| Not. So. Fast.
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| Fast Willie Parker had a great game on Thursday, running off 115 yards on 29 carries. A fantasy stud? Hardly.
With Jerome Bettis calling it a career, it looked like Parker was going to get the goal-line carries. Heck, Bill Cowher even said as much. Fast forward to last Thursday's game. When push came to shove, and the Steelers found themselves on the Miami 1, Parker was on the sidelines, and Verron Haynes was behind when Charlie Botched fumbled.
Now, Parker's short-yardage role is even more in doubt, as the Steelers signed the Closet Pooper, Najeh Davenport. Davenport is listed at 6'1", 247 pounds. Parker? 5'10", 209.
Najeh could spend as much time sitting in a laundry basket as he wanted, and he'd still be a better goal-line option than Fast Willie. That's the risk you take when you take a guy whose expanding role is the result of the process of elimination.
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| Blocking. Blocking. Blocking.
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Maybe the "Larry Johnson, Fantasy Stud" tag came a wee bit too early. No, I'm not ready to call LJ a bust, and I'm certainly not blaming him. But the Chiefs blocking looks too porous to allow the non-Grandmama LJ to hang with the elite. Willie Roaf has retired; Tony Richardson is now a Viking. The results?
- Seven sacks given up -- to a Cincinnati Bengals team that had 28 total in 2005.
- Of the 23 completions, 17 went to either Tony Gonzalez (the tight end) or LJ -- that is, to outlet receivers, suggesting either quick throws or really great downfield coverage.
- A 10 yard per completion rate -- suggesting quick throws.
- A 65.7% completion rate -- suggesting that it isn't the pass coverage that's causing the problem.
So, lessee. A team that doesn't get a lot of sacks suddenly does, but the victimized team is otherwise successful in completing passes, albeit in the short-game. Seems like a blocking problem to me, and I can't overemphasize the importance of good blocking for your fantasy RB's season. With good blocking, LJ rocks. Without it, the Chiefs will face a lot of third-and-longs and 10 point deficits -- that's what sacks do! -- and a lot of passing where last year, they'd be running. Yikes.
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| Ted. Is. Better.
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| Last year, the New York Jets comically wasted a second-round draft pick on Mike Nugent, standout placekicker for the OSU. This year, while going to a New York Mets game, I spied on a 7 train a guy with a t-shirt that said "Nugent for Heisman", which both shocked and horrified me. He's a kicker, people! A kicker! He's not a real football player! Are you all mad!?
Anyway.
If you, like the Jets, thought that a kicker was worthy of a high draft pick, look no further than the non-Ted Noog to see how terribly wrong you are. Mike's line:
FG: 1/3, longest 18, missed from 30 and 34.
XP: 2/3.
That's right, he left seven points on the field. A touchdown, lost, because Mike Nugent sucks.
And you wonder why real men don't draft kickers. And why I almost named this 3LW "Dime. A. Dozen." But I'll save that for another time.
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