Every Fantasy Football magazine, every Fantasy Football show, and every Fantasy Football web site I’ve seen says the same thing:  Take two RBs and call me in the morning.  Not this year, my friends.  There will be a major run on running backs in most leagues right from the start, so by time the second round rolls around, you’re left with RBs that should be no better than 3rd, 4th, or 5th round picks.  Why spend a high pick on stats you can get later in the draft?

Here’s what I mean.  The top RBs will be (in no particular order) LJ, LT, Alexander, Barber, Portis, Jackson, Brown, Cadillac, Rudi, and James.  And if you ask me, The Edge is a reach in the first round.  There is nothing in the Cardinals past that would indicate they’ll be able to score on the ground this year.

So, there you have the top 10 RBs.  Next in line are guys like LaMont Jordan, Willis McGahee, Corry Dillon, Willie Parker, and Reggie Bush. Of course Dom Davis used to be among these RBs, but even in July, he was nowhere on any wish list of mine. And that only brings us to 15!  Are you really going to spend a second round pick on those guys or guys like Rueben Droughns, Julius Jones, Brian Westbrook, Chester Taylor, Kevin Jones, or Warrick Dunn?  If you’re my league, please do.

Sure, if you are drafting in the rear and grab say Cadillac and LaMont Jordan, that might get you to the playoffs. But the problem with some of these “second round” running backs is they play for horrible teams.  The Raaaahdeeezz won’t put up enough offense to get Jordan points. Same problem with McGahee.  Parker and Bush look to be part-time players (fine as a fourth rounder, but second?).  And all the other “second round” backs have their own issues (Dillon will most certainly lose carries to Maroney).

Instead, get your stud RB in Round One, and if you find the “second round” RBs on the board in Round Two, pass and take a stud WR like Steve Smith, Holt, Chad Johnson, Marvin Harrison, or even The Initialed One.  Or really rock their world and take a guy like Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer.  You can get an equal valued RB in Rounds 3 through 5.  Just keep your eyes on the Denver and Chicago situations, and consider a guy like DeShaun Foster and handcuff him to DeAngelo Williams.  And you may be surprised to find out that one of those guys you were considering in Round Two made it through.

Stud RBs are a must, but don’t get carried away and let a fourth round running back be your second round pick.

Go50Gut

The over/under for Redskins wins is 9.  The Redskins are 18-1 to win the Super Bowl and 8-1 to win the NFC.

The Redskins are hard to figure out.  I think they could go over or under, so I would just not bet either way.

It’s gone from bad to worse for the Washington Redskins this preseason.  Except for about 7 plays the first time the offense touched the ball, they have been nothing short of putrid.  But have we seen the “real” Redskins yet?

According to new Offensive Coordinator Al Saunders, the offense is actually making progress.  If you look back at the preseason records of Saunders’ previous teams, they too have been awful. His focus is on finding what certain players can do in certain situations, so he puts them in the worse possible situations to see how they respond.  So far, I would say they have responded poorly.  But, isn’t the preseason the perfect time to discover what players can and cannot do?

So, have we seen the real Redskins this preseason?  We will find out Monday night, September 11 when the Vikings come to town. 

Hail,

Go50Gut

Nowadays we hear alot about how athletes are sooo well conditioned in the off season. Reality is, lifting weights, while it does make you stronger so you can hit harder, and develop muscles so you can endure a hit and keep going, is not all there is to it. In the military they train you for war by putting you in war conditions and making you perform and do your job repeatedly unti it is habti and you can do it in any conditions. How can that happen if we are so worried about one getting hurt, that we avoid true war conditions?

The way men become hitters is by hitting and working out, not just by working out. The way they get accustomed to performing well while being hit hard, is to be forced to perform while being hit hard. I am a little concerned these guys instead of wanting to be warriors, prefer to be treated like American Idol contestant’s hairdos. They don’t want anyone to touch them preseason because it might muss their hair. I don’t believe it’s Gibbs, as he has produced many warriors who hit like Mack trucks all season long and were ready come game time. I think he is working with the egoes of men who want to be treated like famous models instead of warriors. If these men cannot get ready to hit before the season starts, then the first four or five games will be lost (like last season folks keep wanting to bring up), to teams who ARE ready to hit.

So it leaves me wondering what can be done, since the agents and lawyers probably have Gibb’s hands tied preventing him from being brutal and teaching these men how to be brutal. If these men were so ‘conditioned in the offseason’ as some ‘blonde thinkers’ put it, then why are they getting tossed around like girlscouts? I think we need to rethink what has become a tolerable mentality towards conditioning. This is football, not workouts for an exercise video production. Conditioning has to be brutal, if you want a brutal team that outlasts any enemy in any war. If we want to win a few and be mediocre, then by all means let’s do it like we have been. In fact, why not replace the weight room with a hair and makeup salon? Then we can get rid of the sleds and put modeling runways and cameras there instead. We will look great, and the other team will know how wonderful and ripped we look before we come, but then comes the grim reality of the war on the gridiron, but hey, at least we will have nice photos for memories huh?

Maybe ALOT of blood and guts is what will turn us back into the dynasty we once were. Maybe suffering and intense pain are what makes warriors able to perform hurt and hammered. Maybe avoiding it to avoid injury is the problem.

It’s one thing to lose despite putting in a good effort, but Saturday night the Redskins forgot they had a game to play.  The offense looked bad when they had the ball, but the defense was absolutley horrid.  Mark Brunell completed 7 of 16 passes for 51 yards.  Jason Campbell completed 8 of 16 passes for 76 yards and ran the ball twice for 26 yards.  Todd Collins completed his only pass for 11 yards.

Ledell Betts carried the ball 7 times for 25 yards (3.6 ypc).  New RB TJ Duckett ran the ball 4 times for 8 yards.

The Patriots controlled the football for 36:08 of the game.  The Redskins defense allowed the Patriots to run for 170 yards on 4.5 yards per carry.  The Patriots also completed 63.2% of their passes for 294 net yards through the air.

The only bright spot is that this game doesn’t count in the standings.

Based on their perfomance in the pre-season, it looks like Jason Campbell and Todd Collins wouldn’t mind be the #3 QB.  When the Skins elevated Campbell to #2, he looked lost.  Campbell may be the QB of the future, but I’m starting to wonder about him.  That Auburn team he was on had Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown in the backfield, thus teams were loading up to stop them and the coverage loosened up for Campbell to look better than he was.  Campbell has completed 15 of 28 passes (53.6%) for 182 yards and 2 pick-offs.  Campbell’s QB rating is 44.0.

Todd Collins hasn’t looked that much better than Campbell, but he has game experience and is well-versed in Coach Saunders offense.  He hasn’t had a good pre-season either.  Collins has completed 18 of 31 passes (58.1%) for 182 yards with 1 TD and 2 interceptions.  Collins QB rating in 58.8.

The Redskins better hope that Mark Brunell has a healthy, productive season or they could be drafting high (if they have any picks left) next April.

One of Coach Gibbs’s favorite expressions to use is “gut check,” and this Saturday may be such a check.  Coming off a 10-6 record and a playoff win on the road, expectations were sky high at Redskins Park, but a very poor performance in the first two preseason games has allowed doubt to enter the minds of many.  And now T.J. Duckett has unintentionally thrown the team into a tizzy.  Looks like Gibbs decided the team needed a little reality check as well.

We’ll find out a lot this week. After the poor performances and the addition of Duckett, this week will either be a Gut Check or a Reality Check for the Skins.  Will the players rise to the occasion and prove worthy of the praise they have received, or will reality set in proving that paper champions are easy to crumble?  How will they respond to the addition of Duckett?  By digging down deep, realizing that nothing is guarenteed, or by imploding at the prospect of being replaced?

The Patriots will provide a tough enough test, but the true test will be whether or not the Redskins have the guts to do what it takes to win, or if the first two preseason games were more reality than fantasy.

Hail,

Go50Gut

Lucky these games don’t count.  The Redskins have scored a whopping 17 points in 2 games.  The Redskins are averaging 57.0 yards per game rushing and only 2.6 yards per carry.  The Skins have moved the ball better thru the air averaging 225.5 yards passing her game and have completed 54.1% of their passes attempted.

The Redskins have been very poor on run defense so far.  The Skins are allowing an amazing 163.0 yards rushing per game, and 4.7 yards per carry.  The pass offense has only given up 141.5 yards per game, but the opposition is completing 64.4% of their passes. 

The Redskins didn’t feel confident in the back-up running backs currently on their roster so they went out and got a good one.  T.J. Duckett is a monsterous battering ram type of running back, a bulldozer with legs.  He is the perfect compliment to Clinton Portis, and he can handle the load if Portis isn’t ready to start the season.  Duckett has played in 55 games (13 starts) and has rushed for 2,175 yards (3.9 ypc) and 21 TDs.  He also has caught 29 passes for 233 yards.

The Redskins had to trade 3rd and 4th round picks to Denver which could escalate based on a complicated formula.  The Broncos traded WR Ashley Lelie to the Falcons as part of this deal.

So the NFL is now up in arms over Bryant Gumble – well, what did you expect?  Mr. NFL, didn’t you learn from that little episode a few years ago that coined the phrase “wardrobe malfunction”?  You would think, Mr. NFL, that you would have done a little more research.  What, you didn’t think Greg Gumble’s less humble brother would cause problems?  Hmm… what in his past could have led you to that conclusion?  Everywhere Bryant Gumble has gone, he’s left a wake of uneasiness and thankfulness for his departure.

And now he calls the head of the NFL Players Association a dog with a leash and you act incredulous.  Mr. NFL, you have only yourself to blame.

I wonder, Mr. NFL, just what demographic were you after with this one?  Have your studies determined there is a paucity (yeah, I learned that from Bryant Gumble himself!) of pompous, arrogant, egomaniacs with not-so-hidden agendas watching NFL games?  That could be true – after all, they all seem to be playing the games on Sunday.

Next time Mr. NFL, please do a better job gauging your audience.  We are football fans and it’s the game that entertains us, not the halftime shows or the blowhards in the booth.

You have no one to blame but yourself. Let’s hope this time, you do the right thing and rid yourself before the disaster really hits.

Go50Gut