Month: November 2010 (Page 3 of 55)

      Waiver Wire Watch, Week 13: Where we have to talk Frank Gore owners off the ledge

      November 30, 2010 /

      It’s Week 13, which means we’re in crunch time in most fantasy leagues. If your roster is a mess, there’s not much we can do at this point, but if you need a win this week to make the postseason, there may be a player or two who can help.

      I use the ESPN league data when filtering players, so the only guys eligible for discussion here are those that are available on the waiver wire in at least 40% of ESPN’s leagues. I’ll list each player’s percentage-owned after their name so you have an idea of how available they are in leagues around the country. I’ll always try to mention a few players that are available in 90% of leagues for those of you in 12-team leagues or leagues with big rosters. I’ll rank them in the order I’d pick them up in a league with a high-performance scoring system.

      Please note that these rankings are for total value through the end of the year. Players with particularly good matchups this week are in bold.

      Josh Freeman (56.6)
      If you’re looking for a solid QB to run out there every week the rest of the way, Freeman is your guy. He has two solid matchups (ATL, DET) and two good matchups (WAS, SEA) the rest of the way, so he should be able to give you borderline QB1 numbers over the final month of the fantasy season. His somewhat Week 12 outing against the Ravens marked only the second time all season that he didn’t throw for at least 212 yards or toss two TDs.

      Ryan Fitzpatrick (33.4)
      The Bills have that Bad News Bears feel about them. I find myself rooting for Buffalo every week. He finished with decent numbers (265 yards, TD, INT) in a terrible matchup, and would have had 300+ and 2 TDs if not for Stevie Johnson’s dropped TD in overtime. The matchup this week isn’t great (@MIN), but Fitzy is still a solid start. I love him in W14 and W16 against the Browns and Patriots, respectively.

      Jon Kitna (13.9)
      I wouldn’t want to start him this week against an angry Colts’ defense, but his W15 (WAS) and W16 (@ARI) matchups are great, and in W14 he faces an Eagles defense that just got torched by Jay Cutler.

      Matt Cassel (49.5)
      He may not be the greatest QB in the world, but he’s taking full advantage of Dwayne Bowe’s ascendancy to stud status, tossing 12 TDs in the last four games. With Denver’s lowly pass defense up next, he’s a great pickup this week, though things get tougher in W14 against the Chargers.

      Sam Bradford (30.6)
      I watched quite a bit of the STL/DEN game, and Bradford is cool, calm and collected, especially for a rookie. I’m waiting for one of those nightmare games, but it just hasn’t come. His last ‘bad’ game was in Week 5 against the Lions (215 yards, 2 INTs), but other than that, he has thrown at least one TD in every game and has tossed five TDs in the last two weeks. He has a great matchup with ARI this week and is startable the rest of the way outside of a W14 date with the Saints.

      David Garrard (47.3)
      It wasn’t pretty through the air in a terrible matchup, but Garrard had a brilliant TD run to save an otherwise forgettable fantasy day. The Titans aren’t a great matchup, so Garrard is just a mediocre start this week. He has nice matchups in W14 (OAK) and W16 (WAS), however.

      Chad Henne (47.7)
      Henne had a nice outing (307 yards, 2 TDs, INT) in a good matchup against the Raiders, and should find more success through the air this week against the Browns. In fact, the rest of his schedule is pretty nice, outside of a W14 road trip to face the Jets.

      Matt Hasselbeck (14.1)
      I don’t like his matchup this week (CAR), but otherwise, Hasselbeck has decent matchups to close the season.

      Jason Campbell (6.6)
      It looks like Bruce Gradkowski is out again, so Campbell should take over. His matchup this week is poor, but things ease up in W14 (@JAX) and W15 (DEN).

      Derek Anderson (3.7)
      Troy Smith (4.7)
      Jake Delhomme (1.2)
      Jimmy Clausen (0.9)
      If you are in a situation where you’re considering picking up any of these guys, I feel for you. I really do.

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, Fantasy Football, NFL

      Bill Cowher: Broncos’ video taper didn’t act independently

      November 29, 2010 /
      LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 29: Head coach of the Denver Broncos Josh McDaniels speaks to the media during a press conference prior to the start of a team training session at The Brit Oval on October 29, 2010 in London, England. The Denver Broncos will play the San Francisco 49ers at Wembley Stadium on October 31. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

      Bill Cowher isn’t buying that Broncos’ video director Steve Scarnecchia acted alone in taping one of the 49ers’ walk-through practices when the two teams played in London a couple of weeks ago.

      From USA Today:

      “I know they say he acted independently. I don’t agree with that,” Cowher said on “The NFL Today”, “because I think in every room, in every building, the dynamics, you always have to answer to a superior. I have a hard time believing this was done independently.”

      Fellow CBS analyst Boomer Esiason added that the illegal recording — the latest problem in the Broncos’ 11-15 start of the McDaniels era — threw the coach’s future into doubt.

      “You put that on the fact they’re 5-15 the last 20, the fact Josh McDaniels got rid of (Jay) Cutler, (Brandon) Marshall, (Tony) Sheffler and (Peyton) Hillis, also got blown out at home by the Oakland Raiders, and on top of that drafted Tim Tebow in the first round, you really have to question the decision making of one Josh McDaniels.”

      I wrote this when this story first broke:

      What are the chances that the Broncos blame Scarnecchia for the entire thing? “Oh, we didn’t know he was doing that. He acted on his own. Dude has always been crazy. We almost had to fire him for stealing printers, so yeah, it figures that he would do something like this.”

      I’m not surprised that the Broncos said Scarnecchia acted alone and I highly doubt that McDaniels and the rest of that coaching staff didn’t know exactly what was going on. Why would Scarnecchia video tape another team’s practice if it wasn’t intended to cheat for his team? Unless the man has some weird obsession about video tapping other teams as a personal hobby, everyone knows exactly what Scarnecchia was doing – including McDaniels.

      Esiason brings up a great point, too. When you look at his entire body of work up to this point, McDaniels doesn’t have a very impressive track record in Denver in terms of making good decisions. That Hillis trade will go down as the worst of the offseason – if not the worst of the past couple of offseasons.

      The only thing that will save McDaniels’ job now and in the future is to win. And he better start doing that soon.

      External Sports, NFL

      What would a college football playoff look like this year?

      November 29, 2010 /
      Oct 21, 2010; Eugene, OR, USA; Fans of the Oregon Ducks cheer during the game against the UCLA Bruins at Autzen Stadium. Photo via Newscom

      Last year, I ran a series of posts examining how a college football playoff system might look. I’m getting a late start this year, but it might be for the best since the rankings are more settled.

      Here are my assumptions:

      1. The six BCS-conference champs get an automatic bid unless they are ranked outside the top 15. There would need to be some sort of ranking system used. For now, we will use the BCS. I’d rather do a straight #1-#8 seeding based on the rankings, but in order for a playoff to get implemented the big conferences would need some preferential treatment. That’s just the way it is and we all know it.

      2. If a conference champ is ranked lower than #15 in the rankings, they give up their automatic bid and it becomes an at-large bid. (This rule is to ensure that the regular season keeps its meaning and only the elite teams make the playoffs.)

      3. If a conference champ is ranked behind a non-BCS school, and have a head-to-head loss to that team, then they give up their playoff bid to that team. This is the “I Drink Your Milkshake!” rule.

      4. Seeds and at-large bids are distributed based on the current BCS standings. Certainly, these rankings need to be tweaked to place more of an emphasis on head-to-head matchups, but they are fine for now. If an at-large team has a better BCS ranking than a conference champion, they will get a higher seed.

      5. There will be three rounds of playoffs. The first round will be held at the home stadium of the higher-seeded team. The semifinals and the final will rotate amongst the four BCS cities (Miami, Pasadena, Tempe and New Orleans), so that those cities don’t lose the revenue from the bowl games.

      So here is how an eight-team playoff would look at this point…

      Continue reading »

      College Football, External Sports

      Andre Johnson doesn’t deserve to be suspended for fight with Finnegan

      November 29, 2010 /

      It appears as though Andre Johnson won’t be suspended by the NFL for fighting Tennessee cornerback Cortland Finnegan on Sunday. Nor should he be.

      Finnegan has a reputation for being a dirty player and has already been warned by the league that another finable offense could lead to a suspension. I would consider shoving a forearm into a receiver and instigating a fight would fall under the category of “finable.”

      Let’s be clear here: Johnson was wrong. While he has every right to defend himself, there was no reason for him to throw any punches. His emotions got the best of him and he allowed Finnegan to get under his skin. There were a lot of people who cheered his actions on Sunday, but the bottom line is that there were children in the stands and there’s just no place in the game for players taking swings at each other. Look at the video below. An adult may throw out a bunch of “oohs” and “ahs” but this isn’t boxing. Smaller children don’t need to see that at a football game.

      That said, Finnegan, for lack of a better word, is a punk. Right before he jabbed Johnson in the mouth, he reportedly looked towards the Texans’ sidelines and said, “Watch this.” If that report is true, then his actions were premeditated (look at me breaking out the lawyer speak) and therefore he should be suspended.

      But Johnson? No way. Fine him, yes. Suspend him, no. He doesn’t have a history of incidents and if the league wants to get to the root of the issue in this case, it’s Finnegan’s actions.

      Suspend him.

      External Sports, NFL

      Could Derek Jeter wind up with the Giants next year?

      November 29, 2010 /
      August 13, 2010: Shortstop Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees during a game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

      I don’t think Derek Jeter will wind up in anything but pinstripes next season. Part of me thinks that the squabbling between him, his agent and the Yankees is all for publicity purposes.

      When it comes down to it, the Yankees are a billon dollar cooperation. And seeing as how they took a backseat to the Rangers and Giants in 2010, what better way to get themselves back into the spotlight than to have their GM battle their captain in the news? To suggest the Brian Cashman v. Jeter feud is all about attention might be a little shrewd on my part, but would you put it past the Bombers for concocting such a scenario?

      But for a moment, let’s assume that the contract talks between Jeter and the Yankees really are heading downhill. Let’s assume that the Yankees won’t budge from their original offer of three years and $40 million and that Jeter’s camp really is crazy enough to think that any team is going to fork over $22 million a year for an aging shortstop with declining skills.

      Could Jeter really wind up in the National League playing for the current World Champions?

      The shoe certainly fits. The Giants need a shortstop and after their most hated rivals scooped up Juan Uribe on Monday, their options at the position are getting fewer by the day (unless they’re absolutely in love with the idea of bringing back Edgar Renteria, committing full-time to youngster Manny Burriss or signing 97-year-old Miguel Tejada). Jeter, who is represented by the same agent (Casey Close) as catcher Buster Posey, would have an opportunity to play for a contender in a decent sized market if he were to sign with San Francisco. He was also scouted by current Giants GM Brian Sabean, who was with the Yankees when the club drafted him in 1992. Sabean also doesn’t mind overpaying for players, much like he’s done with Barry Zito, Aaron Rowand and Renteria in recent years.

      If all of this seems rather convenient, it’s probably because it is. I can’t imagine Jeter playing for any other team besides the Yankees and there’s good probability that the two sides will agree to a new deal by the end of the year.

      But if you’re looking for a dark horse in this race, it has to be the Giants.

      External Sports, MLB

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