How good would the Indianapolis Colts be this season with a healthy Peyton Manning? That’s the question that football fans have been asking all season long. This Colts season is horrendous. Ten Peyton Mannings wouldn’t put them in the playoffs. They have much bigger issues than losing their quarterback.
Even with Peyton Manning this Ravens team would have defeated the Colts in week 14. Baltimore is rolling into the playoffs and the Colts are hoping to put a “1″ in the win column over the next couple weeks.
Baltimore ended a decade long drought against the Indianapolis Colts this week, defeating them 24-10, here are my thoughts on the victory.
Suggs is the AFC Defensive Player of the Year - If Terrell Suggs finishes the 2011 season the same way he started it, he’s got the be the AFC’s defensive player of the year. Suggs racked up three strip sacks on Dan Orlovsky. On the season, T-Sizzle has a career high 13 sacks and the Ravens lead the NFL with 45. As Tony Lombardi of Ravens24x7.com tweets, Suggs could have had five sacks if the Colts weren’t holding so much. I’m guessing the refs felt bad for Indy.
Rice’s career year - Ray Rice continues a dominate season and is the Ravens biggest threat on offensive heading into the playoffs. The days of Cam Cameron leaving Rice out of the offense seem like so long ago. Rice broke the 1000 yard mark this week and caught his 235th pass which puts him third in franchise history behind Todd Heap and Derrick Mason.
Flacco in control - Joe Flacco managed the game against this bad Colts offense very successfully. Flacco threw for two touchdowns and crossed the 3,000 yards passing mark for the third straight year. The Ravens QB did throw a interception in the end zone, but CBS analyst Steve Tasker blamed Anquan Boldin for failing to break up the pass. In the first half, Joe Flacco was 14 of 19 for 138 yards, threw a touchdown pass earned a 111.3 QB rating.
At first I was disappointed that Todd Heap was inactive for today’s game against his former team, the Ravens, but then I came to the conclusion that being sidelined with a hamstring injury was fitting for his return to Baltimore. Nothing against Todd, he’s proven he’s a good dude, but the guy was always plagued by injuries during his tenure here.
All joking aside, this game was atrocious. If you’re a Ravens fan that says a ‘win is a win’ or somehow found heroics in this comeback than this post isn’t for you. This may be the only time that I tell you to click away from something I’ve written. Although we have lots of other great content for you right here on BSR.
For thirty minutes the Ravens embarrassed themselves again. They let a weak NFC team push them around and made boneheaded mistakes that put them in a 24-6 hole at the halfway point. Did they squeak out a win? Yeah. But it’s nothing to be proud of after the 12-7 snooze fest loss they performed in Jacksonville on Monday Night Football just a week ago. If you’re not sick of my poor attitude yet, here are my thoughts on the Baltimore Ravens 30-27 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. READ MORE >>>
Todd Heap is a classy dude. The former Ravens tight end will return to Baltimore as a Cardinal on Sunday and upon his return Heap took out a full page advertisement in The Baltimore Sun to thank Art Modell, Steve Bisciotti and the Ravens fans.
“Your support has touched my family, and I will never forget the cheers of the crowd every time you roared ‘Heeeap.’ Ravens fans, you are tremendous!” Heap’s ad reads.
The full advertisement is above, click to enlarge.
Need help with who to start and who to bench this week in Fantasy Football? Here are your answers. Why listen to me? Because I’m a Fantasy God and because I’m very accurate. This article will help you win. Go elsewhere if you want to lose. Here are the matchups for Week 7 of the NFL and Fantasy Football season.
Quarterbacks: Good Starts:
Colt McCoy (CLE)- has been good at home, good matchup vs SEA
Matthew Stafford (DET)- tough matchup but he always finds a way to perform
Cam Newton (CAR)- between passing yds and rushing yds he does enough
Tony Romo- 339/3 last game vs STL, will want redemption from last week
Aaron Rodgers (GB)- ridiculous, 301/4 last game vs MIN
Drew Brees (NO)- will destroy IND READ MORE >>>
Who should you start and who should you bench on your fantasy football team this week? Do you have key players out on bye? If you are a local Ravens or Redskins fan then chances are you do. No need to worry. I have your list right here of who to plug in instead. There are also a nice number of guys on this list under “good” or “decent” starts that are probably available for you to pick up.
Quarterbacks: Good Starts:
Michael Vick (PHI)- will throw and run a lot in what could be s shootout
Ryan Fitzpatrick (BUF)- should bounce back from bad game in a shootout
Eli Manning (NYG)- been great lately, great matchup, great career #s vs SEA
Drew Brees (NO)- surprisingly doesn’t play great vs CAR…but cmon its Brees
Cam Newton (CAR)- not facing great defense, will throw and run as usual
Philip Rivers (SD)- good matchup, always puts up big yds against DEN
Tom Brady (NE)- don’t care about the matchup or anything else, start him
Aaron Rodgers (GB)- averages 328/2 vs ATL, possible MVP
Matthew Stafford (DET)- 2 guaranteed TD’s to Calvin each week, always good start READ MORE >>>
Who to start and who to bench? Everyone has dilemmas each week. I’m here to help you decide. Because of time constraints and some people requesting that I go even deeper into the player pool, I decided to pull the kicker’s from this piece and instead list more WR’s and RB’s down the depth chart. Kickers are simple anyways. Start the guys for teams you think will win. Pretty easy. Questions on who to start over who? Ask them here.
Quarterbacks: Good Starts:
Jay Cutler (CHI)- Weak matchup, throwing for good yardage each game
Ryan Fitzpatrick (BUF)- he will destroy CIN, lots and lots of yards
Colt McCoy (CLE)- has been consistent with 210/2 per game, good matchup
Matt Hasselbeck (TEN)- good career #s against CLE, good matchup
Tony Romo (DAL)- if he played last week he will again, shoot out coming
Matthew Stafford (DET)- always a good start
Michael Vick (PHI)- he’s going to play, and he’s going to tear SF up
Drew Brees (NO-) could legitimately throw for 500 yds against JAC
Kevin Kolb (ARI)- good matchup, could see him throwing a lot in a close game
Matt Ryan (ATL)- weak opponent, 3 TD vs. SEA last time
Aaron Rodgers (GB)- always great, DEN doesn’t scare me at all
Tom Brady (NE)- everyone who owns him keeps winning, that’s why
Phillip Rivers (SD)- MIA not tough, only 1 TD vs MIA in career though READ MORE >>>
Who should you start and who should you bench in Week 3? Read on to find out.
Quarterbacks Good Starts:
Tom Brady- always a good start, averages 228/2 vs. BUF
Kyle Orton- may have to throw a lot, gets good yardage, good vs. TEN
Matthew Stafford- close matchup will keep him throwing
Drew Brees- could be a shoot out with Brees winning it
Matt Schaub- could be a shoot out, high yds and TD’s
Michael Vick- will play, destroyed NYG last year, big rushes against them
Eli Manning- plays well vs PHI always has lots of TD’s
Cam Newton- JAC can’t stop anything, throws lots and runs
Phillip Rivers- will light KC up, won’t have to throw in 2nd half though
Ben Roethlisberger- IND has played him tough but this will be diff, will throw TD’s early READ MORE >>>
I have to give Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome credit, he’s typically a good evaluator of talent. No matter what I think of his risky draft picks in recent years, Newsome knows when a guy’s talent has run out and when a replacement is ready for primetime. Just look at the Ravens tight end scenario this year. Nothing against Todd Heap, he was a great Raven, but his time had come and gone and Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson were ready to step up to the replace him.
But now I’m done patting Ozzie on the back. It’s time to be a little more critical. Tuesday’s deadline to sign defensive tackle Haloti Ngata is expected to pass. This means that the Ravens won’t be able to negotiate with their franchise player until after the season. That’s not good. READ MORE >>>
Week 1 wasn’t really full of surprises if you read my article on who to start and who to bench. I’m here again this week to make sure you start the right guys, and to make sure you win. If your 1-0 then you might as well go to 2-0 and really have a nice jump on the season. If your 0-1, you can’t lose and start 0-2. That’s already a deep little hole to get out of.
This week I’m going to switch up the way I do this, and hopefully this is the way it will stick for the rest of the season. You can expect my article like this every single Thursday throughout the season. I plan on updating it and moving guys around as the injury reports change. So I’m going to take a look at each position and give you the guys that are good starts, decent starts, and bad starts. This way you can compare guys at a certain position to other guys on your team at that position. You don’t have to scroll down the page to find all of your guys at one position this way. The players are in order of the time that their game is being played and not by any sort of rank. READ MORE >>>
Before kickoff on Sunday, BaltimoreSportsReport.com’s Ravens reporter Edgar Walker gave his thoughts on the Ravens offseason losses and gains as well as his expectations for the 2011 season.
Every week in the NFL there are some guys who peak for the season. Early on in the season you need to differentiate between guys who are good pickups and guys who are flukes and have already had their best game of the season. When your getting guys off the waiver wire there isn’t a whole lot of risk though. So if you want to scoop everyone up while trying to catch lightning in a bottle then do it. It’s all about consistency in fantasy sports, so anyone who performs two straight weeks may really have value. Last year at this time guys like Brandon Lloyd began to perform and nobody believed he would stay consistent right away and become an elite WR. Once he was consistent he was scooped up right away. So finding these players early is the goal. It’s the best way to make a good team championship quality, or to make up for bad drafting. I will attempt to differentiate between good pick ups and week 1 flukes. READ MORE >>>
Every year around this time, and especially this weekend, columnists the world over will trot out their “where was I on 9/11″ story or the old “9/11 made us realize life is bigger than football” trope. It’s human nature to relive and scrutinize something as insane as September 11th, 2001 and the couple years that followed. I’m not going to argue about how you personally should feel this weekend when the Ravens and Steelers kick off on Sunday. Some of you will forget it’s September 11th 40 seconds after the national anthem, and others will have the anniversary color their entire weekend. Whenever I think about my personal experience of those strange days, football is an inextricable part of that memory. It was a terrible, life-altering, and confusing time, but when I look back on it today, September 11th makes me nostalgic. It makes me think about the NFL. READ MORE >>>
The NFL season starts tonight!!! More importantly, the fantasy football season starts tonight!!! Why else would any of us watch Cleveland vs. Cincinnati unless we have AJ Green and want to see what our rookie will do in his first game. For that reason, fantasy football is now bigger than the sport itself.
Do you have any questions about who to start over who in the first week? Let’s take a look at all the matchups and determine who are good starts, decent starts, and bad starts. Football is incredibly unpredictable, and it’s almost impossible to read splits the way you can with baseball. Because of that I can tell you all season long who will give you the best CHANCE to perform for you. Nobody can ever predict the day that Mike Tolbert rushes for 3 TD’s. It’s impossible. Keep that in mind. I base the starts on matchup obviously and I also look at how each player has done historically against the opponent. I also factor in who I think will win the game, and whether a team will be more pass or rush oriented in that game. Whether they are up or down on the scoreboard has a lot to do with their weekly values.
Decent starts: Jordy Nelson, Ryan Grant, Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas, John Kasay, Green Bay Defense
Bad starts: Donald Driver, James Jones, Robert Meachem, Devery Henderson, Lance Moore, James Starks, Darren Sproles, Garrett Hartley New Orleans Defense READ MORE >>>
There’s always been a debate on just how important Tight Ends really are. They are kind of like the catcher position in football. There are a few elite ones at the top and then a pretty harsh drop off. If you don’t get one of the top tier guys your really better off just streaming your TE week to week and picking up a different guy based on matchups. Last year was a terrible year for the TE. It seemed like every single top tier guy was injured. So I fully expect a rebound at the position this year. Here are my personal TE rankings.
1. Antonio Gates
2. Vernon Davis
3. Jermichael Finley
4. Jason Witten
5. Dallas Clark
6. Kellen Winslow
7. Jimmy Graham
8. Owen Daniels
9. Jared Cook
10. Tony Gonzalez
11. Chris Cooley
12. Tony Moeaki
13. Benjamin Watson
14. Brent Celek
15. Greg Olsen
16. Jacob Tamme
17. Brandon Pettigrew
18. Rob Gronkowski
19. Mercedes Lewis
20. Aaron Hernandez
21. Heath Miller
22. Dustin Keller
23. Ed Dickson
24. Lance Kendricks
25. Fred Davis
26. Jermaine Gresham
27. Zach Miller
28. Todd Heap
29. Kyle Rudolph
30. Visanthe Shiancoe READ MORE >>>
How good would the Indianapolis Colts be this season with a healthy Peyton Manning? That’s the question that football fans have been asking all season long. This Colts season is horrendous. Ten Peyton Mannings wouldn’t put them in the playoffs. They have much bigger issues than losing their quarterback.
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