| Because the bloom is hardly off the NFL’s
2001 rose, you could say every team in the league is still very much a work in progress,
and that a few more games need to be played before we all really get a feel for the
NFL’s current fantasy landscape. At the same time, most teams have at least one
fantasy given from the get-go:
As Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner go, so go the Rams.
As Daunte Culpepper and Randy Moss go, so go the Vikings.
As the "Triplets" Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James and Marvin Harrison go, so
go the Colts.
As RB Eddie George goes, so go the Titans.
As QB Elvis Grbac goes, so …
Woops. Now hold on a minute. We just might be jumping to conclusions regarding the
Ravens. Is Elvis really the whole show in Baltimore? Or is there a lot more than what
meets the eye right now to the defending Super Bowl champions’ offensive attack?
That certainly did not appear to be the case in Week One, when Grbac dominated the
proceedings vs. Chicago, setting a team record by hitting 80 percent of his passes
(24-of-30) and accounting for 83 percent of the Ravens’ offense.
There were indeed other contributors vs. the Bears besides Elvis. But it was a
share-the-wealth situation if there ever was one. Grbac’s 24 completions went to nine
different receivers — four wideouts, two tight ends, two fullbacks and one running
back.
Should we expect this same kind of offensive distribution on a regular basis, which
would pretty much rule out any other Ravens players besides Grbac and PK Jeff Stover as
bona fide fantasy forces? Or are there some emerging fantasy weapons worth considering?
The answer is "perhaps" — with a capital "P."
With Jamal Lewis out of the mix with a season-ending injury, the Ravens’ ground
game looks like it’s destined for the fantasy graveyard, with journeymen Jason
Brookins and Mo Williams expected to push current starter Terry Allen for playing time.
Obafemi Ayanbadejo offers the most versatility, but you’d have to look at the
Ravens’ roster every time you had to spell his name on your fantasy lineup card, and
believe me, "Femi" just isn’t worth the effort.
The receivers? Now that could be a very different story.
In Week One, the biggest guns were WR Qadry Ismail (six catches for 88 yards), whom a
lot of people expected to receive less attention at the expense of Brandon Stokley and
2000 first-round pick Travis Taylor, and TE Todd Heap (five catches for 57 yards), the
2001 first-round pick who took advantage of the double teams fellow TE Shannon Sharpe
frequently faced in the season opener.
The word out of Baltimore is that Heap could end up being more of an offensive factor
than initially expected — but still only in spot situations, depending on the
opponent. My sources also believe that while Grbac and Ismail appear to have developed a
nice early chemistry, Stokley could still very well end up being the No. 1 go-to guy
before all is said and done.
Taylor? He represents the trickiest piece in the Ravens’ fantasy puzzle. Many feel
he’s a sleeping giant with tremendous potential. Before he hit the proverbial rookie
wall around midseason and subsequently fractured his clavicle in the ninth game last year,
he showed flashes of brilliance. But I’m told the No. 10 overall pick in the 2000
draft has been in head coach Brian Billick’s doghouse since his costly fumble in a
preseason encounter with the Panthers and will have to play himself out of it whenever
given the opportunity.
Taylor could begin to earn back Billick’s respect Sunday in Cincinnati vs. a
Bengals defense that gave up 64 points last year in the two games vs. the Ravens.
Stay tuned for a game that for the first time this season could be more than just the
"Elvis Grbac Show." |
