Posts tagged ClintonPortis at FanHouse

Because we only have a one game sample thus far in the 2008 NFL season, and a near two-day break until there are more, we may as well analyze what we saw.

First and foremost, the Giants won that game on the sheer emotion they sported in the first quarter and a half. The last few years (think Colts over Saints and Steelers over Dolphins) the defending Super Bowl champ has been able to play their week one game in front of a rowdy home crowd, all the while being energized by the celebration of last season's Super Bowl victory. The same thing almost happened this year, as the Giants came out like gangbusters. The only difference is that the previous two kept pouring it on all game. This time, the Giants just ran out of gas by the middle of the second quarter.

Because we only have a one game sample thus far in the 2008 NFL season, and a near two-day break until there are more, we may as well analyze what we saw.

First and foremost, the Giants won that game on the sheer emotion they sported in the first quarter and a half. The last few years (think Colts over Saints and Steelers over Dolphins) the defending Super Bowl champ has been able to play their week one game in front of a rowdy home crowd, all the while being energized by the celebration of last season's Super Bowl victory. The same thing almost happened this year, as the Giants came out like gangbusters. The only difference is that the previous two kept pouring it on all game. This time, the Giants just ran out of gas by the middle of the second quarter.

While our full "Injuries to Watch" reports will typically run around the end of business on Friday afternoons, here is a quickie for tonight's season opener. We wouldn't want anyone getting burned before the first full weekend even commences. As always with the injury report, please feel free to add your two cents, updates, or rumors in the comments.

The New York Giants

Lawrence Tynes – Signals point to Tynes sitting out this week, but there is no structural damage to the knee, so he could be back as early as next week. The Giants signed 44 year-old Old Man Winter John Carney to handle kicking duties this week.

Ahmad Bradshaw – Bradshaw practiced all week and is good to go for tonight's game, but his carries could be a bit more limited than usual.

The Washington Redskins

Antwaan Randle El – Not like anyone cares, Randle El practiced all week and will be good to go against the Giants, despite being listed as probable with a broken hand. Enjoy those 32 yards on 2 receptions.

Jason Taylor - Listed as questionable, Taylor is going to be a game time decision, but the knee is definitely still irritated. Personally, I'd say it looks doubtful. As Coach Jim Zorn blathered, "(His playing status will) depend on how he warms up pre-game and how it feels pre-game. It's mainly an irritation more than it is structural. So it's not a matter of us being tentative with him. If it feels good and he can go, then he'll go." Hopefully, none of you are dumb enough to include single defensive players in your fantasy leagues - and if you are, you have a better option than Taylor.

Clinton Portis – Amazingly enough, Portis is not listed on the injury report (yet).

Road Chalk and Alaskan Pipelines is Will Brinson's NFL gambling column at FanHouse. Because everyone loves a loser.

Oh. Hello there. Do you like to gamble wager on sports make plays gamble? Excellent. You're in the right place. Each week here at RCAP I will be walking you, hand in hand, to the promised land of guaranteed winnings, should you choose to follow my advice. You will be 100% guaranteed to win at least 90% of your picks, almost 11% of the time.

And yes! There will be an occasional Anchorman joke or two. No, seriously though, I guarantee nothing. Instead, what I'll do is probably talk about something in this space, show you the lines, sprinkle some snarky commentary amid quasi-analysis and then make a selection.

Why should you keep coming back? Because, I, a career loser of at least two commas in sports wagering am either going to thrash Brandon Lang's picks -- I believe he will also be shown on FanHouse each week -- and end up with an insanely high winning percentage, or I will go down in flames faster than David Carr in the face of a two-backer blitz prevent defense.

Onto the winners.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: The young Jason Campbell made some nice strides last year ... but had a huge problem holding onto the ball too long. His fumbles, unnecessary sacks and bad decisions led to some poor end-of-game situations. Now with Jim Zorn calling the shots, Campbell will be in his 7th different system in eight years (counting his time at Auburn). Now he will be learning the West Coast offense that takes QBs a while to learn. Backup Todd Collins was golden in his duties last year and it was a bit of a surprise that he re-upped in Washington again. Colt Brennan is a project as the No. 3. Heat Index: 5

Running Back: Heading into last year, many people figured that the Redskins would go to a dual-back system. Didn't happen. Clinton Portis (who is always nicked up) brought it all season long, taking his place near the top of the yardage and TD rankings. Ladell Betts wasn't bad or anything -- he just didn't get the opportunities to shine as he did in 2006. Still, Betts is a very serviceable backup who could get more touches if Zorn really does want to run the football. Heat Index: 8

What do you have to do to win a job?

You'd think that being the leading rusher during the preseason would help. Apparently not. The Washington Redskins released Marcus Mason as part of Cut Day.

Mason led the NFL ... albeit in the preseason ... with 317 yards rushing. Sure, that number is kind of misleading since the Redskins played five preseason games while everyone else (but the Colts) played just four. But Mason was netting a 4.8 yards-per-carry average -- and that's not too shabby no matter when you do it.

The issue is another number: roster openings. Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts are locked in to the top two spots. Rock Cartwright was re-signed this offseason for his outstanding return duties (plus, he is an underrated running back who averaged 7.9 ypc this preseason). There really isn't another spot for Mason ... no matter how well he played.

Still, it won't be for nothing. Mason's rushing this preseason (which was 12 less yards than the rest of the Redskins combined) could get him a job somewhere else in the league.

This 10-team mock draft was comprised of Fantasy and NFL FanHouse contributors, and took place late last week. Standard scoring format (no PPR) of fleaflicker was used -- as the live draft took place in fleaflicker's really sweet draft room. We went with a 15-man roster because every league in the world has an even number of players on the roster ... we're spitting in their collective faces. Starters? QB, RB, 2 WR, TE, K, D/ST with one flex who can be a RB/WR/TE.

Round 1
1. Matt Watson -- LaDanian Tomlinson, RB, Chargers
2. Shane Bacon -- Adrian Peterson, RB, Vikings
3. Sean Lalley -- Steven Jackson, RB, Rams
4. Tosten Burks -- Brian Westbrook, RB, Eagles
5. Matt Snyder -- Joseph Addai, RB, Colts
6. Ryan Wilson -- Frank Gore, RB, Niners
7. Tom Herrera -- Clinton Portis, RB, Redskins
8. The Piler, JM -- Marion Barber, RB, Cowboys
9. Will Brinson -- Marshawn Lynch, RB, Bills
10. Tom Mantzouranis -- Randy Moss, WR, Pats

Well, we heart RBs in round one. It makes sense, since you only have to play one, to garner a studly runner at the top. There are a limited number of sure things. Interesting that Mantz went a Pats WR instead of QB here, but you can't go wrong with any of these first-round choices.

Look, I understand that attempting to predict regular season success by sorting through preseason (exhibition, whatever) statistics makes roughly the same amount of sense as the average Ewok, but there is one thing you can tell from preseason numbers. When your gut tells you a particular player is going to have a bad year, it never hurts to confirm that hunch by looking at their performance in the pointless games. Let's take a look at some of the duds so far through the 2008 exhibition season.

Larry Johnson - Everybody says Larry Johnson is done based on his insane workload, 2007 burnout, and support of the worst offensive line in the NFL, but let's take a look at the numbers. As suspected, on the second highest total number of carries (35) in the league, Larry piled up a paltry 118 yards. That's a whopping 3.3 yards per carry with one touchdown folks. His longest rush went for 18 yards. If you're scoring at home, put him down as "do not touch with a radiation suit."

Matt Forte - Being a Bears guy, my colleague Matt Snyder is gonna string me up for this one, but the Bears line is just downright terrible. Forte ran the ball 25 times thus far and has yet to touch the century mark with 86 rushing yards total. Unsurprisingly, he has not spent time in the endzone either. Do not consider this a testament of his inability, but rather confirmation that whoever lines up behind Orton is gonna get killed out there.

From the days of Olandis Gary (yes, that's him in the picture ... I can't believe I found one) taking over for Terrell Davis to last season's Earnest Graham breakthrough following Cadillac Williams' injury, fantasy owners have long seen backup running backs rise to prominence via injury to a teammate. Conventional wisdom states that you grab the backup runner to your highly drafted starting running backs, and the term handcuff is used to describe this theory.

This isn't always the case, though, unless you have a very large league. Say you have a 10 owner league with only five bench spots. Simply put, DeShaun Foster should not be taking up room on that bench.

Let's take a look at whether or not to handcuff starting RBs around the league in four different categories.

Must Cuff
Ryan Grant -- Grant held out, and now has a slight injury in camp. Meanwhile Brandon Jackson -- supposed to be the starting back last season before injuries and inexperience derailed him -- has been receiving rave reviews from the Packers coaching staff. You can still draft Grant in the 2nd round, but it is imperative to grab Jackson as well.

By most accounts, Colt Brennan had a spectacular senior season up until the Sugar Bowl, and then things took a turn for the worse. He was uneven at the Senior Bowl and the Combine and the quarterback many people thought might be a first round (or, at the very least, a first day) draft pick ended up going to the Redskins in Round 6.

But everything happens for a reason, and Brennan, currently somewhere on the depth chart behind Jason Campbell and Todd Collins, is embracing this opportunity to prove all his detractors wrong.

He has heard the criticism: He's too small. He's too fragile. He's a gunslinger. He's a system guy. He's a liability off the field. He doesn't stand a chance.

"I think I learned more than anything how to battle adversity," Brennan said. "I'm the kind of guy where I have a chip on my shoulder and have tough skin. A lot of times, that's what you need in the fourth quarter to win games, and I think I have that. I have so much experience having to battle through adversity. I'm never nervous. I'm never scared."

Brennan is facing pretty long odds, but who knows, if Collins continues to struggle, maybe Brennan wins the job. I don't see it happening, but, honestly, who had Mark Brunell as an NFL starting quarterback two years ago? Exactly.

In the meantime, Brennan will continue to work hard and do quirky things like wear tights to practice and play the ukulele. And who knows, if this all works out, maybe he can have a recurring role in one of Clinton Portis' many productions.