Man, you would think with less teams to choose from and the ability to select from any squad, any player would help. The problem is, everyone else is in the same boat. Here’s a quick rundown on my thoughts from this past weekend’s games from a fantasy perspective:
Seattle defeats Washington in the tragedy bowl. The weather was supposed to be a factor but it didn’t play a factor at all.
The Good: It wasn’t the throwing fest for Seattle some had figured, but if you selected D.J. Hackett (6/101/1), good for you. I picked the higher priced Bobby Engram and was left holding the bag. Antwaan Randle El also did very well in this one, surprising with his 10/94/1 performance. Seattle’s Defense, though probably not a popular pick, ended up with two interception returns for TD. Nice.
The Bad: Shaun Alexander did not show up at all in this game. Not one bit. The rushing TD for Seattle went to Leonard Weaver for heaven’s sake. Clint Portis didn’t have as bad a game as Alexander, but was disappointing nonetheless. He ended up with only 80 total yards. Santana Moss did well, with 68 receiving yards and a TD, but was outshined by his teammate Randle El.
The Ugly: Todd Collins actually outplayed Matt Hasselbeck, the former believed to be an excellent play this week. Wrong. Both threw two picks but Collins threw 2 TDs to Hasselbeck’s 1.
Jacksonville tops Pittsburgh in the most exciting game of the weekend. Steelers overcame an 18 point deficit to make it close.
The Good: MJD, anyone? Maurice Jones Drew went off in this one, scoring two TDs and almost returning a kick for a TD too. Najeh Davenport got two short rushing TDs to boost his stats. Big Ben Roethlisberger had an impressive outing (over 300 yards passing, 2TDs) but the 3 interceptions he threw killed the Steelers chances of winning. Hines Ward and Heath Miller looked great and were good choices if you had them in.
The Bad: Fred Taylor, what happened, did he get injured? He disappeared after his gimme 1 yard TD rush. Santonio Holmes was saved by his TD grab, but this game belonged to Miller and Ward, for all the hype given to Holmes by ESPN and other outlets before the game.
The Ugly: Hopefully you didn’t play either kicker in this one.
Giants continue their winning ways over the Buccaneers and continue on to meet the Cowboys. The Bucs looked listless and couldn’t get anything going in this one.
The Good: Brandon Jacobs, thank you! He didn’t have much yardage but he put in an MJD-like performance otherwise with a TD catch and a TD run. Amani Toomer also put in a surprise performance with 7 catches for 74 yards and a TD.
The Bad: I was expecting more than 63 yards and a TD from Earnest Graham but oh, well, when you’re playing from behind like the Bucs they had to abandon the run game.
The Ugly: The star WRs in this game stunk it up, really bad. Plaxico Burress – 4 catches for 38 yards? Joey Galloway – 1 catch for 9 yards? Yecch.
The Titans succumb in the second half to the Chargers and Antonio Gates hurts his toe and his fantasy owners.
The Good: The Chargers WR duo of Chris Chambers and Vincent Jackson blew it up, as they both eclipsed the 100 yard barrier, and Jackson looked like a beast in scoring a TD reception.
The Bad: LaDainian Tomlinson was a bit disappointing (12/42/1) but he did something at least. He’s still worth starting next week against the Colts though.
The Ugly: Other than Gates, anyone hoping Justin Gage would catch some passes was upset. He only had one catch for 19 yards.
I’ll be back in a couple days with my picks for the upcoming divisional weekend, both for fantasy and winners. Til then…
