Week 6 sure had me fooled. The Texans showed why people liked them in the preseason. Baltimore’s defense is a good match up for your fantasy players. The Raiders shut down the second-ranked offense. To top it all off, as soon as I show Seattle some love, they go right back to being bad. Read MoreMatt Forte’s stats are down and his owner in one of my league’s just shipped him off and stated he would have taken a box of crackerjacks in return for the struggling running back. This led to me to thinking about something I tend to do every year: digging in on players.
I toe the dirt on guys, unwilling to give up on them. We’ve all been there and I am there on Matt Forte. I’m not going to say he is a HUGE buy low but his price is likely so low that a modest improvement would result in a net gain for your fantasy squad. Ship him away if you like but I’m filing Forte under the “Weather” column-a growing list of players I am expecting to benefit from anticipated poorer weather conditions.
While we are on the weather, how about Tom Brady? Nobody is shocked if you’ve been following along with the Titans this season, but as a Brady owner in a competitive league I was more than happy to see him rack up the points. On the other side of the field, the Titans team of 2009 doesn’t share any characteristics of the 2008 group. I recommended adding LenDale White early this season and he is still on my “weather list” but he should be a free agent in leagues with 10 teams or less. Actually, he is droppable in 12 team leagues right now! I’d try to give him another week or two but I could be wrong on White this year.
Brandon Marshall’s fantasy production last night is exactly the reason why I consider him a WR2 for the 2009 season. The guy is good and he does great things when he catches the ball-see week 5. However, he does not get WR1 targets and therefore his receptions are going to be fairly “typical” wide receiver. When he doesn’t turn those 4-6 receptions into touchdowns you are left with 50-75 yards and an average fantasy score. The supposed discounted price you paid preseason is looking more like an appropriate price to me.
Are you kidding me Philadelphia? The Oakland Raiders? They not only scored but they prevented someone else from scoring? I didn’t watch the game but read a line in yesterday’s USA Today stating that the Eagles were “the first team in three years to fail to score a touchdown against the Raiders.” Can’t say I saw that one coming.
Over the weekend I was asked which Green Bay WR would I want to own for the rest of the season. Driver has been pretty consistent but Jennings is getting better every week. Given the choice I’d rather have Jennings. We know Jennings can be a WR1 and improvements in each of the last two weeks are enough to keep me optimistic.
Two more things of interest devloping in the NFL this year are the string of games on Atlanta's schedule against teams coming off a bye week and the number of winless teams Washington has faced. The latter has shown Washington to be a bad team. Will the former prove the Falcons are a solid team? You betchya. It's hard enough winning in the NFL, but when the cards are stacked against you the margin for error isn't just small, it doesn't exist.
Bears Corner
I gave the Bears a 50% chance of winning coming into the game. After the first half it was clear they could win this game and yet turnover after turnover after turnover my hopes dwindled. The team needs to upgrade it’s run blocking by any means necessary or Chicago fans will have as many inches of snow on the ground as their football tam has losses. Another road game they should have won. Is it me or does it smell like 8-8 in here?
BOXCAR Football updates are also available on RSS and Twitter!
