Fantasy Football articles - Sports Grumblings.com

Eli Manning will never reach his full potential in New York, according to Cankosyan.

I’m get psyched up for the last week of the regular season, and my mind is filled with all kinds of thoughts. Being from New York, I can’t help but wonder whether this season was a fluke or the beginning of something much worse for the New York teams.

Eric Mangini makes me curse him for his play-calling on big plays, but I otherwise think that he’s a fine head coach with the potential to be much better. I’m not so sure about Mike Tannenbaum the General Manager. I read a rumor that Parcells was interested in him for the GM job in Miami, and my initial thought was pure joy that he’d be out of here. He got big props last year for the selections of D’Brickshaw Ferguson and Eric Mangold, but Ferguson’s play has fallen significantly this season. He does fine against speed rushers, but the ones who rely on strength give him fits. That would make sense since Ferguson is light in the butt. He starts the season barely over 300 pounds and steadily loses weight over the course of the sixteen games. Mangold’s play seemed to level off from last year, and he didn’t rise to the next level like so many other sophomores. That could partly be explained by the turmoil at guard since the ill-fated decision to part ways with Pete Kendall. Elsewhere on the team, the outlook is much worse. The team seems to have decided that Chad Pennington is no longer part of the future, because they pulled him as the starter early in the year and never went back to him when Kellen Clemens struggled mightily. It’s not a good situation, because Pennington is clearly not the player he was earlier in his career, especially in the red zone where he excelled during his glory years. Clemens, on the other hand, is a strong-armed passer who struggles with accuracy and his ability to read defenses. He often misses badly on his incompletions, and that’s a bad sign. Clemens reminds me of Browning Nagle, another strong-armed quarterback who never mastered the mental side of the game and was out of the league in a few years. Running back Thomas Jones is a typical grinder whose play suffered mightily due to a bad offensive line. The receivers are fine, and Chris Baker showed me a lot the past few games. The defensive line is a mess. The linemen are more suited for the 4-3, because they play the run poorly and don’t carry out their gap assignments. The linebacking corps improved with the addition of stellar rookie David Harris, so don’t look for Jonathan Vilma’s return. They could still use a speedy outside linebacker though. I’m worried that Tannenbaum is a good scout who doesn’t see the big picture, and that’s scary because the Jets will have the third or fourth pick in the draft.

Most of the discussion about the Giants starts and ends with Eli Manning, because he is the key to that team. They have plenty of talented on both sides of the ball, but poor quarterback play has prevented them from joining the rank of the elite teams in the NFC like the Cowboys and Packers. I really thought that he had turned the corner after his huge opening game against the Cowboys. Unfortunately, it was just a tease, because Manning’s struggled he’s had to carry the team on his shoulders. His inaccuracy is maddening, and his mechanics aren’t what they should be for a player with his rep. Manning apologists claim that he shouldn’t be burdened with the high expectations of being the #1 pick, but he didn’t seem to mind when he forced the Chargers to trade him and accepted big bucks from the Giants. Grow up Eli! The Giants have a buyout clause in his contract, but I doubt that they’ll seriously look into it, because it will make them look bad after how much they gave up to get him (Philip Rivers and Shawne Merriman). My gut tells me that he’ll get better but will never reach his full potential with the Giants. That’s a shame, because he’s still a great talent, but he seems to lack the temperament to succeed. Watching the struggles of Eli, Rivers, and Alex Smith versus the incredible success of sixth-round pick Tom Brady and undrafted Tony Romo reinforces the notion that quarterback is by far the hardest position to scout for the draft. Personally, I would never use the first pick on a quarterback unless there was universal consensus that he was a potential Hall of Famer. Eli and Smith did not fit that bill, so it’s hardly a shock that they’re struggling. Alex Smith, in particular, was considered by many scouts to be more athlete than quarterback.

My stock up and down picks this week will be primarily focused on their 2008 draft outlook.

Stock Up

QB Tony Romo, Cowboys
Many folks laughed at me when I told you that Romo could be a top-five quarterback this year. Well, I was wrong. He was the second-best QB, behind only Brady! I would never go so far as to say that he’s a better NFL quarterback than Peyton Manning, but he may be in the fantasy world. Think about how crazy that would have sounded at the beginning of the year.

RB Brian Westbrook, Eagles
This diminutive runner leap-frogged over all of the busts like Steven Jackson, Larry Johnson, Frank Gore and Reggie Bush to rank as the #2 running back. Westbrook is hardly a fluke, because he’s always had this kind of potential. Westbrook has only missed two games over past two seasons, so durability is no longer a concern.

RB Adrian Peterson, Vikings
There was talk earlier in the year that Peterson had passed the incomparable LaDainian Tomlinson as the #1 running back in all the land, but that has since died down. There’s no way that you could justify taking Peterson over LT in a non-keeper league, and I’m not sure I would take him #1 even in a keeper league. LT has finished strong, while Peterson has battled knee problems and inconsistency in the second half of the season.

WR Randy Moss, Patriots
Moss has probably reclaimed his status as the #1 receiver, though T.O. supporters could also make a good argument. It’s close, but you have to give the nod to Moss, because he catches more passes and is more durable.

WR Braylon Edwards, Browns
This is one of the feel-good stories of the year, because the Browns have had horrible luck with most of their first round picks in the last decade. Tim Couch, Courtney Brown and Gerard Warren were busts and no longer with the team, while Edwards and Kellen Winslow have battled back from bad knee injuries. Edwards has lived up to all of the pre-draft hype and then some this season. His exceptional touchdown total proves his special ability to be a game-breaker and not just a guy who catches a lot of meaningless balls.

Stock Down

QB Peyton Manning, Colts
Manning hasn’t necessarily done anything wrong, but it’s been a far cry from the record-setting 2004. You can no longer justify using a high draft pick on him, because you could get similar stats from six other guys, namely Favre, Brees, Roethlisberger, Anderson, Hasselbeck, and Palmer. Note that I didn’t even mention Brady and Romo.

RB Larry Johnson, Chiefs
Johnson seems to be suffering the after-effects of heavy usage from the 2005 and 2006 seasons. His 2007 in juries might be a fluke, but the more likely scenario is that he’s become someone like Shaun Alexander who can’t seem to stay healthy.

RB Frank Gore, 49ers
Gore has to be listed here because of the extremely high pre-season expectations. More than one magazine predicted that he’d lead the league in rushing, and his receiving ability set him apart from other top backs. That’s all ancient history, because Gore and the 49ers have been huge disappointments. He‘s ranked an even tenth among RBs but was practically useless in half for the first ten games.

WR Steve Smith, Panthers
Smith was widely considered a top-five receiver at the start of the year. His disappointing season is hard to understand, because he’s been healthy. Lots of wide receivers on bad teams or who play with bad quarterbacks put up great stats, so Smith has to look in the mirror. He’s currently ranked 13^th among WRs, so that shows you how far he’s fallen.

TE Antonio Gates, Chargers
He hasn’t been as dominant this season, and especially in the past four games when he’s averaged one catch in three of the past four games. You should no longer take Gates early in drafts ahead of other key positions, because he’s fallen back to the pack among TEs. In fact, Jason Witten and Tony Gonzalez have more fantasy points to date than Gates. The overall talent and depth at tight end means you can wait longer than in the past to draft a good one.