With the conclusion of the 2007 fantasy baseball season, I am going to approach the Answers to my Sunday Questions a little differently. I'll be offering longer commentary on each game's answers but may not adress every game as a result. If I miss a game, feel free to post a diary or a comment in one of the posts and I will do my best to offer my $0.02 USD.
Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants (+3):
In Week Three, the Eagles score 56 points. In Week Four, their scoring output drops by 94.6% despite having a 100-yard rusher in Correll Buckhalter.
In addition to allowing just three points, the Giants recorded a video-game-esque 12 sacks. This certainly had something to do with the Eagle's new found inability to execute any semblence of a passing attack.
Sadly, the Giants offense was just barely better than the Eagles as QB Eli Manning threw for a high-school-like 130 or so yards with a non-descript running attack.
Fantasy implications:
- A rush to start the Giants defense or its IDPs is likely.
- Correll Buckhalter will be this week's DeShawn Wynn - owned in 100% of leagues with no assurance he can replicate his prior week's efforts.
As a road favorite, the Jets went into Buffalo and were beaten. Bills rookie QB Trent Edwards produced like Jets' QB Chad Pennington - high completion percentage and banal yardage totals. This was the type of game that most fans of other teams would have on for background noise while taking an afternoon nap.
Fantasy implications:
* Trent Edwards greenness led to WR Lee Evans increasing his 2007 receptions totals by 120% (5 pre-game/11 post-game). While Evans may not catch as many bombs without JP Losman, he could turn out to be a PPR monster as Edwards safety blanket. The time to get Evans low is expiring rapidly.
Oakland Raiders at Miami Dolphins (-4):
How many times has an NFL QB passed for a mere 75 yards and score 5 TDS? No idea but I'm guessing the total will not use all the fingers on my hand. And if it does, the names of those QBS will not be contemporary to anyone born in the past 40 years.
As interesting is the yardage totals the Raiders rolled-up on the ground. This had all the makings of an old school Nebraska-North Texas State tilt where Nebraska runs all over its weaker brethren to the south. 299 yards rushing in the NFL has to be the equivalent of 450 yards rushing in college. Sadly, the Fish ran for 141 themselves - a total considered good enough to win.
Fantasy implications:
Any rusher going against the Miami defense should be started. Next up? The Houston Texans and Ron Dayne.
If Justin Vargas can go for 179 yards, Dayne should get at least that many. Seriously, no one should expect any NFL team to allow themselves to be bitch-slapped like that two weeks in a row, but I expect Dayne to have a near-career best game regardless.
His best effort was last season against the Colts when he rushed for a 153 yards on 32 carries with two TDS. Prior to that, he crossed the 100-yard barrier back in 2001 with a 19/111/1 effort against New Orleans and in 2000 with a 21/108/1 effort. Something in between is not unreasonable.