A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
Eric Mangini, in a discussion on this morning’s First Take about whether Eli Manning would be a Hall of Famer if his career ended today, mentioned that Eli led the league in interceptions in 2010 and asked, “How many Hall of Famers have led the league in interceptions?” (Neither Mangini nor Skip Bayless thought that Eli had done enough yet to deserve Hall of Fame induction.)
Naturally, I stopped what I was doing and went to databaseFootball.com to answer Mangini’s question.
Two weeks between the NFC and AFC Championship games and the Super Bowl seems like way too long.
I’m a Packers fan, so I’ve been on both sides of the spectrum. Last season, I could not wait for the Super Bowl to come, the anticipation building each and every day.
This season? I can’t wait for it to be over.
It’s been a while since our last photo story on Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning, but the long hiatus has ended, inspired by – who else? – Tim Tebow.
Actually, this newest photo story is inspired less by Tebow and more by the thoughts and fears that have to be percolating in the minds of the Broncos’ opponents for this week, the New England Patriots. No matter how confident Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the rest of the Patriots may appear, the reality is that the #1 seeded Patriots, who have not won a playoff game since 2007, have all of the pressure on them this week.
In one of the most promising, if not the best, Monday Night Football match-ups of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3) head west to take on the San Francisco 49ers (10-3).
Unlike last week’s less-than-stellar showing from the Rams and Seahawks, this game features two teams each near the top of their conference, both fighting for playoff seeding and the hope of a first-round bye.
The game will kick off a crazy holiday week for the NFL, with games on five of the next eight days. This one has the potential to be a slugfest and will definitely be worth watching Monday night.
It’s been a busy 24 hours in the football world.
Mike McQueary provided some disturbing but important (and damning) testimony about Jerry Sandusky; the Sam Hurd drug saga continued to unfold; and Adrian Peterson explained one of his motivations for returning to the field.
Thanksgiving is a football fan’s dream: plenty of good food and plenty of good football.
Even though some fantasy owners don’t like their guys playing so early, it could actually work in your favor if you are down a pretty big margin after the Thursday games have ended and taking a big risk is necessary.
No byes again this week, so getting a lucky matchup with your opposition missing Aaron Rodgers and Matt Forte are over.
Please, enjoy your holiday and this week’s Stock Report. (And find a replacement for Fred Jackson fast.)
Before we get to the Week 9 fantasy football start/sit advice, I want to add a couple more thoughts on my Tebow article from yesterday. (And don’t worry; I’ll analyze his fantasy prospects for Week 9 too.)
Did you know that every team that is on a bye this week has a winning record? I’m not sure if that has ever happened before but I’ll send John Clayton an email and see what he says. One of those teams on the bye, the Bears, has a running back that has two labels thrown at him. Is Matt Forte underrated or undervalued? He may be both. The Bears front office better figure it out soon.
Now for this week we have some interesting picks for you, but a lot of them are on the down side of the stock. I had one person ask me how I could have DeMarco Murray down this week after his big game last week; easy. Just look at Adrian Peterson’s stats after he set the NFL record for yards in a game. Stay here: he scored 5 points.
We have a special treat for you in this installment of the stock report: kickers, tricks and more.
Well, that was fast.
As soon as I opened up my big mouth and proclaimed that 2011 was going to be the most prolific fantasy year ever, scoring around the league plummets. No worries.
At least I had a great week on the predictions front, as I was right on nearly 80% of my picks.
As always, here is a quick look back at last week before we move on to week 7.
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Is 2011 going to be the highest scoring fantasy season of all time? All signs indicate that it could be. Last season, seven players finished the season with more than 270 points (ESPN Standard Scoring). After four weeks this season, a staggering 18 players were on pace to beat that mark…and nine of them were QBs.
Like I said at the beginning of the season, gone are the days of fantasy rule by the RBs. Of those 18 players, only 5 are RBs…simply a staggering thought to anyone living in 2006 or before.
So how’s everyone’s fantasy team doing? Are you confident like the dominating Green Bay Packers or feeling a little lost like the unfortunate Minnesota Vikings? If it’s the latter…well maybe you’re not paying close enough attention to my injury updates! Then again my team is 1-3. Yeesh.
Here are the injury updates for Week 5 of the fantasy football season.
Injuries!
Andre Johnson is gone. Ben Roethlisberger is banged up. Miles Austin is on the mend. Marques Colston is back, but when will he get on track?
With the bye weeks now here, the time has come when fantasy leagues are truly won and lost. If you drafted well, and got a little lucky, you should be near the top of the standings. But nobody can ever completely escape the injury bug. Managing your lineup properly when byes and injuries attack is what separates the good owners from the great ones.
So let’s look at the Week Five games and decide who to start and who to sit this week.
Week Three is over, and you are probably wondering one thing: How is a guy that’s giving such great advice 0-3 in his own fantasy league?
I wish I knew…injuries have just killed me…and I’ve lost each week by an average of 1.2 points. Just heartbreaking.
Some of you are probably in the same boat as me. Even if you aren’t, it’s the time in the fantasy football season when leagues are won and lost. Now is when we have to start making the tough calls.
Week One is finally here. You have done all the research (you know, the usual: waiver wire picks…injury updates…comparing QBs to Michael Jackson songs…), you have gone through your draft, and most importantly, you have started talking smack to everyone in your league.
You only have one job left to do: start the right guys.
Nothing could be worse than having an awesome team…on your bench.
Each and every one of us has a fantasy sob story or two, and it’s almost a guarantee that one of them revolves around sitting the wrong guy.
So who are you going to start this week?
NFL Playoffs: Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos Preview and Prediction
Get the Tim Tebow counter ready, because his name will be mentioned a countless number of times before tomorrow’s game against the Steelers. He has led the Broncos to an AFC West championship, and a home playoff game.
The only problem is that they are taking on the 12-4 Pittsburgh Steelers, who do not care for the buzz around Tebow.
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