H.I.T.: Half Way Home
Most fantasy regular seasons are 13 weeks long. With Week 7 now in the books, we are officially past the halfway point. Some of you—like me—are complete toast (1-5 record will do that to you kids!) For us, there is nothing left to do but play out the string as competitively as you can. For the rest of you, playoff dreams and a possible jackpot payday are dancing in your heads (Note: F.F.T. does not condone wagering, ha!).
But the halfway point of THIS season is particularly interesting, as this week seemed to be a watershed moment for more than just a few. Some new fantasy faces emerged, some old acquaintances re-emerged, and for some old friends it was time to pull the plug (Note: F.F.T. also does not condone euthanasia. No seriously this time; we don’t condone that. What type of people do you think we are?)
Say Hello to My Little Friends
Mark Sanchez: So last week I had Sanchez owing fantasy owners an apology for that atrocious five interception performance. He apologized by throwing down two touchdowns (one rushing/one passing) over the weekend in a 38-0 beat down of Oakland; then topped that by throwing down a stadium dog on the sidelines.
In the waning moments, Sanchez was caught “discreetly” stuffing the Oscar Meyer in his grill. He has since apologized and his official line was that he didn’t eat a lot before the game, got queasy, someone offered him the wiener and he inhaled it. He then donated 1,000 dogs, hamburgers and buns to a food bank in a nice little apologetic gesture.
I only have two questions: 1) Who eats a nasty stadium dog when they are already queasy? 2) Who was the personnel guy who “offered” him the dog? Something doesn’t smell right about that excuse. Dude, just come out and say you were hungry and you scammed the dog from a front-row Johnny; then scarfed it. Man up, Mark.
Fantasy Take: Sanchez has been up and down in his first seven games, as to be expected from a rookie. But he’s now shown an ability to bounce back from adversity and flashing traits of being a very good quarterback. He plays on a team that loves to run, which can only take pressure off him going forward. Look for Sanchez to get better and better, with only the occasional stinker in the second half.
Shonn Greene: Greene was highly touted coming into the league. But with Thomas Jones and Leon Washington both ahead of him, he appeared to be dynasty league material only. After Sunday, dynasty leaguers aren't the only ones drooling. Washington went down with a broken leg, and is done for the season. Greene replaced Washington in the rotation with Jones, and announced his fantasy presence in a big, big way (19 carries, 144 yards, 2 touchdowns)
Fantasy Take: If you owned Washington, you need to throw all your free agent money at Greene. If you’re a dynasty leaguer, you’re not only drooling over Greene, you’re crapping your pants because you could get some serious production out of him THIS season. Greene runs hard and runs well. I’ve liked him since the beginning and think that he could be a first-round fantasy back in the next two seasons. How’s that for praise?
Miles Austin: “I can see for miles and miles and miles”. “Miles has no Austin City Limits”. “Miles break a tackle and runs all the way to Austin for a touchdown”. The incredible bad Chris Berman-like phrases and nicknames with this cat are limitless. So is his production potential. As much as it pains this Texas grad to say, Roy Williams is bad. Austin has emerged as the number one wide receiver and the player that Romo trusts the most. With T.O. suffering his much deserved purgatory in Buffalo and Williams continuing to stink, Austin will be the number one wide-out going forward.
Fantasy Take: Austin will finish as a Top 10 wide receiver this season. More importantly, rank him high on your draft board come next season, if you’re like me and already looking forward to 2010.
Glad To Have You Back Where You Belong
Cedric Benson: If “revenge is a dish best served cold”, then Sunday Cedric Benson handed a heaping plate of frozen revenge the size of a hockey rink to his former employers, the Bears. After Benson spent the week flapping his gums about how the Bears tried to blackball him after they released him last year, he went out and put the frozen boot to the Bears' collective throats. His final line: 37 carries, 189 yards rushing and a score.
Fantasy Take: At least someone from the Vince Young-Roy Williams-Cedric Benson era of the Longhorns has finally got his act together. Benson seems to have found a home in the ‘Nati and is finally living up to the hype worthy of his first-round draft status in 2005. I think he’s found the perfect fit and should be ranked in the Top 10 of running backs heading into 2010. He won’t be on your wire, unless you play in a league of idiots.
Chad Ochocinco: Our favorite “crazyville train conductor” never really left; his fantasy production did. Well, it’s back in spades. Ocho added a serious dose of aerial attack to Benson’s revenge on Sunday, finishing with 10 receptions for 118 yards, 2 touchdowns and one gift ball to a cheerleader. All aboard!
Fantasy Take: I predicted in the preseason that Ocho’s on-the-field production would return, along with his off-the-field antics. That sound you hear right now is me patting myself on the back for being right. As Ace Ventura famously said, “it hurts to be right all the time”. Ocho already has surpassed his yardage from last year, and is well on his way to over 1,000 yards receiving for the season. More impressively, he already has five touchdowns. His career high is 10 for a season, and he still has 9 games left, including some tasty matchups with Detroit, Kansas City, Cleveland and Oakland. Again I say, all aboard!
Good-bye Yellow Brick Road
There comes a time when we have to admit that some of our perennial fantasy studs have jumped the shark, with no hope of returning to the yellow brick road of fantasy goodness. For the following, that time is now.
L.T.: Watching L.T. on Sunday receive the ball four straight times at the goal line, against a lousy Kansas City defense, and not being able to put it over was like watching a thoroughbred race horse limp around after an injury. I just wanted to shout at the television, “just put him out to pasture already; he’s done”.
Fantasy Take: I was as high on L.T. coming into the season as anyone in the industry. I was willing to chalk up his subpar (if you call 1,100 yards rushing subpar) season last year to nagging injuries. But he clearly isn’t up to his previous standards any longer. He’s missed two games with injury already this season, only has 211 yards rushing, and only one touchdown. Like Marley the lab in Marley and Me, L.T. is telling us it’s time.
Larry Johnson: If L.T. needs to be put out to pasture, Larry Johnson just needs to be put down. He’s clearly suffering, and has become damn near rabid. Last season I wrote about L.J. spitting like a llama on women at an incident in a nightclub; an incident which got him suspended by the team for three games, and the NFL for one more. At the time I questioned if his next move would be lowering himself to flinging poo, and then flat-out told him to get help.
He didn’t listen. And apparently L.J. is more technologically adept than I gave him credit for as well. He went the Twitter route (almost never a good idea) and directed his poo-flinging stench at his own coach and gay men and women. Well played, L.J. In a tweet, L.J. belittled his coach and used a slur that is offensive to gay men and women everywhere. He decided that wasn’t quite enough though and repeated the gay slur in an interview with a locker room reporter.
Right now I’m trying to decide which is worse: performing the technological and verbal form of poo-slinging or actually slinging poo at people. He’s beyond help.
Fantasy Take: L.J. has been suspended indefinitely. Reports out of K.C. are that they are going through his contract with a fine tooth comb to see how they can release him without having to pay him the rest of his money. I don’t think you’ll see him in the league again this year, and there aren’t many teams that will want an aging running back with his baggage. I will stop short of saying that he won’t reappear in 2010 though. If Ahman Green can keep getting a shot, my guess is so will Johnson. But you won’t see him with a 1,000-yard rushing season again, I’m confident of that. And the good news is that Jamaal Charles will finally get the shot that he’s deserved for the past two seasons. So at least something good could possibly grow out the “natural fertilizer” that was thrown around by L.J.
See you next week with more fantasy hijinx.
