Take It To The Bank - Week 4 By Jeremy Miller/Brandon Anderson
09/25/08 With week three in the books, Jeremy Miller and Brandon
Anderson are back with their wild and crazy predictions they feel are as
good as gold. Of course, they don’t always agree on these and there is sure
to be some disagreements along the way. So where are they going with their
predictions this week? Read on to see the issues that these two feel you can
take to the bank for week four and beyond. From Jeremy Miller: -
The time to trade Michael Turner is now.
I know what you’re thinking, have I lost my mind? Nope, but I have looked at
his performances against two of the four worst run defenses in the league so
far, and compared it to the only decent defense he has played to date. I
then took a look at the rest of his schedule. There are five games against
teams currently in the top 3rd in fantasy points against for RB’s, five more
against the middle third, and only two against the bottom third (and one of
them is week 17, after it will even matter for most of us). Turner has made
him value fat by feeding on Detroit and Kansas City, take advantage of it.
You can get a king’s ransom for him if you deal him now, and his value will
never be higher. Now I’m not saying he’ll take a nose dive, but he will
perform as a RB2 the rest of the way, right now you can get RB1 value for
him. -
The time to trade for Thomas Jones is now.
Did the Jets put him in the witness protection program Monday evening? Well
the time to take advantage of this is now. I was high on him this preseason
and remain that way. Jones has been quiet outside of a nice opening week,
but the schedule shapes up nice for him over the next seven weeks. Take out
the bye and you have the Chiefs and Rams (bottom two in fantasy pts against
for RB’s) plus 3 middle tier teams. The only top tier run D in that stretch
is the Bills. The Jets should find themselves in these games till the end
which will mean some great opportunities for Thomas Jones to explode onto
the scene as an excellent fantasy option. -
The Cleveland @ Cincinnati game will not be the Wild West
shootout that many expect.
Everyone is looking to this game for both offenses to get on track. This
will not be a defensive struggle, but were not looking at the shootout we
saw early last season either. I don’t see either team getting out of the
20’s in this one, and while fantasy owners won’t be looking at complete duds
across the board, they won’t see gaudy, eye popping numbers either. -
The Saints will rebound and win the NFC South.
In a division that appears to be wide open without a clear cut favorite, I
expect the Saints to rise to the top. Everyone seems to be writing them off
due to their struggling defense and injuries on offense. By looking at their
schedule, I feel they still have a major run in them, and in a division
where 10-6 should win it, I see the Saints making a surprising run to sit
atop the division after week 17. The offense still has enough weapons and
their defense will settle down some. They will still have to win by putting
up major points, but they can still pull it off. -
Bounced Check: First
of all, I’m not sure how this is much of a bold prediction. The Saints were
everyone’s preseason favorite and they’re only a game out, and just a few
plays away from a 3-0 start. That being said, they weren’t going to win the
division a few weeks ago, and they sure aren’t now without two of their
biggest offensive playmakers. The team still has no run game, and one or two
big Bush plays a game doesn’t change that. More importantly, the Saints
still have no defense. For all the attention it got this offseason, New
Orleans just can’t stop opponents and it’s already killing them this season.
Only the Rams and Lions have allowed significantly more points, and now the
Saints lack the playmakers to consistently outscore opponents in shootouts.
My pick all season has been the Panthers and I still love their chances, but
if it’s not them, it’d be the Bucs or maybe even Falcons over the Aints. –
Brandon Anderson -
Kurt Warner will finish the year as a top 5 QB, after
starting all 16 games.
This is simply a hunch. History would indicate that it is just a matter of
time until Warner goes down with an injury. Well this time I feel history
will be wrong, and if it is, there is no reason Warner will not finish as a
top 5 QB. Since the Cardinals bye week in 2007, Warner has thrown at least 1
TD pass in every game except one including all three this season. In fact,
he’s thrown for more than one in every one of those games except one other.
So that is 10 of the last 12 game that he has thrown for multiple TD’s. If
you can find someone wanting to ditch him before the wheels fall off the
train, I’d do it; the wheels will stay on this time. From Brandon Anderson: -
Hope you enjoyed Ronnie Brown’s big 5 TD performance
(probably on your bench).
He won’t be scoring another 5 TD’s the rest of this season. The direct snap
gimmick worked awfully well, but there’s a reason it won’t continue to work,
and that’s because it’s a gimmick. Opponents will be ready now, and the
Dolphins will go back to mediocrity like usual soon enough. They always get
up for games with the Pats, and you knew Parcells would be sure to have
something special. But outside of the long TD this weekend, Brown is
averaging 3 yards a pop for under 100 yards in three games, and he’s still
recovering from that tough injury last season. Not only is Brown not back,
he will still be a spot start at best the rest of the way. -
Matt Forte is for real and has a great shot at winning a
heated Rookie of the Year battle.
The Bears are a team that knows they can win only by playing defense and
running the ball, and they look to have finally found the back they can
build around. Forte had another good game against another good defense this
week, and he is proving that he will carry this offense all season. He
should continue to get around 20 carries most weeks, and he’s showing that
he can be a great receiving threat as well. Add in a pretty easy schedule
and this guy could end up in this year’s top 10 RBs if he isn’t careful. -
You will have a miserable October if you do not sell high
on your Broncos.
It’s hard to match what the Broncos have done so far, with thrilling
victories (in some way or another) every week and awesome fantasy
performances. Cutler and Marshall look like the #1 guy at each position,
Royal looks great as well, and even Pittman seems like he is turning into a
usable RB2 who may find the endzone many weeks. Well, hopefully you’ve
enjoyed the ride, but the time to sell your goldmine is now. After this
coming week, the next month in store for them has games against the Bucs,
Jags, and Pats and then a much needed bye week. Denver’s fantasy stars
simply can’t maintain this breakneck pace, and they are worth more to some
opponent than on your roster. Trade them now at their peak. -
Bounced Check: Wow,
this is a pretty short sighted sell in my opinion. A few things I disagree
with here. One, given the price you paid for the Bronco stars were very
reasonable and means you should have plenty of fire power elsewhere to carry
you through a few normal production games from them. Secondly, the three
teams you mentioned are not elite defenses this season from the looks of
things so far. None of the three are in the top 3rd of the league in fantasy
points against this season. The last point and it’s a big one: look past the
October schedule! Yes, that may just be fantasy gold you’re looking at. A
November schedule that includes the Dolphins, Browns, Falcons, Raiders, and
Jets! Nice schedule for the teams to make the stretch run to the playoffs.
Not to mention, that if this is the route you wanted to take, waiting until
the play the Chiefs would have been wise as well, have a feeling their value
rises even more this weekend. These guys are a hold, if you sell, you’re
going to regret it. – Jeremy Miller -
The Baltimore Ravens are one of the worst 2-0 teams ever,
and they will be exposed as such in an ugly MNF game in Pittsburgh next
week.
Hey, 2-0 is 2-0 no matter who you play, and I don’t intend to knock that.
But going 2-0 against the Lesser Ohio Circuit is hardly impressive. The
Ravens have very little on offense with a mediocre run game and an abysmal
passing game. Joe Flacco has no TDs in either of his first two starts, which
wouldn’t be that big of a deal if he didn’t just get done playing 2 of the 5
worst pass defenses in the league. Yeah, the Ravens defense has looked great
so far, and kudos to them. But don’t think for a second that this team has a
shot at the playoffs, not with Flacco at the helm, or anyone else on this
roster for that matter. You might want to find something else to do with
your time next Monday night. -
The Tennessee Titans and Kerry Collins have a legitimate
chance to be undefeated when the Colts come to LP Field on Monday, October
27th.
First of all, yes, LP Field. Store that one away to win a bar bet. I just
learned about that myself. Apparently Adelphia went bankrupt and now the
naming rights are owned by Louisiana-Pacific. Anyway, back to the topic at
hand, did you notice that you were even more intrigued by that fact than you
are by this year’s Titans? Tennessee has been absolutely dominant on defense
so far, limited mistakes on offense, and has a legitimate 1-2 punch at RB
that gets the job done even if it pisses fantasy owners off. The Titans are
3-0 and have the Vikings, Ravens, and Chiefs next on the schedule before
that late October divisional clash with the Colts. You don’t think this team
can play shutdown defense against these 1-dimensional (or is it
0-dimensional for some of them) teams and score enough to win and get to
possibly the most unlikely 6-0 start in NFL history? I think they’ve got a
real shot.
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