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Of those guys, I’d say he’s most like Olandis Gary. Morris isn’t up there with Davis or Anderson – those guys were studs. But he’s not down with Torain, Hightower or Helu either. I think he’ll do very well this week against St. Louis.

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In general, I think so. I cut him without any hesitation in a 12-team TD-only league. I wanted to use the cap space to get Jermaine Gresham. It’s going to be at least a month before we can even talk about Jackson getting on the field. If C.J. Spiller is playing well, they won’t put Jackson back in the starting lineup or give him a full-time role. He’s not completely worthless, though. In a 12-team league with 20-man rosters, I think he’s good enough to merit a stash roster spot.

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I entered a weekly contest yesterday, hosted by DraftStreet.com. They assign salaries to all of the players, and then you try to put together the best Week 2 lineup you can, using a salary cap of $100,000. It’s a fun deal, and there will be a podcast on it posted today. There will be link there with instructions on how to enter. Anyway, when entering this contest, I noticed they used a scoring system for defenses I had seen before. In addition to giving points for sacks and takeaways (which is fine), they also gave the unit points for holding teams under 24 points. Basically, you start with 12 points, and you takeaway a half point every time the opponent scores. If the Steelers shut out their opponent, that’s 12 points. If they allow 3 points, they get 10.5 points. If they allowed 10 points, they get 7 points. If they allowed 22 points, they get just one point. I thought it was a pretty cool deal – cleaner than the plateau-style of scoring for defenses (with 5 points for allowing 8-13 points and whatnot). And it takes away some of the luck with defenses (it’s easier to forecast which units will allow the fewest points). As for scoring in general, I’m not a big fan of PPR leagues. I don’t see why players should essentially get double credit for receiving production – which should a running back get 1 point for a catch when he’s already getting 1 point for the 10 yards he picked up on that pass play? That’s 2 points for a 10-yard reception, when in reality a 10-yard run (worth only 1 point) is more impressive.

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I wouldn’t worry too much about the Patriots have down weeks. They had a three-week lull last year, where they scored 20, 17 and 20 points against the Cowboys, Steelers and Giants. But they scored 31 or more points in all but one of their other games (a 27-24 win against Miami). I say ride with the Patriot-heavy lineup.

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We changed it a little bit this year. Tuesday morning: revised version of Cheat Sheet (showing how we would draft players if starting from scratch for the rest of the season). Includes brief notes for each team. Wednesday morning: preview of the week’s games, with written analysis for each team and stat projections/rankings for all players. Friday afternoon: re-release of the Wednesday product, with additional notes and player rankings/projections updated following Friday practices.

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I think Morris held serve in Week 1. He didn’t knock it out of the park, but he played pretty well. He ran for 98 yards and 2 TDs; that’s good. On the downside, he averaged only 3.4 yards per attempt. If he averages 3.4 yards again this week, Mike Shanahan will start mulling whether to plug in Roy Helu or Evan Royster. More than any other coach, Shanahan believes in riding the hot hand at tailback. Starting in Week 3, Morris will face tougher defenses. Bengals, Bucs (lousy last year, but good in Week 1), Falcons, Vikings, Giants, Steelers. Maybe Morris holds the job all year, or maybe we see Helu/Royster in October. We’ll see.

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Sounds good to me. You have a need at running back. Kevin Smith played well in Week 1, but that might be his last good game all year. He’s at San Francisco this week; he won’t do anything in that game. And then the Lions could start mixing in Mikel Leshoure a whole bunch (and later maybe Jahvid Best). Charles and Brown are OK guys, but can you rely on them every week? I don’t think so. Green-Ellis should pay immediate dividends this week, probably banging out about 100 yards against Cleveland.

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I’m sure Lance Moore will be just fine. He’s a big part of that offense. They’ve got Graham, Colston and Sproles, but Moore fills a role there. With Meachem gone, I imagine he’ll probably catch about 70 passes and 8 TDs. He’s a good red zone weapon. He’s caught 17 TDs and two 2-point conversions in his last 31 games.

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Pitta seems to be on the rise. He’s caught 4 TDs in his last eight games. They’re using him more, and they’re passing more in that no-huddle system they’ve blended in. But I have Rudolph ahead of him for now. Definitely on Sunday, with Rudolph against the Colts and Pitta in a more difficult matchup at Philadelphia. As far as you being a Ravens fan, I advise you to separate business from pleasure; I think you concentrate just on assembling the best team possible.

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The issues with Johnson, I think, have more to do with the system and how he’s been used. I have seen plays where he’s the Chris Johnson of old. The speed is still there. Offensive coordinator Chris Palmer just needs to use him better. With Seattle, I expect Lynch will be fine. They have a rookie at quarterback. Lynch had a string last year with touchdowns in 11 straight games. I wouldn’t worry too much about him. Alfred Morris should be very good this week against St. Louis. Looking longer term, however, you may at some point want to carry their backup tailback. Is that Royster or Roy Helu? I’m not sure, so maybe the smarter play for now is to grab Brandon Bolden.

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