Deep impact: How’s your fantasy team today?

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, September 09, 2008  |  Comments( 4 )

New England Patriots
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Sure, the Tom Brady injury has shaken up the entire NFL (as my friend Steve says, “The miracle of the NFL in this decade has been the seven injury-free years of both Brady and Peyton Manning”), but let’s talk about something really important: Namely, your fantasy team.

Commentary: The only folks out there with potentially more reason to cry into their Sam Adams (that’s the late brewer/patriot, by the way, not the former Seahawk/Raven) about Tom Terrific’s torn ACL are those fantasy owners who drafted ol’ No. 12 in the first round. Can you say, “Hello, J.T. O’Sullivan and/or Jon Kitna”?

So much for those fantasy owners, then. (Heh heh ... should’ve taken Tony Romo.) But what about all those would-be fantasy league champions who drafted other Patriots high, in hopes they’d be riding high on projections of Brady’s ridiculous 2008 stats? A brief look at a few guys who were high in demand last week, but this week are facing the fantasy bench.

Randy Moss. Dig that 51-yard reception in the first quarter when Moss had to come back to catch the lofty Matt Cassel heave. Marvel at the jumping grab at the back of the end zone to spear Cassel’s serious wobbler in the early second quarter to give him as many career TDs as Jim Brown. All signs indicate that Moss could statistically remain a top-10 wide receiver even if (gulp) Chris Simms starts chucking for the Patriots; Moss is Superman, after all, though on half a battery; in retrospect, he’s probably not a first-round fantasy pick.

Wes Welker, on the other hand, may be in some fantasy trouble. Despite leading the all-time most prolific offense in receptions with 112 in 2007, Welker averaged fewer yards per catch (10.5) than Moss, Donte’ Stallworth, Jabar Gaffney, Ben Watson and even Heath Evans. Sure, the man scored eight TDs last year – good for second best on the team – but Welker’s unique abilities out of the slot will probably not be as exploitable (and therefore fruitful) under Cassel. Figure Welker won’t average 73 yards and 0.5 touchdowns per game this season.

With the passing game figuring to be somewhat diluted, the running attack should get a little more play. Therefore, that breakout year in which Laurence Maroney reveals himself as a stud halfback is even more likely now, right? Welllllllllllll, the Chiefs game was indicative of why Maroney may not yet see 1,000-plus all-purpose yards: The Patriot running game is too flexible, with Bill Belichick preferring to shuffle backs like cards. (Remember the championship game against the Chargers when Kevin Faulk got every carry in the first quarter?) It’s too bad fantasy owners can't synthesize a Saurance Morrisoney -- of course, he’d probably only be good for stats two games out of three or so.

Finally, the MVP of Week 1, the New England defense. In fantasy ball, the Patriot 'DST' nearly outplayed Peyton Manning last week. In real life, this ‘D’ flashed back to 2006 with clutch play off the ball saving the Pats’ bacon is a low-scoring contest; despite expectations that the defense would be weakened from free-agent departures, the unit looked good, led by the old guard of Rodney Harrison (in on 14 tackles) and Tedy Bruschi (10 assists) playing out of their minds and bonus baby Jerod Mayo looking right at home. And Ellis Hobbs might be a decent starting corner after all. On a sober track, it should be noted that the opposition was the Chiefs; no reason to give up on starting this 'DST' yet, though, what with the low-watt opposition on the schedule and the seemingly inevitable increase on the NFL second-low 27:25 the New England ‘D’ was on field last year.

Fantasy Football Impact: Across the board. Moss definitely goes nowhere and the Patriot defense is probably still a good start. As for Maroney and Welker, time will tell, though the shrewd might start trying to suck up to their league’s most naïve owners.

Fan pulse: Are you kidding? It’s all apocalyptic in the Patriot blogosphere with every disaster from the Y2K bug to Daunte Culpepper elicited to compare to the Brady injury, the most catastrophic departure from a Boston squad since Peter Wolf left the J. Geils Band. Doom-and-gloomy matters weren’t helped by the New York Post’s snarky headline either. There’s blood in the air in Patriot Nation ...
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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