Most of Week 7 is in the books, and several big names put up even bigger numbers. Peyton went apeshit on the Redskins, Hines carved up the Falcons, while LJ ran roughshod over the Chargers. But enough with the tease, let’s get to this week’s Headliners and Flatliners.
HEADLINERS
Peyton Manning (342 yards, 4 TD)
After a fairly quiet first half, Manning exploded in the second, throwing two touchdown passes to Marvin Harrison and one to Reggie Wayne. He did this despite taking a nasty hit in the first half where his back was bent the wrong way and his helmet got knocked off. Maybe he will be the one to eventually break Brett Favre’s consecutive game streak.
Honorable Mention: Michael Vick (232 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT, 40 rush yards), Jon Kitna (269 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT), Ben Roetlisberger (238 yards, 3 TD), Donovan McNabb (303 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT, 76 rush yards), Joey Harrington (414 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT)
Larry Johnson (30 touches, 161 yards, 2 TD)
It’s tempting to give this award to Westbrook, but LJ had the slightly bigger day with the two touchdown runs. There has been a lot of talk about about the Chiefs’ offensive line, but they played well today against a tough Chargers rush defense.
Honorable Mention: Brian Westbrook (20 touches, 214 yards, 1 TD), Chester Taylor (30 touches, 188 yards, 1 TD), Leon Washington (21 touches, 137 yards, 2 TD), LaDainian Tomlinson (21 touches, 138 yards, 1 TD, 1 pass TD), Kevin Jones (21 touches, 143 yards, 1 TD), Tatum Bell (26 touches, 126 yards, 1 TD), Ahman Green (18 touches, 118 yards, 1 TD), Wali Lundy (23 touches, 108 yards, 1 TD), Corey Dillon (14 touches, 47 yards, 2 TD)
Hines Ward (8 rec, 171 yards, 3 TD)
Ward had by far the best day of any wide receiver, torching a normally stout Falcons secondary en route to a career day. On a personal note, I played against Ward in three of my four fantasy leagues. (Ouch!)
Honorable Mention: Darrell Jackson (7 rec, 136 yards, 1 TD), Marvin Harrison (7 rec, 73 yards, 2 TD), Randy Moss (7 rec, 129 yards, 1 TD), Reggie Wayne (7 rec, 122 yards, 1 TD), Mike Furrey (9 rec, 109 yards, 1 TD), Marty Booker (7 rec, 110 yards, 1 TD), Andre Johnson (8 rec, 106 yards, 1 TD), Donald Driver (10 rec, 93 yards, 1 TD), Steve Smith (8 rec, 126 yards)
Alge Crumpler (6 rec, 117 yards, 3 TD)
Mike Vick threw four TD on the day, three of them to his favorite target – Crumpler. Vick has been in the press a lot the last couple of weeks, grumbling about his offensive system and his receivers, but Alge stepped up today.
Honorable Mention: Antonio Gates (9 rec, 63 yards, 1 TD), Tony Gonzalez (6 rec, 138 yards), Chris Cooley (4 rec, 42 yards, 1 TD)
FLATLINERS
Matt Leinart (203 yards, 2 INT)
Given his matchup, many fantasy owners were counting on Leinart this week, but he and the rest of the Cardinals offense still look hungover from the debacle last Monday night. He’s a rookie and is going to have some ups and downs – today was definitely a “down.”
Dishonorable Mention: Byron Leftwich (125 yards), Bruce Gradkowski (104 yards), J.P. Losman (193 yards, 1 INT)
LaMont Jordan (0 touches, 0 yards)
Leading up to the game, it looked like Jordan was going to play, but he ended up sitting and hamstrung fantasy owners in the process. Maroney’s performance against a bad Bills rush defense wasn’t good either.
Dishonorable Mention: Laurence Maroney (9 touches, 30 yards), Edgerrin James (14 touches, 38 yards), Willie Parker (20 touches, 47 yards), Maurice Morris (19 touches, 58 yards), Reuben Droughns (16 touches, 60 yards), Clinton Portis (14 touches, 64 yards), DeShaun Foster (16 touches, 79 yards)
Joey Galloway (0 rec, 0 yards)
Galloway did play, but you wouldn’t know if from his stat line. Gradkowski is a rookie and will struggle, so expect some inconsistent games from Galloway and Michael Clayton.
Dishonorable Mention: Lee Evans (1 rec, 11 yards), Braylon Edwards (2 rec, 6 yards), Greg Jennings (1 rec, 14 yards), Santana Moss (3 rec, 20 yards), Chris Chambers (2 rec, 29 yards), Laveranues Coles (4 rec, 29 yards)
Kellen Winslow (3 rec, 34 yards)
Winslow was one of the top fantasy TEs heading into the game, but the Denver defense was smothering, and the Browns’ offense never really got on track.
Dishonorable Mention: L.J. Smith (4 rec, 38 yards), Alex Smith (1 rec, 6 yards)
