The Seahawks gave up a lot of passing yards on Sunday as Eagles' QB Donovan McNabb threw for 349 yards. That's the third time in a row the 'Hawks have given up 300+ passing yards per game. The previous week it was 304 from the combination of J.T. O'Sullivan and Shaun Hill (that's embarrassing) and the week before that they let Jeff Garcia light them up for 310 yards.
Things are bad in the Seattle secondary and I don't think they're going to get better. The next two games for the Seahawks are the Dolphins with their no-fear QB Chad Pennington and the bombs-away Cardinals featuring Kurt Warner.
OK, so what? It's great to know that the Dolphins and Cardinals will have big games, but Pennington and Warner aren't available in your fantasy league. That doesn't help. But what may help is the fact that the Seahawks are giving up huge receiving totals to opposing tight ends. And lately, it's even been to guys you've never heard of.
Eagles' backup TE Brent Celek rolled up 6 catches for 131 yards this week (starter LJ Smith was injured). The previous week, the Niners' leading receiver (after RB Frank Gore) was backup TE Delanie Walker with 53 yards (starter Vernon Davis was benched). The week before that, Buccaneers TE Jerramy Stevens was Tampa's second leading receiver with 4 catches for 55 yards.
Lately the Seahawks have been a gold mine for opposing tight ends. Even if the guys are low-rated fantasy tight ends like LJ Smith and Vernon Davis. Wait, scratch that, even if the guys are the BACKUPS to low-rated fantasy tight ends like LJ Smith and Vernon Davis.
For the next four weeks, Seattle's opposing tight ends are:
- Miami's Anthony Fasano, who leads his team in receiving touchdowns
- Arizona's Leonard Pope (maybe, he was hurt this week) or Ben Patrick (maybe, he was hurt this week too) or Jerame Tuman (yikes!). The Cardinals almost never throw to the tight end so the designated target here could be a guy like WR3 Steve Breaston.
- Washington's Chris Cooley, already the second leading receiver on the team.
- Dallas' Jason Witten, the Cowboys' leading receiver.
Wow. That looks like a feast for opposing tight ends. I think Fasano is a big breakout candidate for next week and a healthy Leonard Pope (or Steve Breaston) looks like a decent fill-in choice the week after.