Professor Ellis D Trails Week Two Syllabus

Hello students, this week has been a tumultuous week to say the least. Another wedding anniversary in the books and another year safe from the wife’s wrath. We met on the day of the Tragedy in New York. I often think if not for the events of that horrific day, I would not have met or talked with my future wife at all. I always have mixed emotions on 9/11 as I mourn with my country yet celebrate with my wife of our special day that we came together. I will never regret our choice of getting married on that day, as it is a pivotal day that has changed my life forever. That is enough personal incite this for now, onto football.

Welcome to Week 2. Last week was a road warrior week. 11 Road teams won out of 16 games. That does not happen too often. Here is a look at the Fantasy outlook for Week 2.


Sunday, September 17, 2006 1:00PM

CAR @ MIN
Carolina has a knack for playing poorly to open the season. They will get their revenge this week. Minnesota barely escaped Washington with a win.

Jake Delhomme – It all comes down to if Steve Smith is playing; he showed that against Atlanta, didn’t he?
DeShaun Foster – Would someone please tell him that he is not an NFL back. I was high on him a couple of years ago, but he just doesn’t seem to have that playmaking ability anymore.
Steve Smith – Starter on your team if he plays. Check with geewill on Sunday, if it comes down to it.

Chester Taylor – He took 31 carries against the ‘skins. How long until he hits the wall? It won’t be sooner, but it will be later.
Troy Williamson – New Nickname the sieve, or the human colander.

DET @ CHI
Roy Williams guarantees victory. That’s what the Bear’s awesome defense needs is, ammo. Good job Roy. Don’t get hurt this week. Detroit almost pulled the upset on Seattle, but almost means nothing. Chicago’s defense looks in mid-season form, the surprising thing is so did their offense.

I wouldn’t start a Lion’s player even if Bryan Lamb told me to.

Grossman – The Lion’s d-line is underrated and looked pretty good at home. Can GrossMan repeat his performance against the Packers? This one looks like it could be similar to the FG game last week in Detroit.
Thomas Jones - He is the real anchor of the offense and should be starting on your team as well.
Moose - Moose looks like he has a connection with GrossMan. 70 yards a TD seem feasible.

HOU @ INDY
Indy should be favored by 50. This one won’t be close.

Carr – Freeney was handled by pork chop last week. That won’t happen again. If Freeney doesn’t play, Mathis will get enough for both of them.
Eric Moulds – He will see some late game yards and catches.
Samkon Gado – It will take him a little while to get used to the team, so for now Ron Dayne will be the backup. Ewwwwww.

Peyton Manning – How much did he want to gloat last week that he beat his brother? You know he did. It's back to business this week at home. 350 and 4 Td’s
Joe Addai – This is the week he breaks out. Rhodes only plays because he knows the passing schemes and you will start to see Joey more and more
Marvin and Reggie – Both will have big weeks. It is the f’ing Texans.

NOS @ GB
Reggie Bush seemed like he was involved in every play last week and I was just waiting for the one that he doesn’t get up. It’s a comin’. GB looked horrendous. We knew they were bad, but that bad. They will look to rebound this week.

Drew Brees – I saw as many short hopped passes as completions, maybe more. The 10 million dollar fraud gets another week to show off mediocrity.
Reggie Bush – He should put up some good numbers all over the field this week
Colston – Who? The reason Stallworth was made expendable. He is a rookie and will be inconsistent, but could be a sneaky play this week. Where is Joe Horn?

Brett Favre – Looks to comeback with a nice week this week. He destroyed them last season in one of their few bright spots.
Ahman Green – His stats tell you that he had a nice week against a tough opponent. Don’t buy in just yet. The pack were still running when late in the game when Chicago was playing purely pass. He played hard which tells me that at home against the Saints, he is still a nice play.
Donald Driver – Easily a buck and score this week.
Do the Packers send any of their TE’s out in the secondary for a pass?

NYG @ PHI
The battle for the NFC East begins right here.

Eli Manning – Said it before and I’ll say it again. He is average at best. The Giants have talent and he is holding them back.
Tiki – He is a known Eagle killer, I hope the new D-line can contain him, but I fear they will only slow him down enough to allow Big Brandon to score some points.
Brandon – He is a monster.
Plaxico Burress – Lito out, Rod Hood in. Robin Hood takes from the rich and gives to the poor. Rod Hood takes from Eli and gives to McNabb. Plaxico scored 1, count it 1 inter division TD last year. It was against the Eagles, but that game meant nothing. He seems to vanish in big games.

Donavon McNabb – The unquestioned leader of the Eagles offense is back in his comfort zone. Look out NFC
Brian Westbrook - He does it all. He runs, catches, He can return kicks. Only a starter in fantasy in ppr leagues.
Donte Stallworth - He looked great in the opener, but when does the Honeymoon end, it has to sometime. For right now, he is just what this team needed.

OAK @ BAL
Oaktown looked more like sucktown on Monday night, and get to have a short week and go to Baltimore after the Ravens completely dominated. Oakland = 0-2.

Aaron Brooks – He seriously could be sacked 25 times this week.
Lamont Jordan – His stock is plummeting, fast.
Randy Moss – I am sure that he is getting pissed that the spotlight is not on him. I say 2 catches this week, but one is a highlight reel TD.
Jerry Porter – He’ll continue to get paid to ridicule his own team. Maybe he can sit in a balcony somewhere like Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets and badger Aaron all game.

Steve McNair – He should have a nice game as Oakland’s rush defense is better than their pass defense despite what you saw on Monday Night. Jamal is good and all, but he is not LT2.
Jamal – He’ll rack up most of his yardage late running out the clock.
Derrick Mason – Consistent, 7 or 8 balls for 95 and a touch. I know he loves having Steve back as much as Steve loves being back with him
Todd Heap – Gates scored on Monday and the middle of the defense is suspect. If Heap can go, look for a real nice game.

TAM @ ATL
John Gruden was pissed. His team was handled last week and suddenly Simms Jr. doesn’t look like the poised leader. Calm down, Baltimore has a way of making young Qb’s look worse than they are, hell look at what they did to their own young QB. If Vick has one team that he cannot beat, (besides the EAGLES) it is the Buccs and they are a hungry bunch this week.

Chris Simms – Kearney is hurting but will play. Abraham is hurting as well. Gruden needs to keep these two bay; maybe injuries will take care of that for him. Simms won’t have a huge week, but he will right the proverbial pirate ship.
Caddy – Back Spasms hurt, losing hurts more. He will be ready to play and you can be assured that there will be heavy dose of Caddy this week.
Joey Galloway – He is not the same guy from last year, but he is from the year before that.

Michael Vick – Why was all this love coming from the Media about him this week. He completed 10 passes and was under 50%. Terrible. His o-line and RB’s won that game, I just don’t understand it and never will. His deal with the Devil certainly does not include me.
Warrick Dunn – Dunn owners were happy to see the amount of carries Dunn got last week. It won’t happen this week against a staunch Tampa Defense.
Michael Jenkins – When everyone was hyping White, I was hyping this guy. Too bad his QB sucks, he could be real good.
Alge Crumpler – 5 catches 55 yards and TD. This will pretty much happen every week.

CLE @ CIN
Carson didn’t do much against KC last week because he didn’t have to. He is a much better QB than Drew Brees and will exploit the pass defense of the Browns. Cleveland’s offense made New Orleans defense look good. Justin Smith should have a field day.

Charlie Frye – The growing pains continue. He needs to stay in the pocket. The announcers kept saying that he is best when he is moving, well on my screen he looked awful when he was moving.
Rueben Droughns – The Denver luck has worn off.
Braylon Edwards – He will score very inconsistently this year while growing with Frye.
Kellen Winslow – He will be the only player that I would start on Cleveland on a regular basis. He gets open and makes catches and will provide a safety valve for Frye on many occasions

BUF @ MIA
Buffalo lost more than the game to NE. They lost Troy Vincent for the year and may lose spikes for a game or two. They were already short at DB to begin with. Is last year happening again? Miami comes home after a long layoff from opening day. Ronnie Brown should feast on the hurting defense.

JP Loseman – He looked capable at times of being an actual QB in this league. I don’t buy it. He still sucks. However, he is going against a sub par secondary and should be able to light it up with Evans a couple of times.
Willis McGahee – Miami or Bust!! He actually gets both.
Lee Evans – See Loserman

Daunte Culpepper – Buffalo’s defense isn’t as tricky as Pitt and Daunte will thrive being at home this week. Not a lot of TD’s, but will get plenty of yardage.
Ronnie Brown – Buf missing some people at LB and S. Their line isn’t good enough to stop him. Easily over a hundred and a good shot at 1-2 TD’s
Chris Chambers – Going to lay off the invisible juice that kept him out of the first half last week. 110 yards no scores.

Sunday, September 17, 2006 4:05PM

ARI @ SEA
Arizona is not playing San Fran this week. Kurt Warner is going to notice a difference. Seattle had some of the worst play calling ever against Detroit and looked to be the bums on the road again. Well they are back at home to smash the Cards

Kurt Warner – He will always get a lot of yards because of who his WR's are and from being behind late in games, but his INT total will balloon starting this week
Edge – Poor, poor edge, that o-line is just terrible at run blocking. He will get better as the year goes on and the line has time to get better together. I would get him at a buy low price in a couple of weeks, when edge owners are seething.
The Boldin and the Fitzgeraldaful – Two studs that play every week regardless of the opponent.

Matt Hasselback – A gimpy D-jax and sub par WR’s cause him to lose some stats and hand off to SA a lot.
SA – Where was he last week? He was the victim of play calling that seemed to try and not score. They realize where their money is this week and give him the rock.
D-Jax – Branch arrives but might not play for a couple of weeks. This gives his bones more time to rub against each other and further deteriorate his career.

STL @ SF
The Rams came out and beat the Broncos in a game that almost no one was giving them a chance. Haslett has quietly put together a nice defense and that kid Hill can play. S-Jax and Bulger should dominate this week. San Fran played well against the Cardinals, but Gore will have to be even more slippery without Larry Allen and trying to get by LaRoi Glover and gang.

Marc Bulger – This is one of those games that when you look at your fantasy schedule you know who you are starting and you do it with a smile.
S-Jax – This guy is a train and the football field is his track. San Fran’s defense does not have an answer for him.
Tory Holt – He’ll get into the endzone this week after being targeted several times unsuccessfully last week.

Alex Smith – Like Loseman, showed some promise and poise last week and like Loseman, I’m not buying it. Seattle will be a much more difficult test.
Frank Gore – He has skills that pay the bills. Seriously, he can lick a mean stamp. He is a great runner north-south and laterally. He can catch and will be a top ten back this year in ppr leagues if not non-ppr leagues as well.
Antonio Bryant – He had a nice game last week. Time to disappear.
Vernon Davis – He showed why he is the highest paid TE in the league. Honestly, it surprised me to see he was this ready. He needs to work on some blocking though. I hope his hip doesn’t hinder him too much.

Sunday, September 17, 2006 4:15PM

TEN @ SD
San Diego better watch out playing these cake games at the beginning of their schedule, it might hurt them once they play an actual team. Meanwhile, enjoy the onslaught. At least it allows Rivers to grow at a beneficial pace. Tennessee played Young briefly. Henry vultures the TD’s and Collins was Collins.

Kerry Collins – SD had nine sacks on the road at Oakland. They are home this week.
TEN running game – I would avoid it like the plague and not because they are playing San Diego.
Drew Bennett – Only player on TEN worth a start.

Phillip Rivers – I am starting him, but that is because my backup is Chris Simms He might have a really good game here. Sleeper of the Week.
LT 2 – What more can I say about LT2? He will continue to prove that he is the #1 back in football.
Antonio Gates – If every young QB had this guy on their team, then there may not be as many busts as you see at that position.

KC @ DEN
KC left the Cincy game knowing one thing, which is one more thing that Trent Green knew after Geathers got done with him. Clean hit by the way. Football is violent. Nufced. Denver lost thanks to Plummer forgetting which team he was on. They lost the first one last year on the road too. Don’t worry Bronco fans.

Damon Huard – Yeah ok.
LJ – If losing half the o-line wasn’t enough, he loses his veteran leader QB as well. OUCH!!
Tony G – Huard will look for him a lot.

Jake Plummer – He is not the Jake of old, I promise. He is back at home where he can let the Bells run free and lead his team to victory.
Tatem Bell – I would roll the dice with Tatem this week. He is the better player. Mike is just too little and not fast enough to overcome the size predicament.
Rod Smith – Hey Jake, I am one of the best WR’s in the last decade, throw me the damn ball!!!
Javon Walker – Owwy, I hurt my finger. I sure hope that he is not a baby. Too much talent to waste. He will finally start to come into his own this week.

NE @NYJ
Tom Brady looked human last week, but Laurence Maroney didn’t. He will be a star. Was it just me, or did NE defense just look old? BB is a mastermind and will always get the best out of his players. I just fear for their sake that the talent is dwindling. For the Jets, Penny is back. Don’t get too excited, I would like to see him play into week 5 without any shoulder discomfort. Meanwhile, Cole’s owners rejoice.

Tom Brady – The Eldest and least known member of the Brady Bunch will need to spread the ball around even more with branch definitely out of the picture. At least the distraction is gone.
Corey Dillon – Make room for Maroney. Corey looks slow compared to his predecessor.
Laurence Maroney – See Dillon
Ben Watson – The Pats #1 receiver this year will get in the endzone this week.

Sunday, September 17, 2006 8:15PM

WAS @ DAL
Game #2 of the NFC East rivalry showdown weekend is the Sunday Night Game on NBC. Two ancient QB’s do battle against some good defenses. The last primetime matchup of the two saw Moss catching two late bombs to end the game and pull out a victory. Washington continued their history of disappointing FG attempts at end of games with Hall’s miss to tie. TO show sauntered into Jax last week and look good for a quarter. The game is 4 quarters though. Bledsoe continues to perfect his impersonation of a statue.

Mark Brunell – This is the game where he gets hurt. Mark it down.
Clinton Portis – The injury is going to be there all year. Can Kid Bro Sweets handle it? I know he can.
The Three Blind Mice – See how they run. That’s pretty much it.
Chris Cooley – He sucks because is not the fantasy playoffs yet, yeah, that’s the ticket.

Drew Bledsoe – What’s that? I can’t hear you with Bill’s cock in your mouth. Drew is done and the fumbles will persist this weekend.
Julius Jones – He can play and has what it takes to handle the ball for an entire game. Too bad his relationship with the Tuna will never allow him to do so.
TO – You have to start him no matter how much you may hate him. One note, did you see how winded he was in the third quarter on Sunday?
Terry Glenn – He secretly hates TO more than anyone else.
Jason Witten – Tough guy, throwback player. He blocks and does everything asked of him. Got to love this guy.

Monday, September 18, 2006 8:30PM

JAX @ PIT
Jacksonville showed resilience and strength in their win over the Cowgirls. They could have let it get away, but they didn’t. Big Ben should be all better now and once again at the helm of the Steelers offense to lead them to victory.

Lefty – Jax beat Pitt on the road last year, but Maddox was the QB. Lefty won’t have much room to throw in this one. He’ll put up some yards, but will cause some turnovers as well.
Fred Taylor – Pitt cannot be run on at home. If you start him, hope for a sneaky TD, ala Ronnie Brown last week.
Matt Jones – I just really enjoy watching him play. He has adapted so well at WR in such a short amount of time. You just can’t teach talent like he has. I would put him down for a TD each week out of sheer determination.
Mercedes Lewis – Huge, athletic, soft hands. If he can go, he can make a difference in any game.

Big Ben – Motorcycle wreck, appendectomy, what else can happen to him to hinder him from playing this year. Next thing you know he’ll be in the LOCKERROOM and by chance break his jaw walking into Bill Cowher’s chin. Big Ben, though, consistent, is not a stats guy and even with Hayward gone for the year doesn’t make a strong play this week
FWP – Dallas showed that Jax can be run on with some counter plays. Look for Willie to use these counters to open up some big plays.
Hines Ward – No one is happier that Big Ben is back.
Heath Miller – Don’t expect any 89 yard TD’s this week. Jack Del Rio already has his hand on the red flag. This one should be pretty low scoring anyways.




















Top QB’s for Week 2
1. Peyton Manning
2. Marc Bulger
3. Jake Delhomme – If Steve Smith plays
4. Donavon McNabb
5. Kurt Warner
6. Carson Palmer
7. Matt Hasselback
8. Tom Brady
9. Jake Plummer
10. Brett Favre















Top RB’s for Week 2
1. LT
2. SA
3. Tiki Barber
4. Ronnie Brown
5. Steven Jackson
6. Larry Johnson
7. Rudi Johnson
8. Frank Gore
9. Jamal Lewis
10. Clinton Portis














Top WR’s for Week 2
1. Chad Johnson
2. Torry Holt
3. Terrell Owens
4. Donald Driver
5. Randy Moss
6. Marvin Harrison
7. Larry Fitzgerald
8. Steve Smith
9. Reggie Wayne
10. Hines Ward



I find each year after week one, fans and fantasy owners tend to get a little hype about what some players or teams have or have not done. I just have to say that it is week one and although strange things do happen on a weekly basis, the NFL thrives on regularity and consistency. I assure you things will come back to what you are normally used to.


As Always go with your gut and don’t look back..

Professor Ellis D Trails