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Tip Sheet
Early disappointments find their stride
Posted: Tuesday October 08, 2002 6:26 PM
Terry Glenn had his first 100-yard game with Green Bay on Monday night. |
By Richard Harris, Special to CNNSI.com
Stock Rising
Corey Dillon, RB, Cincinnati: Jon Kitna is not the long-term answer for the Bengals at quarterback, but at least he brings some stability to the position. Kitna made his first start of the season Sunday and made enough plays to prevent the Colts defense from totally focusing on Dillon. As a result, the Pro Bowl running back had his best game of the season, rushing 23 times for 164 yards and two touchdowns.
Clinton Portis, RB, Denver: Portis started for the first time in his career on Sunday, and without the blocking of fullback Mike Anderson, who was out with an ankle injury, the rookie rushed for 102 yards on 20 carries against a very stingy San Diego defense. He also added two receptions for 17 yards and a touchdown in the contest. The speedy Portis is proving that he can run hard between the tackles. After Sunday’s performance, you can expect him to be the primary ball carrier in Denver for the rest of the season.
Terry Glenn, WR, Green Bay: A new medication has helped Glenn overcome the migraine headaches that had plagued him since taking a big hit in Week 1. On Monday night against Chicago, a healthy and rested Glenn had his best game in a Packer uniform, catching eight passes for 154 yards. In some leagues, Glenn is available because frustrated owners gave up on him. If that’s the case in your league, grab him now.
Laveranues Coles, WR, NY Jets: The combination of solid play from new QB Chad Pennington and a lousy Kansas City defense allowed the Jets to have their best offensive day of the season. Running back Curtis Martin rushed for 119 yards and a score. Santana Moss, starting for an injured Wayne Chrebet, had a career-high five catches for 65 yards, including his first NFL touchdown. Coles grabbed eight balls for 116 yards. Coles was limited to six receptions in the first three games, but with Pennington at quarterback, he has 16 catches in the last two.
Patrick Ramsey, QB, Washington: The Redskins have finally found their quarterback. Journeyman Danny Wuerffel, who had struggled in two regular-season appearances, started on Sunday against Tennessee, but he injured his shoulder during the first series. Ramsey entered the game, and proceeded to lead the team to a 31-14 victory. Ramsey had as fine a game as a rookie quarterback could have. He made good reads, found the open receivers, and kept his poise against a Tennessee defense that blitzed him often. On the day, Ramsey completed 20 of 34 passes with two touchdowns and no interceptions. It is hard to believe that the Redskins nearly traded Ramsey to Chicago. He’s a heady quarterback with a live arm. He is clearly the best signal caller on the team, and is on his way to having a fine career in the NFL.
Duce Staley, RB, Philadelphia: Duce had his best game of the season with 82 rushing yards on 13 carries (6.3 avg.) and 35 receiving yards on six receptions against the Jaguars on Sunday. The best news is that he’s getting some goal-line carries, and as a result, he has three touchdowns in five games. That puts him on a pace to score 10 TDs this season, which would surpass his career high by four.
Ed McCaffrey, WR, Denver: McCaffrey looks to be fully recovered from the broken leg that forced him to miss 15 games last season. In the last two weeks, he has caught 14 balls for 203 yards and one score. With fellow receiver Rod Smith limited by a slight shoulder separation, McCaffrey is likely to continue to be the Broncos’ go-to guy over the next few weeks.
Keep an eye on
Jerry Porter, WR, Oakland: The Raiders look to be 2002’s version of the Rams -- too many weapons for any defense to handle. Charlie Garner is doing a great impersonation of Marshall Faulk, and Porter gives the Raiders something the Rams don’t have this season -- a dangerous third receiver. A former defensive back in college, Porter has taken a few years to develop, but he is a phenomenal athlete with the potential to be a dominant receiver in the NFL. He has a David Boston-like body to go along with good speed and leaping ability. On Sunday against the Bills, he had a team-high 117 yards on seven catches, including a 29-yard touchdown reception. It was his third score in three games. Sooner or later, Tim Brown and Jerry Rice will start to slow down, and Porter is ready to step in when they do.
Plaxico Burress, WR, Pittsburgh: On Sunday in New Orleans, quarterback Tommy Maddox did something in his first NFL start in nearly 10 years that Kordell Stewart only accomplished once in 78 starts. Maddox passed for more than 250 yards (268) and three touchdowns, with a passer rating over 90 (95.1). Maddox has had his rough moments since taking over for Stewart in the fourth quarter of the Week 4 game against the Browns, but he has clearly found a way to get the ball to the Steelers’ big-play receiver. In four-plus quarters, Burress has caught seven balls from Maddox, two for scores. In comparison, Burress and Stewart connected seven times (for no scores) in nearly 12 quarters of action.
Brandon Stokley, WR, Baltimore: A few weeks ago, the Ravens appeared to be one of the league’s worst teams at least offensively. But they have turned it around over the last two weeks. Quarterback Chris Redman has reduced his mistakes. Running back Jamal Lewis, who rushed for 187 yards on 26 carries against Cleveland on Sunday night, appears to be fully recovered from major knee surgery of a year ago, and tight end Todd Heap looks like a future Pro Bowler. Stokley, meanwhile, leads the team in receiving yardage with 253, and ranks second on the club in receptions with 16. Against the Browns, he had four receptions for 78 yards and two touchdowns.
Stock falling
Marshall Faulk, RB, St. Louis: Are there any Rams fans in your league that still think that St. Louis will make the playoffs? If so, you should see what you can get from them for players like Faulk. The All-Pro running back is on a pace to finish the season with 1,661 total yards and 13 touchdowns. Those are fine numbers for most backs, but they are significantly less than Faulk produced over the previous three seasons. The Rams’ schedule is more favorable after this week’s game with Oakland, but after having such lofty preseason expectations, I have a bad feeling that the Rams are going to pack it in early this year. The overconfident and stubborn Mike Martz is not the type of coach that can get things turned around quickly. The Rams offensive line is not as strong as it once was, and backup QB Jamie Martin did not look good against the 49ers.
Lamar Smith, RB, Carolina: After coming out of the blocks strong, Smith has tasted a dose of reality over the last two weeks, gaining just 115 yards on 40 carries (2.9 avg.) against suspect run defenses (Arizona and Green Bay). On Sunday, the Cardinals stacked the line to stop the run and dared quarterback Rodney Peete to beat them. Without wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad (hamstring) and with TE Wesley Walls playing with a broken finger, Peete couldn’t get the job done. Even when those receivers are healthy, it is questionable how productive Smith will be. He’s averaging just 3.6 yards per carry on the season, and opposing teams will continue to take their chances against Peete. Also, rookie RB DeShaun Foster is due to return after the next two games, and he will be given part of the workload when he does.
Cleveland Wide Receivers: As a group, The Browns’ wideouts have been extremely productive. The problem is knowing who is going to be productive on a given day. Kevin Johnson leads the team in receptions with 28, and Quincy Morgan has a club-leading 301 receiving yards, but both starters trail rookie Andre Davis and Dennis Northcutt in terms of touchdowns.
Morgan, Davis, and Northcutt all had one big game to pad their stats. In Week 1, it was Morgan with nine catches for 151 yards and two scores. In Week 3, Davis had five receptions for 99 yards and two scores, and last week, Northcutt had a career game, catching eight passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson is the most consistent of the foursome, but Davis and Northcutt, who are often single covered, have consistently stolen the touchdowns that used to go to him. Morgan is probably the coldest of the group. He is once again having trouble holding on to the football and has been held under 70 yards and without a score for four straight games.
Michael Pittman, RB, Tampa Bay: Pittman has been a disappointment thus far. He’s averaging just 3.5 yards per carry and has yet to score on the season. His total yardage average is not bad (81.8 per game), but with Mike Alstott getting the goal-line carries, Pittman is not going to score very much this season. Alstott (2 TDs) is not setting the world on fire, either. He’s averaging just less than three yards per carry and has been outscored by linebacker Derrick Brooks (3 TDs). Both running backs are hindered by a suspect offensive line and an offense that has limited ability to stretch the field.
Richard Harris is the Senior Writer and Managing Editor for FantasyFootballExperts.com. His weekly columns have appeared on either ESPN.com or USAToday.com over the past four years, and this season, he will be featured on CNNSI.com. FantasyFootballExperts.com offers exclusive and in-depth articles, player rankings and cheat sheets for multiple scoring systems, injury updates, weekly matchup analysis, and other essentials for a fantasy football championship.
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