On the Rise, On the Fall – Week 4

Welcome to Week 4 of “On the Rise, On the Fall.” Throughout the season, I will discuss players whose stock is rising and others who are not having the same luck. I will avoid naming the obvious studs – Peyton Manning, Marion Barber, etc – and will keep to players whose performance was not as foreseeable.

 

I will add

one stud and

one dud to each category for their Week 4 performance.

 

On the Rise

 

Santana Moss, WR, Redskins

: At first, I was skeptical about Santana’s production, but the stats do not lie. Moss has 27 catches, over 420 yards, and three TD’s in the Skins’ four games this season. The schedule only gets easier in the next four weeks so do not sell high on Santana at least until after these games (@PHI, STL, CLE, @DET).

 

Steve Breaston, WR, Cardinals

: His productivity solely relies on the health of Anquan Boldin in

Arizona. If Boldin is out a significant amount of time (we don’t have any information yet except some positive news), Breaston should step up and fill in the second WR spot for the Cards. Fitzgerald should get most of the attention if that is the case and Breaston will be rewarded. He caught 122 of Warner’s 472 yards, but more importantly had nine catches. This shows that Warner will be looking in his direction. If you are thin at WR and would like some bench depth, check him out. Nevertheless, we hope that Boldin will have a quick recovery.

 

Dwayne Bowe, WR, Chiefs:

He may not be a legitimate candidate for “on the rise,” but he sure has been a solid, consistent WR on a bad offense. In standard leagues that do not award a point per reception, Bowe has had 10, nine, 10 and eight points so far this season. He has also averaged about five-six catches per game. He was likely drafted as your WR3 and you have to be happy with his production so far.

 

Stud of the Week

 

Brett Favre, QB, Jets

: How could it be any other? The Favre love affair was starting to die down as the Jets were embarrassed on MNF in

San Diego a week ago. He silenced his critics today with six TD passes and deserves to be the ‘Stud of the Week’ as many did not foresee this eruption.

 

On the Fall

 

Ryan Grant, RB, Packers

: This news could go from bad to worse for Grant if Aaron Rodgers is out for a significant period of time. Grant has been shut down the past three weeks by the Lions, Cowboys and now Bucs. He’s had 43 carries for 94 yards in those games, which is a deplorable average of 2.19 yards per carry. The Packers face

Atlanta next week, so we will have to see if Grant can rebound.

 

Thomas Jones, RB, Jets

: Here’s enough news to show you why Jones is on the fall. Leon Washington started the game on Sunday. Yes, Jones finished with 18 carries to

Leon’s seven, but TJ only had 46 yards. It was the Favre show at the Meadowlands, and it will likely continue that way if the Jets want to win games.

Arizona is improved from years ago, but 2.5 yards per run is not acceptable.

 

Chad

Johnson, WR, Bengals

: He was on this list two weeks ago so I will not expand, but if you can get something for

Chad after his TD on Sunday, go for it. It may not be as easy with Ryan Fitzpatrick starting the last game, though.

 

Scott Linehan, head coach, Rams: That title should be changing shortly as we expect him to be gone this week. The only shocking thing here is that he’ll beat Lane Kiffin to the job search sites.

Dud of the Week

 

Chris Perry, RB, Bengals

: Carson Palmer was a late scratch so that hurt the offense, but you still figured he would have a better week than 12 for 28 on the ground against the Browns.

 

 

That’s all for this week’s edition. If you have any questions or comments, e-mail me at

pags2122@yahoo.com. Thanks for all of your e-mails so far!