…and none of them did.
Good find by Prep Rally:
The elusive gunslinger you see in the clip above is Craig Billington, a Genoa-Kingston (Ill.) High School senior. The team he’s running around, past, through and over is Burlington Central (Ill.) High School.
In a somewhat shocking development, Knowshon Moreno out for this Sunday’s game against the Colts, per Max Broncos on Twitter:
Knowshon Moreno “sustained a little something he will not be able to play through this week,” McDaniels said.
McDaniels is a Bill Belichick disciple, so it’s no surprise that he’s playing things close to the vest. There’s no upside in giving anyone any extraneous information, so why not keep it a secret? Sure, he’s screwing over fantasy owners, but he doesn’t give two schnitz about us.
Anyway, this is seemingly a big boost for someone in the Denver backfield, but I’m not sure who. In his comments, Josh McDaniels seemed to go out of his way NOT to mention Correll Buckhalter, but instead mentioned Laurence Maroney and Andre Brown as guys who will pick up the slack. If you’re desperate at RB, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up Maroney and/or Brown.
Below are my rankings for Week 3. I’m participating in a study as part of Fantasy Pros, where they keep track of the accuracy of many of the top fantasy ‘experts’ around the country. For Week 2, I finished in the Top 8 (out of 39 experts) in QBs, RBs, WRs and TEs, and I hope to repeat that success this week. If you utilize my advice on the Q&A, please take a moment to sign up at Fantasy Pros (it’s free) and rate me as an expert.
These rankings are for a standard (non-PPR) scoring system:
Quarterbacks
1. Peyton Manning (IND @ DEN)
2. Tony Romo (DAL @ HOU)
3. Aaron Rodgers (GB @ CHI)
4. Michael Vick (PHI @ JAC)
5. Matt Schaub (HOU vs. DAL)
6. Tom Brady (NE vs. BUF)
7. Drew Brees (NO vs. ATL)
8. Donovan McNabb (WAS @ STL)
9. Philip Rivers (SD @ SEA)
10. Jay Cutler (CHI vs. GB)
11. Brett Favre (MIN vs. DET)
12. Carson Palmer (CIN @ CAR)
13. David Garrard (JAC vs. PHI)
14. Joe Flacco (BAL vs. CLE)
15. Eli Manning (NYG vs. TEN)
16. Alex Smith (SF @ KC)
17. Matt Ryan (ATL @ NO)
18. Bruce Gradkowski (OAK @ ARI)
19. Kyle Orton (DEN vs. IND)
20. Vince Young (TEN @ NYG)
21. Matt Hasselbeck (SEA vs. SD)
22. Ryan Fitzpatrick (BUF @ NE)
23. Sam Bradford (STL vs. WAS)
24. Shaun Hill (DET @ MIN)
25. Chad Henne (MIA vs. NYJ)
In case you missed it, the Raiders have benched Jason Campbell in favor of Bruce Gradkowski, who entered the Rams game at halftime and led Oakland to a much needed win. He threw for 162 yards with one TD and one interception in two quarters of play.
In his last four starts of the 2009 season, he averaged 211 yards, 1.5 TDs and 0.3 INT against Cincinnati, at Dallas, at Pittsburgh and at home against the Redskins. Those four teams ranked 6th, 20th, 16th and 8th against the pass, respectively, so it wasn’t an easy schedule to throw against. He also added an average of 19 rushing yards, so he has the ability to take off with the ball when necessary.
Gradkowski has the Cardinals this week, and if you’re in a pinch, or if you need a second QB for your two-QB league, you could do worse. His schedule — HOU, SD, @ SF, @ DEN, SEA and KC — is pretty favorable over the next seven weeks. Given the way Campbell was playing, I suspect the insertion of Gradkowski is an upgrade for the entire passing game, but most importantly for Louis Murphy and Zach Miller, who were floundering with Campbell under center. Murphy caught five of his six passes after halftime last week, while Miller was targeted three times by Gradkowski over the same span, catching one pass for 24-yards.
It’s important to temper expectations anytime the Raiders are involved because the franchise is so dysfunctional. When was the last time Oakland had a consistent fantasy stud? Just when you start to count on them, they find a way to screw up whatever good mojo they had going. Is that still the case?
I guess we’ll find out over the next month or so, but for now I’m reasonably optimistic that Gradkowski will be a capable QB2 in the short term.
Every week, I will highlight a few players to start and a few players to sit at each position. I’m a firm believer in starting your studs, so I won’t suggest you bench Drew Brees or Adrian Peterson because they have tough matchups – just go ahead and keep them in your lineup. Instead, I’ll focus on the borderline guys – players you’ll only start under the right circumstances. It’s important to note that depending on your roster and situation, you may not be able to follow these recommendations. For example, if I suggest you bench a solid starter like Tony Romo, only do so if you have a clearly better option on your bench.
Mike Vick has another favorable matchup this week against the Jags, who rank 29th in the league against the pass…Carson Palmer has numerous weapons to throw to, and he’ll have a chance to utilize all of them this week against the Panthers, who have yielded 218 yards and 2.5 TDs per game through the first two weeks…Brett Favre hasn’t looked very good this season, and he may be without Percy Harvin, who is battling a hip injury and migraines. But he faces the Lions (305 yards, 2.0 TD per game), so if he can’t post good numbers this week, things are very bad in Minnesota…Need a deep sleeper? Ryan Fitzpatrick takes over as the Bills starter, and he’ll likely have to throw a ton too keep up with the Pats, who have showed quite a bit of vulnerability against the pass…I think David Garrard will have a bounce-back game against the Eagles (at home, where he plays well). Philly figures to score well, so Garrard will have to pass to keep up.
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