The This and That of Fantasy Football

A Couple Week One Thoughts

Unfortunately, we all have seen the play where Tom Brady got injured about a hundred times by now. Matt Cassel is the starting QB for the Patriots now and should be picked up in all leagues. That doesn’t mean he should start for you. Let him prove himself first, but stash him on the bench just in case. Last week, Cassel got the job done but had rather pedestrian fantasy numbers with 152 yards passing and a TD to Randy Moss. In his career, Cassel has 22 career passing attempts and two TDs. That is not large enough of a body of work to judge him. Now that defenses will game plan for him, time will tell if he can get the job done. Cassel has not started a game since high school and was backup in college at USC. Brady’s injury and the likelihood that that kind of fantasy disaster can strike is exactly why I say draft starting quarterbacks instead of throwing away picks on sleepers who only look good on paper before the season starts and then never play. I regularly draft three or four starting quarterbacks. It’s good to have the depth in case of injury, poor performance and for trades. For example, my brother-in-law has Brady. I was at his house when the injury happened. He immediately started asking me about my backup quarterback, David Garrard, and we are working on a trade.

The Patriots will likely run the ball more and focus on a more ball-control passing game, which makes Sammy Morris an attractive pick-up. Don’t blame Laurence Maroney that Sammy Morris will likely vulture short TD runs from Maroney. Just know that Maroney cannot be counted on your starting lineup unless you’re really weak at the position. Morris had the same number of carries as Maroney last week (ten) and rushed for two more yards (53-51) and had a TD. Morris also added five catches for 34 yards. Bill Belichick lets everyone get carries at the goal-line except Maroney. Patriots’ linebackers like Mike Vrabel seem to score more TDS than Maroney. Morris is not a bad start in a bye week or if your RBs are terrible or have bad matchups. Last season, Morris suffered a season-ending clavicle injury and only played six games. But in those six games, he averaged 64 rushing yards a game, averaged 4.5 yards a carry and scored six TDs obviously doing better than Maroney.

Let’s talk about Carson Palmer, T.J. and Ocho Stinko. Last week Palmer passed for 99 yards and no scores. Chad had one catch for 22 yards, while T.J. had four grabs for 44 yards. Don’t panic yet. Last season is a perfect example if you look at a couple Bengals’ games. Palmer threw for 115 yards in week 16, and then followed up with 316 yards in the season finale. The Ravens showed they are still a menace defensively. In week one last season, Palmer threw for 194 yards and two picks against them. Then in week two, he blew up for 401 yards and SIX TDs. Because of the flammability of Carson and T.J. and Chad, you gotta stick with them or you might be very sorry. In one league I have Carson and Ocho Cinco, so I am going to sink and swim with them. As far as superstars go, and these guys are, and you can’t let one game send them to the bench. The Bengals play the Titans this week, who are tough, but the game is in Cincinnati and Palmer threw for 283 yards and three TDs against them last year in Cincinnati.

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