Category: NFL (Page 1184 of 1282)

“No Fun League” Strikes Again

November 3, 2006 / Anthony Stalter

The NFL has decided to fine Cincinnati Bengals wide out Chad Johnson $5,000 for his Velcro nameplate: “Ocho Cinco”, that he wore in pregame against the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday.

While I think the NFL is being extreme in this case (he only wore it in pregame) and normally laugh at Johnson’s antics, I think the league is right to do this. Call me traditional, but I’ve always liked when athletes acted professional both on and off the field. I like Barry Sanders’ touchdown celebration of just handing the ball to the ref. And I like the fact that the NFL is not trying to act nothing like WWF or NWA or whatever that male soap opera is calling itself these days.

While I don’t think the “Ocho Cinco” act was malicious (goofy yes, but malicious no), the NFL is such a copycat league and who knows what these players will do to one up each other next. Joe Horn pulls a cell phone from under the goal post, followed by T.O.’s cheerleader act and Steve Smith’s baby wipe dance.

Leave it at home fellas – the game is fun enough as is.

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NFL Game of the Week: Colts at Patriots

November 1, 2006 / Anthony Stalter

In honor of the 2006 NFL season, Bullz-Eye.com will take one contest off the schedule every week and break down each team’s strengths and weaknesses vs. its opponent. Plus, no preview would be complete without a forecasted score – you’ll find a prediction on the game at Bullz-Eye.com as well.

The Colts get back-to-back Game of the Week honors as Indy travels to Foxboro to take on the Patriots. Both of these teams are coming off of huge wins and are in position to make a run at the top playoff spot in the AFC. Who you got – Peyton Manning or Tom Brady?

On tap this week: Colts at Patriots

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The Fantasy Football Awards: 1st Half [& 2nd Quarter]

October 31, 2006 / John Paulsen

The Fantasy Football Awards: 1st Half [and 2nd Quarter]

We’re halfway through the fantasy season, which makes it a good time to hand out awards for the first half. I handed out awards for the first quarter, so I’m going to include awards for the second quarter in brackets. These awards are based on performance scoring, such as this one from Antsports.com. For those players that missed games due to injury, I included those games in their per game averages.

QUARTERBACKS

MVP: Donovan McNabb (26.6 ppg) [2Q: Mike Vick (27.4)]
Despite a poor outing in windy conditions this Sunday against the Jaguars, McNabb holds onto the top spot for now. Vick, Peyton Manning and Marc Bulger all outscored McNabb in the second quarter, so Donovan may have trouble holding on to this honor.

Honorable Mention: Peyton Manning (24.3), Mike Vick (22.5), Marc Bulger (20.9) [2Q: Peyton Manning (26.5), Marc Bulger (24.5), Donovan McNabb (23.7)]

Biggest Surprise: Jon Kitna (19.4) [2Q: Phillip Rivers (20.4)]
The most interesting thing about these two players is that neither guy was mentioned in the first quarter awards. Kitna played well in the first four games, but was outplayed by Rex Grossman, Charlie Frye and David Carr. It appears that Kitna is really benefiting from Mike Martz’ offensive system. On the other hand, Rivers really has turned it on in the second quarter, upping his average from 16.9 in Weeks 1-4 to 20.4 in Weeks 5-8. He looks like the real deal and should be a solid QB for years to come.

Honorable Mention: Rex Grossman (18.4), Phillip Rivers (16.9), Alex Smith (15.9) [2Q: Jon Kitna (20.4), Damon Huard (17.4), Alex Smith (16.9)]

Biggest Disappointment: Daunte Culpepper (7.4) [2Q: Culpepper (0.0)]
Culpepper was drafted on average as QB8 in the end of the sixth round, and has spent the last four games on the sidelines nursing his sore knee. There were lots of questions surrounding his health this summer, but the Dolphins made the fatal mistake of passing on Drew Brees in favor of Culpepper. Apparently, they felt more comfortable with his knee injury than Brees’ shoulder injury. Needless to say, the move backfired.

Dishonorable Mention: Aaron Brooks (0.8), Ben Roethlisberger (11.5), Jake Plummer (12.2) [2Q: Byron Leftwich (7.2), Chad Pennington (9.0), Matt Hasselbeck (12.7)]

RUNNING BACKS

MVP: LaDainian Tomlinson (28.7) [2Q: Tomlinson (33.6)]
LT caught fire in the second quarter, gaining a total of 583 yards from scrimmage and scoring eight TD in those four games. He is currently holding off Larry Johnson for the #1 RB slot and has a better schedule down the stretch, so if he can stay healthy, he should finish at the top of the RB rankings.

Honorable Mention: Larry Johnson (26.3), Brian Westbrook (21.3), Kevin Jones (20.1) [2Q: LJ (28.2), KJ (21.2), Brian Westbrook (20.8), Steven Jackson (20.1)]

Biggest Surprise: Frank Gore (18.3) [2Q: Maurice Jones-Drew (16.8)]
Although he hasn’t been able to keep up his 20 ppg pace, Gore has been a solid option for fantasy owners that gambled on him in the 3rd-6th rounds. Jones-Drew has exploded as the backup to Fred Taylor. Just imagine what he can do once Taylor finally retires.

Honorable Mention: Maurice Jones-Drew (13.2), Ahman Green (12.9) [2Q: Frank Gore (16.1), Leon Washington (12.4), Marion Barber (12.4), Wali Lundy (10.2)]

Biggest Disappointment: Shaun Alexander (4.2) [2Q: Alexander (0.0)]
I suppose it’s worse that LaMont Jordan keeps teasing owners with the possibility that he’ll play, but no owners are reeling more than those that took Alexander third overall and backed him up with the underperforming Maurice Morris. He’s not going to play next week, but head coach Mike Holmgren said that he should be ready to go in Week 10. He’s got a favorable schedule down the stretch, so he still may lead a few fantasy owners to the playoffs before it’s all said and done.

Dishonorable Mention: LaMont Jordan (7.2), Jamal Lewis (8.2), Carnell Williams (11.2) [2Q: LaMont Jordan (5.7), Jamal Lewis (8.1), Corey Dillon (6.4)]

WIDE RECEIVERS

MVP: Andre Johnson (21.0) [2Q: Reggie Wayne (26.8)]
AJ got off to a fast start and is showing no signs of slowing down. The only question mark is David Carr’s benching on Sunday against the Titans. But Johnson was pretty quiet in that game until Sage Rosenfels took over, so it appears he will succeed with either QB. Wayne’s monster day against the Broncos put him over the top in the second quarter, though we’d probably be talking about Marvin Harrison had Denver decided to put Champ Bailey on Wayne instead.

Honorable Mention: Torry Holt (20.2), Reggie Wayne (19.2), Darrell Jackson (18.7) [2Q: Steve Smith (21.6), Torry Holt (21.4), Andre Johnson (21.3), Hines Ward (21.3)]

Biggest Surprise: Marques Colston (18.1) [2Q: Colston (18.1)]
I guess the Saints could do without Donte Stallworth this year. Colston, a seventh-round draft pick out of Hofstra, continues to play at a blistering pace. Although Joe Horn has played better the last few weeks, he probably has Colston to thank. Defenses need to account for him, so that frees things up for Horn.

Honorable Mention: Bernard Berrian (14.1), Mike Furrey (14.0), Jerricho Cotchery (12.6) [2Q: Reggie Brown (17.4), Mike Furrey (13.3), Wes Welker (12.7)]

Biggest Disappointment: Randy Moss (11.6) [2Q: Larry Fitzgerald (2.4)]
Fitzgerald’s injury makes his numbers worse, but Moss’ performance hurts more because he demands to be started each and every week. Fantasy owners just never know when he’s going to go off on one of his three-TD days. For a third round pick, Chris Chambers has really underperformed, but the team is planning to move him to the slot. Is that the cure?

Dishonorable Mention: Larry Fitzgerald (8.7), Chris Chambers (11.9), Chad Johnson (13.5) [2Q: Chris Chambers (10.6), Braylon Edwards (4.1), Santana Moss (9.1)]

TIGHT ENDS

MVP: Kellen Winslow (13.9) [2Q: Alge Crumpler (21.5)]
Winslow continues to be the team’s best option on offense and has proven that he’s an every week starter. Crumpler and Antonio Gates have increased their production, so Winslow will have to be more productive to hold them off for the rest of the season.

Honorable Mention: Antonio Gates (13.5), Alge Crumpler (13.5), Todd Heap (12.6) [2Q: Antonio Gates (16.6), Owen Daniels (14.9), Randy McMichael (14.8)]

Biggest Surprise: Desmond Clark (11.9) [2Q: Owen Daniels (14.9)]
Clark is Rex Grossman’s favorite target in the red zone and provides a big target in the middle of the field. I doubt he’ll be able to keep up this kind of production once winter truly arrives in Chicago, but he’s still a good option just about every week. Daniels took the second quarter award behind a huge day against the Titans. Most of that production came with Rosenfels under center, so it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to keep it up with Carr at the helm.

Honorable Mention: Ben Watson (10.1), Owen Daniels (9.5) [2Q: Ben Watson (13.6), Desmond Clark (13.0)]

Biggest Disappointment: Jason Witten (8.0) [2Q: L.J. Smith (8.3)]
After the arrival of Terrell Owens, Witten has been an afterthought in the Dallas offense, but that has changed some with Tony Romo under center. Look for Witten’s numbers to improve as the season wears on.

Dishonorable Mention: Chris Cooley (8.2), Randy McMichael (9.4), Heath Miller (6.5) [2Q: Heath Miller (4.6)]

Fantasy Football, NFL

Trouble brewing for Bengals

October 31, 2006 / Anthony Stalter

The Cincinnati Bengals have problems. And get this – this time, the problems are actually related to football and not complaints about whose turn it was to watch law-breaker Chris Henry. Running back Rudi Johnson is sounding off about the coaching staff suddenly abandoning the run – even when it has been successful:

“We changed what was working,” said Johnson, who holds the club rushing record. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. You know what I mean. Take a look at it. A lot of games we lose is for that reason.”

Here is just another case of an athlete that should shut is mouth and let the coaching staff worry about scheming and play calling. However, this is also another case of an athlete who seems to be right.

Cleveland tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. sounded off about the direction of Maurice Carthon’s bland offense about a month ago. And after one week, the Browns scored 20 points with Carthon nowhere near the stadium in the Browns 20-13 win over the Jets. Michael Vick shot off on an HBO program that the coaching staff in Atlanta should allow him to throw more. Since the comments, Vick has thrown seven touchdown passes and the Falcons are a solid 5-2 after wins over Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The final example is Edgerrin James in Arizona, who complained that the Cardinals needed to run more. Now look at Arizona – the Cards are an offensive juggernaut…okay, skip that last one.

Bottom line is that Johnson should keep his frustrations in-house. However, Marvin Lewis did completely abandon a working rushing game in the Bengals loss to the Falcons last Sunday. Johnson was finding running lanes left and right on his way to 32 yards and a touchdown on Cincy’s opening offensive drive (a drive that ended in a Johnson TD by the way). After that first possession, however, Johnson was rarely used (especially in the second half) and Atlanta was able to pressure Carson Palmer enough to escape town with a win.

Not that I promote the assailants running the asylum, but maybe some of these hard-headed coaches need to start listening more to what the players are seeing on the field.

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