Yardbarker: Brett Favre

[Seahawks] Mike Holmgren Says Un-Retirement Decision Out Of His Hands

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:35:59 -0500

If pulling a Brett Favre was ever a consideration for Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, it's not an option anymore. Holmgren was asked Monday...

Fantasy Football Week 7 Rankings - Quarterbacks

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:45:18 -0500

There is big news surrounding the quarterback position this week in the NFL. The biggest, of course, is that Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo, has a broken pinkie finger on his throwing hand and could miss up to four weeks, paving the way for backup Brad Johnson. In Buffalo, starter Trent Edwards, who had suffered a concussion after a taking a vicious hit in week 5, is back to practice after resting during the bye week. Buffalo has already gone on record saying he will start. Then, we have situations like Seattle, Cincinnati and Detroit, where injuries to starters caused for some atrocious play out of the backups, play that we may very well be privy to again in week 7. With four good quarterbacks on bye this week and many more injured, check out the Bruno Boys Fantasy Football Week 7 Quarterback Rankings to help you decide who to start and who to sit. -------------------- 1. Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints) at Carolina Brees and the Saints continue to play at a high level despite not having all their starters in place. Reggie Bush is still struggling as a running back, but has become a great receiving threat out of the backfield for Brees and that's helped open up the offense for New Orleans. On paper the Carolina defense looks stout, but look at who the Panthers have played so far this season. Out of San Diego, Kansas City, Chicago, Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Minnesota, only the Chargers could be considered an elite offense. Don't hesitate in playing Brees this week, it should be yet another good game for him. Point Projection: 24 Points -------------------- TO FIND OUT WHERE THE REST OF THE QUARTERBACKS RANK IN WEEK 7, CLICK THE LINK...

Monday Night Football Week Six: Pregame

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:52:33 -0500

Who: Giants at Browns
Where: Cleveland Browns Stadium
Why: ROMO, ROMO, ROMO, ROMO, ROMO, ROMO, ROMO, ELI, ROMO, ROMO, ROMO, ROMO, ROMO, BRETT FAVRE, ROMO, ROMO, ROMO
Spreads: Giant -9, O/U 44
Announcers: Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Tony Kornheiser

MNF Links:

Before we get to the links there are a couple of MNF items of note. First is one I mentioned the last week, and that's the item of the pregame and game itself featuring a new Kenny Chesney song called, "I'm Alive." Also, injured Giants DE, Osi Umenyiora will be sitting in with the Countdown crew tonight. Onto the links....

Browns hope to turn around season by beating the champs (NFL)
Browns Can't Forget Exhibition Loss To Giants (Hartford Courant)
A look ahead to New York Giants at Cleveland Browns (NJ.com)
10 Reasons the Browns Will Beat the Giants in MNF Game (Cleveland Leader)
Giants in Trade Talks with Chiefs for TE Tony Gonzalez? (Big Blue Interactive)
Winslow Has Swollen, Um, Parts (PFT)

Monday Night Countdown Segments:

ESPN the Magazine's "For Love or The Game:" Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin
To find out who knows the coach better, the series quizzed Coughlin's daughter, Kate, and her husband, Chris Snee, a Giants starting guard.

EA Sports Virtual Playbook:
Countdown's Cris Carter takes viewers on the field to show how Eli Manning has become one of the best play-action passers in the NFL.

Weekly Monday Night Countdown Segments: Field Pass, Quarterback Conundrum (Steve Young and Trent Dilfer offer their views on topical issues), Teams at 20

AA's Prediction:

Pretty sure we're going to get a blowout in this one, but with the way the NFC East teams looked this week, anything is possible. The Browns just don't have it this year and I don't see them challenging that Giant D at all....

Giants 31 - Browns 13

A Win is a Win

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:20:08 -0500

In the NFL you take a win any way you can. Every week each opponent has an opportunity to win no matter what the line is or what analysts say. As a Jet fan, never once did I think we had the game vs. the Bengals in hand. From the opening score (Brett Favre fumble which was recovered and returned for a Bengal TD) to the final whistle the Jets did not look like a Super Bowl contender. A fine tuned team would have put this Bengal team away early and scored often. The Jets did have there opportunities to put this one away but penalties, take aways, and again bad play calling hampered those chances. The Jets can get away with that against teams that have packed it in and have no belief in there teams direction and output. Versus teams that are hitting on all cylinders the Jets will struggle. Special Teams & Defense The box score doesn't tell the entire story all the time. The Jets still need to play the field position game a whole lot better. The kick off and punt cover teams have to get better in a hurry as the season is only going to get harder. The Jets need to find ways of kicking the ball farther and or tackle better and have there opponents go 70-80 yards to score rather then 50-60 yards to score. A longer field means more opportunities to fail. More opportunities to have an INT, fumble, not making a first down and forced to punt or attempt a longer field goal. The play calling on defense will only appear to be better when the opponent has a longer field to work with vs. a short field. For some reason the Jets defensive coaches get in a prevent mode too often and too early in games. I always believe you never let up on the gas pedal in the NFL. Meaning you can not turn pressure on and off. My point is you can not ask players to play aggressive some times and preventive in other times. I still hate watching three men rush the passer and eight go back in coverage. Every time the Jets rushed four or five the QB had to react. When the Jets only rushed three the QB had time to think and make plays. Four quarters of in your face football. That is what I would like to see. Between all the first round draft picks and free agent acquisitions we have the talent to put pressure on the QB and play on there side on the line of scrimmage. Bottom line, Kerry Jenkins is a stud. You can tell when he is not on the field because the Jets get pushed off the line quite often when Jenkins is not in there. The difference in the 3-4 defense, the two gap technique hampers defensive linemen from making tackles for losses. A good two gapper will make a tackle for a two yard gain in a 3-4 scheme. I would like to see more stunts and schemes where you ask them to shoot gaps (one gap) and play on there side on the line of scrimmage. This will put oppositions in worse down and distance scenarios. Meaning you can be more creative when it is second down and twelve yards to go or third and eight situations. Too many times do I see a third down and three situations because we catch up front and get moved back for positive gains. Teams that have both a running and passing game will kill us because they will dictate and move the ball at will because of the bend but do not break mentality. I blame head coach Eric Mangini on that because he knows no other way. That is what he did in New England while he was there. Mangini better wake up fast because he has a gun slinger at QB and mistakes and turnovers will happen. Good teams score off of your mistakes and turnovers. That is why I never once believed we had this game in hand. I wish and hope for the Jet brass to address the kicking game and practice the hell out of it. They need to get better fast in this area. Look at the average staring position rather then hang time and how far the kick went. Ben Graham would either kick it very far or out of bounds twenty five or thirty yards down field where as R. Hodges has good hang time but does not kick it very far. Either or your special teams unit needs to get repetitions after repetitions to get there timing down. I know there have been some injuries but it is how you prepare that makes or breaks you. This area needs some attention to and bringing back players and having new faces only hinders your overall performance. Keep it simple stupid and stick with one punter so that the other 10 can get there timing down. And if Feeley can not kick it off very far work with the other 10 on pursuit angles and position the kick each week to the weaker returner. Does a Nascar driver take his foot off the gas pedal? Did the Giants get passive with Tom Brady in the Super Bowl or during the payoffs? Did the Patriots get passive when trying to go unbeaten and break passing records last year? The new style in the NFL is getting after the QB quickly so he has no time to think. Practice is designed to prepare you for every scenario you may see during the game so that you react quickly. My point is the Jets need to dictate the game on defense. Do not give any QB time to think and so he carves you up and makes you look like Swiss cheese. Get in his face and make him make bad decisions which means better results (INT's, fumbles, sacks, grounding, tackles for a loss etca??)

Romo Out 4 Weeks With Broken Pinkie

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:56:10 -0500

Michael Smith of ESPN.com reports Tony Romo will be out four weeks with a broken pinkie suffered in Sunday's overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

If Romo misses the next four weeks as stated, Brad Johnson will deputize against Rams (1-4), Bucs (4-2) and Giants (4-0). After the Giants game, the Cowboys will have their bye week. Realistically, the Cowboys could be staring at 5-4, and the Giants will have yet another break after facing the Peewee version of the Washington Redskins followed by three fraudulent teams that have totaled two wins.

I wonder when TO will have an interview this week with Graham Bensinger to say that if Brett Favre was the Cowboys quarterback, they'd be 6-0. Four catches and only 36 yards against a shoddy secondary will bring out the living, breathing carcinogen that wears number 81 for the Cowboys.

Is anyone in this league any good?

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:22:19 -0500

by Matt Loede, NFL Gridiron Gab

After watching six weeks of football, there is one question that keeps popping up in my head - is anyone going to step up and be good this year? I mean, let's be real. I have watched countless games, read numerous articles, and see highlight after highlight, and I can honestly say that not one team impresses me enough to be even close to handing out a favorite right now to play in the Super Bowl in early February.

My preseason pick for the Super Bowl were the Chargers and Cowboys. Yes, those two teams may still find their way to the big game, but let's be real, the Chargers even with their big win last night are just 3-3, and the Cowboys are 4-2 after losses to the Redskins and Cardinals. Again, they may get to the big game, but they are not playing the type of football I thought they would.

So who is good and who is not? That's a great question. Let's quickly run through some of the teams and you tell me if they are good:

Tennessee - Sure, they are 5-0, but they have Kerry Collins - I REPEAT - KERRY COLLINS...at QB. Think he can take them to the dance?

Buffalo - At 4-1, they have played well, but again, a young QB in Trent Edwards, and we saw some big chinks in the armor last weekend in Arizona.

Pittsburgh - Also 4-1, but do you really think that O-line at some point is NOT going to get Ben Roethlisberger knocked out at some point?

Denver - No defense, and you can't lose a home game to the Jags right now and consider yourself an elite team.

San Diego - Yes they just pounded the Pats, but couldn't beat the Panthers and Dolphins. Hmmm...

Washington - Young team, just lost to the awful Rams, and there are still plenty of questions about this team in the long run.

Dallas - Can you trust Tony Romo in a big game, much less a playoff game? That's what I thought.

New York Giants - Best team right now in the league, but who have they played?

Carolina - I think this is a solid team, but can you trust this team come crunch time?

Tampa Bay - Offense still has issues, and they can get burned on defense by better teams.

Atlanta - Great story, but let's be real.

Chicago - Kyle Orton? Yes, he's been a nice story, but talk to me in December.

Green Bay - Aaron Rodgers looks like a good QB, but he's not Brett Favre, and miss games by the end of the year.

Arizona - Kurt Warner can throw, but will also have a game when it counts where he throws 3-4 big picks.

So there you have it. Argue with me if you'd like, but right now I think I am more likely to pull two teams out of a hat that can end up in the Super Bowl than try to analyze them to the point where you can make a smart pick of who will be in the dance.

Stat Of The Day

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:29:02 -0500

Aaron Rodgers is a gunslinger.

Fantasy Football Week 7 Waiver Wire Add & Drop Advice

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:12:12 -0500

With another week of fantasy football in the books, it means it's time to look at the Week 7 Waiver Wire. When looking back at the slate of games entering the weekend, it didn't appear that there were too many appealing matchups. Then the games started and we were treated to incredible finishes by St. Louis, Arizona, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and Minnesota. In fact, the Eagles scored a whopping 23 points in the fourth quarter against to beat the 49ers by a final score of 40-26. And in case you were wondering, the Detroit Lions and the Cincinnati Bengals are still winless and it appears both teams will be fighting it out for the top draft pick in April. Enough with that talk, lets cut to the action, as the Bruno Boys bring to you their weekly Waiver Wire article. -------------------- QUARTERBACK Matt Ryan (Atlanta Falcons) Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is a rookie now only by experience. Ryan has been making steady improvement all season. The last three weeks the team has asked him to pass more and Ryan has passed the test, throwing for 653 yards, three touchdowns and just one interception while completing 60.8 percent of his passes. Take a look at the remaining schedule for the Falcons and you'll see that they have games left against weak passing defenses in Oakland, New Orleans, Denver, St. Louis and Minnesota. Ryan would make for a fine backup in any league and the more experience he gets, the better he will be. -------------------- RUNNING BACKS Dominic Rhodes (Indianapolis Colts) Starter Joseph Addai and backup Mike Hart left the Colts' 31-3 win over the Ravens and it was Rhodes that came in for them. Rhodes rushed 25 times for 73 yards and one touchdown against one of the toughest To see who else you should ADD to your fantasy roster in Week 7, click the link below...

Fantasy Football Weekly Words - Week 6 (Recap)

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:23:59 -0500

The story line of week 6 was redemption, and it came in many forms. Big name players, who have struggled in the start of 2008, bounced back with monstrous games. Winless teams battled to the wire to get their first victories. And, a new chapter was written in the New England Patriots - San Diego Chargers saga. Read all about the week that was in the Week 6 Weekly Words. -------------------- Jones-Drew Just Dominates Besides one 21 point outing in week 3 against the Indianapolis Colts, Maurice Jones-Drew has found it hard to put together solid fantasy weeks. In fact, he only had 25 fantasy points on top of that 21 point outing through 5 weeks of play. Week 6 though was different as Jones-Drew racked up 26 fantasy points, burning the Broncos for 125 rushing yards, 23 receiving yards, and 2 TDs. Jones-Drew benefitted from Fred Taylor being knocked out of the game early, taking full advantage of the extra carries. In fact, even upon Taylor's return, the Jags rode Jones-Drew and the hot hand to the victory. This game should open the eyes of Jack Del Rio and co. as putting the ball in Jones-Drew's hands gives Jacksonville the best chance of winning. If the Jags' coaching staff realizes that, than Jones-Drew will start giving fantasy owners' the best chance of winning, also. To read about other news from Week 6 of the NFL season, click below...

Offense Stuffed Again as Bengals Fall to Jets 26-14

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:44:09 -0500

Offense Stuffed Again as Bengals Fall to Jets 26-14

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:44:09 -0500

Jones and Defense Lead the Way as Jets Top Cincy 26-14

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:17:47 -0500

Brett Favre and the New York Jets were expected to have a cakewalk on Sunday vs the Bengals, and while it wasn't that easy, the team was able to pull out a win nonetheless, beating Cincy 26-14. The Bengals jumped out 7-0 early on a fumble returned for a score from Chinedum Ndukwe, but then the Jets were able to recover and outscore Cincy 26-7 the rest of the way. Favre was 25-for-33 for 189 yards with one TD and two picks. The Bengals D played hard, holding New York to just 252 yards on the day. The problem was the Jets D played better, holding Cincy to just 171 total yards, 13 first downs, and the time of possession was clearly in favor of the Jets, 35:18 to 24:42. Ryan Fitzpatrick, getting his second start in three weeks for the injured Carson Palmer, was 20-for-33 for 152 yards. He was also pressured quite a bit, and took five sacks for minus 24 yards. The Bengals issues continue to be the running game. The team probably is thinking long and hard about giving up on Rudi Johnson these days. Their leading rusher was Fitzpatrick, who had 23 yards on six carries. Number one back Chris Perry had just 14 yards on 11 carries, and the team totalled 43 yards on 21 carries (2.0 yards per carry). After falling behind 7-0, the Jets came back as Favre lead them down the field and after a number of penalites on both sides, he was able to find Thomas Jones for a two-yard score to make it 7-7 with 7:44 left in the first quarter. After a trade of punts, the Jets put together a five-play, 14-yard drive after they had pinned Cincy deep and Jay Feeley kicked a field goal to make it 10-7. Three minutes later after a Cincy fumble, Jones went in from 7 yards out to make it 17-7. The Bengals were finally able to put a drive together with Fitzpatrick, as they went 14 plays and 66 yards in 4:05 and scored on a QB run from the 1 to make it 17-14 with 8 seconds left in the half. The only score of the third was another Feeley field goal, this time from 43 to make it 20-14. Cincy though, had no answers on offense, as they gained just 30 yards in three third quarter drives. The Jets were able to put the final touches on the win, as after another punt deep in the Bengals side of the field that set them up at the Cincy 41, they went 10 plays and 41 yards with Jones going over from one-yard out to make it 26-14 after the two-point conversion failed. Jones had 65 yards on 17 carries and two scores. It was the first three-touchdown game of his nine-year career. The Jets with the win improve to 3-2 on the season, while the Bengals continue to search for that elusive first win, falling to 0-6. Next week the Jets play in Oakland vs the Raiders.

Jones and Defense Lead the Way as Jets Top Cincy 26-14

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:17:47 -0500

MANGINI PAYS TRIBUTE TO FAVRE WITH SON'S MIDDLE NAME

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:15:00 -0500

Can things get any crazier in NY? Now Mangini is giving his new son the middle name of Brett! And yes, it's in honor of Mr. Favre

The Duke's Picks - NFL Week 6 Predictions

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:08:31 -0500

An amazing 20-14 record against the spread thus far for the Duke's Picks with yet another winning week in the books. Last week, the late game heroics of Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts (ok, so it was the collapse of Sage Rosenfels and the Houston Texans) carried us to paydirt once again. This week, tough spreads up and down the board, but not to worry…I've found five good ones for ya. MINNESOTA VIKINGS -13 Detroit Lions - Those who are fans of The Duke's Picks know I'm not the type to lay a big number all too often, so this one might surprise you. Let's disect though: Jon Kitna is doubtful (back), Calvin Johnson (knee) and Roy Williams (hip) are questionable. More than likely, the receivers will play, but Kitna is going to miss this game. To make matters worse, his replacement, Dan Orlovsky is having ankle problems. Detroit is already 0-4 and their average margin of defeat is 20 points. Minnesota should be heading in the right direction after a Monday Night victory over the Saints last week, the return of Bryant McKinnie, and another week of rest for Sidney Rice. Sure, Brad Childress is a knucklehead, but even he should be able to lead his team to a 20+ point victory in this one.