Detritus
10-09-2009, 05:16 AM
BYES: Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans, San Diego
We're well into the bye weeks of the schedule now, which can be thought of as analogous to the mountain stages of the Tour de France, as teams dig deep into their reserves in order to climb the league standings. Here are some previews of the Week 5 games:
First Down: 2nd Helping Skillets vs. Maine Mad Monks
The marquee matchup of Week 5 pits the league's two top-scoring teams through four weeks against each other. The Skillets boast a lineup with nine of its 10 members no worse than #7 at their respective positions, and Ray Rice clocks in at the #15 RB spot in his own right. Andre Johnson's #7 rank at WR is more impressive than it might seem at first blush, as he's already drawn both Darelle Revis and Nnamdi Asomugha in Weeks 1 and 4, respectively. He'll creep his way towards the top of the WR rankings after he faces coverage that is less stalwart than the early-season leaders for All-Pro consideration at CB in the coming weeks.
#1 RB Maurice Jones-Drew has to be licking his chops at the prospect of facing off against a struggling Seahawks defense, and #2 WR Reggie Wayne should have a field day against the turnstile that masquerades as the Tennessee Titans' secondary. #3 RB Willis McGahee has managed top-5 status mainly thanks to a whopping 7 scores through four weeks, and the McGahee/Rice combo at RB for Baltimore is starting to resemble the LenDale White/Chris Johnson duo from 2008. TE Brent Celek has quietly put together a top-5 start to his season. His matchup this week with Tampa Bay looks particularly inviting, and should see him continue to put up top-shelf production for at least one more week. The Minnesota Vikings D/ST could well end up feasting on the hapless St. Louis Rams.
The Monks welcome back RB Michael Turner from his Week 4 bye, but he draws a tough SF 49ers defense for his return. Ronnie Brown and Thomas Jones will be the lead backs on MNF, but the Jets' and Dolphins' defenses are both pretty good against the run, too, so there exists real downside in all the Monks' RB plays (as of Thursday) this week. Perhaps Kevin Smith will crack the lineup this week after real-life game-time decision shenanigans left him and his game-winning points stranded on the Monks' bench in Week 4.
Mike Sims-Walker (#5 overall WR) has always had the talent to be an NFL #1 WR, and has thus far avoided the injury bug this year, leading to the start of what looks to be his breakout season in the NFL. He'll need a big game if the Monks are to harbor any realistic hopes for knocking off the Skillets, and long-score support from Santana Moss and Bernard Berrian would come in quite handy as well. They'll also need a big game from the 7th-round draft pick Steelers D/ST just to offset what Minnesota might do for the Skillets against the Rams.
Second Down: The Demolition (3-1) vs. Wily Corn Trolls (2-2)
The Demolition, Thunderdome's other 3-1 team, take on Wily Corn Trolls in a matchup where both sides will be missing a number of key players because of bye weeks. The Demolition will be missing RBs Matt Forte and Reggie Bush, WR Marques Colston, and TE Antonio Gates. The Trolls lose the services of QB Jay Cutler, RB Pierre Thomas, WR Greg Jennings, and TE Greg Olsen. The outcome of the game will likely hinge on which team does a better job filling in for their missing players.
The Demolition welcome back Brian Westbrook , Kurt Warner, and Larry Fitzgerald from Week 4 byes. Both teams have inserted multiple Steelers into their lineups, hoping to capitalize on Pittsburgh's juicy matchup vs. Detroit. The Demolition will roll with WR Hines Ward and bye-week filler TE Heath Miller, and WCT will try their luck with RB Rashard Mendenhall and WR Santonio Holmes.
Sources close to WCT headquarters report that the Trolls' management was ecstatic at landing Mendy despite a relatively low #5 waiver priority. With Willie Parker still limited by turf toe, the young RB from Illinois is in a position to have a second straight monster game after gashing the Charger's marshmallow-soft run D for 165 yards and 2 scores in Week 4. We have a feeling that the youngster might be the difference maker in this contest, but it's also true that Westbrook and WR DeSean Jackson have a very soft matchup against Tampa Bay, so this game could be a wild one packed with big days on both sides.
Third Down: Bizarro Land Tribbles (2-2) vs. PDX Chewbitcha, Inc. (2-2)
The winner of the Tribbles-Wookies tilt assures themselves of no worse than remaining one game out of first place, while the loser will be looking up at a number of 4-1 and/or 3-2 teams. RB Frank Gore's continuing absence from the Tribbles' lineup will be offset by the Wookies losing QB Drew Brees to a Week 5 bye. Each side also loses a dependable if unspectacular Packer, with WR Donald Driver riding the bye week pine for the Tribbles and RB Ryan Grant for the Wookies.
Tribbles QB Matt Schaub should have an advantage over whomever the Wookies tap to replace Brees during his bye week. The Wookies no doubt fervently hope that the bye week was good enough for WR Anquan Boldin to heal up from the nagging injuries that have limited his effectiveness. It remains unclear how Tribbles WR Braylon Edwards' trade to the Jets will affect his performance, although the guess here is that he'll struggle with chemistry issues in this first week with his new team. Whichever side wins the Texans-Cards game on Sunday could well propel their respective owners to victory this week.
Fourth Down: Team Rorschach (2-2) vs. Ivory Tower Gorillas (0-4)
The Gorillas look to get off the snide with their franchise-first W, but they face a tall order if they would knock off Team Rorschach, who have a 30-point edge in the Thursday projection line despite not replacing bye-week players QB Aaron Rodgers and WR Vincent Jackson in their Week 5 lineup thus far.
It's not inconceivable that Rorschach RBs Adrian Peterson (vs. St. Louis) and Brandon Jacobs (vs. Oakland) could combine for something goofy like 300 rushing yards and 5 scores. While Gorilla's QB Peyton Manning is good, he's not that good, and it remains unclear just who on the Gorillas roster will be able to keep up with the likely (though by no means certain) big games that Peterson and Jacobs look to have.
We're well into the bye weeks of the schedule now, which can be thought of as analogous to the mountain stages of the Tour de France, as teams dig deep into their reserves in order to climb the league standings. Here are some previews of the Week 5 games:
First Down: 2nd Helping Skillets vs. Maine Mad Monks
The marquee matchup of Week 5 pits the league's two top-scoring teams through four weeks against each other. The Skillets boast a lineup with nine of its 10 members no worse than #7 at their respective positions, and Ray Rice clocks in at the #15 RB spot in his own right. Andre Johnson's #7 rank at WR is more impressive than it might seem at first blush, as he's already drawn both Darelle Revis and Nnamdi Asomugha in Weeks 1 and 4, respectively. He'll creep his way towards the top of the WR rankings after he faces coverage that is less stalwart than the early-season leaders for All-Pro consideration at CB in the coming weeks.
#1 RB Maurice Jones-Drew has to be licking his chops at the prospect of facing off against a struggling Seahawks defense, and #2 WR Reggie Wayne should have a field day against the turnstile that masquerades as the Tennessee Titans' secondary. #3 RB Willis McGahee has managed top-5 status mainly thanks to a whopping 7 scores through four weeks, and the McGahee/Rice combo at RB for Baltimore is starting to resemble the LenDale White/Chris Johnson duo from 2008. TE Brent Celek has quietly put together a top-5 start to his season. His matchup this week with Tampa Bay looks particularly inviting, and should see him continue to put up top-shelf production for at least one more week. The Minnesota Vikings D/ST could well end up feasting on the hapless St. Louis Rams.
The Monks welcome back RB Michael Turner from his Week 4 bye, but he draws a tough SF 49ers defense for his return. Ronnie Brown and Thomas Jones will be the lead backs on MNF, but the Jets' and Dolphins' defenses are both pretty good against the run, too, so there exists real downside in all the Monks' RB plays (as of Thursday) this week. Perhaps Kevin Smith will crack the lineup this week after real-life game-time decision shenanigans left him and his game-winning points stranded on the Monks' bench in Week 4.
Mike Sims-Walker (#5 overall WR) has always had the talent to be an NFL #1 WR, and has thus far avoided the injury bug this year, leading to the start of what looks to be his breakout season in the NFL. He'll need a big game if the Monks are to harbor any realistic hopes for knocking off the Skillets, and long-score support from Santana Moss and Bernard Berrian would come in quite handy as well. They'll also need a big game from the 7th-round draft pick Steelers D/ST just to offset what Minnesota might do for the Skillets against the Rams.
Second Down: The Demolition (3-1) vs. Wily Corn Trolls (2-2)
The Demolition, Thunderdome's other 3-1 team, take on Wily Corn Trolls in a matchup where both sides will be missing a number of key players because of bye weeks. The Demolition will be missing RBs Matt Forte and Reggie Bush, WR Marques Colston, and TE Antonio Gates. The Trolls lose the services of QB Jay Cutler, RB Pierre Thomas, WR Greg Jennings, and TE Greg Olsen. The outcome of the game will likely hinge on which team does a better job filling in for their missing players.
The Demolition welcome back Brian Westbrook , Kurt Warner, and Larry Fitzgerald from Week 4 byes. Both teams have inserted multiple Steelers into their lineups, hoping to capitalize on Pittsburgh's juicy matchup vs. Detroit. The Demolition will roll with WR Hines Ward and bye-week filler TE Heath Miller, and WCT will try their luck with RB Rashard Mendenhall and WR Santonio Holmes.
Sources close to WCT headquarters report that the Trolls' management was ecstatic at landing Mendy despite a relatively low #5 waiver priority. With Willie Parker still limited by turf toe, the young RB from Illinois is in a position to have a second straight monster game after gashing the Charger's marshmallow-soft run D for 165 yards and 2 scores in Week 4. We have a feeling that the youngster might be the difference maker in this contest, but it's also true that Westbrook and WR DeSean Jackson have a very soft matchup against Tampa Bay, so this game could be a wild one packed with big days on both sides.
Third Down: Bizarro Land Tribbles (2-2) vs. PDX Chewbitcha, Inc. (2-2)
The winner of the Tribbles-Wookies tilt assures themselves of no worse than remaining one game out of first place, while the loser will be looking up at a number of 4-1 and/or 3-2 teams. RB Frank Gore's continuing absence from the Tribbles' lineup will be offset by the Wookies losing QB Drew Brees to a Week 5 bye. Each side also loses a dependable if unspectacular Packer, with WR Donald Driver riding the bye week pine for the Tribbles and RB Ryan Grant for the Wookies.
Tribbles QB Matt Schaub should have an advantage over whomever the Wookies tap to replace Brees during his bye week. The Wookies no doubt fervently hope that the bye week was good enough for WR Anquan Boldin to heal up from the nagging injuries that have limited his effectiveness. It remains unclear how Tribbles WR Braylon Edwards' trade to the Jets will affect his performance, although the guess here is that he'll struggle with chemistry issues in this first week with his new team. Whichever side wins the Texans-Cards game on Sunday could well propel their respective owners to victory this week.
Fourth Down: Team Rorschach (2-2) vs. Ivory Tower Gorillas (0-4)
The Gorillas look to get off the snide with their franchise-first W, but they face a tall order if they would knock off Team Rorschach, who have a 30-point edge in the Thursday projection line despite not replacing bye-week players QB Aaron Rodgers and WR Vincent Jackson in their Week 5 lineup thus far.
It's not inconceivable that Rorschach RBs Adrian Peterson (vs. St. Louis) and Brandon Jacobs (vs. Oakland) could combine for something goofy like 300 rushing yards and 5 scores. While Gorilla's QB Peyton Manning is good, he's not that good, and it remains unclear just who on the Gorillas roster will be able to keep up with the likely (though by no means certain) big games that Peterson and Jacobs look to have.