Alexander could get a shot in Washington

by | Oct 13, 2008 | NFL Breaking News

With Ladell Betts out for a couple weeks the Washington Redskins might sign Shaun Alexander.

The former Seahawk running back is scheduled to meet with the team on Tuesday and will sign if everything goes according to plan, according to the NFL Network and ESPN.com.

Betts’ injury is not considered serious, but ya’ gotta have someone in case Clinton Portis goes down. The former league MVP hasn’t been good since 2005 when he rushed for almost 1900 yards and scored 28 touchdowns.

The guy won me a couple of fantasy football championships over the years but paid a heavy toll on his body. The guess here is that he pops around the league trying out for any team that loses a back for a season or two before hanging it up for good. He’d garnered interest previously from Cincinnati and New Orleans but neither team chose to offer him a deal.

Tom Brady: Torn ACL

by | Sep 7, 2008 | Fantasy Football, NFL Breaking News

Two ZoneBlitz.com fantasy teams may have been thrown a severe curve ball today, as Tom Brady’s knee injury has apparently been confirmed as a torn ACL.

On the positive side, neither team that featured Brady were in paid leagues.  And both are currently winning their games for the week.

On the down side, in one league we didn’t draft a backup QB, and in the other, Matt Schaub was auto-drafted for us (way too early), but was subsequently cut for one of the rookie RB we snagged.

Thankfully, with the free internet service at McCarran International Airport, we’ve already made a transaction to shore up for next week–we grabbed Trent Edwards from Buffalo, who we actually kind of liked anyway.  But he’s no Tom Brady.

As for the Patriots…well, I think those fans in Boston can stop talking about going 16-0 again.  And I doubt we’ll see any more 16.5 point spreads in Vegas.

Ryan to start as rookie for Atlanta

by | Aug 24, 2008 | NFL Breaking News

Matt Ryan, the Atlanta Falcons first-round pick, will start at quarterback during the team’s first game of the season against Detroit.

Ryan completed 32 of 52 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns with one interception during three preseason games, beating out Chris Redman and Joey Harrington for the job.

While Ryan clearly has more upside than the other contenders and he has reportedly looked solid during the preseason, this decision will undoubtedly raise the question once again over whether or not rookies  should start at quarterback.

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Umenyiora might miss season with knee problem

by | Aug 24, 2008 | NFL Breaking News

The New York Giants have suffered a blow in their efforts to repeat as Super Bowl Champions. Defensive end Osi Umenyiora, a key pass rushing contributor during the big run last season, suffered serious ligament damage in his knee Saturday night.

Umenyiora, according to the Newark Star Ledger, will undergo surgery that is likely to knock him out for the season.

The Giants have some depth at defensive end. Justin Tuck had 10 sacks during the regular season and might have been the best defensive player on the field during stretches of last season for New York and converted linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka could move back there as well.

But the injury coupled with Michael Strahan’s retirement cost the Giants 109 regular season tackles and 22 sacks – not to mention half of what was an unbelievably successful rotation during the playoff run.

The Giants are certainly not out of the running in the NFC East and beyond in 2008 – but the road has gotten much, much tougher already.

Leftwich, Culpepper land in Pittsburgh

by | Aug 9, 2008 | NFL Breaking News

When Charlie Batch got hurt it made sense that the Pittsburgh Steelers would bring on board one of the veteran quarterbacks left on the free agent market. But signing both Daunte Culpepper and Byron Leftwich had to be a bit of a surprise.

With Ben Roethlisberger firmly established as the starter in Pittsburgh it’s unlikely the Steelers will head into the season with both veterans. They also have rookies Mike Potts and Dennis Dixon on the roster. My money would be on Leftwich – he’s younger and he’s shown more competence than Culpepper during the last couple years – Daunte has never fully made it back from his knee injury a couple years back.

Batch is likely out for a month to six weeks. The one upside for both guys is the opportunity to get into camp gives them an opportunity to showcase themselves in preseason game action – giving them a much better chance to be in uniform somewhere on opening day than they had while they were sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring.

EDIT: According to the folks at Sports Illustrated only Leftwich was signed – Culpepper also worked out, but the Steelers didn’t offer him a deal. Oops.

Breaking News: Favre to J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!

by | Aug 6, 2008 | NFL Breaking News

According to Stu Scott on Sports Center tonight, Brett Favre has been traded to the Jets.  No details yet on what the Packers will receive as part of the deal.

In an interview with Mark Schlereth (who’s nickname, Stink, makes me laugh–and who surprise surprise dropped that he played with Elway, made comparisons to his Broncos teams, and mentioned that he played for the Redskins, all in a 5 minute interview), says that it legitimizes the Jets offense immediately.

Of course, I wonder how the lack of practice with the team will impact him–and how he will adapt to a non-West Coast offense, even with the help of Bill Callahan, who is familiar with the West Coast offense.

Of course, the move does immediately raise the fantasy value for WRs Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery, and probably further elevates RB Thomas Jones.

And, while I’m not sure the Jets are quite on the Patriots level quite yet–they could at least make things interesting in the AFC East–and between the Bills and Jets beating on the Patriots 4 times this season, it might make the AFC even more wide open.