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.
I took off some of the guys that played Thursday. There isn’t a lot of new news out there. Getting a list of who practiced and who didn’t on Friday will give us a clearer picture.
Hope everybody had a good T-day and if there are any other players you want me to track or dig up news on feel free to put them in the comments.
QB Ben Roethlisberger Pittsburgh Steelers – Still practicing and still expected to start this week.
QB Kurt Warner Arizona Cardinals – Practice fully Thursday and is expected to start.
RB Michael Turner Atlanta Falcons – Has practiced two days straight. Will be a game time decision. My predictions on who is going to play and who isn’t has been sub-par, but I have to think that they sit Turner this week with TB on the schedule.
RB Clinton Portis Washington Redskins – Portis is still have vision problems. The team is talking about him being a possibility to start Week 13, so you can safely assume he will miss this week.
RB Ladell Betts Washington Redskins – Placed on IR.
RB Marshawn Lynch Buffalo Bills – Lynch fully participated in Weds practice. No new news, which means he is still on track to play this week.
A source close to former St.Louis Rams coach Mike Martz, most recently the San Francisco 49ers’ offensive coordinator last season, said the architect of The Greatest Show on Turf might finally be headed to Chicago.
Not a bad move, but I think the Bears struggles on offense have more to do with personnel than scheme. Cutler is simply a bad fit for what the Bears offense is right now. Give Cutler time in the pocket and a better receiving corps and he is one of the better QBs in the league. The problem with Cutler, and this is unlikely to ever change, is that when under pressure he simply isn’t going to throw the ball away…at least not that often. With a better group of wide receivers, like he had in Denver, that isn’t so bad. With the group he has in Chicago, it just isn’t going to work and with that offense line it is going to happen fairly often.
Drop me a line or use the comments if there are more players you want me to track.
QB Ben Roethlisberger Pittsburgh Steelers – Participated fully in Weds practice and is expected to start this week.
QB Kurt Warner Arizona Cardinals – Warner stated in a conference call with reporters today that he expects to start this week.
QB Matthew Stafford – Is listed as doubtful this week. There is an outside shot at him playing this week, but don’t count on it.
RB Michael Turner Atlanta Falcons – Turner returned to practice, but in a limited basis. A promising development for Turner owners, but most reports are targeting a Week 13 return to the line-up.
RB Ahmad Bradshaw New York Giants – Ruled out this Thursday due to an injury to his right ankle. Bradshaw had been nursing a left ankle injury for much of the season.
RB Clinton Portis Washington Redskins – Portis is still have vision problems. The team is talking about him being a possibility to start Week 13, so you can safely assume he will miss this week.
RB Ladell Betts Washington Redskins – Placed on IR.
A couple of new additions to the list. Feel free to use the comments if you want anyone else tracked.
QB Ben Roethlisberger Pittsburgh Steelers – Roethlisberger passed concussion tests on Monday and is expected to start according to head coach Mike Tomlin.
QB Kurt Warner Arizona Cardinals – Warner is to undergo a baseline test for the concussion he suffered last week. Reports seem to indicate he will start, but I’m starting to see some people hedge their bets a bit.
QB Matthew Stafford – Stafford was held out of Tuesday practice.
RB Clinton Portis Washington Redskins – Portis is having vision problems related to his concussion. There is talk that he could go on the IR.
RB Ladell Betts Washington Redskins – The Redskins placed Betts on the IR after he suffered a torn MCL and ACL this past week.
RB Marshawn Lynch – Lynch is listed as day-to-day with a shoulder injury.
RB Ryan Grant – Grant returned to full practice Tuesday.
WR Calvin Johnson – Has knee and hand injuries and was held out of Tuesday practice. Look for a game time decision for Johnson.
TE Jason Witten Dallas Cowboys – Witten has a foot injury and was limited in practice Tuesday. He will be a game time decision.
Anybody who watched the Titans/Texans game last night had to come away impressed with Vince Young. I doubt that he will ever have much of an impact on fantasy football unless the Titans change the offensive philosophy some, but at this point you have to say he is a very good NFL quarterback. A lot of credit is going to Young for the Titans recent turnaround and for good reason, but what about Jeff Fisher. The PTI guys seem to think so.
Through the Titans first six weeks Fisher said over and over that the Titan’s struggles weren’t because of Collins. While the team’s struggles weren’t all on Collins, he should be taking equal blame. He was supposed to take care of the ball and stay out of the running game’s way. He responded with only five touchdowns and eight interceptions before Fisher finally got word from Adams that Young needed to be starting.
Shorter blog post…Yes, Fisher deserves a ton of credit for the Titans going 0-6.
