And Then There Was One

And then there were one…..one Winless team, that is. The Bears got a gift from Oakland after Bad Jay Cutler threw another ill-timed 4^th quarter INT and was saved from more bad press by the foot of kicker Robbie Gould. I have long been a fan of Robbie “Good As” Gould but I began to lose faith last year as he struggled miserably but I think that he was just sucked down the drain with the rest of that stinking ship. He has been and Matt Forte have been the only shining spots for the team thus far. Of course, one win gets the Bears Faithful thinking playoffs again, but, in reality, they won’t end up needing two hands to count wins on this season, especially if one of the Faithful is named Antonio Alfonseca (Love The Onion award article). The Bears are not good and weren’t impressive in their win over the Oakland Raiders. The Ravens and Saints both had relatively unimpressive wins as well. Hell, Detroit actually looked better than each of those three teams but had victory snatched away from them by the cunning of one Kam Chancellor. Forget the ruling on knocking the ball out of his hands. Megatron only saw pay dirt and Kam took advantage of it. I hated his holdout and contract demands but I loved the play!

The NFL cracks me up. They keep tweaking kicking rules; moving back kickoffs and extra points, as kickers have been getting stronger and more accurate each year and then accuracy this year has nosedived and we have many more missed extra points this season than all of last season and we have had more in-season kicking changes than I can ever remember. Another 2 kickers were given their walking papers last week when the Steelers cut kicker Josh Scobee and replaced him with Chris Boswell. Heinz Field is not an easy place to kick but Scobee had to go before Snoop’s boys gave him a talking to. Tampa cut kicker Kyle Brindza and replaced him with Connor Barth who replaced Broncos kicker Brandon McManus last season during the season. McManus has been perfect this season. I met family members of his before the game in Detroit a few weeks ago. Nice folks. I am happy for the kid this year but I didn’t understand why Barth was let go after his performance. Maybe it came down to age. Anywhoo, Barth is rightfully back kicking in familiar territory in the NFL again.

Other week 4 action:

• Jags kicker, Jason Myers, better right the ship after missing 2 game-winners in Indy last Sunday. He was the favorite kicker of many people who picked the Colts in their Survivor Pool last Sunday and couldn’t switch out cuz they were locked in when Indy Coach Chuck Pagano was claiming that QB Andrew Luck would start on Sunday.
• Sticking with kickers, Chief’s kicker Cairo Santos sat as a lonely free agent is almost 90% of leagues last weekend and delivered 7 field goals to his few owners, further illustrating what a crapshoot picking a kicker is.
• The Cardinals lost their first game due to their turnovers and turnover opportunities that their defense could not convert. They lost one fumble recovery after the official whistled the play dead and couldn’t recover a late fumble deep in their own territory. Possibly choosing to sit on it like a chicken was a bad approach. The Rams turned that missed opportunity into 7 and the Cardinals couldn’t recover. The Rams look like a much better team now with an actual running game. Relying on the passing game with this team is a bad idea.
• The Bills are pretty hot and cold. I guess a Win is queued up this week in their alternating cycle…if they can cut their penalties to single digits. 17 penalties?! Did they think that they were the Dolphins last Sunday? Speaking of Miami, did anyone NOT see a coaching change coming after another pathetic game? Sorry Joe Philbin, but this team is rudderless.
• The Giants are currently the class of a horrible division.
• Loads of people thought they should sit RB Chris Ivory due to injury last Sunday and he went off for 166yds and a score. Loads of people expected to see a transition in Tampa from RB Doug Martin to Charles Sims and left the Muscle Hamster on the bench and wept as he delivered a combined 143yds and a score.
• So this is what the Falcons would have looked like the past 5 years with a running game? Damn impressive. Carolina is a mirage but the Falcons are not. Atlanta, Green Bay, Arizona and Seattle should make for some interesting NFC playoffs for the right to play New England. Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman will be a tandem to watch for the next few years.
• Throw 13 passes Martellus Bennett’s way and he thinks that you compare to The Messiah. When asked if Jay Cutler is too often criticized, Bennett answered, “They threw rocks at Jesus, & Jesus was an excellent guy who did a lot of awesome stuff.”. WHAT?!?!? Speaking of throwing things, how many INTs and dirty looks did Jesus throw?
• Speaking of quotes, Packers’ LB Clay Matthews informed Colin “I am WAY far from earning my contract” Kaepernick that “You ain’t Russell Wilson, bruh!”. I loved him mocking Kaep’s asinine bicep kiss too!

For a change, there weren’t the normal number of big injuries in Week 4. Oh, there were some injuries but not like the prior 3 weeks. If you lost Cowboys’ RB Lance Dunbar in a PPR league, pick up Lions’ RB Theo Riddick if he is available. Last week’s hottest pick up, RB Karlos Williams, appears to be Out this week with a concussion so things change quickly on the waiver wire. I am not going to mention players that I recommended previously that delivered, such as WR Allen Hurns and TE Gary Barnidge. Let’s focus on one week fill-ins this week since the number of Bye teams doubled this week. I am not going to mention WR Tavon Austin from STL either. He has burned me WAY too many times in the past. He will put up 20 points one week and then get a combined 20 points over the next 4 weeks. Not for me.

QB: Jay Cutler (CHI) – the expressionless one rejoined the Bears last week so he is currently healthy. He should get WR Alshon Jeffery back this week and he faces a porous Chiefs pass defense. The Chiefs should have their way with the Bears lack-of-defense so expect the Bears to be playing catchup. Much like last season, Cutler will be good for garbage points…enough to offset a few turnovers. The Chiefs have given up over 300yds passing and almost 3 passing TDs per game this season.

RB: Boobie Dixon (BUF) – next man up for the Bills at RB at Tennessee. Boobie is definitely not a long term add, but he appears to be in line for the start this week. Speaking of Tennessee, before their Bye, they let RB Antonio Andrews timeshare with Bishop Sankey and greatly outperformed him. No idea what they will do this weekend but I am not starting Sankey if I own him.

RB: Duke Johnson Jr. (CLE) – Duke is a must-add for any Isaiah Crowell owner as he is getting involved in many more plays each game and the rookie is delivering. He went 9/85/1 receiving and 31 yards rushing in San Diego last Sunday.

RB: Charles Sims (TB) – Sims is a must-add for any Doug Martin owner as he is getting involved in many more plays each game and he is delivering. He went 5/30/1 receiving and 23 yards rushing versus Carolina last Sunday.

WR: Willie Snead (NO) – the Saints have not had their normal success through the air this year and the numbers for WRs Colston, Cooks and Coleman reflect that. However, Sweet Willie is becoming the standout. He had a nice 6/89 day versus Dallas and faces the Eagles this week.

WR: Kamar Aiken (BAL) – this could be a multi-week pick up. WR Steve Smith looks to be out 1-2 weeks with a back injury suffered in Pittsburgh that Smith didn’t take too kindly to. Smith has primarily been the only receiving option for QB Joe Flacco so there are lots of Looks that are available with him out. Aiken showed that he was ready when he posted a 5/77/1 line last Thursday.

TE: Owen Daniels (DEN) – this is the definition of a one-week fill-in. Denver faces Oakland. Their rookie defensive coordinator, Ken Norton Jr, has yet realized that tight ends in the NFL can catch passes. TE Martellus Bennett racked up 11 catches for 83 yards and a score last week. Daniels does very little normally but if you need a fill-in, there is good reason to expect double-digits from Daniels this weekend.

TE: Coby Fleener (IND) – if you prefer more of a sure thing, it looks like TE Dwayne Allen will be Out on Thursday and probably QB Andrew Luck, which sets up nicely for Fleener. He connected with backup QB Matt Hasselbeck for 9/83/1 on Sunday.

TE: Richard Rodgers (GB) – if you are still looking for a tight end after the others have been snatched up, you could do worse than the QB’s namesake. He had a nice 5/45/1 game in San Fran last week. He is pretty far down on the pecking order but he has the QB’s confidence, which goes a LONG way in that offense.