Some Quarterbacks are just unlikeable!

The NFL Season is now in week six.  Being hooked on NFL Fantasy Football, involved in two leagues….so far our record is for league 1 – One and Four.  For league 2 – Zero and Four.  After three years of doing this, you might think someone could get better at it…..not worse.  Year one……we actually came out 2nd.  In year two…..we came out fifth.  This year is looking pretty pale.  OK, but we know we to blame….numerous injuries to key players, unproductive touted players and just plain bad luck.  For those that play Fantasy Football we do have one very strong suggestion:  Make sure you don’t miss your “Live Draft” process.  When you even do your pre-draft picks…..things don’t come out exactly as you want and you have to make an inordinate number of trades to catch up with where you could have been….if you just didn’t miss your “Live Draft” opportunity.    The second best advice:  Do not gamble….ever!  We wound up taking Mathew Stafford with Detroit Lions because he was talented, flawed, but available.  Joe Flacco had a great season last year…..with the Baltimore Ravens, this year is still to be determined.  We remain unconvinced on Flacco even though the Ravens won the last Super Bowl.

OK, NFL Fantasy Football is surely the most of American pastimes.  You get to pick your favorite players and then match their skills against the other guys favorite players.  It is a great deal like politics.  Would you trade your John Boehner for a Harry Reid or a Barack Obama?  How about Rand Paul for a Nancy Pelosi?  Maybe and Eric Cantor or Mark Sanford for a Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren?  But then, we don’t want to get too far afield here from the true issues that are affecting America – for example:  ”Will RG III ever make his comeback with the Washington Redskins?” ” Should the Washington Redskins change their name to the Washington Solons or Washington Senators?”   Jake Locker who was the designated “Superkind” at the Tennessee Titans was injured and will be out a while.  His replacement Ryan Fitzpatrick is playing well enough to worry Locker, but we shall see who finishes the season as the Titans QB.

Well, maybe we need to take a stab at just mentioning how much we dislike certain NFL Quarterbacks and why they will never be on our Fantasy Teams.   Let’s start with Peyton Manning.  Peyton Manning, left the Baltimore Colts and went to the Denver Broncos.  He had mega-serious neck and back surgery and there was every chance he might not ever play NFL Football again.  Well, the Broncos are now 4 and 0 and they seem the odds on favorites to go to the Super Bowl.  We never liked Peyton Manning, in spite of his skills.  We never liked his dad Archie Manning very much either.  His dad was a terminal cry baby in a day when Terry Bradshaw, Jack Kemp and Daryl Lamonica were the big heroes of the day.  Peyton’s brother Eli….is actually a nice kid with some QB skills, but just not totally there.  Eli Manning plays for the New York Giants, who used to have a pretty good Defense.  They are O and Four or Five.  A big NFL fantasy bust in 2013!  We would never chose Peyton or Eli….because:  They just aren’t that likeable.  A lot has to do with their coaches as well.  John Fox is the Coach at Denver and we never liked him very much either.  Tom Coughlin is the Coach at the Giants……and sort of a disgruntled old guy..who isn’t that likeable either.

Then you have all these new kids on the block.  We had great hope for Robert Griffin III at Washington last year….till he was injured.  Now, we don’t have too much hope for him this year or maybe even the next.  The so-called next big thing is Andrew Luck at the Baltimore Colts.  This young gun is impressive, football like……but……there is just something about him……we don’t like.  How can we not like Andrew Luck?  Don’t know.  Let’s just say, he doesn’t shave his face enough.  Let’s just say, he has that look on his face….mom might not like.  Let’s just say, we wouldn’t be pleased to have him date our daughter, even if we can’t find a good reason why.  Ryan Tannyhill is another one of those young guns we just don’t like much.  He is the Quarterback for the Miami Dolphins.  He is a second or third year starter and has some flashes of brilliance mixed with other various problems or maybe just bad luck.  Injuries, poorly timed interceptions, occasional fumbles.

The TCU Quarterback  Andy Dalton that now is the Quarterback for the Cinncinati Bengals is another “also ran”.  Some days he is hot….some days he is not.  Our old USC Quarterback Carson Palmer has now found his third team, Bengals, Raiders and now Cardinals…..where he continues to unimpress.  Luckily for Carson, the Arizona Cardinals have a great Defense.   After he was injured five years ago at Pittsburgh……Carson has constant “nervous feet, neck and toes”.  Too bad, Carson looked like he could have been a contender.  Not happening this year – that we can see.  Then there is Michael Vick, at the new Chip Kelley Philadelphia, Eagles.   Ever since Vick left the Atlanta. Falcons we never liked him much.  Dog Fighting has a way of following you around for a long, long time.  Vick just got injured last week, but again – we would never put Vick on our Fantasy list.  Vick’s replacement is Arizona QB, Nick Foles.  This guy always made us angry when they played USC, but……kind of a “kiss your sister” QB, but one you would never put too much effort into drafting.    We have always detested Chip Kelley, so nothing is going to change there.   Then you have Brandon Weeden of the Cleveland Browns who was replaced by rookie Brian Hoyer who was doing great till Hoyer pulled the big rookie mistake of trying to run and  experienced a season ending injury.  We actually thought Weeden was going to be a possible back-up choice at the start of the season……now?  We doubt Weeden will be able to hold it together for the rest of the season.

Then comes some real disappointing Quarterbacks:   Matt Ryan could have been this huge mega-star for the Atlanta, Falcons.  The Falcons this year have been less than appealing.  Ryan seems to know how to lose the big game – repeatedly.  Then there is Matt Schaub for the Houston, Texans.  Matt has always been “sort of a Carson Palmer almost good quarterback”.  This year, Matt has been doing the “interceptions are us” school of quarterbacking and we had to drop Matt as our back up to Tom Brady at New England.  Before we leave the disappointing QB section we cannot forget Mark Sanchez at the New York Jets.  Mark was injured right out of USC, his first year with the Jets.  Coach Pete Carroll, wanted him to heal up real good before he went to the NFL, but Mark had his own mind and bluffed his way through that first year at the Jets, but got hit seriously….many times to limit his output in the following three years.  Mark just went under the knife and will probably have two years of rehab…before he could make a serious comeback.  Mark throws too many interceptions and is glad that Matt Schaub has taken the heat off this reputation.  Mark is probably history in the NFL.  If not, we wish him well in either event.  The rooking Gino Smith seems to be doing pretty good for the Jets and if he can make it through this year without injury, probably has a pretty good future at the Jets.

Some surprises this year which are really cool.  First off Andy Reid, ex-Eagles Coach and now coach of the Kansas City Chiefs is off to a 4 and 0 start and he grabbed former SF49′er QB Alex Smith and is doing great.  We chose Alex and he has been showing well.  We wish the Chiefs good luck this year.  Their Defense is excellent so far.  Another great QB is the young Russell Wilson at the Seattle Seahawks.  We still love Pete Carroll and the Seahawks have charisma.  They have a style, a grace and a very tough Defense.  Russell Wilson is also one of our Fantasy QB’s.  Tom Brady at the New England Patriots is still one of our favorites.  He lost a whole bunch of very productive receivers this year, but we have a feeling that the Patriots are going to be there in the play-offs at the end of the trail.  Aaron Rogers of the Green Bay Packers started slow this year, but now is cranking back to the levels of last year and before.  Aaron Rogers is way cool, but because we mixed the “Live Draft”…..he was long gone before we could pick him up.

Finally, we are left with the “could have been’s”, “might do OK” and “you just don’t know” QB’s.  Colin Kapernak was the “newbie player of the year in 2012″ taking over for Alex Smith as the quarterback for the San Francisco 49′ers.  This year, the schedule, defensive struggles and other issues have conspired to slow down the 49′ers appreciably.  Was Kapernak a “one year wonder”?  We will reserve judgment for the time being.  Then there is Terrelle Pryor over at the Oakland Raiders.  This is a tough one.  Pryor is another “mobile quarterback” that has looked everything from OK to great.  Can Pryor do what Carson Palmer could not and make the Raiders a winning team again?  Again, we will have to wait and see.  What about Sam Bradford at the St. Louis Rams?  So mediocre that it is hard to describe.  Too vanilla fudge for words perhaps.  Can’t win the big or small ones!  Sort of a Phillip Rivers without the competitive spirit.  Speaking of Phillip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers.  He is rather likeable, but then he goes off the rails and just gives up sometimes.  That part of the River character is not very attractive.  When he is intense and focused, there may not be a better QB in the NFL.  Phil Rivers is sort of a Tony Romeo kind of guy.  They both seem to go through “mood swings”.  They throw an interception and take it way too personally.  Not  like Tom Brady or Russell Wilson – the real competitors!

So, who did we miss?  Buffalo Bills?  E.J. Manuel is a very talented young quarterback that recently got injured.  He has the skills and tools to be a great NFL Fantasy QB…..hopefully, he will recover from this thigh injury soon.   Blain Gabbard is a nice guy, but a very poor quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars.  This then leaves us with our most unfavorite NFL quarterback who plays for the Carolina Panthers – Cam Newton.  Cam is sort of a bad Michael Vick.  Cam has flashes of brilliance, but in our mind is very unlikeable.   Cam can run like a deer……who cares?

Who will make the play-offs?  Who will go to the Super Bowl?  Who cares?  Will John Boehner lose his job?  Will the United States go Bankrupt?  When will the President stop putting up with Congressional stupidity?  When will there be peace in the Middle East?  When will Dennis Rodman go back to North Korea?  When will Lindsay Lohan go back to rehab?   Does any of this matter to anyone?  Why are we so hooked on NFL Redzone every Sunday?  In the meantime;  Congratulations to the LA Dodgers!  Good job Don Mattingly!  Keep up the good work – we are truly pulling for you!