Empty the Bench

- Coming from lifelong Vikings and Lions fans, future Hall-of-Famer Brett Favre has been nothing but a thorn in our sides these past 15 years. Still, we have to give credit where credit is due and congratulate Mr. Favre on not only leading his team to a huge home win against the Chargers, but also for tying Dan Marino’s record for most career TD passes (420). He’ll break it next week against the Vikings, and has a chance to help his team get off to a 4-0 start and establish themselves as the class of the increasingly competitive NFC North… if they haven’t already.

A non-call on what looked like pass interference on an early Packers’ 4th and 2 play threatened to turn the tide towards the San Diego, but Favre, Donald Driver, and that defense didn’t blink an eye. Favre’s ascension back into fantasy relevance is real, finishing 28-45 for 369 yards, 3 TDs, and 0 INTs against a very good Chargers defense. This team doesn’t have much of a rushing attack (42 total yards Sunday) and figures to air it out plenty from here on out. The return of WR Greg Jennings (4 catches, 82 yards, 1 TD) and continued development of rookie WR James Jones makes this team that much deadlier.

- It’s not difficult to see why Donald Driver is consistently Brett Favre’s favorite target. After taking a vicious hit in the first half that knocked his helmet off, Driver just got back up, kept his mouth shut, and kept doing what he does: running crisp routes over the middle, getting open on the outside and making catches in traffic. He’s a real pro: keeps himself in great shape, has a consistently good attitude, and has a tremendous work ethic, all of which make him one of the most consistent wideouts in football. 6 receptions, 126 yards and a TD. Another day at the office for Driver.

- Vincent Jackson finally caught his first TD of the season on a nice fade route for a 27-yard score. It’s the kind of catch we expect Jackson to make a lot more of–in the endzone with a defender draped on him. This is a big, physical guy with good hands, and he should top last season’s 6 TD total. Stick with him. The Chargers have played three of the best defenses in football so far this season (vs. CHI, @ NE and @ GB). Things will get better.

- We were worried about Philip Rivers heading into Lambeau this week, but he acquitted himself nicely. Rivers started the day 15-for-15 and would have been perfect going into the half if he hadn’t wisely thrown a ball away under pressure. He completed 75% of his passes for 306 yards and 3 TDs, and now the Chargers schedule lightens up a bit. It’s still one of the toughest dockets in football though.

- Laurence Maroney and Steven Jackson owners are still waiting on their hosses first scores of the season. Maroney finally put together some solid yardage on the ground (103 with a 5.4 YPC), but Bill Belichick again gave Sammy Morris the goal line TD, tried to give one to Tom Brady (he fumbled) and tried to give another to Heath “F’ing” Evans. Almost the same story with Jackson: 133 combined yards, but a poor 3.8 YPC. Both will be making an appearance in tomorrow’s Stock Report for various reasons.

- He was solid in rushing for exactly 100 yards on 21 carries, but the Seahawks’ Shaun Alexander is just not a very exciting player anymore. Maybe it’s the offensive line or maybe he’s still working his way back into form after last year’s broken foot, but there’s just not much explosion or elusiveness there and he never feels like a threat to break one for 40+ yards. Seattle faces some tough rushing defenses in the coming weeks, so now might be a good time to float some offers and try to get a good return. Then again, he does get the Saints, Rams, and Browns in successive weeks after road games in San Francisco and Pittsburgh.

- With Lito Sheppard and Brian Dawkins out in the Iggles secondary, Jon Kitna owners woke up Sunday morning salivating over the prospect of another big day from their quarterback. On paper, the 11-year vet didn’t disappoint, completing 29 of 46 passes for a whopping 446 yards and 2 TDs. Still, he turned it over three times–including yet another pick in the endzone–and probably could have gone for 500+ yards if Megatron Johnson hadn’t left the game with an undisclosed back injury.

Despite the embarassing loss, the Lions are clearly fielding one of the most fantasy-friendly offenses in the entire league. Aside from Kitna, Roy Williams busted off a 91-yard TD reception en route to 9 catches for 204 yards and that score (give him five straight games with at least 1 TD). Shaun McDonald continued to establish himself as a strong weekly flex play with 5 catches, 76 yards, and a TD, and Kevin Jones returned to action after last year’s Lisfranc fracture to score on a goal line plunge. And, of course, there’s Megatron, who showed off his athleticism, great hands, and concentration with an acrobatic 39-yard catch along the sideline that unfortunately forced him to the sideline.

- Marshawn Lynch has cemented himself as a solid weekly RB2 play with 80 total yards and a TD on the road against New England. The Bills offense stinks, but they have little choice but to go to the young playmaker. He scored the team’s only TD in a tough matchup against the Pats, and the kid is an absolute bull out there. He thrives on contact and consistently pushes or carries defenders for several yards after contact. He’s going to be very hard to stop around the goal line for years to come.

- Kevin Curtis, thanks for finally validating my belief in your skills: 11 catches, 221 yards, 3 TDs. Through the first two weeks it appeared that Curtis and Donovan McNabb were conspiring against me to make me look bad. Then the Detroit secondary came into town. Among many strong candidates this week, Curtis may have been the fantasy MVP as he was trotted out by most teams as a WR3. It may well end up as the best game of Curtis’ entire career. Well, it wasn’t so much a game as a brilliant 20 minutes. With about 10 minutes remaining in the first half he already had nearly 200 yards and 3 TDs. Then the Lions figured, hey, maybe we should start covering that guy. He’s clearly McNabb’s favorite target and a must-start going forward. Reggie Brown continues to disappoint and appears incapable of creating separation. Meanwhile, Curtis’ full arsenal was on display as he went over the middle strong, showed good hands and consistently flat-out beat coverage along the sidelines.

- ETB’s top ranked running back for Week 3, Brian Westbrook, also produced in a big way. He started the afternoon with a 25-yard TD run that proved just how slippery he is. He then proceeded to carve up the Detroit defense with two more trips to the endzone, 110 yards rushing and 5 receptions for 111 yards. It could have been an even bigger day though, as his backups Correll Buckhalter and Tony Hunt both found the endzone in the second half after Westbrook was pulled due to a sore knee. Keep an eye on the injury, but he should be fine for next week. This is Westbrook in a nutshell: incredible, balanced results while he’s out there with the constant threat of injury always looming.

- Vernon Davis came up big early with 31-yard catch-and-run, the type of play I expect to see more of from the speedy TE. He finished the day with a respectable but unspectacular 4 receptions for 56 yards, and apparently suffered a sprained right knee late in the game. Keep an eye out for the MRI results, but for now the 49ers are saying it’s not anticipated to be serious. I still believe in the talent here, and for teams hurting at TE Davis is a nice buy-low candidate right now.

- Adrian Peterson’s running style is a delicious combination of beauty and violence. He hits the holes hard, but once he’s through he starts spinning like a dervish and sloughing off defenders until the defense is about to tackle him. Then he pulls a Nelson Muntz and literally takes it to the defender, trying to level him. On nearly every play, the defender takes a bigger hit than Adrian does. It might make him slightly more injury prone, but it makes him a hell of a lot more fun to watch. He can also be graceful too, though, as on that delicate TD scamper where he was only gently touched (caressed, really) with one finger by a KC defender.

- The Houston defense looks like the real deal, and we can’t help but think about what might have been had WR Andre Johnson not been out yesterday in the team’s narrow six-point loss to the Colts. Peyton Manning seemed uncharacteristically flummoxed at times against the Texans, and certainly didn’t overwhelm with just 273 yards and 1 TD pass. Indy did put up 30 points, so it’s not like Houston totally shut them down, but Gary Kubiak’s defense seems to have turned a corner. Now if they could get that offense healthy…

- It’s probably worth mentioning that this was the second straight quiet week for Reggie Wayne, but when 4 receptions for 84 yards is quiet things really aren’t so bad. We’re not the least bit worried, and as we mentioned the Houston defense isn’t the doormat it was in recent years.

- One of ETB’s least favorite football players, Rex Grossman, is officially on the hot seat. Before the game there was word out of Chicago that Rexy Boy had two weeks to “get it right.” After that dismal, embarrassing performance at home against a weak Dallas defese on national television last night he’s down to one week, at the most. The home crowd turned nasty in the second half with chants of “Griese! Griese! Griese!” and nobody in the Bears organization can feel comfortable trotting Grossman out there. I really think Griese will be the starter next week, but either way the Bears draw the Detroit secondary so whoever starts is likely to do at least OK.

- A personal shout out from Brian to Grossman, who did his part in keeping my fantasy team in contention by getting sacked 3 times, throwing 3 picks (including one taken to the house), and failing to put points on the board against the Dallas defense. If for some reason he’s still the starter next Sunday in Detroit, you have to think long and hard about inserting the Lions Defense as a plug-in play. Yes, the same Lions defense that yielded 56 points and 536 yards to the Eagles; that’s how bad Grossman is right now.

- We’re not sure what to make of Ronnie Brown’s career day against the Jets yesterday. He was mostly listless on the season coming into Sunday’s contest, rushing for a total of 65 yards without scoring and perhaps starting to look over his shoulder at backup Jesse Chatman. As we predicted in our Week 3 Cheat Sheet, however, Brown came out like a man possessed in running roughshod over the generally poopy Jets defense, going for 211 combined yards and an astounding 3 TDs.

Before you get too excited, however, remember that the Jets are fielding one of the league’s absolute worst rushing defenses and that Brown traditionally has some of his best games of the year against them: last year he recorded 127 yards and a TD, then 125 combined yards the second time around against New York. If you were us, you’d be trying to sell high today.

- Could there be a quarterback controversy brewing in Arizona? Despite HC Ken Whisenhunt’s post-game vote of confidence in Matt Leinart (9-20, 53 yards) in saying he’s “still [their] starter,” Kurt Warner was very effective in relief and damn near marched the Cardinals out of Baltimore with a tough road win. On the day Warner finished 15-20 for 258 yards, 2 TDs, and a 150 QB Rating, which ain’t too shabby. Obviously the team prefers Leinart to learn from his mistakes and keep him behind center, but the NFC West is still wide open and if Leinart continues to struggle, they just might go with the guy who gives them the proverbial “best chance to win now.” Neither is a good start against Pittsburgh in Week 4.

- Speaking of the Cards, Anquan Boldin remains one of the most unheralded Pro Bowl-caliber wide receivers in the NFL, and one of the most punishing at his position after the catch. He capped off a career day by bowling over a helpless Ravens defender on his way to a 32-yard score, finishing with an insane 14 catches for 181 yards and 2 TDs. There’s a good chance he was drafted behind Larry Fitzgerald this year, but right now he’s clearly the #1 guy in Arizona and probably would vote for Warner after all those looks yesterday.

- Here’s a pretty amazing stat: through the first three games of the season, the Detroit Lions offensive line has yet to be tagged with a holding penalty despite the team leading the league in pass attempts at 46/per game. That’s pretty impressive given not only the frequency of the call in the NFL, but also because this isn’t exactly one of the better o-lines. After getting sacked eight times against the Iggles on Sunday, however, Jon Kitna might have been wishing they had committed a hold in the name of preserving his health.

- Chad Pennington’s numbers show how important it is to watch the games. He wasn’t impressive at all, but he put up a decent fantasy line with 2 TDs passing and 1 TD rushing. The first pass was a three-yard dump to Laveranues Coles and the second was a four yarder to Chris Baker. He finished with just 124 passing yards. In Week One he had 2 TD tosses as well, but they were a seven-yarder and a one-yarder to Laveranues Coles. On all of his touchdown passes this season, the receiver has done the hard work and Pennington didn’t really do anything to deserve the stats. He likely earned himself two more weeks on the job with the 3 TDs Sunday, but the Jets would be better off with Kellen Clemens out there and everybody knows it.

- Ben Watson was on the receiving end of another Tom Brady touchdown toss on Sunday, making it three straight weeks to start the season. Watson is a solid tight end option in most leagues, but I wouldn’t read into this too much. He’ll get his, but so will Laurence Maroney, Wes Welker, Sammy Morris and Randy Moss when the Pats get close. I’d be surprised if Watson finishes with more than 7 TDs on the season, leaving 4 for the next 13 games.

- This just in: Randy Moss is really, really good. After 5 more catches for 115 yards and a pair of TDs on Sunday, the much maligned superstar now has 22 receptions for 403 yards and 5 TDs on the season. If he keeps getting this many looks and opportunities to score, he’s going to keep his head in the game. When he keeps his head in the game, he’s the best wide receiver in the NFL since Jerry Rice.

- Not that anybody was thinking of actually picking him up, but JaMarcus Russell reported to camp earlier this week and reportedly weighed in at 278 pounds. He was 265 at the Combine, and that raised some eyebrows. It’s not a good sign for a guy who is going to be struggling just to learn the playbook, and at this point we shouldn’t expect to see him before Week 11 or so.

- No word yet on Rudi Johnson’s hamstring injury, but Kenny Watson is a very smart pick up right now. The Bengals have absolutely no depth at running back and whoever is starting there is going to be out there 85% of the time. Watson came in and rushed 9 times for 60 yards and a TD. He would be a borderline RB2 if Rudi is forced to miss any significant amount of time.

Overheard in the Local Watering Hole:

“Duct tape that knee up and get the f#$k back out there!” - During quiet moments in the Bills game after a player apparently suffered a serious neck injury

“What, they f*#king scored again? Come back to Brooklyn so I can show you a f#%king foot in the ass!” - A surly gambler to the Buffalo Bills as they failed to cover the 16 1/2-point spread

“Kerry Collins, warming up on the sideline!“- After almost every poor pass attempt by Eli Manning against the Redskins

“Marino! Marino! Dannnn Marino!“- After a couple of mediocre pass attempts by Trent Green

“Wait, is he drawing a penis?” - After a broadcaster attempted to telestrate a point and ended up with a strangely, undeniably phallic set of symbols