Fantasy Football Whiz

Psychocat's Cats Eye View Week 8

Written by Rich Burkhardt Tuesday, 03 November 2009 17:15

What a week this was! Another undefeated team goes down; Favre makes a triumphant return to Lambeau; and a fantastic finish on Monday night. Highlights and lowlights abound, let’s see what might tickle your fancy this week.

And then there were two: This was the Broncos’ week to drop from the ranks of the undefeated, thanks to a 30-7 thrashing at the hands of the desperate Ravens, who needed the win to avoid falling from contention in the AFC North. The Broncos’ were at least in it for half the game, with the Ravens managing only two FGs in the first 30 minutes. But the second half saw the Broncos disintegrate, as the Ravens outscored them 24-7.

Broncos’ fans can find little comfort in this game; about the only thing positive that they did was hold Ravens QB Joe Flacco to 175 yds passing and one TD. But they gave up a passing TD, a rushing TD, and special teams TD on a 95-yd kickoff return.

Meanwhile, their own offense could do nothing against a suddenly fierce Ravens D. Knowshon Moreno was their rushing “leader” with just 39 yds and the games only TD. QB Kyle Orton’s numbers were even worse than Flacco’s, with just 152 yds passing, and they were just 3 of 13 in third down conversions.

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Psychocat's Crystal Litterbox Week 8

Written by Rich Burkhardt Saturday, 31 October 2009 06:35

A fantastic week for the Litterbox, sweeping all 3 games to run the overall record to 15-7. Some real high profile games this week, including Brett Favre’s return to Lambeau Field. Let’s jump right into the fray.

Broncos (6-0) at Ravens (3-3): The Ravens have been a Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team this season. They started out with 3 wins in a row over relatively weak competition in the Chiefs, Chargers and Browns. The followed that with 3 straight losses to the Patriots, Bengals, and Vikings. With both the Bengals and Steelers sitting at 5-2 and a brutal schedule over the next six weeks that contains only one losing team, they need a win in the worst way if they are going to contend in the tough AFC North.

Ravens’ keys: First and foremost, they need to find the defense they had in years past, if it’s still there. Usually near the top of the league in defense, they’re a mediocre 19th so far, allowing 21.7 ppg. They’re still staunch against the run, ranking 7th with 91.2 ypg and 3 TDs allowed. But their pass defense has been ugly, allowing 241.5 ypg and 9 TDs vs 7 picks. They’re also not getting much pressure on the QB, with only 14 sacks recorded.

On the positive side, there's RB Ray Rice (73-441-3), who has taken over as the lead back. Rice is Mr. Everything for the Ravens; he leads the team in catches with 33 and is second in receiving yardage with 325 and has a TD. RB Willis McGahee (45-202-5) isn’t getting a lot of carries but is a serious red zone threat; he also has 2 receiving TDs.

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Dark Horses & Non-Starters Week 8

Written by Colin Pekruhn Saturday, 31 October 2009 06:13

It's getting to be crunch time for a number of owners who are looking at needing each and every game from here on out to make their league's playoffs. Problem is, the bye week blues are in full effect again this week and injuries are continuing to mount, meaning many of us need to find that gem who will go off whilst our studs lie dormant. So, if you have a Pittsburgh Steeler, Cincinnati Bengal, New England Patriot, Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Kansas City Chief, or Washington Redskin player on bye, listen up!

Quarterbacks

Dark Horses

David Garrard, Jacksonville Jaguars – Garrard destroys bad secondaries, and he gets his second crack at the worst of the bunch this week. He torched the Titans for 323 yards and 3 touchdowns in Week 4 (his best performance of the season), and this unit has not improved one bit since then. Ignore the fact he's on the road this time around: he's destined for at the very worst a solid game.

Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys – I'm going back to Romo as a Dark Horse for another week against the Seahawks' 16th ranked pass defense. With the emergence of Miles Austin, Romo looks more like his good self than ever, which makes him a great play against average-to-poor pass defenses. He's hot right now, and should continue to post solid numbers across the board.

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Psychocat's Cats Eye View

Written by Rich Burkhardt Wednesday, 28 October 2009 07:15

Now that the NFL season is almost halfway through, it’s time for a few random observations on what has transpired thus far.

Super Saints? In the wake of the Saints’ 46-34 comeback victory over the Dolphins, a few pundits seem ready to anoint them as the “best team in the NFL”. Well, let’s hold on here just a second, Sparky!

I’ll agree that it shows they can overcome pretty hefty adversity after being down 24-3. They frequently score points in bunches, and this was no exception, as they put 36 on the board in the second half, including 23 unanswered in the 4th quarter. But the defense that had been playing lights out up to this point gets mixed reviews for this game. On the plus side, they had two pick 6s against Chad Henne, both for greater than 40 yards. But they also allowed 34 points…24 of them in one half…to a team that had been averaging around 18 points per game prior to this one. Dolphins RB Ricky Williams, who up to this point had 316 yards and 2 TDs, went off for 80 yds and 3 TDs on just 9 carries. One of those was a 68-yard scamper which left several Saints’ jockstraps on the field. RB Ronnie Brown also had a rushing TD.

The good thing for them is that their schedule is pretty soft the rest of the way. They have four games remaining with teams that are a combined 17-8: two with the Falcons (4-2) and one each with the Patriots (5-2) and the Cowboys (4-2). The other 6 games are against teams that are a combined 6-34: two each against the Panthers (2-4) and Bucs (0-7) and one against the Rams (0-7) and Redskins (2-5). That schedule should allow them to finish anywhere from 12-4 to 14-2. Anything less than 12 wins would indicate major problems going into the playoffs.

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Psychocat's Crystal Litterbox Week 7

Written by Rich Burkhardt Saturday, 24 October 2009 14:55

Not a good week for the Litterbox last week; the Saints won but the Cardiac Cats came back to earth and the Seahawks just flat out sucked, making my record for the week 1-2 and overall 12-7. Will try to do better this week.

Vikings (6-0) at Steelers (4-2): Easily the best matchup of the weekend, this game is crucial in the AFC North. The Bengals and Ravens losses last week combined with the Steelers win dropped the Ravens a game back in the division and moved the Steelers into a first place tie with the Bengals. Right now the Bengals technically lead the division because of their earlier win against the Steelers, but a loss by them to the Bears and a Steelers win would put the Gold and Black Attack back in first.

Steelers’ keys: OK, all you Steelers traditionalists (including myself) it’s time to finally face up to some facts here and admit the following: THE STEELERS ARE NOW A PASS-FIRST TEAM. Franco, The Rock, and The Bus are part of a glorious past, but Big Ben is the future. I’ve been saying this for the better part of a year and a half now; it’s time to build a bridge and get over the fact that the ground game is no longer king in the Steel City.

Don’t believe it? Want proof? OK, how about the fact that Big Ben actually leads the league in passing yardage (1887) with two 300+ yard games and one 400+ yard game? Or that he’s thrown 7 TDs over the past three games, with only two picks?

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