Donte Stallworth is hurt. Again.
This time it is a broken something or other and will be out 6 weeks for the Ravens. Has there ever been a guy you could count on more to get injured? Stallworth stopped being a fantasy pick about three years ago after his third or fourth pulled hammy. Confidence was high in Baltimore this year that he had turned the corner. He showed up in the best shape of his career and was ready to play.

Donte Stallworth, once the human hamstring, on the shelf again. How about a new nickname; the Human Broken Record.

You’ve seen many Top Ten Lists. Here’s another man’s (slightly demented) opinion.

QB Rankings
1. Drew Brees (although the cover of Madden 11 makes me nervous)
2. Aaron Rodgers
3. Peyton Manning
4. Tom Brady (2 years removed from injury and a much softer schedule than 2009)
5. Tony Romo (see Miles Austin)
6. Matt Schaub (only one complete season since being named a starter, tread lightly)
7. Jay Cutler (Martz moves him on up)
8. Phillip Rivers (A Jacksonless WR core could send Rivers into it without a paddle)
9. Kevin Kolb (Reid’s playbook will automatically generate numbers)
10. Joe Flacco (Phinally read to soar with a true #1 WR)

SLEEPERS
Flacco at 10? Are you kidding me?
Kyle Orton (4 TDs in two halves of preseason play)
Chad Henne (40.5 pass attempts per game over the last five weeks)
SUPERSLEEPER – Dennis Dixon!
BUSTS
Brett Favre – You can’t cheat the system this many times and get away with it. Besides, who does he throw to? Havrin? Rice?
Big Ben – See Dennis Dixon
Marc Sanchez – Brian Schottenheimer said it best: “If you get a rookie QB to produce his first year and you keep him from regressing in his second, that’s success.”

RB Rankings
1. Chris Johnson
2. Adrian Peterson
3. MJD
4. Ray Rice (He bumps up 3 slots with a McGahee trade)
5. Frank Gore
6. Rashard Mendenhall (Look for success early)
7. Michael Turner (Falcons will throw more and Turner doesn’t catch)
8. Pierre Thomas (Will pick up where he left off minus Mike Bell)
9. DeAngelo Williams
10. Matt Forte (The Martz effect- See Marshall Faulk)

SLEEPERS
Forte at 10?
Ricky Williams (what can brown do for you after surgeries on both feet and two knees?)
Arian Foster (The lead man in Houston)
SUPERSLEEPER – LT (he’s got a bit left in the tank and Greene to do the yoeman’s work. Look at the TD count)

BUSTS
Steven Jackson – (Would you play your multi million invested superstar 16 games in a rebuilding year?)
Shonn Greene – (He’s great between the tackles, but LT will get the goal line looks)
Ronnie Brown – (See Ricky Williams)

WR Rankings
1. Andre Johnson
2. Randy Moss
3. Miles Austin (Once he was a starter he led all wide recievers)
4. Larry Fitzgerald (potential knee and QB influences)
5. Roddy White
6. Calvin Johnson
7. Reggie Wayne (let’s home Peyton’s man crush on Garcon and Collie only lasts so long)
8. Brandon Marshall (his downfield blocking is already drawing raves)
9. DeSean Jackson (See Kevin Kolb)
10. Anquan Boldin (The Ravens are real!)

SLEEPERS
Boldin at 10?
Johnny Knox – (He’s hardly a sleeper these days, but he could flirt with top ten numbers)
Legedu Naaee – (If VJax is gone someone has to catch the ball in San Diego)
SUPERSLEEPER – Devin Thomas (In the vein of Rod Smith circa 98 and Brandon Marshall circa 08)

BUSTS
Braylon Edwards – Don’t believe in his hands or the Jets passing attack just yet)

TE Rankings
1. Jermichael Finley (You heard it here first)
2. Antiono Gates
3. Dallas Clark
4. Vernon Davis
5. Jason Witten
6. Zach Miller (Campbell made Cooley a household name)
7. Brent Celek
8. Tony Gonzolas
9. Owen Daniels (yet to play truly healthy, tread lightly)
10. Fred Davis (Cooley is a excellent athletic TE, Fred is even better)

SLEEPERS
Fred Davis at 10?
Tony Scheffler – A new offense may do him a world of good
SUPERSLEEPER – Gradnowski (A new big man in New England will emerge in the 2nd half of the season)

BUSTS
Heath Miller – (Hasn’t broken out, never will)
Chris Cooley – (See Fred Davis)

Everyone has an opinion and everyone’s but your own stinks, or so the saying goes. Well, I aim to prove that wrong this year by giving the best possible advise to the fantasy players out there.

Quarterback
Sure, everyone has Brees, Rodgers and Peyton in some kind of order at the top three.
What then?

1. Brees
2. Rodgers
3. Peyton Manning
4. Tom Brady – bounce back after the injury, plus, he still has Randy Moss.
5. Tony Romo – steady production is key from the position. Miles Austin rocks.
6. Matt Schaub – throwing to the best WR in football.
7. Phillip Rivers – begrudgingly.
8. Joe Flacco – Boldin in now his main target. Mason is still alive. Heap anyone? Ray Rice?

9. Eli Manning. Two words – Jim Sorgi
10. Matt Ryan – plenty of targets and a team that is on the rise.

Sleepers: What, isn’t Flacco enough? Ok, I like Palmer to have a big year, Henne will be great and Big Ben, although he’ll be missing the first four games, will still put up numbers. Jerk that he is. How about Kyle Orton? There I said it.
Busts: Favre and Leinart will not be on any of my rosters.

Running Back
To me, this is the second hardest position to predict success. SO MANY guys get hurt at RB. So, with that in mind, here we go.

1. Adrian Peterson. Period.
2. Maurice Jones Drew – From 5 yards and in last year, they ran the ball 21 of 24 times. Read that stat again.
3. Michael Turner – Hold your Chris Johnson love for a moment. Look at this logically. The ATL is on the come. The Titans have an iffy defense. Julius Peppers is gone. Wait, what does Julius Peppers have to do with anything? The Atlanta falcons play Carolina twice in the last four weeks of the season; your playoffs in fantasy. Peppers is in Chicago. The #4 rated Panther defense has taken a huge hit with the loss of Peppers. Tennessee plays Indy twice in the last 4 weeks. Lot of fours, I know, but stay with me. CJ is not going to have the kind of season he did last year. Why not? Last year he had runs of 48, 89, 85, 91, 32, 30, 41, 36, 39 and catches of 69, 66 and 41. The idea that he can repeat that is a lot crazy.

4. Chris Johnson – He’s fast. While he won’t match last year’s silly numbers, he is still a must have guy in the top 5 picks overall.
5. Ray Rice – too much talent – can catch, run, everything.
6. Frank Gore – they don’t have much else.
7. Stephen Jackson – see Gore, Frank.
8. Cedric Benson
9. DeAngelo Williams
9. Rashard Mendenhall

Sleepers: Beanie Wells, Montario Hardesty
Busts: LT, K. Moreno

Wide Receivers
In our podcast, I liked Fitzgerald despite his quarterback. Combine the QB and the sprained knee and I have to drop him down a bit more.

1. Andre Johnson
2. R. White – See, Turner, Michael.
3. Michael Crabtree – Just gut instinct. Ya have to have some surprises. He’s done nothing to deserve the ranking, but I like him. Not personally, you understand.

4. Larry Fitzgerald – I probably won’t draft him, however.
5. Miles Austin
6. Randy Moss – cuz he’s still Randy Moss.
7. DeSean Jackson – hurt, but a real downfield threat.
8. Calvin Johnson
9. Reggie Wayne – cuz he’s still Peyton Manning
10. M. Colston

Sleepers: T. Owens, Johnny Knox – two words, Mike Martz.
Busts: Steve Smith, CAR, S Breaston

More to come . . .

I called Peter two weeks ago and asked if he was up for a “no prep” podcast. He said “give me ten minutes.” Not for prep, mind you, just to clear the time with his significant other and get into a good cel spot.

I had a game in mind I wanted to play, but mostly, I wanted to try and give our loyal listener an idea why it is I usually spend over an hour on the phone with Peter Every. Day.

He didn’t disappoint. Before you email me and say anyone could pick the total number of wins for every team within a huge margin like 1.5 games, Peter got an astounding seven right on the number and at least 20 within half a game. Play along with Peter while you listen and let us know how you do. No lying.

I didn’t upload the news part of the podcast, as that news is two weeks old now, but I did include a preview of our fantasy rankings at the top three positions.

Enjoy

A crown of hair…

Does this mean they think Timmy is the second coming of Elway? And who are they for that matter? Not me, that’s for sure.

This is killing me. Slowly… softly…

Killing… me…

Here’s a great link for all of you football junkies. Jay Glazer reports that Allen has a strategically placed tattoo that says, “All you can Eat.” Seemed worth mentioning.

This week Peter and I had the opportunity to chat with Rams fullback LaShawn Jabody. He’s an interesting guy and the current front runner for Phootball Rants Man of the Year.
We also begin discussions about our phantasy phootball league and even sneak in some news.

Please submit your ideas for phoolish ephing rules for the league.

Peter and I discuss Brandstater’s departure from the Broncos without using any real curse words, which is an accomplishment. Also, and the bulk of the show is this, we highlight the 2010 schedule as it pertains to the Brocnos, Steelers, Seahawks, and Texans. All of this for you, our loyal listener.

This says it all.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Deep-Posts-Will-Elvis-leave-the-building-?urn=nfl,247248

God Bless the Shutdown Corner.

And thus the Broncos look like phools again.

Colts claimed QB Tom Brandstater off waivers from the Broncos.
Brandstater, 25, gives Indy a fifth quarterback behind Peyton Manning, Curtis Painter, Drew Willy, and undrafted rookie Tim Hiller. How quickly he picks up the scheme will likely determine whether Brandstater makes the roster. He’s a superior talent to Willy and Hiller, and arguably Painter.
Source: Adam Schefter on Twitter

Does this mean if Tom becomes the Colts number two that McDaniels has to eat his hat?