Time To Head

Week 10 of the NFL brought a few issues to a head; lame duck coaches and head injuries. Of course, neither of these is new news. The NFL has been a violent game for years and will continue to be so. In light of the long-term effects of players, such as Jim McMahon, and the devastating course of action taken by Dave Duerson, every head injury raises a red flag. Sadly, there is way too much grey area in what is a legal hit and what is an intentional head shot. The game is way too fast to make tackling adjustments when multiple players combine on a tackle and the ballcarrier’s body snaps in an unexpected direction and ends up in the path of an oncoming tackler. Not every contact to the head can be avoided, but every single one gets called. It is ruining the game. It would make much more sense to flag intentional shots and grade the intent, much like fouls in basketball. Flagrant fouls get you kicked out of the game. Non-flagrant fouls get you a warning, but 2 or 3 get you ejected…where there is smoke….

When it comes to coaching in the NFL, jobs are as tenuous as a kicker’s. After 10 weeks, you can almost always start circling coaches on their way out. Rex Ryan, voted the league’s most overrated coach, is gone. Someone has to take the blame for this team’s offensive struggles. It should be the idiot who thought that Mark Sanchez was an NFL QB and greatly overpaid him…and then thought that Tebow could be Jeremy Lin’s replacement in NYC. I haven’t seen a team with worse QBs since 2004 when the Bears trotted out Craig Krenzel, Chad Hutchinson, Jonathan Quinn and Rex Grossman. Andy Reid is also gone. It is amusing how high the expectations started last year (Dream Team) to where this team is now. So much talent….so little production.

With three QBs leaving games last week to concussions, one would have expected a bigger impact on our fantasy games. But, there really wasn’t much. A very small percentage of teams started Jay Cutler in bad weather versus a stout Texan defense. That is also true of Michael Vick against a solid Cowboys secondary, unless you were in a league that does not penalize for turnovers, or Alex Smith because, well, he’s Alex Smith. The QB injury that really hurt was Big Ben. I know it cost me badly in many of my leagues as he is always underrated, both on his performance and on his toughness. When he left the game, and left the stadium, last weekend, I knew I was hitting the waiver wire. Sadly, with Pitt past their Bye week, I actually dropped my backup QBs to make room for more RB backups. Not a solid strategy, but one that I felt comfortable with at the time. Based on Ben’s numbers so far this year while playing with a rotator cuff issue and the fact that he has nothing upstairs, I didn’t fear an injury. Always fear the unknown, Bill!!! Now I am stuck begging, or overpaying for a trade, or picking the crap off the scrap. Matt Cassel…no thank you. Ryan Tannehill…what happened to you? Rookie wall already? Byron Leftwich…uh, no. Maybe Nick Foles will save my season.

As far as other potential saviors for the upcoming weeks:

QB: Jake Locker (TENN) – Locker is healthy again and has a few good December matchups in you are in need of a backup QB and have an open roster slot.

RB: Danny Woodhead (NE) – The Patriots run up against some tough run defenses in the upcoming weeks. Woodhead is always a good option with short dumpoffs when the Pats can’t run the ball.

RB: Cedric Benson (GB) – Benson is still a few weeks from returning. With Alex Green and James Starks not lighting it up, Benson will jump back in when healthy.

WR: Ryan Broyles (DET) – The Lions are playing better and Broyles is getting on the field for many more plays since he appears fully recovered from his knee injury. With Titus Young dealing with a lingering knee issue of his own, Broyles has become a WR3 option for many teams.

TE: Logan Paulsen (WASH) – Chris Cooley isn’t going to work out as well as everyone thought when they signed him after Fred Davis went out for the year.