Category: Fantasy Football (Page 167 of 324)

Titans remain undefeated after topping Packers in OT

Kerry CollinsThe Tennessee Titans might be the most boring team in the NFL. But they’re also the best team in the NFL and remain undefeated on the season after beating the Green Bay Packers 19-16 in overtime at LP Field on Sunday.

As been the case all season, you look at the Titans’ game stats and nothing stands out. Kerry Collins only threw for 180 yards and zero touchdowns, but he also didn’t throw an interception. Rookie Chris Johnson scored a touchdown, but finished with a relatively quiet 89 yards on 24 carries. Tennessee’s defense allowed Aaron Rodgers to throw for 314 yards but only gave up 16 points and forced three turnovers.

This is exactly the way things have been all season for the Titans. This isn’t a flashy team and they’re not very impressive, but the bottom line is they get things done. They’ve also had to scratch and claw for every win this season because every week they’re in tight ballgames. But that will only serve them down the road when they get into dogfights late into the year and in the playoffs.

Almost every team in the NFL can match up with the Titans on paper. But as their record indicates, no team can figure them out this season.

Bills starting to show their youth

Trent EdwardsThe Buffalo Bills have been one of the more surprising teams this season, so it’s easy to forget how relatively young they still are. But their 26-17 loss to the Jets on Sunday is an example of how the Bills are starting to show their inexperience.

With the Bills up 7-3 early in the first quarter, Darrelle Revis stripped quarterback Trent Edwards, which New York eventually turned into a field goal. Edwards then drove Buffalo into the red zone on their next possession, but his pass intended for Roscoe Parrish was intercepted by A Elam and returned 92-yards for a touchdown.

The Bills never recovered after that as Brett Favre and Thomas Jones expanded on the lead and eventually walked away with a sound victory.

This was the second game in row where Edwards struggled with turnovers and it again cost the Bills a chance to build on their early season success. Edwards is a good young quarterback, but he has lapses in focus and the Bills will go nowhere this year until he stops being so careless with the football. He needs to rely more on the help around him and not try to do too much.

This was an impressive win for the Jets. They survived last week against Kansas City despite Favre’s brutal play and if they continue to get great defensive efforts like they did Sunday, there’s no reason to think that NY can’t continue to compete in the AFC East.

Kyle Orton suffers ankle injury in Bears win over Lions

Kyle OrtonChicago quarterback Kyle Orton was carted off the field at the end of the second quarter in the Bears’ 27-23 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Lions’ defensive end Dewayne White fell on Orton on a scramble and the signal caller’s ankle snapped back awkwardly on the play.

It’s uncertain at this point how long Orton will be out, but the replays didn’t look good. Rex Grossman took over in the second half and threw for 58 yards and a touchdown while also running for a score as well. He wasn’t overly impressive, but he did rally Chicago from a 10-point deficit and allowed them to avoid embarrassment in losing to a winless Detroit team.

If Orton is out for an extended period of time, it would be a huge blow to the Bears’ postseason hopes. Grossman is a liability every time he drops back to pass and while he has shown signs of being an NFL-caliber quarterback, he’s just way too inconsistent to be counted on to lead Chicago to the playoffs, especially with the amount of injuries this team has on defense.

Speaking of Detroit, if they’re looking for a positive, Dan Orlovsky did throw for almost 300 yards and two touchdowns. Of course he did it against a banged up Bears’ secondary and did throw two costly picks but hey, the Lions have to take good news where they can get it.

Hell officially freezes over as Bengals win first game

Ryan FitzpatrickThey’ve put their fans through misery this season, but for at least one week the Cincinnati Bengals gave them something to cheer about. The Bungles notched their first win of the season on Sunday, beating the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars 21-19.

Amazing what a team can do when its defense plays well. Things got hairy in the fourth quarter, but the Bengals defense played its best game of the season by continuously coming up with huge plays all afternoon, including stopping the Jags on a 2-point conversation that could have forced overtime.

What happened to Jacksonville? This was supposed to be a Super Bowl contender and they can’t even beat a winless Bengals team. Not only that, but they allowed former Bears’ castoff Cedric Benson to rush for 104 yards and a touchdown, Ryan Fitzpatrick to throw for two scores and Chad Johnson (who had been non-existent before today) to snatch two score his first two TDs of the season.

Everything that worked so well for the Jags last year is working against them this year. David Garrard hasn’t been as sharp, the running game hasn’t been as productive and the defense isn’t as dominant. Jack Del Rio has his work cut out for him in getting his team back on track. It might be too little too late, however.

Packers extend Aaron Rodgers through 2014

It looks like Aaron Rodgers will be a Green Bay Packer for a while. The team locked him up through 2014.

“As we talked about in the past, we try to be proactive in our discussions with our current players and we felt like this was an appropriate time to try to come to an agreement with Aaron,” said General Manager Ted Thompson. “We feel like this is good for the organization and the players, and we will continue this approach as we move forward.”

Rodgers was the team’s first-round pick in 2005. He has started all seven games for Green Bay this season and has thrown for 1,668 yards and 12 touchdowns for a 98.8 passer rating.

I’m interested to see how much the contract is worth. By extending him at this point, the Packers presumably got Rodgers at a discount. We’ll see.

Given the circumstances, he has surpassed all expectations with his fine play. I’m a little worried about his durability (after all, I’m used to having the Man of Steel under center), but other than that, this looks like a great move for Green Bay. Rodgers was Ted Thompson’s first draft pick as GM of the Packers, so his loyalty to the QB is no surprise.

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