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Patriots'
Terry Glenn |
RON POLLACK / Editor-in-chief
It has to be Steeler QB Kordell Stewart. Most experts ranked him among
the top two quarterbacks and top four players available in this year’s fantasy draft.
Last year he was an unbelievable TD threat on the ground and a very good TD threat through
the air. This season he hasn’t been much of a fantasy producer in either regard.
He’s been a fantasy draft destroyer in two regards. The first is obvious: He was a
top-four pick in most leagues, and he’s hardly scoring any points. Second, by taking
a quarterback early in Round One, fantasy owners had to wait a long time to make their
next pick, meaning most of the quality running backs were already taken. Thus, unless they
hit on players such as Robert Edwards or Fred Taylor later in the draft, they also have a
hole in their lineup at running back.
KEITH SCHLEIDEN / Managing editor
All I can say is, I’m happy he’s not on my team. The
"he" is Lion WR Herman Moore. Normally, Moore would be a great player to have on
any fantasy roster. However, this season Moore has meant less for your WR production if
he’s in your starting lineup. With just one TD and only one 100-yard receiving game,
he’s been less productive than most No. 3 receivers. He’s caught a fair number
of balls this season, but he hasn’t been doing anything magical after the ball is in
his hands. When most fantasy rosters were being assembled in the final weeks of August,
people had visions of Moore catching 10 TD passes and surpassing 1,200 yards. After all,
Moore had averaged 10.3 scores and 1,425 yards in the past three seasons. But because of a
rookie quarterback and an offense dominated by the running game, Moore has become this
season’s biggest fantasy disappointment.
MICHAEL LEV / Senior editor
They tried to warn me, but I would not listen. Terry Glenn, you see, is
my forbidden fruit. I believed in him last season, and he let me down. I believed in him
again this season, and again he has let me down. He got off to a rip-roaring start, all
right. In his first four games, the Patriots’ supertalented third-year wide receiver
caught two TD passes and topped 100 yards in back-to-back games. He didn’t score in
Weeks Six or Seven, but that was tolerable because Glenn was on the field and catching
passes, dispelling the notion that he was unreliable and injury-prone. Then, before New
England’s Week Eight game, Glenn pulled a hamstring for the third time in as many
years. Seemed he didn’t stretch sufficiently before a chilly day of practice. He has
now missed three straight games, bringing his two-year total to 10. A guy who should be
the No. 1 target for one of the best quarterbacks in football is instead a big-time
fantasy disappointment. Again.
JEFF AGREST / Associate editor
I am at my wit’s end with Isaac Bruce. On the cover of the
Rams’ media guide, there is an illustration of Bruce holding up a football in
celebration, with flash-popping photographers surrounding him. I ask you: How many times
has this scene taken place this year? That’s right. One. After a blazing two-game
start that saw Bruce exceed 100 receiving yards twice and score that one touchdown, he has
reverted to his early-season form of a year ago, when he missed almost all of the first
five games because of a hamstring injury. That same hamstring has limited his playing time
this year, and, frankly, my patience is running out. Seemingly every week I see Bruce
listed on the injury report with that blasted hamstring. Don’t tease us, Ike. If
you’re not going to play, then just write your name by the word "out." If
you are, get in there and score some touchdowns. Otherwise, you’re just wasting a
precious spot on my roster.
PAT FITZMAURICE / Associate editor
The belief that individual TD totals remain fairly consistent from year
to year is a fallacy. Fantasy owners who study the past TD totals of skill-position
players in an attempt to predict future performance might as well spend their time
searching for the Loch Ness Monster. Neither expedition is worthwhile, but at least the
people who hunt for "Nessie" can call themselves adventurers. Lion WR Herman
Moore, who has been surfacing in the endzone as often as the Loch Ness Monster comes up
for air, stopped scoring when rookie QB Charlie Batch became a starter. Batch isn’t
any worse than the deposed Scott Mitchell, who, despite his many shortcomings, helped
Moore become one of the NFL’s most reliable scoring threats. Past TD totals mean
nothing when a player’s circumstances change, and, for most players, the
circumstances change every year. Have I made my point? Good. Then I’ll see you in
Scotland.
ROBERT NEELY / Associate editor
One of the biggest fantasy disappointments this season — and this
comes from personal experience, because the guy is on my team in two leagues — is
Oiler WR Yancey Thigpen. Yeah, I know he’s hurt now, but, even before the injury,
Thigpen wasn’t living up to expectations. Aside from one standout game — 102
yards and two TD’s in Week Four — Thigpen has been nonexistent as a fantasy
performer. He was expected to be Tennessee’s No. 1 receiver but never seemed to fully
assert himself in that role before the injury. It didn’t help that the Oiler offense
took a while to get in gear. Now that Thigpen’s out, he’s of little use to
fantasy owners. I liked Thigpen more than most people coming into the season, thinking he
would be a top fantasy receiver with Steve McNair throwing him the ball. Guess I was
wrong. |
