The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

After a three week layoff, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly is back and nastier than ever.  You know how we do it here on Tuesdays.  The players that step up get a shout out, the guys that don’t get ripped.  This is a forum for fantasy owners to let their players know what they think of ‘em.  I want to hear your thoughts so feel free to comment as much as you like. 

THE GOOD

1.   Matt “Big Money” Cassel:  Brady’s backup has dollar signs in his eyes as he continues to light up fantasy scoreboards and put himself in position for a fat new contract.  Despite losing to the Jets last Thursday night, Cassel completed 30 of 51 passes for 400 yards and 3 touchdowns with NO interceptions.  The last play of the fourth quarter was a perfect example of how far this kid has come.  MC rolled out to his right and hit Moss on the money right before he went out of bounds to send the game into overtime.  Has there been a better waiver wire pickup this season?  The guy who started “Fire Matt Millen.com” should launch a new website called “Sign Matt Cassel.org.”  Actually, that gives me an idea…

 

2.   Buck Wild Backfields:  I’m leaving this one up to you guys.  Fantasy running backs around the league went crazy in Week 11, and picking just one player to represent “the good” is almost too difficult.  Here are the nominees:  Marshawn Lynch (177 total yards, 1 TD), Marion Barber (153 total yards, 1 TD), Jonathan Stewart (130 rushing yards, 1 TD), DeAngelo Williams (120 rushing yards, 2 TDs), Frank Gore (106 rushing yards, 2 TDs), Joseph Addai (153 total yards, 2 TDs), Steve Slaton (156 rushing yards, 1 TD), Ryan Grant (145 rushing yards, 1 TD), and Thomas Jones (119 total yards, 1 TD).  For those of you who are upset I left out the New York Giants, click here. 

 

3.   The 1-2 Bunch of Boldin and Fitzgerald:  These guys are absolutely unstoppable right now.  They both need to buy head coach Ken Whisenhunt a Rolex for opting to start MVP candidate Kurt Warner instead of Matt “Clipboard” Leinart.  This past Sunday at Seattle was just another example of how deadly the Arizona offense can be.  Boldin caught 13 passes for 186 yards, while Fitz chipped in with 10 grabs for 151 yards in the Cardinals’ 26-20 road victory over the Seattle Seahawks.  A.B. now has 62 receptions and 10 TDs on the season and Fitzgerald just notched his fifth 100+ yard performance in ten games.  Just in case you were curious, these two receivers currently rank 1 and 2 in standard scoring formats.  Deadly. 

THE BAD

1.   Philip “The Ship Is Sinking” Rivers:  San Diego is in big time trouble right now.  A popular pick during the preseason to win the Super Bowl, the Chargers are currently 4-6 and in must win mode from here on out (too bad Indy comes to town this weekend).  While playing Pittsburgh is certainly no easy task, Rivers had a miserable game on Sunday, completing only 15 of 26 passes for 159 yards, NO touchdowns and two interceptions.  While there is still the off chance that Denver stumbles and San Diego gets back into contention, does it really matter?  Their goal was to reach the big game this year and with the defense they currently put out on the field each weekend, the chances of them slowing anybody down come January are slim to none. 

 

2.   The Windy City Offense:  Green Bay welcomed back Kyle Orton by pummeling him and the rest of the Bears in a 37-3 smack down at Lambeau on Sunday.  The Orton-led offense was only able to muster 234 total yards, 3 lousy points, and 9 first downs.  What’s worse is that Chicago only held the ball for just over 22 minutes.  The only thing the Bears can do now is put this one behind them and move forwards, while Green Bay has something to build on and some good momentum to carry them down the stretch.  The NFC North is going to be fun to watch in December. 

 

3.   Marques “Repeat Offender” Colston:  Everyone’s favorite underachieving receiver was back at it again on Sunday, catching only 3 passes for 30 yards.  Keep in mind, the Saints weren’t playing Pittsburgh, they were playing the NFL’s #32 ranked total defense.  For those of you unaware of how many teams play in the league, being ranked #32 means you’re dead last.  While quarterback Drew Brees threw for only 266 yards (by his standards, that’s a below average performance), Colston still should have been able to get his hands on some more pigskin.

THE UGLY

1.  Trent “INTs and Swing Passes” Edwards:  What a nightmare this game was to watch.  Somehow, despite Edwards throwing three interceptions in the first freakin’ quarter, the Bills still had a chance to pull this thing out late.  Then, Rian Lindell pulled his best Scott Norwood impersonation (Wide Right) and Buffalo lost its fourth straight.  What made this game so ugly was that there was no way Buffalo should have lost.  They got their best performance of the season from Marshawn Lynch, scored a special teams touchdown, got a good effort from the defense, and had outstanding field position through all four quarters.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that after throwing three picks, Edwards was terrified to throw the rock down the field for the rest of the game.  Probably why his night ended with a 50.3 QB Rating (his fourth straight outing with a rating of less than 80.0) and a terrible 5.7 yards per attempt average.  Get Lee Evans involved!

 

2.   The Philadelphia Eagles:  Where do I begin with this one?  In a must win situation, Philly traveled to lowly Cincinnati and came away with a tie.  The offense only scored 13 points, McNabb threw 3 interceptions and Brian Westbrook only had 17 total touches.  The thing that stinks is that any McNabb owners out there who lost by a point or two should really feel bummed.  Had the game gone into a second overtime like Donny Mac had expected, you would have had at least 15 more minutes to pull out the fantasy win.  That is unless nobody scored, in which case they would have played a third overtime.     

 

3.   The Former #1 Ranked Run Defense:  So long to that ranking Baltimore, because you got shredded this past weekend.  Anyone still unsure of which team is going to win the NFC this year just needs to throw on the highlights from the game played at the Meadowlands this past Sunday, and you’ve got your answer.  The New York Giants three-headed backfield beast absolutely smoked the Ravens’ defense, rushing for a lights-out 207 yards on 33 carries.  Keep in mind, Baltimore was only allowing an average of 65.4 rushing yards per game, and had given up just 1 TD via the ground in 2008 (two in the first quarter on Sunday).  The only good news that came out of this game for the Ravens is that they now know if by some miracle they reach the Super Bowl, they have no chance of stopping the Giants.  Oops.  Did I say good news? 

 

THE MENSA PLAY OF THE WEEK

How can I give this out to anyone but Donovan McNabb who apparently had no clue that NFL games could end in a tie.  Seriously?  As a Birds fan, it’s always tough to see your team lose (tying a team like the Bengals counts as a loss), but to hear your franchise quarterback say something like that after a game is beyond me.  Where does Philly go from here?  I can tell you one place they ARENT going, and that’s the playoffs.