Fantasy Football News

NEW YORK — Just like all those wins, the NFL awards keep rolling in for Tom Brady.

The league’s Most Valuable Player added The Associated Press 2007 Offensive Player of the Year honors to his collection Tuesday, easily outdistancing his main weapon on the unbeaten New England Patriots, Randy Moss.

Indeed, of the four players who received votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL, three were Patriots. Brady, of course, led the way, just as he did through the first 16-0 regular season in league history.

“We set out a bunch of goals early in the season,” Brady said, “and I think I said the best part about playing quarterback here is I just have to do my job, show up every day and work hard just like everybody else. I think my job description is just a bit different than everybody else’s, but there’s a lot of satisfaction knowing that I can just come out there and worry about myself and expect that everybody else is going to do their job.

“It’s been a fun season. There’s no doubt about it.”

And it’s been a rewarding season for Brady, the first New England player to be chosen MVP and now the first Patriot to win Offensive Player of the Year. He collected 35 and a half votes to 12 and a half for Moss. Wes Welker, the Patriots’ other starting receiver, got one, as did Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre.

Brady, an eight-year veteran who’s already a winner of three Super Bowls, threw for 50 touchdowns, beating Peyton Manning’s league mark by one. He also threw 23 of those TD passes to Moss, lifting the receiver past Jerry Rice’s record of 22.
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QUARTERBACKS

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Carson Palmer (at MIA): After four games in some ugly weather, Palmer is looking forward to playing in South Florida. It doesn’t hurt that he’s facing the Dolphins either since Miami’s secondary is decimated with injuries. The Dolphins might be No. 4 in pass defense, but they are among the league leaders with 25 passing touchdowns allowed.

Jay Cutler (vs. MIN): Cutler has struggled on the road this season, but he’s played well at home, especially recently. In his past four games at home, Cutler has 10 touchdowns and only two interceptions, with none in his past three games. The Vikings also are last in the NFL in pass defense with 20 passing touchdowns allowed. And it’s unlikely that Minnesota quarterback Tarvaris Jackson will talk trash with Cutler the way San Diego’s Philip Rivers did on Monday night.

Marc Bulger (at ARI): Bulger likes facing the Cardinals, especially recently. In his past two games against Arizona, which is No. 28 in pass defense with 25 passing touchdowns allowed, Bulger has two 300-yard outings, three touchdowns and three interceptions. This game has the potential to be high-scoring and should be fun to watch.

Donovan McNabb (vs. BUF): McNabb is coming off one of his best games at New Orleans last week when he had 263 yards passing and three touchdowns. In the past two games, McNabb finally appears healthy, rushing for 90 yards against the Cowboys and Saints, and now has some reassurance that he will return to Philadelphia next year as the starter. The Bills also are No. 27 in pass defense, so McNabb has an opportunity to end the season strong.

Derek Anderson (vs. SF): Anderson will bounce back from his poor outing at Cincinnati last week when he had only two touchdowns and four interceptions. With the Browns still fighting for a playoff spot, expect Anderson to have one of his better games. The 49ers also are No. 26 in pass defense with 23 touchdowns allowed, so Anderson has a favorable matchup this week.
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QUARTERBACKS

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Donovan McNabb (at NO): McNabb appears to thrive when he’s in some sort of controversy or being scrutinized, and this latest snafu with a FOX sideline reporter about what he said or didn’t say regarding his future could be all the motivation he needs. It also helps that he’s facing one of the worst secondaries in the NFL this week. The Saints have allowed 26 passing touchdowns this year and give up 249.6 yards per game.

Carson Palmer (vs. CLE): This game also calls for starting Derek Anderson as well since their first meeting was his coming-out party. When these teams met in Week 2, Palmer passed for 401 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions, and Anderson had 328 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. This game should be high-scoring depending on the weather, but I still like both passers this week. In Palmer’s past three games against the Browns he has 1,028 yards passing, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Kurt Warner (vs. ATL): It will be interesting to see what the Cardinals do with Warner and Matt Leinart next year because Warner is making it hard to keep him on the bench. In his past six games Warner has 15 touchdowns and two games over 300 yards passing with at least two touchdowns in each game. The only problem is he also has 10 interceptions during that span, but that shouldn’t be too much of a concern this week. His top two receivers in Larry Fitzgerald (groin) and Anquan Boldin (toe) are playing through pain, and Warner is also using little-known tight ends Ben Patrick and Troy Bienemann with Leonard Pope out.

Ben Roethlisberger (at STL): There are two concerns with Big Ben: He doesn’t throw for a ton of yards (less than 200 yards passing in his past five games) and he takes too many sacks (he has 43, which is second behind Detroit’s (Jon Kitna). But Roethlisberger throws touchdowns, and he had three more last week. His shoulder is fine, and this is a big game for the Steelers, so he should play well.
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Brett Favre became the NFL career leader in yards passing Sunday, overtaking Dan Marino for his latest achievement in a milestone season.

The 38-year-old Favre, a three-time NFL MVP, pulled to within 1 yard of Marino with a 44-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings when he caught the Rams in a blitz. That put the Green Bay Packers ahead 27-14 in the third quarter.

Favre then passed the Dolphins’ Hall of Famer on the first play of the Packers’ next series with 23 seconds gone in the fourth quarter. The game was halted as Driver hugged Favre and other teammates patted him on the shoulder pads. Public address announcer Jim Holder acknowledged the record, prompting a huge ovation, and Favre shook hands with referee Ron Winter before flipping the souvenir ball to an attendant on the sideline.

Before the toss to Driver, Favre was reminded on the sideline that the next completion would mean the record, “which is good and bad.”
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QUARTERBACKS — START ‘EM

Carson Palmer (at SF): Fantasy owners are concerned about Palmer’s recent play, and they have a legitimate gripe. In his past two games, Palmer has passed for less than 190 yards in each game with no touchdowns and two interceptions. He hasn’t been that bad since early in his career in 2004. Now he gets the 49ers, who are No. 16 in pass defense with 20 passing touchdowns allowed. This is a game where Palmer and the Bengals passing game bounce back.

Jay Cutler (at HOU): Cutler is emerging as a future star with his recent play, which should continue against the Texans. He has nine passing touchdowns and four interceptions in his past five games, with one 300-yard outing in that span. Last week against Kansas City, Cutler had 244 yards passing, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Houston has allowed 17 passing touchdowns this year, but Cutler should find the end zone at least twice.

Kurt Warner (at NO): If you can live with an interception or five, Warner is your man. Warner had 337 yards passing, three touchdowns and five interceptions last week at Seattle. Despite the interceptions, Warner has played well recently with 12 touchdowns in his past five games. The Saints pass defense is among the worst in the NFL and ranks No. 29 with 23 passing touchdowns allowed. Warner should continue his success even if Anquan Boldin (toe) remains out.

Brett Favre (at STL): Favre as the “Sit of the Week” was a bad call last week against Oakland since he had 266 yards passing, two touchdowns and one interception, which came on a tipped ball. He certainly wasn’t the Favre we’ve seen all season because he was limited with a bad elbow and shoulder, but now he should get back to business. The Rams have allowed 17 passing touchdowns this year, but Favre will add to that total.
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Head coach Bobby Petrino’s resignation Tuesday is another Falcons embarrassment in a year full of them. Atlanta hired Petrino away from Louisville in January despite his NFL inexperience and the recent failings of ballyhooed college coaches who have tried making the transition like Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier and Butch Davis.

Petrino recently said “all his plans” were to return to Atlanta in 2008. But Petrino failed to even complete his first year as Atlanta’s coach.

FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer quoted one Falcons assistant as saying Petrino told his staff, “Guys I’ve resigned, I’m going to Arkansas. I’m sorry. I’ll be talking with you guys in the future.’” And with that he turned and walked out the door. We haven’t been told anything else.”

Falcons owner Arthur Blank must now hire a replacement to rebuild a 3-10 team. The most pressing need is at quarterback after Michael Vick’s off-season arrest and subsequent 23-month prison sentence.
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Nashville, TN — Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher took offense to claims by the San Diego Chargers that he ordered a “hit” on star linebacker Shawne Merriman during Sunday’s game.

Merriman suffered a sprained ligament in his left knee against the Titans and will miss this Sunday’s game against the Lions. Merriman said teammates told him Fisher ordered a hit on him for knocking quarterback Vince Young out of the game in the second quarter.

Several Chargers said Titans center Kevin Mawae and another player were involved in the play with intentions of hurting Merriman.

Bears coach Lovie Smith said Monday that Kyle Orton will start for the club at Minnesota in Week 15. Rex Grossman is out with a sprained PCL and Brian Griese will be the backup.

Orton has spent the 2006 season as the No. 3/emergency QB but was the team’s starter as a rookie for 15 games, helping them win their division. In those 15 games, Orton completed 51.6 percent of his passes for 1,869 yards with nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions. “I think it’s just time to see what Kyle can do,” Smith said.
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The New Orleans Saints listed running back Reggie Bush among their inactives for Week 14 at Atlanta, and The Times-Picayune reports that he’ll miss the rest of the season after Dr. James Andrews confirmed the earlier diagnosis of a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, according to a league source with knowledge of the results. “It’s been a very bad knee for about four weeks, and he shouldn’t have been playing on it,” the source said.
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Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for his role in a dogfighting conspiracy that involved gambling and killing pit bulls.

The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback could have been sentenced up to five years by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Vick, who turned himself in Nov. 19 in anticipation of his sentence, was wearing a black-and-white striped prison suit.

After Vick apologized to the court and his family, Hudson told him: “You need to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to you.”

“Yes, sir,’ Vick answered.
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