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| BOOOO!!!!!!!! |
Who do you take in a fight between two billionaire corporations? A fight between Rupert Murdoch and James Dolan? Neither if you can help it.
At some point on Saturday, the ongoing fight between Cablevision and FOX entered our living room when the FOX family of channels, and most importantly the FOX 5, were pulled from Cablevision's airwaves. In place of their regularly scheduled programming, namely the NLCS, we were left with some Cablevision propaganda (binding arbitration, binding arbitration, binding arbitration!!). No big deal, though as we assumed they'd get it all figured out before the 1 P.M. Giants game on Sunday. No company, no matter how big or how ridiculously out of touch it is, would ever think to pull the local team from the largest TV market in the county, right?
Fast forward to Sunday, game time. With our fingers crossed, we flipped on the TV to find .... that SAME DAMN CABLEVISION PROPAGANDA!! You see, the only reason we even chose Cablevision when we moved to our lovely central Jersey town, was because it was the only provider we could find that carried the New York stations, and in turn, every Giants game. Now, with the NFL not on our TV, we were beginning to question our relationship with Cablevision. Wasn't there some politician, in a desperate attempt to pander their way to reelection, who would step up and do something? 4 days later we're sitting here wondering if we're going to miss another week of football, yet that's not the part that ruined our day.
What really pisses us off is that we kinda side with Cablevision on this one. FOX is apparently looking for shit ton more money for the same product. They're the one who made the decision to deprive us of our rightful channels. Still, as pissed as we are, we have no recourse. What the hell can we do to get back at them? We're certainly not going to stop watching their shows (American Idol, baby!!). The only thing we're left to do is change cable companies and punish the comparative good guy in this whole mess. It sucks being powerless.
On to those who make us feel powerless every week, the fantasy performers and non-performers of the week.
1. Brandon Jacobs, RB, New York Giants;
A funny thing happened on the way to Jacobs being left for dead on the side of the fantasy highway, Brandon seems to have gotten a little bit of his groove back. In the past few weeks, the Man-Child has finally begun to show the power and body lean that made us think he could be the next Larry Johnson (minus the beating of women and the sense of balance - seriously, Jacobs falls over more then a drunk, one-legged man). The result is a string of 3 straight touchdown producing games, capped with a 2 score performance on Sunday. We're not getting carried away thinking he's going to steal a bunch of touches (particularly since he hasn't topped 10 carries since week 1) but in a league where even top running backs can stick you with a crappy 45 yard performance (that's you Michael Turner, no groin excuses this time), a guy who has the potential to score can be very useful when you're in need of a spot start. With all this good news, why does Jacobs make the list? Easy, Bradshaw owners really hate his ass right now after Bradshaw put together a nice 133 yard day but his owners were deprived of two touchdowns, and a HUGE 25+ point fantasy day, as a result of Jacobs' vulture.
2. Malcom Floyd, WR, San Diego Superchargers;
Floyd earns the rare honor of making the list in back-to-back weeks for following up his ridiculous 213 yard week by doing nothing against the Rams (2 catches, 15 yards) before leaving in the 4th quarter with a hamstring strain that appears likely to keep him out for week 7's match-up with the Pats. How's that for an encore!! Floyd reminds us, once again, that some guys are just guys. In our humble opinion, Floyd is just a guy and he shouldn't be relied on for weekly plus production unless you want to have your days ruined on a regular basis.
3. Brent Celek, TE, Philadelphia Eagles;
We're not sure what's worse, Celek's 4 catch, 46 yard performance making the list as a stand alone performance or that those numbers are essentially season highs (he had 47 yards in Week 5). Either way, coming off a breakout season (76, 971, 8 Tds) that made him a 6th round pick and a Top 7ish TE, Celek's current pace (43, 475, 5 TDs) just isn't cutting it. Even, in a year where TEs have been disappointing on the whole (except for Mr. Gates), Celek's ineptitude has stood out. So, who's to blame? You can't blame it on either Vick or Kolb as Celek's numbers have barely fluctuated no matter who starts. You can't blame the offense as the Eagles still throw the ball just about as much as anybody. Perhaps its the emergence of Maclin as the #2 beside Jackson taking some targets away (though Celek was targeted 7 times on Sunday, a game in which Jackson left with only one catch). Maybe he's blocking more since injuries have forced the Eagles to use a patch-work line. Honestly, we don't know (maybe Dr. Philadelphia does) but the bottom line is anyone who relies on Celek right now is putting their faith in the wrong guy.
4. Greg Jennings, WR, Green Bay Packers;
Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show up at the party. For Jennings owners who felt like their #1 WR had become a waste, they're hoping he's just fashionably late and not just making a one-week cameo. After Jennings big 6 catch, 133 yard, 1 TD performance, there's reason to be both optimistic and pessimistic on that front. Pessimists can easily point to the 86-yard TD catch and say that without that one "lucky" play, he might have made the list for entirely different reasons. If you're an optimist, however, you probably remember that Jennings has made a living off of long TD catches and runs, averaging just over 16 yards-per-catch for his career, so that "lucky" play might just be a return to form. We think the main reason for optimism is the fact that Jennings breakout game coincided with presumed-stud TE Jermichael Finley missing his first game after season-ending knee surgery. With less options, Aaron Rodgers should be forced to look Jennings' way a little more often. We tend to side with the glass-half-fullers so we expect Jennings to ruin the more days of his opponents than his owners going forward.
5. Deion Branch, WR, New Englad Patriots;
Back from the dead, or at least Seattle, Branch made his re-debut with the Patriots a memorable one racking up 9 catches (including a whopping 7 in the 4th quarter) for 98 yards and 1 TD, leaving Pats fans saying "Randy, who?" It's obvious that Brady and Branch didn't fall out of love during their time apart. Add in the fact they put up the numbers against the always formidable Ravens defense (they might not cover great but they do get after the QB) and fantasy owners have to take notice. Despite our reservations, it was apparent that someone had to benefit fantasy-wise from Moss' departure, it just so happens it was somebody who wasn't on the team at the time. Don't expect 9 catches every week (his high with Pats was only 78 and while this team is admittedly more pass-oriented, he didn't have to compete with reception-machine Wes Welker in 2005) but on the off-chance that Branch is still floating around out there, he's a guy you need to get, especially in PPR leagues.
6. Chris Ivory (not Cory Ivy as we originally wrote, like anyone would know the difference), RB, New Orleans Saints;
We pity the poor fool who played a team desperate enough to start a part-time, undrafted back from Tiffin University who had done nothing to distinguish himself from retreads like Ledell Betts and Julius Jones only to watch his team go down in flames as Ivory racked up 158 yards as the Saints rolled the Bucs. 158 yards is great, right? Sure, but we're not quite ready to jump on the bandwagon yet. First, and most obviously, even if this week cemented him as the temporary go-to back and he capitalizes on the opportunity (we're dubious on both fronts), he still stands to lose a significant playing time when Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush finally return in a few weeks. Perhaps less obviously, the Saints game plan last year was to jump out on teams early and then pound the run in the second half. While they were able to pull it off on Sunday, for the majority of the season they've been unable to consistently execute that game plan, leading to a significant drop off in running production. The league eventually catches up to all great offenses and it seems like the gap might have been closed a bit this off-season. If the Saints don't rediscover their unstoppable ways, we'd expect their run game to continue to bum owners out more than win them games.
7. Offense, Dallas Cowboys;
In the real world, the Cowboys actually made our f'n day by losing the "Overhyped Bowl" (aka "The Coaching Really Does Matter Bowl", d/b/a "The Battle of Quaterbacks Who Have Mastered the Art of the Crippling Interception Bowl" - did you see the pick Romo through to E.J. Henderson? The pupil has become the teacher) to fall to an unreasonably awful 1-4. Que fantastica! In the fantasy world, things were much worse. Aside from our dear friend Tony Romo, the Cowboys offense has been an absolute enigma. The run game is virtually non-existent (even Felix Jones' 10 catches weren't enough to mask the stink of a 32 yard rushing effort). Miles Austin is making a habit of following up huge games (10, 146 & 9, 166) with unmitigated disasters (2, 20 & this week's 2, 12) (not the kind of consistency you expect from your #1.) Jason Witten has gone from 100-catch guy/security blanket to forgotten man. Dez Bryant has been largely a non-factor. And, worst of all, Roy Williams (the other shitty one) now has multiple 2 touchdown games, making him a fantasy factor despite only breaking 100-yards once.
8. Matt Forte, RB, Chicago Bears;
We hate to say we told you so, but on the rare occasion when we actually get one right we will. As we predicted, Forte's performance line has been as crooked as a Michael J. Fox autograph. Six games into the season, Forte has two absolute monster games but four games of less than 3o yards rushing, culminating in his 8 carry, 11 yard debacle on Sunday. His overall numbers look ok on the strength of those big weeks but he's not a guy we want on our team. Despite our initial optimism, we're starting to believe more and more that the '99 Rams were much more Warner, Faulk, Bruce and Holt and much much less Martz.
9. Dwayne Bowe, WR, Kansas City Chiefs;
What do we make of Bowe's huge performance on Sunday? For now, we're taking the easy way out and calling it a TBA. After a nice 2008 season (86, 1,022, 7 Tds), Bowe entered last preseason as a candidate to break into the top tier of fantasy receivers but after Bowe showed up to camp out of shape and ended up running with the 3rd team, the hype evaporated and he ended up with a paltry 47 catches for 59 yards. Coming into this season, the expectations for Bowe were understandably lowered. Still, his 9 catches through 4 games had to be a disappointment. On Sunday, Bowe effectively doubled his season stats with a 6 catch, 108 yard, 2 TD performance, leading us all to wonder whether the 2008 version of Bowe had returned. We all know he's supremely talented and from what we've seen, he appears lean and in shape so there's reason for owners to by psyched until they remember that Matt Cassel is throwing the passes. Like we said, TBD.
10. Knowshon Moreno, RB, Denver Broncos;
For anyone who thought that Moreno's return might jump-start the Broncos putrid running game, Sunday might have been encouraging, unless of course you were stupidly expecting a big day, then you got screwed. Sure, the overall numbers weren't staggering, 12 rushes for 48 yards, but they came against the vaunted Jets defense (4th overall against the run) and he averaged a solid 4 yards per carry which compares favorably to the -12 per carry they were averaging when he was out. To our eyes, Moreno looked healthy and fast and while he might not set the world on fire in Denver's pass-happy attack, he looks like a viable option.
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