Sports Blog — October 16, 2009
Fantasy Football: Manning Brothers continue to excel
Nature vs. Nurture.
Archie Manning is making me a believer in nature. Talk about some serious breeding. Even though Archie wasn’t the greatest of quarterbacks for the New Orleans Saints, he definitely knows how to mate. His sons, the Colts’ Peyton Manning and the Giants’ Eli Manning, are leading undefeated teams that have two of the most potent offensives in the NFL.
As individuals, Peyton is ranked first in the NFL for touchdowns and quarterback rating, while the younger Eli is a second in both categories. Sports haven’t seen family domination like this since Venus and Serena Williams.
Archie is probably smiling pretty big right now, but who knows how long that’ll last. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two brothers squared off in the Super Bowl which, would make for the most epic rivalry clash ever, one that has been 28 years in the making (Eli’s age).
Eli has been great and deserves his props, but Peyton Manning, really? I mean, really? He is going for the triple crown and then some. Including for throwing over 300 yards every game, the Colts' quarterback is leading the league in yards, touchdowns, completion percentage and quarterback rating. Don’t look for him to slow down any time soon because, after a bye this week, Manning gets the Rams, 49ers and Texans. Those are going to be some BIG weeks for him.
Even more, Peyton has been doing all of this despite Tony Dungy, his head coach, retiring last year. Dungy had been coach since 2002, but Peyton and the rest of the Colts’ offense haven’t skipped a beat this year, which just goes to show what kind of leader Peyton is.
As for the rest of the Colts, Joseph Addai’s carries have seen a slight hit and he’s not the first round talent he was a couple years ago, but he’s still producing. Donald Brown has no fantasy value, but Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark are both top-five receivers right now, and are second and third in receiving yards respectively. I think Reggie is the best fantasy wide receiver out there right now.
Lastly, here’s a shout out to my boy Ray Rice of the Ravens. I’ve been waiting on the 5 feet 8 inch tall running back ever since I drafted him last year. After getting his first NFL touchdown two weeks ago, Rice got his first receiving touchdown last week on perhaps the coolest play of the season. Rice has the most receiving yards for running backs and is another bowling ball type runner (think Atlanta Falcon Michael Turner) with some pretty decent speed.
The Ravens’ other running back, Willis McGahee, had been getting most of the touchdowns early on, but his carries have been steadily declining as he has had less than eight touches in each of the last three weeks. The Ravens are starting to see what I’ve seen for a while. It seems like every time Rice touches the ball he is gaining at least seven yards. With his influx in carries, his fantasy value is only going to rise.
