Mondays Minings-Week 6

Starting with Houston, I believe they have turned the corner, especially on defense. Early in the season, their run defense was the worst in the league, but recently, they've become stingy. Benson had his worst game of the season. I wouldn't be surprised if they are considered an average defense within the next three weeks. Benson scored a td even in a bad game, he has established himself as a top back the rest of the year. Slaton is clearly a second starter, he will continue to stockpile yards but he just isn't a good touchdown threat. Owen Daniels should be the goto red zone guy from this point on.

In Tennessee, it seems possible that Fisher finally, after 6 games, gets it. White is bench guy. Collins is awful, give the ball to CJohnson in the flat. The playcalling at the beginning of the game was brutal, and it led to a big lead for the Pats. The Titan run defense gave up very few yards for a team down 50 points. Possibly the biggest disparity between a team's run d and pass d I've ever seen. Send every qb and receiver you can against them, but be wary of your backs.
Kerry Collins has got to go. He cannot play from behind, and that's where this team is likely to be. The games in which the Titans should be most effective are those where their opponent has a poor passing game. Teams like the Rams won't be able to take advantage of Tennessee's gaping weakness, and it should stay close, where CJ will have monster games.

I said it at the beginning of the season, and I'll say it once more: Don't be surprised if Driver ends up with more numbers than Jennings. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if Jennings beats out Driver from this point on, but there's no way he puts up more points than Reggie Wayne, and a lot of fools were drafting Jennings before him.

Don't expect Steven Jackson's touch down disparity to "even out" as the season progresses. He has a bad team, and he's not going to get to the red zone often. Sure, he will get a few, but he is a low risk, low reward play from here on out. This is why I warned not to draft him. Rumors have spread that he may be traded this offseason. If you are in a keeper league and it becomes clear you aren't doing anything this year, I'd trade for him. SJackson on a team like the Packers is a potential number one overall pick. Throw that ability on a team with an offense and defense, and look out Peterson.

Baltimore and Minnesota were not impressive on defense. The elite status of the Ravens should be called into question. Keep an eye out. On the running side, they seem to get gashed by top backs, but hold average backs to below average numbers.

Why on earth did the Saints not run Pierre Thomas at the goal line. That is the last place I would ever run Mike Bell. They will figure this out. Thomas will get more and more of the carries.

Is it too late to sell high on Steve Smith 2.0. I think he ends up in the top ten, but he won't be top ten from here on out. Giants will spread it around a bit more, and there will be more running TDs as it gets colder.

Hopefully Tomlin got the message. Mendenhall is a beast and SWP belongs on the bench. The Browns defense is actually coming around though. It looks much better than a few weeks ago. Derek Anderson, however is not.

If you can fool anyone into taking DWilliams off your hands after a big week, do it. This isn't going to happen again. He plays the Bucs but twice a year.

The Raiders looked really good. Very impressive on defense. Russell even looked good. All around impressive effort, it was the team that played week 1. I don't know where they were for 4 weeks, but apparently they don't play well until someone makes fun of them.


After week 6, I've updated my matchup rankings. As I feel more confident in them, and there are fewer teams that seem to be inbetween rankings, I'm going to post them. RB schedule analysis will be coming later in the week.


E matchups

Giants
Steelers
Titans
Ravens*

D matchups

Eagles
Bengals
Saints
Bears
49ers
Jets
Vikings*

C matchups

Falcons**
Colts
Cardinals
Cowboys
Broncos
Packers
Jaguars
Dolphins
Redskins*

B matchups

Texans
Raiders
Chargers
Seahawks
Panthers
Patriots
Chiefs
Browns

A matchups

Bills
Bucs
Rams
Lions