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Andy Richardson

A quick whirl around the league at the highlights and lowlights of the games I paid the most attention to on Sunday…

Motivation is sometimes underrated in the NFL. The games aren’t played on paper, and human beings sometimes bring a little extra when properly motivated. How else to explain:

Chicago-Detroit: OK, they still gave up a ton of yards, but the Lions defense must have been tired of hearing about how inept they were against the Eagles a week ago. Three interceptions, a blocked kick, and two defensive touchdowns show that at least the Lions can be counted on to play with some defensive pride, if not ability, in the weeks to come. And don’t worry, you can still start all your players against them. Brian Griese threw those interceptions, but he also passed for 286 yards and 2 TDs. As for the Bears, the gradual benching of Cedric Benson has begun; he was sidelined for some of yesterday’s game. Maybe he’ll be motivated to run like a former No. 3 overall pick. Or maybe, as I’ve been thinking since last year, he’s just not that good. (Which also might explain Lovie Smith’s reluctance to put Griese in the lineup….)

Oakland-Miami: Daunte Culpepper is back. He may not be a great quarterback, but any guy who can put up 5 total touchdowns is indeed a great fantasy quarterback – or at least, he can be, against the right opponent. Obviously the team that dumped him after just one season was the right opponent (there’s that motivation factor again). If Lane Kiffin commits to him as his starter, which the rookie head coach is still unwilling to do, Culpepper will have some more good games ahead. By the way, is having three quarterbacks, as Oakland does with Culpepper, Josh McCown, and No. 1 overall draft pick JaMarcus Russell really “a good problem to have”? Not if you’re paying a ton of money to the guy who’s least ready to play, while having two other capable guys always looking over their shoulder, it isn’t. Then there’s Ronnie Brown, who I’d totally written off two weeks ago and is now running over tacklers while putting up 200 total yards. He’s had a couple of lesser run defenses the last two weeks, but still: maybe being put on kick returns in the preseason helped Brown realize his draft position wasn’t going to get him a free ride with coach Cam Cameron.

St. Louis-Dallas: Just, wow. The Rams offense, very bad. The Dallas offense, very good. The Rams defense, horrible. The Dallas defense….well, let’s see how they do against a better offense than what the Rams have right now. This is still a group that got carved up by Eli Manning in week 1. In any case, you hate to write off players too quickly – as I did when I waived Patrick Crayton last week, ouch – but what hope is there for the Rams? Quarterback with broken ribs, running back with torn groin, wide receiver with bum knee. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? Oh yeah, let’s not overlook that the team’s former coach Mike Martz is putting on an offensive fireworks display with less talent in Detroit. At least Steven Jackson looks pretty good running the ball in his TV commercials.

Green Bay-Minnesota: I think enough has been written about Brett Favre that I can just say, the guy is playing out of his mind right now, and leave it at that. Instead let’s talk about the fact that Adrian Peterson had 112 yards on only 12 carries. And that he only got 12 carries despite the fact that the Vikings trailed by 7 points or less for nearly the entire game. And that they had Kelly Holcomb at quarterback and Bobby Wade and Troy Williamson at wide receiver. But, they had Chester Taylor on the field more often than Peterson, according to Brad Childress, because he’s better in pass protection. That all sounds well and good, except your running back, who’s on pace for a 1,500-yard season, had 112 yards on 12 carries. Why are you worried about pass protection? Why are you passing? The Vikings have two long weeks to think about that, and when they take the field against Chicago in week 6, look for Peterson to get the ball 25-30 times.

Pittsburgh-Arizona: I hate when players I think will have breakout years, like Santonio Holmes, don’t end up on any of my teams. I hate it even more when they’re facing me during their huge breakout games, as Holmes was in two leagues yesterday. A tough but not surprising loss for Pittsburgh – it can be tough to win in Arizona, and the Cardinals do have some talent. As for the Cardinals, if you thought running back by committee was death to fantasy owners, what about quarterback by committee, which Arizona has used the last two weeks? Together, Kurt Warner and Matt Leinart threw for 225 yards and 1 TD yesterday. Individually, they’re basically useless. I don’t think we have to worry about this becoming a trend, but even as an anomaly, it’s pretty annoying. Yes, I have Leinart in one league, but fortunately I’ve benched him the last two weeks (and for the foreseeable future) for Favre.

Houston-Atlanta: Do you think the Falcons fans would rather have the 26-16 win they had yesterday – or have Matt Schaub back? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Schaub looks better every week, even while the other key starters on offense here (Andre Johnson, Ahman Green) are dropping like flies. Houston’s not there yet; I think they still look like a sub-.500 group. But their defense is getting better, their offense has its quarterback and a few good receivers (Johnson, Jacoby Jones, Owen Daniels)…this is going to be a good team. And by the way, congrats to Andre Davis for finally living up to all the times I’ve touted him as a sleeper candidate the past few years, based on a few good games in Cleveland a four years ago. Better late than never, buddy.

Philadelphia-N.Y. Giants: I have nothing to say about this game, but I watched the thing and feel compelled to earn some points just for those three hours of my life I’ll never get back. Granted, it wasn’t as bad for me as it was for Donovan McNabb (sacked 12 times) or tackle Winston Justice (who gave up most of them), but those guys make a lot more money than I do. I’m going to guess that Philadelphia’s Jekyll and Hyde performance over the past two weeks (56 points a week ago, 3 yesterday) sets some kind of record for inconsistency. At least, I hope it does.

Andy watches as many games as he can each Sunday. If you do the same, feel free to add your own observations from the previous day’s games below.

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