NFL Week 6 thoughts

Miami Dolphins - I don't know what's happened or why, but a Miami team that lived and died by it's defense in 2006 is now just dying by it. The offense has to shoulder a fair share of the blame, but that's to be expected. Ronnie Brown seems the main threat, and a surprisingly promising performance from Cleo Lemon (who passed for two touchdowns and added a brace on the ground) won't be helped by the trade of Chris Chambers on deadline day. It could be up to first round pick Ted Ginn Jr. to fill those shoes.

Saints off the mark - And finally, the Saints had had their share of disappointment and took it out on Seattle. The offense clicked, the defense held it’s own and harried Matt Hasselbeck as Drew Brees and Reggie Bush powered this victory.

Adrian Peterson - He just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t he? With Offensive Rookie of the Year already looking in the bag, this rookie running back already looks to be the life and soul of his team. Chester Taylor is getting a number of carries as the coach tries to prevent Peterson from burning out, but don’t mistake this for parity. Peterson is already the franchise back in Minnesota by performance, even if he isn’t named as such.

Never, ever kick to Devin Hester - Talking to PFC head honcho Chris Pokorny the other evening I asked him whether as a coach he would ever kick the ball to Devin Hester. He said yes, but you need to kick it smart. I’m afraid I disagree, I wouldn’t even try to stop him with the ball because on the return he’s a terrifying prospect. Ball in hand, slaloming his way through the opposition he seems to be coated in grease. I say stuff that. Punt the ball over the sidelines and if you haven’t got the length to put it through the end zone then I’d even consider putting it out on kick-offs. Giving them a start at their own 40 is surely better than conceding the score? It may be cowardice, but what’s wrong with that? If you had a surefire way of keeping the ball out of another star player’s hands you’d do it, right?

Invincible Patriots? - I didn’t necessarily think the Cowboys would beat the Patriots, but I sort of hoped they would. Not a knock on New England, quite the opposite actually. They’re so mechanically efficient it would have been nice for a team like Dallas who often have to dig themselves out of a hole (often of their own digging) to win to throw a little spanner in the works and show it could be done.

Cowboys - Losing to the Patriots anywhere isn’t going to hurt a team too much and these Cowboys will keep going, racking up wins and generally going about the business of trying to prove themselves the best the NFC has to offer. Tony Romo had a perfectly respectable game against New England and he’ll be slinging the ball around the same as he always does when the Vikings pay a visit.

Vinny Testaverde - I’ll not say too much because you’ll have read Vinny’s tale a thousand times by now, but such a heart-warming story is worth a mention.

LT and LJ lead good week for disappointments - LaDainian Tomlinson, Larry Johnson, Thomas Jones, Maurice Jones-Drew. All backs who’d struggled for performances and/or consistency so far this season and they all had great games this week as fantasy football players sighed relief. Here’s hoping the versions of these players we saw at the weekend are here to stay.

NFL Week 7

Game predictions
Arizona Cardinals vs. Washington Redskins
This should be a lock for Washington. A mean defense who can cause the opposition problems all over the park are unlikely to be picked apart by Tim Rattay. They’re not doing badly on offense either, and Jason Campbell is showing healthy signs of being able to change around his passing targets to suit the game at hand. I think Washington will get over the disappointment of losing to such a mediocre-looking Green Bay outfit with a big win over Arizona.

Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints
New Orleans finally notched up a victory away at Seattle in week 6 while Atlanta stuttered through another game as their win ratio took another hit against the Giants on Monday. The Saints will see this game, without disrespecting the Falcons, as a chance to get another win in the bag and try to build up some steam as they aim to build a run towards an unlikely playoff spot. There are harder secondaries for new Falcons starter Byron Leftwich to play against this season, but I still can’t shake the feeling he’s already fighting a losing battle.

Baltimore Ravens vs. Buffalo Bills
With ten points allowed in their last two games the Ravens defensive unit looks to be getting a swagger again. Okay, fair enough, the 49ers and Rams aren’t exactly heavyweights of this league but the confidence it’ll leave the players with is important, and Buffalo may end up as another nourishing meal for the Ravens’ ego as they head towards a Monday Night Football clash in Pittsburgh next week. Buffalo got a win over the Jets and before their bye were stunned by a late-game revival from Dallas, however a win over this Baltimore team will be a stretch.

Minnesota Vikings vs. Dallas Cowboys
Adrian Peterson is looking like he could be a very special player in seasons to come, but right now he’s got the toughest run defense he’s faced to date looming before him, and not a lot of support from the passing game to help open holes for him. The Cowboys-Patriots scoreline flattered New England a little last Sunday and Dallas will have taken that game in their stride, tossed it to one side and set their sights beating Minnesota. The Vikings are excellent against the run, so if Barber and Jones don’t find a way though the Cowboys will simply give the ball to Romo and let him punish one of the weakest passing defenses in the league.

New England Patriots vs. Miami Dolphins
I’ve tried to find something to talk about that suggests the Dolphins might have a shot here, I really have. All I can come up with is that, you know, any team can beat any team no matter how unlikely. The other reason I won’t 100% count Miami out (maybe 95%) is simply that it’s a divisional game and sometimes they can throw up crazy results. Other than that? Nope, sorry. Until there are signs of Miami’s big names performing I don’t see them improving any time soon.

San Francisco 49ers vs. New York Giants
I think it might be a fun weekend to be a 49er. They haven’t looked likely to live up to pre-season expectations of being much improved, they have a measly 10 points over the last two weeks and they’re going to Giants Stadium to take on an improving-by-the-week Giants team who have four consecutive wins under their belt. I think they can make that six in a few days.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions
I’m feeling increasingly loathe to make much of an in depth analysis of the Lions. They could be the team I struggle with this year as I did with last year’s 49ers. They’ve not looked great and they’ve even had trouble getting their vaunted passing game off the ground sometimes this year and that’s almost all they’ve got going for them a lot of the time. Jeff Garcia’s been so reliable this year you don’t see him giving Detroit too many opportunities. It might not be watchable but I think the Bucs will continue their unlikely start.

Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans
Even if there’s more inconsistency crept into the team than Gary Kubiak would have wanted, Houston have shown improvement and potential this season. Normally with Vince Young currently listed as questionable, I don’t think anything short of a limb falling off is going to stop him playing in his home town on Sunday. Both teams have injuries but Ahman Green and Andre Johnson both having hurt knees could be what turns this the Titans’ way.

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Oakland Raiders
It could, of course, be an anomaly but you’d only imagine last week’s breakout is Larry Johnson’s jump-start for the season. Oakland really haven’t defended well against the run to this point and LJ knows he’s going to be the one who makes this season worthwhile for Kansas City if anybody’s going to. With players in the box needing to worry about Tony Gonzalez this might open up some room for Johnson to work his magic.

New York Jets vs. Cincinnati Bengals
The Jets have been pretty hopeless when it comes to rushing the passer at this stage in the season and stopping the passing game in general has been a major issue for them so you don’t want to be visiting Cincinnati. On the plus side? Cincinnati’s own defense is wince-inducing, so it could be a game to put the ball in the hands of Thomas Jones and let him power them to a win. The problem could arise if they let Carson Palmer put the ball in the end zone too often. Playing catch-up with the Bengals isn’t impossible, but it’s far from an enviable task.

Chicago Bears vs. Philadelphia Eagles
With a weak to rest and tune up, this is a good time for Philly to take on a leaky Bears defense. Peterson was unstoppable against them last week and Philadelphia certainly have the backs to rip through Chicago if they haven’t tightened up. Philly have been shaky at times, but the Super Bowl runners-up aren’t looking great on either side of the ball so an unlikely win in Pennsylvania will take some doing.

St. Louis Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks
To be perfectly blunt, and perhaps a little unfair, as weak as the Seahawks have seemed over their previous couple of games, I’m still not even close to considering picking them to lose to the Rams. Anything can happen –especially in a divisional game- but come on, the Rams can’t win this? Right?

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Denver Broncos
A dreadful home record, a run defense that leaks huge amounts of yards and now they’ve got a visit from Pittsburgh. Doesn’t sound like a healthy combination and Denver’s woes at Mile High may be set to continue. The one glimmer of hope is that if they can shut down a bang-up Steelers receiver corps with Bly and Bailey man-to-man they might be able to crowd the line enough to put together a good defensive performance. Problems would still arise though as they tried to breakdown Pittsburgh when they’ve got the ball, and they’ve looked clumsy without Javon Walker. Even should they stop Pittsburgh making big plays, mistakes might cost the Broncos this one.

***Game of the Week***
Indianapolis Colts vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
If the Colts had even lost one game so far this year I’d be giving thought to predicting a Jaguars win here, but unless there’s some new factor to consider like a major injury or if the team has generally looked a liability I’m unwilling to pick against an undefeated team. It hardly seems fair, not least when you consider than Indy have proven themselves as fighters when the game calls for it. Jacksonville won’t let the Colts have it all their own way, but you can forget about Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor pulling them apart like they did last season.

PFC Staff Fantasy Picks

If you’ve been following this column, you’ll have read the fantasy football game between a few of the PFC staff we’re running for a bit of fun and maybe a few fantasy football pointers

Kevin Figg picked Kurt Warner, Ronnie Brown, Wes Welker and Antonio Gates. Another stroke of bad fortune for Kevin got him another 0 at quarterback this week when Warner went down injured. Wes Welker helped pick up the slack with 15 ½ while Ronnie Brown and Gates got 4 and 2 to lift Kevin to a week 6 total of 21 ½.

Chris Pokorny selected Carson Palmer, Brian Westbrook, Braylon Edwards and Tony Gonzalez. Gonzalez led the way as he broke the touchdown reception record for a tight end and got himself 16 of our fantasy points, while the other three earned 10 ½, 6 and a huge 20 respectively, leaving him with a sum of 52 ½ to keep his run of great picks going.

And lastly, I went for Carson Palmer, LaDainian Tomlinson, Plaxico Burress and Kellen Winslow. With 10 ½, 8 and 1 ½ for Palmer, Burress and Winslow topped off by a massive haul of 32 points as Tomlinson ran riot against Oakland I’ve got a week 6 balance of 52.

Chris did excellently again all round while I was saved by LaDainian Tomlinson from falling way behind and Kevin had more bad luck with his quarterback pick.

Chris Pokorny - 206 ½
Ian Hetherington - 188 ½
Kevin Figg - 186

And so for the first time since taking up residence on the top spot, Kevin falls down the ranking and right to the bottom. With there a total of twenty points separating top from bottom, it’s all there for the taking still and Chris will be hoping for another good week to keep the top spot now that he’s taken it.

Kevin Figg:
QB: Jeff Garcia (Buccaneers) vs. Lions

HB: Larry Johnson (Chiefs) vs. Raiders

WR: Chad Johnson (Bengals) vs. Jets

TE: Chris Cooley (Redskins) vs. Cardinals

Chris Pokorny
QB: Tom Brady (Patriots) vs. Dolphins - He's been the best fantasy quarterback just about every week. Things could go beyond ridiculous this week, as he faces an 0-6 Dolphins team that hasn't done a single thing on offense.

RB: Willie Parker (Steelers) vs. Broncos - With the Steelers having everyone back from injuries, Parker will tear through the Broncos' awful run defense. Najeh Davenport could steal some carries away from Parker down near the goal line, but this is the week I'm imagining Parker break off a few "big-gainer" touchdowns.

WR: Reggie Wayne (Colts) vs. Jaguars - The Colts may have Joseph Addai healthy again, but they have a tough task ahead of them against the Jaguars on the road. The Colts will try to jump out to an early lead by tossing it deep to Wayne; although Marvin Harrison would probably have an equivalent chance at scoring too.

TE: Chris Cooley (Redskins) vs. Cardinals - After having a breakout first half last week, Cooley was held in check for the second half. Look for the Redskins to go right after Arizona's linebackers with Cooley.

Ian Hetherington
QB: Tony Romo (Cowboys) vs. Vikings – Minnesota’s fine rushing defense is going to have it’s hands full with Julius Jones and Marion Barber but Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Terrell Owens and Patrick Crayton could be rampant against their dire pass defense.

RB: Brian Westbrook (Eagles) vs. Bears – Chicago’s rush D has struggled so far, so while they’re busy trying to pressure and stifle McNabb I think space is going to open up for Brian Westbrook both on the ground and on quick passes.

WR: Chad Johnson (Bengals) vs. Jets – Houshmanzadeh has sometimes got the most statistically compared to Chad Johnson this year but I don’t think the Jets have what it takes to keep Johnson out of the game altogether and he could be set for a great game.

TE: Tony Gonzalez (Chiefs) vs. Raiders – Gonzalez is really enjoying his football just now, and he’ll be a huge factor of any potential Chiefs win.

SCORING SYSTEM:
Quarterbacks: Touchdown = 6 points; 50 yards passing = 1 point; interception or fumble (lost) = -½ point

Running back: Touchdown = 6 points; 50 rushing/receiving yards = 2 points; fumble (lost) = -½ point

Wide receiver: Touchdown = 6 points; 50 receiving yards = 2 points; fumble (recovered by defense) = -½ point

Tight end: Touchdown = 6 points; 50 receiving yards = 2 points; fumble (recovered by defense) = -½ point