Weekly Wrap

Dolla Dolla Bills Yall Wolf Pack
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Well, I gotta say that I am pretty nervous about my first game out of the shoot with a lack of a high caliber quarterback. However, Garrard has had two consecutive years as the full time quarterback and the loss of Richard Collier no longer resonates with the team. I expect Garrard to make a return to the 2007-2008 season where he had a career high in TDs and career low in interceptions. This year will be a battle of who to play at Quarterback as I waited to long in the draft to pick up a top flight QB, but in return I picked 3 Top 10 RBs that should do some damage against teams lacking depth.

Match-ups to Watch
David Garrard vs. Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer vs. TBD Offensive Player
Clearly Manning is one of the Greatest of All-Time and will have Garrard’s number over a sixteen game season but I do think the AFC South will be extremely competitive amongst the Texas, Titans, Colts and Jaguars. They remind me of the NFC East three years ago where the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles were all vying for a shot at the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, they all face the NFC East this year which will be the toughest out of conference schedule.

Carson Palmer is loaded on offense this year and after sweeping the AFC North last season and flaming out in the divisional round the Bengals are looking for revenge and it starts with the running game. The WR crew is old but has all the pieces, two fantastic options in the slot with Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley and TE Jermaine Gresham. The running game was resurgent last season with a galvanized Cedric Benson and the home run hitter Bernard Scott. While it is up for discussion who I end up playing in the OP slot (Derrick Anderson/Jamal Charles), it is clear that the Wolf Pack have the edge.

CJ2K5/Turner/Jennings/Welker vs. Ricky/J. Stewart/Desean/Percy Harvin
This is where the game will be won. If CJ2K5 and Turner perfrom like they are supposed to it could turn in to a landslide victory, but week one is often crazy and has historically been a low scoring week.

While the both teams have a lot of explosive players it could end up being a snoozer. I would take explosive RB’s over explosive WR’s any day of the week. More than likely I hit the victory button in Week 1 but I am not counting my chickens before they hatch.



Cobra Kai The Bromingos
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The Cobra Kai and the faceless Bromingos battle off in what could be the highest scoring game of the day. Both teams have top notch QB’s and both have some explosive players. I am not sure if the current rosters are set for game day but without expecting many switches I think this game will be close. Rodgers, the first pick in our draft takes the reigns of a high powered offense in Green Bay. As much as I wanted Rodgers, I was surprised Marshall went with the frozen tundra over the superdome. I do think Rodgers has figured out the QB position after posting the highest scoring seasons in fantasy football over the past two seasons. Brady, who had the best season ever 3 years ago is back. He has been sharp in preseason and has everything except a RB at his disposal. Brady vs. Rodgers will be a great match-up with two totally different styles. While Brady is not afraid to go deep to Moss, he still prefers to methodically march down the field throwing to Welker and Edelman and mixing in some screens. Rodgers, loves to use play action to set up the pass and when the running game is working he will be peppering Driver, Jennings, and Finley deep. No one in Green Bay is crying over Brett Farve anymore. Rodgers has arrived and the Packers are expecting big things from him. So are the Bromingos. It will be interesting to watch the season progress and see who ends up with the bigger season, Rodgers, Brees, or CJ2K5.

On Paper Cobra Kai has the best match-ups but they are at positions that typically don’t move the needle, Tight End, Kicker, Defense and Kicker. Will the upstart Shonn Greene and Michael Crabtree deliver this season? They better because it will be a long season if they don’t show up. While Jabar Gaffney has a great rapport with Kyle Orton, he is not be relied upon. Same goes for Matt Forte in Chicago. After a huge rookie season where he could do no wrong, Forte busts due to the arrival of Jay Cutler. Cutler and his big arm came into the Windy City last year only to throw more interceptions than anyone in the game last season. With Mike Martz at the helm the Bears started throwing and throwing and left Forte out in the cold. Forte is not Marshall Faulk or Frank Gore. He needs to be run the ball 20+ times a game and touch it another 10 to be effective. If Cutler cuts down on his interceptions he might have a better chance to wins some games. Unfortunately, the Vikings, Packers and even the Lions will have something to say about that. The Bears and Lovie Smith missed out on their chance to win the big one. The time has passed and the defense even with the addition of Julius Peppers is on their last leg. I think the Kai win as the Bromingos have a lot of tough match-ups this week.



The Fall of Troy Wreckless Hearts
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The newest addition to the league, Doug McCarron thinks he has the team to beat this year. I don’t know if he knows what is about to happen but he might get an early season win vs. Dan Harris’s Wreckless Hearts. Somehow Adrian Peterson fell to Harris with the 4th pick but what he gained in Peterson he lost with Kevin Kolb who might be the most overrated fantasy QB this year. As I stated earlier, Kolb is going to have to make quick decisions to be successful this year. He will be blitzed a ton and the defense he is facing this year will play a lot of zone trying to punish the skinny WR’s of the Eagles. On the other hand, Flacco might be in the best decision to rise into a top 5 fantasy QB. Flacco has had two great seasons as the starter and now has Anquan Boldin, TJ Housh, Derrick Mason, and Todd Heap alongside top 5 RB Ray Rice. McCarron went with the patented double up. If Flacco is not throwing a TD, Ray Rice or McGahee will be running it in. McGahee was a huge TD vulture last season and McCarron is hoping that does not happen again. If it does, Rice will end up on the outside of the top 10 in fantasy backs. The Wreckless Hearts have a mishmash of talented players but no one that will break the backs of other teams other than Peterson. Peterson will be carrying his team. McCarron has a good blend of old, new and players ready to season. While the Fall of Troy might have a tough college season, fantasy football could be fruitful if the fighting Steve Smith’s pan out. Both are great fantasy options and will get a lot of looks as #1 WRs. In what is a huge turn of events, Jerome Harrison will get a ton of looks with Montario Hardesty out for the season. Chad Henne could make the leap this season into the top 10 of QB’s with Brandon Marshall on the squad. Tony Sparano has built a great offensive line to give new Blue time to look downfield. The experts are calling this a close one, but I think The Fall or Troy runs away with it.




Freaky Deaky Vick’s Redemption
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In what is appropriately called the Battle of the Bay, two time champion Brett Miles takes on newly engaged Rory Dowling. Brett won the 12th spot this season but managed to pull in a great draft. As many times I have been in the top 4 spots in the draft I have been 10-12 just as many and I think the latter is the best spot. You win fantasy football on getting good value and they best value seems to lie at the end of the first round and third round. Deaky was able to pull in Phillip Rivers, Arian Foster, Felix Jones, Miles Austin and Calvin Johnson. He did pick up Eli Manning who has never been a good fantasy qb but who knows, he could become one in the new $1B stadium. Rory also had a great draft but may be regretting QB1 and QB2 at the end of the year. Cutler had a terrible season last year but still put a ton of points but also lost a lot of points. In addition to Cutler, Rory took a chance on Ben Roethlisberger, maybe he should change his name to Roethlisberger’s Redemption as he has a penchant for suspended qbs. Despite the QB’s, Vick’s Redemption came away with MJD, DeAngelo, Colston, Boldin and Spiller. All of them are explosive, and all have something to prove, except Spiller of course. Spiller could be the steal of the draft if he is not splitting carries with Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch. I think Spiller takes the spot of Rothlisberger and the Redemption take the first week and put the Deaky in the same position he was in last year. But no need to fret, he will makes some trades, be resilient and probably 3-Peat. That’s just what he does. He is a winner and we will probably be calling “The Sheba” something new, “The Deaky Trophy.”

Children of Chaos Team Awesome
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The Battle of FIJI will be brought to you many times this year as we have multiple FIJI’s in the league. This year’s first contest has many story lines. As noted in previous write-ups, Rider and Denton have been friends for years, all the way back to the days when the both lived on Purdue. Denton moved on to a bigger block when Blockbuster was booming and has not looked back since, but he now has the unfortunate duty of living in Houston. Oh yeah and Denton has a baby. Wow, have times changed. Autodraft Denton had what many in the league consider the best draft. Brees, Mendenhall, Beanie, Randy Moss, Ocho Cinco, and Matthew Stafford could be an amazing starting five, but what happens when Brees gets Madden Jinxed, Mendenhall breaks his leg before Big Ben gets back and Beanie is the back-up when Hightower supplants him, Moss no longer has it, TO takes away catches from Ocho, and Stafford, well let’s be honest Stafford is going to have a monster season. I guess Chaos is what Denton lives for; maybe Leinert will crack the starting line-up after Schaub gets hurt or maybe Kicker #2 can sub in as the offensive player. There are a lot of eggs in this basket and let’s hope they all have monster seasons and an injury free year.

Now there is someone out there who had the same strategy has me but I think I might survive it, Mr Nugget is fucked. Matt Cassell as QB1 and Josh Freeman as QB2 and Mark Sanchez as QB3. I like Sanchez and he has to be money this season for the Jets to win the Super Bowl but having the best offensive line in all of football won’t hurt his chances. As for Cassell and Freeman, they undoubtedly have the worst lines in football. At least Cassell as a legit WR in Bowe and two very good RBs in Charles and Jones and a new toy Dexter McCluster. Outside of QB123, Frank Gore, Cedric Benson, Andre Johnson, Roddy White, and Dallas Clark are amazing core players and all #1s on their respective teams. In a league dominated by quarterback play, will Nugget fall victim to a strategy gone bad. For this game yes, as the Chaos take home the victory, but only time will tell as the season wears on. Maybe I am wrong, maybe Cassell and prove he was worth a $50M contract and making more money than Tom Brady.