2012 fantasy recap -- week 7

Eagles Defensive Coordinator Juan Castillo was fired this week, despite 18 years with the team. In memory of his exemplary service for the birds, here's a look back at some of the recent highlights with the team:

** Sept. 18, 2011
-- Eagles blow a 10-point 4th quarter lead, lose to the Falcons. 

** Sept. 25, 2011
-- Eagles blow a 2-point 4th quarter lead, lose to the Giants. 

** Oct. 2, 2011
-- Eagles blow a 6-point 4th quarter lead, lose to the 49ers. 

** Nov. 7, 2011
-- Eagles blow a 4-point 4th quarter lead, lose to the Bears.

** Nov. 13, 2011
-- Eagles blow a 7-point 4th quarter lead, lose to the Cardinals.

** Oct. 7, 2012
-- Eagles blow a 1-point 4th quarter lead, lose to the Steelers.

** Oct. 14, 2012
-- Mike Vick commits his 13th turnover of the season. Eagles blow a 10-point 4th quarter lead, lose to the Lions. 

** Oct. 16, 2012
-- Juan Castillo is fired. 

The Eagles had a bye this week, so the team had time to welcome new DC Todd Bowles to the fold. In an unrelated story, Vick fumbled twice on Sunday despite not playing in a game. 

QB: Drew Brees, 37.18 pts -- started by me
WR: Randall Cobb, 28.59 pts -- started by Jeff
RB: Chris Johnson, 32.70 pts -- started by Heidi
TE: Rob Gronkowski, 23.20 pts -- started by Joel
K: Nick Folk, 18.00 pts -- on the wire
DEF: Houston, 26.00 pts -- started by ChampMike
D: Brian Robison, 11.50 pts -- on the wire

Brees is the #2 fantasy player on the year so far, behind only Aaron Rodgers. The pair finished 1-2 last season too. Tom Brady, who finished third last year, is currently in fourth just behind rookie Robert Griffin III. Meanwhile, Cardinals starting QB John Skelton trails Rodgers by a mere 182.72 pts, and sits in 36th place among all passers.

"Surprising bottom dwellers" edition
2nd place: Phillip Adams, -0.88 pts -- started by Jeff
1st place: (tie) Tampa Bay, -4.00 pts -- on the wire
1st place: (tie) Baltimore, -4.00 pts -- started by Joel

As bad as the Ravens and Bucs defenses were this week, nothing compares to the Oakland defense's performance so far this year. In six games, they've scored 13 pts, for a 2.17-pt average. For comparison, the Houston defense is second-best in the league, with 100 pts in seven games, or a 14.29 average -- almost seven times better.

For those of you playing NCAA fantasy football, here's a look at some of the top performers on the weekend:

QB: Seth Doege, Texas Tech: 54.72 fantasy pts
-- 318 passing yards, 7 TDs
RB: Kenneth Dixon, Louisiana Tech: 59.20 fantasy pts
-- 232 rushing yds, 6 TDs
WR: Tavarres King, Georgia: 33.53 fantasy pts
-- 9 catches, 188 yards, 2 TDs
QB/RB: Collin Klein, Kansas State: 59.02 fantasy pts
-- 323 yds passing, 3 TDs, 41 rushing yds, 4 TDs

DEF: Bowling Green: 29.00 fantasy pts

-- 4 turnovers forced, 1 TD, zero pts allowed

FYI, that Bowling Green win over UMass was the only shutout among the 59 NCAA FBS games this week. 

Three different times this weekend, I saw/heard Philadelphia sports pundits say the Phillies should consider getting Alex Rodriguez to play 3B for them next season.

All of these comments came after A-Rod batted .120 in the post-season and got benched three separate times in the playoffs. All of these comments came after A-Rod said he would not waive his no trade clause to play with someone besides the Yankees. And all of these comments came after national pundits openly speculated if A-Rod's career might be over.

The best Phillies suggestion I saw was in the Wilmington Snooze Journal, where one of their columnists suggested that A-Rod would be a good experiment at third, but only if the Yankees were willing to pick up $100 million of the $114 million still owed to him over the next five years.

I have a much, much better idea for next season: The Phillies should get Peyton Manning to play 3B for them next season, but first they have to get the Broncos to pay his entire salary and give the Phillies another $40 million. I know he's a prospect, and he's getting old, but he has a hell of an arm and the money works out great.

My suggestion makes as much sense as the A-Rod ones do.

The Maryland Racial Slurs and New Jersey Giants squared off against each other on Sunday, and next  week the G-men will travel down to Texas to face the Arlington Cowboys. With that in mind, here are some guidelines on how to root when rivals are playing each other:

-- Root for turnovers: You want to see a lot of them. Turnovers are always more indicative of offenses playing poorly than defenses performing well.

-- Root for fights: Not between the opponents, but among teammates. On Sunday, RB Ahmad Bradshaw was screaming on the sideline with Coach Tom Coughlin. Dissention? Yes, please. 

-- Root for a 4th Quarter collapse: The Racial Slurs were thiiiiiis close to winning the game, before they let up a 77-yard TD pass with less than two minutes remaining. It's demoralizing for them, and also panic-inducing for the winning team too.

-- Root for bad refs: See above. There's nothing more mind-breaking for both teams than to have the game decided on a blown call. One team gets a loss, the other gets a should-have-lost. 

-- Root for alien abductions: The best result possible for the Giants-Cowboys tilt would be for QBs Eli Manning and Tony Romo to be kidnapped by Martians in the 3rd quarter. The game would be declared a draw, and the human race would be better for it. 

The Cowboys backfield woes continued on Sunday (so sad!) with the team forced to press backup RB Phillip Tanner into the starting role. But in terms of karma, he's been starting player for the soulless squad his whole life. Just look at what his name says he'd do if given a full time role on the team.

Dallas Cowboys RB Phillip Tanner
** I'll pan crowds, sell porn, hit a baby 

I'm willing to bet that jerk would hit more than one baby, if given the opportunity.

Week 7 standings

Well, look at what we have here ... seems like Sam and Bob aren't the only ones who get a turn in first place this year. My squad posted a 187.89-point week, the best in the league since Dad scored 188.63 in September 2007. Yep, I do have those stats on file.

For the record, the best single-week total in league history was a 202.87 performance by Paul, again in September 2007. This week, he fell 86 points short of that.

** Finally, I posted a 3-2 record against Dad this week, pushing the deficit back under double digits to 9. If I can just pick up a game each week for the rest of the season, I'll be tied with him right before the playoffs begin.

** Credit where credit is due -- Eli Manning wins a lot of games, and has two Super Bowl rings. But we need to cut this "elite QB" crap with him already. Sunday was the 12th time in his last 39 games that he had more turnovers than TDs. Over the same stretch, Drew Brees (6), Tom Brady (3), and Aaron Rodgers (1) have fewer than that combined. Great QBs don't fix their screw-ups later in the game. They play well the whole time.

** Here's the easy guide on who to root for in the World Series: One team is named the Giants and used to play in New York. Root for the other team.