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      Warner rebounds as Cardinals crush Bears

      November 8, 2009 /

      Kurt Warner shook off a five-interception performance last week in a loss to the Panthers to throw for 261 yards and an eye-popping five touchdowns in a 41-21 rout of the Bears on Sunday. Warner didn’t throw any interceptions while completing 22-of-31 passes for 261 yards.

      Warner did all this without Anquan Boldin, who sat out with an ankle injury. Larry Fitzgerald seemed to enjoy the spotlight, because he hauled in nine passes for 123 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The 83-year old Warner (I’m kidding) is now on pace for 32 touchdowns and 4,350 yards.

      Of course, Warner and the Cards racked up these gaudy stats against a Chicago secondary that couldn’t cover Fat Albert and the gang. The Bears thought that Charles Tillman could cover Fitzgerald one-on-one, which was incredibly smart on their part. Remember Boldin didn’t play, so why Lovie Smith and his coaching staff thought Tillman could (or even should) go one-on-one with Fitzgerald was questionable to say the least. Speaking of questionable, the Bears also decided to throw the ball seven straight times to open the game. Apparently the words “offensive balance” mean nothing to Smith and Ron Turner.

      Not to kick dirt in the faces of Chicago fans, but many Bear-lovers thought this would be a Super Bowl team after they traded for Jay Cutler. I’m fully aware that they’ve had injuries on the defensive side of the ball, but even if Brian Urlacher were healthy, the offensive line and secondary are still a mess and Matt Forte has dropped off the face of the earth (part of the reason is because the O-line hasn’t opened any holes). He only had 33 yards on five carries today, but when you’re trailing 31-7 at halftime you’re not going to get many carries.

      Their 30-6 win over the hapless Browns gave the Bears some false confidence. But this loss today proves how far Chicago is from being a legitimate contender.

      NFL

      Torre might manage in 2011

      November 8, 2009 /

      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre has one year remaining on his three-year, $13 million contract. It’s been expected that Torre would retire after next season, leaving the door open for Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly to take his place. Torre will turn 70 next year, but he feels motivated enough to manage in 2011.

      As T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times reports…

      I hear Joe Torre is talking about extending his contract as manager with the Dodgers and remaining beyond next season.

      “Where did you get that?” Torre says, the first time all weekend he seems to care where I’m getting my inside information.

      But it’s true, Torre says, “we’re talking about it.”

      We know this, he’s not chatting with Jamie McCourt about it.

      “We were talking about my coaches and I’ve been thinking about it,” Torre says while mentioning General Manager Ned Colletti’s name and plans to chat again once Torre returns from a charity function in New York.

      “It’s been fun. When I came here, I was curious about how it might go. But the last two years have been invigorating. You see progress and your ego tells you maybe you had something to do with it.”

      The Dodgers made the NLCS in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1985. Given this success, the team signed GM Ned Colletti to a contract extension last month. Torre is still an important piece to the Dodgers puzzle, so I think the Dodgers are willing to keep him as long as he likes. He’s obviously had less to work with than he did in New York, but those 95 wins last season say otherwise.

      Still, the Dodgers need to handle Mattingly wisely. (Mattingly interviewed for the managerial openings in Cleveland and Washington but wasn’t hired.) He says he has no qualms about Torre’s decision to carry on and is willing to wait patiently.

      Torre is sometimes too carefree for my tastes, appearing as if he’s just going through the motions. He claims he still has the desire to win, but I’d like to see him take a more proactive stance in the future. After all, the Dodgers are only a couple starters away from overtaking the Phillies and Torre’s postseason experience is perhaps his greatest asset.

      MLB

      Fantasy Football Q&A Question of the Week: Week 9

      November 8, 2009 /

      Every week, I pick one question from our Fantasy Football Q&A and post it on Sunday morning. This week’s question comes from Lauren, who is wondering if it’s time make a trade to compensate for Kurt Warner’s poor play of late.

      “I currently have Kurt Warner and due to his poor performance in week 8 I have been offered a trade of Favre for Roddy White or Palmer for Roddy White. My other receivers are Hines Ward, Driver and Steve Smith (carolina) I also have Michael Turner and Addai and Bradshaw as my starters. I will keep Kurt Warner on the bench but I need a stronger QB to win. Who would you pick? Palmer or Favre?”

      My answer: Don’t trade Roddy White. There is a lot of depth at QB and this guy is trying to sucker you into making a trade when you don’t need to. Which QBs are available on your waiver wire? Of the two, I’d rather have Favre, so offer up Ward, Driver or S. Smith (CAR) and see if the guy bites. Any of those guys would be fair value for Favre. (Make sure you mention that he’s an injury risk and that there’s a lot of depth at the QB position.)

      It turns out that Matt Hasselbeck, Matt Cassel, Alex Smith, Jason Campbell and Vince Young were available on her waiver wire. She eventually traded Steve Smith 1.0 for Carson Palmer, which depletes her depth at WR but does give her another good option at QB.

      There is usually a lot of depth at the quarterback position. This season the difference between QB10 (Eli Manning) and QB18 (David Garrard) is only 24 points, so it’s not worth trading away a player like Steve Smith to upgrade from Kurt Warner (QB15) to Carson Palmer (QB12).

      Besides, Warner had a bad matchup last week — the Panthers’ pass defense is actually pretty good — and has a nice upcoming schedule. He’s a good bet to bounce back, even though he’s already had a solid fantasy season.

      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Fantasy Football, NFL

      NFL Week 8 ROY Power Rankings

      November 8, 2009 /

      The one guy we were neglecting so far was Minnesota’s Percy Harvin, who has slowly and quietly started to put up numbers and become a favorite target of Brett Favre. This is a guy Brad Childress took a big gamble on that so far is paying off. But Byrd and Laurinaitis are holding strong.

      1. Jairus Byrd, Buffalo Bills—Two more picks for this safety out of Oregon against the Texans, and now Byrd is tied with Darren Sharper for the NFL lead. That’s amazing in itself, but consider which team this guy plays for and it’s even more remarkable.

      2. James Laurinaitis, St. Louis Rams—Seven more tackles against Detroit…okay, we know, it’s Detroit….still, what Byrd has done to this point is slightly more impressive.

      3. Percy Harvin, Minnesota Vikings—Becoming a favorite target of Brett Favre, caught 5 more passes for 84 yards and a score in Green Bay.

      4. LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia Eagles—Filled in quite admirably for Brian Westbrook Sunday, slicing through a suddenly sieve-like Giants’ defense.

      5. Jeremy Maclin, Philadelphia Eagles—Everyone on the Eagles had a field day against the Giants, this rookie included (4 catches, 47 yards, 1 TD).

      Honorable mention: Hakeem Nicks, Giants; Knowshon Moreno, Broncos; Johnny Knox, Bears; Ryan Succop, Chiefs; Michael Oher, Ravens; Mike Wallace, Steelers

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, NFL

      NFL Week 8 COY Power Rankings

      November 8, 2009 /

      Leading the way here, are, not surprisingly, the two coaches who have unblemished records. But remember how the Giants started out 11-1 last year and then finished 12-5, including an early playoff exit? The Titans did something similar. So nothing is guaranteed, but these guys are sure off to good starts and deserve to top the list. The boy wonder in Denver, however, fell under scrutiny after losing to Baltimore, but if he bounces back against Pittsburgh, look out.

      1. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—The talk has begun on whether or not the Saints can run the table. Think about that for a minute. Did anyone see that coming at the start of the season?

      2. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—Everyone is saying to wait until the Colts play a real opponent, but still, you don’t get to 7-0 by being lucky. Still, should be interesting to see how that upcoming Sunday nighter against New England shakes out.

      3. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—Yeah, the Vikings are pretty good. And we’ll keep saying Childress looks like a genius for bringing back #4 until #4 proves us otherwise.

      4. Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos—Finally a blemish on the Broncos’ record in Baltimore, but it was lopsided enough to start wondering about just how talented this upstart team is.

      5. Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals—A bye week keeps Marvin safe, but a rematch against Baltimore looms, and then a road game in Pittsburgh.

      Honorable mention: Bill Belichick, Patriots; Gary Kubiak, Texans; Andy Reid, Eagles; Wade Phillips, Cowboys (well, he’s 5-2 and climbing back into contention!); Mike Tomlin, Steelers

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, NFL

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