Fantasy Focus: Week 7

As you gear up for this weekend’s upcoming games by realigning your fantasy rosters to optimize matchups, let’s take a quick look back at last week’s studs. (Note: Points listed are directly from the First and Goal Fantasy League and may not represent point totals in your individual leagues)

*Fantasy Stud of the Week*
QB: Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals — From relative fantasy mediocrity to fantasy stud, Palmer gave fans a flashback to 2005 when he was one of the best QBs in the league. Throwing for 233 yards and a whopping 5 touchdowns, Palmer accumulated 34 fantasy points last week, earning him fantasy stud of the week honors.

RB: Ricky Williams, Miami Dolphins — Williams had a great an awful performance on Sunday. He carried the ball 8 times for 12 yards. Oh, and a career long 68 yard touchdown run. In total, Williams had 80 rushing yards, 3 touchdowns, and added 12 receiving yards. Not exactly a typical best-in-the-league outing, but he did score 27 fantasy points, which was the most of any running back in Week 7.

WR: Miles Austin, Dallas Cowboys — Just two weeks ago, Austin broke onto the fantasy scene with a shocking performance. I called sleeper alert, and Austin lived up to it. Last week, Austin once again had an impressive outing, reeling in 8 receptions for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns, amassing 29 fantasy points. In the past three weeks, Austin has put up some of the best numbers in the league of any receiver. Not bad for a guy who started the season on the bench!

TE: Vernon Davis, San Francisco 49ers — Once again proving to be one of the best pass receiving tight ends, Davis caught 7 passes for 93 yards and 3 touchdowns. Anyone who says tight ends are just an extra blocker clearly never watched Davis play. His 27 fantasy points in Week 7 were a huge contribution to anyone who didn’t have him on the fantasy bench for some unfathomable reason (I am dumb).

K: Nick Folk, Dallas Cowboys — Being named the top fantasy kicker in Week 1 on a technicality (it was really a three-way tie), Folk earned his spot in Week 7 outright. Kicking 3 field goals, all from 30+ yards out, and tacking on 4 PATs, Folk finished the day with 14 fantasy points, most amongst kickers in Week 7.

D/ST: San Diego Chargers — In what is becoming a “who plays the Chiefs this week” position, the Chargers were the lucky team last week. Facing the lowly Chiefs, the Chargers allowed just 7 points, tallied 4 sacks, 3 interceptions, a touchdown, and one ever-elusive blocked kick. The unit’s 22 fantasy points were the most scored by any defense in Week 7.

ROOKIE: Shonn Green, New York Jets — The first rookie highlighted here that is not a kick returner, Green showed why he was one of the most touted running backs of this year’s rookie class. Filling in for an injured Leon Washington, Green ripped off 144 yards and two touchdowns in a breakout performance. His 26 fantasy points in Week 7 were not only tops amongst rookies, they were the sixth most points of all fantasy players. Of course no one should be surprised. Green was able to run all over a very good Penn State defense last year, costing the Nittany Lions a shot at the national title (I’m not bitter or anything).

Check back next week for another edition of Fantasy Focus as we recognize the week’s best fantasy performers. Best of luck to you in your respective fantasy football leagues!

Note: To quickly view all of my Fantasy Focus posts, simply click the Fantasy Focus banner at the top of any such post!

Heisman Highlight: Larry Kelley

Name: Larry Kelley
Position: End
College: Yale Bulldogs
Class: Senior
Winning Year: 1936 – 2nd Award
Official Heisman Profile: Click Here
 
 
 

Interesting Notes: Kelley was the first player to receive the “Heisman Trophy” after the Downtown Athletic Club changed the name of its outstanding player award. Kelley never played professional football, opting instead for the teaching, coaching, and business fields. Kelley was elected to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1969.

Featured Card: 1955 Topps All American #26. As many old time college football stars, Kelley’s only true rookie card is featured in this legendary set. This card can be yours for anywhere from $5 to $925, mostly depending on condition and whether or not it is officially graded. Most eBay listings fall within a $30-$40 range.

NOTE: You can find all of my Heisman Highlight Features by clicking the post banner above.

Why Do I Bother?

All I try to do is provide some useful information for my readers and possibly add in some interesting commentary. This is not my full time job (although that would be sweet), so I work on my blog when I can (and obviously I did not have a lot of time for it last week). I try to do my research ahead of time. I plan out when I want to publish various posts. I try to do everything right.

But the card companies continue to befuddle me. Turns out UD Black was pushed back to a 11/11/09 release. Are sets ever released on their original release date anymore?!?

Thanks to beaverman for pointing this out to me…

Live Today: 2009 UD Black

UPDATE: Apparently UD once again delayed a product release. So just take this post as another preview post. The new release date is scheduled for 11/11. Although I am sure that is extremely tentative right now anyway.

After experiencing huge success in the basketball market, Upper Deck is bringing its famed Black line to football. Delivering all on-card autographs and very high end inserts, 2009 UD Black may be the most highly anticipated product of the year. This ultra high end set is being released in cases of 10 boxes of 2 packs of 2 cards each.

The “base” set consists of 90 veterans and 42 lustrous autographed rookie cards. Along with the base set, Black also has a host of on-card autograph inserts including base card auto parallel, Veteran/Legends Lustrous PETG Patch Auto, Biography Signatures, Film Slides PETG Signatures, Single Player Quad Jersey Auto, Dual Player Jersey Auto, Quad Player Jersey Auto, Dual Autographs, Triple Autographs, Quad Autographs, Dual Manufactured College Pennants Auto, Cut Signatures, and Dual Cut Signatures. Additionally, all of the autographed cards, except for the Biography Signatures, Cut Signatures, and Dual Cut Signatures have a blue variation parallel that is numbered 1/1.

 

 

Each tiny thumbnail leads to a full sized image

Note: These images were released by Upper Deck several months ago as part of their press release. Actual card images may differ from those shown above.

Per Box Breakdown: 2 packs of 2 cards each (4 total). Each pack will contain 1 base card featuring a manufactured American flag patch and 1 hard-signed autographed card. Each case will contain 1 Cut Signature or Dual Cut Signature card. Boxes are currently selling in the $210 range.

This set is actually pretty exciting. I don’t know that I’ll ever be a true fan of super high-end products like this, but the cards do look really nice, well designed, and it never hurts to feature on-card autographs. It is also great to see a completely new product come to the football world this year. I realize this product has been around in basketball for a little while, but a lot of collectors do not cross between sports, so it’s still a new concept for most football collectors. Upper Deck is showing that after a few years of boring designs and products, they still know how to be innovative and imaginative. This product features the lustrous autographed cards and film slideshow PETG cards, both very cool concepts, and let’s not forget SPx’s shadowbox cards that have created a huge buzz in the Hobby. I really doubt I will buy any boxes/cases of this product, but I do tip my hat to Upper Deck and applaud this release.

What do you guys think? Is this a great new product for the football market, or is it just hugely overpriced crap?

Fantasy Focus: Week 6

As you gear up for this weekend’s upcoming games by realigning your fantasy rosters to optimize matchups, let’s take a quick look back at last week’s studs. (Note: Points listed are directly from the First and Goal Fantasy League and may not represent point totals in your individual leagues)

*Fantasy Stud of the Week*
QB: Tom Brady, New England Patriots — In the latest showing of sheer skill (and lack of competitive class?), Brady completed 29 of 34 passes for a whopping 380 yards and 6 touchdowns, 5 of which came in one quarter. Brady led the Patriots to a 59-0 thrashing of the Titans, the largest margin of victory since the AFL/NFL merger. With 43 fantasy points, it is no doubt that he also led many fantasy teams to victory in Week 6 as well. Another impressive margin, Brady scored 10 more points than the next top fantasy performer, earning him Fantasy Stud of the Week honors.

RB: Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville Jaguars — In an exhibit of “the squeaky hinge gets the oil,” MJD carried the ball 33 times for 133 yards and 3 touchdowns just one week after criticizing the Jaguars’ play calling for not running enough. MJD also added 45 receiving yards to boot. Despite his 1 lost fumble, Jones-Drew still scored 33 fantasy points, tops amongst running backs in Week 6. Anyone else starting to think 3 is MJD’s lucky number?

WR: Randy Moss, New England Patriots — After several weeks of mediocracy, Moss once again flexed his fantasy muscle last week by reeling in 8 receptions for 129 yards and 3 touchdowns. A clear beneficiary of Tom Brady’s career passing performance, Moss scored 30 fantasy points, taking several long strides in reclaiming his elite receiver status.

TE: Zach Miller, Oakland Raiders — Generally the product of an awful supporting cast, Miller managed 6 receptions for 139 yards and 1 touchdown in a shocking win of over the Eagles. If JaMarcus Russell is finally turning a corner and continues to improve as he has over the past two weeks, Miller could be a big benefactor and may duplicate his 19-point fantasy outing in Week 6.

K: Ryan Longwell, Minnesota Vikings — Consistently a top ten kicker, Longwell finally broke through as the #1 kicker in Week 6 when he booted 4 field goals, one of which was from 40+ yards out. Adding 3 PATs, Longwell notched 16 fantasy points in a win over the Ravens.

D/ST: Green Bay Packers — Facing the Detroit Lions, always a favorable proposition, the Packers were the league’s top defense in Week 6. Pitching a shut out while racking up 5 sacks and 3 interceptions, the squad put up 21 fantasy points, further proof that sometimes a good defense can be your best offense.

ROOKIE: Sammy Stroughter, Tamba Bay Buccaneers — Although Hakeem Nicks may have scored more points in his true position, Stroughter had the most fantasy points amongst rookies in Week 6 with a solid 19. He only tallied 65 receiving yards, but what set him apart was ripping off 142 return yards along with a touchdown. Stroughter is only owned in 1% of Yahoo! fantasy leagues, so he could be a sleeper acquisition worth checking out in the coming weeks.

Check back next week for another edition of Fantasy Focus as we recognize the week’s best fantasy performers. Best of luck to you in your respective fantasy football leagues!

Note: To quickly view all of my Fantasy Focus posts, simply click the Fantasy Focus banner at the top of any such post!

Heisman Highlight: Jay Berwanger

Name: Jay Berwanger
Position: Halfback
College: Chicago Maroons
Class: Senior
Winning Year: 1935 – 1st Award
Official Heisman Profile: Click Here
 
 
 

Interesting Notes: Berwanger was the first winner of the Heisman Award and is the only player to not actually receive a “Heisman”. The award was originally named the “Downtown Athletic Club’s Trophy to the Outstanding College Football Player East of the Mississippi River” and was renamed the following year after the death of then-DAC president John Heisman. Berwanger was also the first player to be selected in the inaugural NFL college player draft in 1936 by the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite a stellar college career and being a #1 draft choice, Berwanger never played professional football. Berwanger was elected to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1954.

Featured Card: 1955 Topps All American #78. Despite never playing a down of professional football, Berwanger was included in the college themed All American set and it is considered to be his only rookie card. His lack of a professional career has hurt his card prices as most copies of this card, which comes from a legendary set, are listed in the $10-$30 range on eBay, depending on condition and whether or not it is officially graded.

NOTE: You can find all of my Heisman Highlight Features by clicking the post banner above.