An interesting Week 2 for the JimmyJam League. It could be a big week of separation as several teams have the chance to move to 2-0 while sending their opponent to 0-2. If that happens, there will be a lot of 2-game leads in divisions. While it's early in the season, a two-game lead is always comfortable, especially with the Divisional contests and the BYE weeks around the bend.
Here are the recaps in no particular order. Just how they showed up on my boxscore screen.
Jimmy Jammers (1-0) at Chinese Organ Thieves (0-1)
ESPN’s Projection: Organ Thieves, 121.5-111.2
Series Record: Organ Thieves lead 3-1.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008), Organ Thieves won 152-71.
Matchup Notes: I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I return home from work on Thursday to find my copy of Sports Illustrated with Adrian Peterson on the cover running over Browns defenders with a huge headline “Dominator” on it; and the next thing I see is my sink leaking water everywhere in the kitchen.
This is an omen. A bad one.
Peterson is going to throw the kitchen sink at me and it’s going to be easy. The Vikings are playing the Lions. I put little emphasis on playing.
For Peterson, this is going to be like hunting at the zoo.
Lucky me. ESPN is projecting 150-plus yards and two touchdowns, and I think that’s awfully nice of them, because let’s be honest here. If Mike Bell can go for 143 against the Lions, Peterson can easily go Madden 10 (with the difficulty level on easy) on the Lions.
Luckily for the Jammers, the rest of the Organ Thieves matchups are tough ones with Philip Rivers going against the Ravens, Marion Barber against the Giants, who held Clinton Portis to less than 100 last week, and Reggie Bush in Philly.
Wideouts Calvin Johnson (vs. Vikings) and Roy Williams (vs. Giants) also have tough defenses to face.
So, if the Lions can hold Peterson to less than 60 fantasy points, Jammers may have a chance.
The Jammers will need Darren Sproles to take over the starting role as injured LaDainian Tomlinson is out for Week 2. Leon Washington or Joseph Addai will get the start in place of Tomlinson.
Larry Fitzgerald and Santonio Holmes both have road games and newly acquired Todd Heap has become one of Joe Flacco’s favorite targets. Heap will be going against the Chargers who let Oakland TE Zach Miller go for 96 yards last week. Heath Miller may start at TE, too, as this will be a game-time decision.
Either way, it all comes down to the Lions. I still blame Matt Millen.
Key Player: Clearly, Adrian Peterson. He won’t be the key. He’ll be the reason.
Jammers’ Prediction: Organ Thieves wins 134-107.
Team Boyer (0-1) at Fear and Loathing (0-1)
ESPN’s Projection: Fear and Loathing, 127.4-122.5
Series Record: Fear and Loathing leads 2-1.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008) Fear won 93-59.
Matchup Notes: Fear should be afraid. He should be very afraid.
Because Team Boyer is going to be running wild this weekend, trust me. If we were in court, I’d back my opinion up with the following court cases:
1. Portis v. St. Louis
2. Turner v. Carolina
3. Grant v. Cincinnati (I know Bengals fans are used to cases that read ‘State v. Bengals players’)
In the first case, we have this year’s candidate to be the 2008 Lions. Portis is itching to get back on the field after getting stuff by the Giants last week. He’ll find it easier to run at home against the Rams defense, which allowed an overrated Julius Jones to go for double-digit fantasy points.
In Case No. 2, Turner is at home against the Panthers. I’ll give you precedent for this one. The last time Turner was at home against the Panthers: 117 yards, four TDs. Even half of that would be enough for Team Boyer.
Case 3. Grant v. Cincinnati. This will be the toughest, but Grant should still go for 70-80 yards and a score. The Packers are at home and I’m sure the Green Bay defense is going to come up with some turnovers, giving Grant and the offense the short field.
Adding to the running back parade is Tom Brady at the Jets and even though it’s a divisional matchup, I’m confident that he’ll take the momentum built in the final three minutes against the Bills and score some big points.
Some of those fantasy points will be negated because Fear had Randy Moss.
He also has a collection of interesting fantasy players. Outside of Moss, Houshmandzahdeh and Kurt Warner, he’s got players with names that sound like they should be flex players.
But that’s not the case.
Fred Jackson was big on Monday night and he’ll have a chance to run at home against Tampa Bay — also a contender for the ‘Lions of 2009’ moniker.
I also like for Pittsburgh to establish a better run game against the Bears, allowing Willie Parker to get started. He was not able to do that against the Titans, but not many running backs do against that defense.
Parker should have a much better day on Sunday.
So will TE Visanthe Shiancoe, who will have 11 cute Lions purring on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
Both Boyer and Fear have the majority of their players taking the field at 1 or 4 on Sunday. The only player left out of that is Fear’s Mario Manningham, who may have the chance to break a close game open Sunday night.
Then again, if Fear is left hoping for points from Manningham, he should be afraid. Very afraid.
Key Player: Fear’s Kurt Warner. He had a very quiet Week 1. His lackluster performance was a big reason why Fear is 0-1. If he turns things around, he could be a big reason why he’s 1-1.
Jammers’ Prediction: Boyer, 124-102.
Channel 4 News Team (1-0) at Sunday Slackers (1-0)
ESPN’s Projection: News Team, 120.8-120.1
Series Record: News Team leads 1-0.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008) News Team won 84-82.
Matchup Notes: Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention?
I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. And I need all of you to stop what you're doing and listen:
Aaron Rodgers has been benched for Brett Favre.
We all knew that when the News Team drafted Favre it was only a matter of time before he spelled starter Rodgers (How ironic).
And what better week to do so than the week that the Vikings play the Lions.
OK, I don’t need to make fun of or give you any more reason why Favre will succeed against the Motor City Mistakes, but you can see why the News Team is favored to win.
The favor isn’t by much. As of Thursday, the News Team was predicted to win 120.8-120.1. I doubt we’ll have something like that, but damn, it’s close.
I’m not so sure that I think Favre is going to have as good a day as ESPN is predicting, but it should be good enough to get the News Team 20 points.
RBs Matt Forte and Kevin Smith are running into the Steelers and Vikings defenses, respectively, so there’s some question there.
I like T.O. against Tampa Bay and I’d like DeSean Jackson against the Saints if Donovan McNabb of Jeff Garcia was starting, but the Eagles seem to be set on Kevin Kolb.
On the other side, the Slackers were a combination of two things: Drew Brees (53.5 points) and Reggie Wayne (22.2).
He’ll need more than that this week.
Willis McGahee had a good week against Kansas City, just as good as the Oakland running game against San Diego. McGahee can test the Chargers defense this week, if he gets the chance. Ray Rice is still the starter and will be the horse this week again.
Steven Jackson, who flopped in Week 1, heads to Washington and may leave keeping the Slackers wondering if he made the right choice at pick No. 1.
If Jackson falters again, it may be the Slackers who have a very important news story next week.
Key Player: Drew Brees. He struggled on the road and outdoors last season, so it will be interesting to see how many points Brees can put up against a fast-flying Eagles defense. While he won’t be Jake Delhomme, he will not put up 53.5 points. Write that down.
Jammers’ Prediction: News Team 99, Slackers 92
T-Money (1-0) at Graybill’s Generals (0-1)
ESPN’s Projection: Generals 106.7-106.6
Series Record: Generals leads 2-1.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008) Generals won 87-86.
Matchup Notes: This is like a division rivalry for two teams in two different divisions.
Last season, the Generals won by 1 point.
This season, he’s predicted by ESPN to win by 0.1 points.
Leading the Generals at quarterback is Eli Manning, while T-Money has Manning’s rival, Tony Romo.
Ironically, both those quarterbacks will be squaring off on Sunday night, when this contest will be decided.
Romo and Manning will be the last players to play in this matchup, making that Sunday game a great one to watch for both of these owners.
A low scoring affair may hurt one’s chances, likewise a lopsided game could decide the outcome.
The Giants are heading into the new Dallas Stadium for the grand opening — if you don’t count preseason and the crappy country music shows (Sorry, Boyer. It’s more my hate of the Cowboys than country music. However, when you would play Honky-tonk-whatever up at Penn State, some animosity toward the genre brewed inside me.)
So with the opening comes a great atmosphere and with that comes extra pressure — on both teams.
The Cowboys will have this extreme pressure not to lose the first game at the new stadium. Jerry Jones is crazy enough that if he lost the first one that he’d start construction on the next state-of-the-art facility on Monday.
Romo is hurting (ankle) and you know he’s going to put a little extra into his game just because of the situation. For T-Money’s sake, Romo will have to be calm and cool and play it like he’s back in Tampa.
But, the Giants are not Tampa Bay. They’ve got one of the better defensive lines in the NFL, and even though LB Canty will be out, it will be tough to establish the run, leaving it up to Romo to get the job done.
The Generals should have a great day out of his two backs and flex player.
DeAngelo Williams will be himself, and Darren McFadden went McNuts against the Chiefs last season and after what Baltimore did last week to KC, expect McFadden to get 100-plus and a touchdown.
Flex player Percy Harvin is facing the Lions. Period.
T-Money’s RBs, Frank Gore and Thomas Jones, will have tougher matchups this week.
Gore didn’t play all-that-great last week, even though he got 16.8 points. He rushed for only 30 yards and had a fumble. He never broke free for a big gain all game. The only reason he scored 16.8 points was because he hauled in a short TD pass and ran for another.
Thomas Jones was excellent last week and will have New England this week, much tougher than Houston — however, New England is spotty with its defense after allowing Fred Jackson to grab dump-offs and run through the middle.
If the Jets are going to do that, they’ll likely use Leon Washington, as he is their pass-receiving back.
Anquan Boldin is still questionable, Chad Johnson is in Green Bay and Lance Moore is in Philly, so I don’t like the WR output for this week.
That’s why the Generals will likely win this battle, although, I’m going to go with history and say it’s going to be a close one.
Key Player: Darren McFadden. A lot is riding on McFadden this week and he will have to establish himself against the Chiefs. The Raiders activated Justin Fargas at RB for this week, meaning that McFadden is one of three backs, Michael Bush being the other. McFadden cannot carry the load alone, but he must show that he can carry it half the time. If he does that, he make the Generals smile.
Jammers’ Prediction: Generals 110-102.
Stanksta’s Gangstas (0-1) at World of Noise (1-0)
ESPN’s Projection: Noise, 123.8-106.6.
Series Record: Stank leads 1-0.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008) Stank 124-104
Matchup Notes: World of Noise has never been 1-0 until now.
In fact, World of Noise has never won a game in Week 1 or 2 until now.
Actually, his record prior to this season in the first six weeks of the season was 3-15.
Now, he’s off to a 1-0 start and had a team built to win, until his starting quarterback went down in Week 1.
With Donovan McNabb down and out, the Noise are like the Eagles in that he has entrusted the offense with Kevin Kolb.
The only difference is, if Kolb is struggling in the first quarter, the Eagles can throw in Jeff Garcia.
Noise cannot.
But, as poorly as Kolb has played in his limited appearances, I think you’ll see a different Kolb. Coming out of college, Kolb was a very accurate QB, and I think he still is. In his rookie season, he looked great in the preseason, hitting targets in stride.
This weekend when he makes his first NFL start, it will come after having practiced with the first-team offense all week. He has never done that before.
When he was thrown into the Ravens game last year, he didn’t even take a snap with the first-team offense until he was told by Andy Reid to get in there.
The same goes for last week. He hadn’t taken a snap with the first-team offense all season.
It will be interesting to see what he can do. It will truly be a test for him — and it will be what makes or breaks World of Noise’s Week 2.
Brian Westbrook is in the lineup as well, and he should get a few more carries than normal with Kolb in the lineup — and if the Lions Kevin Smith can run for 100-plus on the Saints, Westbrook should, too.
Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are at home hosting Indy, and together, they should get Noise 25-30 points as Maurice Jones-Drew as able to go for 97 and a score against Indy. Brown and Williams will play on Monday night when this contest will be decided.
Jones-Drew, Stank’s star, is at home against the Cards this week and ESPN expects big things from him (73, 2 TDs). I tend to agree.
But outside of Jones-Drew and Matt Ryan, Stank has a few reasons to worry. Brandon Jacobs is in Dallas, and while the goal line opportunities may provide a few scores, the yardage will be limited.
Chris Wells had just 29 yards last week and has yet to prove himself in the NFL.
Both wideouts Braylon Edwards and Hines Ward should be limited, but Tony Gonzalez will not disappoint. Ward does have a chance as I believe Ben Roethlisberger will be using the short intermediate pass routes to move the offense, but I expect the Steelers to go up top to Santonio Holmes and Mike Wallace for the big scores. If anything, Hines Ward will open things up for Heath Miller.
Noise’s wideouts are in the same situation, with Andre Johnson in Tennessee and Jerricho Cotchery against New England.
Noise should get decent points out of TE Dallas Clark and the Packers defense.
Key Player: Brian Westbrook. I believe his success will fuel Kolb’s success which will in turn fuel Noise’s success.
Jammers’ Prediction: Hold your breath. Noise moves to 2-0. 110-87.
Real Houserville (0-1) at Dottsville Toasters (1-0)
ESPN’s Projection: Toasters, 114.1-113.
Series Record: Toasters leads 1-0.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008) Toasters 84-73
Matchup Notes: Did you see the Steelers try to run against the Titans?
Yeah, it didn’t happen.
Did you see the Jets run over the Texans?
Yeah, Thomas Jones and Leon Washington combined for more than 30 fantasy points.
Look at it this way: Chris Johnson is licking his chops and Steve Slaton will be getting his chops licked.
The Toasters have the advantage here and Johnson should get his first big game in 2009. Slaton is slated to have his second bad one.
But that doesn’t mean Houserville is out in the cold. The ‘Ville still has plenty enough firepower to keep the Toasters from going 2-0 for the first time since 2006 when they started 3-0. (Toasters went 1-8 after that, though. Sorry for the reminder.)
Houserville, which started 2-0 in its inaugural season last year, is looking to bounce back from a Week 1 loss.
He will need Julius Jones and Cedric Benson to step up again this week. Last week, Benson got 16.8 points but nearly half of those points (8.0) came on a game-winning drive in the final minute.
Benson will have to establish himself earlier this week, especially with a tough Packers defense that limited Matt Forte in Week 1.
Jones got 21.6 points, but — yes another but — it was against the St. Louis Lambs and a 62-yard touchdown came on a broken play. That’s 14.2 points that he would not have gotten had the 49ers been lining up on the other side. That’s who he’ll have this week.
Jones has been spotty at best throughout his career and he will continue that. It won’t be long before fans start itching for Edggerin James.
Looking at the Toasters’ other two RBs (Ray Rice and Tim Hightower), I love Rice vs. the Chargers after the Raiders gashed that defensive line. Had the Raiders kept running the ball like they did in the first half, they would have won on Monday.
The new-passing attack in Baltimore is sexy, but Jon Harbaugh is a smart guy. He saw what Oakland did and so you should expect a heavy dose of Rice and McGahee this week. Rice went for 108 yards last week. He’ll get a little more than that this week.
Hightower is a questionable move. He was on and off last season and more of a touchdown vulture than anything else. Last week, though, he was more valuable than Larry Fitzgerald. He had 12 catches (14 targets) for 121 yards. That might be the most abnormal fantasy output this season. I do not expect to see that again, and looking at Hightower’s running (8 carries, 15 yards), he hasn’t shown enough breakaway speed to be a big-time fantasy back. He’s just a pile-driver.
The Toasters and Houserville will field four of the better wideouts in the league who are all not talked about enough. Houserville has Roddy White and Dwayne Bowe in favorable matchups, while Greg Jennings and Vincent Jackson are in the same situation. I figure these four WRs will cancel each other out, unless of course, one has a career day.
Which brings us to the quarterbacks.
Trent Edwards led the Bills to victory last week and then the special teams blew it for him. With Tampa Bay in town for the home opener and T.O. and Lee Evans being much better wideouts than what Dallas used to torch the Bucs last week, expect Trent to have another 25-point performance. Edwards seems very comfortable in the no-huddle offense, and he’ll feel even better when he sits down to watch the Monday night football game between the Dolphins and the Colts.
There he’ll see Peyton Manning trying to find seams in the Miami defense.
I think Manning will find them, the problem will be who to throw to.
Reggie Wayne will be double-covered for sure on most occasions now that the Colts do not have a legit No. 2 wideout. Anthony Gonzalez is out for 2-6 weeks, leaving Wayne and a bunch of no-names to go out and catch the ball. That’s why they signed Hank Baskett.
With that in mind, that’s why I believe the Colts will rely heavily on the run, giving Joseph Addai and Donald Brown many chances. Manning will still get 200 yards passing, but I don’t expect any home run balls this week. If they do, the Miami Dolphins’ defense absolutely failed because they cannot possibly let Wayne or a No-Name get deep.
Key Player: Steve Slaton. It’s up to Slaton to prove the experts wrong. That’s right. It’s not just me saying that Slaton will have another bad week. It’s everyone. But Slaton has had a good history against the Titans. He ran for 130 and a score in his first game against the Titans and another 100 yards in his second. If he can somehow come alive in Week 2, I think that will make the difference.
Jammers’ Prediction: But, that won’t happen. Toasters 111, Houserville 98
Here are the recaps in no particular order. Just how they showed up on my boxscore screen.
Jimmy Jammers (1-0) at Chinese Organ Thieves (0-1)
ESPN’s Projection: Organ Thieves, 121.5-111.2
Series Record: Organ Thieves lead 3-1.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008), Organ Thieves won 152-71.
Matchup Notes: I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I return home from work on Thursday to find my copy of Sports Illustrated with Adrian Peterson on the cover running over Browns defenders with a huge headline “Dominator” on it; and the next thing I see is my sink leaking water everywhere in the kitchen.
This is an omen. A bad one.
Peterson is going to throw the kitchen sink at me and it’s going to be easy. The Vikings are playing the Lions. I put little emphasis on playing.
For Peterson, this is going to be like hunting at the zoo.
Lucky me. ESPN is projecting 150-plus yards and two touchdowns, and I think that’s awfully nice of them, because let’s be honest here. If Mike Bell can go for 143 against the Lions, Peterson can easily go Madden 10 (with the difficulty level on easy) on the Lions.
Luckily for the Jammers, the rest of the Organ Thieves matchups are tough ones with Philip Rivers going against the Ravens, Marion Barber against the Giants, who held Clinton Portis to less than 100 last week, and Reggie Bush in Philly.
Wideouts Calvin Johnson (vs. Vikings) and Roy Williams (vs. Giants) also have tough defenses to face.
So, if the Lions can hold Peterson to less than 60 fantasy points, Jammers may have a chance.
The Jammers will need Darren Sproles to take over the starting role as injured LaDainian Tomlinson is out for Week 2. Leon Washington or Joseph Addai will get the start in place of Tomlinson.
Larry Fitzgerald and Santonio Holmes both have road games and newly acquired Todd Heap has become one of Joe Flacco’s favorite targets. Heap will be going against the Chargers who let Oakland TE Zach Miller go for 96 yards last week. Heath Miller may start at TE, too, as this will be a game-time decision.
Either way, it all comes down to the Lions. I still blame Matt Millen.
Key Player: Clearly, Adrian Peterson. He won’t be the key. He’ll be the reason.
Jammers’ Prediction: Organ Thieves wins 134-107.
Team Boyer (0-1) at Fear and Loathing (0-1)
ESPN’s Projection: Fear and Loathing, 127.4-122.5
Series Record: Fear and Loathing leads 2-1.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008) Fear won 93-59.
Matchup Notes: Fear should be afraid. He should be very afraid.
Because Team Boyer is going to be running wild this weekend, trust me. If we were in court, I’d back my opinion up with the following court cases:
1. Portis v. St. Louis
2. Turner v. Carolina
3. Grant v. Cincinnati (I know Bengals fans are used to cases that read ‘State v. Bengals players’)
In the first case, we have this year’s candidate to be the 2008 Lions. Portis is itching to get back on the field after getting stuff by the Giants last week. He’ll find it easier to run at home against the Rams defense, which allowed an overrated Julius Jones to go for double-digit fantasy points.
In Case No. 2, Turner is at home against the Panthers. I’ll give you precedent for this one. The last time Turner was at home against the Panthers: 117 yards, four TDs. Even half of that would be enough for Team Boyer.
Case 3. Grant v. Cincinnati. This will be the toughest, but Grant should still go for 70-80 yards and a score. The Packers are at home and I’m sure the Green Bay defense is going to come up with some turnovers, giving Grant and the offense the short field.
Adding to the running back parade is Tom Brady at the Jets and even though it’s a divisional matchup, I’m confident that he’ll take the momentum built in the final three minutes against the Bills and score some big points.
Some of those fantasy points will be negated because Fear had Randy Moss.
He also has a collection of interesting fantasy players. Outside of Moss, Houshmandzahdeh and Kurt Warner, he’s got players with names that sound like they should be flex players.
But that’s not the case.
Fred Jackson was big on Monday night and he’ll have a chance to run at home against Tampa Bay — also a contender for the ‘Lions of 2009’ moniker.
I also like for Pittsburgh to establish a better run game against the Bears, allowing Willie Parker to get started. He was not able to do that against the Titans, but not many running backs do against that defense.
Parker should have a much better day on Sunday.
So will TE Visanthe Shiancoe, who will have 11 cute Lions purring on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
Both Boyer and Fear have the majority of their players taking the field at 1 or 4 on Sunday. The only player left out of that is Fear’s Mario Manningham, who may have the chance to break a close game open Sunday night.
Then again, if Fear is left hoping for points from Manningham, he should be afraid. Very afraid.
Key Player: Fear’s Kurt Warner. He had a very quiet Week 1. His lackluster performance was a big reason why Fear is 0-1. If he turns things around, he could be a big reason why he’s 1-1.
Jammers’ Prediction: Boyer, 124-102.
Channel 4 News Team (1-0) at Sunday Slackers (1-0)
ESPN’s Projection: News Team, 120.8-120.1
Series Record: News Team leads 1-0.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008) News Team won 84-82.
Matchup Notes: Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention?
I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. And I need all of you to stop what you're doing and listen:
Aaron Rodgers has been benched for Brett Favre.
We all knew that when the News Team drafted Favre it was only a matter of time before he spelled starter Rodgers (How ironic).
And what better week to do so than the week that the Vikings play the Lions.
OK, I don’t need to make fun of or give you any more reason why Favre will succeed against the Motor City Mistakes, but you can see why the News Team is favored to win.
The favor isn’t by much. As of Thursday, the News Team was predicted to win 120.8-120.1. I doubt we’ll have something like that, but damn, it’s close.
I’m not so sure that I think Favre is going to have as good a day as ESPN is predicting, but it should be good enough to get the News Team 20 points.
RBs Matt Forte and Kevin Smith are running into the Steelers and Vikings defenses, respectively, so there’s some question there.
I like T.O. against Tampa Bay and I’d like DeSean Jackson against the Saints if Donovan McNabb of Jeff Garcia was starting, but the Eagles seem to be set on Kevin Kolb.
On the other side, the Slackers were a combination of two things: Drew Brees (53.5 points) and Reggie Wayne (22.2).
He’ll need more than that this week.
Willis McGahee had a good week against Kansas City, just as good as the Oakland running game against San Diego. McGahee can test the Chargers defense this week, if he gets the chance. Ray Rice is still the starter and will be the horse this week again.
Steven Jackson, who flopped in Week 1, heads to Washington and may leave keeping the Slackers wondering if he made the right choice at pick No. 1.
If Jackson falters again, it may be the Slackers who have a very important news story next week.
Key Player: Drew Brees. He struggled on the road and outdoors last season, so it will be interesting to see how many points Brees can put up against a fast-flying Eagles defense. While he won’t be Jake Delhomme, he will not put up 53.5 points. Write that down.
Jammers’ Prediction: News Team 99, Slackers 92
T-Money (1-0) at Graybill’s Generals (0-1)
ESPN’s Projection: Generals 106.7-106.6
Series Record: Generals leads 2-1.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008) Generals won 87-86.
Matchup Notes: This is like a division rivalry for two teams in two different divisions.
Last season, the Generals won by 1 point.
This season, he’s predicted by ESPN to win by 0.1 points.
Leading the Generals at quarterback is Eli Manning, while T-Money has Manning’s rival, Tony Romo.
Ironically, both those quarterbacks will be squaring off on Sunday night, when this contest will be decided.
Romo and Manning will be the last players to play in this matchup, making that Sunday game a great one to watch for both of these owners.
A low scoring affair may hurt one’s chances, likewise a lopsided game could decide the outcome.
The Giants are heading into the new Dallas Stadium for the grand opening — if you don’t count preseason and the crappy country music shows (Sorry, Boyer. It’s more my hate of the Cowboys than country music. However, when you would play Honky-tonk-whatever up at Penn State, some animosity toward the genre brewed inside me.)
So with the opening comes a great atmosphere and with that comes extra pressure — on both teams.
The Cowboys will have this extreme pressure not to lose the first game at the new stadium. Jerry Jones is crazy enough that if he lost the first one that he’d start construction on the next state-of-the-art facility on Monday.
Romo is hurting (ankle) and you know he’s going to put a little extra into his game just because of the situation. For T-Money’s sake, Romo will have to be calm and cool and play it like he’s back in Tampa.
But, the Giants are not Tampa Bay. They’ve got one of the better defensive lines in the NFL, and even though LB Canty will be out, it will be tough to establish the run, leaving it up to Romo to get the job done.
The Generals should have a great day out of his two backs and flex player.
DeAngelo Williams will be himself, and Darren McFadden went McNuts against the Chiefs last season and after what Baltimore did last week to KC, expect McFadden to get 100-plus and a touchdown.
Flex player Percy Harvin is facing the Lions. Period.
T-Money’s RBs, Frank Gore and Thomas Jones, will have tougher matchups this week.
Gore didn’t play all-that-great last week, even though he got 16.8 points. He rushed for only 30 yards and had a fumble. He never broke free for a big gain all game. The only reason he scored 16.8 points was because he hauled in a short TD pass and ran for another.
Thomas Jones was excellent last week and will have New England this week, much tougher than Houston — however, New England is spotty with its defense after allowing Fred Jackson to grab dump-offs and run through the middle.
If the Jets are going to do that, they’ll likely use Leon Washington, as he is their pass-receiving back.
Anquan Boldin is still questionable, Chad Johnson is in Green Bay and Lance Moore is in Philly, so I don’t like the WR output for this week.
That’s why the Generals will likely win this battle, although, I’m going to go with history and say it’s going to be a close one.
Key Player: Darren McFadden. A lot is riding on McFadden this week and he will have to establish himself against the Chiefs. The Raiders activated Justin Fargas at RB for this week, meaning that McFadden is one of three backs, Michael Bush being the other. McFadden cannot carry the load alone, but he must show that he can carry it half the time. If he does that, he make the Generals smile.
Jammers’ Prediction: Generals 110-102.
Stanksta’s Gangstas (0-1) at World of Noise (1-0)
ESPN’s Projection: Noise, 123.8-106.6.
Series Record: Stank leads 1-0.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008) Stank 124-104
Matchup Notes: World of Noise has never been 1-0 until now.
In fact, World of Noise has never won a game in Week 1 or 2 until now.
Actually, his record prior to this season in the first six weeks of the season was 3-15.
Now, he’s off to a 1-0 start and had a team built to win, until his starting quarterback went down in Week 1.
With Donovan McNabb down and out, the Noise are like the Eagles in that he has entrusted the offense with Kevin Kolb.
The only difference is, if Kolb is struggling in the first quarter, the Eagles can throw in Jeff Garcia.
Noise cannot.
But, as poorly as Kolb has played in his limited appearances, I think you’ll see a different Kolb. Coming out of college, Kolb was a very accurate QB, and I think he still is. In his rookie season, he looked great in the preseason, hitting targets in stride.
This weekend when he makes his first NFL start, it will come after having practiced with the first-team offense all week. He has never done that before.
When he was thrown into the Ravens game last year, he didn’t even take a snap with the first-team offense until he was told by Andy Reid to get in there.
The same goes for last week. He hadn’t taken a snap with the first-team offense all season.
It will be interesting to see what he can do. It will truly be a test for him — and it will be what makes or breaks World of Noise’s Week 2.
Brian Westbrook is in the lineup as well, and he should get a few more carries than normal with Kolb in the lineup — and if the Lions Kevin Smith can run for 100-plus on the Saints, Westbrook should, too.
Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are at home hosting Indy, and together, they should get Noise 25-30 points as Maurice Jones-Drew as able to go for 97 and a score against Indy. Brown and Williams will play on Monday night when this contest will be decided.
Jones-Drew, Stank’s star, is at home against the Cards this week and ESPN expects big things from him (73, 2 TDs). I tend to agree.
But outside of Jones-Drew and Matt Ryan, Stank has a few reasons to worry. Brandon Jacobs is in Dallas, and while the goal line opportunities may provide a few scores, the yardage will be limited.
Chris Wells had just 29 yards last week and has yet to prove himself in the NFL.
Both wideouts Braylon Edwards and Hines Ward should be limited, but Tony Gonzalez will not disappoint. Ward does have a chance as I believe Ben Roethlisberger will be using the short intermediate pass routes to move the offense, but I expect the Steelers to go up top to Santonio Holmes and Mike Wallace for the big scores. If anything, Hines Ward will open things up for Heath Miller.
Noise’s wideouts are in the same situation, with Andre Johnson in Tennessee and Jerricho Cotchery against New England.
Noise should get decent points out of TE Dallas Clark and the Packers defense.
Key Player: Brian Westbrook. I believe his success will fuel Kolb’s success which will in turn fuel Noise’s success.
Jammers’ Prediction: Hold your breath. Noise moves to 2-0. 110-87.
Real Houserville (0-1) at Dottsville Toasters (1-0)
ESPN’s Projection: Toasters, 114.1-113.
Series Record: Toasters leads 1-0.
Last Meeting: Week 10 (2008) Toasters 84-73
Matchup Notes: Did you see the Steelers try to run against the Titans?
Yeah, it didn’t happen.
Did you see the Jets run over the Texans?
Yeah, Thomas Jones and Leon Washington combined for more than 30 fantasy points.
Look at it this way: Chris Johnson is licking his chops and Steve Slaton will be getting his chops licked.
The Toasters have the advantage here and Johnson should get his first big game in 2009. Slaton is slated to have his second bad one.
But that doesn’t mean Houserville is out in the cold. The ‘Ville still has plenty enough firepower to keep the Toasters from going 2-0 for the first time since 2006 when they started 3-0. (Toasters went 1-8 after that, though. Sorry for the reminder.)
Houserville, which started 2-0 in its inaugural season last year, is looking to bounce back from a Week 1 loss.
He will need Julius Jones and Cedric Benson to step up again this week. Last week, Benson got 16.8 points but nearly half of those points (8.0) came on a game-winning drive in the final minute.
Benson will have to establish himself earlier this week, especially with a tough Packers defense that limited Matt Forte in Week 1.
Jones got 21.6 points, but — yes another but — it was against the St. Louis Lambs and a 62-yard touchdown came on a broken play. That’s 14.2 points that he would not have gotten had the 49ers been lining up on the other side. That’s who he’ll have this week.
Jones has been spotty at best throughout his career and he will continue that. It won’t be long before fans start itching for Edggerin James.
Looking at the Toasters’ other two RBs (Ray Rice and Tim Hightower), I love Rice vs. the Chargers after the Raiders gashed that defensive line. Had the Raiders kept running the ball like they did in the first half, they would have won on Monday.
The new-passing attack in Baltimore is sexy, but Jon Harbaugh is a smart guy. He saw what Oakland did and so you should expect a heavy dose of Rice and McGahee this week. Rice went for 108 yards last week. He’ll get a little more than that this week.
Hightower is a questionable move. He was on and off last season and more of a touchdown vulture than anything else. Last week, though, he was more valuable than Larry Fitzgerald. He had 12 catches (14 targets) for 121 yards. That might be the most abnormal fantasy output this season. I do not expect to see that again, and looking at Hightower’s running (8 carries, 15 yards), he hasn’t shown enough breakaway speed to be a big-time fantasy back. He’s just a pile-driver.
The Toasters and Houserville will field four of the better wideouts in the league who are all not talked about enough. Houserville has Roddy White and Dwayne Bowe in favorable matchups, while Greg Jennings and Vincent Jackson are in the same situation. I figure these four WRs will cancel each other out, unless of course, one has a career day.
Which brings us to the quarterbacks.
Trent Edwards led the Bills to victory last week and then the special teams blew it for him. With Tampa Bay in town for the home opener and T.O. and Lee Evans being much better wideouts than what Dallas used to torch the Bucs last week, expect Trent to have another 25-point performance. Edwards seems very comfortable in the no-huddle offense, and he’ll feel even better when he sits down to watch the Monday night football game between the Dolphins and the Colts.
There he’ll see Peyton Manning trying to find seams in the Miami defense.
I think Manning will find them, the problem will be who to throw to.
Reggie Wayne will be double-covered for sure on most occasions now that the Colts do not have a legit No. 2 wideout. Anthony Gonzalez is out for 2-6 weeks, leaving Wayne and a bunch of no-names to go out and catch the ball. That’s why they signed Hank Baskett.
With that in mind, that’s why I believe the Colts will rely heavily on the run, giving Joseph Addai and Donald Brown many chances. Manning will still get 200 yards passing, but I don’t expect any home run balls this week. If they do, the Miami Dolphins’ defense absolutely failed because they cannot possibly let Wayne or a No-Name get deep.
Key Player: Steve Slaton. It’s up to Slaton to prove the experts wrong. That’s right. It’s not just me saying that Slaton will have another bad week. It’s everyone. But Slaton has had a good history against the Titans. He ran for 130 and a score in his first game against the Titans and another 100 yards in his second. If he can somehow come alive in Week 2, I think that will make the difference.
Jammers’ Prediction: But, that won’t happen. Toasters 111, Houserville 98
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