I am starting with my beloved Steelers against the Bengals.  The Bengals defense started off playing well as they held the Steelers to a three and out on the first and second series.  The Bengals offense was aggressive to start.  In the first big play of the day, Ike Taylor had blown coverage against AJ Green.  Green glided across the field and Taylor couldn’t keep up which resulted in a 43 yard gain. The AJ Green (6 catches for 87 yards and a TD) vs. Taylor (6 tackles, 3 passes defended and Keep Reading...]]> Every week during the season, I will throw out some observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ”Quick Bits”, I am able to watch almost every snap of selected games and give you a lightning “blitz” war “krieg” to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

I am starting with my beloved Steelers against the Bengals.  The Bengals defense started off playing well as they held the Steelers to a three and out on the first and second series.  The Bengals offense was aggressive to start.  In the first big play of the day, Ike Taylor had blown coverage against AJ Green.  Green glided across the field and Taylor couldn’t keep up which resulted in a 43 yard gain. The AJ Green (6 catches for 87 yards and a TD) vs. Taylor (6 tackles, 3 passes defended and an interception) battle ended up to be the most exciting part of the game.  The Steelers front seven did not get any pressure on Andy Dalton early, but that changed in time.  The Pittsburgh defense had a fantastic stand after the 43 yard AJ Green reception as they had a TD and a field goal nullified due to penalty, then blocked their 2nd field goal attempt.  The Steelers had early issues with the Bengals offense spreading them out which always seems to be an issue with Lebeau’s aggressive defense.   Lebeau’s base defense has four linebackers who are well-versed in stopping the run and rushing the passer.  The weakness is that the LBs are not built to be in pass coverage for long amounts of time.  Early on Rashard Mendenhall had problems finding creases on the line of scrimmage, so Isaac Redman did his best to soften the defense up.  Antonio Brown created a big 40 yard pass play from Ben Roethlisberger to get the Steelers in the red zone.  Mendenhall ended up taking the ball in from the 2 and on the next series it took three carries from the 20 yard line for him to get the ball in the end zone (finished with 16 carries for 60 yards, 2 TDs).

Momentum was rolling the Steelers way as Stevenson Sylvester stripped the ball from Brandon Tate during the ensuing kickoff return and soon after Ben connected with Mike Wallace for a 12 yard TD pass.  His coverage, Kelly Jennings, was nowhere to be found as the Steelers took advantage of the Bengals core of 2nd/3rd string defensive backs (their top 2 corners were out due to injury).  The Steelers defense, in particular, safety Ryan Clark played a bit too aggressive with Jermaine Gresham (3 catches for 37 yards) which helped Gresham make a few plays.  The Bengals tried to offset the Steelers aggressive defense by running Cedric Benson (13 for 52 yards) despite being down by 21 points.  The Bengals rallied back to 21-7 (the AJ Green TD), but Antonio Brown’s 60 yard punt return seemed to take the remaining fight out of the Bengals with the game 28-7.  Andy Dalton sacked three times by James Harrison, got slower getting up after each hit.  The Steelers continued to pound with Isaac Redman (8-51 yards) to slow the game down.  Mike Wallace took a bubble screen 19 yards to pay dirt by getting through 6 tacklers and the life went out of the crowd.  In the 4th quarter, both teams put in their backup QBs and other offensive skill positions to get them some playing time as the game was decided and there was no reason for either team to risk further injury to their starters.

The game of the week in my eyes was the Packers playing the Giants.  This was a welcome back party for Jermichael Finley.  Finley did a great job finding the soft spot in the zone and was benefitted that he was covered by linebackers and safeties.  He finished the game with 6 receptions for 87 yards and a TD.  I am not sure this use of Finley will continue as the Giants seemed ripe to be exposed in the middle of the field.  The Packers struggled to establish a running game other than Aaron Rodgers (4 for 32 yards) as their four running backs finished with a total of 24 carries for 57 yards. The Giants front seven devoured any Green Bay runner that ran at them.  I love it when people on twitter argue, like this week, that James Starks was going to have a breakout game.  The Packers run to keep the defense from sending blitz after blitz at Rodgers, not because they have the blockers or the scheme to sustain a running game.  Their running game worked well enough as the Giants only had two sacks, one was a big hit from Justin Tuck that was caused by Jason Pierre-Paul’s outside pressure.  Rodgers did a great job moving around the pocket, for the most part, rolling out to make big completions down the field (28 for 46 for 369 yards, 4 TDs, and 1 interception).  For most of the game, Jordy Nelson was the forgotten receiver, but Rodgers took advantage of the overactive rush and completed all 4 of his targets to Nelson for 94 yards.  Nelson would lull the DBs to sleep when he got behind them and also came back to Rodgers for a crucial first down.   Donald Driver had one of his best games in the last couple of years (4 receptions for 34 yards and 2 TDs).  On his first TD catch, Driver was all alone in the end zone as his defensive back went up to double cover Finley.  The second TD catch was a toe-tapping clinic that Driver made look like child’s play.  He can still exploit zone coverage with the best of them.  Greg Jennings caught half of his 14 targets to end the game with 94 yards and a hard fought 20 yard TD catch.  Jennings had some concentration issue that resulted in bad drops, but he was more comfortable when Nelson and Finley got passing targets to pull coverage away from him.

The Giants were led by Eli Manning’s 58% passing completion rate, 347 yards, 3 TDs and 1 interception.  Clay Matthews was the only Packer to harrass Manning as he finished with a 40 yard interception for a touchdown and was the only Packers defender to register a sack against him.  The Packers failed to apply constant pressure to the Giants passing game which kept them in the game.  In fact, Victor Cruz’s effort (7 catches for 119 yards) kept the Green Bay secondary on their heels.  Even all-pro Charles Woodson had issues containing Cruz, who had an early 42 yard bomb.  The Giants put Ahmad Bradshaw right out there to start the game.  He wasn’t as effective as he has been prior to his foot injury, but he did account for 47 total yards. Brandon Jacobs had 59 yards on 8 carries and on one of those carries he scored on a leap over the Green Bay defensive line seemed to give up.  It was good seeing the thunder and lightning style back in action after the long drought.  The Giants got a flash of what TE Travis Beckum could be with his 67 yard TD reception, but went back to Jake Ballard (3 catches for 47 yards).  Ballard missed a TD catch as he couldn’t get his feet planted while trying to haul in a high Manning lob.  Hakeem Nicks had a quiet first half and then exploded with two second half TD receptions (7 receptions for 88 yards) to keep pace with the Packers.  Nicks was knocked around constantly and at times appeared to be ready to break in half.  Cruz seemed to be stinging the Packers defense like a series of quick gabs while Nicks style was connnecting with painful bodyblows.  This style kept the score close with Rodgers putting the Packers in position for a time expiring filed goal by Mason Crosby for the win.

The big Sunday Night in America had a predictable outcome with the Saints topping the Lions.  Both teams tried to establish the run early in order to slow down the other’s passing offense.  Robert Meachem had a comeback game, after I just dropped him in a league, with 3 catches for 119 yards.  He did a great job stretching the field as he got the Saints out of thier 10 yard line and exploited Eric Wright a few times.  On his 67 yard TD reception, Meachem made Wright look foolish as the DB couldn’t track the ball.  Meachem looked like he was on the same page with Drew Brees which hasn’t happened for the past few weeks.  Mark Ingram took a sweep 14 yards to the right for a touchdown; the Saints offensive line did a great job of sealing the defense off and Ingram went in untouched.  Ingram did a better job of reading his block despite his pedestrian 16 carries for 54 yards as the Lions defensive line did a great job holding the line.  Lance Moore had a small stat line of 2 catches for 23 yards; however, he held onto an acrobatic 20 yard TD reception while being spun by two defenders.  Darren Sproles had 74 combined yards with a 6 yard TD reception.  On that reception, Sproles got free in the flat and used his quickness to make DeAndre Levy look like a high school player.  Drew Brees (72% completion rate, 342 yards, 3 TDs) was calm and poised in the pocket and dictated the pace and style of the game throwing for over 250 yards in the first half to get a lead.  In the second half, Brees slowed down the game and exploited Jimmy Graham’s mismatch vs. the Lions defense.  Graham caught 6 of his 8 receptions in the second half to finish the game with 89 yards.  The truth is Graham makes almost every catch look easy as his hands and body control are better than 90% of the league.

On the other side of the ball, the Lions were self-destructing from almost the very start of the game. Penalites were in the fabric of everything the Lions did as they taunted Saints players, even shoved players and referrees alike.  Kevin Smith made another start for the Lions, but once again did not finish the game as he re-aggrevated his ankle injury.  He finished with 12 touches for 80 yards and scored a short yardage TD.  Smith did his best when he got the ball in space (out in the flat, sweeps, on screens) and appeared to be avoiding contact when he could.  After Smith went down, Maurice Morris much like last week came in and played well.  Morris had 75 yards on 17 touches and caught Matt Stafford’s only TD pass of the day.  Calvin Johnson was kept in check with short passes for most of the day (6 catches for 69 yards) and seemed to be drawing triple coverage for the majority of the time.  This set up rookie Titus Young and Nate Burleson to have bigger nights.  Despite Titus Young having a big yardage night (2 receptions for 60 yards) and Nate Burleson (5 catches for 93 yards)  having the most productive receiving night, each of these players imploded as Young had a costly personal foul and Burleson was called 4 times for offensive pass interference.  Matt Stafford had an average first half with 16 pass attempts for under 150 yards, but exploded in the second half to end with 408 yards by completing 70% of his passes.  I’m not sure if the Lions came overcome their injuries, suspensions, and sloppy play to get their heads back in the playoff hunt.

The Lions met the Packers for the first Thanksgiving game.  The 27-15 score doesn’t tell the entire story.  Green Bay led 24-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter and let off the gas in the 4th quarter.  Matt Stafford’s performance of 32 completions from 45 attempts, 276 yards passing and 1 TD, look good once you remove the 3 interceptions he threw.  Kevin Smith ran well until he suffered an ankle injury (10 touches for 57 yards) and Maurice Morris Keep Reading...]]> Back after a one week absence due to my wedding. Every week during the season, I will throw out some quick observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ”Quick Bits”, I am able to watch almost every snap of every game and give you a lightning “blitz” war “krieg” to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

The Lions met the Packers for the first Thanksgiving game.  The 27-15 score doesn’t tell the entire story.  Green Bay led 24-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter and let off the gas in the 4th quarter.  Matt Stafford’s performance of 32 completions from 45 attempts, 276 yards passing and 1 TD, look good once you remove the 3 interceptions he threw.  Kevin Smith ran well until he suffered an ankle injury (10 touches for 57 yards) and Maurice Morris took over after the injury with 120 total yards, including 9 receptions.  The injury to Smith doesn’t sound very serious at this time, but please continue to hold onto Morris with Jahvid Best now on the IR.  Calvin Johnson had a garbage time TD catch with less than 12 seconds on the clock and only caught 50% of his targets.  Rookie Titus Young had a 13 yard reception and a two point conversion catch, while Nate Burleson added 50 yards on 6 touches.  It is fair to say we all expected more against a poor Green Bay secondary.  The Packers offense, however, was in control the entire game.  Aaron Rodgers threw for a 66% completion rate for 307 yards and 2 TDs.  He didn’t see much pressure even though the Packers running game stunk once again with 54 yards between 4 running backs. Greg Jennings caught his 5 targets for 74 yards including a 3 yard TD and James Jones took another big play (65 yarder) all the way to the house to finish with 94 yards on 3 catches.  Rodgers spent most of his time dinking and dunking down the field.   Ndamukong Suh was thrown out of the game for stepping on an offensive linemen so plan for a replacement if you own him.

The second turkey game was a little more exciting as it went down to the last-minute as the Cowboys squeezed out a 20 to 19 victory against the Dolphins.  Replacement kicker, Shayne Graham, made 4 of 5 field goals to lead the Dolphins in scoring.  Miami came close to the end zone many times, but only got there with a 35 yard TD catch by Brandon Marshall from Matt Moore (19 for 32, 288 yards).  Marshall had a good day with 5 catches for 103 yards and Brian Hartline reappeared from the fantasy abyss with 4 for 77 yards on 5 targets. Reggie Bush had 96 total yards on 19 touches.  LB Kevin Burnett had a season high 11 solo tackles with an assisted tackle for Miami.  Tony Romo overcame 2 early interceptions to finish with almost a 65% completion rate, 226 yards, and 2 TD passes to Laurent Robinson.  Robinson led the Cowboys with 7 receptions for 79 yards.  These two were on the same page and found openings throughout the game.  DeMarco Murray added 128 yards on 26 touches to keep the Dolphins defense honest.

The Harbaugh vs Harbaugh matchup was something to see on NFLN.  This was the best defensive game of the day or was that the ugliest?  The Ravens sacked poor Alex Smith 9 times with 3 of those sacks going to Terrell Suggs.  Smith had another junk day for the 49ers with 140 yards and an interception.  Frank Gore had 48 yards combined on 15 touches; I think that tells the story that the Ravens got after the 49ers.  Michael Crabtree had 6 receptions for 54 yards on 9 targets and he was their best receiver by far.  Joe Flacco threw one less pass for the same number of completions of his counterpart (15) for 161 yards and a TD to Dennis Pitta.  Anquan Boldin had 4 catches for 63 yards and was the only piece of the puzzle that was stretching the field.  Ray Rice had a relatively quiet game with 83 total yards on 24 touches against a very good 49ers defense.  Look for a big bounce back game for the Ravens vs. the Browns next week.

The AFC South matchup between the Texans and Jaguars was a hard-fought game that was closer than most thought.   Blaine Gabbert looked good for a quarter and then derailed as he finished the 3rd quarter by completing 45% of his passes for 136 yards and an interception.  Journeyman Luke McCown entered the game near the 4th quarter to spark the Jags offense.  MJD did everything he could once again as he finished with 99 yards on the ground and caught 4 passes for 67 yards.  He only got one goal line carry and had two long receptions.  If you just look at the box score, Marcedes Lewis may appear by the numbers, 4 receptions for 47 yards, to have a good game.  Truth is Lewis had 12 targets with two of them in the end zone; he dropped one of those and lost track of the other ball in the end zone.  Quarterback was an issue for the Texans as well as Matt Leinart was injured in the 2nd quarter and replaced by rookie T.J. Yates.  Yates looked like a gamer in his first series as it appeared he was reacting to the defense without thinking.  In the second half, he struggled with what the Jags defense was doing.  Arian Foster had a quiet game with 65 yards rushing and a TD with 7 catches for 24 yards.  Joel Dreessen had a 20 yard TD from Leinart, his only catch.  Andre Johnson had a quiet début after 8 weeks off with 2 receptions for 22 yards.  I would be a bit concerned with inexperienced Yates as the offensive signal caller when using all Texans.

The Eagles/Patriots game may look like it would be closer when you see the passing stats of Vince Young (400 yards passing, 40 yards rushing).  Young looked fantastic on his first few drives and then ended up playing catch up for the rest of the game.  He did only have a TD and a threw one pick.  DeSean Jackson had a decent first half with 4 catches for 73 yards, but bobbled at least 4 of his 10 targets.  Jason Avant was Young’s go-to guy in the second half with 8 receptions for 110 yards and the touchdown catch.  Both Riley Cooper (3-71 yards) and Brent Celek (5-75 yards) kept the sticks moving for Philly.  LeSean McCoy had another Clark Kent type day with 61 total yards on 14 touches with a goal line TD.  The Pats did a good job of mixing the run and pass early as BJGE had 44 rushing yards and 2 goal line TDs.  The other New England running backs all got a chance to touch the ball, but were not very effective.  Tom Brady had another outstanding day by throwing for a 71% completion rate, 361 yards, and 3 TDs.  He added 28 yards rushing and only completed passes to four players.  After a little lull in the action in the last few weeks, Wes Welker was the go-to guy with 8 receptions for 115 yards and 2 TDs.  On his first TD, Welker split the safeties and ran to daylight for 41 yards.  Deion Branch stretched the field with 125 yards on 6 catches.  Rob Gronkowski was used early on, but seemed to take the 2nd/3rd quarters off to finish with 4 receptions for 59 yards and a TD.  Aaron Hernandez filled in for the lack of running game in the 2nd/3rd quarters with 6 catches for 62 yards.

The Falcons game against the Vikings played out like most of us thought.  The Vikings got behind 14 points early and the Falcons let them come back a little.  Replacement running back, Toby Gerhart, had 63 yards and a TD on 19 touches.  He looked decent against a very good run defense, but that was more his offensive line than his talent.  Christian Ponder kept on grinding as he completed 68% of his passes for 186 yards and a single TD to Percy Harvin.  Harvin overcame bad ribs to rush for 11 yards on 5 carries and was the Viking’s leading receiver by catching all 8 of his targets for 95 yards.  He also almost had a kickoff return TD late in the game (4 yards short).  The Falcons were firing on all cylinders as Matt Ryan completed 79% of his passes, threw for 262 yards and 3 TDs.  Michael Turner had issues with the Minnesota defense limiting him to 60 yards on 19 carries.  Rookies Jaquizz Rodgers (5 touches for 31 yards) and Julio Jones (1 target) struggled, with Jones’ case being more about his hamstring.  Harry Douglas showed explosion on his shallow crossing route he took to pay dirt and Tony Gonzalez found the fountain of youth catching all 9 of his targets for 69 yards.  Roddy White had an outstanding day catching 10 passes for 120 yards and scored a tippy toed TD on 13 targets.

The Sunday Night in America game, the Steelers vs. the Chiefs, was a sloppy mess.  I’m not talking field conditions, but the actual play.  Tyler Palko looked like he should still be on the Steelers practice squad with 167 yards in the air and 3 interceptions.  The last pick sealed the game for Pittsburgh.  Dwayne Bowe had the best offensive game for the Chiefs with 7 catches for 69 yards on 11 targets.  He missed a couple that could have resulted in TDs and didn’t fight for the ball on Palko’s last interception.  The Chiefs running game was brutal averaging 2.64 ypc.  Jonathan Baldwin caught 2 for 26 yards and Steve Breaston added 44 yards on 4 receptions.  The Steelers offense misfired often as Mike Wallace missed 2 TD passes.  Wallace only had 2 for 17 yards on 6 targets.  Antonio Brown had 4 catches for 81 yards to lead his team. Ben Roethlisberger only threw for 193 yards, 67% completion rate, a TD to rookie TE Weslye Saunders, and an interception.  Rashard Mendenhall had 67 total yards on 19 touches, and looked explosive a few times.  Backup RB Mewelde Moore had a crucial fumble in the red zone early in the game.  The Steelers defense may have some issues going forward as Troy Polamalu may be out for a while with concussion type symptoms.

The “Battle for Ohio” was one of the tightest games played this past Sunday with the Bengals edging the Browns.  It all started with Colt McCoy who only completed 47% of his passes for 151 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 interception.  McCoy looked lost at times, but also dealt with the unsure hands of Greg Little.  Little caught 5 passes for 57 yards and a TD, but passes were bouncing off his shoulder pads and hands as 8 of his targets fell to the ground.  Slot receiver Jordan Norwood looked great catching 4 passes for 69 yards and McCoy’s other TD.   Peyton Hillis showed his old burst at times on 19 carries for 65 yards, but looked slow on other touches.  Rookie DE Jabaal Sheard had a great game with 4 tackles (2 of them for loss), 1 forced fumble, and 1 sack.   The Bengals got great production from Cedric Benson who had 25 touches for 130 yards and a touchdown.  He gashed the Browns and made everyone that tried to arm tackle him pay.  Andy Dalton looked poised going 21 of 31 for 270 yards and threw a single TD pass to Jermaine Gresham.  Gresham was a great safety value, fighting for the ball, and did a great job shielding the defender on his TD catch.  AJ Green only had 3 catches, but made them count for 110 yards.  He was great at stretching the field and making plays with Joe Haden in his hip pocket.

The Panthers and Colts had an exciting game and if not for two interceptions thrown by Curtis Painter in the end zone, the Colts might have gotten off the snide.  Painter had a day that didn’t make you forget about Peyton Manning by throwing 52% completion rate, 226 yards, and a TD to Reggie Wayne.  Wayne had his best statistical day with 5 receptions for 122 yards and 1 TD on 7 targets.  Keep in mind for both teams that their respective defenses stink and this game could be an aberration.  Donald Brown came off the scrap heap to turn 15 touches in 97 yards and a TD.  He is trying to cement himself a starting job with someone next year.  The Panthers knew exactly where to hit the Colts, on the ground.  Jonathan Stewart, the battering ram, had 13 touches for 82 yards and ran angrily.  His counterpart, DeAngelo Williams, showed explosion and glided to 69 yards and 2 TDs on 15 carries.  Cam Newton had a relatively quiet day by completing 74% of his passes for 208 yards and ran the ball nine times for 53 yards and a TD run that he sashayed through the defense. Steve Smith once again was the leading receiver with 68 yards, but only managed to catch 3 out of Cam’s 7 targets.

This was a tight battle in the AFC West, the slumping Chargers vs. the Broncos, that went to OT.  I don’t care what the Chargers’ front office says, there is something wrong with Phillip Rivers.  He completed 53% of his passes for 188 yards and threw a TD to Antonio Gates.  Gates had 6 catches for 49 yards on 10 targets, but seemed to lack explosion.  Ryan Matthews was gliding in and out of holes while finishing with 142 yards on 23 touches. Matthews was the superior back to Mike Tolbert this week. Vincent Jackson had a very quiet 2 receptions for 25 yards with Champ Bailey on him some of the time; the same cannot be said of the coverage on Vincent Brown who caught 3 for 50 yards on 10 targets.  Brown had issues tracking the ball and lacked body control to make plays on the ball.  Elvis Dummervil got to Rivers twice for sacks and rookie sensation Von Miller had 6 solo tackles, 2 assists, a sack, and a pass defended.  Willis McGahee ran well with 117 yards on 23 carries. Tim Tebow continued his ascension to fantasy stardom by completing 50% of his passes for 143 yards and a TD pass to Eric Decker.  Tebow also added 67 yards on the ground, while Decker caught 3 of his 6 targets for 65 yards.  Decker should have made two more spectacular catches to have a better day.

If you like offenses, the Monday Night Football game was a pleasure to watch with 73 points scored.  Even though Eli Manning’s team lost the game, he finished with 406 yards, a 70% completion rate, 2 TD passes to Victor Cruz, and an interception.  Cruz got behind the defense for a 72 yard scoring bomb and was the most productive Giants receiver with 157 yards on 9 catches.  Hakeem Nicks almost broke two long TD plays, but was denied each time.  He did finish with 87 yards on 7 receptions and left briefly with rib issues so expect another week with little practicing.  Brandon Jacobs appeared to have lost another step with his 13 carries for 46 yards and a TD performance.  Once again, Drew Brees played the fantasy superstar role by throwing for 363 yards, 4 TD passes, and ran in a TD.  Two of those TD passes went to Lance Moore who finished with 5 catches for 54 yards.  He was wide open early and was the #2 receiving option behind Jimmy Graham.  Graham was the recipient of the other 2 Brees TD passes.  He finished with 5 receptions for 84 yards and took a big forearm shot to the head while being bent backwards.  Marques Colston had a quiet game save for one series, but still managed to finish with 78 yards on 3 catches.  Mark Ingram had his best game to date with 94 combined yards on 15 touches.  He was the hammer for the Saints offense and finished with a 35 yard TD run.  Pierre Thomas, looking great in space, provided 110 yards on 11 touches and added a 12 yard TD that no Giant came close to touching him.

In the battle of the AFC North, the Steelers took on the Bengals.  The Steelers jumped to a quick 14 point advantage and held on to win 24 to 17.  Super rookie AJ Green had a single catch, a 36 yard TD, before leaving due to a lower leg injury.  It was another amazing catch as he caught it in between the Steelers starting safeties.  Andy Dalton looked efficient throwing the short passes, but only completed 50% of his passes for 170 yards with 2 TDs and 2 interceptions.  Andrew Hawkins Keep Reading...]]> Every week during the season, I will throw out some quick observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ”Quick Bits”, I am able to watch almost every snap of every game and give you a lightning “blitz” war “krieg” to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

In the battle of the AFC North, the Steelers took on the Bengals.  The Steelers jumped to a quick 14 point advantage and held on to win 24 to 17.  Super rookie AJ Green had a single catch, a 36 yard TD, before leaving due to a lower leg injury.  It was another amazing catch as he caught it in between the Steelers starting safeties.  Andy Dalton looked efficient throwing the short passes, but only completed 50% of his passes for 170 yards with 2 TDs and 2 interceptions.  Andrew Hawkins filled in for Green by hauling in 5 balls out of 6 targets.  The Bengals defensive line got to Ben Roethlisberger as he was sacked 5 times.  Ben’s numbers look worse than what they were mostly due to an interception caused by Heath Miller (3-31 yards) bumbling the ball.  Roethlisberger completed 21 out of 33 for 245 yards with a TD and the previously mentioned interception. Antonio Brown was his safety valve by catching 5 for 86 out of 6 targets.  Mike Wallace had an up and down day with 5 receptions for 47 yards and 2 reverses for 31 yards.  Wallace did have several drops.  Rashard Mendenhall had a productive day with 2 short yardage TDs and 70 total yards.  CB William Gay sealed the game for the Steelers with a steal of a Dalton pass with 2:30 to play.

It was Seattle’s “12th man” and Marshawn Lynch that made the difference for the Seahawks at home.  Tavaris Jackson was an adequate QB completing 63% of his passes for 217 yards and when I write adequate, I mean he didn’t lose the game with turnovers or bad decisions.  Lynch was the workhorse as he touched the ball 37 times for 167 yards combined and had a short TD run.  It wasn’t pretty, but effective as the vaunted Ravens defense looked old and played back on their heals. Ravens WR David Reed had 2 fumbles and a penalty that helped keep Baltimore in a hole they couldn’t get out.  As the Ravens found themselves down 10-0 early on, their running game was only used for quick draws and was barely used.  Ray Rice had a light day with 13 touches for 81 yards (5 on the ground with 8 in the air) and threw a TD pass to Ed Dickson.    Dickson had his best day as a pro, catching 10 for 79 yards and 2 TDs (the other TD was from Joe Flacco) by getting good separation from the linebackers and safeties.  Flacco threw 52 times, completing 29 of those for 255 yards with the above mentioned TD and an interception.

The Jets and Patriots played a hard-fought game that started off as an ugly 6-2 game with less than 5 minutes left in the first half.  Mark Sánchez completed just over 50% of his passes for 306 yards with a TD to Plaxico Burress and 2 interceptions (one was returned for a TD by LB Rob Ninkovich).  Sánchez added a rushing TD and found Santonio Holmes 6 times for 93 yards.  Shonn Greene had 15 touches for 75 yards, but shared time with LaDanian Tomlinson and wasn’t getting in rhythm.  Rookie Jeremy Kerley only caught 50% of the passes thrown to him for 79 yards on 8 targets.  The Pats had issues running the ball too (60 yards total).  Ocho Cinco had 2 big catches in the 1st quarter for 65 yards and was not heard from again.  Rob Gronkowski had a monster game (8 catches for 113 yards for 2 TDs) and stepped out-of-bounds in the back of the end zone or he could have had a 3rd TD.  Deon Branch produced with 5 receptions for 58 yards and a TD, while Wes Welker chipped in 6 for 46 yards on 8 targets.  Tom Brady completed 67% of his passes for 329 yards and DE Andre Carter had a huge defensive game with 4.5 sacks as the Jets o-line could not stop him.

The Cowboys delivered a beat down to the Bills.  Fred Jackson ran well with 114 yards on 13 carries, but produced 1 yard in the passing game on 4 receptions.  Donald Jones was the most productive Bills receiver with 6 catches for 51 yards on 10 targets.  Ryan Fitzpatrick had a rough day with 3 interceptions, but did manage to complete 64% of his passes for 146 yards.  His TD pass was to David Nelson (4-31 yards) who then handed the football to his girlfriend who is a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader..hubba hubba.  DeMarco Murray continued his impressive play with 171 yards on 26 touches and a TD.  Murray was almost stuffed on one play and reversed his field with ease for a 15 yard gain.  He is the real deal and a great complement to Tony Romo.  Romo had a fantastic day looking calm and poised by throwing for 88% completion rate, 270 yards, and 3 TD passes.  The first TD pass went to Dez Bryant (6-74 yards) who high pointed the ball and out muscled the DB.  The next 2 TDs went to Laurent Robinson who caught all three of his targets for 73 yards including the beautiful 58 yard TD strike.

The southern matchup of Tennessee against Carolina was more lopsided than it was thought to be.  Cam Newton had a difficult day throwing 40 times, completing only 23 for 212 yards with an interception; however, he did manage to run 55 yards.  Newton struggled to play from behind and had issues finding his favorite WR Steve Smith (5-33 yards on 8 targets).  Newton was also sacked 5 times which seemed to rattle him.  Greg Olsen only caught 36% of the pass thrown to him (4-45 yards).  The Panthers ran the ball well, but 12 total carries was not enough for Jonathan Stewart (4-23 yards) and DeAngelo Williams (8-35 yards) to be effective. Legedu Naanee had 8-75 yards on 9 targets.  The Titans were all about their defense and the combo of Damian Williams and Chris Johnson.   Williams had a few impressive catches, one of which he broke a tackle and screamed down the sideline for a TD.  He finished with 5 receptions for 107 yards.  Johnson on the other hand, started off the first half slow, but ended the game running hard.  He had 174 combined yards and a TD on 31 touches which was his best game this season.

In one of the ugliest games of the weekend, the Jags defeated the Colts 17-3. Donald Brown had 2 explosive carries at the beginning of the game, but soon faded with 18 touches for 65 combined yards.  Delone Carter appeared to have 20 lb weights on each of his ankles as he could not get it going (6 carries for 14 yards).  Jacob Tamme was the bright spot for the Colts by catching 6 passes for 75 yards on 8 targets and may continue to start for the rest of the year with the Dallas Clark injury rumors.  The Jaguars defense stepped up and harassed the Indy quarterbacks by sacking them 4 times.  Blaine Gabbert had another underwhelming day with 118 yards, 1 TD, 1 interception, but managed to complete 66% of his passes. MJD was once again the heart and soul of the Jags offense as he had 137 combined yards and a touchdown on 28 touches.  He would not be stopped.

Speaking of ugly games, this one might have been worse.  The Broncos defeated the Chiefs 17-10.  The only fantasy threat for the Chiefs was Dexter McCluster who had 8 carries for 45 yards and added 6 catches for 48 yards.  Jackie Battle ran straight to the hole for 61 yards on 9 carries, but adds no other dimension or wiggle.  Dwayne Bowe had 9 targets, but only caught 2 for 17 yards.  Steve Breaston had 6 targets and caught 4 for 33 yards.  It looks like Matt Cassel may be going to the IR and Tyler Palko will be taking over.  The Broncos front seven swarmed both QBs for 4 sacks on the day.  When Willis McGahee and Knowshon Moreno (who placed on IR on Monday) went down, Lance Ball stepped up and became a volume runner with 96 yards on 30 carries.  Tim Tebow (9-43 yards and a TD) continued his holy ride as he completed 2 passes out of 8 for 69 yards including a 56 yard TD to Eric Decker.  Decker only had the one catch, but should have caught the other 2 passes from Tebow which would have added 80 yards and another TD to his totals.

The Texans came out swinging against the Bucs and never let up.  Jacoby Jones caught a 80 yard TD bomb from Matt Schaub and only had one other catch for 7 yards.  Schaub didn’t need to do much as he completed 11 of 15 passes for 242 yards with 2 TDs. Arian Foster was a monster on the ground (17 carries for 84 yards and a TD) and in the air (4 receptions for 102 yards and a TD).  Ben Tate helped relieve him with 13 carries for 63 yards and a TD.  LB Brian Cushing had a nice IDP day with 8 tackles, an interception, a sack, and a pass defended.  The Bucs offense had a bad day led by Josh Freeman’s performance. Freeman completed 45% of his passes for 170 yards, threw a TD pass to Preston Parker (2-17 yards), and completed 3 passes to the Texans.  LeGarrette Blount (10 carries for 34 yards) could not get anything going.

The Bears defense dominated their game against the high-powered Lions with 4 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 sacks, 3 defensive/special team scores (an 82 yard punt return by Devin Hester and 2 interception returns).  Jay Cutler didn’t do much as he threw for 123 yards on 9 completions with no TDs or picks.  Matt Forte had a relatively quiet day with 67 yards and a TD on 19 touches.  The Bears leading receiver was Earl Bennett who finished with 81 yards on 6 catches.  Matt Stafford had a career high 63 attempts with 33 completions.  He did throw for 329 yards, 1 TD to Tony Scheffler (3-37 yards) and completed the 4 passes to the Bears defenders.  Calvin Johnson was targeted 19 times, but only came down with 7 for 81 yards.  Rookie Titus Young had 7-74 yards on 9 targets; Nate Burleson came out of hiding (8-83 yards), but that may have been a result of the 63 passing attempts.

The Falcons vs. the Saints was a pretty boring game in the first half, but they both turned on the heat especially in the 4th quarter and overtime.  Michael Turner had a typical day with 22 carries for 96 yards by running hard and lowering his shoulders.  Jaquizz Rodgers had 38 yards on 8 touches in relief.  Harry Douglas stepped up for an injured Julio Jones (2-9 yards on 5 targets) by catching 8 for 133 yards on 14 targets on a lot of downfield throws.  Matt Ryan threw the ball overall 52 times, completing 29 of them for 351 yards, 2 TDs, and an interception.  Tony Gonzalez added 6 receptions for 71 yards and a TD, while a noticeably slower Roddy White hauled in 4 for 62 yards. Drew Brees put the Saints on his back and willed them to victory by throwing 70% completion rate, 322 yards, and 2 TDs.  Marques Colston had a strong day with 8 for 113 on 9 targets and was a true physical force out there.  Jimmy Graham had a good fantasy day with 7 catches for 82 yards and a wide-open TD grab, but he outright dropped at least 2 of his 5 missed targets.  Robert Meachem made the most of his 2 targets as he caught both for 69 yards including a 33 yard TD reception.

The San Francisco 49ers outlasted the New York Giants.  Eli Manning had another big passing day by completing 26 of 40 attempts for 311 yards, 2 TDs, and 2 interceptions.  One of those TDs went to Hakeem Nicks who had a relatively quiet day with 2 catches for 41 yards and that TD catch was an awesome over the shoulder reception.  Victor Cruz had 6 catches for 84 yards, but had some concentration issues as he dropped several passes.  Mario Manningham caught 6 for 77 yards with a TD and couldn’t come up with a long TD catch that would have tied the game with 3 minutes left.  Brandon Jacobs was not very effective on his 20 touches with 72 yards.  Frank Gore was not a factor for the 49ers as the G-men were getting good penetration, but rookie Kendall Hunter made the most of his 7 touches for 44 yards including an explosive 17 yard TD run.  TEs Delanie Walker (6-69 yards) and Vernon Davis (3-40 yards-1 TD) acted as the defacto running game.  Alex Smith looked poised completing 63% and 242 yards passing.  He threw for the TD to Davis, a 2 point conversion, an interception, and ran for 27 yards.

An old-fashioned butt-whopping is what happened on Monday Night Football!  The Vikings played a sloppy game on both fronts.  Christian Ponder had a rookie day completing 47% of his passes and throwing for 190 yards and a pick.  He was sacked 3 times and hit another 6 times.  Adrian Peterson only got 14 caries which he turned into 51 yards and a short yardage TD. Kyle Rudolph caught all three targets for 37 yards and had a spectacular one-handed grab in the 4th quarter.  Percy Harvin was used well as a receiver (6 for 52 yards) and as a rusher out of the backfield (3 carries for 18 yards).  Green Bay rookie Randall Cobb made a big splash with a 79 yard punt return TD and added 3 catches for 36 yards.  Greg Jennings had a quiet night after he caught a 24 yard TD finishing with 3 for 32 yards.  Jordy Nelson gave everything he could to score on his 17 yard TD catch and followed it up with another short TD, finishing with 5 receptions for 63 yards.  Aaron Rodgers continued to prove why he is everyone’s fantasy and NFL MVP with 4 TD passes, 250 yards passing, a 76% completion rate, and 21 yards rushing.

The Falcons game against the Colts was hardly a game.  Atlanta jumped to a 14-0 advantage early on and never looked back.  The Colts only score was a short interception return by CB Jerraud Powers.  Delone Carter had the first 2 carries of the game, the second which he fumbled and then he didn’t come back until the 4th quarter.  Donald Brown took advantage of the rookie as he had 16 carries for 70 yards of which most were on draws and designed to get the ball carrier in space.  Austin Keep Reading...]]> Every week during the season, I will throw out some quick observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ”Quick Bits”, I am able to watch almost every snap of every game and give you a lightning “blitz” war “krieg” to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

The Falcons game against the Colts was hardly a game.  Atlanta jumped to a 14-0 advantage early on and never looked back.  The Colts only score was a short interception return by CB Jerraud Powers.  Delone Carter had the first 2 carries of the game, the second which he fumbled and then he didn’t come back until the 4th quarter.  Donald Brown took advantage of the rookie as he had 16 carries for 70 yards of which most were on draws and designed to get the ball carrier in space.  Austin Collie had a team high 4 catches for 32 yards which isn’t saying much.   Curtis Painter had a miserable day with just under a 50% completion rate, 98 yards, and 1 pick.  The Falcons established the run game early with Michael Turner running for 71 yards and a short TD.  Rookie Jaquizz Rodgers also added 60 yards on 11 touches.  Fellow rookie Julio Jones had his best game as a pro finishing with 3 receptions for 131 yards on 4 targets.  The first catch was a contested 50 yard TD catch that was originally ruled a trap and Jones hauled in another 80 yard TD (this one he took a short pass and ran away from everyone).  Jones was solid in the reverse game as well with 2 carries for 33 yards.  Matt Ryan threw for a 58% completion rate with 275 yards and 3 TDs and the interception previously mentioned.  This was the first game that the Falcons offense could do whatever they wished and made the Colts problems extremely clear.

The Patriots appeared to poised to take advantage of the Giants injuries (Ahmad Bradshaw, Hakeem Nicks, etc.).   The first half was a defensive, sloppy slug fest as the score, 0-0, demonstrated.  Tom Brady had a very up and down game as he completed 56% of his passes, threw for 334 yards, threw 2 TDs, and had 3 turnovers (2 interceptions, 1 fumble).  The Giants front 7 got to Brady with pressure, but only sacked him twice. BJGE (12 carries for 52 yards) was used early in the game to slow down the pass rush.  Brady only had eyes for Wes Welker (9-136 yards), Rob Gronkowski (8-101 yards-1 TD), and Aaron Hernandez (4-35 yards-1 TD).  The offense did enough to win, but the Pats defense couldn’t stop Eli Manning or Brandon Jacobs.  Manning had a 51% completion rate, 250 yards passing, 2 TD passes, and 1 interception.  Jacobs grinded out 22 touches for 100 yards and a short TD.   Victor Cruz lead the Giants receivers with 6 catches for 91 on 11 targets, but the hero of the game was TE Jake Ballard (4-67 yards) who caught the winning TD with less than a minute left.  The Giants played with more passion for the win.

The Seahawks 10 point loss to the Cowboys is much closer than the game actually was.  Marshawn Lynch did go into “Beast Mode” by running straight at the heart of the Dallas “D” for 135 yards on 23 carries, including a short TD.  Lynch was the only part of the Seattle offense that was working.  Tavaris Jackson looked rushed most of the game and had serious judgement issues as he threw for 17 for 30, 221 yards, and 3 interceptions.  On one pass, Jackson threw the ball down towards the ground around 4 Dallas d-linemen which resulted in an interception.  He kept on forcing the ball to Sidney Rice, who only caught 3 balls for 69 yards, on 8 targets.  Dallas after a quiet first half used a good blend of the run/pass game to keep the Seahawks guessing what they would do.  DeMarco Murray gouged Seattle with his quick smooth running and finished with 186 yards on 26 touches.  I don’t think any defender hit him head on.  Tony Romo completed 61% of his passes, threw for 279 yards, and a TD each to Laurent Robinson (5-32) and Jason Witten (4-71).  Dez Bryant caught less than half of his targets to finish with 4 catches for 76 yards and made an unwise fair catch.

The Browns trip to the Texans was a test of their stoutness against the run.  After two 100 yard Texans runners, the Cleveland defense was out gunned in Houston.  The Browns running game took 21 carries to get 44 yards, not exactly a homecoming for Chris Ogbonnaya.  Colt McCoy completed 64% of his passes; however, they only went for 146 yards.  Josh Cribbs was the only productive fantasy starter for the Browns with 5 catches for 50 yards and a TD on 5 targets, but is hardly a guy you were starting.  It was all about the Texans running game as Matt Schaub had a junk day throwing for worse than McCoy, 119 yards and an interception.  Schaub did score a TD run.  Arian Foster had a workhorse 24 touches for 150 yards and a TD.  Ben Tate ran especially hard on a 27 yard TD scamper and ended his day with 12 carries for 115 yards.  Rookie OLB Brooks Reed continued his sack streak to 3 games by getting 2 sacks on McCoy and added another 2 tackles.

The Steelers/Ravens game went back to its usual slugfest, but then a passfest broke out?  Both teams did not run the ball well.  The Steelers lost the game due to poor clock management.  Ben Roethlisberger was kept relatively clean for most of the game, completed 54% of his passes, 330 yards, a TD to Mike Wallace, and an interception right to Terrell Suggs.  Rashard Mendenhall had 13 carries for 52 yards and a TD, but it was Heath Miller, once again acting as a running game, with 5 catches for 73 yards on 6 targets that moved the chains.  With Hines Ward knocked loopy again, Jerricho Cotchery took his spot by adding 3 catches for 44 yards.  The primary downfield targets, Antonio Brown (5 receptions for 109 yards) and Mike Wallace (4-68 yards with the above mentioned TD with 5 minutes to go), had solid yet unspectacular games.  James Harrison applied pressure to Joe Flacco by sacking him 3 times and forcing a fumble.  The Terrell Suggs interception near the beginning of the 3rd quarter could have cost the Steelers the game as it stopped the Steelers in the red zone.  Ray Rice was held to 86 total yards on 23 touches, but did find pay dirt on a short yardage carry.  Joe Flacco completed almost 60% of his passes, passed for 300 yards, and had 1 TD to Torrey Smith.  Smith was targeted 9 times and caught 5 for 71 yards including the winning TD with 10 seconds left in the game.  The 4 missed targets were drops that Smith should have caught.  Anquan Boldin had 7 receptions for 88 yards with 3 of those catches on the last drive.

The NFC South battle between the Saints and the Bucs wasn’t as close as the score indicated.  LaGarrette Blount ran with power and well early on (13 carries for 72 yards).  When the field shortened, Blount was bottled up by the Saints.  Josh Freeman had a good statistical day by completing 73% of his passes for 281 yards and 1 TD.  Freeman found Mike Williams 6 times for 46 yards, but failed to get a rhythm with any of his receivers.  The Bucs defense could not stop the Saints running and short passing games.  Drew Brees completed 75% of his passes for 258 yards, 2 TDs, and an interception that was a nose hair from being returned the other way by Ronde Barber.  Jimmy Graham (6-78 yards) and Marques Colston (5-52 yards) had solid days for Brees.  The running backs did the heavy lifting.  Lighting bug, Darren Sproles, had 42 yards rushing on 4 carries and added 5 receptions for 57 yards and a TD, while Pierre Thomas did his impression of Sproles rushing for 66 yards for a TD on 8 carries and added 4 catches for 25 yards.

What did we find out when the Jets played the Bills?  The Jets offense might be a bit better than what I thought and the Bills are not as good.  Fred Jackson is starting to break down.  Yes, I understand that 120 yards on 21 touches is a good day; however, he fumbled for the 1st time and dropped a couple of easy passes.  Jackson is not the second coming of Marshall Faulk or Priest Holmes, but has played that way.  Ryan Fitzpatrick isn’t doing him any favors by throwing for under 50%, 191 yards, and 2 interceptions vs. a TD pass caught by David Nelson.  Steve Johnson had a big catch to inflate his 84 yard total on 3 receptions.  The Jets rushing offense looked good going thru Shonn Greene, who ran with authority, for 76 yards after a couple of holding calls stopped him from having more.  Plaxico Burress got downfield for 79 yards and caught a perfect 5 passes in as many targets.  Dustin Keller took a hard hit and looked out of it on the sidelines, but added 64 yards.  Mark Sánchez won’t win you a fantasy championship with 71% completion rate, 230 yards, and a single TD to Santonio Holmes, but he can give you solid QB2 depth for the playoffs.

The next time Raider Nation wants to chant “Tebow sucks, Tebow sucks” wait until he is out of the building.  New Raider QB Carson Palmer doubled his interception total with 6 for the year in 2 games.  Good thing, Palmer managed to add 332 yards and 3 TDs to that total as well.  Michael Bush had control of the game early with 129 total yards on 21 touches with a TD catch. Jacoby Ford had a fantastic grab in the end zone and caught 5 total for 105 yards on 6 targets.  Denarius Moore had 3 times as many targets (12) as he had catches (4).  The four receptions for 61 yards was better than what we have seen for weeks, but 2 of Palmer’s 3 interceptions came while throwing to Moore.  The Broncos defense became stronger against the run as the game wore on.  The Broncos offense decided to give Tim Tebow some more college plays to run and that was the shot in the arm he needed.  Tebow had more designed runs (12 for 118 yards) and completed just below 50% of his passes for 124 yards and 2 TDs.  Eric Decker caught a pass in stride for a TD (3-47) as did Eddie Royal (2-25).  Royal also added a 85 yard punt return for a TD.  As the 4th quarter arrived, the Raiders front seven wore down and this is when Willis McGahee thrived.  McGahee finished with 163 yards on 20 carries with TD runs of 60 yards and 24 yards which were enough for the Christians to beat the Raiders.

The Bengals/Titans game was a defensive battle with a touch of offense sprinkled in.  Chris Johnson had a decent fantasy day with 110 combo yards on 18 touches.  Matthew Hasselbeck threw the ball 41 times and completed 28 of them for 272 yards including 2 TDs.  The surprise receiver for the Titans was Lavelle Hawkins who had 5 receptions for 63 yards and 1 of Hasselbeck’s TDs.  Jared Cook finally showed up with 4 catches for 47 yards on 8 targets.  This was a physical game for both squads.  The Bengals might have won on the arm of Andy Dalton, but I think it was more about his mind.  He threw a pedestrian 56% completion rate with 217 yards.  His 2 of his 3 TDs went to unlikely recipients in Andre Caldwell and backup TE Colin Cochart.  Cedric Benson kept on running towards his almost 4 yards per carry and a cloud of dust while AJ Green moved the ball with ease (7 catches for 83 yards) on as many targets.

The firepower certainly came out when the Packers visited the Chargers.  Now I don’t make this comparison lightly, but Mike Tolbert looked like the X-Men’s Juggernaut.  He kept himself very low moving forward and bounced off many defenders which worked for 142 yards, and a TD on 23 touches.  Antonio Gates (8 catches for 96 yards and a TD) looked healthy and strong while running routes.  As a result of being behind most of the game, Phillip Rivers completed 56% of his passes for 385 yards, 4 TDs, and 3 interceptions.   Two of those picks were returned by Packers defensive backs for TDs on back to back drives.  Rivers was very careless with the ball, but he did find Vincent Jackson 7 times for 141 yards including 3 of his 4 TDs.  Jackson was finding great separation and got behind the defense for easy end zone work.  Rookie Vincent Brown was quiet for the first three-quarters with no catches, but in the 4th quarter he caught 4 for 79 yards.  The Packers were always in control of the game until the last 7 minutes.  Jordy Nelson paced the Packers receivers this week with 5 receptions for 105 yards and a TD catch that would make most firemen happy (drop, tuck, and roll).  James Starks kept the defense honest with 75 yards on 14 touches.  Both Greg Jennings (6-46-1 TD) and Jermichael Finley (5-44-1 TD) had decent fantasy days to help out their QB.  Aaron Rodgers had a great day with limited opportunites as he completed 81% of his passes for 247 yards, threw for 4 TDs, and ran for another 52 yards.

The Monday night game between the Bears and the Eagles had a few less offensive fireworks than originally thought.  Michael Vick had an off-Vick night as he only threw for 213 yards, 1 interception, and had 34 yards rushing.  He didn’t look sharp and the Bears didn’t give him a lot of plays down the field. Brent Celek was very active again as he caught 7 passes for 60 yards.  Jeremy Maclin added 4 receptions for 63 yards, but caught less than 50% of his targets.  LeSean McCoy did all he could as he chipped in 71 yards on the ground with a 33 yard TD and 5 receptions for 46 yards.  The Eagles defense got a 22 yard fumble return that gave them new life early on.  The Bears offense led by Matt Forte, who had 150 combined yards, but also had 2 fumbles.  Forte ran directly at the Eagles soft middle. Earl Bennett, coming off injury, had a great night with 5 catches for 95 yards and a great end zone reception.  Jay Cutler had a decent night going 18 for 32 for 208 yards and 2 TDs.

I wrote this article in remembrance of my grandfather, Herbert Rink.  He loved sports almost as much as his family.   Grandpa passed that passion onto me.  One of my biggest joys at age 7 was watching his beloved Lions play on Thanksgiving Day in his room and hearing his excitement for the game.  I’ll miss you Grandpa

The Jags (14) vs. the Texans (24) score is closer than how the game actually played out.  Both teams did a great job defending the run early.  Blaine Gabbert was knocked around and briefly left the game.  His numbers don’t show (33% completion rate, 97 yards, 1 TD, and 2 interceptions) that Gabbert was better at not sensing imaginary pressure.  He did, however, try to force the ball where the defense didn’t allow it. MJD was ineffective early, but kept on grinding for 74 yards with a 4 yard TD on Keep Reading...]]> Every week during the season, I will throw out some quick observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ”Quick Bits”, I am able to watch almost every snap of every game and give you a lightning “blitz” war “krieg” to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

The Jags (14) vs. the Texans (24) score is closer than how the game actually played out.  Both teams did a great job defending the run early.  Blaine Gabbert was knocked around and briefly left the game.  His numbers don’t show (33% completion rate, 97 yards, 1 TD, and 2 interceptions) that Gabbert was better at not sensing imaginary pressure.  He did, however, try to force the ball where the defense didn’t allow it. MJD was ineffective early, but kept on grinding for 74 yards with a 4 yard TD on 19 touches.  While Marcedes Lewis’ numbers look to be improved with 4 receptions for 45 yards, he struggled catching the ball when it counted with his 9 targets.  If the ball is not thrown directly at him, Lewis has issues adjusting to the ball.  Gabbert’s favorite target, Jason Hill, had the Jags other TD.  Arian Foster struggled to run the ball early, but was force-fed 33 carries that he grinded out to 112 yards and a short TD.  This was a result of the long amount of time the Jacksonville defense spend on the field.  Matt Schaub had a decent day completing 53% of his passes for 225 yards with a TD to Joel Dreessen and added a 2 yard TD run.  Kevin Walter (6-70 yards) and Owen Daniels(4-60 yards) kept the chains moving for the Texans.

The Steelers vs the Patriots game finished the way many of their games do, one team adjusted well and the other team failed to adjust.  This time, however, the Steelers varied their play on the offensive and defensive side that won them the game.  New England tried to run the ball early to keep the Steelers on their toes with Kevin Faulk.  Faulk’s 11 touches for 52 yards would have been good as a compliment, but they were not effective as a full-scale attack.  Tom Brady was effective throwing the ball by completing 24 of 35 for 198 yards and 2 TDs (one to Deon Branch and the other to Aaron Hernandez).  Rob Gronkowski was Brady’s go-to guy by catching 7 for 94 yards on 9 targets.  The Patriots got to Ben Roethlisberger early and often, sacking him 5 times.  Roethlisberger spent most of the day using the short field and spread out the Pats including throwing 30 times in the first half.  He finished with 36 for 50-365 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 pick.  Heath Miller exploited the linebackers and safeties by catching 7-85 yards on 9 targets.  The Steelers o-line played very well as Rashard Mendenhall finished with 13 carries for 70 yards and added 3 catches for 22 yards receiving.  Antonio Brown was targeted 15 times and caught 9 of those for 67 yards and a TD.  LaMarr Woodley terrorized Brady with 2 sacks, but left early due to a leg injury.  DE Brett Keisel may have had the most important moment as he stripped the ball from Brady and the fumble went through the end zone for a Steelers safety.

The NFC East prime time game was as one-sided as HC Andy Reid’s contests usually are after bye weeks.  The Eagles rolled over the Cowboys.  The two bright spots for Dallas were DeMarco Murray (8 carries for 74 yards) and Laurent Robinson (5 catches for 103 yards).  Murray did his best running outside where he could use his speed and Robinson received a beautiful 70 yard TD bomb from Tony Romo (51% completion rate, 203 yards, 1 TD, 1 interception).  Romo targeted Jason Witten 12 times, but only completed 4 for 28 yards.  Romo’s top receivers, Miles Austin (3-27 yards) and Dez Bryant (3-28 yards), looked like they were in the witness protection program for much of the night.  The Eagles defense swarmed early knocking Romo around for 4 sacks.  LeSean McCoy slashed through the Cowboys superstar running defense and finished with 200 total yards and 2 TDs on 32 touches.  Brent Celek, who has not been a part of the game plan recently, had a great day with 7 catches for 94 yards on 9 targets including a nice toe tap TD!  Michael Vick was barely touched all day as he worked the middle of the field well.  He finished with 50 yards rushing, completed 75% of his passes for 279 yards, and passed for 2 TDs.

The Cardinals pushed the Ravens to the brink, but came up short at the end of the day.  Beanie Wells had a solid day rushing for 83 yards and a somersault TD on 22 carries.  Larry Fitzgerald broke away for a 66 reception, but got tackled with the end zone just out of reach to finish with 3 receptions for 98 yards.  He is being hurt by the inconsistent play of Kevin Kolb.  Kolb completed 48% of his passes, 153 passing yards with a TD to Early Doucet and an interception.   It didn’t help that the Ravens sacked Kolb 6 times.  Rookie Patrick Peterson had a 82 yard punt return for a TD that put the Cards up 24-3.  Unfortunately for Arizona, Baltimore came roaring back.  Anquan Boldin was good at finding the soft spots in the zone as he caught 7 of his 12 targets for 145 yards.  Boldin had several pass interference penalties in the end zone.  These helped Ray Rice have an outstanding 3 short yardage TDs and 99 yards on 25 touches.  Joe Flacco overcame a horrible first half to finish with 31 completions on 51 attempts for 336 yards, but did have a costly fumble and interception.  Torrey Smith stretched the field as a deep threat but only connected for 3 catches for 57 yards, even though he was targeted 9 times.  The last target that Smith came down with was the reason the Ravens won.  The Ravens got good use out of their TEs, Ed Dickson finished with 6 catches for 46 yards and Dennis Pitta had 6 receptions for 44 yards.

In the battle of rookie quarterbacks,  Christian Ponder came out the victor over Cam Newton.  That is not to say that Newton did everything he could as he completed 22 of 35 passes, threw for 290 yards with 3 TD passes, and added another 53 yards on the ground.  2 fumbles did get away from him though.  Steve Smith had another outstanding day with 7 receptions for 100 yards and a TD while Greg Olsen caught 4 for 74 yards and a TD from Newton.  It was a missed 31 yard field goal by Olindo Mare in the last-minute that kept the game from continuing.  The Vikings offense revolved around Adrian Peterson, who did his best Marshall Faulk impression, by rushing 21 times for 86 yards and a TD, then added 5 receptions for 76 yards and a TD.  Percy Harvin overcame his sore ribs as he finished with 74 yards and a TD run up the middle on 7 touches.  Christian Ponder was a solid 18 for 28 attempts, 236 passing yards, and the TD pass to Peterson.  Jared Allen was once again the IDP beast as he had 5 tackles, a fumble recovery, forced fumble, sack, and ran down a sprinting Newton to prevent a long run.

The divisional matchup between the hapless Rams and the mighty Saints had a different ending than most thought.  New Orleans seemed to lose some of their identity with Mark Ingram on the sidelines.  Pierre Thomas was not a good fill-in for Ingram as it took him 11 touches to get to 34 yards and a TD.  Drew Brees was once again highly accurate completing 68% of his passes for 269 yards, 1 TD, but had 2 picks.  His top receiver was Lance Moore who had 7 catches for 74 yards and the TD on 10 targets.  Darren Sproles continues to be the glue that kept the Saints moving the ball with 12 touches for 76 yards.  Jimmy Graham finally had a quiet game by catching 4 for 39 yards on 8 targets.  The Saints defense tried to rally when they were trailing the Rams as Jonathan Vilma had a fumble recovery for a short TD.  The Rams defense stepped up this week as Chris Long had 3 sacks and safety Darian Stewart returned an interception for a TD to put the game out of reach.  Steven Jackson looked 5 years younger as he took his 25 carries and rumbled 159 yards with 2 TDs.  Jackson added another 4 catches for 32 yards and recent transplant Brandon Lloyd had 6 receptions for 53 yards and a TD.  AJ Feeley (54% completion rate, 175 yards, and the TD to Lloyd) barely missed twice with Lloyd for huge gains.  Rookie Greg Salas did his best Danny Amendola impression and finished with 5 catches for 47 yards on 6 targets.

The Titans game against the Colts was not for much fantasy relevance. The Colts were playing a dink and dunk style for most of the game that had Curtis Painter throwing for 250 yards, a 53% completion rate, and 2 interceptions.  Painter was the team’s leading rusher with 79 yards. Delone Carter only had 47 yards on 11 touches and once again he did not seize the opportunity to keep Donald Brown (33 yards and a TD) on the bench.  Both Dallas Clark (6-77 yards on 10 targets) and Pierre Garcon (7-66 yards on 15 targets) were heavily targeted and highly missed.   On the Tennessee side, it looks like CJ302 is not the same as he was bottled up by one of the league’s worst run defenses for 51 yards on 17 touches.  Javon Ringer made the most of his 19 touches with 102 yards as he squared up his shoulders and ran with power. Nate Washington had a good fantasy day with a short TD run and 4 receptions for 34 yards and a TD catch. Matthew Hasselbeck had a very accurate game throwing 70% completion rate, 224 yards, and the TD pass to Washington.  The Titans also blocked a punt and it was recovered by Jason McCourty in the end zone, who also had 6 tackles and a pass defended.

The Bengals travelled to Seattle for a less than stellar matchup.  It was a defensive battle to start that eventually the Cincinnati defense domianted as the game went on.  Charlie Whitehurst started the game for the Seahawks throwing for 4-7 attempts for 52 yards before getting replaced by Tavaris Jackson (21-40-323 yards passing and 1 interception).  The Seahawks couldn’t run the ball as they finished a combined 20 carries for 61 yards rushing.  Jackson found Ben Obomanu on all of his 4 targets for 107 yards and completed half of his targets to Sidney Rice (7-102 yards).   The Bengals defense came up big with a Brandon Tate 56 yard punt return for a TD and a 75 yard interception return from Reggie Nelson.  Bernard Scott ran fine with his first opportunity to start for the Bengals (22-76 yards) and Jerome Simpson had a nice inside move for a TD on the only catch he made.  The Andy Dalton (62% completion rate, a mere 168 yards, 2 TDs, and 2 picks) to AJ Green ( 4-63 yards on 10 targets) show continued including a 43 yard TD.  Dalton did show a bit of his rookie side with his own tuck play that got away from him.

The Bills matchup versus the Redskins was an old-fashioned beat down.  John Beck got sacked 9 times by the Bills.  He had a rough day with 20-33 attempts for 208 yards and 2 interceptions. Fred Davis was the bright spot for the Redskins as he caught 8 passes for 94 yards on his 9 targets, but rolled his ankle and may be limited this week.  Ryan Torain, everyone’s favorite RB replacement, showed up small with 8 carries for 14 yards.  The Bills kept the Fred Jackson train moving as he put up 194 yards combined on 29 touches.  Ryan Fitzpatrick made good on his new contract by completing 78% of his passes for 262 yards, 2 TDs to TE Scott Chandler, and 1 pick.  Chandler caught his only 2 targets and the Buffalo defense rolled.

The Lions vs. Broncos game wasn’t as close as the 45-10 score shows.  The Lions defenders were supposedly making fun of Tim Tebow’s inability to beat their stacked 8 or 9 men in the box.  Tebow wasn’t the miracle worker that he was last week as he finished going 18 for 39 for 172 yards with a TD and an interception.  His interception was a 100 yard TD return for CB Chris Houston.  Tebow was sacked 7 times and had a fumble returned 24 yards by DE Cliff Avril for another Detroit defensive score.  It wasn’t all bad as Tebow connected with Eric Decker for 6 receptions for 72 yards, a TD, and just missed converting another TD early in the game.  Tebow ran for 63 yards on 10 carries, Knowshon Moreno had 14-69 rushing yards, and Lance Ball had 6 carries for 63 yards.  Most of this rushing yardage occurred with the game well out of hand.  Matt Stafford had an easy game to get his health back as he threw for 70%, 267 yards, and threw 3 TDs.  Calvin Johnson caught 1 of those TDs (56 yards) with 6 catches for 125 yards on the day.  Rookie Titus Young (4-66 yards) was left all alone for a 41 yard TD reception.  Even prodigal son, Tony Scheffler, came back to the mile high and had 3 receptions for 38 yards and a TD.  After Johnson scored his TD with 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the Lions offense appeared to stop trying and gave the Broncos a chance abet a small chance.

The MNF overtime thriller between the Chiefs and the Chargers was more about the Chiefs lack of a killer instinct.  Phillip Rivers looked like a robot out there, as he went  through the motions; he completed 63% of his passes, threw for 369 yards, and had 2 interceptions.  Antonio Gates chipped in 4 catches for 73 yards, and Malcolm Floyd made the most of his 7 targets by catching 5 of them for 107 yards.   Ryan Matthews played well until he got banged up and finished with 19 touches for 112 yards.  Kansas City tried grinding it out again with Jackie Battle (19 carries for 70 yards and a TD).  Rookie Jonathan Baldwin stepped up in his long-awaited début with 5 catches for 82 yards and a 39 yard TD.  Baldwin did line up in the slot to get a free release, while Dwayne Bowe had the most targets (11) and caught 4 for 62 yards.  Matt Cassel had a mixed night completing 19 out of 32 passes for 261 yards, the TD to Baldwin, and 2 picks.

The Carolina/Washington matchup ended with a predictable conclusion, but the way it went was a bit surprising. The Redskins came out running the ball as Tim Hightower ran well (17 carries for 88 yards) to start the game.  Hightower hurt his lower leg and did not return. John Beck looked lost in the 1st half, but ended up salvaging his day with 279 passing yards, a passing TD, a rushing TD, and an interception.  Beck looked better than Grossman has, but what does that really tell us?  Fred Davis had the Keep Reading...]]> Every week during the season, I will throw out some quick observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ”Quick Bits”, I am able to watch almost every snap of every game and give you a lightning “blitz” war “krieg” to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

The Carolina/Washington matchup ended with a predictable conclusion, but the way it went was a bit surprising. The Redskins came out running the ball as Tim Hightower ran well (17 carries for 88 yards) to start the game.  Hightower hurt his lower leg and did not return. John Beck looked lost in the 1st half, but ended up salvaging his day with 279 passing yards, a passing TD, a rushing TD, and an interception.  Beck looked better than Grossman has, but what does that really tell us?  Fred Davis had the best fantasy day of any Redskin with 6-80 yards, a TD, and still managed to drop a couple passes.  The Washington defense sacked Cam Newton 4 times, but that wasn’t enough. Newton threw for 18-23 attempts, 256 yards, and had a TD pass.  He added another 59 yards on the ground, and a rushing TD on 10 carries.  Once again, Steve Smith caught the lion’s share of Newton’s passes (7-143 yards) and made it look easy.  Smith has not lost any wiggle and can make the most of a short route.  It was Jonathan Stewart’s game this week as he had 14 carries for 68 yards and a short TD.  Stewart was most effective on his 1st 4 carries for 50 yards.

Steelers (East) versus Arizona (Steelers West) was a little closer on the scoreboard than how the game played out.  Beanie Wells was a very inconsistent runner who spent a lot of time dancing and carried the ball 12 times for 42 yards before he left with a leg injury.  LaRod Stephens-Howling, a backup RB and special teams ace, helped out Kevin Kolb by taking a short pass and rumbled 73 yards to pay dirt.  Larry Fitzgerald had some great catches (4 for 78 yards), but was mostly held in check by Ike Taylor.  Kolb was under pressure for most of the day; however, managed to throw for 272 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 interception.  LaMarr Woodley came thru again in James Harrison’s absence by having 2 sacks and causing Kolb to ground the ball in the end zone for a safety. The Steelers running game was not as effective this week as Rashard Mendenhall had 32 rushing yards.  Ben Roethlisberger had 340 yards passing with 3 TDs and did a better job setting his feet and throwing down the field. Speedster Mike Wallace only caught 3 passes, but made the most of those catches including a 95 yard TD bomb.  Heath Miller caught 4 passes for 59 yards with a TD catch and added a carry for 6 yards.  Just when I said Antonio Brown was fading, Brown showed us doubters by catching 7 for 102 yards on 9 targets.

The ugliest game of the day belonged to the Colts vs. the Saints prime time game.  This game’s results were similar to the outcome of a varsity high school team playing a seventh grade squad.  The Colts running game at times looked like it was working. Delone Carter (10 carries for 89 yards, 1 TD) was the only part of the Colts offense that looked good.  Carter ran angry, put his foot down, and ran decisively.  We didn’t get to see much of Joseph Addai, because he got injured early. The Curtis Painter to Pierre Garcon connection was roaming as Garcon only hauled in 3 for 31 on 6 targets.  Painter missed Garcon on 2 plays that could have been long TDs.  Marques Colston started off the game quickly with a TD pass from Drew Brees and had another TD before the Colts knew what was happening.  Colston finished catching 7 passes in as many targets for 98 yards.  If you were a running back for the Saints, you had a good fantasy day. Darren Sproles looked explosive in the run game with 12 carries for 88 yards and a rushing TD, but also added 6 receptions for 19 yards and a receiving TD. Pierre Thomas had 15 touches for 125 yards and rookie Mark Ingram had 15 touches for 97 yards, but appeared to hurt his foot/ankle on a jump to avoid defenders. Ingram’s good buddy, FB Jed Collins, stole another goal line TD from him in this scrimmage (62-7 I can’t say it was a game).  Jimmy Graham, even when he doesn’t have 100 yards, catches 2 TDs for 54 yards.

What a huge difference two weeks makes for the Lions and the Falcons. The Lions were man-handled by the Falcons. Neither Lion RB Mo Morris (9 carries for 50 yards) nor Keiland Williams (9 carries for 44 yards) separated themselves from the other.  Jahvid Best was missed.  Matthew Stafford looked lethargic throwing for less than a 47% completion rate and 183 yards and a TD to Calvin Johnson.  Johnson was the only Lion that looked good (5 catches for 115 yards) as he showed on his 57 yard TD catch. Brandon Pettigrew chipped in 4 catches on 6 targets.  Michael Turner gave the Atlanta offense some identity with his 27 carries for 122 hard-fought yards. Matt Ryan had a very up and down day with a 58% completion rate, 218 yards in the air, a passing TD, a rushing TD, and 2 picks.  Roddy White made an Olympic dismount stick TD catch and ended the day with 5 catches for 52 yards.  Both Tony Gonzalez (5-62 yards) and Harry Douglas (4-62 yards) helped move the sticks for the Falcons in Julio Jones’ absence.

For 55 minutes, the Dolphins played significantly better than the Broncos. Unfortunately for Miami, an NFL game lasts at least 60 minutes.  Brandon Marshall’s number may look fine with 6-61 yards on 9 targets, but he does not fight for the ball. Rookie Daniel Thomas was bottled up for most of the game (21 touches for 53 yards). If Thomas had any wiggle in his game or better field vision, the Dolphins would have won.  Safety Yeremiah Bell did his best to keep the Broncos down with 6 tackles, a sack, and a fumble recovery.  Broncos RB Willis McGahee had a very unspectacular day with 18-76 yards, but made the most of the seams the offensive line gave him.  Tim Tebow looked like a fish out of water for the first 55 minutes.  He missed a wide open Eric Decker (2-21 yards on 3 targets) for a possible game changing TD.  Tebow only needed 4 minutes of regulation and OT to use his heavenly gifts.  Tebow’s 48% completion rate with 161 passing yards, 2 passing TDs, 65 rushing yards, and a rushing 2pt conversion was enough for the Broncos to win. Demaryius Thomas had 10 targets which he turned into 3 receptions for 27 yards and a TD.

Rex Ryan won his football challenge against Norv Turner. The Chargers came out swinging though with LB Donald Butler’s strip fumble that he returned 37 yards for a TD.  Antonio Gates was another bright spot in his return with 5 catches for 54 yards and a TD.  Other than Gates, the passing game had a difficult day as Vincent Jackson caught 1 pass for 15 yards on 8 targets and Phillip Rivers completed 50% of his passes for 179 yards while throwing 2 interceptions in the 4th quarter.  Ryan Matthews and Mike Tolbert combined for 97 yards on 24 carries with the TD going to Tolbert.  That would be a good day for a #2 fantasy RB, but not good for 2 RBs combined.  San Diego did not noticeably adjust their game plan whether they led or trailed in the game.  Shonn Greene surprisingly ran better than he has all year with 112 yards on 20 carries. Plaxico Burress did his best Cris Carter impression by catching only TDs as he finished with 4 receptions for 25 yards and 3 TDs. Dustin Keller had 4-53 yards on 8 targets, but had that total in the first half. Rookie Jeremy Kerley was used a bit more with 4 catches for 29 yards.

The battle for AFC South went a bit easier for the Texans over the Titans than was previously thought.  Matt Hasselbeck was not sharp as he threw under a 47% completion rate, 104 yards, 1 passing TD, and 2 interceptions. The completion rate was not all on Hasselbeck as I saw at least 5 drops.  Chris Johnson had a disappointing day with 16 touches for 45 yards as it seems his burst is still holding out.  Backup Javon Ringer had 48 yards on 4 touches and looks more explosive.  Finally, the fantasy world got to see the 2010 version of Arian Foster.  Foster had 25 carries for 115 yards, 2 rushing TDs, and added 5 catches for 119 yards and a receiving TD.  Ben Tate, looking very Earl Campbell-like, ran hard for 104 yards on 15 carries.  Matt Schaub almost broke the 300 yard passing mark with 2 TD passes.  Owen Daniels added 4 receptions for 71 yards.  Even backup Houston CB Brice McCain got in on the fun with an interception return for a TD.

The AFC West matchup of the Raiders vs. the Chiefs played out quite differently than how Al Davis would have liked.  I was reminded of the Spaghetti western classic: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly when i viewed this game. Let’s start with The Good aka the Chiefs.  Dwayne Bowe (6-76 yards) and Steve Breaston (5-64 yards) helped keep the chains moving along with the plodder known as Jackie Battle (16 carries for 76 yards).  The Bad was Darren McFadden getting hurt early on and Michael Bush did his best filling in with 111 yards on 19 touches.  Darrius Heyward-Bey caught less than 50% of his targets for 5-89 yards.  The Ugly was Denarius Moore having 1 catch for 4 yards on 5 targets, 6 Raider interceptions thrown (3 for Kyle Boller and 3 for new signee Carson Palmer), and of course, Kendrick Lewis’ 59 yard interception TD return along with the Brendan Flowers 58 yard interception TD return (had 2 picks for the day).

The Cowboys game against the Rams may be called the “DeMarco Murray” arrives party. The Rams played with the talent they had: Steven Jackson (18-70 yards and a TD) and newly minted Brandon Lloyd (6 receptions for 74 yards with 2 end zone drops).  Their combined effort was not enough as DeMarco Murray began his day with a 91 yard TD run which showed great speed, wiggle, and the ability to run to daylight. Murray finished with 25 carries for 253 yards, but keep in mind the Rams were ranked 31st against the run.  Fellow rookie Phillip Tanner had 6 carries for 34 yards and a TD. He looked a lot like before mentioned Michael Bush with his body control with north/south running.  Tony Romo didn’t have to do much, but completed 14-24 attempts for 166 yards and 2 TDs.  Dez Bryant (5-90 yards) had one of those scores and Jason Witten (5-35 yards) had the other TD.

The Vikings gave the Packers more than they thought they could handle with a rookie QB at the helm.  Christian Ponder had a very rookie day as he threw for just under a 41% completion rate, 219 yards, 2 TDs, and 2 interceptions.  He is quite mobile as he ran 4 times for 31 yards and tried to shield the defense from knowing he had the ball while scrambling.  Michael Jenkins was his big play receiver catching 3 for 111 yards and a TD.  Visanthe Shiancoe (4-45 yards and a TD) and Adrian Peterson (24 rushes for 175 yards and a TD) were the constants to keep the Vikings in the game until the end.  Jared Allen did his best to slow Aaron Rodgers down with 2 sacks.  Rodgers didn’t seem to be all that phased as he completed 80% of his passes, threw for 335 yards and 3 TD passes.  Greg Jennings had the best receiving day with his 7 catches for 147 yards, including a 79 yard TD that the Viking forgot to cover after he ran the first 29 yards of the route.  James Starks used his combined 16 touches to generate 99 yards and James Jones was a perfect 4 for 4 on his targets for 63 yards.

What a slug fest for a Week 7 finale!  The Jaguars and Ravens played a very physical ball game.  It’s hard to say there was any real outstanding fantasy performances in a 12-7 Jaguar win.  Ray Rice had a rough game as he finished with 8 carries for 28 yards on the ground and 5 receptions with 35 yards and a fumble.  Joe Flacco threw for 137 yards on 38 attempts, an interception, and the game’s only TD to Anquan Boldin (4-40 yards).  The Jags ran MJD early and often, 30 carries for 105 yards.  Jones-Drew had a few issues with ball security along the way.  Blaine Gabbert completed 45% of his passes for 93 yards, but was plagued with drops in the end zone (1 by Marcedes Lewis and 1 by Jason Hill).  Jason Hill was the leading receiver for either side with 62 yards on 4 receptions.

The Steelers vs. the Jaguars started off like it was going to be a butt-kicking, but ended up a close game.  The Jaguars defense slowed down the Steelers in the second half, but MJD was the key cog for the offense.  Jones-Drew had 24 touches for 104 total yards and almost willed the Jags back into the game.  Early on the Steelers were very effective blending the run and passing games. Rashard Mendenhall looked to be healthy and he had over 100 yards on the ground in the first 19 minutes Keep Reading...]]> Every week during the season, I will throw out some quick observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ‘Quick Bits’, I am able to watch almost every snap of every game and give you a lightning (blitz) war (krieg) to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

The Steelers vs. the Jaguars started off like it was going to be a butt-kicking, but ended up a close game.  The Jaguars defense slowed down the Steelers in the second half, but MJD was the key cog for the offense.  Jones-Drew had 24 touches for 104 total yards and almost willed the Jags back into the game.  Early on the Steelers were very effective blending the run and passing games. Rashard Mendenhall looked to be healthy and he had over 100 yards on the ground in the first 19 minutes of the game.  Mendenhall finished with 23 carries for 146 yards and a TD.  Mike Wallace was targeted 6 times and only caught 2 of them for 76 yards and a TD.  Ben Roethlisberger did a good job spreading the ball around, not so good for fantasy, and finished with12-23 attempts for 200 yards and the TD to Wallace. Steelers LB LaMarr Woodley and DE Brett Keisel both finished with 2 sacks each.  Blaine Gabbert is not a good #2 QB now and has very little help other than MJD.

The Patriots game against the Cowboys was a very up and down game to watch.  Tony Romo started with an early interception, then began to use play action effectively to help set up the defense.  Romo finished with 27-41 attempts with 317 yards with a TD and an interception.  Neither team’s running games were effective, and both defenses played a very physical, knockout game.  Both teams had a sack specialist as Dallas’ LB Demarcus Ware had 2 sacks as did Patriot’s DE Andre Carter.  Dez Bryant (4-78) made plays while trying to deal with a wardrobe malfunction and Miles Austin also pitched in with 7 catches for 74 yards.  For Wes Welker, he had a quiet day with 4 catches for 45 yards and a TD on 10 targets.  Tom Brady used his tight ends well, hitting Aaron Hernandez with 22 seconds left in the end zone.  Hernandez had 8 receptions for 68 yards and Rob Gronkowski had 7-74 yards receiving on as many targets.  Brady had the same completions and attempts as Romo, 27-41, but had 289 yards passing with 2 TD passes, and 2 interceptions.

The Bears vs. the Vikings is usually a low scoring affair with a lot of defense.  The Bears defense dominated, but exceeded scoring expectations with 39 points. The Vikings offense could not get into a rhythm until the end of the game.  Donovan McNabb was not effective as he continued to skip passes off the ground and got caught in the end zone for an early safety.  This strangled the Viking offense as Adrian Peterson only finished with 13 touches for 39 yards and a TD.  McNabb gave way to briefly to Joe Webb, who ended up giving way to rookie Christian Ponder.  Ponder finished with 9-17 attempts for 99 yards all in the 4^th quarter.  He was very mobile and at least 3 of those attempts were drops by the Vikings receivers.  Ponder seemed to bond with Percy Harvin (7-78 yards on 9 targets).  DE Jared Allen continued the terror of Jay Cutler, by strip sacking him and recovering the fumble himself.  Julius Peppers decided that even though injured, he needed to sack McNabb 2 times.  Devin Hester was the fantasy star of the Bears.  He had a 90 yard kickoff return for a TD, caught a 48 yard TD bomb from Jay Cutler, and ended the day with 5 catches for 91 yards.  Matt Forte had 123 yards combined on 23 touches.  Cutler had a good gunslinger day completing 67% of his passes for 267 yards and 2 TDs.  Slot guy Dane Sanzenbacher, spun around to catch the second Cutler TD pass and bobbled away another TD catch.

The intense New York rivalry of the Buffalo Bills and New York City Giants had a great showing on Sunday.  Once again, Fred Jackson was amazing, as he showed on his 80 yards TD run!  He finished with 168 yards on 21 touches with that TD.  My Week 6 Young Gun, Naaman Roosevelt, had two targets, one of which he turned into a 60 yard TD reception.  CJ Spiller was targeted 5 times and caught all five for 39 yards.  Ryan Fitzpatrick completed 70% of his passes for 244 yards, threw 2 TDs, and had 2 interceptions.  One of those picks was in the red zone with 4 minutes left that sealed the Bills fate.  NYG Ahmad Bradshaw kept on battling the entire game through early struggles.  He finished with 28 touches for 130 yards and 3 TDs.  Bradshaw had great body control as he extended the ball underneath the pile for a TD and he jumped over the pile for another TD.  Eli Manning had a decent day throwing for 292 yards and had a 66% completion rate.  Mario Manningham had a TD pass go in and out of his hands; however, he finished with 5 receptions for 56 yards on 8 targets.  Jake Ballard, another one of my Young Guns, continues to grow in the starting TE role as he finished with 5 catches for 81 yards on as many targets.  Hakeem Nicks caught 4 passes for 96 yards and barely missed out on a 33 yard TD reception.

When the schedule first came out, Cincinnati vs.Indianapolis looked like a cakewalk for the Colts.  Times have changed for the better for the Bengals, but not so good for the Colts offense.  Delone Carter’s stat line of 12 carries for 45 yards does not look impressive, at all.  Carter did run hard early on, but veteran Donald Brown ran with more wiggle to score a rushing TD.  Dallas Clark had a better game than last week as he caught 6 out of his 7 targets for 53 yards and a TD. Clark did have a critical fumble that led to the Bengals scoring their first TD.  Pierre Garcon had a good game in PPR leagues with 8 receptions for 52 yards on 11 targets.  Andy Dalton looked impressive against the Colts as he had a 78% completion rate, 264 passing yards, and a TD to AJ Green.  The Green-Dalton connection could be a dynasty staple for years as Green finished with 5 catches for 51 yards on 7 targets.  Jerome Simpson was productive by catching 6 passes for 101, but got the ire of his head coach for the 3 he should have caught.  DE Carlos Dunlap helped seal the game by ending the Colts comeback with a 35 yard TD fumble return.

Bitter NFC East rivals squared off as the Eagles travelled to the Redskins.  It looks like it is the beginning of the end for Rex Grossman.  To say Grossman was erratic, doesn’t express how bad he was.  He was fortunate that the 2 other interceptions were dropped or he would have finished with 6 picks.  I would guess that “Sexy Rex” will get a fruit basket from Kurt Coleman as he caught 3 of his 4 interceptions.  The Washington running backs didn’t help as they finished with 12 carries for 28 yards.  The best run for the ‘Skins came from John Beck who had a short TD run. Beck sparked the offense and threw for 117 yards in relief.  The brightest spot came from Fred Davis (6-95 yards)and he was partly responsible for two of Grossman’s picks.  Michael Vick got knocked around in this game, giving way to Vince Young for a few snaps.  Vick had an ok day for his standards with 54 yards on the ground, 237 yards in the air, a TD, and an interception.  Brent Celek was more involved catching 4 for 42 yards and a TD.  Celek missed a few that he should have caught, but also made an amazing catch falling away from the ball.  Jeremy Maclin was a great downfield force catching 5 for 101 and LeSean McCoy kept the chains moving with 139 total yards on 30 touches, including a goal line TD.

The matchup that would end in head coaches being separated was one of Sunday’s best games.  The Lions struggled to run the ball against the 49ers defense. Jahvid Best had a decent yardage day with 110 combined yards on 18 touches.  Matt Stafford attempted to will the Lions to a win by throwing 50 times for 293 yards and 2 TDs.  Stafford spread the ball around as Nate Burleson had 10 targets, only catching 3 for 34 and a TD.  Brandon Pettigrew caught 8 for 42 and a TD with Patrick Willis draped over him most of the day.  Calvin Johnson failed to score having only 7-113 yards.  On the 49ers side, Frank Gore was the engine that could as he roared down the tracks for 141 yards on 15 carries with a TD.  Kendall Hunter added another 33 yards as the change of pace back.  Michael Crabtree had a 15 target enriched day and chipped in 9-77 yards.  The TEs seemed to be missing for most of the game as Vernon Davis had 2 catches for 8 yards, but Delaine Walker was the hero on a gutsy 4^th down call when he caught a TD to go ahead of the Lions.

Could Cam Newton get some magic going against the Falcons?  Unfortunately for Cam, the answer was no.  Newton had a rough day as he threw 3 interceptions, but he did manage to have 237 passing yards, and gain 50 yards on the ground with a rushing TD.  The guessing game of which Carolina RB to start ended up on Jonathan Stewart who finished with 1 TD and 72 yards on 10 touches.  Old men Steve Smith (5-66 yards) and Jeremy Shockey (4-60 yards) helped out the rookie in the air.  The Falcons brought back the ground and pound with Michael Turner.  Turner finished with 27 carries for 139 yards and 2 TDs.  Matt Ryan threw for a lowly 163 yards and added a TD pass and a TD run.  This affected Roddy White who had 2 catches for 21 yards on 5 targets; however, two of those targets were pass interference plays in the end zone which set up two goal line TDs.

The World Champions vs. the Rams could have been a slug-fest a year ago, not this time.  Sam Bradford had a good game as he finished with 28-44 attempts for 321 yards and 1 pick.  Rookie pass catchers finally showed up for Bradford as Lance Kendricks had 4 receptions for 71 yards and Greg Salas did a Danny Amendola impression finishing with 8-77 yards on 10 targets.  I guess the bye helped the rookies and Steven Jackson, who had 125 combined yards on 22 touches.  Even Danario Alexander had 6 receptions for 91, but it was not enough for the Rams to score more than 3 points.  The Packers only had to rely on the arm of Aaron Rodgers (61% completion rate, 310 yards, 3 TDs, and 1 interception) and a few big passing plays.  The big plays were a 93 yard TD catch by Jordy Nelson (2-104 yards on the day) and James Jones’ single catch of 35 yards for a TD.  Greg Jennings was the constant receiver with 6 for 82 yards on 10 targets.

The Bucs upset the Saints in a hard-fought game.  Marques Colston got a clean release down the sideline for a 38 yard TD to start the scoring and finished with 7 catches for 118 yards.  Jimmy Graham (7-124 yards) once again was Brees’ favorite target and he never ceases to amaze me with his physical play fighting for the ball.  The Bucs defense was very effective against the run as the Saints ran for 70 yards total and forced Drew Brees into 3 interceptions.  Brees threw for 383 yards, but only got 1 TD to show for his efforts.  Mark Ingram had 10 touches for 28 combined yards and a 12 yard TD.  Darren Sproles did his damage in the air by receiving 8 for 46 yards.  For the Bucs, Josh Freeman was adequate with the ball throwing for 56%, 303 yards, and 2 TDs.  One fo those TD went to Arrelious Benn, who had the 65 yard score, and had a total of 3 receptions for 83 yards.  Mike Williams looked more poised as he hauled in 6 for 59 yards and was Freeman’s favorite receiver as he got 13 targets.  Tampa set the winning tone early by going to Ernest Graham early and often.  Graham finished with 19 touches for 131 combined yards.

The Texans went to the Ravens for a matchup of division leaders.  The combo of Houston’s Ben Tate (9-41 yards) and Arian Foster (21 touches for 101 yards) reminded me of the way Carolina once used Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams before Cam came to town.  A touch of power then the speed were not so effective versus the Ravens.  Matt Schaub had an ok day throwing for 220 yards and a TD to Jacoby Jones.  Jones was a bit of a surprise considering his letdown last week, but he finished with 4 receptions for 76 yards.  The Ravens did a good job taking Owen Daniels out of the game as he finished with 2 catches for 13 yards.  Schaub was harassed by the Ravens defense as they sacked him 4 times.  The Ravens offense begins and ends with Ray Rice, who finished with 161 combined yards on 28 touches.  He reminded me of Priest Holmes in this game as no one seemed to get a good hit on him.  Anquan Boldin looked like the Boldin I remember from Arizona as he finished with 8 receptions for 132 yards on 9 targets.  Rookie Torrey Smith helped stretch the field and had 3 catches for 84 yards while just missing out on a TD in the back of the end zone. Joe Flacco had a decent day with 305 passing yards, 1 rushing TD, and 1 interception.

The Jets and the Dolphins gave us another Monday night game with little excitement outside of Darrelle Revis’ 100 yard interception touchdown return.  Matt Moore had a rough day coming out of the bye.  He finished with less than 50% completions, 204 yards passing, and 2 interceptions.  The Jets defense harrassed Moore by hitting him 11 times and sacking him 4 times. Big time talker Brandon Marshall did what he could by catching 6 passes for 109 yards on 13 targets.  He did much of his damage against Revis and Cromartie. Marshall almost had a great catch over Cromartie in the end zone. Reggie Bush looked good in his limited touches (12) for 78 yards, but the offense couldn’t gel with Moore at the helm.  Mark Sanchez didn’t have a great night statistically, but he was solid with a rushing TD, 56% completion rate, 201 yards passing, and a TD toss.  Santonio Holmes weaved in and out of the defenders’ grasps to make a 38 yard TD catch.  He finished with 3 catches for 63 yards.  Shonn Greene was just a guy with 74 yards on 21 carries.

Momentum is very important and when this game started the Titans were on the way up and when the game finished, it was the Steelers that had found their way.  Chris Johnson ran well early, but the Steelers ended up locking him down after the second series.  CJ250 finished with 51 yards on the ground and a TD. Matt Hasselbeck did all he could dinking and dunking down the field.  Hasselbeck threw 49 times and completed 29 of them for 262 yards and threw a TD to Damien Williams.  Williams finished Keep Reading...]]> Every week during the season, I will throw out some quick observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ‘Quick Bits’, I am able to watch almost every snap of every game and give you a lightning ‘blitz’ war ‘krieg’ to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

Momentum is very important and when this game started the Titans were on the way up and when the game finished, it was the Steelers that had found their way.  Chris Johnson ran well early, but the Steelers ended up locking him down after the second series.  CJ250 finished with 51 yards on the ground and a TD. Matt Hasselbeck did all he could dinking and dunking down the field.  Hasselbeck threw 49 times and completed 29 of them for 262 yards and threw a TD to Damien Williams.  Williams finished with 6 catches for 66 yards and may very well be the #2 WR in town.  The Steelers shifted momentum on special teams with the arm of a punter and the hands of a reserve safety as the fake punt generated excitement and sparked the Steelers offense.  Ben Roethlisberger was limping around the entire game, but that didn’t stop him from throwing 5 TDs for 228 yards.  New old OT Max Starks held his own after 9 months away from football.  Mike Wallace didn’t get back to his 100 yards, but he did chip in 6 catches for 82 yards and a TD.  Hines Ward showed the youngsters Antoinio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders how to play with 2 TD catches!  Issac Redman ran like he was Rudi Johnson (no-nonsense), but got banged up.  Jonathan Dwyer ran for 107 yards on 11 carries, but please remember 76 yards came on one run.  Rashard Mendenhall owners should be happy as well, because the o-line is running blocking better.

The next game, the hoodie vs. the mouth, was everything we weren’t expecting: a ground game was featured by both sides, Welker still got over 100 yards, Sanchez didn’t throw for 300?   The Jets committed to running the ball behind Shonn Greene who finished with 92 combined yards and a TD, as Tomlinson does not look to be a fantasy factor any more.  Mark Sanchez had a 61% completion rate and threw for 166 yards with 2 TDs.  Darrelle Revis spent a lot of time on Wes Welker, but Welker managed to get 5 catches for 125 yards.  Yes 77 yards of that was on a broken play, but he did find a way to keep the ball moving. BJGE helped the Patriots power their way over the Jets with 27-136 yards and 2 TDs.  The Patriots tight ends spent some significant time blocking, much of that had to do with the health of Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski. I expect them to be used more next week and beyond. Tom Brady once again threw for over 300 yards and a TD pass to Deon Branch.

The Falcons vs. the Packers game is the reason I watch every game in its entirety, instead of staying up for the first half and watching the rest in the morning.  The Falcons were firing on all cylinders on their first two drives by using a good balance of runs and passes keeping the Packers on their toes.  The Packers suffered early injuries to their o-line that made them seem to be greatly wounded.  Roddy White had 6 catches for 50 yards and a TD, but Julio Jones hurt his hamstring and left the field before the end of the first half.  Michael Turner ran hard for 56 yards and a TD and Tony Gonzalez had 6-60 yards receiving, but that was not enough to stave off Aaron Rodgers’s aerial assault.  Rodgers had 396 yards and 2 TDs with a 70 yard TD pass to James Jones.  Jones finished with 5 catches for 140 yards and that TD.  Jermichael Finley looked inconsistent dropping a TD.  Finley did catch 4 for 67 yards of his 7 targets.  Unfortunately the Packers were not effective running the ball as they finished with a collective 57 yards on 20 carries.  If you want to jump on the James Jones merry-go-round, it’s your head.  I won’t.

The Raiders and Texans game weighted heavily with emotion for Al Davis.  Maybe it was the spirit of Mr. Davis that got the Texans off their game.  Matt Schaub completed 47% of his passes for 416 yards with 2 TDs and 2 interceptions.  Arian Foster did everything he could by getting 184 yards on 27 combined touches.  The Texans TEs also came up big as reserve Joel Dreessen had 5-112 yards and a TD, while Owen Daniels had 7 catches for 89 yards.  Thor aka James Casey suffered a pectoral injury and did not get a chance to contribute.  On the Raiders side, let’s go with what was working in previous games that didn’t work vs. the Texans: Darren McFadden had 19 touches for 68 yards and rookie Denarius Moore was targeted 6 times, but could not make a single catch.  Jason Campbell suffered from Moore’s and others drops finishing with 190 yards and 2 TDs with a 43% completion rate.  Darrius Heyward-Bey showed the world why Mr. Davis drafted him high, as he had 7 receptions for 99 yards and a TD.  Safety Michael Huff was the Raiders hero by intercepting Schaub in the end zone to finish the game.

The Panthers had more fight in them than the Saints probably realized.  The new star of the Panthers was an old one named DeAngelo Williams.  He took direct snaps and handoffs like it was 2008.  Williams finished with 9 carries for 115 yards and a 70 yard TD!  Cam Newton, not to be outdone, had 3 TDs (2 in the air and 1 on the ground).  Newton only completed 51% of his passes while throwing for 224 yards and adding another 27 yards on the ground.  Steve Smith caught 3 passes for 79 yards and a TD and Jonathan Stewart slowed down with 6 carries for 20 yards giving way to D-Will.  Sometimes I really hate having both D-Will and J-Stew on the same fantasy squad.  Marques Colston showed up ready to play with 5 catches on 6 targets for 69 yards.  Darren Sproles continued to muddy the water for all Saints offensive skilled players not named Jimmy with 91 yards on 16 touches.  Rookie Mark Ingram finally scored his first TD finishing with 48 total yards, but got sniped again by his fullback at the goal line.  Jimmy Graham has decided to tip passes to himself and others, but he did manage to catch 8 of his 12 targets for 129 yards.  Drew Brees threw for 359 yards with 2 TDs and 1 of Graham’s tips became an interception, but I believe Brees will forgive him.

The “Battle for Luck” had more offensive firepower than anyone had initially thought.  The Colts started the game on fire, leading 17-0.  Curtis Painter looked more relaxed out there completing 56% of his passes for 277 yards and 2 TDs.  Any guesses who those 2 TDs went to?  That’s right, Pierre Garcon, had 5 receptions for 125 yards and those 2 TDs.  Garcon ran through broken coverage for his long TD catch.  Joseph Addai got hurt early and the Colts gave rookie Delone Carter a chance to run the ball.  He did not come out as big as us fantasy owners would have liked, 14 touches for 34 yards and a TD, but he doesn’t have a good o-line blocking for him and has very little wiggle.  Dallas Clark did almost nothing to help the cause as he dropped 4 out of his 5 targets. Matt Cassel more than helped out the Chiefs cause, he brought the Chiefs back.  His 71% completion rate for 257 yards and 4 TDs won the game.  Steve Breaston made the most out of his 5 targets by catching 4 for 50 yards and 2 of those TDs.  Unlikely hero, reserve RB Jackie Battle, got 21 touches for 140 yards.  Battle looked like another big bodied RB similar to Oakland’s Michael Bush out there.  Let’s face it Dexter McCluster is a specialist and should have limited touches.  The fantasy superstar was Dwayne Bowe who had 7 catches for 128 yards and 2 TDs.  Bowe was great with after the reception yardage and made a circus catch in the end zone after being interfered.  Keep starting him, unless he is on bye, like this week.

The Jags vs. the Bengals was likely to be a low scoring affair, but it didn’t turn out that way.  MJD ran well, rushing for 85 yards on 19 carries and scored a TD.  For whatever reason, he is not being used in the passing game.  Jason Hill looked good as he had his best Jags game with 5 receptions for 118 yards and a TD.  Rookie Blaine Gabbert looked more comfortable completing 53% of his passes for 221 yards and a TD, but had a lot of drops.  Marcedes Lewis bobbled 2 receptions in the end zone on 2 separate drives that could have turned 2 field goals into 2 TDs.  The Bengals never gave up as they converted two 4th and 6 plays to keep drives alive. One of those drives led to a Jermaine Gresham TD with 14 seconds left in the first half.  Andy Dalton had a fair day completing 64% of his passes for 179 yards with 2 TDs and 1 pick.  AJ Green, ever the hero, had 5 catches for 90 yards and a TD.  Any owner that got him top 3 in a rookie draft is dancing a jig now!

The Eagles vs. the Bills looked like it could be a blowout thanks to Vick’s mistakes, but then Vick put his best efforts to bring the Eagles back.  Michael Vick was very productive for the Philly offense (air and ground) and for the Buffalo field position (4 interceptions).   Vick completed 65% of his passes for 315 yards, threw 2 TDs, and ran for 90 yards on 5 carries.  Buffalo LB Nick Barnett had 2 of the interceptions and returned 1 for a TD.  Brent Celek was a huge disappointment 2 weeks in a row catching 1 for 6 yards on 5 targets.  Jason Avant had a huge day catching 9 out of 10 targets for 139 yards, while DeSean Jackson had 5 receptions for 86 yards and a TD.  LeSean McCoy did his part finishing with 107 total yards and a TD.  The Bills played this game to win as they used Brad Smith in the wildcat, and ran Ryan Fitzpatrick up the middle to catch the Philly D off guard.  The “Amish Rifle” Fitzpatrick is giving way to the fantasy force known as Fred Jackson.  Jackson had 26 carries for 111 yards and a TD, while adding 6 receptions for 85 yards.  David Nelson is disappearing as he had 2 targets and caught 1 for a 6 yard TD, that’s a fall from grace.

The next game was an old-fashioned butt-whopping.  The 49ers handed it to the Bucs.  LaGarrette Blount couldn’t get going as he finished with 10 carries for 34 yards.  Mike Williams aka Tampa Mike caught 4 passes for 28 yards on 9 targets and was smashed while making one of the catches as he fumbled it away.  Old man Kellen Winslow was the bright spot catching 5 for 54 yards.  49ers CB Carlos Rogers looked good taking a pick to the house.  Alex Smith barely completed 50% of his passes and only passed for 170 yards, but finished with 3 TDs all to his tight ends.  2 TDs went to Vernon Davis and the other one to reserve TE Delanie Walker. The 49ers running game worked well with Frank Gore running for 125 yards on 20 carries and a TD, while Kendall Hunter added another 65 yards on 9 carries.  The middle of the Tampa team was easy to run through due to an injury to DL Gerald McCoy.

If you thought a second half QB change would spark the Broncos, you must have loved this game.  Willis McGahee ran like a man possessed, rushing for 125 yards on 16 carries.  The Broncos got an early spark from CB Cassius Vaughn who had a long interception TD return thanks to Rivers.  Later, Kyle Orton returned that favor by throwing a pass that looked like a fluttering duck that got intercepted.  Denver’s receivers and the Charger defense were always waiting on Orton’s passes to arrive.  Orton got benched for Tim Tebow to start the second half.  Tebow fired up the Broncos as a whole and finished with 4-10 attempts for 79 yards passing, a passing TD, 38 yards on the ground, and a rushing TD. Eric Decker and Brandon Lloyd combined for 3 catches for 16 yards on 9 targets.  Good thing Tebow found a way to use everyone as the TEs and Knowshon Moreno combined for 7 catches for 97 yards and a TD.  Phillip Rivers looked shaky in this game with a fumble and an interception.  River’s 250 yards, rushing TD, passing TD, and 62% completion rate were enough to hold off the Broncos.  Malcolm Floyd finally came through for fantasy owners with 3 catches for 100 yards and a TD.  Floyd just missed out catching a shorter TD earlier.  Ryan Matthews ran hard, left the field, and came back to finish with 24 carries for 125 yards.

Monday Night Football was back in Detroit and the fans, including myself, were disappointed with the sloppy, ugly, and penalty-filled first half.  Jay Cutler stood strong in the pocket throwing for 28-38 attempts for 249 yards and a TD.  Cutler was knocked around 6 times and got sacked 3 times.  The other bright spots for Chicago were Matt Forte, 151 yards on 26 touches, and Dane Sanzenbacher, who had the most targets (10), the most receptions (6), and 64 yards.  Other than the win, the Lions most important stat continued as Calvin Johnson had his 9th TD catch of the year along with 5 catches for 130 yards. Jahvid Best had a very deceiving night as he finished with 12 carries for 163 yards rushing and a TD.  Two of Best’s carries were for 132 yards (88 yard TD run and a 44 yard run).  Brandon Pettigrew had a decent night catching Matthew Stafford’s second TD finishing with 39 yards on 4 receptions.  Stafford threw for 19-26 attempts for 219 yards and the above 2 TD passes with 1 interception.  The Lions kept on rolling.

Every week during the season, I will throw out some quick observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ”Quick Bits”, I am able to watch almost every snap of every game and give you a lightning “blitz” war “krieg” to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

The Texans vs the Steelers game was to be a great battle of offenses.  Too bad a sloppy game broke out.  Andre Johnson was having a good day with 4 catches for 36 yards, but on his last reception, he ran a few steps then fell to the ground in a heap without even being touched.  The Texans offense didn’t suffer as Arian Foster did a fantastic job running and found the lanes available as Pittsburgh had no answer to the same zone blocking scheme that the Ravens brought them Keep Reading...]]>

Every week during the season, I will throw out some quick observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ”Quick Bits”, I am able to watch almost every snap of every game and give you a lightning “blitz” war “krieg” to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

The Texans vs the Steelers game was to be a great battle of offenses.  Too bad a sloppy game broke out.  Andre Johnson was having a good day with 4 catches for 36 yards, but on his last reception, he ran a few steps then fell to the ground in a heap without even being touched.  The Texans offense didn’t suffer as Arian Foster did a fantastic job running and found the lanes available as Pittsburgh had no answer to the same zone blocking scheme that the Ravens brought them in Week 1.  Foster had 30 carries for 155 yards including a 43 yard TD run.  Owen Daniels was used well as he found holes in the defense and finished with 5 catches for 69 yards and a TD.   The Texans penalties kept the Steelers in the game.  The Steeler defense looked especially slow in the first half.  Two WRs were the Steelers only bright spots as Mike Wallace had 4 catches for 77 yards and Antonio Brown pulled in 5 for 67 yards.  It took a committee of three Steeler backs to get 19 carries, 99 rushing yards, and a TD.  I know Rashard Mendenhall hurt his hamstring, but he hasn’t run well all year, and as a fantasy owner I am very concerned.

It might be me, but was Richard Seymour secretly working for the Patriots?  His two personal fouls led New England to their 1st score.  The Pats ran the ball well with BJGE to start, 16 carries for 75 yards and a TD, and then gave the rookie Stevan Ridley a few carries as well, 10 for 97 yards.  Ridley initially was dancing around, but decided to get serious and stuck his foot in the ground and ran in for a 33 yard TD. Wes Welker continued his amazing pace, catching 9 for 158 yards and a TD.  He made a wonderful sideline catch that two refs couldn’t decide on for a while.   Darren McFadden paced the Raiders with 18 touches for 123 yards, but had trouble getting going in between the tackles.  TE Kevin Boss did what he could with 4 catches for 78 yards, while rookie sensation Denarius Moore was invisible for most of the game, but had a last-minute TD to finish with 3-19 receiving.  Jason Campbell looked calm in the first half lobbing the ball up, but made a bad decision that resulted in a pick in the end zone towards the end of the first half that changed momentum.  Campbell finished with 344 yards passing and the TD to Moore to help out the silly owners that started him (yes, I am one of them).

You would think a game that ended 34-17 would have a lot of offensive scoring, but that is not how the Ravens and Jets play.  The Ravens defenders had three turnover touchdowns (Jameel McClain, Jarret Johnson, and Lardarius Webb).  The Jets had a 107 yard kickoff return for a TD from Joe McKnight and a David Harris interception TD.  Last week’s rookie superstar, Torrey Smith, had one catch for one yard.  Smith did have 6 targets and had an opportunity in the end zone that didn’t work out.  Ray Rice did everything he could by rushing 25 times for 66 yards with a TD, while adding 2 receptions for 64 yards.  Ed Dickson caught 4 out of 12 targets for 45 yards.  He dropped at least 3 outright, but Joe Flacco was not sharp.  Speaking of bad nights, that would be the Jets running game that had 19 carries for 38 yards.  The great LaDainian Tomlinson finished with 4 touches for 1 yard.  These teams don’t like each other at all and it showed.

I guess we are all calling it the collapse of Romo, Detroit 34 Dallas 30?  Dez Bryant did his best to do a Calvin Johnson impression catching 3 for 37 yards and 2 TDs on 5 targets.  The oft-injured, where are they now WR, Laurent Robinson helped the ‘Boys move the ball with 7 catches for 116 yards.  Jason Witten, once again, was a monster target pulling in 8 for 94 yards and a TD.  We even got to see Tashard Choice effective in a limited role with 10 touches for 62 yards.  Tony Romo played well in the first half and finished with 331 yards passing, 3 TDs, and 3 interceptions.  The Lions returned two interceptions for TDs on back to back series in the second half, and Romo’s third interception with less than 5 minutes to go, put the Lions on the Dallas 40 yard line.  I hope your new bride loves you a lot Tony, because Dallas fans aren’t happy.  Matthew Stafford took a lot of chances early, completed less than 50% of his passes, but finished with 240 yards and two TDs to the often imitated, but never duplicated Calvin Johnson.  Johnson has 8 TDs for the year (2 per game, every game).  Brandon Pettigrew is becoming more like the Lions running game by default as he added 6 catches on 9 targets for 64 yards.  Rookie Titus Young is getting more looks with 3 receptions for 41 yards and Nate Burleson appears to be losing looks to Young, only getting 2 catches for 16 yards on 4 targets.

The blowout against the redhead never happened.  The Bengals surprised the Bills to win a defensive struggle, 23-20.  Fred Jackson led the Bills offense with 22 touches for 98 yards and a TD, that was the only part of the offense that was working.  Ryan Fitzpatrick had a lot of trouble completing passes over 10 yards as the average of 5.9 yards per attempt shows.  Safety Bryan Scott was the Bills other bright spot as he had a 43 yard TD interception return.  The Cincinnati defense tightened up in the second half and helped their offense get back into this game.  Cedric Benson kept on getting fed the ball and finished with 19 caries for 104 yards.  Andy Dalton showed more mobility moving around in the pocket.  Dalton threw for a 50% completion rate, almost 300 yards, had a rushing and a passing TD, and threw 2 picks.  He had a busy day also finding AJ Green for 4-118.  Green had a spectacular 58 yard catch that no one can make and Jermaine Gresham helped the cause with a beautiful TD catch, receiving 4 for 70 on 7 targets.

Micheal Vick had a game for the ages, but that wasn’t enough for the “Dream Team” to find a victory at home.  Vick was a fantasy monster finishing with 416 passing yards, throwing for 2 TDs, and adding 8 carries for 75 yards on the ground.  DeSean Jackson had 6 receptions for 171 yards and missed out on a couple of TD receptions.  Jeremy Maclin had 11 targets, while catching 7 for 74 and had a big fumble with 2:06 left in the game.  The Philly TE situation is unsettling as backup Clay Harbor caught all three of his targets for 55 yards and a TD, while starter Brent Celek caught 1 for 2 yards on 4 targets.  Backup Ronnie Brown made the boneheaded play of the week by throwing the ball up as he was getting tackled at the 2.  San Francisco recovered and that was 3 points they didn’t get back.  LeSean McCoy had 15 touches for 52 yards and a TD, if you didn’t have him in PPR, it wasn’t that good.  Alex Smith was serviceable with 291 yards and 2 passing TDs.  Rookie Kendall Hunter got the start and ended up with 100 yards on 11 touches, but this may have been a motivational ploy on Frank Gore.  Gore finished with 17 touches for 139 yards and a TD, playing the closer to run the game out.  I usually leave the kicker talk out, but going a combined 4 for 8 on field goals is horrible.

The ball control approach vs. the throw 46 times approach was on display in this game.  There was a different coach on the ball control side than expected, Mike Martz, who knew?  Matt Forte did his best impression of HOF great Walter Payton while running for 205 yards on 25 carries and a TD against a putrid Carolina front seven.  Jay Cutler wasn’t really needed (102 passing yards) as Chicago’s defense and special teams kept them in the game, so Forte could be leaned on almost exclusively.  #1 draft pick Cam Newton kept the mystique alive passing for 27-46 for 374 yards 1 TD and 1 interception.  Newton also called his own number twice near the goal line rushing 8 for 35 yards and 2 TDs on the ground.  He still seems to have an unhealthy obsession with Steve Smith throwing at him 10 times, completing 8 for 181 yards.  DeAngelo Williams finally showed some life finishing with 10 rushes for 82 yards (some of those via the wildcat).  Greg Olsen aided with 5 receptions for 50 yards and a TD.

The Redskins jumped on the Rams early and almost let the game slip out of their fingers.  Tim Hightower started the game doing what he does, taking what the defense gave him and that wasn’t much.  Rookie Roy Helu jumped in and ran with some good wiggle, but what no one expected was the return of Ryan Torain.  Torain ran straight ahead with a locomotive’s blunt force and ended the day with 19 carries for 135 hard fought yards and a TD.  Rex Grossman is still throwing at spots, not receivers.  He struggles with leading his receivers and his 2 interceptions on the day, could have been 4.  Jabaar Gaffney was highly effective catching all 4 targets for 62 yards.  John Beck your time is coming.  The Washington front seven dominated the Rams offensive line by getting 7 sacks and 7 tackles for loss.  Sam Bradford needs help in the worst way as he finished with 20-43 attempts for 164 yards and 1 TD, averaging only 3.8 yards per attempt.  Can you say sophmore slump and when will Danny Amendola and Mark Clayton be back?

In the battle of two diminutive RBs, Darren “Mr. Electric” Sproles won with 12 touches for 131 yards and of course the game over MJD and the Jags.  The Jaguars did not feed MJD early; however, he finished with 11 carries for 84 yards.  Rookie Blaine Gabbert had a rough day.  He completed 38% of his passes for 196 yards with a TD and an interception.  Gabbert appeared very rushed with the majority of his throws and did not give the receivers a chance to get open.  This game was mostly the Drew Brees to Jimmy Graham show.  Graham caught 10 catches for 132 yards and a short TD.  Brees completed over 70% of his passes and finished with 351 yards.  Rookie Mark Ingram had another mediocre day with 19 touches for 58 yards.  I would like to note that the Saints faked two goal line plays to Ingram with the before mentioned TD catch to Graham and a full back carry for a TD.

The Dolphins did their best to keep up with the Chargers, but many roadblocks got in their way.  Chad Henne injured his non-throwing shoulder in the 1st quarter and journeyman Matt Moore came in.  Reggie Bush had 65 yards on his 15 touches and Brandon Marshall caught 5 for 52 yards.  Both players left a lot of plays on the field, as Marshall look lackadaisical out there.  The Miami offense had less than 250 net yards of offense (the intensity left as Henne and Daniel Thomas weren’t there).  Philip Rivers threw for 307 yards, a TD, and completed 67% of his passes.  The TD was a 55-yard bomb to Vincent Jackson, who fell down and then got back up.  Jackson had a 108 yard day on 3 receptions.  I liked what little I saw of rookie Vincent Brown who had 2 catches for 26 yards, which was the same stat line of Malcolm Floyd.  Ryan Matthews continued to excel by adding 149 yards on 21 touches.

Talk about doomed if you do, doomed if you don’t.  The Broncos didn’t have a chance against the mighty World Champion Packers; however, they did not go down without a fight.  Willis McGahee did most of his damage on the ground with 113 yards on 17 touches. Brandon Lloyd came back from injury with a vengance catching 8 for 136 yards.  Eric Decker once again came thru for fantasy owners with 5 receptions for 56 yards and 2 TDs on 10 targets. Packers Charles Woodson had a pick six by under cutting Decker after Kyle Orton starred Decker down.  If Orton would have been more accurate, Decker would have had at minimum 3 more receptions.  Orton had 273 yards passing, 3 TDs, and 3 picks.  He couldn’t take full advantage of a beautiful flea flicker to hit Lloyd for a TD as the Broncos had to settle for a big gain instead, due to his underthrown ball.  Tim Tebow had one Wyld Stallyns carry for -1 yards or was that Bill and Ted’s excellent adventure?   On the other side,  Aaron Rodgers had the excellent fortune to play against the halpless Broncos defense without Champ Bailey.  He finished with, wait for it, 408 yards, a 76% complettion rate, 4 passing TDs, 2 rushing TDs, and 1 interception.  Greg Jennings (7-103-1 TD) and Jordy Nelson (5-91-1 TD) got caught up in the fun, too.  Even rookie Randall Cobb caught 2 passes for 75 yards!

The game that should have been over in the first half went down to the wire, the Seahawks vs. the Falcons.  Michael Turner aka “Mr. Volume” had 28 touches for 88 yards and rumbled in for 2 TDs.  Aging Tony Gonzalez helped keep the ball moving forward including catching Matt Ryan’s only TD pass. Julio Jones was thrown to 17 times.  Yes, much of that has to do with Brandon Browner covering him, however Jones finished with 11 receptions for 127 yards.  Roddy White played more of the possession WR role with his thigh bruise ailing him (6-78 yards).  Ryan completed 66% of his passes for 291 yards and the mentioned TD to Gonzalez.  Tarvaris Jackson had his best game of the season throwing for 319 yards, 3 TDs, and 2 interceptions.  He found Sidney Rice for 3 catches for 79 yards and a TD.  Rookie Doug Baldwin finished with 5 receptions for 84 yards and the forgotten man, Zach Miller, had 3-21 yards on 6 targets.  Most notable was the pass that bounced off Miller’s hands in the end zone that got intercepted.  Don’t worry Zach, one of Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley, or Landry Jones are coming next year.

Now, the Monday Night Football matchup that looked great back in March.  The two most exciting plays of the night started with Curtis Painter, the guy who reminds me of David Spade.  He threw a 87-yard bomb to Pierre Garcon, who tippy-toed himself down the sideline for a score.  Later in the game, Painter and Garcon did it again with a 59-yard score that was almost all Garcon.  Fantasy owners should be happy, but 2 receptions out of 8 targets was not what we had hoped.  Painter was inaccurate for most of the night as he completed 13 of 30 while finishing with 281 yards.  The Bucs played a more ground control game with LaGarrette Blount running well on 25 carries for 127 yards and added a 35 yard TD to win the game.  Josh Freeman wasn’t flashy; however, he got the job done by throwing for 287 yards with a TD.  Freeman also added 6 rushes for 27 yards and a TD on the ground.  Preston Parker (5-70 yards and a TD) and Mike Williams (5-66 yards) both had ok games.  The writing is on the wall that “Tampa” Mike will struggle to match his outstanding numbers from last year.

The Bills vs. the Patriots aka the shootout was only something Bills fans and fantasy owners could enjoy!  Let’s get the interceptions out-of-the-way, there were a total of 6.  It was a tale of two halves.  In the first half, Tom Brady had 3 TDs and 1 interception and in the second half, he had 3 interceptions and 1 TD (386 yards passing total).  The Bills did a good job of shutting down the run game.  Rookie RB Stevan Ridley did manage 7 carries for 44 yards.  The rest of the Pats Keep Reading...]]> Every week during the season, I will throw out some quick observations of the previous NFL week. With the invention of the DVR and Directv’s ”Quick Bits”, I am able to watch almost every snap of every game and give you a lightning “blitz” war “krieg” to bring to your fantasy league for domination. Bring on the games!

The Bills vs. the Patriots aka the shootout was only something Bills fans and fantasy owners could enjoy!  Let’s get the interceptions out-of-the-way, there were a total of 6.  It was a tale of two halves.  In the first half, Tom Brady had 3 TDs and 1 interception and in the second half, he had 3 interceptions and 1 TD (386 yards passing total).  The Bills did a good job of shutting down the run game.  Rookie RB Stevan Ridley did manage 7 carries for 44 yards.  The rest of the Pats running game was non-existent.  The stars of the Pats were Wes Welker with 16 catches for 216 yards and 2 TDs on 20 (yes, I said it) targets, and Rob Gronkowski did not miss a beat, without Hernandez in there,  catching 7 passes for 109 yards and 2 TDs on 8 targets.  The Bills offense was the story after being down by 21 points came roaring back.  Ryan Fitzpatrick had a ho-hum day going 27-40 attempts for 369 yards and 2 TDs.  He overcame two 1st quarter picks.  No name WRs David Nelson (8-84 yards) and Donald Jones (5-101 yards) came thru for their quarterback. Fred Jackson was the heart and soul of this win by rushing 12-74 yards and a TD, then adding 5 receptions for 87 yards and was a knee short of a long TD catch.  The Bills are for real folks.

The classic Packers against the Bears matchup looks more exciting than it was.  The Bears had a lot of trouble moving the ball which their team rushing total of 13 yards on 12 carries will tell you.  Jay Cutler pressured early and often; this led to a not so great day, throwing 20-36 attempts with 2 TDs and 2 interceptions.  His top yardage receiver Johnny Knox went 4 catches for 84 yards, but left a few receptions on the field.  Matt Forte did chip in a respectable 6 catches for 73 yards and rookie Dane Sanzenbacher had a TD with 5 receptions for 27 yards.  This game breathed life into Green Bay old man Ryan Grant, who finished with 17 carries for 92 yards.  Greg Jennings started the game on fire and ended with 9 receptions for 119 yards.  Jermichael Finley had a monster day with 7-85 yards and 3 TDs.  If you had him in a premium scoring for TE league, he might have won you the game almost by himself.  Aaron Rodgers threw for almost 300 yards, 3 TDs and 1 interception.  Enough QB points for any fantasy team to be happy to start.

The Steelers-Colts game ended up being much more exciting than originally thought.  The Colts had no answer for Mike Wallace as he caught an 81 yard touchdown bomb from Ben Roethlisberger.  Wallace finished with 5-144 yards on 7 targets.  Roethlisberger had a decent game going 25-37 attempts for 364 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception.  Big Ben was rattled after the ball was stripped and ran back 50+ yards for a defensive Colts score, and it showed with his interception the very next play.  Rashard Mendenhall had a poor outing with 21 touches for a combined 46 yards, not what fantasy owners were expecting from a poor run defense.  The Colts d-line did a great job pressuring the QB and stuffing the run.  Joseph Addai was a bright spot for Indy’s offense, as he finished with 87 total yards and a short TD run.  QB Curtis Painter came in for an injured and ineffective Kerry Collins.  After a near fatal miss of a wide open Pierce Garcon, Painter rebounded and found rhythm with Garcon (6-82 receiving on 10 targets).  Troy Polamanu also had a fumble return for a short TD.  The Curtis Painter experiment may be upon us now.

In the first battle of rookie signal callers, Cam Newton won the very rainy, sloppy battle.  Blaine Gabbert was on tilt early with a first quarter safety, but ended up rebounding with a 36 yard scoring strike to Mike Thomas with 6 ticks left of the 1^st half.  The story of the Jaguars as always went threw the way of MJD.  He looks to be ready to carry the team on his back.  MJD had 24 rushes for 122 yards and caught 3 passes for 45 yards.  The mighty Cam Newton’s stats took a hit, but he did manage to get the win.  Newton threw for 158 yards completing almost 53% of his passes, while rushing for 27 yards on 7 carries. The Carolina TEs (Jeremy Shockey and Greg Olsen) were the passing game as they combined for 10 catches for 87 yards and Newton’s passing TD. Jonathan Stewart, if not for a pesky elbow, would have almost doubled his 85 yards on 13 touches.  If you took DeAngelo Williams anything higher than a 3^rd back, you are hurting now.

The Texans vs. the Saints was another track meet.  Ben Tate was not as explosive as he was the week before (19-82 rushing) as he was there to just slow down the Saints pass rush.  Matt Schaub looked shaky at times, but finished with 373 yards, completing 56% of his passes while throwing for 3 TDs and 1 interception.  He had a lot of issues in the red zone leaving points, namely TDs, on the field.  Schaub got much of his help from his TEs.  James Casey started with a 62 yard reception and finished with 5 catches for 126 yards and a TD.  Owen Daniels added 5 receptions for 76 yards and a TD.  “Mr. Reliable” Andre Johnson was force-fed the ball 12 times, catching 7 for 128 yards.  It was the week to start Mark Ingram as he got his first TD.  Other than that, Darren Sproles was the electric RB for the Saints by using his 8 touches to get 85 yards and a TD.  Lance Moore returned to his explosive self by catching all 9 of his targets for 88 yards, scoring a TD, and catching two 2 point conversions.  Jimmy Graham had a poor first half, but came roaring back in the second half.  Graham finished with 4 receptions for 100 yards and a TD.  At one point, Graham dragged three defenders towards the end zone and kept going even when his knee was down.  Drew Brees showed amazing poise as he battled back from 2 interceptions to finish with 31-44 attempts for 370 yards and 3 TDs.

This was a steady match-up between the Browns and Dolphins.  Rookie Daniel Thomas was determined to keep his starting job over Reggie Bush.  The workhorse Thomas finished with 122 combined yards on 26 touches and a TD.  Miami Reggie Bush appears to be reverting to the old New Orleans Reggie Bush, including fumbling.  Chad Henne was adequately accurate, but his “robot” mechanics do not inspire.  He has major issues in the red zone without the entire field at his disposal.  Brian Hartline continued to be his deep threat, catching 4 for 87 yards.  Colt McCoy had his struggles during the game completing less than 49% of his passes, but finished with 210 yards in the air and 2 TDs.  Ben Watson (5-64 yards) and Montario Hardesty (17 touches for 86 yards) helped move the ball for the Browns.  Look for Madden cover boy to see less carries with Hardesty running well.  Josh Cribbs made the most of his targets grabbing a beautiful deep TD while finishing with 3-49 yards.  The next question is when will backup QB Matt Moore start seeing time?

In as many weeks, the Minnesota Vikings started off strong and folded in the 2^nd half as a 20-0 half time score was not enough.  Adrian Peterson once again was a monster when he got the ball (21 touches for 97 yards combined and a TD).  The question is why was he only used 21 times?  Percy Harvin was another weapon that was used sparingly (5 touches for 88 combo yards).  For some reason, Michael Jenkins (yes that one) was targeted 11 times and caught 9 for 88 yards.  Donovan McNabb was average at best throwing for 21 yards and a TD.  Rookie Kyle Rudolph caught all 3 of his targets for 39 yards.  On the defensive side, Jared Allen sacked Matthew Stafford 3 times after Stafford had not been sacked his first two games.  Speaking of the Viking defense, they held all Lions runners to 20 yards on 19 carries.  Unfortunately for them, the Vikings couldn’t stop the Lions passing game.  Stafford had a good day passing for 32-46 attempts, 378 yards, and 2 TDs, both to Calvin Johnson.  Johnson was beastly by catching 7 for 108 yards, 2 TDs, and set up the winning field goal in overtime.  Brandon Pettigrew cashed in big by hauling in 11 receptions for 112 yards.  While Jahvid Best was quiet in the running game, he caught 5 passes for 74 yards to help keep the Lions undefeated.

The next game was truly a defensive battle, but more because the offenses stunk.  The Bengals sacked Alex Smith 5 times and 4 of those sacks were from the defensive line that got a lot of pressure on the 49ers.  Speaking of the Bengals, there isn’t much to discuss.  Cedric Benson was pedestrian and rookie Andy Dalton played like the rookie he is.  When Dalton threw the ball, it appeared to never travel more than 5 yards further than the line of scrimmage.  His 157 passing yards and 2 interceptions were not helpful to the Bengals or his fantasy owners, but at least AJ Green caught 4 of his 5 targets for 29 yards.  For the 49ers, Alex Smith when not tormented by the Bengals pass rush, found Vernon Davis 8 times for 114 yards on 9 targets.  I guess Davis’ heart to heart with the head coach paid off.  Frank Gore once again looked outmatched, and rookie Kendall Hunter took some of his thunder, using 11 touches to get 38 yards and a slashing short TD run.

This Rams vs. Ravens game was over seemed like before it started.  It was a welcome to my world for rookie Torrey Smith, who couldn’t catch anything against the Steelers.  However, he dominated with his first 3 NFL receptions that were all for TDs.  Torrey Smith’s 1st catch was a 74 yard TD, his 2nd catch was a 41 yard TD, and his 3rd catch was a 19 yard TD.  He slowed down to finish the day with 5 receptions for 152 yards.  Ray Rice had a great combined yardage day with 162 yards on 13 touches.  Anquan Boldin helped move the offense with 7 catches for 74 yards.  Joe Flacco had a great fantasy day with 27-48 attempts for 389 passing yards with those 3 passing TDs to Smith.  The Ravens decided to shake up Sam Bradford, sacking him 5 times. DT Haloti Ngata had the most fun returning a fumble for a TD!  As the stat line shows, Bradford had little help as he completed 50% of his passes for 166 yards with a TD and an interception.  Brandon Gibson did his best catching 5 passes for 55 yards with a beautiful tippy toes TD grab.  Danario Alexander managed to catch 2 for 28 yards out of 8 passes thrown to him. Way to bail out your QB, Alexander.

It was a sad running day for everyone involved in the Denver/Tennessee game.  Can it get worse is when your starting all-pro RB, Chris Johnson, rushes as much as your punter (21 yards) and it takes him 12 more carries?  I’m going to start calling CJ2K, CJ98 for his 98 yard rushing total for the year.  News got worse for the Titans as Kenny Britt is out for the season due to a knee injury.  Nate Washington has stepped up and finished the day strong catching 8 for 92 yards and a TD.  The old is new Matt Hasselbeck has looked good as he completed 75% of his passes for 311 yards and 2 TDs.   For the Broncos, Willis McGahee had 54 yards on 25 touches, but scored a short TD,  just over 2 yards a touch, ouch.  Eric Decker had the catches with 7, too bad it was only for 48 yards, but was targeted 12 times.  Kyle Orton did his best Jake Delhomme impression throwing 24-39 for 173 yards with 2 TDs and 2 interceptions.  I hear “Timmy, Timmy” chants and they aren’t referring to South Park.

The NFC West battle for the worst team was waged by 2 qualified QBs (Kevin Kolb and Tarvaris Jackson) .  Neither of these should be started unless injury or bye week emergency.  The return of Sidney Rice went well as he finished with 8-109 on 10 targets and Marshawn Lynch had a decent day with 75 yards on 20 touches.  Larry Fitzgerald, who is happy to be targeted by a real NFL QB, went 5-64 yards with an outstanding TD between two defenders.  Todd Heap was a major part of the offense and finished with 6-61 yards.  This was another ugly, sloppy game.

The Raiders-Jets game went the way only Oakland fans dreamt it would go.  Darren McFadden ran all over the Jets.  It only took him 19 carries, but he managed to run for 171 yards and 2 TDs.  Rookie WR sensation Denarius Moore slowed down with 4-34 yards in the air, but added a 23 yard TD reverse.  Jason Campbell only had to complete 66% of his passes for 156 yards to seal the win.  Mark Sanchez tried to take the game on his shoulders, 27-43-369 yards passing and threw for 2 TDs and 1 interception.  Dustin Keller helped his totals with 5 receptions for 87 yards.  Both Jets running backs were helpful on the ground and in the air.  LaDainian Tomlinson had  6-38 rushing and 5-116 receiving with a TD.  Shonn Greene had 15-59 rushing and caught 7 for 47.  At least we know now, Greene can catch.

This might be the beginning of the end for Michael Turner.  He finished with 11 carries for 20 yards against a Bucs team that could be run on.  Matt Ryan threw 26-47-330 yards with a TD and an interception.  Rookie Julio Jones stepped up with 6 catches for 115 yards on 7 targets.  While teammate Roddy White was targeted 17 times, White finished with 9 receptions for 140 yards, but had 2 crucial drops on the Falcons final drive.  LaGarrette Blount did the heavy lifting for the Bucs as he had 26 touches for 94 yards.  Rookie TE Luke Stocker showed up with 2 catches for 33 yards and Josh Freeman struggled at times in the air throwing 2 interceptions.  Freeman did scramble for 35 yards and a TD run.  The sophomore slump continued with Mike Williams who caught 5-43 yards out of 8 targets.  This is what the Falcons offense looks on tilt.

If you watch MNF to see field goals, you were not disappointed to see 9 total for the game.  For the Redskins, Rex Grossman looked adequate for most of the game with his 250 yards passing with a TD and an interception.   Grossman could have thrown another 2 picks and did fumble to end the Redskins final drive.  Fred Davis had a let down game with 1 catch for 23 yards while Chris Cooley stepped up with 4 catches for 41 yards.  Both Santana Moss (5-70 yards) and Tim Hightower (14-41 rushing, 5-39 receiving and a TD) did their best to help Washington move the ball.  Tony Romo looked like he needed the extra week of rest.  He got the win, but he had major issues holding  the ball.  Felix Jones accounted for a bulk of the Cowboys offense, finishing with 155 combined yards on 17 touches.  Dez Bryant, who also didn’t look healthy, caught all four of his targets for 63 yards.  Jason Witten struggled early, but bounced back with 6 receptions for 60 yards.