by Jeff West
September 10, 2003
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"Heading
North" – Players whose fantasy value is rising
All
the talk in the off-season focused on Priest Holmes.
Was his career over? Should
he even be drafted? Will he
get a new contract? He
answered a lot of questions in the pre-season, but on opening day he
showed off with more than 180 total yards and two TDs.
Many owners let him slide in the draft and are kicking themselves
now as they watched LaDanian Tomlinson run for 34 yards.
Fortunately I passed on Priest in favor of Portis, so I’m
still feeling good.
The
Tennesee Titans displayed an impressive array of receivers in their win
over the Raiders. Derrick
Mason still is the go-to guy, but he will be helped by the likes of
McCareins, Calico, Bennett, Schifino, Wycheck, and Kinney.
Steve McNair will be the obvious recipient of the fantasy
benefits with so many viable targets.
Eddie George may also reap the rewards if the defenses have
to pay more attention to the Titan passing game.
Alge
Crumpler is making a statement that he deserves
to be among the top tier of tight ends.
With Tony Gonzalez and Shannon Sharpe slipping from those ranks,
there may be room for one more along with Shockey and Heap.
Doug Johnson seems to be able to find Crumpler in positions that
allow him to use his athleticism to make plays.
By the time Vick comes back, Alge should be fully integrated into
the game plans.
Despite
all the Kevan Barlow hype in the offseason, it seems that Garrison
Hearst has no plans to hand over the reins just yet.
He is still the better receiver and blocker, two reasons he is on
the field so often, and there is no indication that he cannot continue to
run the ball effectively.
Keep
an eye on the Buffalo Bills defense.
Don’t count on a shutout every week, but there are a lot of good
playmakers at every level of the defense.
You should count on quite a few turnovers, a fair amount of sacks,
and a score once in a while.
"Going
South" – Players whose fantasy value is slipping
Brett
Favre had a terrible opening day and lost three of his receivers to
injury. The person who this
will hurt most is Ahman Green.
He has already exhibited his sweaty fumbilitis, but now he will be
expected to carry even more of the load.
With upcoming games against Detroit, Arizona, and Chicago, the
Packers will look to run-run-run the ball.
Don’t be surprised if all this work leads to another Ahman
injury.
With
all the expectations and hype surrounding Kurt Warner, it was
justified to think he would last more than one game.
Six fumbles, one interception, and one concussion later, he finds
himself on the bench. Unless
Bulger is horrible, don’t expect to see Warner back on the field.
Curtis
Martin looks a bit older this season and seems
to be running through the sand from the hourglass that is his career.
He averaged just three yards a carry and had his TD vultured by
LaMont Jordan who had six carries for zero yards.
Martin also faces a very tough schedule in the coming weeks.
"East-West" – Players whose fantasy value is still undetermined
There
was a lot of hope that Jake Plummer would become a legitimate
number one fantasy QB after changing uniforms.
His team won handily over the Bengals, but Plummer completed only
twelve passes while tossing three interceptions.
I’ve already seen Jake waived in one of my leagues, but it is
still much too early to tell if he can be productive under Shanahan or
not.
The
hottest player on the waiver wire this week has to be Anquan Boldin
of the Cardinals. Despite all
the rookie hype of Charles Rogers, who caught two TDs along with his 38
yards, it was Boldin who stole the show.
He also had two TDs, but that was amongst his ten catches for 217
yards. Boldin should be a
nice receiver for the team, but remember that the team is the Cardinals,
so his fantasy value takes a bit of a hit right there.
The Houston Texans offense played a very good game against the tough Miami defense. David Carr was efficient, with one TD, no interceptions, and no sacks taken. Stacey Mack ran the ball effectively and kept the clock running. Corey Bradford, Andre Johnson, and Jabar Gaffney each had more than 70 yards in receptions. The Texans bear some watching to see if they can keep it up, although a tough schedule does not play to their favor.