Change to Summary View
Latest Discussions for NFL Headlines |
Published: Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:20:00 EST | | | | - Housh claims Seattle departure was not a result of his play on the field
Baltimore's newly acquired WR, T.J. Houshmandzadeh is baffled as to why the situation in Seattle played out the way it did. He is convinced that the reason could not have possibly been his play on the field. "This is my opinion: me not being there, I can promise you, had nothing to do with football. Not in my opinion," he told Baltimore reporters at the Baltimore Sun. "Nobody on that team beat me out. [If] they're honest with themselves, they know that. '
"If you watch practice, it's obvious, but whatever reason, they did what they did. I'm not going to comment on it and get to throwing rocks because I just don't want to."
Whether the skeptics are from Seattle or not, Housh is trying to prove them wrong, move forward, and put the situation behind him.
"I know I can get it done. They know I can get it done," Houshmandzadeh said. "What they did, I don't really want to comment on because it makes me really upset. But it happened."
"It's refreshing to go from the situation I was in and to come here," he said. "It's hard to explain. You always want to be optimistic, and I'm an optimistic person at times, but it's hard to be optimistic when you know what you're going up against."
FANTASY ANALYSIS: Housh is obviously a huge upgrade to an already vastly improved Baltimore receiving corps. Housh being slighted may just give T.J. extra inspiration and motivation to go above and beyond what the majority's expectations are for him. [Go To Page]
| - Steelers' Rashard Mendenhall to lose goal-line carries?
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall is the undisputed starter in an offense that wants to run the ball more in 2010, and he is built to handle a full dose of carries per week.
But apparently the team doesn't like him down by the goal line. Why else would head coach Mike Tomlin assign Isaac Redman to the role of short-yardage back? That's what he did Tuesday. Tomlin did say the Steelers will use Mendenhall as their primary third-down back, making him one of the league's rare every-down runners.
Redman is a 6-foot, 230-pound undrafted free agent who finished his college career at Bowie State as the university's all-time leading rusher. He spent most of his 2009 rookie year as a member of the Steelers' practice squad. Redman ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries this preseason. FANTASY ANALYSIS: I'm not a huge Mendenhall fan, but he should still get his numbers. His receptions could climb from 21. He'll get more than the 242 carries he handled in '09 if he stays healthy. But beware that he is not a good bet to best 10 touchdowns. Hell, Mendenhall scored eight times last season. This news makes me think he may not top that total this season.
Redman is viable only in deep touchdown-based leagues. [Go To Page]
| - Randy Moss feels unwanted by Patriots
Earlier on Tuesday, we heard that a contract agreement between the New England Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady was nearly complete. Wide receiver Randy Moss, who is also entering the final year of his contract, would like some new money, too. The fact that he's not getting it right now hurts his feelings.
"When you have done so much and put so much work in, it kind of feels like I am not wanted," Moss told CBSSports.com on Tuesday. "I am taking that in stride and playing my final year out and whatever the future holds is what it holds, but it is kind of a bad feeling -- feeling not wanted. It is not like my production has gone down.
"I am a little older and understand the nature of the business -- the older you get the more your skills supposedly diminish, but I think I am getting wiser in how to use my physical skills. That's the frustrating part when you put so much heart and desire into things and feel like you are not wanted."
Moss, 33, will earn $6.4 million this season. He caught 83 balls for 1,264 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. FANTASY ANALYSIS: There's not much fantasy takeaway from this note other to say that Moss might use this frustration as motivation on the field and show the organization that he is definitely worth one more big contract.
Moss is most likely a late first-round pick in fantasy leagues and the second WR off the board after Andre Johnson. [Go To Page]
| | - PPR Watch
We profile ten players with their chances for PPR opportunities this week. This week's picks include Arian Foster, LeSean McCoy, Hines Ward, Steve Breaston, and Reggie Bush. [Go To Page]
| - Cardinals' Beanie Wells, Larry Fitzgerald still recovering
The Arizona Cardinals will head into Sunday's season-opening game versus the St. Louis Rams with a couple of their best offensive players at less than full strength, most likely.
On Monday, head coach Ken Whisenhunt said Beanie Wells' knee, which he injured during the team's final preseason game Thursday, is "not 100 percent." But Whisenhunt also told the team's official Web site "we will see how he progresses during the week." Soon after the game, Wells said his knee was "fine."
Larry Fitzgerald has been out of action since Aug. 15 after spraining an MCL. He is expected to start this weekend, but Whisenhunt said so much time off has forced his top wideout to work on his conditioning, perhaps indicating that Fitzgerald won't be in "football shape" by time of the game. FANTASY ANALYSIS: This isn't too much of a big deal. Wells' knee is something to watch. The Cardinals' Web site has given the opinion that Beanie will play and get the majority of the carries. But you might see a little more of Tim Hightower than usual this week.
Fitzgerald is even less of a worry. He has a tremendous workout ethic and should be able to exploit such a fantastic matchup against St. Louis' secondary. My bigger concern for him is how he will work with new starting QB Derek Anderson. That issue has caused me to avoid Fitz during drafts much more than any lingering effects with his MCL. [Go To Page]
| - Julius Jones is back with Seattle
The recently released Julius Jones of the Seattle Seahawks has found employment, and quickly. Apparently, and unexpectedly, Jones went to the head office and stated that he would agree to taking a pay cut. It worked. Seattle has reinstated rb Julius Jones. Julius was to make $2.45 million this year.
The hiring of offensive line coach Pat Ruel should be a pleasant addition also, as some rumblings were being said about his antics not going over well with players, and perhaps other coaches. This can only help the team.
Today's St. Paul Pioneer Press listed the Seahawks as signing runningback Michael Robinson, and runningback Chris Henry, as well as wide receiver Pat Williams.
No word as to who was or will be released, in order to make room for the returning runningback Jones, but I don't see that as being a problem. FANTASY ANALYSIS: Justin Forsett is expected to lead the ground attack for the birds, and Leon Washington has shown to be a valuable number two runningback. Julius Jones is not expected to do much, but with the injuries plagueing the NFL of late, you want a number three man available, and it helps if he already knows the system. It's unclear as to whether Seattle will be grooming Michael Robinson and / or Chris Henry as a perspective number three, but you can bet they would love to find someone that can step forward and take command of the number 3 position, and perhaps groom for the future.
I expect Leon Washington to benefit more from the release / return of Julius Jones, than any other back on the team, but Fosett gets to be number one, until he isn't.
The 29 year old Julius Jones did however have a poor preseason showing. [Go To Page]
| - Dennis Dixon is the Steelers' starting QB for Sunday -- and beyond week 4?
Sorry, Charlie Batch supporters. What we do know for sure is that Dennis Dixon will be the Pittsburgh Steelers' starting quarterback for Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons. If he does a good enough job, he'll fill the same role in week two, perhaps three and maybe four. Then the Steelers reach their bye, in which Ben Roethlisberger is expected to re-gain his job under center. But when it comes to naming a future starting QB, head coach Mike Tomlin is taking the cross-that-bridge-when-you-come-to-it approach.
When asked Tuesday if Roethlisberger will be the team's starter in week six, the first game in which he's eligible to play, Tomlin kept it open.
"I'm going to dodge that one and not artfully," Tomlin said during a radio interview. "I'm not going to back myself in corner." FANTASY ANALYSIS: If you want to read into that, it tells me Tomlin will stick with Dixon as long as he's winning games and performing decently while doing so. Tomlin doesn't want to commit to a different quarterback five weeks from now if the current starter has done a serviceable job in getting the Steelers to 4-0. While this may lead to many weeks of annoying discussion of Roethlisberger's role with the team, it's smart for Tomlin to display this kind of confidence in his young QB.
But for as long as Dixon is the Steelers' starter, he will probably negatively affect their wide receivers' production. Dixon is not a good passer. He relies largely on his athleticism. He was horrible in the one preseason game he started this year and not very good in the one regular season game he started last year (which the Steelers lost). Pittsburgh begins its season with three pretty good matchups for quarterbacks and wide receivers: Atlanta, Tennessee and Tampa Bay in order. But while playing with Dixon, I expect Hines Ward and Mike Wallace to post some low numbers in the opening month. But if Dixon gets victories, he may keep his current job into mid-October. So, if you are depending on Ward or Wallace, root against Dixon's success. [Go To Page]
| - Steve Slaton is hurting, so Texans add Derrick Ward
On his journey toward unemployment in Tampa Bay, running back Derrick Ward was described as out of shape, sluggish, lazy, whiny and other adjectives this preseason. He was cut Tuesday, but since he doesn't have a lengthy injury past and posted a 1,000-yard season just two years ago, he wasn't out of work long. Ward signed a one-year deal with the Houston Texans on Friday.
"We hope Derrick can run like did he when he was a very productive player with the Giants," head coach Gary Kubiak said to The Houston Chronicle on Friday. "He's run a lot of zone plays like we run. He's also played some special teams."
One reason the Texans added Ward was because of some injuries to their backfield, most notably is Steve Slaton. He is dealing with a toe injury and his status for the team's week one game against Indianapolis isn't quite certain. The team also released injured running back Jeremiah Johnson on Friday, but they plan to re-sign him to their practice squad soon. FANTASY ANALYSIS: This does nothing to change Arian Foster's value. He is still the main guy in Houston's backfield. In fact, Ward may not last long. And with the way he looked this preseason, he doesn't deserve much of a shot. Slaton is just a third-down back. If he's out, I would figure that means more work for Foster. [Go To Page]
| - Matt Leinart leads list of Saturday's cuts
Everyone saw it coming, but maybe Matt Leinart's release on Saturday caught just one person off guard: Matt Leinart. The Arizona Cardinals released their top 2006 pick, indirectly declaring that they will enter the season with Derek Anderson as their starting QB.
"In fairness to Matt, I think that it would be a tough position for him to be in a backup role," head coach Ken Whisenhunt said to the Associated Press. "Maybe a fresh start for him is what would be a good thing, for all of us."
Leinart recently said that he didn't know why he had been demoted back to No. 2 QB and he felt that he had outplayed Anderson in their competition for the job. Obviously not.
"The one thing I want to make very clear is how professional Matt was about the whole situation," Whisenhunt said. "I was very impressed with his conversation with me. He thanked the organization, the ownership, for all the time and effort that they had invested in him."
Some other notable names who were cut Saturday, as every roster got down to 53 players per: Washington Redskins running backs Willie Parker and Ryan Torain, Miami Dolphins quarterback Pat White, Minnesota Vikings receiver Javon Walker, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Michael Clayton, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Troy Smith and Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Troy Williamson. FANTASY ANALYSIS: I didn't add T.J. Houshmandzadeh because there is already a note up on the site about his release.
Anyway, not a lot of surprises or any that carry huge fantasy impact. Leinart will find a job very soon. He may have a weak arm and a sour attitude, but he's still young and his pedigree is too good for teams to ignore. Anderson's arm strength and willingness to let it fly makes me feel a little more comfortable about Larry Fitzgerald. But Anderson will also hurt Fitz's production by ending a lot of Cardinals drives with stupid decisions.
A guest on the FFToolbox podcast Tuesday said Torain would lead the Redskins in rushing. That statement perked my ears, but we don't have to worry about that now. Clinton Portis is still the first man you want out of Washington's wretched backfield.
Walker was brought in for depth, but much like Parker, it looks like he is playing on empty. [Go To Page]
| - Seahawks subtract Julius Jones
All NFL teams had to slim their rosters down to 53 players by Saturday night. Now that the day has passed doesn't mean the fat-cutting process has ceased. The Seattle Seahawks
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:51 AM.
|
