R. Rich

What's with the weather report? Something going on this weekend?

ONLY 5 MORE DAYS UNTIL THE OPENER!!!!! And, only 2more days until... VACATION!!!!!!!!

Here's my grades on our drafts, FWIW. [Keeping in mind that even with a good draft, you still have to win the league. Drafting is just the beginning.] 1. benedictinejamie: B [QB=B,RB=B,WR=A,TE=C,K=B,D=B; AVG=B] Good starting QB in Brooks and a decent backup in Maddox (if he can hold onto the starting job). Excellent WRs (Hines Ward-one of my favorites, Andre Johnson-he could have a breakout year, Terrell Owens, and Jerry Rice). Solid K in Longwell. Miami defense could stumble a bit 2. sfladave: B [QB=B,RB=B,WR=B,TE=C,K=B,D=A; AVG=B] Very good draft! Game breakers at RB (Tomlinson), WR (Holt), and QB (Vick; he was going to be my pick in that round-missed him by ONE pick!). Solid #2s at WR (Jackson), RB (Staley), and QB (Harrington, who may surprise people this year). Good D w/ Tampa Bay. Good up and coming TE in Antonio Gates too. Either Stover or Feely at K is solid as well. I like Kevin Johnson in leagues that give pts for receptions (we don't), but not in others as I don't think he'll score that much for the Ravens. Heap is still their go-to guy. 3. R. Rich: B [QB=B,RB=B,WR=C,TE=A,K=B=D=A; AVG=B] Okay, but I've done better. I was happy to get Heap at TE, Fitzgerald at WR (I think he'll be awesome!), Baltimore's D, and a couple pretty good QBs in Brady and Leftwich, who also may surprise people this year. Getting Kevin Jones at RB gives me good depth there to go with Alexander and Rudi Johnson, but I'd like to have another dependable one. I took James Jackson with my last pick on the off chance that he will be dealt to Miami. If that deal doesn't go down, I'm stuck with only 3 good RBs. 4. KzooMike: C [QB=C,RB=B,WR=C,TE=C,K=C,D=B; AVG=C] This draft really depends on a lot of young guys. They will make or break KzooMike's team. He's got Ahman Green and Brian Westbrook at RBs, which is a good start. After that, he's got to hope for big things from Quentin Griffin and Thomas Jones. Honestly, I think both players will do fine, but until we see it from them, these are iffy picks. Deep at WR, but not many game breakers here. Charles Rogers could be one, if Harrington has the kind of year people think he will have. QBs; again, have to hope for big things from Carr, but Brad Johnson is not bad. I had him a couple years ago and he did very well. Problem was, he had a horrible start to the season, but he finished very strong (SB ring). I like Hall at K; if he kicked for a team that could actually SCORE, he'd be one of the top Ks in the game. Terrell at WR? I probably would've gone after Justin Gage instead, but he's okay. 5. Slothrop: B [QB=A,RB=A,WR=B,TE=B,K=C,D=C; AVG=B] Good depth all around. McNair and Plummer (who could be like McNair was last year; a guy you can get later on that will be a monster-then again, he's always been a bit of an up and down QB) are a nice duo to have. RB is deep, but guys like Minor , Davis, and Foster may all end up sharing carries this year and it could hurt their fantasy stats. WRs are rock solid and deep; this is the strength of this team. Mason, Coles, Jimmy and Rod Smith, Brandon Lloyd and Reggie Wayne give you a nice group of WRs that should be pretty dependable. Lloyd is a young guy who could be either hit or miss, but he's coming off a great camp and should be more than okay. I would've had a hard time picking between Washington's D and Jacksonville's D (they were taken 2 spots after Slothrop took WAS). Both have potential; the 'Skins have added Sean Taylor to the mix to hopefully get more turnovers while Jacksonville has a nice group of LBs, especially Akin Ayodele. Man, can he hit! Good job with this draft. 6. ByTor2112: C [QB=B,RB=A,WR=D,TE=C,K=B,D=B; AVG=C] Really thin at the WR position, especially with McCardell's holdout issues. Only 2 active WRs going into the season! Strong at RB with Deuce and Domanick Davis, a guy I picked up on waivers last year who was just amazing for me (even better because in the league I picked him up in, we got pts for receptions and they threw at him a lot!)!! Dunn may lose something as Mora seems to want to use Duckett more in goal line situations. He may not score that well for you. Bennett should do well if he can stay healthy. He's lightning quick and can take it to the house if he finds an opening. Getting Jordan and LJ were good moves too, just in case Curtis Martin or Priest Holmes get hurt or need a breather. McNabb will have a good year with Westbrook, L.J. Smith and TO making that offense better. McCown has weapons with Fitzgerald, Boldin, and Bryant Johnson, but the running game is shaky. Winslow and Clark is a nice 1-2 punch at TE. Elam is a reliable K and Dallas' D should be pretty good. 7. DCM: C+ [QB=B,RB=B,WR=B,TE=B,K=B,D=C; AVG=C+] Good starter at QB with Pennington, but no backup. Edge and Travis is a nice duo at RB! Backups are very shaky: Green will probably back up Suggs in Cleveland and Sammy Morris will be part of the RB by committee for Miami (at best) or a backup, if they decide on a starter. Good WRs; nice move getting Boldin late. Good K in Mare and Jacksonville's D could be surprising. 8. gantrules: B [QB=B,RB=B,WR=C,TE=A,K=A,D=B; AVG=B] I like Hasselbeck. He should be pretty good this year. Starting RBs are good (Jamal and Barlow), but the rest are questionable. Tiki (fumbler; will lose carries to Dayne snce Coughlin wants to use both backs more), McGahee (how many carries will he get and will he be effective?), Musa Smith (backup), and Fargas (might push Wheatley for playing time........or not) all have issues of some kind. Good to go at TE with Gonzalez, the best there is. WRs are okay, but not spectacular. I do think Booker could have a nice year as the go-to guy in Miami, though. Good depth at K with Josh Brown backing up Wilkins and the D looks okay too. Carolina needs a rebound year from Peppers badly though. His pressure helps generate turnovers, and they missed that to a large degree last season. 9. NCBillsfan: C+ [QB=B,RB=C,WR=C,TE=C,K=A,D=B; AVG=C+] Green might slip a bit this year. Having to rely on Dante Hall as THE receiver? Those who have Priest Holmes will be happy (I think he'll have a lot more catches this year), but if the WRs don't step it up, he could have more INTs and less yds overall. Brown looks to be a decent RB (needs to run lower, though) and Dillon will probably return to form. Bettis is a solid backup, as I believe he will see a lot of reps in goal line situations for Pittsburgh. Nice set of WRs. I like Givens more than I do Branch, but with the way they throw the ball in NE (will Dillon's arrival affect that??), they're both okay. I do like Watson at TE, but w/Graham there also, they'll kinda cancel each other out. Good depth at K with Vinatieri and Janikowski and also at D with Philly and Denver (I think Champ Bailey will help this defense immensely). 10. The Kaz: B [QB=C,RB=D,WR=A,TE=B,K=A,D=A; AVG=B] Favre is throwing more and more INTs lately. Drew is a huge question mark. Will he get his s**t together, or will it be more of the same from the past 1 1/2 seasons? RBs are thin with Suggs and Duckett as the starters and Alstott and Dayne as backups. WRs is loaded at the top with the best 2 in the league in Moss and Harrison. With the new contact rules, Harrison could have an otherworldly year! Same goes for Moss. Steve Smith is a playmaker too. Hilliard has been a good #2 WR for New York but has had injury problems as of late. McMichael is a good young TE and Freddie Jones is good depth. Akers is one of the best Ks in fantasy football and Gramatica is a good backup to have. I think Tennessee's defense can still be good even without Kearse. Bulluck is the man and they still have Rolle, Tank Williams, and Kevin Carter. The Pats' defense is as steady as they come. Other then QB and RB, a very nice draft. 11. SVEN233: C+ [QB=A,RB=C,WR=B,TE=B,K=C,D=B; AVG=C+] Good pair of QBs with Culpepper and Garcia. RBs are shaky after Taylor. Garner is okay, but is playing in Gruden's system and will not dominate the stats for the Bucs. Good backup in Jackson. If Faulk goes down, he'll get some reps. WRs are good. Quincy Morgan, Ashley Lelie, and Keyshawn to go with the main 2 of Joe Horn and Santana Moss. Shockey could end up being the backup to Itula Mili on this team. He's more reliable and scores more than Shockey. I like the Seattle defense. They're an up and coming unit. Hanson is a decent kicker. 12. Gary M: C+ [QB=A,RB=C,WR=C,TE=C,K=A,D=B; AVG=C+] Another good pair of QBs with Manning and Bulger. RBs are okay, but nothing special. Faulk has health concerns as does Eddie George and Onterrio Smith and Antowain Smith are backups for their teams. WRs are also okay, but have issues. Maybe Terry Glenn will be good; maybe not. Maybe Bruce can still bring it; maybe not. Maybe Peerless is a good #1 WR; maybe not. Maybe Galloway gives Tampa a game breaker; maybe not. Kinney is a good TE, but will have to fight Ben Troupe off. The idiot kicker is about as good as it gets and the Bills defense should be a little better at getting turnovers with Vincent on board, but still need a pass rush.

I agree with you about Zwick. For all the hype I've heard, he certainly didn't impress me at all. Same with Ginn. All this talk about him being the greatest Cleveland area athlete since Jesse Owens; he's got a lot of room to improve to even approach that type of legendary status. Defense is fine, of course. The LSU game was interesting. It goes to show you that good teams can win any way, including 'ugly'. For all that they couldn't do in the first half, when they needed to step up late in the game, that's exactly what they did. Notre Dame? Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamnnnn!!!! They look awful at this point. I would expect Ty Willingham to have this team a bit more focused than they look. What's the deal?

You'll have to let me know what you'd like us to bring, to return the favor.

She's more of a mixed drink type person. She said she can drink Smirnoff Ice though.

Our draft begins in just under 30 minutes! Good luck.

The wet field was a disadvantate to BOTH teams, as Oregon State has pretty decent team speed as well. LSU needs consistent, competent play from the QB position to even think of another title run. This is your x factor.

No one I know.

I'm pretty sure you can set a default list in the draft room, then check the space where it says "I'm away", and it will take the best available choices from your list. I'm not 100% sure about that, though.

It's waaay to early to know who is overrated or not. I don't think either team wowed everyone, but they did play teams that are pretty good.

Man, you're getting there early, alright.

She has had Smirnoff Ice before, but I don't know if it's something she drinks a lot.

Pretty soon, Kelly. Pretty soon. I love it, because I only have to work for 2 days this week and then I'm on vacation until the 20th!

Their pass defense is okay when they have a rush. For most of the game, they didn't. The running game? Yeah, it needs work. QB? That's the x-factor for them. If they can get better play from the QBs, they could have a good season. Thing is, as cliched as it sounds, they got it done when it mattered. When they needed to rush the passer, they were able to. When they needed production out of the QBs, they got it. An ugly win for sure; now they need to re-focus and get their offense in gear.

You mean to tell us that 5 players were taken before LT? I wish I were in that league.

Too bad you won't be here Friday to go to Duff's in Orchard Park with a few of us.

We're staying w/LancasterSteve and his lovely wife Lisa ("The Beeslayer", as my wife and I call her). I just talked to Steve today and he also said that BILLS4LIFE is staying there as well Saturday night. Hotel de Steve!

Michigan-Miami of Ohio had one that almost was reviewed. Of course, there were a couple really bad no calls I saw in that one.

I'll arrive Thursday afternoon. I'm not staying at the Holiday Inn though.

Fred Taylor seems to have gotten past his injuries. He just finished his second straight injury-free season, one in which he rushed for over 1,500 yards. I think I'd take him. One to keep a lookout for: Kevin Jones. My brother is also in a keeper league and told me that Jones was the top pick in their draft.

The defense looks decent. LBs still have trouble covering the flats, but they are fast enough to compensate for any coverage errors. Playing cover 2 seems to fit this defense well. Zack Mills has completed "the cycle": he has a TD run, a TD reception, and a TD pass. Backup QB Michael Robinson is only a TD run away from completing a cycle of his own. Tony Hunt looks to be a pretty good RB. Good speed and he makes decisive cuts quickly. Not much dancing around for him. Good thing, because... The offensive line looks to be out of sync (sound familiar?). Once they get it in gear, they should be imposing. Freshman LB Dan Connor has looked pretty good. Not many spectacular plays, but he can close quickly, meaning he'll be around the plays a lot this year. Then again, their entire LB unit is pretty fast. Receivers look okay, which is a lot more than I expected. There's still another half to go, but I've been impressed with some of the catches I've seen so far. Well, it's time for the second half. I'll return with a quick recap of the game when it's over. I'll also have a quick recap of some of the other games I've watched today. Man, I love having ESPN Game Plan in addition to the network coverage and cable (ESPNs, etc.) stations!

Here's B-DON's team (justgivemedamoney): QBs: Donovan McNabb Josh McCown RBs: Edgerrin James Warrick Dunn Onterrio Smith WRs: Marvin Harrison Eric Moulds Justin McCareins Reggie Williams Rashaun Woods TE: Todd Heap K: Jeff Wilkins DPs: Sean Taylor Ty Law R.W. McQuarters

Here's BigDaddy12's team (Pro Bowler): QBs: Chad Pennington David Carr RBs: LaDanian Tomlinson Stephen Davis Thomas Jones Larry Johnson WRs: Torry Holt Joe Horn Jimmy Smith Amani Toomer TE: Jason Witten K: John Hall DPs: LaVar Arrington Ed Reed Simeon Rice

Here's Ima90sJezus' team (Buffalo Backers): QBs: Matt Hasselbeck Tommy Maddox RBs: Clinton Portis Marshall Faulk Brian Westbrook Eddie George William Green WRs: Darrel Jackson Chris Chambers Kevin Johnson Reggie Wayne TE: Alge Crumpler Ks: Jason Elam Sebastian Janikowski DPs: Chris Hope Deltha O'Neal