Evans World 2011–Week 7

Wow, what a weekend.  Has anyone else noticed how low the score totals have been this year?  Has FF just produced fewer points?  Did we divide up the good players so well the balance is closer?  Am I wrong and the points aren’t that much less?  Yeah, of course that can’t be.  I’m always right in this blog.  So, what’s that you ask for?  More of my wisdom and rightness?  So be it!

OUT OF THE CONTEST
A sad revelation hit me as I watched my team slowly eat up the point difference between me and Jason (ultimately falling just a bit short) … there’s no way I’m making the playoffs this year.  After 3 straight years of at least an appearance, there’s no way it could happen even if I won the rest of my games.  It's a sad feeling that none of you have yet.  This is probably the earliest I’ve ever been out of the running for the playoffs.  I’m not quite sure what to do.  I started by picking up Plax before anyone else could jump on that one.  Take that, hosers.  Maybe all my players will come back healthy and I can slowly wipe you all out.  Yeah, not sure what my role will be for the rest of the season.  But, if there’s one thing I won’t be is a quitter.  Can’t stand them in FF leagues.  The guys who stop updating their team or dump all their players and walk away.  Or worse yet, being one of those FF owners who doesn’t even put in a full lineup each week.  Which leads me to …

YOU ALL DO REMEMBER WHAT “BYE” MEANS, RIGHT?
Not one.  Not two.  But THREE positions Rob left empty on bye weeks.  If not for the stellar performance of Arian Foster, Rob would have had the lowest scoring week in Evans World history.  I hereby disqualify Rob from any awards this week, and you get a big “BOOOOOOOOOOOO” from me.  I might forgive Tony for not bringing in a kicker (more on the Scobee pickup later) or Nathan not picking up a defense each week, but when it’s 3 positions my boo stands.

GARBEAR TAKES A HIT
Wow, not a good week for Gary.  Seems like he has at least one week like this each season.  While I’m sure he’s happy to have it over and done with, it still stings to look at.  After happily dumping off Campbell and committing to Rothesburger (something I’m sure he didn’t like doing), he traded Kevin for Jones-Drew then left him on the bench thinking Lynch and McFadden could get the job done.  Then Lynch hurts himself during warmups (sad) and McFadden leaves the game early.  Then, just to hammer it home, Mike has his best week of the season, easily going over 100 points.  Ouch.

ARE #1 PICKS REALLY THAT GREAT ANYMORE?
This week demonstrates to us just how less important it is to get the #1 pick anymore.  In most pre-season drafts, even with the contract and injury problems, most experts recommended either Chris Johnson or Arian Foster as the top pick.  Rob chose Arian Foster, enduring the injury problems this season to have a monster day today.  Chris Johnson continues to lag behind at the #22 RB in the league behind such FF monsters as Green-Ellis and Jonathan Stewart.  I thought it was funny that Arian Foster had his own Yahoo! Radio show, but it’s clear that for now he IS the Texan offense, so I guess he deserves it.  I wonder if there is a Chris Johnson show?  And would Nathan listen to it?  Sorry, got off track there.  My point is, for all those FF owners who picked Chris Johnson at #1, you have my pity.  For Rob, congrats this week, but don’t enjoy it for too long.  Something tells me it’s going to turn around before the season is out.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

• Lots of injuries pilling up, not just on my team.  I mentioned Lynch and McFadden fro Gary.  Graham went out for Nathan, and Hillis remains unreliable for Berk.  Is it because of the lockout?  I’m not expert, but I’ll have to say it could be.  Could conditioning have helped these guys?  Shrug.  I’m sure FF owners are still pissed.  I know I am.  As of this morning, let’s add Benson (Tony), McGahee (Ritchie), Hightower (Ritchie), Moss (Tony), and Wells (Jason) to the list. 
• I need some of my injured players to come back this week. Bad.
• Berk dropped Plax just in time for him to have a monster game.  Thankfully, he kept Carson Palmer on the bench, and will probably keep him there.
• Berk also refused to start Tebow, a move I applaud.  It bugs the crap out of me that all the announcers were so happy with his performance after the comeback and win, they forgot about the 3 horrible quarters he played before that.  I doubt they’re that forgiving when Campbell, McNabb, Henne, Cassel or Schaub did that.  The Cult of Tebow is getting so annoying.  I wish it would just end.
• Colt McCoy didn’t quite pay off for Jason the way he’d hoped.  Fortunately, he didn’t need him to beat me.  I understand Jason picking him up though.  He’s somehow become a valuable FF QB this season, despite his craptacular team.
• Doesn’t it seem strange to anyone that after 7 weeks, over half of the teams in the league have records under .500?  I can’t quite figure out what that means, other than there’s still no guarantees for anyone (except me) about a playoff spot.  God, I love FF.
• An interesting trade between Gary and Kevin that I missed while in San Diego.  Kevin gave up his first round pick for a 4th round pick (MJD for Dez Bryant).  From a distance, this is a bizarre trade.  Up close, it works out well for both teams.  Now we see that it worked out much better for Kevin, considering Gary didn’t start him (see above).  I’ll just say this … at least they’re trading!  Come on, people!
• Between the diminished trash talking and the lack of trades, how many times are you checking on your team this year?  Are we all growing up now?  Are we letting things like work and family and other commitments override our constant diligence towards FF?  Is this year just not as fun as others?
• I find I’m still puzzled by Tony’s inability to start Scobee at K this weekend.  His normal kicker was on Bye and he picked up Scobee off the free agency, so he should have been able to start him immediately. I’m not as concerned about it since Scobee only scored 12 points and it wouldn’t have been enough to beat Rob, but I’m still scratching my bald spot on it.  Why not pick up a player to replace someone on bye at any point (as long as the picked up player’s game hasn’t started)?  Yet another weird for the weekend.
• I think Detroit is falling back to Earth pretty hard now.  Hopefully Stafford’s injury isn’t bad, otherwise their season is about to do a complete 180.  Defense is definitely playing better than it ever has in my memory.
• Packers are 7-0 for the first time since 1963.  I love writing that.
• Did anyone know that Pacman Jones is still playing?  I sure didn’t.  He just got cleared to play for the Bengals again.  Weird.

WEEKLY AWARDS

• MVP – Hands down, this goes to Mike for picking up Demarcus Murray.  Did Mike know he’d have such a monster day?  I sure didn’t, picking up Choice instead Murray.  I’d give Mike the Best Owner Choice Award too for this pickup.  The Cowboys have found their new feature back.  Time to start him practicing with the first team and watching more Emmitt Smith tapes to see how it used to be done in the big D … even though in his first game he ran for more yards in a game than Smith ever did.  Wow.
• Honorable Mention – The FF powerhouse Saints finally paid off for Kevin as they normally should.  Graham, Sproles and the DEF pulled in 61 points for Kevin, solidifying his defeat of Ritchie and giving him the 2nd largest defeat in EW history.  Those 61 points were more than the entire team total for Tony, Gary, Tom and of course Ritchie.  Should see another burst this week when they face the Rams.  Kevin was so ecstatic he texted me during the second half.  We all dream of huge FF games like that.  Enjoy, Kevin.
• Best Owner Choice – I like my picking Sanchez over Rivers today, and Rivers is not the FF monster he’s been in past years.  Picking up Plax almost binds a good portion of my season to the success of the Jets (shudder), but we’ll see if that what plays out.  Instead, I’ll give this to Mike for his second great choice of the week, picking up the Chiefs DEF.  The Chiefs are definitely playing better than they did the first three weeks of the season, and the DEF couldn’t have had a bigger game.  6 INT, 2 DEF TD, etc. etc.  Great pickup.
• Unfortunate Bench – Just because the numbers say it, I’ll mention Newton (Mike) and Tebow (Berk), but I still think they made the better choice at QB in their lineups.  I also thought of Gates for Ritchie, but then Shancoe had the huge games I used to get from him.  Instead, I’ll give this to Tony for benching Gonzalez.  Gonzalez is probably one of my favorite players of all time.  He just does not quit!  He’s now caught more passes that several Hall of Fame wide receivers, he still rush blocks and he still gets in the end zone.  With the Colts showing their true colors this weekend, something tells me Yahoo! will be less generous with the projected points for any Colt player and Tony will be starting Gonzalez over Dallas Clark every week.
• Lawrence Phillips Award – This is a little weird one this week.  It goes to the NFL for having a penalty for taunting.  Taunting?  Like the bullies on the playground.  Whatever.  There is an unwritten code of respect amongst football players that creates a safe and honorable environment where the giants of the generations can willingly crash into each other at high speeds without fear of deliberate injury (unlike, say, the UFC).  So, yes, you shouldn’t mock a player when he’s down and injured, but to call a penalty on it?  There’s a mental part of the game, make no mistake.  You think Ray Lewis stands behind the line and doesn’t say anything to the QB that he is contractually obligated to try to reach and throw to the ground?  Damn right he does!  But is he flagged for taunting? NO.  Because, it’s part of the game.  Getting into a player’s head and disrupting their game is just as much a part of the game as the Wildcat formation or a fake punt.  It forces on-field discipline at all times, and lifts the level of excellence of the really good players.  I think it’s juvenile to demand players to be nice to each other or there’s a penalty.  Be respectful at all times, definitely, but these are grown men and a serious game.  Let’s not have childish penalties.  That being said, Suh, I think you went just a little too far this time.  Better than Brian Johnson kicking TJ Lang in the nuts though.

Well, the season is nothing but taunting from me from here on out.  Good luck to you douches in Week 8. See?  No flag! As it should be.