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Sideshow's Gridiron Grumblings
Wednesday, August 15. 2007The Article Formerly Known as "Tuesday Morning Overreactions"
It's back..........
No not the NFL, although it too made it glorious return this past weekend with preseason action, and is now less than a month away from the real things. What I'm referring to is the return, after an almost two year hiatus of Tuesday Morning Overreactions. also known as Sideshow's extremely wordy ramblings on the greatest sport known to man. However there is going to be a couple changes. First off the name. This column never became what I had originally envisioned when I named it Tuesday Morning Overreactions, and truth be told I never liked that name. So I'm going to rename it. Haven't thought of what yet, and "Sideshow's extremely wordy ramblings on the greatest sport known to man" seems a bit too long. So any ideas are definitely welcome. Secondly, and this also goes with the name change, I no longer promise it to be on Tuesday's. Last time I ran this it started coming out closer to Wednesday and Thursday, and Having an article name Tuesday Morning Overreactions is a lot like having College Students going to school on a bus that promotes it's new routes with the phrase "Easier, Faster, Oftener" (Thanks UTA), there's just something not quite right about it. Finally some things worked a couple seasons ago, some things didn't. So I'm going to keep some sections and lose some sections. With that out of the way My Attempt on owning all 15 of the wordiest articles on this blog is now underway. Since the preseason is just one week old and I'm preparing for my fantasy draft this year, I'm going to start with the first ever TAFKaTMO(The Article Fomerly Known as Tuesday Morning Overreactons) fantasy football article.
As some know my scoring system is very similar to the generally excepted scoring format with one major exception. I don't believe that QB's should dictate the a game. A Great QB Should be a major force, but a winning team should be more than a Great QB and a bunch of Scrubs. While 40 pt. QB games are acceptable they should be the exception not the rule. The rest of your teams performance should also have an effect. So instead of the normal 6 pts for a passing TD I like to give 4, with a 3 point penalty for INT's. Also this season giving 8pts for a Defensive/Special Teams return TD. Keys to success While the QB is the Glamour position in the NFL, in FFL it's all about the RB's. Especially as today's NFL Offenses have expected RB's to do more than just tote the Rock. A Good RB will get you lots of points Running the ball, some points receiving the ball, and the occasional TD Pass to boot. While you want a good QB there's a reason that the majority of drafts will only have 1 QB go in the first round. Once you have your stud RB selected, now it's time to worry about the rest of the team. Obviously right behind RB's in the pecking order are QB's. Followed, by WR's. WR's are actually quite a distance behind. WR's are such an irratic position that even the best WR's in the game can barely be counted on for double digit points. Usually if I can get one really good WR's. I'm happy playing the Waiver Wire the rest of the year, to make sure I have at least 2 average to above average WR's. While it may seem that I downplay the importance of a QB, I'm not. You don't need one good QB to be successful. You need two. And if you're really lucky get 3 or 4. Of course if you are getting 4 really good QB's don't worry too much, the rest of your league isn't smart enough to be much of a threat. Of course nowadays there's the Really good QB's in the NFL, and then there are a pack of about half the league that are very similar. Don't panic too early to get your backup QB, but don't wait too long either. One point to remember is that a successful NFL QB does not always equate to a successful FFL QB, and vice versa. Actually that goes for all players. Remember TD's get you more points than yards. 1 TD and 40 yards from a RB/WR/TE is equal 100 yards. So that player who may not get the rock all the time, but still ends up scoring TD's is worth grabbing. Especially in the later rounds. It's also why Barry Sanders was never a huge fantasy stud. He could get the yards, but Wayne Fontes, stupidly, had a knack for not feeding him the rock in the Red Zone. So unless he was breaking them from 20 or farther out, he wasn't getting many td's. Players to look out for So LaDanian Tomlinson had one of the greatest fantasy seasons ever last year, and will probably be the #1 overall draft pick in 98% of all drafts. And honestly it's probably a safe bet. New Head Coach Norv Turner likes to run. And even better he likes to run in the red zone. LDT might not put up the monster numbers he had last year, but on the same token I wouldn't be surprised if he did. Meanwhile in Kansas City Larry Johnson is projected by most as the 5th pick in drafts. That picks is about 70 picks too high. Larry Johnson, has been a solid Fantasy contributor the last two years. Two seasons ago he was a Fantasy savior to anyone who picked him up midseason. However he is this season's fantasy ticking time bomb just waiting to wreck some team who takes him in the first round. Why? Well for starters he carried the rock about 40 kajillion times last season. It's amazing his legs didn't fall off. Okay so the actual number was 410, but consider two things. First, that number is about 80 more rushes than his previous career high in rushes, and second, that number led the league, by 78 rushes. If it was really a good thing to run your RB that much don't you think more teams would do it? And then to top it all off, Johnson is holding out from training camp, so might be a bit rusty. About the only thing Johnson that went well for LJ this offseason is that he didn't become the Madden cover athlete. For about 3 seasons now people have been proclaiming the fantasy breakout of Drew Bennett. Although they kept forgetting one thing. His QB Was Steve McNair, and then Last year Vince Young. How many WR's have had amazing Fantasy seasons with those two QB's. Here let me start counting...... ... Done. That's right 0. This year however Bennett is a member of the Former Greatest Show on Turf. And although he may be the 3rd WR's behind Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce, Bennett will be a major weapon as the slot man. Remember my comment to the guy who doesn't necessarily get a lot of yards but gets TD. That corollary will come into play here. Last season saw 3 freshman RB's not named Reggie Bush make good contributions to fantasy rosters. Indy's Joseph Addai, Patriots Lawrence Marouney, and Jacksonville's Maurice Jones-Drew. So which one should you go with this year? Well Addai was part of a platoon system last year, but now that Dominic Rhodes (Who should have been Super Bowl MVP) has left Indianapolis the load falls completely on Addai's shoulders. It's a different thing going from one of the men, to the man. Though I think Addai will adjust he'll have a slow start before coming on. He's the second choice of this group. Marouney started to fade at the end of last year, and was nagged by a couple minor tweaks. Add into the fact that the Patriots went WR hungry this past season, and Brady actually has a couple of these WR things called weapons, and Marouney's production will probably dip a bit. I'd pick him 3rd. Over in Jacksonville Fred Taylor stayed healthy all season. There is no way that will happen again. Maurice Jones-Drew was the best of the 3 RB's last year, and should have been 2nd in the Rookie of the Year Voting, behind Devin Hester of Chicago. Jones-Drew will be better in his second season and will be a solid RB for years to come. Top 5 Fantasy Players 1. LaDanian Tomlinson - Not much more to say 2. Stephen Jackson - Has set a personal goal of 2500 all purpose yards this season, and could very well accomplish it. 3. Frank Gore - Don't let that broken hand scare you. Gore will still be a force to reckon with. 4. Shaun Alexander - After an injury plagued season, should be back into form. 5. Peyton Manning - Feels about a million time lighter after killing a certain monkey. 5 Fantasy Players to Avoid 1. Larry Johnson - Or what will be left of him. 2. Willie Parker - He'll be a decent pick up, but most drafts have him going in the first round. That's a bit early. 3. Marques Colston - The biggest surprise of N.O.'s breakout season last year. Saints will come back to earth a bit this year, and his play will drop off. 4. Brian Westbrook - This generations Fred Taylor. Actually managed to stay healthy last year. Won't happen again. 5. Cedric Benson - Now that Thomas Jones is gone he's the main man in Chicago. Sucks to be a Bears fan. 4 Fantasy Names You Might Want to Remember 1. Travis Henry - A good running back in both Buffalo and Tennessee. Now he gets to run behind Denver's Line. 2. Jamal Lewis - A Year off prison food. Renewed life in Cleveland. And Cleveland spent a boatload of money on their OL. Besides it's not like Cleveland will be able to pass the ball. 3. Marion Barber III - Julius Jones has begun to dissapoint, and last year Barber picked up the slack. Look for it to happen a lot more this season. 4. Joey Harrington - Mike Vick is in the dog house with the feds. Bobby Petrino likes a high flying offense. Harrington will be this year's Jon Kitna of a QB who's stats aren't that great but scores a lot of fantasy points. And Finally Enjoy fantasy football. Next week the return of rankings and my season predictions. Trackbacks
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The Mad Giggler on :
Sideshow's Gridiron Grumblings
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I'd like to see you write a better one.
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