Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

::The Bruno Boys are proud to introduce fantasy football writer Jeff Bunney. Bruno Boys Bunney has been tackling a weekly feature in which he takes a look “beyond the box score” and brings to our readers’ attention some scenarios that happened each week that in knowing could help your fantasy team down the road. Enjoy and let us know if you have any suggestions::

Take a bow (or a knee), MJD. For those of you who are irritated at Maurice Jones-Drew for taking a knee at the New York Jets’ one-yard line in the 4th quarter yesterday, you should know that he was told to do it by his coach and offensive coordinator. This was much different than the Brian Westbrook version as in that case the Eagles were ahead. In this case, the Jaguars were down. They still needed to make a field goal, and sometimes kickers miss, and if I were calling the shots I’d have had him score. Interestingly, the Jets’ defense was told to let the Jags score on that play. Lost in the hubbub surrounding MJD’s Taking Of The Knee was the fact that earlier in the game he got tackled on the Jets’ 6-yard line after a nice run. On the next play, MJD fumbled at 2-yard line. So, MJD owners, you were this close to two more touchdowns. Carrot for MJD, Karat for Scobee. By the way, how cool is it that MJD apologized to fantasy owners- including himself- for not scoring that late touchdown?!?

Fantasy football owners who picked up Ladell Betts this week due to Clinton Portis’ concussion were were treated to a nice game from Betts. However, it was almost only a good yardage day for Betts, until he got a touchdown late in the 4th quarter. Devin Thomas caught a Jason Campbell pass for 27 yards down to the Denver Broncos’ 5-yard line. Then it was Betts for two yards to the three, then two yards to the one, then on 3rd and goal they gave the rock to Betts and he punched it in for a big touchdown. Speaking of ‘rock’, it was just last week that the ‘Skins gave Rock Cartwright a few shots from the goal-line, so it was nice for Betts’ owners to see him get the goal-line carries. With the Redskins likely to keep Portis out for at least another week (see Brian Westbrook), Betts should be a solid play going forward. Carrot for the Broncos D, Karat for Betts.

Sidney Rice blew up on Sunday with his seven catches for 201 yards. He almost scored a touchdown on a 60-yard pass from Brett Favre, as Rice did an amazing catch and and somersault but he was called down at the 4-yard line. Adrian Peterson owners were certain that they were going to be the beneficiaries. Unfortunately for almost everyone but Favre owners, Peterson got stuffed on the next play and after that Favre threw a touchdown to Vikings’ TE Jeff Dugan. Yes, that Jeff Dugan. Carrots for Rice and Peterson and Karats for Favre and Dugan.

Chris Johnson is perhaps the best fantasy football running back in the business right now. Now that he’s getting carries inside the 5-yard line (which used to be Lendale White’s restricted territory) his value has gone up tremendously. On Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, Johnson was stuffed for no gain on 1st and goal. On the next play Vince Young threw an incomplete pass in the endzone to Alge Crumpler. On 3rd down from the 1, Johnson ran into a pile of bodies up the middle then bounced it outside for another touchdown. Can you say fantasy MVP? Carrots for Young and Crumpler, Karat for Johnson.

Atlanta Falcons’ RB Jason Snelling took over for an injured Michael Turner and made the most of his opportunity, gaining 93 combined yards and scoring a touchdown. He almost had a second touchdown but early in the 4th quarter against the Carolina Panthers he just couldn’t pound it in- but, he had his chances. On 1st down from the Panthers’ 12-yard line Snelling rushed it 9 yards to the 3. On the next two plays he was stuffed for no gain, then on 4th and 1, Matt Ryan hit Justin Peelle for a touchdown. Carrot for Snelling, Karats for Ryan and Peelle.

Minnesota Vikings’ RB Adrian Peterson had another excellent day on Sunday, this time against the lowly Detroit Lions. But, as regular readers of this column know, it could have been better. Brad Childress, in his infinite wisdom, thought it would be a great idea to take the ball out of both Brett Favre’s and AD’s hands after AD had been pounding the Lions for solid gains each carry on the drive. So Childress decided to run a reverse using Peterson as the first recipient then tossing to Percy Harvin. Peterson didn’t give a good ball to Harvin and the ball was fumbled and recovered by the Lions. Peterson also got caught from behind (for the second time this year) and the Lions defender punched the ball out of Peterson’s hand, denying him a 50-yard touchdown run. Someone get former Viking Cris Carter to show AD how to watch the big screen to see what’s happening behind him (instead of AD doing the cool-looking but not overly helpful head-bobs-to-get-up-to-full-speed…yet who am I to judge AD for how he gets up to top speed? Carrot for Bunney). Carrots for Childress, Peterson, Favre, Harvin, Longwell, etc. Karats for the Lions D/ST and Lions fans for enjoying Childress’ stupidity, keeping their team in the game. And yes, I’m a happy yet slightly bitter AD owner.

A frequent player on these pages, New Orleans Saints’ WR Marques Colston, was AGAIN involved in a goal-line touchdown issue. I pointed out last week that Colston had missed out on multiple touchdowns in the first few weeks, and this week was no different as Colston caught a pass and attempted to dive over defenders into the endzone. Unfortunately, Colston fumbled in midair and the Saints weren’t able to recover as the ball went out of the end zone for a touchback. If Colston had scored on even half of the ‘almost a touchdown’ plays this year he’d be leading the NFL in touchdown receptions. Carrots for Colston and Brees, Karats for the St.Lous Rams D/ST.

In the Thursday night game, besides mainly remembering how terribly Jay Cutler played in the red zone, some of us may have forgotten that Matt Forte had multiple chances (again) to score from the goal line. The Bears gave Forte two carries from the San Francisco 49ers’ 3-yard line and he didn’t even get close. On the next play Cutler threw one of his picks in the end zone. Carrots for Forte and Cutler, Karats for the 49ers’ D/ST.

The Buffalo Bills’ season is shot, Terrell Owens is finally losing his temper, Dick Jauron was just fired and there is another QB controversy. No, not between Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick- this one is between Edwards and….Fred Jackson! Fred Jackson? You bet. Early in the Bills’ game against the Tennessee Titans Jackson took a direct snap and rushed for a couple yards. On the very next play, Jackson again took the direct snap, took a step to the middle of the line as if he was going to punch it into the pile, stepped back, and tossed a sweet 30-yard touchdown pass to Lee Evans. Carrot for Edwards, Karats for Jackson and Evans.

Although Miami Dolphins’ RB Ronnie Brown left the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers early with an ankle/foot injury, he at least got a touchdown and some yards for his fantasy football owners. The touchdown was one of the ‘gift’ kind, as a Chad Henne pass took the Dolphins down to the Bucs’ 1-yard line. Next play? Touchdown Brown. Brown had put the Dolphins in position to score on a 40-yard run on the same drive, so it’s nice to see the running back get the scoring love from the playcallers in situations like that. Carrot for Henne, Karat for Brown.

Carolina Panthers’ WR Steve Smith only had four catches Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons, but two of them went for touchdowns. What’s amazing is one of the two non-TD catches was almost another touchdown, as Smith was tackled at the Falcons’ 1-yard line. Now that would have been quite a stat line, kind of a late-career-Jerome-Bettis, but by a wide out: 4 catches, 3 touchdowns. Jonathan Stewart was the lucky Panthers’ RB to get the carry from the goal line after Smith was tackled and he scored on the play. One of Smith’s touchdowns came courtesy of DeAngelo Williams. Williams busted a big run in the second quarter, taking it nearly 50 yards to the Falcons’ 3-yard line. Williams left the game to get his breath, and on the next play James Stewart managed to run for only a yard. DeAngelo came back in and it seemed like the Panthers were going to reward Williams for his big run, but on the 2nd down play Delhomme hit Smith for a touchdown pass. Carrots for Smith, Delhomme and Willliams (first drive) and Stewart (second drive). Karats for Stewart (first drive), Delhomme and Smith (second drive).

Philip Rivers had another very nice game with 230 yards and two touchdown passes. However, it could have been even better. In the 2nd quarter, Rivers hit Malcolm Floyd with a pass down to the Philadelphia Eagles’ 3-yard line. Two running plays later LaDainian Tomlinson punched it in for the short-yardage touchdown run. Carrots for Rivers and Floyd, Karat for Tomlinson.

Donovan McNabb had a stellar game against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday, and got a little lucky on one of his touchdown passes. The Philadelphia Eagles had first down and goal in the 4th quarter and McNabb missed a wide-open Leonard Weaver for a would-have-been touchdown pass. The next play was another pass, and a sure interception was dropped by the Chargers defense. Then, on 3rd and goal, McNabb threw a touchdown pass to WR Jeremy Maclin. Carrot for Weaver, Karats for McNabb and Maclin.

Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers had a serviceable game in their must-win battle with the Dallas Cowboys, but he got a couple bonus points due to a little bit of luck. In the 4th quarter Rodgers hit WR Jordy Nelson with a pass down to the Cowboys’ half-yard line (the play was reviewed and confirmed the ruling on the field that Nelson was just short of the goal-line). One would think that’s a perfect setup for a Carrot for Rodgers, but…on the next play Rodgers ran the QB sneak for a rushing touchdown. In most leagues a QB rushing touchdown is worth more than a passing touchdown, so Rodgers’ owners enjoyed that series. Carrot for Nelson and Ryan Grant, Karat for Rodgers.

WEEK 10 HOT READS

Jake Delhomme hasn’t thrown a pick in two straight games. Two!

Braylon Edwards had zero targets in the first half against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Kurt Warner threw a second touchdown pass to Steve Breaston but the play was called back due to a holding penalty. The Arizona Cardinals kicked a FG on the drive.

Kyle Orton had a pretty good 1st quarter: 4 for 4, 124 yards, 2 touchdowns (both to Brandon Marshall). Unfortunately, Orton got hurt and missed the entire second half.

The Tennessee Titans coaching staff has finally learned, after 22 games, that giving Chris Johnson the ball in space is a good idea. The rest of us saw this in, oh, Week 3 last year?

Miami Dolphins’ TE Kory Sperry wasn’t on the roster until Saturday. Less than 24 hours later he had 3 catches for 31 yards and a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Did you start him?

Michael Turner’s 7-game touchdown streak came to an end on Sunday as Turner got hurt and had to leave the game. He did gain 111 yards on only 9 carries before leaving, so it wasnt’ too terrible for his fantasy football owners.

Why was Miami throwing the ball with the lead and less than 2:00 to go in the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Well, possibly they wanted to get Cadillac Williams a late touchdown run and a Dan Carpenter game-winning field goal.

Why didn’t Andy Reid go for two after the late 3rd quarter touchdown Sunday against the San Diego Chargers? The score was 28-15 after the TD; an extra point still leaves them down 12, 28-16 (for you math majors, that’s a two-touchdown deficit); if they miss the conversion, they’re down 13, 28-15 (ummmmm…...still a two-touchdown deficit); if they succeed on the 2-pointer, they’re down 11, 28-17 (one TD w/two point conversion, one field goal!). Strange. They weren’t really scoring at will on San Diego, so getting within a touchdown plus a field goal, instead of two touchdowns, made sense to me.

Aside from the hype, I’d love to watch Indianapolis vs New England every week. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are incredible to watch, as are their WRs. As for Bill Belichek’s call on 4th and 2, I would’ve done the same thing. You have Tom Brady, and the Colts needed a touchdown either way, and the difference between 30 and 70 yards (besides the obvious 40 yards) isn’t so big a difference (considering Manning was slicing the Pats’ defense) as to make it a terrible decision. If they convert that two yards, they win and everyone is calling Belichek a genius. That said, if Josh Scobee misses the game-winning field goal on Sunday (after MJD took a knee), then you’ve got a coaching mistake.

Good luck in Week 11. If you have any question lease email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or comment here on the site and I’ll get back to you.

Week 11 Rankings:  QB  |  RB  |  WR  |  TE  |  K  | DEF    (click to read)

Week 11 Start & Sit:  START ‘EM  |  SIT ‘EM    (click to read)

Week 11 Waiver Wire Advice:  PICK THEM UP  |  CUT THEM LOOSE    (click to read)

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