Man. I actually cannot wait to watch the Giants destroy the Raiders this week, just because being on the upper East coast I never get to watch Raiders games (especially now that I'm not at home and don't have a TV). Been trying to use SOPCast, TVAnts and the like to stream live games but the connection is so choppy it really hasn't been worth it, so i've just been keeping up with live box scores and such. Better than nothing.
Prolly gonna try and cop a seat in my friend's room because I know he's a huge Giants fan. Even if I have to sit and endure shit from him while watching how inevitably poor pretty much the entire team will perform, getting to watch them is good enough for me. Still waiting for Chaz Schilens to come back from his foot injury, but at this point he might as well just take all the time he needs. JaMarcus can't even get the ball off to Zach Miller, and Miller is an amazing talent at TE stuck in a shithole offense.
Swung a nice trade in NG FFB, managed to dump Thomas Jones, Larry Johnson, Zach Miller and Pierre Garcon and turn that into Brandon Jacobs, Jonathan Stewart and Tony Gonzalez. Really changes the entire look of my team, which, now that most of my best guys have had their bye weeks, is looking fairly strong.
QB - McNabb, Garrard
WR - Andre Johnson, Boldin, Mike Sims-Walker, Kevin Walter
RB - Jacobs, Westbrook, Stewart, Michael Bush, Sammy Morris, Jerome Harrison
TE - Brent Celek, Tony Gonzo
K - Jeff Reed (but i tend to go week-to-week with kickers)
DEF - Pittsburgh, San Francisco (again, generally a week-to-week call)
maybe I'll actually nail down a playoff spot this year. football isn't really my game, fantasy-wise.
Personally, I'll be keepin' an eye on how the Pats split carries now without Fred Taylor. I expect Sammy Morris to end up getting the bulk in the long run, which is why I picked him up over Laurence Maroney. Maroney was a late-round flyer of mine, but has shown jack shit on-field as usual, so I can't really expect them to once again try and make him a featured back. BenJarvus Green-Ellis could be a wild card here, too.
I'm interested in seeing how the Saints will split carries amongst their backs now too, now that everyone is going to be healthy coming up after this bye week. Tough call on how to split carries amongst 3 good backs, but I think Pierre Thomas gets the bulk of the carries, Reggie Bush takes on a Kevin-Faulk-type role as a change-of-pace back, and Mike Bell gets a Le'Ron-McClain-type job as a goal-line bruiser/short-yardage back.
Jets are another interesting conundrum. I got rid of Thomas Jones knowing full well that at some point this season he's going to lose a good portion of the carries he's getting now, as is obvious from his declining agility and speed and the organization's newfound commitment as Leon Washington as an eventual every-down back (which I fully support, because he's always been fast as hell). But there's also Shonn Greene to worry about. I feel like by the time the end of the year rolls around, it'll be Greene and Washington getting a good majority of the carries, with Jones being relegated to light running duties.
As for KC's RB sitchu...I'm glad I got rid of Larry Johnson. I had held out some hope for a grand return to past years when I drafted him this year, but 2.7 YPC ain't gonna cut it, especially in the KC offense (or lack thereof). Todd Haley is fucking batshit though, so it could be a while before Johnson gets phased out of the offense in favor of a Jamaal Charles. That's what happens when you drop a kickoff return the first time you touch the ball in a game. Haley was saying he might not even activate Charles to play, that's how pissed he is about that muffed catch.
I feel like this year has seen a lot of failures in the RBBC scheme. Miami of course has it nailed down as always with Ronnie Brown and Sticky Icky Ricky, and Baltimore once again is doin' it with Rice, McGahee and a little sprinkle of Le'Ron McClain. But pretty much everywhere else it hasn't been working out.
- Dallas hasn't been able to keep it going with Barber/Felix Jones/Tasard Choice because of constant injuries to at least one per week
- Oakland's ground game has nothing and DMac got injured
- Washington barely gets to use Clinton Portis because of how fucked up his body is at this point (bone spurs in both ankles, shoulder pains, etc.) so Ladell Betts is getting play as a full-time back, which he isn't.
- The Giants haven't really opened up the ground game yet, but Jacobs has been receiving the bulk of the carries anyway, although Bradshaw is so fast he really doesn't need an equal amount of carries to produce well.
- Denver's RB committee is sorting itself out now thanks to injuries and ineffectiveness, but for the most part it's been a conundrum all season with Moreno, Buckhalter, Hillis, Jordan and others
- the Pats have their ridiculous RBBC
- the Titans seem to have relegated LenDale White to backup-RB amounts of carries per game, basically giving Chris Johnson the ability to show off his talent as a full-time back
- Purple Jesus has taken over in Minny and Chester Taylor really gets most of his time riding the pine or getting change-of-pace plays.
- San Diego hasn't gotten the ground game off at all; LT is still hurtin', Sproles is too small to be able to play as an every-down back.
- Tampa's three-headed beast of Cadillac Williams, Derrick Ward and Earnest Graham is floundering.
- Indy's pairing of Donald Brown and Joseph Addai has been a lukewarm success at best, and Addai is really looking like a one-year wonder these days, but since Peyton is so fucking good, his arm makes up for whatever failures the running game has presented thus far
- Arizona has no running game whatsoever with Hightower and Beanie Wells; their offense has looked fairly stifled all year thus far, but playing the Texans this week should bring about a lot of offense, although most of it is likely to come by the pass
- Cleveland's RB situation is just straight ugly; Jamal Lewis is constantly hurting and it might be time for him to think about getting ready to call it career; Jerome Harrison is fairly mediocre but ends up with somewhat gaudy numbers because they're now throwing him 25-30 carries a game because their passing game is still in shambles and they have no other backs
- Carolina can't get the offense running like it was last year with Stewart and DeAngelo Williams, especially since Delhomme looks pretty much cooked, and Stewart has been dealing with foot/toe injuries all season so far, leaving Williams to try and create the entire offense himself, and we've seen how that's been going
Really, at this point the only successful RBBCs are appearing to be Philly (which appears inevitable between McCoy and Westbrook), Pittsburgh (which suddenly has a running game now that Mendenhall decided to show up as an NFL RB and Fast Willie is still hobbled by turf toe, leaving Mewelde Moore to get some changeup carries), Nawlins, Baltimore, and Miami. I guess you could argue the Giants or Jets too, but right now both of them are depending mostly on their stifling defenses to take care of most of the game (and for the Giants, their passing game has really taken over). Buffalo remains to be seen, but I think Freddie Jax and Lynch will work out.
All I can say is that it's a strange fucking fantasy year when backs like Rock Cartwright, Heath Evans, Patrick Cobbs, Laurence Maroney and LaRod Stevens-Howling all have produced more at RB than LaDainian Tomlinson.