Fantasy Football

So its been five days since I’ve posted here due to a violent and miserable illness. And despite still being under the weather I figure I should throw my two cents in about the Terrell Owens deal. If for no other reason than everyone else has.

In short, I can understand why both parties agreed to it. Despite not exactly fitting the Buffalo blue collar mentality, Buffalo needs a reason to bring people to the games, and whether we want to admit it or not, that is one thing that Owens is capable of. The team is looking to move to Toronto when the current owner passes away, and they are holding out for a glimmer of hope that if they can make enough money before he does, there is an outside shot that his progeny will be able to keep the team in upstate New York.

On top of that, Buffalo has been under the radar for about ten years now. Perennially 7-9 and in the second smallest market in the league will do that to you. This puts them back in the spotlight and actually gives them a celebrity, if not a top ten receiver that can attract some national attention. If things go like everyone assumes they will, they will at least be a sympathetic figure. But they are rightfully hoping for both, because they could use the offensive weapon. Something they haven’t had consistently over the years. Or maybe they have, but the quarterback has been a bust since the first couple seasons with Bledsoe. Either way, while everyone else was scoffing at the notion of signing the synergy blunder that is Terrell Owens, I can see why Buffalo pulled the trigger.

This was unexpected

For TO, on the other hand, this was a desperation move. He’s played for three teams in San Fran, Philly and Dallas. All marquee franchises, all major markets, and he left all of them with a baker’s dozen of burned bridges in his wake. Between his ugly departures and his age (he’s 35, in case his demeanor would lead you to believe otherwise), his options were limited.

Take Minnesota for example. Even with the marginal quarterback play they could use a wide out. When Bernard Berrian is your number one target you would still consider signing Jerry Rice. So why wouldn’t Minnesota be interested? Because their head coach is Brad Childress, who was the offensive coordinator for Philadelphia when Owens was playing there. Would you want to reunite with a player who clearly regarded you as a parasite the last time you were supposedly on the same side? Me neither.

My best guess is he would rather be playing for literally any other team in the league other than Green Bay (Buffalo is at least a short commute to New York). And like he always does, he’s attempting to put on the facade of conviviality for the sake of his new employers, but the only people who can possibly be buying it are die hard Buffalo fans.

The fantasy implications are pretty mild, Trent Edwards isn’t a good enough quarterback to take advantage of what benefits this situation may provide, Owens is old and prone to dropping passes, and that’s only going to worsen in the cold weather. The one beneficiary here is Marshawn Lynch, because while Owens is semi-washed up, you still have to game plan for him which means dedicating more people to the pass instead of the run. So yeah, Lynch could see an increase ypr average. For your standard fantasy owner, that will be the impacting effect of this signing.

We’ll try to get to some other news items later tonight.