Tuesday Morning QB, Week 4

Tuesday Morning QB is weekly feature on The Full Court Press, reacting to the past week’s happenings in NFL Football.

Anger Management

Earlier this week, The Dallas Cowboys announced that they would bench former #6 overall draft pick Morris Claiborne after a dismal week 3 performance and an otherwise disappointing season thus far.  Caliborne acted like any mature adult would: he packed his bags and stormed out of the Cowboys practice facility.  While he returned later in the week and eventually suited up for Sunday's game against the Saints, he managed to end his season with a torn patellar tendon.  Since construction is underway on the Cowboys new headquarters and training facility in Frisco, TX, we hope that they have enough in the budget to add a day care wing.

After just a few months into retirement, James Harrison signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers again this past week in an effort to fill at least one hole in their slew of injured defenders.  The pragmatic in me doesn't have high hopes, but nostalgic Dave is bubbling with excitement.  He wasn't much help in an embarrassing loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday.  At this point, I'll consider the move a success if in a rematch against Cleveland in a few weeks, Harrison administers a high hit to Johnny Manziel, prompting Johnny Football to flip him off, neither player gets fined by the NFL because they claim they don't have video of either account,  the media flips out, and Roger Goodell holds a press conference in which he says the NFL needs to "get it's house in order" about 215 times.

Impish or Admirable?

This is a recap of teams that are either looking good, or need help.  This is not a playoff projection. I call it impish or admirable.  

Impish - Oakland Raiders.  Kind of unfair, but we have to.  Geeze, this team is awful. And old.  I feel like all the Raiders off-season moves were based on notes from 36 straight hours of playing Madden 08.  They can't run, they can't throw, and according to one of their own defensive backs, they suck.  And they've now fired Dennis Allen.  It even took me two days to get their stupid logo to format properly in this post.

 Impish - Washington Redskins.  Careful what you ask for Redskins fans.  Since the end of last season, sports talk show callers, column writers and the like in the DC area have been calling for Kirk Cousins to start at QB.  With RG3 going down with an ankle injury 3 weeks ago, they got just that.  And after an impressive performance 2 weeks ago in a shootout loss to the Eagles, he proceeded to turn the ball over 5 times against the Giants on Thursday.  This team actually won a game 3 weeks ago, but right now it seems like 3 years ago.

 Admirable - San Diego Chargers.  Who would have thought after their week one loss to the Cardinals that this team would win 3 in a row, including a victory over the defending Super Bowl champs.  Their running backs keep getting injured, but they keep finding ways to win.  Through the 1/4 mark of the season, Phillip Rivers might be the league MVP.  Let's keep an eye out for their week 8 divisional showdown with the Broncos. 

 Admirable - Detroit Lions.  Limited Calvin Johnson?  No problem.  Megatron has been quiet the last two weeks, but the Lions still managed to win and get to the 3-1 mark.  The keys have been solid defense and Matthew Stafford spreading the ball around to his other weapons. At this point, they are not only in the driver's seat of the NFC North, but the Bears, Packers and Vikings are very far back in the rear view mirror. 

Fantasy Watch

A look at players worth having on your fantasy football roster, who needs to be cut, and who has deceptive stats.

Like - Martellus Bennett, Chicago Bears TE.   When the autodraft nabbed him in one of my leagues, I was hesitant to start him.  To be fair, would you start a guy who raps about how much he loves Cap' n Crunch?  OK, the video's awesome, but the guy still had a mediocre track record before this season.  With 4 touchdowns through the first 3 games, followed by 134 yards receiving on Sunday, he's putting up monster numbers.  What's even more encouraging for Bennett owners is that Cutler is clearly becoming more comfortable with him, so he'll continue to see high targets for the foreseeable future. 

Dislike - New Orleans Saints, Defense.  Last week I bragged about how I was right about something, so it's only fair that I admit miss.  I took the New Orleans defense in 2 of my 3 leagues. In the context of those moments, they were a sensible pick- this is a Rob Ryan-led defense that finished in the top 5 last season, picked up ball hawk Jarius Byrd, and extended the contract of Junior Galette. Unfortunately for me (and more importantly, the Saints), that has not translated into anything remotely productive this season.  Their inability to tackle on Sunday night was painfully evident as DeMarco Murray ran through their front seven like they were bowling pins.  And just like stinky worn bowling shoes, I will be returning the Saints defense to the shoe rental counter, also known as the waiver wire.

Pyrite - CJ Spiller, Buffalo Bills RB.  Upon first glance, this guy seems like a great flex option with speed and good hands.  He's averaging 4 yds/carry, and his career average is 5.  So why so cold?  He's only found the end zone once this season, and that was on a reception.  Although he's averaging 4 yds/carry, he's also only averaging 13 carries/game.  Couple that with the fact that he's sharing the backfield with a Fred Jackson who seems to be drinking from the same fountain of youth as Frank Gore, he's just not going to get enough touches to put up big points each week.  He's only rushed for 1,000 yards once in his career - and that was 2 years ago.  Either use with caution or see if you can package him in a trade.

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