Projo Fantasy Sports Blog

By Michael Salfino

Whether your fantasy fortunes were good or bad, you must remind yourself that it was just one week (or about 6 percent of the NFL regular season).

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Randy Moss, WR, Patriots: I’ve gone from “not too worried” to appropriately worried that he’ll beat me. But I’d be a seller if I owned him. Not for another WR; there’s no point to that. But you might be able to fetch a preseason consensus top 10 or 12 RB for him now and I’d move on that. You never know what’s really behind the curtain with Moss. Plus, the Patriots play to win, not feed individual performance. So, don’t expect a consistent number of targets each week like with do with other receivers viewed as WR1s.

Ronald Curry, WR, Raiders: We’ll upgrade him for now to a WR3 in 12-team leagues. But I still don’t like relying on him long term because there’s a good chance that the Raiders are going to have rookie JaMarcus Russell start games Dec. 1 or earlier, and when that happens, you are not going to want to be invested in the Raiders passing game because it will almost certainly be very, very ugly.

Javon Walker, WR, Broncos: I liked what I saw from Broncos second-year QB Jay Cutler. The Broncos generated almost 500 yards against a decent Bills defense in Buffalo. Over 300 of those yards came via the passing game. Walker didn’t find the end zone, but was very involved and very often Cutler’s first read, which is what you’re looking for in a solid, No. 1 fantasy receiver. Walker is quite clearly that. The only caution here is that the Broncos defense is so good now, they might not need to throw much.

Travis Henry, RB, Broncos: Looked like every other Broncos running back – very, very good. He got 33 cheap yards on an option play that the Broncos would be foolish to try again. But Henry was productive even without the trickery. Henry owners must get Selvin Young and hope Shanahan’s depth chart doesn’t change because Henry has had chronic injury problems and is quite old (29 next month) for a running back.

Adrian Peterson, RB, Vikings: He’s Superman at running back. Big, tough, fast, powerful, elusive…. The Fantasy Gods stepped in and smote Chester Taylor in the first quarter of Week 1, righting the injustice of Peterson not being the opening-day starter. The Vikings clearly want second-year man Tarvaris Jackson to be a caretaker QB. So there are not going to be enough points generated by them for Peterson to have a monster season.

No Change

Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Steelers: I’ve been high on him all summer. You can’t quarrel with the results (4 TD passes). But I’m disappointed that the Steelers ran two-thirds of the time on first down in the first half on Sunday. Forget the second half stats, because the game turned into a massacre. Roethlisberger has always carved up base defenses on first down and Sunday was no different: 2-for-4 for 55 yards and a TD in the first half. Though he’s unchanged in my eyes (I had him as a preseason Top 10 fantasy QB), he’s probably a big upgrade for you.

Edgerrin James, RB, Cardinals: Anyone watching the game heard the announcers gushing about how hard James was running. We hear that from announcers when a back they like (usually an older back with his best days behind him) is getting creamed by the defense. James can no longer make people miss and has lost any vestige of explosive playmaking ability. He’s incapable of generating big stats and is an injury waiting to happen.

Larry Johnson, RB, Chiefs: I got the idea for a Fantasy Suicide
Prevention Hotline thinking of Johnson owners unfortunate enough to watch the Chiefs offense flounder in Houston, of all places. LJ’s stock has now sunk to a level where I’d be a buyer. His owners are staring down the barrel at Chicago (this week), Minnesota, Jacksonville and San Diego. I can’t deny these are all very nasty run defenses (though Chicago was below average in 2006). But we were all similarly worried last year when the Chiefs scored one TD the first two weeks while losing their starting QB. Johnson ended up with almost 2,200 total yards and 19 TDs. Can the Chiefs offense be significantly worse this year?

Clinton Portis, RB, Redskins: He’s undoubtedly talented. But health
continues to be a problem, as he ended up splitting carries with Ladell Betts after bruising his ribs in the early going. The Redskins lost right tackle Jon Jansen (ankle) for the season, but didn’t seem to miss a beat against the tough Dolphins run defense.

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Laurence Maroney, RB, Patriots: He got less than half the snaps at running back on Sunday and garbage time had little to do with this. Also, he’s looking unlikely to be the goal-line back. Heath Evans punched it in from one-yard out in what was arguably garbage time, but Sammy Morris got the short-yardage carry earlier and Maroney got no short-yardage looks. I thought he could easily get 15-to-17 TDs in August. Now, I’m thinking 7-to-10.

Matt Leinart, QB, Cardinals: New coach Ken Whisenhunt called run about two-thirds of the time on first down. He initially said he was going to emphasize a power running game irrespective of his personnel before later backing off that claim. It seems his first take was the accurate reflection of his coaching personality. This is bad news for those of us invested in the Cardinals passing game.

Vernon Davis, TE, Niners: I’ve said all summer that Alex Smith is a
bust until further notice and nothing I saw Monday night made me change my mind. The Niners threw the majority of time on first down. He had chances to make plays. But he’s incapable. Davis will always tempt us with his freakish athleticism. But he wasn’t ever a big-time playmaker in college and doesn’t seem to possess the feel for route-running needed to overcome a weak QB.

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