What… no Donkey Punch?
November 2nd, 2009 | by bpdouglass |The only thing worse than watching my fantasy team suck eggs all day long was watching the Broncos and Ravens do everything I said they wouldn’t.
I said the Broncos wouldn’t be giving it up late and, as luck would have it, they gave all of it up late.
I said Ray Rice couldn’t win it on his own, and he almost did.
I said the Broncos would emerge victorious, and they didn’t.
I passed on watching it twice and decided to let it simmer on the DVR, going with a replay of the Nuggets game instead… and now that it’s late I simply wanted to stop in and offer my thoughts without the filter of a more analytical eye towards the game (after Atlanta/New Orleans tomorrow, I’ll take it in with a more discerning eye).
- I would suggest Rice was trumped only by one or two, maybe three, rushers on the day in terms of solidifying overall value to their teams (not to mention fantasy owners) today. The numbers weren’t outstanding… but the way this kid plays, and that surge on the touchdown dive, you can see it coming. I don’t imagine a single owner will be questioning if he’s worth the fantasy start the rest of the way.
- It was a very, very average day for Kyle… but there weren’t any turnovers. Don’t suppose you noticed but I was keeping track. He was pressured a bit but suffered only two sacks, he didn’t drop a single ball, and he didn’t throw a single pick. I’m sorry if you disagree, but as a Chicago fan that has watched this guy play for some time, that is nothing short of astounding.
- You almost forget Terrell Suggs is on this team. I didn’t take him into consideration at all in the pregame sharing session as I was so focused on the lack of discipline by Ray Lewis and Ed Reed (and they were at it today as well… I thought those penalties would open the door for Denver but they never kicked it in).
- We understood special teams was a problem coming in and today it came back to bite ‘em in the ass.
- I’m sick and f*@#in’ tired of watching Eddie Royal do nothing in these games.
- Rodney Harrison and Tony Dungy had a fantastic look at the Derrick Mason touchdown pass, showing how most folks would figure Andre Goodman blew the coverage when, in fact, Brian Dawkins was caught out of position. Harrison noted, “When players get older, the veterans, maybe we get a little lazy and we don’t back peddle and get in position like we should. For some reason Dawkins was shadowing Champ Bailey, he got caught standing around, and that gave Mason all the window he needed.” That is the first time I’ve heard Dawkins called out as a negative this season, and it was justified. He was an impact player against New England and today, while I would hesitate to call him a problem, he just wasn’t on his normally-inflated plane of performance.
(And that is my third plea of the day for some organization to start helping my ass out with more video clips… I need Football Night in America posted in chunks on a YouTube channel stat.)
- If you had told me the Ravens were going to commit eight penalties, I would have bet the car payment the Broncos would win.
- I’m still not sure how the game got so out of hand at the end. It’s almost like you got lulled into the wave of inept, boring play by Denver and suddenly the Ravens were scoring in all kinds of ways. Their numbers weren’t all that great. There weren’t any fantasy studs of the week in this game, and the Broncos still lost by 23. Any time a team wins by more than three touchdowns there should be at least one fantasy stud. Let’s give it to kicker Steven Hauschka.
- Brandon Marshall over his last two games: nine catches, 73 yards, no touchdowns. If this continues into next week (and it shouldn’t… the Steelers aren’t so good in the defensive backfield), where do we put the over/under for his sideline blowup?
That’s all I’ve got. Good riddance. Sorry we got it wrong. We shouldn’t have forgotten about Suggs, we shouldn’t have underrated Rice (but to be honest, we really didn’t… we just overestimated Denver’s ability to stop him), and we should be hoping to see something done to improve on special teams.
Thanks for stopping in.
By Andrew on Nov 5, 2009
Eddie Royal, we want you back. Brandon Marshall, we want you back. McD is coaching the way Sparano coached the Dolphins last year. Smash mouth, ball posession, no mistake, conservative style coaching. And it has worked. But it’s tough to watch all the weapons be used so sparingly. They are almost like huge Grey Hounds(K-9s) that have become house pets. They are like any other home-bound pooch, nothin exciting, they chew your socks and get hair all over your couch. Like any other doggy. But when you get them out of the house and let them unleash their beastly nature, they go crazy. So when McD needs like 10 points in the 4th quarter(like the Pats game) he can let them loose and they go and make plays. I can’t tell how much is the scheme and play calling or if it’s Orton just not making any pass that doesn’t have an 88% chance of being caught by his guys. I mean he is playing so conservative that if there is a D Back within 4 yards of a reciever he doesn’t test it. It’s worked great so far but I wonder if that will hurt in more games like the Ravens game. At least we have those Grey Hounds if we get into the playoffs. We can let them piss all over the other team’s cletes.