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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…

Steelers-Bengals: Anybody who even heard about this game knows what the big play was: Cincinnati kicking a field goal on fourth-and-1 from the Steelers’ 2-yard line while trailing 14-3. The Steelers, of course, then proceeded to drive the field for a touchdown that made it 21-6 right before the half. Marvin Lewis’ decision was wrong on so many levels that even he admitted it after the game, but that’s not good enough. At 2-4 and knowing your defense is horrible, how can you even consider settling for 3 points there? In the preseason we worried about the Giants’ offensive players starting to lose interest if the team’s fortunes went south and the head coach looked like a lame duck. Turns out we should have been talking about the Bengals. It’s not so much that I’m really worried about Carson Palmer and T.J. Houshmandzadeh not playing hard, but I’d much rather have them playing with something to play for beyond saving the job of a coach who even they may have lost confidence in.

As for the Steelers, I didn’t understand in the preseason why some were so down on Ben Roethlisberger (yes, I have him on two teams). The guy had some physical ailments last year and committed a lot of turnovers, but he’s also a tough guy, a winner, and even last year he was pretty productive in yardage leagues, even in what’s considered a run-first offense. There’s no reason why he can’t be a fine fantasy quarterback the rest of the season, and the rest of his career. And I have no idea why I annually give Hines Ward no respect. It’s just one of those things. We all have our blind spots to certain players.

Browns-Rams: Steven Jackson seemed to make an immediate difference in the Rams offense – or maybe it was just facing the Browns. But regardless, it was just another tough defeat for the Rams. A microcosm of Marc Bulger’s season came at one point late in the game, when he got sandwiched between two pass-rushers and tumbled to the ground. As he woozily got up, he saw there was a flag on the play. Roughing the passer? No, intentional grounding.

It would have been easy for me to pick up Derek Anderson after his huge game against the Bengals in week 2, including in a dynasty league where I’m currently stuck with the sub-par performances of Vince Young. But I didn’t, because I figured it was a fluke. Instead, Anderson, Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow are on the teams that are winning a lot of games in my various leagues, and will probably continue to be so. A tough lesson about doubting fantasy players simply because of the moribund organization they play for. Edwards is having such an incredible season I can’t even give him too much grief for dropping an easy pass in the final two minutes yesterday that would have kept the Rams from getting the ball back, as well as a bizarre moment where he ripped off his helmet after a reception to crow about it, and take a 15-yard penalty. Kids today.

Giants-Dolphins: With this game being played in England, it appears the NFL officials had spent some time watching soccer, or maybe Australian rules football. On play after play I watched receivers get mugged before the ball arrived with nary a flag being thrown. Plaxico Burress, in particular, got leveled prior to a possible touchdown pass. Aside from that, the Giants seemed plenty willing to let the Dolphins hang around in a game they should have won easily. Eli Manning overthrew a wide-open Amani Toomer for a touchdown. He was off the mark on another possible score to fullback Madison Hedgecock (who probably would have dropped it anyway; he didn’t exactly look graceful out there). Not surprising that he simply took off and ran for a score, just the second rushing touchdown of his career.

As for the Dolphins – well, there is no as for the Dolphins. They appear to have a legitimate shot of going 0-16, in the same season that their franchise’s crowning glory, the undefeated season, gets equaled by the Patriots. I’m not saying it’s going to happen; I expect the Patriots to lose a game, and maybe the Dolphins win their home game against the Bills or Jets. But both occurrences seem more possible than they ever have before. At least Cleo Lemon could post some decent fantasy numbers until John Beck gets into the lineup in the season’s final month.

Washington-Patriots: In all the talk about whether the Patriots are running up the score or not, it’s sad there hasn’t been more discussion of the fantasy ramifications. Leagues are going to be won or lost by Brady and Welker connecting on a touchdown in the latter stages of a blowout. If you’re facing those players, do you complain about how classless the Patriots are? If you’re starting them, do you thank your lucky stars that Bill Belichick believes a 21-point fourth-quarter lead isn’t enough? (Brady, by the way, underthrew an open Welker at goal line on Sunday. He’s human! Of course, he ran it in on the next play, a play which was particularly depressing in that two Washington defenders passed up a golden opportunity to really drill the guy.)

Morally, I suppose I’m against running up the score. I wouldn’t do it myself. But I also have to go with the view that if Washington or Miami or whoever doesn’t like it, they should try and play slightly better defense. And here’s a key insight I’ll pass along from this game: Start the Moss who plays for New England. Drop the one who plays for Washington.

Raiders-Titans: When did the Titans become the Ravens? Mediocre to bad quarterback play, strong running game, stellar defense (the fourth quarter of last week’s game against the Texans not withstanding). It’s remarkable. The Titans’ offense could have got a boost from Vince Young hitting a wide-open Ben Troupe for a touchdown, but it didn’t happen, either because Young was off target or because he expected Troupe to be faster, more agile, or simply better than he actually is.

Surely the Raiders will switch back to Josh McCown THIS week, right? Daunte Culpepper can’t hold onto the ball (4 fumbles) and has to be considered responsible for killing the fantasy numbers of Ronald Curry in recent weeks. I heard this weird story, maybe on ESPN, that the Raiders were hesitant to waive Dominic Rhodes because they didn’t want to help rivals (like the Broncos) who might be in need of a running back. The story is weird because I can’t figure out what team, even the Packers and their bottom-ranked rushing offense, would view Rhodes as an upgrade. You can’t help but wonder if the Colts’ run to the Super Bowl last year would have been a lot easier if Rhodes hadn’t been around to split carries with Joseph Addai.

Lions-Bears: Kevin Jones was waived in one of my leagues. I guess somebody figured that because Tatum Bell didn’t do anything, Jones wouldn’t either. The difference it that Jones was actually a high-quality fantasy performer in Detroit’s offense a year ago, before getting hurt. Bell was never a high-quality anything even while playing in the often-dominant rushing offenses in Denver. Interestingly, it was a tale of two ex-Broncos in this game, with Bell a healthy inactive and Bears quarterback Brian Griese throwing four interceptions against one of the league’s shakier pass defenses. The most interesting thing about the Bears right now is wondering if it will take Lovie Smith as long to pull the plug on Cedric Benson as Rex Grossman. Benson is certainly playing just as poorly as Grossman ever did, it’s just a lot less noticeable at running back than quarterback.

Saints-49ers: It’s tough to say what’s more remarkable: the Saints turning things around, or how inept San Francisco’s offense is. Frank Gore called out the offensive coordinator last week, and while you don’t like to see players blaming coaches, the man might have a point. (Sort of like a year ago, when Raiders players like Jerry Porter and Randy Moss criticized offensive coordinator Tom Walsh.) A lot of people talked about how Gore would miss coordinator Norv Turner, and while in the realm of fantasy that might be all that matters – if you were counting on Alex Smith to lead your fantasy team, you deserve what you get – you have to wonder if Smith isn’t the one most hurt by his departure. Smith threw for just 190 yards yesterday against a Saints defense ranked 26th against the pass coming in, and to make matters worse, 74 of that production came in the final 8 minutes of a game the 49ers were losing 31-3. Maybe Smith will never be a particularly good NFL quarterback, but he at least seemed to be headed that way late last year. This year he looks like a rookie all over again.

A final note: I traded for Marques Colston last week. I feel the need to mention it because my hunches pay off rarely enough that when they do, I like to tell people about it. Colston’s 3-TD day could, incredibly, have been even bigger; he actually dropped an easy one in the back corner of the end zone early on.

There’s a lesson there, which is that if you have a hunch about a certain struggling player – Marques Colston, Lee Evans, whoever – follow up on it. Don’t wait a week to make that low-risk trade, or it might turn out to be one week too late. If you're going to question Marvin Lewis' guts, don't drag your feet when it comes to showing some of your own.

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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