Tag: Tennessee Titans (Page 22 of 40)

2009 fantasy football is coming aoon—a look back at 2008 defenses

August 1, 2009 / Mike Farley

Last month we started looking at last season’s statistics for position players in fantasy football land, and today we’ll look at a position many often overlook. That’s fantasy defenses, which can sometimes put up just enough points to earn your team a victory once in a while. It’s always smart to try and grab one of the top units, although as we’ve seen before, things change, sometimes drastically, from year to year with fantasy D’s. Me? I like to grab my defense before my kicker. This list is based on point totals from one of my leagues, so keep in mind that stats vary from year to year.

1. Baltimore Ravens—The Ravens’ defense is perennially awesome, and we’ll find out for sure how much of that was due to former coordinator Rex Ryan, who is now the head honcho for the Jets. Ryan took plenty of players with him too, like LB Bart Scott and S Jim Leonhard, but the Ravens still have Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs. Reed just keeps getting better every year, and his sick nose for the ball is one reason the Ravens had a league high 26 picks. They will keep scoring low as always, but their 34 sacks last season isn’t much to get excited about. Bottom line: The Ravens won’t be a number one this year, but are still top 10.

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Top 10 active NFL field goal percentage leaders

July 18, 2009 / Mike Farley

It’s almost fantasy football time, and many of you, like me, have already been doing your research. So let’s take a look at a category that you may not pay much attention to, and many experts will tell you not to anyway. That’s field goal percentage. I realize choosing a kicker is like throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks, but good references are to pick those on good offensive teams, or those that can’t score TDs and create more field goal attempts. But it’s also good to pick an accurate kicker, whether that kicker plays in a dome or not. I mean, why take your chances on someone who kicks 25 field goals but misses another 25? So here is a list of the active Top 10 in field goal percentage. You can thank me later.

1. Nick Folk, Dallas Cowboys (86.79%)—For as good as Folk’s rookie season was in 2007, he had less attempts but was even more accurate in 2008, kicking 20 of 22 field goals (90.9%). Which reminds me, what the hell ever happened to Mike Vanderjagt?

2. Nate Kaeding, San Diego Chargers (86.13%)—Sure, he kicks mostly in warm weather, but Kaeding is about as automatic as they come.

3. Robbie Gould, Chicago Bears (85.94%)—If you’re hitting better than 17 out of 20 times when your home field is in the WINDY city, you’re damn good.

4. Shayne Graham, Cincinnati Bengals (85.64%)—One of the lone bright spots on a team that is perpetually going nowhere.

5. Stephen Gostkowski, New England Patriots (85.56%)—No Adam Vinatieri? No problem. This kid stepped in as a rookie in 2006 and has improved each year, hitting 36 of 40 field goal attempts last season (90%) and leading the NFL in total points (148).

6. Rob Bironas, Tennessee Titans (84.50%)—Bironas is extremely dependable, but nothing topped his 2007 All-Pro campaign, when dude kicked an NFL record 8 field goals against Houston.

7. Matt Stover, free agent (83.70%)—The amazing thing about Stover is that he’s been doing it for so long. He broke in with the Browns in 1991 and moved with the team to Baltimore in 1996, where he played until last season.

8. Phil Dawson, Cleveland Browns (82.81%)—One of the original “expansion” Browns, Dawson, like his counterpart Graham in southern Ohio, has been a bright spot on a bad team for years.

9. Jeff Reed, Pittsburgh Steelers (82.65%)—Every year they seem to talk about how hard it is to kick in Heinz Field, so the fact that Jeff Reed is even on this list says a lot about his ability. I’d love to know what the guy could do playing in Minnesota for a year.

10. John Carney, free agent (82.59%)—Carney stepped in for Lawrence Tynes last season and all he did was hit 35 of 38 field goal attempts, an amazing 92.1% clip. It’s even more amazing because Carney played half his games in windy Giants Stadium, and because he did it at the age of 44.

Source: Pro Football Reference

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2009 fantasy football is coming soon—a look back at 2008 RBs

June 13, 2009 / Mike Farley

So you still want to draft a running back with your number one pick after we crunched the numbers to find that quarterbacks have become equally or more valuable in fantasy football? Well, I can’t blame anyone that goes the traditional route here, especially with guys like Michael Turner and Adrian Peterson looking like legitimate #1 picks. Here are last season’s Top 10 running backs in fantasy points, keeping in mind that this is based on my league, and stats vary from league to league:

1. DeAngelo Williams, Carolina Panthers—I know some players take a few years to develop, but I live in Tennessee and saw Williams play on TV a lot when he was with Memphis. I drafted him in 2006 because I knew what not everyone knew—his upside was tremendous. Of course, he had 501 yards and a TD that year. But once DeShaun Foster was gone, Williams exploded, and last year racked up 1639 yards from scrimmage and 20 touchdowns. Potential realized, and there’s more where that came from despite Jonathan Stewart sharing the load.

2. Michael Turner, Atlanta Falcons—Turner “The Burner” finally got out from under LT’s shadow in San Diego and showed with his new team that he can be a #1 RB—in a big, big way. In fact, Turner out-rushed LT by almost 600 yards. Take that, AJ Smith.

3. Thomas Jones, New York Jets—Jones had a big year, with 1519 total yards and 15 scores. But something tells me to expect a substantial drop-off this year. I mean, this is the same guy who scored 1 rushing TD in 2007.

4. Matt Forte, Chicago Bears—A rookie in 2008, Forte was a pleasant surprise and was basically the Bears’ entire offense. Now they have Jay Cutler at QB, which could mean just a bit less focus on the running game. Still, it’s the Bears, and plus Forte is just as valuable a receiver as he is a runner. Don’t expect a re-run of 2008 (1715 yards and 12 total touchdowns) but don’t expect a crappy season either.

5. Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings—He may be frequently injured but AP is about as explosive as any player in the NFL. In fact, he may be what everyone expected Reggie Bush to be. Who? Yeah, I know. Anyway, Peterson had 1885 all-purpose yards but only 10 TDs. This season, I’m looking for 2400 yards from scrimmage and 15-20 scores. I can feel it.

6. Brian Westbrook, Philadelphia Eagles—Off-season surgery is either going to hamper Westbrook or make him better. I’ll still take a Brian Westbrook at 70% than, say, a Willis McGahee at 100%. When Westbook is on the field (1338 total yards, 54 catches, 14 total TDs in ‘08), he’s fantasy money.

7. Brandon Jacobs, New York Giants—Jacobs seemed to perform best when he shared carries with Derrick Ward, who is now in Tampa. Jacobs will still share carries, but with Ahmad Bradshaw. Jacobs had his second straight 1000-yard season (Ward also topped 1000 yards) with 15 touchdowns, and there is no reason to believe he’ll fall short of that in ’09. Well, unless the injury bug bites again.

8. LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers—I’m still sick about drafting LT #1 last season in my league. I know that having the top pick doesn’t happen too often, and this guy just killed my season and probably everyone else’s that picked him first or second.
I mean, 1536 yards from scrimmage and 12 scores is not bad, but consider LT’s 2006 season—2323 overall yards and 31 TDs. Last year, LT was more like Thomas Jones in a good year.

9. Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville Jaguars—Streaky yes, but a solid player who can run and catch passes effectively. MJD had 824 rushing yards, and 62 receptions for 565 with 14 total touchdowns. With Fred Taylor in New England, expect those numbers to jump this season.

10. LenDale White, Tennessee Titans—This guy was the touchdown bogart for Chris Johnson, with only 773 yards but 15 scores. Should we expect an encore? It’s hard to say, but Jeff Fisher is definitely a creature of habit.

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Adrian Peterson Ahmad Bradshaw AP Atlanta Falcons Brandon Jacobs Brian Westbrook Carolina Panthers Chicago Bears Chris Johnson DeAngelo Williams Derrick Ward Fantasy Football Fred Taylor Jacksonville Jaguars Jay Cutler Jeff Fisher Jonathan Stewart LaDainian Tomlinson LenDale White LT Matt Forte Maurice Jones-Drew Michael Turner Minnesota Vikings National Football League New England Patriots New York Giants New York Jets NFL Philadelphia Eagles San Diego Chargers Tennessee Titans Thomas Jones top running backs Willis McGahee

Agent: Young hasn’t requested a trade from Titans

June 3, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

After telling WMAR-TV in Baltimore on Monday that he wanted a chance to play or be traded, the agent for Vince Young is now saying that his client wants to stay in Tennessee and has not requested a trade.

Young, who told Baltimore television station WMAR earlier this week that he is focused on winning back the starting job in Tennessee, but that if that doesn’t happen, that he would be ready to move on.
“Definitely I want to be in there playing ball and picking up where I left off, winning games and having a good time with my teammates and fans. But at the same time if them guys don’t want me in there, it’s time for me to make a career change for myself. The fact is I’m ready to play ball, and if they’re not ready for me to play ball, somebody is.”
Major Adams, who represents Young, said his client has not asked for a trade, nor does he have any desire to be moved away from the Titans.
“Vince’s desire has always been to compete for the starting quarterback job in Tennessee,” Adams said. “Even before they drafted him, they asked him if he thought he could compete for the starting role, and he said yes. He has always been a starter and that is his mindset.
“He has not asked to be traded, and in fact, is going to an event at Bud Adams’ ranch this weekend. Plus, he was in there working out [Monday. If he didn’t have a desire to stay there, he wouldn’t be doing any of that.”

This sounds like an agent trying to do damage control after his client opened his mouth a little too wide during an interview.

To be fair, Young never said that he wanted or asked to be traded. But he did hint that if the Titans don’t “want him to play” then he’d move on and find someone who will. Either way, he needs to worry more about competing with Kerry Collins and let the rest take care of itself.

He proved to be a little bit of a mental midget last season and now would be a great time for him to prove everybody that he can still be a starter by beating Collins out this summer. It would behoove him not to cry about the fact that he’s not a starter anymore and instead, go out and earn his job back.

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Does Vince Young want out of Tennessee?

June 2, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

On Monday, Titans quarterback Vince Young told WMAR-TV in Baltimore that he wants a chance to play or he wants out of Tennessee.

From Rotoworld:

Young lost his starting job to Kerry Collins last year when he struggled horribly in new coordinator Mike Heimerdinger’s offense, then sprained his MCL in Week 1. “If them guys don’t want me to be in there, it’s time for me to make a career change,” he said. “I’m ready to play ball. If they’re not ready for me to play ball, then somebody is.” The Titans say V.Y. will compete in camp, but he’d have to outplay Collins by a huge margin to regain the position.

As a football fan, I can’t respect that. I can’t respect an athlete saying, ‘If my team doesn’t want me, then I’ll find someone else who will.’

How about competing for once? How about going out on the field and proving that you’re better than the guy you’re competing against?

See, that’s the trouble with athletes these days – they get everything handed to them. From the moment their talents are recognized as youths, everything is given to them and they rarely have to earn playing time. It’s no wonder we as a society like hearing about stories of players who were always told they weren’t good enough. It’s because those players had to work for everything they got and they never stop working, even when they’ve “made it.”

Young was a god at Texas, so when he got to the NFL he must have figured that everything would continue to be taken care of for him. And when shit hit the fan, what happened? He hid behind his fragile emotions instead of fighting to stay on the field.

The Titans want somebody who’ll fight for a win every week, which is why Kerry Collins will remain the starter. If Young wants his job back, he has to earn it and just based on his comments from the TV interview, I’m not sure he’s willing to work for it. He’d rather have the job handed back to him and be coddled for the rest of his career.

Granted, I didn’t see the interview so maybe I’m taking what he said out of context. But based on the quotes from him above, Young needs to grow a pair and challenge Collins for the right to play on Sundays instead of whining about how Tennessee might not want him. They gave him $58 million to be the starter – they want him to play. He just has to want it for himself.

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