Things you have learned

[Gopher]

Well, almost four weeks... For me, here are the things that stand out to me after watching the first month of NFL play:

 

- Parity. Any given Sunday, anybody can beat anybody. Well, except maybe Detroit. Cincinnati will get theirs (almost beat NYG last week), Houston has looked very competitive despite going 0-3, and the Rams appear to be beating the BIlls. The Chiefs dominated the Broncos, who have been the flavor of the month so far, on both sides of the ball. Last week, we all know what Miami did. Even the Raiders, who were proclaimed by many to be the worst team in the NFL after week 1, are one monumental collapse against the Bills away from being 3-1 (assuming they hold on to their 15-0 lead midway through the 3rd quarter.

 

- Along those same lines, NFL players have a lot of pride, as well as talent... Just because a coach is in jeopardy of losing his job doesn't mean that the team is going to give any less of any effort, or decide to just pack it in. In fact, from what I've seen so far, the teams who have a lot of turmoil within the organization seem to be the ones with a chip on their shoulder... watch out for the teams that everyone seems to be writing off, because they have something to prove. Once again, except for maybe the Lions, although we have yet to see how they'll react to the changes from this past week in their front office. All of the other teams that were supposedly contenders to go 0-16 this year have either won already or proven that they have the ability to compete with very good teams.

 

- There are a handful of solid, consistent tight ends in the NFL, from a fantasy perspective. And, when I say consistent, I mean that they actually show up in the boxscore each week. How many tight ends have we seen have great weeks, only to disappear COMPLETELY the following week? Rosario, Fasano, Stevens, McMichael, etc. OK... forget McMichael, as he has yet to have the big week. This week, it's Zach Miller.

 

- Tennessee has as good of a shot at the #1 seed in the AFC as anybody. Who else has looked good consistently? Denver? On offense, maybe. San Diego? Hardly... no consistency. Indy? Not exactly. Jacksonville is very fortunate they're not 0-4. Pittsburgh will be lucky if Parker OR Ben sees week 10, the way their line has played. And, nobody in the East will win more than 10-11 games. I think the #1 seed is the Titans to lose. Their defense has clearly been the best so far... and that has nothing to do with today, which was nothing special. Minnesota's offense is pretty much inept, although it's better now that they actually have a QB who can throw.

 

- Finally, is it just me, or have the "Is so-and-so hurt or just not playing" posts gotten out of control? What's really sad is that I would be willing to bet that a good portion of the people who are asking have the Sunday ticket, but don't want to spend the time watching the game that they are worried about. I propose a new fantasy rule: No such questions until after said player's game is finished. In other words, if the guy (Jerramy Stevens, for example) produces a big zero for the game, go ahead and ask what happened to him. However, halfway through the first or second quarter, such a question does not deserve a response. These are football games, not video games... Projections don't always work out, and when they do, they don't necessarily disperse themselves evenly through all four quarters.