The week that many Packer fans have been waiting for is finally here. Favre officially becomes the enemy in a state he was once bowed down to in. It's amazing how one misspelled name (should be Farve, but that's a Mississippi education for you) can bring out such emotions in people. Some hate the Packers for losing Favre. Some hate Favre for leaving the Packers. And some just don't care and are sick about hearing it all.
I guess I lie somewhere in between all of this. I'm happy that Thompson and crew stuck to their guns and gave Rodgers a chance last year. If they would have allowed Favre to do what he wanted even if it hurt the team, similar to what Mike Sherman let him do, then we (the Packers) might be as bad as the Buccaneers this year with who knows who at QB.
Rodgers was a #1 draft pick who hadn't seen the field and had only 1 year left on his contract. If the Packers let Favre continue to start, then they wouldn't know exactly what they had in Rodgers and more likely than not, he would have signed elsewhere to get away from the Favre saga. Ideally, I wish that we could have kept Favre as a backup, and I think the hush money the Packers offered Favre to 'stay retired' was to do just that. They didn't want to embarrass Favre by making him hold a clip board, so they asked him to stay home, stay in shape, and if Rodgers got hurt or fell on his face, then Favre could swoop in and be our saviour.
However, being the competitor he is, Favre didn't want to just sit around and watch. He still wanted to play. Somewhere in the debate between the team and Favre, feelings were hurt and suddenly Favre became to despise the Green and Gold. He would have to endure one season in a place he didn't want to play just so he could eventually land in Minnesota where he wanted to go so he could stick it to Ted Thompson and the Packers.
Because of my agreement with the Packers to give Rodgers a shot last year, I spent a lot of energy wishing Favre would show his age and help make my point that the Packers did the right thing. Now that Rodgers showed that he's a legit NFL starting QB and the true Packer fans realized this was the right move, I could care less how Favre does. To me, he's just another player and I don't think of him any differently than I do Phillip Rivers, Matthew Stafford or Donovan McNabb.
I'll always root for the Packers to win and the Vi-queens, Bears and Lions to lose. Having a Packer legend lead one of these teams does not make me think any different. Favre brought me many great memories and I loved watching him play. The off field drama I could do without. Despite him wanting to go to the enemy and make Green Bay suffer, I will always appreciate what Favre did in making this a winning franchise again. I won't root for him to get hurt. I won't hope that he has a great game and beats the Packers. I will just watch the game and cheer loud for the Packers as I do every other week.
I'll leave you with one final message....For those of you Favre fans who are now Vi-queen fans and root against the Packers, stay Vi-queen fans because we don't want you on our bandwagon next year when Rodgers is leading us to victories and Favre is at home on his lawnmower in his Wrangler jeans.
GO PACK GO!
Wednesday, September 30
Monday, September 21
Moving week
The first few weeks of fantasy football bring the most excitement and also bring about the toughest decisions. After the draft and before week 1, everyone loves their team because they typically get the players they think will do well and often drafted these players much earlier than others would have drafted them. Week 1 is usually more about playing the players you think will have a big year and less about the match ups.
Week 2 is when owners start scratching their heads. Is Roddy White not a top flight WR this year with the addition of Gonzalez? Will any RB in Pittsburgh step up and be a #2 fantasy RB? Is Louis Murphy going to put up solid numbers and be the go to guy for JaMarcus Russell? Is Jake Delhomme done?
The inexperienced owners take week 1 too much to heart. A good game does not mean your sleeper pick is truly going to be good. A bad game by a high draft pick does not automatically mean they are a bust. Some owners will automatically start a player in week 2 simply because they outperformed the other players at that position in week 1. An experienced owner would not panic on Stephen Jackson or Matt Forte and bench them in favor of a hot week 1 player like Cadillac Williams. Same goes with Matt Schaub, who looked horrible in week 1, but came in to the season as a top 8 fantasy QB on my list. Those owners who didn't do a knee jerk reaction and bench him this week were rewarded with a high scoring performance.
Week 3 is the last big lineup decision week. It's still early enough to be weary of some unknown players just being off to a hot start as well as some high picks just being off to a slow start. Being able to decide the pretenders from the real deals could be the key in your team having a winning record and staying in the hunt or a losing record and making week 4 a must win week.
By week 4, there typically aren't many tough line-up decisions like you find in the early weeks. Four teams will be on bye in week 4, so that eliminates some of your options. Also, having 3 weeks worth of games will allow you to get a good read on how many touches certain players will get as well as which defenses are susceptible to the run and which ones give up a lot of passing yards. You also have some injuries that come into play which limit your line-up options.
Later this week, I will post my opinions on the following topics:
- which top picks will continue to be busts
- which sleepers will become must start players
- which 2 week surprises will soon fade back to people's benches
- which waiver wire players are most likely to have a fantasy impact by week 7 or 8
Week 2 is when owners start scratching their heads. Is Roddy White not a top flight WR this year with the addition of Gonzalez? Will any RB in Pittsburgh step up and be a #2 fantasy RB? Is Louis Murphy going to put up solid numbers and be the go to guy for JaMarcus Russell? Is Jake Delhomme done?
The inexperienced owners take week 1 too much to heart. A good game does not mean your sleeper pick is truly going to be good. A bad game by a high draft pick does not automatically mean they are a bust. Some owners will automatically start a player in week 2 simply because they outperformed the other players at that position in week 1. An experienced owner would not panic on Stephen Jackson or Matt Forte and bench them in favor of a hot week 1 player like Cadillac Williams. Same goes with Matt Schaub, who looked horrible in week 1, but came in to the season as a top 8 fantasy QB on my list. Those owners who didn't do a knee jerk reaction and bench him this week were rewarded with a high scoring performance.
Week 3 is the last big lineup decision week. It's still early enough to be weary of some unknown players just being off to a hot start as well as some high picks just being off to a slow start. Being able to decide the pretenders from the real deals could be the key in your team having a winning record and staying in the hunt or a losing record and making week 4 a must win week.
By week 4, there typically aren't many tough line-up decisions like you find in the early weeks. Four teams will be on bye in week 4, so that eliminates some of your options. Also, having 3 weeks worth of games will allow you to get a good read on how many touches certain players will get as well as which defenses are susceptible to the run and which ones give up a lot of passing yards. You also have some injuries that come into play which limit your line-up options.
Later this week, I will post my opinions on the following topics:
- which top picks will continue to be busts
- which sleepers will become must start players
- which 2 week surprises will soon fade back to people's benches
- which waiver wire players are most likely to have a fantasy impact by week 7 or 8
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