he had a monster game yardage wise, so that is two good calls.

Then, I took a little bit of a risk by saying that NO receivers on either Tennessee or Kansas City would score any touchdowns. The only way I would get a double good call was if this happened, and what do you know, it did.

After you add it all up, I came on strong at the end and wind up with a 7-5 record for the week. 41-27-8 so far for the year. Let’s see if I can boost it up a little going into the halfway point.

Quarterbacks who believe the most important thing you can do this November 4 is cast your vote

Donovan McNabb. Coming off of a bye week, at home, against Atlanta. Westbrook might play but will not be 100%. Philadelphia needs this game. And to take it, McNabb will have to have a big day. He is not exactly the best quarterback under pressure, but I don’t think he will actually be feeling the pressure this Sunday and will have a good game.

Marc Bulger. holy cow! Weeks and weeks ago I said that any player you had against St. Louis you should start and that you should not start any St. Louis players until further notice. Well, this would be that further notice. St. Louis has rediscovered the art of playing football in the past couple of weeks. The quarterback has not had a breakout game yet, and he’s going against the “genius” in New England this week. This is a risky pick, but I’m going with it

Quarterbacks who believe the most important thing you can do this November 4 is sleep in

Whoever plays quarterback for Dallas. Brad Johnson looked awful. Like, so awful it was the kind of awful that made you a little sick. I think they’re going to try to rush Tony Romo back, but I don’t think that he has much backbone or tolerance for pain. I think that who ever starts is going to have a poor game.

Drew Brees. Definitely a risky pick. Drew has been a fantasy stud all season long. But, he is missing a number of weapons this week and the game is being played in England as in jolly old, not new. That’s enough for me to think this might be a less than stellar name for the star quarterback.

Running backs who will anxiously watch the Big Board fill in with red and blue colors on the night of November 4

Thomas Jones. He has had two straight weeks of very good performances, and he is going against Kansas City which was unable to stop a 285 lb. running back from running 80 yd. on one play last week.

Steve Slaton. The young running back has been having a quiet yet very good season in Houston. Cincinnati seems to be unable to stop anybody on the ground, so the youngster might have a breakout game this coming week

Running backs who will be angry that the next episode of the Biggest Loser has been preempted for some stupid political thing on the night of November 4

Michael Turner. Have you noticed the disparity between Michael Turner running at home and on the road? Take a look at the game statistics when you have a chance, it’s pretty amazing. Philadelphia still has a tough defense, so if the pattern holds true, Turner should have a tough time in Philadelphia.

Brandon Jacobs. The big guy has been fantastic all season for the Giants, but it’s usually the smaller, faster guy that gives the Steelers problems. Expect Jacobs to struggle this week

Wide receivers who clearly believe in democracy

Lee Evans. Trent Edwards seems to get stronger each week at quarterback, and Evans is his main target. I’m expecting a big game this week from him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Evans pulls down two

Calvin Johnson. I would love to go with either Andre Johnson or Santana Moss again, but I went with them last week. Detroit is really bad, let’s get that right out of the way. Calvin Johnson has literally everything you can ask for in a top wide receiver. He is tall, physically strong, usually the fastest guy on the field, has a vertical leap somewhere in the 3 ½ foot range and what scouts refer to as “soft hands” meaning that he usually catches everything thrown his way. The fact that Detroit drafted him with the second overall pick last season is virtually proof that God, the universe, or whatever powers you happen to believe in, really do have a sense of humor, and it can be a sick and twisted sense of humor sometimes. I think Calvin has a decent shot of showing just how good he is over the last half of the season, continuing to score even though he is realistically the only true weapon on Detroit.

Wide receivers who I suspect are secretly fascists!

Terrell Owens. It’s time for a meltdown, I can just feel it. One more bad game, a couple more dropped balls, one more loss… get your popcorn ready everybody, the T. O. soap opera should be starting anytime now

Anybody on Baltimore or Oakland. I’m only risking a single good/bad call on this one. You don’t have any reason to be starting any wide receivers on either of these teams anyway, but if you have been, stop. I’m predicting that there might be one touchdown through the air, any more than that combined and this is a bad call

Now, onto the power rankings!

http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/standings?leagueId=293451


1. The Flood. (2) Willie Parker did not return to the lineup as thought and they lost their game, but they make their first appearance at the number one spot because they just keep on scoring points. The difference between the top scoring team and the number two team has been shrinking the past few weeks and now the Mercenaries are first overall in scoring by one point, just ahead of the Flood. It’s virtually a tie between overall points scored, but right now it looks like the Flood has the slightly stronger of the two lineups

2. Dreaded Mercenaries. (1) they slide out of the top spot, but as I said it’s basically a tie at the top of the power rankings. They did not have Romo, and Fitzgerald was off, so I am thinking there’s going to be quite the battle at the top of the power rankings the next couple of weeks

3. size7 poopShooters. (4) that talk of a potential collapse may have been premature as the Shooters show they are ready to make the fight for the top spot a three-way battle! Westbrook says he is coming back this week, and the Shooters have to be keeping their fingers crossed that he is healthy and does not worsen an injury. With a 100% Westbrook.in the backfield, the separation between the first and third spots in the power rankings is about as slim as it can get

4. Damaged Denial.(3) voodoo! Voodoo I say! I have looked over the rosters, I have checked out the schedules and the only way I can explain Damaged Denial still being unbeaten is that they are a practitioner of voodoo. By all rights, they probably should slip a little further down the power rankings this week, as right now a couple of the teams below them might actually have more powerful Linups, but I’ve learned two things: first, it’s easier to fall quickly in the power rankings than it is to climb them, there are very rarely big movements once we get around the halfway point. Secondly, never mess around with voodoo! For now, they slide into the fourth spot, remain unbeaten and I am sure that they’re already crafting a wax figure in the visage of their next opponent.

5. Twittering Witty Wombats. (6) they follow their first victory of the season with their second victory of the season, and more importantly, they continue scoring decent points. Realistically, they could be only two or three games away from leading the league in overall scoring if they had exceptional weeks while the top teams stumbled. With the possible emergence of Steve Slaton they are looking good at running back, but there are still problems with their wide receivers..

6. Evil Midnight Bombers.(7) they get a big victory over the Flood and get back into the top half of the rankings. The fourth through eighth spots on the power rankings are nearly as tight as the top three. If Thomas Jones and Willis McGahee continue performing like they did this past week, then both of them will be able to pick up the slack until Joseph Addai returns. I don’t think Willis will, but Thomas might. Obviously, this team can beat anybody, and that makes them a real threat for the playoffs. But, I’m not sure if they can make it to the top in overall points.


7. Cowering Code Monkeys.(8) the Cinderella story continues as the Monkeys keep on scoring good points and win another game. Right now a playoff spot is theirs to lose and they are barely 100 points out of first-place in overall points. Of all the leagues I am in, this is the only team which drafted Tom Brady and is not only competitive, but an actual contender. If we were running a “best owner” rankings instead of our power rankings, the Monkeys would be at or near the top



8. Team Fenix. (5) they dropped three spots which seems really bad, but it was a slide I just could not stop. As I said earlier, the bulk of the league is extremely competitive and this slide was more a result of the three teams directly below them performing exceptionally well rather than an obvious weakness with their own roster. They did have a very rough week, but they are definitely still closer to number 5 than they are to number 11


9. San Hosers. (10) another good performance by the Hosers warrants their move up to number nine. Andre Johnson is a legitimate beast at wide receiver and Williams needs some time to get acclimated in Dallas. They still have LT and are right in the thick of the playoff hunt. I don’t think they are going to be able to get out of the bottom half of the power rankings, but nobody should make the mistake of overlooking this team

10. The Bloodsuckers. (9) Derek Anderson was not able to follow up his outstanding performance from a week ago and as mentioned earlier, Larry Johnson has literally lost his mind in Kansas City. Ronnie Brown was a great steal for some people this season, but he’s not going to be able to carry the entire team on his own. They are still a solid part of the elongated middle pack of the power rankings and have as good a shot at the playoffs as anybody, but this is another team that I don’t think will move out of the bottom half



11. Team Jackie. (11) they are now on a two-game losing streak, but still right in the middle of the battle for a playoff spot. But, they have made it a habit of starting players who are off, injured, or just not playing well. There’s no chance for them to move back into the top 10 of the power rankings and the playoffs could easily slip away

12. Pavlov’s Altoids. (12) OK, I am willing to start taking bets. I’m offering two separate lines. First, will the Altoids go winless? Right now current odds are running 3-2 that they wind up getting a victory somewhere. Second one is by secret ballot, how many points out of first-place will the Altoids windup, winner takes all. They are currently 321 points out of first-place, closest overall wins, in the event of a tie, who ever is closest without going over. Every team gets one guess and it has to be in before the end of the 10th week. Just submit your ballot to my live world e-mail: blaslo@liveworld.com

Next week will mark the halfway point of the season and I will once again review how everything has gone over the past four games and give a little recap of the first half of the season as well. Get out and vote, and submit those secret ballots

Well, do you see any extra bells and/or whistles? Neither do I. That’s mostly because there aren’t any. I have returned from Foxwoods and I am not yet rich. But, went to some fantastic restaurants and enjoyed virtually every minute I was there.

We are now going through the part of the season that many NFL players refer to as “the grind”. This season is not yet halfway over, every team has played at least five games and many of them find themselves either with massive injuries or a significantly different position then they anticipated at the start of the season. This is the time of the year that many NFL teams use their bye week to perform some maintenance. You will frequently see some of those unsigned free agents signing with a team somewhere (Stephen Alexander has been spotted in Washington for example). You also see some big-name players shopped around, and some other teams make the decision that a player is just too injured and will be placed on the reserve list, thus ending their season. Many teams that have their break around this time of year will come out of that bye week with at least one significant addition or one player who will no longer be contributing this season.

With all of that being said, let’s do a little bit of quick maintenance right here. After checking into some of the statistics from two weekends ago, it does indeed seem that both Isaac Bruce and Chris Chambers had performances that were decent enough. Since I had warned against them, we will change those two good calls to bad ones. However, Romo had thrown three touchdowns two weeks ago and I had listed that as a push, that should definitely be a good call.

Therefore, my adjusted results from week five would have been an even 6-6, and the season would be 26-19-7 coming into last week. So, let’s see how I did and move along.

Quarterbacks who I thought would do well were Favre and Jason Campbell. Neither one of them did terrible, but they also could not manage more than a touchdown between them. I’m going with a push on Favre, a bad call on Campbell.

Quarterbacks I did not like were Kitna and Derek Anderson. Kitna did not even play and his season is now over, that’s a good call. Anderson on the other hand went nuts at home on Monday night against the undefeated defending world champions. That is a bad call.

I liked Ronnie Brown and LT as running backs. Ronnie did not get too much yardage, but he got into the end zone again, so that’s a good call. LT got his revenge, but he didn’t get many yards and no touchdowns, so that’s a bad call.

I warned against Michael Turner and DeAngelo Williams. No touchdowns between them and nothing super in the way of yardage, that’s a couple of good calls.

I liked DeShaun Jackson and Plaxico. Jackson did not get into the end zone, but he had a good game yardage wise, so for a wide receiver that’s close enough for a good call. And Plax got a TD, so that’s another good call for a WR.

I took my big risk of the week by warning against Randy Moss. San Diego did a great job of shutting him down, that’s a good call. I also warned against Roy Williams who was shaping up to be an official bust this season, so that’s another good call.

Overall, that is 8 good, 3 bad and 1 push for a season total of 34-22-8. Things are looking up! But, do I have any idea who you should start and sit this coming week? Let’s find out

Quarterbacks who will be the music makers

Big Brother Manning. He hit his stride for the first time all season last week. Now, a lot of people are wondering is he back on track or are there more struggles ahead. I think he has another good game against Green Bay.

Chad Pennington. What? Chad? Chad Pennington? As a positive at quarterback? What can I say, I was having a hard time selecting a quarterback I had not chosen too recently. Still, I think Miami is upset about that loss against Houston just as they were starting to believe in themselves. Plus, I think Baltimore’s about ready to throw in the towel

Quarterbacks who don’t believe in Schnozberries

Aaron Rogers. He is doing his best to live up to the standard set in Green Bay when it comes to playing quarterback. His shoulder is definitely bothering him, but he has been working through it. This week though he runs into a defense that has been built around speed and I think there are a couple of interceptions in his immediate future.

Kerry Collins. There is a history of strange things happening whenever anybody has to play against Kansas City in Kansas City. I know Tennessee is unbeaten and Collins has been playing decent football, something just tells me there is an upset brewing here and there might be some fans asking about Vincent Young next week.

Running backs who will be the dreamers of the dreams

Willie Parker. Word is that fast Willie is back and ready to go. I am thinking he gets back into the groove of things in his first week back against Cincinnati

Marion Barber. Even though St. Louis got its first victory last week, it was obvious you can still run on them. Felix Jones and Romo are both out. Those three factors are enough to look for a big game from Barber

Running backs who will try the exploding gum even though the creator of said exploding gum warned them not to silly boy

Thomas Jones. This is another one of those warnings against expecting too much. Yes, he got three touchdowns last week. Yes, he is playing Oakland this week. Yes, it’s easy to get excited and start him over other players on their roster. But, the game is in Oakland and Jones didn’t really have any kind of breakout performances prior to last week. He might, MIGHT, get another touchdown this week, but I’m expecting no touchdowns and under 100 yd.

Reggie Bush. This might be my risky pick of the week. He has scored two touchdowns in each of the last two weeks. He is going against a team who was really beat up last week. I’m thinking that for one reason or another Reggie does not find the end zone this week

Wide receivers who will remain honorable and keep the secret of the everlasting Gobstopper

Santana Moss. He has been quiet for a couple of weeks, and even though Cleveland did a good job of shutting down the Giants pass attack, I think Santana either goes over 100 yd. or gets into the end zone this week.

Andre Johnson. He had a monster game last week and sometimes one victory can propel a team into the future. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they are playing Detroit this week either.

Wide receivers who will sell out to the evil Slugworth

anybody from Tennessee or Kansas City. I’m going to stake a double good call or double bad call on this prediction as my lone warning against wide receivers. If there is one touchdown scored by a wide receiver from either of these two teams, I will consider it a double push. Any more than one, double bad call. The only way I get credit for a double good call is if no receiver on either team scores any touchdowns.

Now, onto the power rankings. We skipped over any adjustments that might have been made last week, so lets jump in and see what might have changed!




1. Dreaded Mercenaries. (1) they hold on to the number one overall spot, but there are BIG questions. Actually, just one big question. This team seems to manage 100 points or more every week, and when you look over their scoring it’s sometimes difficult to figure out how they actually reached the century mark. 9 points here, 14 points there, every so often their defense pops off for 18-20. But, the quarterback has been the linchpin for this team’s scoring so far this season. That quarterback has been Tony Romo. So the question is, if Word out of Dallas is accurate and Tony is gone for the next four weeks, can this team still perform? If not, how far down the rankings will they find themselves by the time Romo is back in the saddle?

2. The Flood. (4) Willie Parker is getting back into the lineup, Reggie Wayne seems to be finding his stride and timing with big Brother Manning and the rest of the team is without major injury. If Parker returns to his early-season form, the Flood will present quite the threesome at running back. All sorts of things can happen on any given week, but right now this team is not showing too many weaknesses


3. Damaged Denial.(2) they continue winning every game that they play, but some people are starting to wonder if that’s because they are so good or because they have had the fewest points scored against them by far. They still have an extremely solid lineup, but there are a few question marks. Do they have a legitimate number two running back, or legitimate number three receiver? Overall, I still expect this team to challenge for overall points and certainly a Super Bowl championship, but it will be interesting to see how long Denial remains unbeaten with their current roster and upcoming schedule

4. size7 poopShooters. (3) they slide down another spot, but are they ready for a collapse? How well can Westbrook run with broken ribs, even after they let him back out on the field? Felix Jones is gone for at least a couple of weeks, Brandon Stokley just suffered his 10th concussion and they have no backup quarterback. It certainly isn’t all doom and gloom, but then again they are not riding high in the number one spot anymore either



5. Team Fenix. (5) they have found themselves with a pretty solid threesome at wide receiver in Jackson, Jennings and Moss, and really Driver is not a bad choice for a flex position.. I’m not sure if their running backs are strong enough to push them into the top third of the league, so for now they hold steady at number five

6. Twittering Witty Wombats. (7) they stop their slide and even climb back up a spot. One team’s misfortune can be a boon for another team. Westbrook going down opens the door for Buckhalter.to become a legitimate contributor. Throw in the fantasy stud which is Drew Brees, the workhorse Barber and the possibly rejuvenated Marvin Harrison and the Wombats might still be able to make a run at the overall points title. Making the playoffs still isn’t completely out of the question, but coming back from a 0-5 start isn’t going to be easy


7. Evil Midnight Bombers.(6) they slide down yet another spot. Even though Thomas Jones finally had a great game, the acquisition of Roy Williams by Dallas severely hurts the value of Patrick Crayton. The main thing that has to be on their mind right now is how bad is that hamstring injury for Addai. If it either keeps him out or limits his effectiveness, then the Bombers might be in for some hard times

8. Cowering Code Monkeys.(9) they officially get out of the lower third of the league! This team needs to gather whatever winnings that they acquire and build a shrine to Philip Rivers. I have to say that the Monkeys are fast becoming my overall favorite team to watch. The fact that they lost Tom Brady in the first quarter of the first game of the season and did not just abandon their team, but rather made moves when necessary and had the foresight to have a solid backup shows me that not only do they know their football, but they legitimately enjoy the fantasy football aspect of things. There is now no reason not to believe that the Monkeys might very well find themselves in the playoffs, or even in the overall scoring hunt by the end of the season. There is still a lot of time left, but I say kudos for a good show so far.

9. The Bloodsuckers. (8) they drop down one spot, but it’s almost a tie between them and the Monkeys. If Derek Anderson actually starts performing like he did during the first part of last season, then they could have a solid 1-2 punch between their quarterback and Ronnie Brown. They still have Larry Johnson floating around, but I’ve said all along Kansas City has too many problems for him to really be the dominant force he was a couple of years ago. If Boldin can recover from that devastating hit then he can obviously be a contributor. This team and the Hosers below them are definitely starting to separate themselves from the bottom two teams and widen the middle pack which is chasing the top teams in the league


10. San Hosers. (10) They stay at number 10 again, but they might be ready to make a big jump with the news that Roy Williams has been traded to Dallas. Now, if Williams finally starts living up to his self appointed Nickname of “Legend”, then all of a sudden this team starts looking like a team that nobody wants to play with Williams, Andre Johnson, LT and even Jamal Lewis on what could be a resurgent Cleveland Browns offense. I almost moved the Hosers up into the number nine spot, but it’s going to take another week or so to see which way things are flowing


11. Team Jackie. (11) they are nearly 200 points out of first place, but they have a 4-2 record and still have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs. Now, with this particular scoring system 200 points is not impossible to overcome with the time remaining in the season, but there’s nothing to indicate that the players on this roster have the capability of scoring the points that would be needed. However, if they don’t give up they could still make the playoffs and as I’ve said before, anything can happen in head-to-head competition. This team is still alive as far as a potential Super Bowl goes, so there’s plenty of reason to remain interested

12. Pavlov’s Altoids. (12) well… they still have two great quarterbacks. That’s about it. Unless they can find a fantastic trade with another team by giving up one of those franchise quarterbacks for at least one other quality position player, then this team is finished. They are essentially 100 points behind the team ranked 11th. They are the only team still looking for their first win, so even a run for the playoffs is virtually impossible. Right now, it’s all about pride and trying not to go winless the entire season while winding up more than 800 points out of first place.

And there we have it everybody. Teams are starting to fall by the wayside, but there are plenty of possibilities still out there. I also just realized that I’ve never included a link to this particular league, just in case anybody who is not actually involved in the league wanted to take a look at the actual point standings, game results, rosters, etc. so, here is that link

http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/standings?leagueId=293451

We’re coming up on the halfway point everybody, enjoy it while it lasts!

Ok, coming to you direct from Foxwoods' Resort and Casino. The poker tables are calling, so as promised here is the abbreviated weekly submission.

First, how did I do last week? This is pretty much based on what I saw in highlights, since I haven't gone in depth into every game. I encourage everyone to correct any of my good call/bad call decisions below and if there is a consensus that differs from mine, I'll put it into my official record.

I said I liked quarterbacks Romo and Baby Boy Manning. Manning did well. That's good, looks like Romo was average, that's a push.

I said that I didn't like Big Ben and Trent Edwards. Trent got knocked out early, good call. But I did get to watch Big Ben and he was pretty great, so I'm happily wrong on that one.

Running backs that I favored were Graham and AP. I'm not positive, but it didn't look like Graham did anything and I watched MNF and know that AP tanked, so going with two bad calls.

But running backs who I did not like were Chris Johnson and Larry Johnson. I know neither of them got into the end zone, this week, that's good enough for me. Two good calls.

Wide receivers that I liked were Calvin Johnson and TO. Detroit seemed to be terrible and I didn't see any highlights from Calvin, That's a bad call. I know TO only had two catches, but one was all over Sports Center and good for a TD, we will make that a good call.

I didn't like Isaac Bruce or Chris Chambers. I listened to some of the San Fran game and Bruce seemed absent, that's a good call. But I think I heard something about Chambers getting hurt, and they lost to Miami, this week, that's good for a good call.

That gives me 7 good, 4 bad, 1 push. Season stands at 25 good, 17 bad, 8 push.

Now for some quick predictions:

Quarterbacks Briant Like!

Brett Favre good! Jason Campbell also good.

Quarterbacks Briant Like Not-So-Much

Jon Kitna bad! Derek Anderson stinky bad!

Running Backs that Briant Say Good!

Miami "wild cat" formation unstoppable! Ronnie Brown Yay! Tomlinson angry at Patriot's. Get revenge Sunday night, LT much good!

Running Backs that Briant Say Poo-Poo Bad!

Michael Turner, No Like Him. DeAngelo Williams, 3 TD's is fluke! 0 TD's and very much little yards this week.

Wide Receivers who go "Rah Rah Rah! Me Great!"

DeShaun Jackson much fast. Randy Moss much fast against San Fran. DeShawn now against San Fran! Plaxico Burress bad boy. No play last week. Play in prime time this week. Play good!

Wide Receivers who go "boo hoo hoo me no good":

Randy Moss fast against San Fran, not fast against san Diego. Roy Williams crying very much, team not like. Me not like either!

And now the Power Rankings. I was just going to give the actual rankings this week, but as I look over the results, I don't see any real movement. The Flood or Fenix could possibly slide up a spot or two. Damaged and Shooters could possibly slide down a spot, but since I'm not looking over everything as deeply as usual, going to keep the power rankings exactly the same and see what develops.

Next week will be back to the usual, unless of course, I hit it big, in which case there will probably be lots more bells and whistles.

So, we are now officially one quarter of the way through the season. This is the time of the year where head coaches typically take a look back and evaluate their team’s performance thus far, and look forward to the next 25% of the schedule. So, we will do basically the same thing.

First, some general comments about the first fourth of the season so far. Crazy. Anybody who says that they knew Miami would beat New England, Kansas City would beat Denver, Buffalo and Tennessee would both be 4-0, Indianapolis would be 1-2 and two head coaches would both be fired before the midway point of the season is either lying, crazy, the modern-day incarnation of Nostradamus or some combination of the three. At least it looks like T. O. is starting to lose his mind again in Dallas this time, so that’s right about on schedule.

Now, let’s look at some of my predictions from last week and see how things are going for the season overall.

Things don’t start off so good as I went with Philip Rivers and Brian Griese as my favorite quarterbacks. This is a great example of the difference between NFL football and fantasy football. Both quarterbacks led their teams to victory, so in the NFL that is a success. However, neither one of them could top 200 yd. and they went a combined two touchdowns against five interceptions.. That is two bad calls right off the bat

Things get a little better as I warned against Gus Frerotte, who did not throw for a touchdown, but was responsible for a couple of turnovers, so that’s a good call. However, I also warned against Jason Campbell, who went over 200 yd. with two touchdowns and no interceptions. That, combined with me giving some bad quarterback advice during the week, adds up to another bad call

Things keep going downhill with the running backs, Lynch and Young were both on my good side, but neither got into the end zone nor did they top 100 yd., two more bad calls.

And yet another one as Steven Jackson not only found the end zone but went over 100 yd.. There’s no way to make that sound like a bad game. However, I did warn against one of the top running backs in the league with Marion Barber. Even though the reason for the drop in numbers didn’t go exactly as I thought, going with a double good call as Barber’s numbers were way, way down.

Things get brighter looking over the wide receiver predictions. I said that I expected Steve Smith to get onto the scoreboard and Chad Johnson to be able to do some form of celebrating, both of them scored touchdowns this week, so that’s a couple of good calls.

I also made the fairly far-reaching warning against every receiver on Baltimore, predicting that none of them would score a touchdown. There was a touchdown reception, but it was a tight end. I would have gone with a double good call as once again every single receiver on Baltimore failed to get a touchdown, and that is what I warned about, but Derrick Mason went over 100 yd. receiving, so this is one good call.

I also expected Denver to shut down Dwayne Bowe. They did keep him out of the end zone, but he still managed 85 yd., which is respectable for a wide receiver. So, that is the only push of the week

So, another even week as I wind up with six good, six bad and one push. Overall for the season we have 18 good calls, 13 bad and 7 push. Still more good than bad, but that’s two weeks in a row of even results. Onto the next week!

Quarterbacks whose stocks are on the rise

Tony Romo. Really, Tony has not exploded the way some people were thinking he would. Not so far at least. This one would appear to be the easiest call, Dallas, at-home, against Cincinnati. If Tony does not throw at least two more touchdowns than he does interceptions and get somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 yd., then this will be a bad call.

Eli Manning. I picked him earlier in the season as a positive and he did well by me. I am going with him again at home against Seattle. Even though he will not have his top receiver, I’m still thinking baby boy Manning can put up some decent numbers.

Quarterbacks who are desperately in need of an economic bailout

Trent Edwards. This is more a warning against expecting Trent Edwards to turn into Brett Favre just because they are playing the same team in back-to-back weeks. I’m thinking Arizona corrects the problems that they had against the Jets and put forth a much better effort against Buffalo.. Edwards might wind up with a touchdown or two, but that’s about it.

Ben Roethlisberger. I really hope I am wrong on this one . Being a Steeler fan, I want my quarterback to do great. While the injuries at running back are a concern, what really has me worried is losing another offensive lineman for the season. They are coming off an overtime game on Monday night, going on the road to Jacksonville who still has a tough defense, and they are already banged up. This has all the makings of a disaster.

Running backs that use Bank of America

Ernest Graham. There’s a chance Kansas City has discovered a weakness in the Denver defense, and I’m thinking Tampa Bay will work on exploiting it again. Larry Johnson had a terrific day without anybody blocking, Graham may not be physically as good as Larry Johnson, but he has a better offensive line. I’m thinking Ernest gets into the end zone at least once and goes over 100 yd.

Adrian Peterson. So far in his short NFL career Adrian has been a pretty hit and miss kind of running back. Every so often he has a huge, breakout game, but every so often he almost disappears. I’m thinking Monday night in primetime we will see why he was a top three selection in most fantasy drafts.

Running backs that used Washington Mutual

Chris Johnson. The Tennessee rookie has been very impressive in his first four games. Baltimore is coming off a really tough loss in overtime on Monday night. While I believe they will be run down, the Baltimore defense is among the best in the league and they have a lot of pride. I think they take out their frustration over the Monday night loss and shut down Johnson.

Larry Johnson. He has shown some signs of life in the past couple of weeks, but Carolina has been tough against the run. I think Larry on the road this week looks more like he did during the first week than he did last week.

Wide receivers that will prosper and be successful

Calvin Johnson. Chicago has a very good defense. Detroit has a very good… well, nothing really. But, they finally got rid of Matt Millen and they are coming off of the bye week. It’s a divisional game and they’re playing at home. Calvin Johnson has all of the tools needed to be a dominant player in the NFL, I think he goes over 100 yd. and gets at least one score.

Terrell Owens. I believe that if Dallas struggles at all, you will see Owens begin the relentless tearing down of his team like he does everywhere he goes. But, ever since Jerry Jones took over Dallas, the team has not necessarily been known for its outstanding character traits or discipline. I can almost see the memo right now coming down to the coaching staff “keep T. O. happy” and for this week at least, against Cincinnati, that should not be too difficult.

Wide receivers that will be dismantled and sold off as scrap

Isaac Bruce. The old man has been rejuvenated in San Francisco, mostly thanks to the pass happy attack of Mike Martz. But, I think Mike was taking notes while watching game film of the Miami victory over New England and saw that most of the damage came on the ground. I think Isaac will have limited chances on Sunday and the New England secondary will keep him under wraps

Chris Chambers. Miami opened some eyes a couple of weeks ago, they totally shut down Randy Moss in New England and I think they will do the same thing to Chris Chambers in Miami.

And now onto the power rankings. Typically by the one quarter mark, you can get a fairly clear picture of who is in the top third of the league and who is in the bottom third. Everyone in the middle is still fighting in determining who is a contender and who is a pretender.

It’s also worth a reminder here that these power rankings are nothing more than my own opinion of the potential each team has for scoring. Whether a team wins or loses its individual games carries virtually no weight whatsoever with me when it comes to the power rankings. I have long held that the true measure of any fantasy football team is overall points scored, not head-to-head record, so just because a team might be 1-3 doesn’t mean that they couldn’t be in the top third of the league while a team at 3-1 might be in the bottom third.

I was once in a league, about 15 years ago, 12 teams, 21 players drafted on each team, nine players started each week, no free agency so whoever you drafted was your team for the season. Because of injuries and all sorts of unforeseen circumstances, my team finished dead last in overall points. 12th place in a 12 team league. What makes the story interesting? I also won the league Super Bowl that season. If you just get lucky enough to play the lowest scoring team each week, or unlucky enough to get the highest scoring team, the record of your team can be exactly the opposite of what you would expect. The true measure of a fantasy team is overall points over the course of the entire 17 weeks.

Enough with the minimally interesting anecdotal writings!




1. Dreaded Mercenaries. (3) well, this team made a statement this week and that statement was “we don’t need no stinking defense”. They lead the week in scoring and only get nine combined points from their defense and kicker. That’s a really strong showing, so they claim the number one spot as we pass the one quarter mark

2. Damaged Denial.(2) if not for the outstanding performance of the Mercenary team, Denial would have certainly claimed the top spot. Even with a number of their top performers out, they still managed to put up good numbers and remained undefeated. If they are able to get past next week with a similar performance, they will once again be challenging the number one team.

3. size7 poopShooters. (1) they dropped two spots and are out of first-place for the first time this season. They had a number of key players off this week, so this drop is as much because of the performance of Mercenaries and Denial as it is due to some unfortunate scheduling. Much like the Philadelphia Eagles, this team’s fate may depend on how quickly Brian Westbrook gets back onto the field and whether or not his ankle continues bothering him for the rest of the season


4. The Flood. (4) some prognosticators are listing this team.as one of the franchisees which need some help to catch up to the top teams in the league. However, even without their quarterback or receivers performing at the levels expected, they are still somehow in fourth place in overall points. If some of those players get on track, they can easily move back into the top three.


5. Team Fenix. (7) not only do they break into the top half, they jumped two spots into the top five! They continue scoring excellent points, this past week without Julius Jones or Brett Favre. They came to me on Saturday with their quarterback dilemma and I told them how high I was on Brian Griese. They seemed to be leaning towards Brett and I agreed that it was an extremely difficult decision. I kind of got the feeling that I may have swayed them because of my enthusiasm over Brian, but in the end it is always a personal decision and I’ve been clear that despite any advice, I believe you need to play your best players. Brett was their number one draft choice this season. Regardless, their roster has looked better and better each week and now they just need to keep on going

6. Evil Midnight Bombers.(5) they slide down another spot as Thomas Jones is starting to look like this season will be another disappointment and Willis in Baltimore is looking more and more like the fragile bust I thought he might be. They are still in the top half and they have shown that they are more than capable of putting up big numbers. However, they need to string together a couple of good weeks to regain their spot in the top third of the league


7. Twittering Witty Wombats. (6) they continue their slow descent down the rankings. If everything was based strictly on overall points, they would be even lower but Barber is not going to be so thoroughly shut down very often and overall I still think they have one of the more solid lineups in the league, it’s just that the top half of the league is outperforming them right now.

8. The Bloodsuckers. (8) they hold steady this week even though they put up some good points without an over-the-top performance from Ronnie Brown. I just could not justify dropping any of the teams above them any lower in the rankings. Still, the separation between the middle third and bottom third of the league is getting smaller based in large part on the performance of the Bloodsuckers in recent weeks


9. Cowering Code Monkeys.(11) They continue clawing their way up the standings. Some teams who lost a Brady in the first quarter of the season would have thrown in the towel, but to their credit the Monkeys keep on fighting. They still have a long way to go, but if nothing else they have shown that they are not giving up and sometimes that alone can be enough to raise a team up.

10. San Hosers. (10) They hold steady this week. LT looks to be on the right track, now if Andre and Roy would kick it into gear, they might have a chance. Until then though, they are stuck in the bottom third.


11. Team Jackie. (9) The question has to be asked:has this team completely given up? This week, they started Bulger who was benched and three other positions who were on the bye week. Shockingly they still won their game! But, I have inside info that the owner is going to make soime moves this week. I’ve said for a few weeks now, that with a little bit of management, this team has the players to compete. We’ll have to wait and see how committed the owner is from here on out.

12. Pavlov’s Altoids. (12) The question has to be asked:has this team completely given up? Woah! Déjà vu! The team is dead last in over all points and seems to be falling further behind each week. This week they started Big Brother Manning who was off and sat McNabb. Have they lost interest and are abandoning their team to flounder the rest of the season? Was it just a simple over sight? Can they possibly escape the devious trap that the Penguin has laid for them?! Have I been watching too much campy television? Tune in next week, same Bri time, same Bri channel!

And speaking of next week, I’m going to be away spending a week at Foxwoods Casino. So, my entry next week will be a bit abbreviated, but should still be up Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.