Shaun Alexander's yards-per-carry: 3.7. Ugh.

Shaun Alexander's yards-per-catch: 3.7. Goo!

There are a lot of ways to quantify Alexander's decline. FO's Doug Farrar says the explosion is just gone.

Alexander has never been good in the passing game, but I think his numbers there over the last two years tell a story. 22 catches and an unheard of 3.86 yards-per-catch.

Continue reading "Alexander the Mediocre" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 06:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I'm still not sure what to think about LaDainian Tomlinson this season. On one hand, he's resourceful. He's turned 3.4 yards-per-carry into a top-three fantasy scorer through the passing game (throwing and receiving), and the lack of quality competition at running back this year.

Another part of me wonders why Tomlinson couldn't crack 70 yards on 21 carries against one of the worst rush defenses in the league last week. We can talk about defenses loading up to stop LT2, but something isn't right when he's only cracked one run over 11 yards all season.

Tomlinson gets another chance to make his rushing numbers look healthy this week against Oakland. They have the 26th-ranked rushing defense and he has a great history against them. If Tomlinson remains stymied on the ground, I'd grow a little concerned.

Continue reading "Good matchups for Tomlinson, LJ" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

At a time when GM Randy Mueller is reportedly on the hot seat, I couldn't help reading this depressing article from the team website and thank the football gods that I'm not a Dolphins fan.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

No McGahee pic, but you can't get enough Billick

Despite Jonathan Ogden's absence, Willis McGahee continues to crank for the Ravens at an impressive 4.5 yards-per-carry rate on the season. The schedule has been fairly easy, but racking up over 100 total yards in five straight games is impressive. He's second in the NFL in yards from scrimmage, buoyed by newfound activity in the passing game.

The problem, of course, is that McGahee isn't scoring. He has six carries inside the five-yard line this season with no scores. There are a lot of factors at play here, but it's a good sign McGahee continues to get the short-yardage work all over the field.

McGahee's schedule stays easy for a few weeks before becoming very challenging down the stretch. If owners think he can keep his yardage up, McGahee looks like someone to target in a trade because the touchdowns should come. If not, McGahee is more of a sell-high candidate.

I'm conflicted. I've never been overly impressed with McGahee, but I like what I've seen this season. I like his lack of competition. I enraged a few readers (including Evan Silva) when I ranked McGahee in my top-ten overall runners two weeks ago over guys like Marion Barber and Reggie Bush. So what do you think? Can McGahee be a true a RB1?

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

It comes from John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, who can understand the play from both sides. It's football, it's unfortunate, but it happens.

Later in the blog, McClain wonders if the Texans will work out Hoyle Granger or possibly Earl Campbell to see if they are any faster than Ron Dayne. After just watching the Houston tape, unfortunately I have to agree. Our man looked like he was running in quicksand, although the Texans are happy to feed the ball in short yardage.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 03:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

We know Marques Colston's back is hurt because pregame reports Sunday said that he might not start the Saints game. He did wind up starting, and aside from the occasional snap (a few more than usual), Colston played the whole game.

Like the rest of the Saints, Colston's production has fallen hard this season. His four-catch, 31-yard effort Sunday was indicative of his season.

Colston has 22 catches for 216 yards and a score on the year. That will keep you afloat in PPR leagues, but owners didn't draft Colston to be Wes Welker light. It's not a good sign when Ike Hilliard has more big plays.

Colston amazingly has only one catch over 15 yards, which shows that he's not making plays after the catch like he did as a rookie when his yards-per-catch was five yards higher. I don't know how hurt Colston is, but I'm guessing it's a bigger issue than the Saints have let on. Owners in shallow 2WR leagues could consider benching him in the meantime.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I think the Bills have a good chance to win this game tonight. Dick Jauron is easy to make fun of, but his Bills teams have done one thing consistently: play their guts out. Personnel issues prevent them from being a playoff contender, but this is their Super Bowl. It's just another game for the Cowboys.

Dallas sleptwalked through their first half against the Rams at home last week, and was very lucky to have a lead at halftime. The Cowboys are a good team, but they aren't so good that they can't get beat on the road by a team with everything to play for.

I'm really excited to watch Trent Edwards after hearing so much about his poised start last week. Buffalo has needed a good quarterback for as long as I can remember. It's early, but I say Edwards makes a name for himself tonight.

Bills 24, Cowboys 23

Continue reading "Monday Night Prediction" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

As frequent Pancake Block readers know, I have an unnatural obsession with all things Keary Colbert.

It is with great pleasure that Colbert led the Panthers in receiving Sunday with four catches and 74 yards, sadly his highest output in 42 games. 42! Jeez, maybe the Panthers have been too patient with him. Cobert was Carolina's best deep threat Sunday, catching a 43-yard pass (on Matt Moore's first NFL snap!), a 19-yarder, and he drew an illegal contact penalty on a long touchdown try.

Anyhow, just wanted to get this up for posterity. Something tells me Colbert won't have 42 more games if he doesn't crack 70 yards again soon.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I think backup running backs are going to go higher in drafts next season because of all the injuries to runners this year. I count eleven Week 1 starting running backs have already missed a game. Like most things I do on Monday, that's probably wrong.

LaMont Jordan and Jamal Lewis both didn't finish their last games and could be added to the list. Kevin Jones also wasn't healthy enough to start the first two, so that's nearly half the league that has dealt with serious injuries to their starting runners. That's an alarming number considering it's only Week 5.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I don't edit much out of The Morning After (a consistent problem for me), but one item I didn't get to was the imbalanced offensive play count from many games yesterday.

As a Jerricho Cotchery owner, it was frustrating to watch the Jets run a grand total of four plays in the third quarter. You can't score if you aren't on the field, and that is often an overlooked factor in someone's lame afternoon, especially wide receivers and running backs. Cotchery and the Jets made up for it in other quarters, but let's look at some teams that stayed on the field Sunday. Any teams under 50 plays is struggling.

Continue reading "Under 50 plays equals disaster" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)