Quick Hits

First off:
Seneca Wallace makes these jerseys look sexy. I always, always love bright colors, usually. So good attempt Seattle. Also Seneca Wallace is the best back-up QB in the league. Every time he steps in not only is Matt Hasselbeck hurt, but so is his offensive line and half his weapons and even his defense. He actually played the same amount of time as Matt last year and was the better QB.

Anyways let's segway Seneca Wallace in to Josh Cribbs and the Browns. The Brownies need, a lot. What is a great idea, since the season is shot and they aren't even exciting to watch like say the Golden State Warriors, is find teams willing to trade for Derek Anderson (although I still have to like him), Brady Quinn and Jamal Lewis and pick up either good picks or good defensive players. Really need an end and another good linebacker. Maybe search free agency for a speedy wideout too. But you move Cribbs to QB, much like Seneca, and start James Harrison with James Davis as his backup at running back and Edwards and Furrey and the speedy guy or one of the rooks in the slot. So you've got a big time wideout, and a possession guy and hopefully a speedy guy and at running back you finally have a running back instead of a declining fullback! That oline still is decent and if you give them an assignment to be the best run blocking line in the league, I believe they'll take it in stride and succeed. So you become a running team, throw in so trick more trick plays, have Cribbs just not create turnovers and manage with slants and runs and play actions, nothing serious for the most part and that offense is already better than it currently is. Hopefully you find teams dumb enough to give you starters on defense because what you really want to do is build that stellar D. Then blitz, a lot. Constant pressure on the opposing team cause so turnovers, you're allowing points anyways might as well make something happen. At least that team is fun to watch, draft a quarterback next year do whatever you want. I hate the Browns it's a pathetic team.

Now finally the Ronnie Brownfins lost Chad Pennington for the season and traded for Tyler Thigpen. Not bad I hope he can open up the offense and throw the deep ball finally. I mean he succeed with the Chiefs last year, I think this team is a lot better and it's a running team anyways. Honestly he is just a fill in QB for when Ronnie Brown gets too tired to hand off to Ronnie Brown or is exhausted from throwing to Ronnie Brown. Let's get to .500?

Also I'll just wait until next week to update the Sleepers thingy.

posted by: Jason

Sleepers

So sleepers are basically random players that people pick cause they like their name, or the way they look, or they made some nice play. Sometimes they pick obviously players who played well the year before and are thrust in to the starting lineup this year or pick rookies. Other times they pick players buried deep in the depth chart that have talent and no one knows and are poised to make a breakout. Every few weeks we will compare Ben and my picks. So far the number is three players, I have all mine, he only has two currently. Must still be searching for that white guy with skillz.

Jason's Top 3 Sleepers:

Johnny Knox - speedy wideout for the Bears, Jay Cutler's Eddie Royal only better this year.
Week 1: 2 REC 82 YDS Week 2: 6 REC 70 YDS 1 TD

Glenn Coffee - all around back looking like a starter for half the teams in his division, currently getting garbage time behind Frank Gore waiting for that injury.
Week 1: 1 ATT -3 YDS Week 2: 9 ATT 13YRDS

Bruce Johnson - crafty corner buried deep on the Giants depth chart, getting some time because of injuries, seems to be a play maker.
Week 1: 3 TKL 1 FF Week 2: 1 TKL 1 INT

Ben's Top 2 Sleepers:

Julian Edelman - the next Wes Welker, known from his outstanding portrayal as a college QB at Kent State.
Week 1: 0 REC 0 YDS Week 2: 8 REC 98 YDS

Sabby Piscitelli - the next John Lynch, can only be seen in the background of all opposing teams' passing play highlights.
Week 1: 8 TKL Week 2: 9 TKL 1 INT 1 PD

More to come on this battle of better player scouting later. Also fantasy league round up: my Northern Iowa Cornbreeders defeated Ben's Kyle Orton's Drinking Buddies 79-71. This week, well let's just say it isn't looking good for me and it's looking outstanding for Ben. Both teams at 1-1 and I still hate everything about fantasy football.

posted by: Jason

UPDATE: To add to this thrilling sleepers pick 'em we have added a sleeper team to each list. My team is the Jets, Ben's is the Ravens. Direct quote from me: "Hey I'm not that high on the Jets but I'm that low on the Ravens." So I took his little bet, bestrecord at the end of the season is the obvious winner.

Them Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are a contending team this year. Correction with the right quarterback the Raiders are contenders.


Let us start with the good, that would be the defense. Did you see that Monday night game against the Chargers? They were dominating. Richard Seymour, Greg Ellis, Trevor Scott, Tommy Kelly and rookie from Harvard Desmond Bryant and all a force when working together on that line. Kirk Morrison, Thomas Howard, and Ricky Brown are one of the top 5 linebacking cores in the league when healthy and are extremely athletic. Nnamdi Asomugha is the best corner in the game period, he takes away half the field because no one wants to throw on him and fail. Chris Johnson is a great, almost outstanding number two corner, hopefully he keeps it up. And at safety they are young and fast, they could develop with continued good line play.

Now with the bad on defense. That line is pretty old and the tackles are kind of unproven. Playing next to Ellis and Seymour will help, they just need to stay healthy. Same with the linebackers they can be undisciplined and need to stay in good health. The corners are great, but past the starters there is nothing. They are in dire need of a nickle corner and more. Also the safety's could suffer from inconsistent play and not improve. Actually depth is a slight issue all over the defense period.

The good parts on offense. This team is tailor made for Jamarcus Russell. The receivers are speed demons and only getting better. They have a top 5 tight end and an amazing, amazing running game. This offensive line is playing together and fits the needs of the team. All of which can be effective against any defense in the league. Hell they even have great special teams play. Now the bad parts of this offense. That offensive line can be inconsistent as well. This is an obvious theme with the whole team, including the young speedy receivers. I don't see Javon Walker coming back and he is the only experienced wideout on the roster. They should really sign a possession guy like Matt Jones, but honestly even a Bobby Wade would suffice and help their receiving corps. As good as the run game is you can't run if you are down in a game and then that can hurt the receivers. Also I have to point out that even though Zach Miller is a great tight end, he can't do any good being under or over thrown!

But the biggest enigma, the biggest (and I mean biggest) hit or miss of the entire team is Jamarcus Russell. Arm strength can only get you so far kid. You need to be accurate and smart and make good, quick reads. Watching him, he seems content with wear he is as a player. He needs to want more, want to get smarter and throw an accurate ball. Instead of a staying a big, dumb, cannon armed punk. He'll kill this team, this is a year where they can strike and I don't see him developing what so ever.

posted by: Jason