Well, it was another disheartening loss for the Raptors in the coaching debut of Jay Triano, a 114-87 drubbing at the hands of the Utah Jazz.

I really though they’d be inspired and play with energy, and the energy would carry them to a win. Instead they looked like they didn’t care.

Offensively, we saw some new things and while they missed a lot of shots, they got some good shots - open shots - they hadn’t been getting before. Hopefully as everyone gets comfortable in the offense those shots will drop.

Defensively, unfortunately, it was the same old garbage. Terrible rotations. Non-existent weakside help. Matodor defense. Getting burned by the same things over and over and over. Really, watching that game, you felt like the Jazz could do whatever the heck they wanted, when they wanted.

Can coaching change that? I really don’t know. I hope so. But it better happen fast.

One extremely disappointing thing to note, Chris Bosh was manhandled by Paul Millsap. Why the heck wasn’t Bosh on Okur and O’Neal on Millsap? And why didn’t Bosh use his quickness on Millsap, instead of settling for fadeaway jumpers? He was the least aggressive Raptor on the floor last night.

Overall, just incredibly disappointed in this Raptors team for not playing with more energy and aggression for the new coach. Bosh said the other day, “we’re still 8-9,” implying the season is far from over. But as I’ve been saying all along, if you don’t correct the things that aren’t working, quickly, then 8-9 becomes 8-12, and 12-22, and 22-40, and so on. Take a look at the schedule, Chris. This season is slipping away and you better start playing with some urgency if you want that to change.

Tags: Chris Bosh, Jay Triano, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz

Argh. I can’t believe I lost yesterday’s game. All I needed was for Ben Roethlisberger to have an average game, about 12 points. But he couldn’t even get me that. Three points! One touchdown, with four picks! Damn it all.

Of course, I had Matt Cassell on the bench. Guess how many points he had? That’s right, 12!

Sigh.

I shouldn’t blame it all on Roethlisberger. After all, I also left DeAngelo Williams on the bench again, he had 17; coulda put him in for Julius Jones who only managed 2. How did the Seahawks score 34, and Jones only got 2 points? I also coulda put Dwayne Bowe (10 points) in for either Ronnie Brown (4) or Mushin Mohammed (2). Thanks for dropping that TD, by the way, Mushin. Nice hands.

Sigh.

So, it’s back to 4-4, with the rest of the pack. At the midway point there’s five 4-4 teams. Yikes. I guess the good news is that I still have time to separate myself from the pack!

Results:

Tags: Fantasy football

Whoops, forgot to do one last week ‘cause of Thanksgiving. Well, I got killed, but made up for it this week, posting a 30-point win. The Green Bay defense’s two INTs for TDs helped them to 19 points, highest on my team for the day, but Ben Roethlisberger and Marshawn Lynch each had good outings as well.My 76 points total was hardly record-setting; I was fortunate because my opponent had two Bengals, who, not shockingly, combined for a goose egg, plus three Chargers, who laid an egg in Buffalo.

Now I’m 4-3 and, for the moment, all alone in second place in my division (the leader is our only remaining undefeated team!). In the other division there are three 4-3 teams, and then a couple 3-4 teams in each, so it’s a close race. I believe - I could be mistaken - but I believe only the four best teams make the playoffs. So there’s still a long way to go, but let’s be honest, I’ve come a long way since Brady went down and I feared the zero-win season!

Next week I have my kicker (Crosby) and defense both on the bye, so I have to pick up replacements. I’m keeping that GB defense - leading the league in INTs for TDs! - but I think I’ll just drop Crosby; even though he’s also been great, there are plenty of kickers available (John Carney is who I’ve targeted on the waiver wire). Looks like I’ll have to drop Jerious Norwood again to pick up a new defense though (likely Carolina).

As for the on-field action, a great win for the Packers last weekend, hopefully they’re back on track now, having won two straight. And how about the Patriots last night? Are they back on track or was that a fluke? Looks like the season is finally coming together!

Results from last week:

Tags: Fantasy football, Green Bay Packers

Another victory! I’m not sure if my opponent realized Laverneus Coles was on a bye, but nevertheless, zeros by Larry Johnson and Santana Moss was what really did him in.

Much like the Ronnie Brown game two weeks ago - when he scored 39 points while sitting on my bench - I had DeAngelo Williams riding the pine this week, so his 32 points were no help. But Brown had a solid week, and two TDs from Larry Fitzgerald and a solid performance from Ben Roethlisberger sure helped.

I might have an issue coming up this week, though. I only have three receivers on my team - Anthony Gonzalez, Dwayne Bowe, and Fitzgerald. Bowe has a bye week, and Gonzalez left last week’s game with a concussion. So, I have to scour the waiver wire once again. Looks like Mushin Muhammad is my best option - I might have to drop Rudi Johnson for him.

I still cannot believe the Colts won that game on Sunday. Down 27-10 with less than five minutes to go, and they win 31-27. That touchdown catch that Reggie Wayne made… my goodness. How, how did he maintain control of that ball with one hand while falling out of bounds? Simply an incredible play.

Meanwhile another loss for the Packers leaves them at 2-3. Not good. Then again I predicted both Green Bay and the Jets would finish with 8 wins or fewer and miss the playoffs, so I’m not surprised.

Still, Atlanta? I can’t believe the Falcons are 3-2! Matt Ryan looks like the real deal, and Michael Turner is proving that all the yards he piled up behind LaDanian Tomlinson were no fluke. Those two could be the core of a good young offense! Well, good for them. Always nice to see the underdogs come out on top…

… just wish it wasn’t against my team.

Anyway, here are the results from last week:

Tags: Fantasy football, Green Bay Packers

Well, that was a rough week. A 30-point loss. Ouch.

Granted, I had several players on the bye week - so many that I had to trade Tony Gonzalez for Fred Taylor because I needed a running back - and none of my fill-ins performed. But even those “starters” who did play - like Marshawn Lynch, Larry Fitzgerald, Dwayne Bowe - did nothing. Each of their teams had 30 or more points but not one of them had a touchdown. How does that even happen?

Of course, Gonzalez had a TD. Taylor and Tony Scheffler, my replacement for Gonzalez, had six points combined. Sigh.

At least Roethlisberger didn’t have a minus-one again.

So it’s back to 2-2, in the middle of the pack… and, I have to assume, given my roster and my belief that I was extremely lucky to get those two wins… that it’s all downhill from here.

Tags: Fantasy football

It’s either the banged-up Ben Roethlisberger going against a very good Philly team… in Philly.

I’ve got a healthy but unproven Matt Cassel, at home against the hapless Dolphins… in Foxboro.

It’s quite a tough call. After all, the Steelers have been really pounding the ball on the ground, and with Roethlisberger’s strained shoulder, they probably won’t be airing it out a lot. On the flip side, Philly’s been in a couple of shootouts already, their secondary isn’t great, so Roethlisberger could put up some numbers if it turns into that sort of game. And (at this point in their careers at least) Roethlisberger is clearly the better QB.

But Cassel could potentially have a big day against the Dolphins, who let Kurt Warner pile up about 800 yards without breaking a sweat against them last week. This could be the perfect chance for Belichik to find out what his QB really has, and a good time to get Randy Moss some TD catches. But who knows with Belichik? Cassel’s not been asked to do too much so far, and that could continue, especially if the Pats get a lead. They might be happy to let their trio of running backs (Maroney, Morris and Jordan) take them down the stretch. And, honestly, Cassel might actually stink, know one really knows.

So, Roethlisberger’s the safe bet… but, given that my entire season is on borrowed time after the Brady injury, I actually think the best thing to do here is take a chance on the new kid. I need to take some gambles and hope they pay off to have any hope this season, so I think that’s what I’m gonna have to do.

Let the Matt Cassel era begin!

Tags: Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Cassel

Ah, the sweet taste of victory.Thanks to a superb day from my Green Bay Packers defense, not to mention solid outings from Julius Jones and and Larry Fitzgerald, I rolled up 111 points and came out a winner this week.

I said I’d need big weeks from a couple guys and subpar games from some of my opponents’ players, and I did. I still consider myself pretty lucky to get this win.

So, no zero-win season for me. I just have to hope this week wasn’t a fluke, and that Ben Roethlisberger’s shoulder injury isn’t that serious, and maybe I do have a chance.

Final Results (that’s me on the top):

Tags: Fantasy football

No, Tom Brady, no!

Sigh. There goes my fantasy football season. Yes, I drafted Tom Brady in the first round. Yes, I also drafted Ben Roethlisberger in the 4th. Why 2 QBs in the first four rounds? Roethlisberger was the best player available at the time. I took him because I knew there would be one or two teams that would have too many RBs and a weak QB, and I’d be able to trade one of my QBs, probably in week 2, for a top-tier RB, perhaps Brian Westbrook.

Sounds like a good plan, right?

Well, that all went out the window when Brady was hurt barely 10 minutes into the season. Sigh.

At least I have Roethlisberger so I’m not in a QB lurch. My season isn’t a total loss… yet. Is it? I’ve got a decent set of receivers to go along with him (although Jabar Gafney won’t do much with Brady gone), and a pair of decent TEs. But I have a very weak core of RBs. I’ve got Marshawn Lynch, who I’m happy with, and then a smorgasbord of backups/timeshare RBs - Ronnie Brown, DeAngelo Williams, Julius Jones, and Rudi Johnson. Yeah, pretty weak sauce. I guess Williams had a decent week, and Carolina looks good, so maybe I’ve got a steal there… yeah, I’m reaching.

Here’s my team:

Tom Brady QB
Ben Roethlisberger QB
Marshawn Lynch RB
Ronnie Brown RB
Julius Jones RB
Rudi Johnson RB
DeAngelo Williams RB
Larry Fitzgerald WR
Dwayne Bowe WR
Anthony Gonzalez WR
Jabar Gafney WR
Tony Gonzalez TE
Tony Scheffler TE
Packers D/ST
Kevin Boss TE
Mason Crosby K

OK. Maybe it is a total loss if I can’t get a better RB. With that lineup it’s a possibility that I don’t win a single game this year. At the very least, I’ll be struggling every week. Any victories I get will depend on luck - hoping one or two of my guys will have a hot week and hoping my opponents have a cold one.

As for week one, well, Brady gave me three points before going down. And Lynch and Bowe had decent weeks. But no one else got double-digits. And my opponent had big weeks from Jay Cutler and Reggie Bush, so I was dead in the water; 80-65 was the final.

Next week my opponent features Adrian Peterson, Brandon Jacobs, Roy Williams, Reggie Wayne and Kellen Winslow. Crap. 0-2… yes, the zero-win season is a possibility!

In the meantime, I have placed a waiver request for Matt Cassel to back up Roethlisberger (dropping Brady) and am scouring the waiver wire looking for hidden gems…

On a non-fantasy note, having Brady go down is a real shame for the NFL. I’m not a Pats fan but I love watching Brady play. The constant back-and-forth between him and Peyton Manning for best QB in the league has made Colts-Patriots the best rivalry in sports right now, in my opinion. Now their November matchup really doesn’t have much lustre. Sigh.

At least, as a Packers fan, it looks like Aaron Rodgers might just be OK at QB. Yes, his first TD pass was, um, awkward… but overall I thought he managed the game very well, in fact that TD pass was the only bad decision he made all day (throwing across the body while backing up, through three defenders. Yikes) and it worked out all right.

I was a little concered with the defense down the stretch. In the third, they pressured Tavaris Jackson really well, knocking him down (but not sacking him) on several plays. In the fourth, with the lead, they dropped the pressure and sat back in prevent, allowing Jackson to throw the ball freely. Jackson may not be a great QB but even he could find receivers with that much time and that much space.

Oh well. A win’s a win.

And yes, I am happy Favre did well in his first game too. And I am really looking forward to the Favre-Brady matchup in New York this weekend… oh, right. Damn.

Tags: Aaron Rodgers, Fantasy football, Green Bay Packers, Tom Brady