Monday Knee-Jerk Reaction

The Chicago Bears are done. Based on Sunday night’s game, fantasy owners of the Bears defense should be looking to waivers as much as Bears GM Jerry Angelo is today. Lance Briggs could see more tackles, improving his value as well. On the Bears offense, the focus on passing takes value away from running back Matt Forte. Devin Hester and Earl Bennet should be strong considerations, though.

From Green Bay’s perspective, it took the fourth quarter bomb to get any fantasy value for any of their offensive stars. If Adewale Ogunleye is set to have a monster season, that’s great. But his recent track record would indicate the Pack might want to look at their offensive line depth. The Packers defense did get the four picks, but only one was a special play from the defender. Not every quarterback is going to gift-wrap picks the way Cutler did Sunday night.

The Carolina Panthers should start shopping. Quarterback Jake Delhomme looked worse than Cutler on Sunday, and the Panthers don’t have the youngest team in the league. Jake posted a 14.7 QB rating which prompted the Panthers to sign A.J. Feeley who could take the starting gig if Delhomme falters. Based on Delhomme’s last two games, both at home, he would have to be a second-string fantasy quarterback at best.
The Minnesota Vikings are scary. In case you missed it on Sunday, Adrian Peterson is a big, strong human being that no team can stop with only eight men in the box, and as long as Brett Favre has the ball in his hands for an instant, defensive coordinators will have to think twice about stacking the box against the Vikings. If your a fantasy owner of Peterson, congrats. If Percy Harvin’s available, he’s a strong pickup.
The Dallas Cowboys don’t miss T.O. The probably won’t all year. Roy Williams improved off season work ethic actually translated into improved production on Sunday, and Tony Romo looked every bit the franchise quarterback the Cowboys hoped he would be in a strong victory for Dallas. The only problem for fantasy owners is that Romo spread the ball out so much. Roy Williams value has improved, but it’s hard to tell who’s going to get the most touches on that high-flying offense.
New Orleans and Drew Brees are going to be fun to watch this year. I know, I know… it was against Detroit. But that doesn’t change the fact that Jeremy Shockey caught his first touchdown in 22 months on Sunday, and then caught another one for good measure. They have so many weapons on offense that it appears the only defense that can keep them from winning the NFC South this year is… their own. For fantasy owners, Shockey might emerge as the elite tight end he was in the early parts of this decade again.
Mark Sanchez had a nice debut. Fantasy owners should follow his lead and fall in love with the Jets’ tight end, Dustin Keller. The hang-up with Sanchez’s fantasy value, though, is that Thomas Jones is going to continue to run the ball. Jones and Keller are the strongest plays on the Jets.
Matthew Stafford’s debut didn’t go as well. He only got the ball to Calvin Johnson three times (albeit for 90 yards), and did put some points on the board, but he looked like a kid that just got out of college. Sanchez didn’t. Until he remembers that Johnson can beat anyone in the league, Megatron might see more fantasy disappointments on upcoming Sundays. Kevin Smith, though, has increased value because of a rookie quarterback.
Finally, let’s all officially slow down the city of Denver’s roll right now. I know it’s high time in the Mile High City with the fantastic finish to their game on Sunday and then Cutler laying an egg in prime time, but let’s be honest about what we saw Sunday. It took a play that, according to the man that caught it, was a “miracle” to beat the Cincinnati Bengals. The Broncos have a lot to work on other than the Tip Drill, so let’s not burn the city down because of one weekend. There wasn’t much to celebrate for fantasy owners from this game on either side of the ball, so we’re going to label Denver a “wait and see” for the next few weeks.

Written by Tab Bamford