Week 10 Top Performers, & Under Achievers

I throw 4 touchdowns and we still can't win?

If you don't believe that the NFL is a QB's league then open up your eyes and look around. 4 out of the top 5 fantasy scorers Sunday were QB's; while 8 out of the top 15 were QB's. Coincidentally those top 4 QB's came from only 2 games (KC vs. Denver & Pittsburgh vs. New England); in which all 4 combined for 14 touchdowns, and over 1,500 yards of passing.

Statistically the top QB and WR came from the KC side of the ball as Matt Cassel went 35/49 for 4 scores throwing 2 of those touchdown to Dwayne Bowe who also brought in 186 yards on 13 catches. Granted these stats are a little inflated due to Kansas City having to abandon the run in order to catch up with Denver, however, as a fantasy owner of either guys you'll take the production however it comes.

While on the ground the damage was done in Jacksonville and Buffalo as Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Jackson helped propel their teams to wins. MJD ran the ball 24 times for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns while Fred Jackson had 25 carries 133 yards and caught a pass for a touchdown as well.

Meanwhile in Pittsburgh Rob Gronkowski showed why the Patriots used such a high draft pick on him to replace Ben Watson hauling in 5 catches; 3 of them for touchdowns.

Now on to some guys who need to earn their keep...

It would be an easy write to call out Peyton Manning for only having 185 yards and no touchdowns against a bad Bengals D, but its without saying that Manning can be forgiven for having an off day. However, the combo of Vince Young and Kerry Collins combined for 143 yards and 1 score and a pick. Speaking of lowered expectations, Cedric Benson who is looking more and more like a 1 year comeback story was supposed to dominate a bad Colts running defense yet ran the ball 14 times for 24 yards. Speaking of domination, Randy Moss has had a history of great first games with a new team, yet only caught one ball for 26 yards narrowly beating out Brandon Marshall's 3 catches for 34 yards as the worst performance by a top tier WR in Miami.

Week Nine Top Performers and Under Achievers

Week Nine thus far was the week of the RB as 3 out of the top 5 fantasy scorer's were RB's. If this were the NBA Peyton Hillis would be making strong considerations for comeback player of the year as he continues to make Josh McDaniel look stupid for trading him to Cleveland for a 3rd string QB in Brady Quinn. Meanwhile in Houston Arian Foster took on the bulk of the Texans offense in a losing effort to the surging Chargers, and Adrian Peterson worked to help keep Brad Childress employed for another week in Minnesota.

Here are your week nine top scorers:

• Against the Patriots Hillis rushed 29 times for 184 yards and 2 touchdowns. 
• Arian Foster had a combined 197 yards and 3 touchdowns, nearly 4, against the Chargers. 
• Adrian Peterson had 81 yards on the ground, and 63 through the air with 2 touchdowns against AZ. 
• The Cowboys and Jon Kitna kept up their losing ways by giving the Packers defense 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and scoring only one touchdown (a pass from Kitna to Dez Bryant) on them in a lopsided defeat. 
• As I tweeted last night; you could give Philip Rivers a couple of homeless guys and he would find them in the end zone. Rivers threw for 295 yards and 4 touchdowns; 2 a piece to a backup Te (Randy McMichael and Seyi Ajirotuto)

On the flip side here are some guys who underperformed you into a possibly loss yesterday:

• Matt Schaub was mediocre again yesterday as he threw for 267 yards and 1 score plus an interception. And you spent a 4th round pick on him?
• How do you follow up a 117 yard/ 2 touchdown performance against the Vikings? You run 9 times for 14 yards marking the first time in 6 weeks he didn't find the end zone. 
• One trade that McDaniels may have gotten right was the Brandon Marshall trade. Or maybe it's just that Chad Henne is an interception waiting to happen. Marshall hauled in 5 receptions for 30 yards. Save the Sunday night game against the Jets Marshall has no touchdowns for the season. 
• He's owned in over 80% of standard leagues, was probably started in most due to a 6 team bye week, and yielded his owners a 0 receptions for 0 yards performance equalling 0 points combined over the last two weeks. And you still own him why?

Check back for later for Week 9 trends and topics...