What an opening week for the 2007 NFL season! Having waited over 6 months since the Super Bowl the opening weekend was jam packed with stellar offensive performances. Starting with Peyton Manning at home against New Orleans, followed by Randy Moss taking on the Jets, and finishing with Tony Romo totaling dismantling the Giants. After watching most of the games throughout the extended weekend and reflecting who most impressed me, I feel the Most Valuable Offensive Player for Week #1 had to be the offensive line for the Patriots.

Some may be wondering why I would select the offensive line instead of Tom Brady or even Randy Moss. Obviously, it is clear that without the protection the line offered for Brady all day against the Jets there would have been no way he could have connected with Moss and the other receivers so effortlessly. If you look at the highlights of the game it seemed the Pats offensive line was giving Brady anywhere between 4 to 6 seconds every time he was in a drop back pass. For example, during their first possession in the first half, Brady had connected two out of his first 3 passes for and average of 14 yards. Then on second down on the Jest 11 yard line, Brady connected with Welker for a TD pass that seemed like 4-5 seconds before the play materialized. The funny thing was the Jets had blitzed 7 defenders during that play and Brady still had a ton of time to find an open receiver.

Clearly, if the Patriots offensive line is going to continue with the dominance they displayed against the Jets it is going to be a long season for opposing defenses and potentially record breaking seasons for Tom Brady and Randy Moss. Only the next 16 weeks will show what will or will not happen…

With the NFL season opener quickly approaching and teams putting the final preparations together to place them in the most optimal position to succeed. Many teams are placing a lot of hope into one position they feel will lead them to the promise land. Unfortunately it is not the quarterback or the offensive/defensive lineman that they have invested million of dollars. The position many team are counting on producing the opportunity most to succeed is the running back. This position always has the most hype and is part of more discussions of Fantasy Football aficionados around the country.

Since this position receives the most attention and a serious amount of pressure to help a team succeed, there exist three specific running backs that I believe that are under the most pressure to perform this season. In fact all but one of these players will definitely face unemployment if they don’t meet the expectations that they currently face. The nominees are:

#1- Cadillac Williams – After having one of the best starts for a rookie running back in NFL history, Cadillac has faded from being the best ever, to a potential bust. Having produced almost nothing last season and continual facing nagging injuries Cadillac is clearly on the bubble of being “the man” to a has been.

#2 – Shaun Alexander – The Seattle Seahawks finally gave Shaun the contract he had always wanted after their Super Bowl run in 2005. However, having gotten banged up and only making a marginal contribution to the team last season, Shaun could find himself being released or forced into retirement after this season if he does not rush for more than 1000 yards and score more than 10 touchdowns. Shaun faces a couple of dilemmas; first he is on the verge of by passing his prime. Of all NFL running backs in recent history, none have rushed for more than 1500 yards or scored more than 20 touchdowns once they reached their early 30s. The second disadvantage Shaun faces is the potential of being released and Seattle going after a big name running back in free agency or in the draft after the season concludes. The reasoning behind this resides in one person, Grant Wistrom. Grant was signed in 2004 for a monster contract with over $15 million guaranteed money. However, once he passed his prime and he could not produce consistently, the Seahawks were willing to write off him and all his guaranteed money as a bad investment in 2006. Clearly Seattle is willing to put a lot of pressure on Shaun to perform or he may be joining Tiki Barber in the NBC analyst booth. 

#3 – Larry Johnson – Many people may be surprised that I had placed Larry in this list and I would have agreed with them 2 months ago, however with his holdout of training camp, I believe Larry could be under a heavy microscope by fans and Chief’s front office is he does not produce. It is clearly possible that if Larry has a marginal or sub par season (1100 yards or less and less than 15 touchdowns) and avoids injury there could be potential trade talks by the end of the season. However, on the other hand if he does get traded, the Chiefs could be the dumbest teams in history to let that type of talent go and they may be kicking themselves why they waited so long to finally iron out a contract extension.

With the upcoming 2007 NFL season several quarterbacks have put themselves in a very difficult predicament with their team, the fans and even themselves. In essence they have painted themselves into a corner. They either needs to have personal best years statically, take their team to the big dance (Super Bowl) or simply make some noise in the playoffs. If none of these are accomplished you may find many of them looking for a new team or contemplating retirement. The nominees are:

1)      Brett Favre – General Manager Ted Thompson has meticulously crafted a fairly talented group of receivers and offensive lineman the past couple of years to give Brett the best possible chance to succeed in recent memory. In addition a solid defense could provide him the game clinching ability that he has not had since the 2003 season. IF Bret does not led the team to the playoffs he will retire.

2)      Ben Roethlisberger- Having had a disaster of a season statistically last year, only winning a handful of games, and potentially beginning to show signs of durability problems. If he does not lead the team to the playoffs this coming season or he throws more interceptions than touchdowns in the first 8 games, don’t be surprised if Ben is benched and trade rumors start circulating.

3)      Eli Manning – He has got the biggest mountain to climb among all the other quarterbacks of the group. Having under achieved the last 3 seasons by never making it past the first round of the playoffs and lacking the ability to finish each season strong Eli has really put himself in a sudden death scenario. The Giants possess a very talented receiving corp with a decent running game and a capable defense. If Eli doesn’t lead New York to a first round win or a NFC Championship birth, he could end up being unemployed come March 2008.

4)      JP Losman – Each season I seem to have the same reaction when I see JP is the starting quarterback of the Buffalo Bills, I always shake my head in disbelief. Having never won a game against a viable defense, nor ever able to produce a QB rating higher than his teams winning percentage each season, JP must take the Bills to the playoffs or he will find himself in the back seat for the rest of his career.

5)      Rex Grossman – With having probably the most talented receiving corp in the NFL, second to only New England, and having the best overall defense to protect any lead, there is no reason why the Rex leads the Chicago Bears back to the Super Bowl. However, if he ends up throwing more interceptions than touchdown passes and does not advance past the NFC Championship game, Grossman will need to start getting advice from Eric Couch how to prepare for life after football.

Despite Larry Johnson’s extensive holdout from the Kansas City Chiefs training camp and a semi productive fantasy impact least season, Johnson is geared to have a huge season much like the one he experienced in 2005.  In fact, he has the caliber to be the 2^nd   or 3^rd running back selected in any fantasy football league. Having such a bold prediction can be attributed to three things.

First, Larry Johnson is a proven back that produces proven results. Since becoming a starting running back he has rushed for more yards than any other running back in the past 3 years. In fact only LaDanian Tomlinson and Shaun Alexander have more combined touchdowns than Johnson. Therefore, statistically he stacks up to anyone in the league.

Second, Johnson is still a young talent with a lot of potential and growth. In only his 5^th NFL season, Johnson has only played in little more than half of the games he was active. Much of that was attributed to being the backup to a former fantasy stud, Priest Holmes. As a result in only playing two full seasons and half of another, Johnson has nowhere near the wear and tear that Tomlinson, S. Jackson, or Alexander has accumulated. Besides last year’s bumps and bruises he is a durable, heavy duty, and reliable running back that can make through an entire season.

Finally, Johnson is gaining much of what Tomlinson and Alexander are not… REST. Although, he has not practiced with the team since June’s minicamp and has not encountered any physical contact since the Chiefs loss to the Colts, Johnson is able to avoid much of the rigor from the first couple weeks of training camp.  This actually is a huge benefit in his favor because his body is not going to take the daily beatings he could encounter in these early training camp practices. That clearly could be detrimental when he gets to weeks 12-17 in the season. In fact, statistically more NFL players are placed on injure reserve or encounter injuries during the last 4 weeks of the season than any other time.

As you can see there is a ton of upside of selecting Larry Johnson in your first 3 fantasy picks based upon his proven ability, youth and rest he is gaining. All of which is a perfect formula for a huge statistical season.

Brady Quinn has to become one of the most overrated athletes in recent sports history. More overrated than Eli Manning, more than baseballs Randy Johnson and more than the NBA’s Andrew Bogut. Brady Quinn has this honor all to himself. Much of this has to do with the “fantasy” like expectations that he places upon himself with every team he plays with.

Start with his freshman year at Notre Dame. Quinn thought he was the highest rated quarterback coming out of high school in the nation. He expected not only to start as a freshman but also be able to lead the Irish to a National Championship within the first 2 years of his career. Obviously history proved that none of the two occurred and in fact he had a losing record (11-13).

Then Charlie Weis is hired as the new Notre Dame head coach and with Quinn running the show, it was expected (not hoped for) that a National Championship was to come to South Bend. However, Ohio State (Fiesta Bowl 2006) and LSU (Sugar Bowl 2007) both showed the country that Quinn and the fighting Irish shouldn’t have belonged in the BSC.

The next “overrating” moment in Quinn’s career was draft day 2007. Brady Quinn thought without a doubt he was the best quarterback in the draft. He believed he had excellent workouts and of course he played for the greatest football programs in the country, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. But he was given once again a big piece of humble pie for not being selected until 22nd of the 2007 NFL draft.

Now at this point in Quinn’s life, he should have come to the realization he is not as good as he always had thought. In fact, maybe he had a few thought cross his mind that he was somewhat overrated. Unfortunately, he was thinking completely the opposite. Quinn decided to hold out on reporting to training camp because he felt like he should be paid like a top 5 pick. As a result he missed the first 16 practices of the Cleveland Browns camp and lost valuable time working preparing for the upcoming season.  And the funny thing is, he held out for almost the same amount of money the Browns had offered him at the beginning of camp ($500,000 difference). 

Clearly someone should let Brady Quinn in on a little secret, he is OVERRATED!