Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2001

Building momentum

Workhorse George is traditionally slow out of the gate

By Andy Hanacek, Associate editor

The reason I’m talking about wishful thinking is because I, like many of you out there, have George on my fantasy team. Also, George is one of my favorite players in the league currently. But I promise that I won’t let those colors shine through in my analysis.

Thus far this season, George (and the Titans as a whole) has been surprisingly disappointing. We at PFW picked the Titans to win the Super Bowl in our kickoff issue, and so far we look pretty silly, since the Titans stand at 0-2. But, mark my words: Once George gets going, the Titans will at least make a respectable run again. They could even make the Super Bowl still, you never know. If they hit their stride at the right time and enter the playoffs hot, it could happen.

But you’re here for a reason to stick with George, a reason to not ship him off your team, much like another George was shipped off his NFL team today (Jeff, off the Redskins). Well, aside from the fact that he’s still relatively young and pretty much recovered from offseason toe surgery, George is the kind of back who can take over a game and produce massive amounts of fantasy points. It’s not likely, but maybe the toe is bothering him a bit. But he’ll fight through it, I’m sure, and once it’s 100 percent, he’ll be his old self.

In George’s 80 career regular-season games (all starts), he’s rushed 30 or more times in a game on 14 separate occasions. The Titans definitely know how to put George’s skills to use when he’s on his game. In those 14 games, George broke the 200-yard mark once, the 150-yard mark three times and the 100-yard mark eight times. In those 14 "workhorse" games, George scored 15 of his 42 career rushing touchdowns.

That’s just a small sample of George’s fantasy prowess, if you will. I didn’t even factor in receptions, where George is clearly a skilled tradesman. If you looked at games where George touched the ball 30 or more times (rushes and receptions), you’d most definitely get much better numbers. The fact that George is a multifaceted weapon is another reason to keep him.

However, if you are truly worried about George’s present lack of production and whether he’ll bounce back from the slow start, consider that this is nothing new. George has been a slow starter the last few seasons, and there’s simply nothing to worry about.

So far this year in George’s first two games, he’s rushed 38 times for 128 yards and no touchdowns. Not something to write home about, I know. But George’s opening performances in previous seasons weren’t much to write home about either.

After 1997, when George ran for 216 yards on opening day, George became a slow-starting fantasy player. His totals in the first two games were just as frightful as this season’s figure: ’98 — 97 yards, ’99 —139, 2000 — 117. And George didn’t rebound right away from those paltry performances either. In some cases, it took a few games.

So my advice to you is simple: Stick with Eddie. He’ll bounce back. If you have another alternative, maybe start him instead of George, but be prepared to be burned the first week George breaks out. If your team can survive until the playoffs, you’ll be well-rewarded by your patience with George.

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2001 - 2002 Season