Empty the Bench

- There’s been an encouraging development in the horrific spinal injury to the Buffalo Bills’ Kevin Everett. A day after his surgeon revealed that Everett would very likely never walk again, Dr. Barth Green says “we may be witnessing a minor miracle” after Everett voluntarily moved his arms and legs on Tuesday. Going from being an elite athlete who makes his living with his body, and sports is his livelihood, to being paralyzed would be unimaginable. Our thoughts are with Everett and his family, and we’re hopeful he experiences a full recovery.

- Detroit Lions’ WR Roy Williams loves to talk fantasy sports. In a wide-ranging interview on WDFN-AM (1130), the Pro Bowler revealed he’s in five fantasy leagues, apologized to his owners for only reeling in 20 yards and 1 TD against the Raiders, and–get this–said that “when we’re at the stadium and they show the highlights or the stats on the screen, I’m definitely one of the guys who is paying attention to them.” Awesome. This is also the interview where he laid down Calvin Johnson’s “Megatron” nickname. (Thanks to Freep.com for the CJ/Megatron photo.)

- It’s the end of his Jets career as we know it (probably): ESPN is reporting that Chad Pennington will likely sit out the team’s bludgeoning at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. We could not confirm reports from our sources that his actual injury is a swollen vagina. If Kellen Clemens does reasonably well against the ransacking defensive unit of the Ravens, we don’t feel there’s any reason to put Chad back in there. The Jets aren’t going anywhere this season, so there’s no time like the present to plan for the future–one that doesn’t include Pennington.

- Steven Jackson laid a big, fat egg on Sunday. After just one contest he’s already lost as many fumbles this season as he did in all of 2006. What’s worse, after losing cornerstone Orlando Pace the Rams offense figures to stagnate a bit. We still think this is a potent unit, but Jackson is suddenly looking a lot closer to Joseph Addai, Frank Gore and Shaun Alexander in value. It’s crazy how much can change in a few hours of NFL action. Despite all the negative news, ETB encourages all Jackson owners to hold onto their first-round pick. Early September is not the time to panic, sell off assets or make drastic changes of any kind.

-Although Steve McNair wasn’t able to find him more than three times, ETB favorite Demetrius Williams quietly had nine looks on Monday night. To put it in perspective, Chad Johnson had only eight looks in that game (which he converted into 5 receptions, 95 yards and a score) and Randy Moss tied Williams for nine looks (resulting in 9 receptions, 183 yards and a score). Williams was able to convert two of the early pass attempts into 20-yard receptions, but with superior quarterback play he could have had a huge game. Most importantly, while Demetrius is third on the depth chart, he was thrown to six more times than hobbled WR1 Mark Clayton. With his big-play ability, skills at the line of scrimmage and hands, if Williams continues to receive this kind of attention he’s going to be a fantasy mainstay for years to come.

-We’re not fans of kickers here at ETB. In the ETB Fantasy Football League we don’t have a roster spot for them. They ruin games with their foppish antics (real life and fantasy), require no skill or knowledge to use, and score in a manner than is nearly devoid of statistical correlation and defies analysis. Despite all that, we have our first kicker recommendation of the season: Mason Crosby. Learn the name, he’s going to stick around.

Mason is a great add this week for people who rotate kickers, but he should stick on your roster for a while with that golden leg of his. On Sunday it looked like he could be nailing field goals from 70 yards out. If your league awards bonus points for long field goals you should go make a move now. Crosby is on a team that is likely to move the ball but have trouble punching it into the endzone, which is a recipe for fantasy kicker success. Don’t worry about the winds and weather of Lambeau either, the kid played for Colorado in college. Make a move, make a move, everybody make a move.

- We’ve noticed that Devin Hester is still being added and started on a slew of fantasy teams in our leagues. Don’t you commit that sin as well.

- Fantasy owners “stuck” with the 4th – 6th overall pick in their league’s draft were likely faced with The Shaun Alexander Connundrum: should I gamble on him and his previously broken foot, or reach for someone younger and with more upside? I took him sixth overall in one league, and was pleased by his Week One performance (27 carries, 2 receptions, 117 total yards, 1 TD). The foot seems fine, though the Tacoma News Tribune reports that at yesterday’s practice, Alexander wore a brace on his left hand. He’s not on the injury report, but keep an eye on this. If he’s nursing any kind of break there (total speculation) and injures it further, he could miss time. His 29 touches against the Bucs were enough to make him the league leader heading into Sunday.

- We’re big Chargers fans here, and love this quote from the team’s linebackers coach, Ron Rivera, where he told his players that “Rex (Grossman) was kind of a mental midget, so you can get into his head and create that thought.”

-On a final, more serious note: We at ETB spend a lot of time thinking about the future. Specifically, we long for the day of cyborg athletes. We hope we live to see that day. Can you imagine the spectacle? 30-foot vertical leaps into the endzone. 100 MPH QB passes that snap the wrists of pesky defenders in half. Safeties with spiked bones of steel grafted onto their shoulders. Bone-crunching hits that literally kill men. We wait and we hope the day comes soon.