Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Beginning of Week 12 Thoughts

1) Congrats to Tim! His four year playoff drought is finally over!

2) I have another theory as to why Tim hasn't made the playoffs the last four years. In addition to spending too much time blogging, every year he picks a bunch of Panthers players who typically fail to live up to expectations. This year it's obviously different. 11-0 baby. #keepingpounding

3) Why are the Panthers playing so well this season? It has to do with Cam Newton's maturation at the QB position. He's got much better at dissecting defenses and throwing on the run. "The evolution of our offense," head coach Ron Rivera says, "has been as much the evolution of Cam. Well worth the read if you're a diehard Panthers fan.

4) Poor Tony Romo. He rushes back to the field from a collarbone injury to help a team that was probably not going to make the playoffs try and qualify for the playoffs. He gets rewarded with another collarbone injury.

5) There's some chatter now in Dallas about the team moving on from Tony Romo. He has hasn't been the perfect picture of health. In fact, one look at his wikipedia page reveals the crazy amount of injuries he's dealt with ever since he entered the league. I have to commend him on being a warrior and going out there week in and week out, but something's gotta give concerning his body. He's broken his left clavicle now three times. Crazy.


6) The injuries keep on piling up to a point where the NFL is becoming somewhat unwatchable. Some of the notable injuries from Week 12 included Big Ben (concussion), Jimmy Graham (rupture right patellar tendon), Gronk (bruised knee), Allen Hurns (concussion), Chris Johnson (broken tibula), Josh McCown (broken collarbone), and Tony Romo (broken collarbone). Add in Peyton (foot), Flacco (ACL, MCL tears), Forsett (broken arm), Freeman (concussion), Martellus Bennett (ribs), Willie Snead (knee), and Lynch (hernia), etc over the last couple of weeks. I'm sure I'm missing some others.

7) Continuing on this point, I'm starting to recognize less and less players once the stars go down. After Flacco went down last week, I was surprised to see that Matt Schaub was playing in his place. Like Hasselbeck, I thought he had been out of the league for two years now.

8) Is it just me? Or do we really have to pay closer attention to the waiver wire this year? Last year most of the best waiver pickups were gone by Week 4. This year it seems like there's a good waiver wire pick up every week. Why is this?

Two thoughts:
a) The alarming injury rate. Every week it seems like another star player goes down.
b) The NFL's new concussion protocol. With the NFL taking head injuries more seriously these days, there's less pressure among players to rush back to the field. It's now more and more likely that a player sits at least two or three weeks if they have a concussion. Ask Luke Kuechly. He sat for a month.

9) Since I am out of the playoff hunt now, I will now start offering free, unsolicited advice on who to pick up off the waiver wire. This was something I was reluctant to do before given my desire to also pick up these players.

Here are my waiver wire picks for Week 12:
a) David Johnson. He's well worth the buy with Ellington out at least a week and Johnson out for the season. He has the potential to take over starting duties even with Ellington back. Get him. He's good.
b) Scott Chandler. He's good for at least a week with Gronk out. Brady's got to throw the ball to somebody, and he's running out of options.
c) Doug Baldwin. He's come on strong the past 2/3 weeks due in part to the resurgence of Russell Wilson. 19 points in Week 10, and 32 points in Week 12.
d) Ryan Fitzpatrick. Worth a hard look given his showing last week. He's good for 18 points a game on average.
e) Brock Osweiler. Played well last week but it only translated into 15 FF points. Next week he plays the porous SD DEF. Worth the spot play.
f) Washington DEF. They play Dallas next week. Well worth the spot play in Week 12.
g) Vance McDonald. Worth a flyer at TE. He's score 10+ points the past two weeks. Gabbert's got to throw to somebody when he's in trouble.
h) Shaun Draughn. Former UNC alum. If you are desperate at RB, he may be worth picking up. His ceiling is probably 8-9 points.
i) Ryan Tanehill. He's had 18+ points the past three weeks against soft competition. Last week he hit 28 points. Not the biggest fan, but next week he plays a soft Baltimore DEF. Worth a one week flyer.

Here's who I would avoid:
a) Markus Wheaton. He had a great game last week, but I don't think he is going to keep up this type of play. Wheaton benefited from Sherman smothering Antonio Brown all game long. Should Landry play in Big Ben's place next week, don't expect Wheaton to get too many looks. Landry seems to prefer Bryant more.
b) Kyle Rudolph. I don't trust Bridgewater. He seems to have regressed some.
c) Devante Parker. Had a good performance last week. Still don't trust Tanehill or the Miami offense all that much. Plus, he's a rookie.



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