 | Sept 25, 2007 Coach Stapleton |  |
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Welcome to the new Studs & Duds section from RobinSports.com. Each week, we will examine the prime time players alongside the toilet bowl floaters for your enjoyment from the past weeks action. We will be giving out weekly awards to the best and worst performance all season. The awards are as follows: Let's start with the studs: ie. THE GOLDEN EGGS Golden Egg Award - Ronnie Brown, Mia RB
Honorable Mention:Brian Westbrook, Phi RB - Westbrook also had a monster game with 221 total yards and 3 scores. The only difference between him and Brown is that Westbrook has performed well for the whole season and the pressure for a breakout performance weighed much more heavily on the shoulders of Ronnie Brown. The other amazing part of Westbrook's game is that his backups punched in two more rushing touchdowns that could have been Brian's if he hadn't left the game due to injury! Donovan McNabb, Phi QB - What a week for McNabb. He spends all week getting blasted by the media and then he spends all Sunday blasting the Detroit Lions secondary. 381 passing yards and 4 touchdowns was a great way to silence the haters. Derek Anderson and Carson Palmer combined for 11 passing TDs in ONE game last week, so McNabb will have to work a little harder if he wants to win a Golden Egg! Kevin Curtis, Phi WR - Do you see a trend here? Eagle, Eagle, Eagle...well I can't help it that the guy caught 11 balls for 221 yards and 3 trips to the end zone! Nobody was really counting on Curtis in fantasy leagues this week (in fact, most people had him on the bench), so the slight edge here goes to Ronnie Brown. Anquan Boldin, Ari WR - 14 receptions for 181 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns is down right filthy! Heck, in most weeks that performance would be Egg-worthy. Unfortunately for Boldin, 181 yards was only the THIRD highest total for the week! Thumbs up for the effort, but you don't get to light the victory cigar this week. Roy Williams, Det WR - When you look at the Lions/Eagles numbers on paper, Roy's numbers almost look pedestrian! 9 catches for 204 yards and 1 touchdown was only good enough for the 4th best fantasy point total behind Curtis, Westbrook, and McNabb. You've got to be kidding me! Now let's take a look at which players likely cost their teams' games during opening week of the NFL Fantasy Season and earned their respective spot on: THE SEA PICKLES Sea Pickle Award - Drew Brees, NO QB
Honorable Mention:Steve Smith, Car WR - One catch for 10 yards...Stevey Boy's lucky that Drew Brees bailed him out. He may have done a nice job triggering the DeAngelo Hall implosion, but that's a piss-poor consolation prize for Smith fantasy owners. Rudi Johnson, Cin RB - Normally I wouldn't even mention someone for the Sea Pickle if they got injured in a game, but I feel the need to point out the timing of Rudi's injury. He didn't leave the game until the 3rd quarter and by that point he had only NINE rushing yards in 17 rushing attempts. When you're a stud running back and you're only rushing for a half a yard per carry, you better believe you'll be in line for a hot, stinky Pickle. Marc Bulger, StL QB - He may be playing with broken ribs, but I'm not sure that even broken ribs are a good enough excuse for throwing 3 interceptions. All-World offensive tackle Orlando Pace is done for the year, Steven Jackson is out a couple weeks with a partial groin tear, and Bulger himself is banged up. All I can say is that the situation in St. Louis looks awful and fantasy owners are going to have to ride out the storm until Bulger, Jackson, and company iron things out. Frank Gore, SF RB & Larry Johnson, KC RB - Rather than wasting two spots on these turds, I'm going to lump them into one. It's absolutely pathetic to see two of the top 5 running backs in this league gain a total of 81 rushing yards with no touchdowns. The Steelers and Vikings are tough against the run, but there are certain players that you expect to produce no matter the circumstances. Gore may have just had a bad week, but LJ may be building up his resume for the yearly Sea Pickle Award. Javon Walker, Den WR - Somebody forgot to remind Walker that there was a game on Sunday. That's the only explanation that I can think of for a No. 1 fantasy wide receiver catching only 2 balls for 10 yards. You have to go all the way back to 2003 to find a game in which Walker played and only compiled 10 yards. Javon started the year with back-to-back 100+ receiving efforts, so don't worry as this was just a bump in the road...but a pretty damn big one! |
I can't think of a player that absolutely NEEDED to have a big performance during Week 3 as much as Ronnie Brown did. There also isn't a player that fantasy owners NEEDED to have a solid performance as much as Brown. After a combined 65 rushing yards and zero touchdowns through the first two games, Ronnie exploded against the Jets to the tune of 112 rushing yards, 2 rushing touchdowns, 6 catches for 99 yards, 1 receiving touchdown, and 1 two-point conversion! Fantasy owners can breath easier for at least another week and Ronnie can go out and celebrate first ever Golden Egg Award!
He's the quarterback of a team that was one game away from the Super Bowl last year. His team is 0-2 this season and they really need him to come up big on Monday Night Football. Then, with the rest of the league watching Brees craps out 0 passing touchdowns and 4 interceptions?!?! When you Google search the word "unclutch," the first thing you now see is a big picture of Drew Brees. His performance this week was bad enough for him to win his first weekly Sea Pickle Award, but with only 1 touchdown pass and 7 interceptions in his first 3 games, I think Brees is actually working towards his personal goal of winning the dubious Sea Pickle of the Year Award!
