ESPN The TRUM Blog

Posted by Matthew Berry

Thoughts, Ramblings, Useless information and Musings following Week 2, and another …

Ten Lists of 10

List 1: Ten stats from Sunday that you should pay attention to

1. Trent Edwards was 20-for-25 passing.
2. Fred Jackson had seven receptions for 83 yards.
3. Against one of the worst run defenses in the NFL, Larry Johnson averaged 1.8 yards per carry.
4. Matt Jones led the Jaguars in receptions for the second straight week.
5. Chansi Stuckey of the Jets caught a touchdown pass for the second straight week.
6. Thomas Jones averaged 4.1 yards per carry against a very good defensive line in a game in which there wasn't a lot of offense. (He's a good buy-low option.)
7. For the second straight week, Jason McKie of the Bears had a goal-line touchdown run.
8. LaMont Jordan had the most rushing attempts (11) and yards (62) for the Patriots.
9. The Bills have held their opponent to fewer than 100 yards rushing for two straight weeks.
10. David Patten had five receptions for 55 yards, second-most on the Saints, and he was the first red-zone target for Drew Brees.

List 2: Ten guys you can freak out about (I might have mentioned these guys before … just saying)

1. Carson Palmer
2. Larry Johnson
3. Alge Crumpler
4. Deuce McAllister
5. Edgerrin James
6. Laurence Maroney
7. Jeff Garcia (I thought Brian Griese looked good.)
8. Joey Galloway
9. DeAngelo Williams
10. Fred Taylor

List 3: Ten guys who have been good one week and bad another but who I believe in

1. Chris Cooley
2. Torry Holt
3. Donald Driver
4. Jerricho Cotchery
5. Sammy Morris (Hey, he still got the touchdown.)
6. Anthony Fasano
7. Tarvaris Jackson
8. Marvin Harrison
9. Ryan Grant (But I'd make sure I had Brandon Jackson.)
10. Ahmad Bradshaw

List 4: Ten guys who have yet to do anything but who I am not worried about (and would try to buy low on)

1. Steven Jackson
2. T.J. Houshmandzadeh
3. Chad Johnson (Yes, I am worried about Carson, but neither Bengals receiver is this bad.)
4. Joseph Addai
5. Braylon Edwards
6. LaDainian Tomlinson
7. Matt Hasselbeck (He'll get wide receivers back soon enough.)
8. David Garrard
9. Roddy White
10. Santonio Holmes

List 5: Ten things that hacked me off today

1. I had Seattle in my Eliminator pool. I originally picked the Giants, but I hate taking road teams in those things. Thanks a lot, stupid Seahawks.
2. That terrible call at the end of the Broncos game. I can't stand Norv Turner, but I had the Chargers in Pigskin Pick 'Em. Between that game and the Seahawks, I lost two games in the matter of, like, five minutes.
3. LaDainian Tomlinson's toe. I never get the first pick. Ever. This year, somehow, I got it twice. I have LT in two leagues. I backed him up with Darren Sproles, who was, of course, sitting on my bench. But we can all agree now that it's him and not Jacob Hester we want, correct?
4. I played Nate Ravitz in a league in which I had the following Week 2 busts: Tomlinson, Houshmandzadeh, Sammy Morris, Jeremy Shockey and David Garrard. I wasn't even close.
5. Speaking of Morris, I'm hacked off about stupid LaMont Jordan. Who dug him up? I'm sticking by Morris.
6. Jason McKie vulturing another touchdown. Suffice it to say I have Matt Forte in many leagues.
7. Watching the Chargers-Broncos game and seeing LT's foot over and over while Sproles continued to go nuts.
8. No Jerricho Cotchery love from Brett Favre.
9. That I played against a guy today who drafted horribly and had Julius Jones and LaMont Jordan as his starting running backs. That's the other league that Tomlinson killed me in.
10. Jon Kitna's fourth quarter. Guess who played the Green Bay defense in one league this week?

List 6: Me, Me, Me! Ten calls I made (in my Love/Hate last Thursday) that were pretty good

1. Suggesting Brandon Jackson as a deep play this week.
2. Suggesting Pierre Thomas as a deep play this week.
3. Matt Forte doing well against the Panthers. I got a lot of "Dude, they shut down LT and now you want me to start Forte against them?" e-mails. Except they were not nearly that polite.
4. Loving Amani Toomer (both in Love/Hate and on "Fantasy Football Now")
5. Hating Vernon Davis. Some people had him among the top 10 tight ends!
6. Loving Philip Rivers on the road at Denver.
7. Loving John Carlson.
8. Loving Tim Hightower in deeper leagues.
9. Hating Jake Delhomme.
10. Going 6-for-6 on my "Start/Sit" feature on "Sunday Countdown." I suggested owners start Eli Manning, Julius Jones and Justin Gage, and I said owners should bench Carson Palmer, Fred Taylor and Roddy White.

List 7: Not so fast, TMR. Ten calls I blew this week

1. Loving Robert Royal.
2. Loving Larry Johnson. I've been very public about my hatred of LJ, but I thought even he would do something against Oakland. I was wrong.
3. Loving Marvin Harrison.
4. Loving Jeremy Shockey.
5. Loving Matt Cassel.
6. Hating Jonathan Stewart.
7. Loving Ricky Williams.
8. Loving Brett Favre
9. Loving Tarvaris Jackson.
10. Loving Ryan Grant.

List 8: Ten things you'd think I'd brag about, but I'm not gonna

1. Darren McFadden. As great as he looked, and you know I've been all over him, if Justin Fargas is healthy next week, I'm not convinced McFadden won't be back in a timeshare.
2. Peyton Manning. I was down on him in the preseason, and he has been very mortal. But center Jeff Saturday is coming back sooner than expected, and Manning will be better than he is now.
3. Anthony Gonzalez. I had him as a sleeper in the preseason, but I felt today's great performance was more a function of Dallas Clark not playing. When I wrote my Love/Hate for the 2008 season (back in early June), I liked Gonzalez more because I didn't think Harrison was healthy.
4. Telling owners to sell high last week on Michael Turner. Well, you should have. That said, he's better than he played Sunday. Tampa Bay is very tough at home.
5. Telling owners to sell high on Eddie Royal last week and that you saw his best game. You did, but I think he's still legit, especially after seeing Cutler go to him on the two-point conversion.
6. My belief in the Redskins' offense. It's one game, and the Saints don't have a great defense. Let's see how they do next week against Arizona.
7. Chris Johnson: OK, I lied. I'm bragging about this one. I don't wanna hear about "great predictions" in August blogs or after preseason games. I called this one in early June in my Love/Hate. Same with Tony Scheffler, incidentally. I never wavered, even when the Broncos moved him to third on the depth chart.
8. Carson Palmer being so terrible. I was down on him, but he's not this bad. Those were two very tough matchups to start the season.
9. The Titans' defense being so dominant. As Albert Haynesworth goes, so go the Titans. His health is still an issue.
10. Not thinking Chris Perry is the end-all, be-all. Again, though, the Bengals have had two very tough matchups.

List 9: Ten things that have nothing to do with football

1. After watching them get killed by USC on Saturday, should the Buckeyes be called "An Ohio State University"? It's no longer "The ..."
2. I watched the premiere of the TV show "Privileged," which aired after "90210." I might be in love with JoAnna Garcia, the lead of that show.
3. Speaking of "90210," Nate and I interviewed Lori Loughlin on Friday, and it'll be on Tuesday's podcast. Of women over 40, is there anyone hotter than her?
4. I've been seeing these ads for "The Mentalist" about that guy who is "really perceptive." So someone has a racing form, and he's a gambling addict? A man has lipstick on his collar, and he's cheating on his wife? That's not being a mentalist; it's being not a complete moron.
5. I continue to insist that if I found out my expensive Italian meal came from a pizza joint, I would not applaud. Instead, I would be angry.
6. Someone told me in a chat that they met Anne Hathaway and told her about me. According to this guy, Anne said that her publicist had told her that "some guy on ESPN kept writing about her." I must get in touch with Anne Hathaway's publicist to find out if this is true! It's very exciting. I have now possibly become "some guy" to Anne Hathaway. Who says romance is dead?
7. You can become a "fan" of me on Facebook. I'm not above begging.
8. I didn't know what I was doing, so I clicked on my own fan page from my personal page, and now it reads to all my friends: "Matthew Berry has become a fan of Matthew Berry." Somehow, it seemed fittingly egotistical.
9. Don't add me as a personal friend. It's nothing personal; I just don't add anyone I don't know personally. If you want to be my cyberfriend, do so on my ESPN Fan Profile page.
10. Ten Lists of 10 always seems like a good idea until you get to about the middle of List 7. Then it gets a bit tougher. Just sayin'.

List 10: Ten guys I am selling high on

1. Eli Manning
2. Michael Pittman
3. LenDale White (whatever you can get)
4. Philip Rivers
5. Reggie Bush
6. Frank Gore
7. Larry Johnson (honestly, I would take whatever I could get)
8. Isaac Bruce (you've seen his best game of the year, too)
9. Vernon Davis (seriously, get what you can)
10. Jonathan Stewart (I like him, but he's still in a timeshare, and with Steve Smith coming back, the team will focus more on passing; again, he'll get goal-line carries, but his value is at its highest.)

Matthew Berry -- The Talented Mr. Roto -- is ESPN's senior director of fantasy. He was just as surprised as you to find out it's a real job. He is a multiple award winner from the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, including a Writer of the Year award. He is also the creator of RotoPass.com, a Web site that combines a bunch of well known fantasy sites, including ESPN Insider, for one low price. Use promo code ESPN for 10 percent off.

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