by Jim Coventry

Things don’t really change in the NFL as the years roll by. John Hansen made a great point when he recently wrote that he spends all that time on preseason stuff and once week one begins, it’s relevance changes immediately. When we look at the past year, it is a nice reference point for many things, but not a whole lot more.

We’ve already had starting players lose their jobs outright, had other players play into and out of timeshares, others have had significant role increases, and of course, many others have not played to our expectations. Add the daily injury mix to these factors and you realize that to be great at fantasy, even keeping up with a website that provides you with news and insights is a full-time job. So, how do you get the edge?

I have a secret weapon that most other fantasy football players do not have at their disposal, which I will gladly share with you: I learned how to be a speed reader. It was actually quite simple- I went to the Barnes and Noble Bookstore and spent $5.99 on the Evelyn Wood program on how to increase your reading speed in 14 [...]

Editor’s Note: I have not been posting to this blog much in the season. If you’re wondering why, see last week’s 30,000-word Game Previews. I’m going to post Jim Coventry’s Keeper Stuff in my place from time to time.  

The Abuse of the Workhorse RBs
by Jim Coventry

400 carries can end a career! As we’ve seen in the past, before last year, two RBs toted the rock over 400 times in a season (and one other ran it 392 times). Let’s learn from the past and apply the knowledge to the present:
Eddie George, when he was 26 years old, carried the ball 403 times (453 total touches) after a career high of 385 touches, which was an increase of 68 touches. After his amazing season, Eddie rebounded with 939 yards and 3.0 YPC. Eddie never reached 1,200 yds again.

Jamal Anderson, when he was 25 years old, carried the ball 410 times (437 total touches) after a career high of 319 touches, which was an increase of 118 touches. After his terrific year, he had two lost seasons and never broke 1,025 yds again.

Terrell Davis was 26 years old when he went over 2,000 yds and he did it on 392 carries (417 touches.) [...]

Small tidbit on my boy Owen Daniels for the Houston Texans. On Friday night, we have Texan LB Shawn Barber on the Sirius Radio show. Barber’s a big fantasy guy, so it was interesting to hear his thoughts on the Texans. He of course had good things to say about their skill players, but he was especially complimentary of Daniels, who he refered to as “OD.” According to Barber, the guys on the team *love* him, and that’s what you want to hear. The kid’s tough, and he’s caught everything thrown his way. He’s clearly the #2 option in this passing game, so by the end of the season, he’ll be a top-10 fantasy guy.

by Jim Coventry

Sometimes when talking about keeper leagues, we neglect the short-term help that helps us win the yearly titles, so I wanted to spend a little time talking about some roster help to help us get to another level of success. The following is a list of players that you can likely pry from someone and in leagues with smaller rosters, maybe you can snag one or two on the waiver wire.  QB:  Jeff Garcia (QB, TB) is off to a decent start under QB guru Jon Gruden, even though the weaponry is limited to Joey Galloway. Gruden has done wonders with older QB’s in the past (Rich Gannon and Brad Johnson,) so there’s no reason to think that Garcia won’t be able to throw for 2 TDs most weeks. A nice fantasy backup for bye weeks or injuries. 

Trent Green (QB, Mia) should find himself playing from behind quite a bit this year, and the running game looks poor, so Green may be forced to throw the ball a lot. Remember the great years he had in KC- he did that with next to nothing at WR. He can be a serviceable backup for you.  RBs: 

Sammy Morris (RB, [...]

I wanted to get this down and time stamped before the Sunday games, just in case. Crazy, I know, but what the hell.

I had a dream last night about the Saint offense, and I have some projections on four players based on my dream. Let’s see if they are close come Sunday:

Drew Brees – Threw for over 300 yards (I think it was 330) with 3 TDs
Deuce – Disppointed me a little, with only like 75 yards.
Colston – Really disappointed with like 1 catch for 8 yards
Henderson – Had a good game, like 70 yards and a TD

Nothing on Bush

And I realize this has absolutely no value or use at all.