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Keyboard Quarterback: The Brady Boys
Authored by Andrew Perna - 16th October, 2007 - 3:40 pm
Jeff Risdon was actually into fantasy football back in the early 90s and he has a lot to say about how it has changed over the years and infiltrated the mainstream.
With John Herrera standing to his right dressed in black and appearing not unlike an undertaker, Lane Kiffin sat down at the podium for Sunday's postgame news conference.
Baltimore wants Flacco to be their QB of the future. But the Ravens feel they have no choice but to start him now because Boller and Smith are unavailable. Wrong!
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My Eagles are finally back on track. I think.
Philadelphia’s defense held the New York Jets to just nine points on Sunday, as the Eagles’ offense did just enough to lead the team to victory. Donovan McNabb might have only thrown one touchdown pass, but he lit up the Jets’ secondary for 278 yards on twenty-two completions. Kevin Curtis appears to be his favorite target once again.
Curtis hooked up with McNabb five times for 121 yards and a score. Brian Westbrook, who sat out the Eagles’ last game, recorded 120 yards on twenty carries. Andy Reid’s defense tallied three sacks and an interception against the Jets’ offense, despite their numerous injuries.
The Eagles will head home to Philadelphia to face the Bears this Sunday, in a matchup that was thought of as a headliner before both teams stumbled into the 2007 season. The Cowboys’ loss to the Patriots kept the Eagles within two losses of the division lead, something that the Eagles are far from obtaining but a positive nonetheless.
The Downs The First Down…The Pack is Back The Green Bay Packers got themselves back in the win column this weekend after losing for the first time this season to the Chicago Bears in Week Five. The Packers downed the Redskins thanks to a late-game defensive touchdown, winning 17-14. They are 2.5 games ahead of the Detroit Lions, who hold second place in the NFC North. Brett Favre may have broken George Blanda’s all-time interception record, but all he cares about are W’s. Rightfully so.
The Second Down…Patriots Undefeated The New England Patriots are standing alone as the only 6-0 team in the NFL, with the Indianapolis Colts the only other undefeated team in the league (5-0). The Pats rolled over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon, 48-27. The game was a lot closer than the score indicated, but Tom Brady and the boys rolled on nonetheless. Brady threw five touchdown passes, a career-high, to go along with 388 passing yards. New England has Miami and Washington next on their schedule before they play Indianapolis on November 4th. That’s shaping up to be the biggest game of the season, trumping last weekend’s battle in Dallas.
The Third Down…Yo, Adrian! Write it down. Forget the pencil; grab your favorite pen. Adrian Peterson is the NFL’s Rookie of the Year. Peterson rushed for 224 yards and three touchdowns against the Bears in Week Six. The effort was good enough for the fifth best single-game performance by a rookie running back and put Peterson behind only Eric Dickerson in terms of yards gained in the five games of a player’s career. This kid is truly something special. When Minnesota drafted him this April there was some trepidation regarding his extensive injury history. Not anymore.
The Fourth Down…Saints Victorious For the first time since January, the New Orleans Saints won an NFL game. Reggie Bush, who notched nearly 150 total yards, paced the Saints to a 28-17 win over the moderately-disappointing Seattle Seahawks. Drew Brees came to life as well, completing 25-of-36 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns. If they can get hot, with Atlanta and San Francisco next on the schedule, they’ll get themselves back in the race for the NFC South. They are currently 2.5 games behind the Buccaneers and Panthers.
The ‘Who The Heck’ Statline of the Week… Texans’ wide receiver Kevin Walter: 12 catches for 160 yards against Jacksonville.
My Keyboard Prediction for Week Seven The Tennessee Titans are set to travel into Houston, Vince Young’s hometown, to face the Texans this Sunday. Young, who injured his thigh against the Buccaneers last Sunday, will play through the pain and lead the Titans to a victory in front of his family and friends. Vince is an extremely tough kid. The only thing that could prevent him from single-handedly beating the Texans this weekend would be surgery, and let’s hope that’s not in his future.
My Fantasy Diary… It shouldn’t have been this nerve-racking of a weekend. The Drew Crew might have been starting four backups but my opponent, The Rugrats, were also starting a handful of second-stringers. There was no way Damon Huard and Vernand Morency were going to beat the division-leading Crew.
Things were looking golden for The Crew with two games left on the schedule. The Rugrats still had Nate Burleson and Marques Colston left to play with a three point lead, but that was no biggie. Burleson and Colston hadn’t done squat in the first five weeks of the season…
Until Sunday night.
Burleson and Colston each caught touchdowns, with Colston’s coming on his only catch of the night. That’s right. A freaking two-yard strike from Drew Brees. Who throws a pass to their wide receiver two yards from pay dirt? That’s tight end territory or Reggie Bush time. Jesus, Drew, you should be ashamed to have the same name as The Crew.
That left The Crew down 21 points heading into Monday Night’s game between the Giants and Falcons. Once again I’d be relying on Eli Manning to lead me to victory. Dammit ‘Peyton Manning’s Little Brother.’
I hate relying on a final player, but it’s even worse when it’s Eli. I actually had to root for the Giants against the Falcons, something I hate doing because I despise the New York Football Giants. If there’s one team an Eagles’ fan hates, it’s the Giants.
Strangely enough I was fist-pumping in mid-air after Eli led a long drive that turned into a touchdown strike to Amani Toomer. I was inching closer.
After a lost fumble, Eli righted the ship with a forty-three yard touchdown connection with Plaxico Burress. I was somehow within three points of The Rugrats before the first half ended. There was no way I could lose, right? With more than five minutes left in the second quarter all I needed from my starting quarterback was roughly sixty passing yards; another touchdown would seal the deal.
I could be 5-1. Five wins and one loss! My record was 3-13 last year, which made me the laughing stock of the East Coast Pigskin League.
Or I could be 4-2.
With the Giants looking to score before the half, they marched down the field into Atlanta territory, and Eli threw right into the Falcons’ secondary. Interception. That bumped The Rugrats' lead back to three after some Manning passing yardage cut the lead to one. So heading into halftime I was still three points away from a victory. Thanks for leaving me hanging, Eli.
The Giants’ opening drive of the second half did nothing to ease my worries. I was still three points away from the Promised Land, and the Falcons proceeded to eat the clock. How dare they!
New York’s second drive wasn’t any better; in fact, it was worse. Eli tried to hit Toomer deep along the right side but instead recorded his second interception of the night. I was now down five points with twenty minutes remaining on the clock. Get the Tums.
Eli’s next drive was a much better one. He connected on several passes, pushing his yardage total to 294 for the night. Six more yards would push him over 300, good enough for a three point bonus. Just enough to give me a comfortable win.
However, I’d have to suffer through an ugly Atlanta drive before he’d be on the field again.
Another three-and-out for the Falcons gave Eli the ball back with a chance to nurse the clock and give me the six yards I needed to win. After a four-yard pass to Jeremy Shockey made me believe that I could actually lose, with Tom Coughlin running the ball in order to drain the clock, Eli hit Burress for a miracle six-yard gain. It would end up being the last pass he’d throw.
Talk about down to the wire. The Drew Crew is 5-1!
Week Seven is going to be a long one. I’ll be getting all my bye-week players back, but I’m facing D-Roxx and his potent lineup. He features Tom Brady, Larry Johnson, Chris Cooley and Brady’s favorite target Wes Welker. If anyone is going to ruin my week, it’s going to be Brady. Next week’s KQ should be an interesting one…
My Fantasy Football Record for the 2007 Season: Week Six: 10-2
Week Five: 5-7
Week Four: 9-3
Week Three: 7-5
Week Two: 6–6
Week One: 8–4
Overall: 45 wins and 27 losses
