Fantasy Sports Booth

The NFL season has finally started with a clash between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Miami Dolphins. I won’t recap the game, but here are some fantasy notes I took away:

Daunte Culpepper - He had a few bad passes early, but I don’t think he looked as poor as his stat line would suggest. Both interceptions came late in the game when he got desperate. He should have had a touchdown pass, except Chambers tried to catch it with his face. That was actually just a bit of miscommunication in timing. I’d say Daunte is a spot starter at best right now. Play him against poor defenses.

Chris Chambers - He didn’t appear until late in the game. But when he did, he looked pretty good. If you didn’t already know this when you selected Chris high in the draft, he’s a must start. I think Daunte and Chris will take what they did in the second half, and get that going early next game. Also, he was targetted often in the endzone.

Ronnie Brown - Ronnie wasn’t a guy I thought at the end of last season that he’d be a top pick for me. I wasn’t impressed with his stats last year. I wasn’t impressed with his stats in the preseason. So finally, I get to watch him play and see what the fuss is all about. Well, I gotta say, I’m still not impressed. He looked good coming out of the backfield to receive. But his running left much to be desired. That said, he still rushed for 2 TDs. He’ll get the goalline carries, and he looked good pushing it in. But then again, so did Jerome Bettis and he wasn’t a top ten pick last year. My guess is, he’ll do what Corey Dillon did last year. Not a lot of yardage, at least not rushing yards, but still 10 TDs.

Randy McMichael - He was actually targetted a lot more than his 1 reception would suggest. I think one or two receptions may have been called back due to penalties and he also got his clock cleaned on a crossing pattern.

Wes Welker - Haha, I bet you’re thinking, who is this guy? He led Miami in receptions and receiving yards. That was due to Marty Booker sitting out after getting nailed. His greatest contributions were on special teams, averaging 26 yards per punt return. He’ll break more than one kick off or punt return for a TD this year. If he can step ahead of Marty and grab the 2 WR spot (although unlikely), think Terry Glenn.

Hines Ward - Hines came late to the party too, but he still got his TD and a few yards. They look for him near the endzone. Obviously a must start each week.

Willie Parker - Looked good out there, except, Cowher didn’t keep his promise. When the Steelers were at the goalline, Cowher subsituted Verron Haynes in for Willie Parker and then called the ‘ole, fumble the snap trick play.

Heath Miller - He had the big catch for the virtual TD. Good start for him, and a nice score for his owners, considering Batch only completed 15 passes.

Santonio Holmes - This guy sounds fast. And I bet he is. We just didn’t see much of him. He caught one ball, dropped another, muffed up a punt return. Not a good start for the rookie.