Empty the Bench

- Sunday was a day filled with fantasy production from unusual sources, and it was defined by enormous numbers from tight ends all over the country. It wasn’t just the big names either, though they got their share. Chances are your TE scored a touchdown… and so did your opponent’s. Looking at the list of producers, ETB is left wondering if the NFL has ever seen a day so rich with heroics from one of the most unheralded positions: Benjamin Watson (6 receptions, 107 yards, 2 TDs), Antonio Gates (7 receptions, 113 yards, 1 TD), Alex Smith (2 receptions, 6 yards, 2 TDs), Chris Cooley (4 receptions, 26 yards, 1 TD), Dallas Clark (7 receptions, 49 yards, 1 TD), Desmond Clark (3 receptions 62 yards, 1 TD), Greg Olsen (4 receptions, 57 yards, 1 TD), Heath Miller (4 receptions, 44 yards, 1 TD), Tony Gonzalez (8 receptions, 100 yards), Randy McMichael (3 receptions, 45 yards, 1 TD), Owen Daniels (6 receptions, 96 yards), Jeremy Shockey (2 receptions, 33 yards, 1 TD), Kellen Winslow (4 receptions, 49 yards, 1 TD), Eric Johnson (5 receptions, 30 yards). That’s just crazy.

Jason Witten (9 receptions, 103 yards, 1 TD) continued the trend on Monday night, officially making this The Week of the Tight End.

- Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Brandon Jacobs is back. He looked extremely impressive for most of the game, with the exception of that lost fumble. Jacobs rumbled between the tackles for short yardage when necessary, showed his impressive speed around the end, broke tackles, and made people wearing green and white look bad all day. Jacobs finished with 20 rushes for 100 yards (a tidy 5.0 YPC) and 1 rushing TD. He was also robbed of a 27-yard TD run by a pointless holding call away from the play. The remaining schedule for the NYG isn’t that tough, the offense has weapons around him, and it appears that Derrick Ward will settle in as a change of pace and third-down guy. As long as Jacobs is getting 20+ touches, he’s a must start ever week. This guy is a beast.

- You can file this one in the ETB Told You So Department: New York Jets RB Thomas Jones recorded yet another “strong” effort in the team’s 11-point loss, rushing 13 times for 36 yards and a 2.8 YPC; his longest run of the day was 7 yards. Drafted on average in the middle of the sixth round in Yahoo! fantasy leagues–ahead of guys like Marshawn Lynch, Adrian Peterson, and Marion Barber III–Jones has now gone seven games without a rushing TD dating back to the ’06 season, and has been held at or under 3.0 YPC in all but one game in ’07.

- Is it safe to say that after four games, Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints offense is officially lost? Coming out of a bye week, we assumed that Sean Payton and his staff would have worked out some of the kinks that has his team averaging less than 13 points/per. Against the Panthers, however, Brees still couldn’t find his rhythm (29-47, 252 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs) and Reggie Bush still couldn’t find much rushing room (21 carries, 67 yards, 0 TDs). They just don’t seem to have an offensive game plan the staff or players are comfortable with, and it’s absolutely killing them. The Saints travel to Seattle next Sunday.

- Proving yet again that any team with a legitimate QB/WR combination can burn the Detroit Lions secondary almost at will, Jason Campbell donned his surgical mask and went to work, picking apart Fernando Bryant, Stanley Wilson, and a bunch of other guys you’ve never heard of en route to an efficient 23-29, 248 yards, 2 TD performance. Antwaan Randle-El benefited the most (7 catches, 100 yards), but Campbell was an equal-opportunity distributor in completing passes to eight different teammates. Give him two years, and Campbell is going to be one helluva QB in this league and a reliable fantasy producer. Tampa Bay Bucs QB Jeff Garcia is a very strong play in Week 7 against the Lions.

- After Kenton Keith’s impressive showing against a usually tough Tampa Bay defense, we’re left wondering if we could step in and produce as a featured tailback in the Colts’ system. Keith went off for 121 yards rushing with 2 TDs and 5 receptions for 37 yards, making him the highest-scoring running back of the week in ETB’s format (just ahead of another fantasy mainstay, Najeh “Dumpy” Davenport). Obviously, Keith needs to be owned in case Joseph Addai’s shoulder injury turns out to be something more serious or another start materializes for any reason. If Addai goes down for an extended period, Keith is a top-12 running back. That’s a lottery ticket worth owning.

- Speaking of Davenport, he had a monster day himself: 7 carries for 58 yards and 2 TDs with 4 receptions for another 38 yards. At 6’1” and 250 lbs. He’s a load to take down and once he gets a head of steam going it becomes ill advised to even attempt an arm tackle. He’s like a ton of bricks on a sled, and if you’re not careful you’ll wind up with his excrement on your clothes. It marks the fourth game in the first five weeks that Davenport has gone over 40 yards rushing, and he has 3 TDs in the last three weeks. He’s certainly worth owning. Like Keith, he would be a top-12 back if the overworked Willie Parker went down, and even if he doesn’t Najeh is a decent flex play against weaker defenses. Willie Parker owners need not fear: he’s still the featured guy and will get his share of goal-line work.

- The San Diego Chargers sure needed that one. Dealt one of the toughest early schedules of any team in the league, the ‘Bolts seemed in serious danger of falling to 1-4 going into the always-tough environment of Mile High Stadium. It turned out to be a laugher in SD’s favor, a 41-3 trouncing of the suddenly average-looking Broncos that was highlighted by 287 combined yards and a TD between LaDainian Tomlinson and Michael Turner. Despite only completing passes to three different targets, Philip Rivers also rebounded from a poor showing against Kansas City with a workman-like 13-18, 270 yards, 2 TD effort (as well as his first NFL rushing TD). Turner remains one of the most tantalizing, non-starting talents in the NFL.

- The Kansas City Chiefs offense has officially hit rock bottom. Long, boney fingers should be pointed at numerous culprits behind this circus sideshow–the offensive line, the “quarterbacks,” the coaching staff–but Larry Johnson is supposed to be an elite running back in this league and he’s just not getting it done. We knew the Jaguars had a killer defense, but 10 total rushing yards? For his part, Johnson had 9 carries for 12 yards, which averages out to 1.3 YPC (just so you know). Next week the Chiefs face the Bengals, one of the NFL’s worst at stopping the run, at home; if he can’t produce then, when will he?

- According to Dolphins HC Cam Cameron, QB Trent Green “was smiling and he looked at [him] and was talking and it was positive when he was leaving the field” on a stretcher, but we have our doubts about him ever being effective again. After missing most of last season with a concussion, he’s seemed tentative out there as it is, and now has to deal with this. He doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody, likely has a sizeable nest egg in the bank, and his team isn’t going anywhere–why risk further serious injury? We think it’s time for the 37-year-old QB to call it a day.

- His final stats weren’t awful (13-25, 186 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT), but New York Giants QB Eli Manning has yet to break his habit of coming up small in crucial situations, and we’re starting to wonder if he’ll ever develop into the kind of leader at quarterback that most successful teams need. The Giants’ biggest play of the day, a 53-yard TD reception for Plaxico Burress, was all Burress; take that one away and Manning’s performance against a defense allowing 240 yards/per through the air is even more underwhelming.

- He didn’t build too much upon an early 49-yard reception, but after two weeks of solid production it looks like Houston Texans WR Andre Davis (4 receptions, 79 yards) could develop into a steady WR2 for Matt Schaub and help limit double teams of Andre Johnson, who should be back within a week or two. Schaub really makes things happen with limited talent in his supporting cast, something his predecessor, David Carr, was never able to do with any kind of consistency. This is definitely a team on the rise.

- Before WR Drew Bennett caught his first touchdown of the season early in the fourth quarter, the sputtering St. Louis Rams offense had gone their last 32 possessions without scoring a touchdown. The Baltimore defense isn’t as scary as it once was, but they’ll be one of the stronger plays in Week 6 at home against this still-winless team.

- The Green Bay Packers seemed intent on establishing their rushing attack against the Chicago Bears behind DeShawn Wynn and Vernand Morency. DeShawn Wynn (91 combined yards, 1 TD, 6.0 YPC) is proving himself to be a reliable, straight-ahead bruiser with good speed, while Morency saw his first extended action of the season and looked good, too, in finishing with 96 combined yards. Right now both seem way ahead of the rookie Brandon “Vagina Shin” Jackson, the guy many had pegged as a ROY contender but has struggled in the early going (178 combined yards, 1 TD, 2.6 YPC in three games).

- The early returns on Ron Dayne weren’t pretty to watch, but the fantasy owner will not complain. He started with 6 carries for just 7 yards, but managed to punch a touchdown in. On the day, he finished with a meager 2.5 YPC average; yep, sounds like Ron Dayne. With Ahman Green out the Texans are thin on options; Samkon Gado isn’t going to do much better. Despite his 2.9 YPC on the season, Dayne remains a decent RB3 until Green returns.

- “Get rid of the damn ball!” It’s always been a problem with Jon Kitna, but it’s getting hard to watch. You can’t put on a Lions broadcast without screaming that refrain at the television over and over. The Lions offense as a whole had a terrible game, and the o-line did not play well, but Kitna is the biggest reason why Detroit is allowing the most sacks in football at 27. And it’s not really close, the next team is Philadelphia at 19 sacks allowed, and 12 of those came in one bizarre game. Kitna is on pace to flirt with David Carr’s dubious record of being sacked 76 times in a season. What’s worse, when he takes all those hits he tends to put the ball on the ground. He’s got 3 fumbles lost and 8 total fumbles (more than many teams). The 6 INTs aren’t helping anybody either. Kitna isn’t a star, but he’s a capable quarterback. He’s going to need to start showing it before we feel safe with Detroit skill players.

- When you have a healthy Donte Stallworth on your team and people are surprised when he puts up 4 receptions, 65 yards and a TD, you know your offense is deep. The touchdown was all Stallworth, coming after a nifty move and a broken tackle. It’s amazing to have a weapon like that on the bench. Tom Brady is the unquestioned MVQB in fantasy football right now, starting the season with 3 or more TD passes in each of the first five weeks and being on pace to break Manning’s all-time TD records. There’s little reason to think he will slow down. Honestly, how do you cover Randy Moss and Donte Stallworth out wide with Wes Welker and Ben Watson underneath? With a confident and capable passer like Brady, I don’t think you can. Not when the offensive line is giving him about 2 minutes in the pocket each time he drops back. With Richard Seymore slated to come back in two weeks, New England may not lose a game this year.

- Damn you Maurice Jones-Drew! I project 110 total yards and a score, and you just have to one-up me by putting up 112 and a score. It was the first sighting of the year for patient MJD owners, and there may be some hope that he can keep it up. Jones-Drew looked more explosive and determined than he has all season, and he outplayed Fred Taylor by a wide margin. What’s still disconcerting despite his output is that MJD still got just 12 touches. Hopefully Jack Del Rio comes around and starts feeding the young man as the season wears on.

- The TD vultures were swirling en masse on Sunday, much to the chagrin of fantasy owners: Najeh Davenport took 2 TDs from Willie Parker, Philip Rivers and Michael Turner poached TD runs from LaDainian Tomlinson, Mike Karney stole one from Reggie Bush, Kurt Warner thieved a TD from Edgerrin James, Chris Brown took one from LenDale White and Mike Sellers managed two short scores (one through the air). Sorry, we just felt like pissing you off.

Quote of the Day at the Local Watering Hole:

“Listen, the Jets have the secret weapon on the bench: Kellen Clemens. He’s got Elway’s cannon, Marino’s release, and Montana’s smarts.”

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