Early on I posted a list of eight teams I thought were likely playing for the consolation prize of Andrew Luck rather than the Championship prize, the Lombardi Trophy. I think I’ll update that every couple weeks with a top three list.
I had two reactions when word spread earlier this week that Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian spent a good chunk of the Stanford season opener scouting quarterback Andrew Luck.
My first thought was good luck getting Luck. There are more than a half-dozen teams worse off than Indy is this year. Despite getting manhandled by Houston in the opener, the Peyton Manning-less Colts still have Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon, Joseph Addai and enough other weapons to complement an aging-but-still-solid Kerry Collins that there is no way Indianapolis will fall off the map enough to be in position to draft Stanford’s signal caller.
This is not a fantasy football website, but we both compete in a number of leagues and we definitely have opinions. For now I’m going to throw forth a handful of names each week on who I think will do well and who will fail. If anyone checking this out has any thoughts on what might be more useful — or if you think this feature is a waste of space and should be scrapped altogether — drop us a comment and let us know.
In the meantime, here’s Andy’s fantasy advice for week two.
Most years most teams like to go into the season creating at least some sort of vision that they can be the last team standing, the franchise hoisting the Vince Lombardi trophy handed out at the end of the Super Bowl in February.
Arguably one-quarter of the league this year appear to have their sights set much lower … or would it be higher? They will be competing less for the championship and more for the consolation prize – first pick in the draft and the rights to draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.
By most accounts, Luck would have been the first pick had he chosen to leave Stanford after his junior year. That honor went instead to Auburn signal caller Cam Newton.
Several teams spent their off-seasons not getting better, some of them barely masking the fact that they are sacrificing 2011 for the potential riches that may follow.
Eight teams vying for Luck: (more…)
Sometimes sports statisticians find new measurements that shed light on players in ways that old numbers never did.
Sometimes they try a little too hard.
The latter happened today to KC Joyner, who calls himself the Football Scientist, when he tried to convince himself that Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte “stacks up evenly with” the Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson.
Now, are there things Forte does better than Peterson? Yes. He is a better receiver out of the backfield. Forte has 51, 57 and 63 catches in his three seasons. Peterson is not terrible catching the ball, with 119 catches in four years, but I would give the Bear the nod in that area.
I’m not an expert in pass blocking either, but the Vikings routinely remove Peterson from games on third downs. Joyner claims Forte is a better blocker. Some seem to agree he prevented Jay Cutler from getting killed at times. I haven’t seen enough to judge so I’ll concede the point (though at least some seem to feel Forte and his fellow backs could improve in this area).
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Paul I guess but did you see my other comment
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