Merriman injury makes 2008 season even murkier

by | Aug 24, 2008 | Fantasy Football, NFL Gambling

Last year I was in Las Vegas in July for a conference as teams were preparing to head to training camp. I loved almost every move New England made, from trading for Randy Moss and Wes Welker to adding Adalius Thomas and Donte’ Stallworth. Coming off their disappointing early playoff exit the year before the Patriots dominated the offseason and put themselves in a position to not only contend, but dominate.

I put small futures bets down on the Patriots to both win the AFC and the Super Bowl and as the Patriots steamrolled through the regular season undefeated I felt very good about my bets.

Well, one of those bets turned out well and the other I narrowly lost. I can live with that – that’s why they call it gambling.

But as the 2008 season approaches – and my next Vegas trip is a mere 10 days away – I have no strong feelings yet about who will emerge as this year’s Patriots.

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One Draft Down, Five Drafts to Go

by | Aug 21, 2008 | Fantasy Football

ZoneBlitz participated in it’s first fantasy draft last night–a free league sponsored by the proprietor over at RandBall, featuring a bunch of regular commenters from the site.   It’s a free league, which we participated in last year, and made a late push in despite saddling ourselves with Marvin Harrison and Torry Holt (two normally safe picks) with our first picks (fortunately we dumped Harrison in a deal for Willis McGahee right before Harrison went down).

This year, we had the somewhat unfortunate position of drafting #5 overall–which according to Paul Charchian, would be one spot too early to start the ‘Do The Opposite’ strategy.  Fortunately for us, we don’t always listen to the experts.

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Ray Rice to cost McGahee his job?

by | Aug 21, 2008 | Fantasy Football

Reports out of Baltimore have had Ray Rice looking good in the early preseason. He had a 42 yard run against Minnesota last week and finished a drive with a six yard touchdown.

Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun is now reporting that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Ravens cut the cord on McGahee as well. McGahee, who angered Buffalo fans on his way out of town, has apparently frustrated many Ravens front office types with his poor work ethic and he apparently doesn’t know his plays.

I’d be a little surprised if he got the boot before the season starts, but for those fantasy players out there, score one to keep an eye on and one to possibly stay away from.

Jackson reporting to camp

by | Aug 20, 2008 | Contract Squabbles, Fantasy Football, NFL News

St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson clearly reads Zoneblitz.com.

After Zoneblitz posted a story saying he had fallen short of earning the right to holdout for a new contract, the potential superstar back ended his holdout, reporting to camp as his agent attempts to negotiate a new contract for him.

Okay, I don’t really expect that Jackson gives a crap about my opinion, nor need he or should he.

But while Jackson is a budding superstar who has clearly been productive he has yet to put up numbers reflecting his status for an entire season. In 2006, his best season, he put up 16 touchdowns, but 10 came in the final four weeks of the season after the Rams were out of the race.

The holdout may be affecting his fantasy status as well. It’s a small sample – actually a minute one – but my brother and I participated in our first fantasy draft of the season tonight. And Jackson, who by conventional wisdom is a top five pick, fell into the second round before being picked (who knows – maybe it reflects on us and our league-mates more than his overall status, but still…).

Jackson probably does deserve a new contract, or at least deserves it as much or more than most of the other guys out there that are whining and crying for new deals. But I respect the Rams’ stance on this particular issue – come into camp and we can talk. Otherwise, go ahead and hold out.

After all – as Zoneblitz said the other day – the Rams are just as capable of missing the playoffs without Jackson as they have been of missing the playoffs with him.

Favre likens Coles to Driver

by | Aug 20, 2008 | Fantasy Football

Laveranues Coles didn’t like how the New York Jets jettisoned Chad Pennington after acquiring Brett Favre a couple weeks back, but Favre hasn’t let Coles’ loyalty to his predecessor affect his relationship with his new teammate.

Favre told the New York Post that he had a conversation with Coles during which he likened the receiver to Donald Driver, his long-time teammate in Green Bay – and the recipient of 84, 86, 92 and 82 passes the last four seasons.

Driver was less Favre’s deep threat in Green Bay than guys like Greg Jennings, who had 920 yards and 12 touchdowns last season on just 53 catches. So if the situation plays out as it did in Green Bay, Coles will get a lot of catches and teammate Jerricho Cotchery might become the deep touchdown guy. Clearly a one-for-one translation is unlikely but it probably lends a clue into what might happen in the Meadowlands during the season ahead.