Good to see nobody trashed the place while I was gone. I was going to mimic a lot of NFL teams and sit out this week, but I worried about the wrath of the 411 competition committee (who has as much bite as the NFL competition committee). Anyway here are my rankings.
1. A. Rodgers – Only the Falcons have been worse defending against the QB position over the last five.
2. M. Schuab
3. T. Brady – The injuries worry me, but the Jags are awful on the road.
4. P. Rivers – The Titans ruined this pick for me.
5. K. Warner
RB
1. C. Benson – Last week proved that the Chiefs are allergic to tackling.
2. F. Gore
3. C. Johnson – Everybody is jumping on the Chargers bandwagon, but they really need to fix their run D if they are planning on making a run at the SB.
4. A. Peterson
5. S. Jackson – They really should shut him down for the season.
WR
1. A. Johnson – Best WR in football going against a green Miami secondary.
2. R. Moss
3. G. Jennings – I could easily see Driver doing more, but Jennings won my coin flip.
4. W. Welker – Hedging my bets a bit with picking two Pats.
5. M. Austin – I wanted to pick him last week, but didn’t have the guts. I’ll pick him this week and he will fall flat…bet on it.
TE
1. J. Finley – Top three TE next season, top five this week.
2. A. Gates – Wish Gates was playing like this at the start of the season.
3. D. Clark
4. V. Shiancoe
5. J. Carlson – Not too comfortable with this pick as it really looks like Seattle has thrown in the towel, but I really like the match-up.
I don’t have children, but I would bet Conn’s and Thitoff’s kids that if any other player in the NFL refused to leave a game that the media would loose their minds (I wanted a much stronger word there, but this is a family site and all). Mike Ditka would be on Monday Night Countdown claiming he would fight a player that did that to him…and he probably would. PTI would eviscerate said player…and rightfully so.
However, that player happened to be Brett Favre and *Rules 1-17 when covering the NFL is ‘Thou shall not question Brett Favre’. People can argue as much as they want about if taking Favre out was the right move, I don’t think it was, but the bottom line is that Brad Childress is the head coach. If the head coach tells you to sit, you sit. I think an even bigger issue is how at ease Favre was with admitting that Childress wanted to take him out and Favre basically told him to bugger off. That doesn’t show a whole lot of respect for the coach and when your quarterback doesn’t show much respect for the coach other players are likely to follow. If Randy Moss or Terrell Owens pulled such a move, they would be crucified.
After the Colts Week 15 win against the Jaguars, Peyton Manning was asked about the pull between an undefeated season Vs. resting for the play-offs. Manning simply said that he wanted to go for it, but that Caldwell was the coach and you do what the coach said. Favre probably would have responded with a laugh and reminded the interviewer that it was Favre who really ran things not some silly coach (yes, Favre would speak about himself in the third person).
For those not up to date on the story, click here.
*Rule No. 18 when discussing Brett Favre is that you have to use the term ‘gunslinger’ some place.
The NFLPA is going to cover any fine that Ocho picks up on Sat. There was some talk earlier in the week about Ocho wearing Henry’s No. 15 for this week’s game. I’m not sure if any of that was coming from the Bengals, Ocho or if it was just idle speculation.
In other news…..
The Cowboys are are looking really sharp to start off tonight’s game. I’m really regretting not having the guts to put Miles Austin in my top 5.
So I crush the competition last week in the Experts Contest. My second first place finish of the season by the way. The Hanukkah Spectacular, written by yours truly and Adam Conn, is certainly on track to win us a Pulitzer. Risk Management has been absolutely on fire of late. And I get bumped from the podcast line-up. Start the letter writing campaign now folks! Mr. Conn and Mr. Thitoff, you will be hearing from my mom agent. Enough of the Tomfoolery, time for my Expert’s Entry.
Quarterbacks
1. K. Warner – The Lions are so bad I would consider Brady Quinn top five worthy against them.
2. A. Rodgers
3. D. Brees
4. P. Manning
5. M. Schaub
Running Backs
1. A. Peterson
2. C. Johnson – I’m not sold on the match-up, but it is just too tough not to put him in here considering the numbers he has put up this season.
3. T. Jones
4. K. Moreno – A, likely, full workload for Moreno against a woeful Raiders run defense….[sarah palin]You betcha![/sarah palin]
5. R. Rice – I have been going back and forth between R. Ray and J. Charles here. Going with Rice simple means J. Charles is set to break records on Sunday.
WR
1. A. Johnson
2. L. Fitzgerald – The injuries concern me, but he practiced Friday and I think he will play.
3. C. Ochocinco – I’ve never pulled harder for a player to score. Scroll down for why.
4. A. Bryant – The Seahawks are giving up a ton to wide receivers, 206 yards receiving and 2 TDs per game over the last five weeks to be exact.
5. R. Wayne – His 19 points from Thursday would have put him fourth last week, feeling pretty confident he doesn’t get bumped from the top 5.
TE
1. V. Davis
2. A. Gates
3. D. Clark
4. F. Davis
5. J. Witten – Was going to go with Winslow here, but with him not practicing Friday I’m not sold on him playing.
I hate to admit this, because Conn and Thitoff are both probably concerned that someday I will say something that alienates a large amount of readers or just plain pisses people off, but I want to see what Ochocinco does this weekend if he scores a touchdown more so than any other week. If I have already pissed you off work with me for a moment.
Some people hate Ochocinco’s antics. I am not one of them. I love them, even though I think most of them are stupid. I love them because we get to catch a brief glimpse of a player that just absolutely loves what he gets to do for a living. I also think he pulls the antics that he does because he likes having people talk about him, but I don’t think that is the only reason. I’m pulling for Ochocinco to score this week because I want to see what he does in honor/memory of Chris Henry. I’m pulling for Ochocinco to score this week because I want to see if Goodell fines him for it or the refs flag him for it. If you haven’t seen the Youtube clip of Ochocinco talking about the loss of Henry, do so. Like him or hate him I think you would have a hard time convincing yourself that his emotions in the clip are for show.
The league has asked all team’s to observe a moment of silence in memory of Chris Henry this week. Good for them. I imagine that the Bengals will be wearing some sort of patch on their jerseys or decal on their helmets. Good for them. And if Chad Ochocinco finds the end zone this weekend I would be willing to bet that he has something special planned in memory of his teammate and friend. Goodell and the refs, just this once, should stay the hell out of it.
I’ve been wrong many times as I am sure a number of my ex-girlfriends would tell you. You would have to listen to a lot of other stuff about me first, but trust me they would eventually get around to it. However, I think those freaking out about Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark not taking another snap until the playoffs are being a bit silly. I don’t doubt that Caldwell wants to rest his team, but giving them a min-vacation starting Week 16 means about a month off before taking another non-practice snap. Not happening folk. I know that several members of the organization have said that they aren’t interested in a perfect season, that their only goal is to win a Super Bowl, they are taking one game at a time and blah blah blah. Well good for them because that is what they are supposed to say. If players meant everything they said Brett Favre would be retired and I wouldn’t have to look for a fork to drive into my eye socket every time Peter King or somebody felt the need to tell me how Favre is the most greatestest quarterback evah. The regulars WILL play Week 16. They might not play a full game, but only if they are blowing the other guys out or getting blown out themselves. What about Week 17 you ask? Who cares and why are you playing in a league that has playoff games Week 17?
FYI, Peyton Manning is actually the most greatestest quarterback evah.
I hate doing top 5 picks on Thursday. My track record on the Thursday games isn’t the greatest. I haven’t had time to really dig through the match-ups and I end up going with my gut more than stats and trends, something that more often than not leads to bad picks. With that said I’m taking Peyton Manning as my No. 4 QB, Reggie Wayne as my No. 5 WR and Dallas Clark as my No. 3 TE. I really want to take Scobee in my top 5, but three players is enough…this of course means that Scobee will probably set a single game record in FGs made so adjust your line-ups accordingly.
FYI, I don’t have him top 5, but I think David Garrard will have a strong game tonight as well.
