Peon's Place

A week full of surprises presented itself over the past few days. The top quarter backs and running backs keep shifting, while Megatron stays atop the wide receiver list.

The Saints were blown out by the Rams, making back-to-back puzzling losses by the 2008 Super Bowl winners to the horrible NFC-West division.

The 49ers won again, making them 6-1 for the first time since the late 90s and are for-sure playoff bound. I was happy to attend the beating of the Browns on Sunday afternoon.

The Lions stop their slip of losses by winning over the poor Broncos. And, on to the next one:  Read the rest of this entry » Top NFL players week 8

In fact, the 49ers increased their lead across the entire division and they didn’t even play this past weekend, all thanks to the Cardinals, Rams, and Seahawks losing their games.

Seattle Seahawks (2-4) – A new quarterback, but still old problems. They lost to the Cleveland Browns (next up, Niners!) 6-3 in a game that looked more like a baseball score than an NFL game. From Tavaris Jackson to Charlie Whitehurst, the Seahawks are lost. So much for rolling off that playoff season last year.

Arizona Cardinals (1-5) – Larry Fitzgerald can’t throw the ball to himself, guys. You threw your defense away for an unproven quarterback in Kevin Kolb, and where has that gotten you? Patrick Peterson, your top pick cornerback replacement, has been burnt so many times that I’m running out of bread.

St Louis Rams (0-6) – One of the true contenders in the Suck for Luck contest (but let’s be honest, they’d be better off trading the pick away and to stick with Sam Bradford), the hapless Rams are worse off than every other team. They even traded for pro bowl wide receiver Brandon Lloyd, they have an excellent running back in Steven Jackson, and they still can’t put it together. Heck, the New Orleans Saints scored more points on Sunday night than the Rams have scored all year.

No, rest assured, the San Francisco 49ers (5-1) are not only stuck with the inability to draft Andrew Luck next year, but they’ll have to face the Green Bay Packers and likely the Saints in the playoffs. Fortunately however, they’re looking like a lock to win 2nd/3rd in the conference, with a possible first-round bye for the wild card games. The Niners still have to play their divisional rivals twice each, and that’s going to be an easy 6 wins (11 total), plus the Cleveland Browns this weekend (12 wins), and have to face the New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Baltimore Ravens. Even if all three of those games are a loss, the 49ers are projected to end with a 12-4 record, which surely will be enough for a top 3 spot.

Finally. Last year’s #1 rusher decided to show up this year, partly because the Texans had Andre Johnson out and Matt Schuab realized there were fewer players to throw to. Arian Foster reminded us all why he should be on the top, and he’s making his play for the remainder of the season.

This past weekend also featured a Cowboys NFL rushing record that made Emmitt Smith get off the couch and make a phone call, as rookie DeMarco Murray filled in for injured Felix Jones, and will now be highly sought after on the waiver wire if he wasn’t picked up last week.

Flashy passing by one of my favorite quarterbacks, Drew Brees, caused the Saints to roll over the Colts once again. And with that, I take you to…  Read the rest of this entry » Top NFL players week 7

27: The number of straight games the 49ers have not allowed a running back to amass 100 yards. This goes back to 2009, folks.

0: The number of rushing touchdowns the 49ers have given up this season (6 games).

1: The number of touchdowns opposing running backs have made against the 49er defense. And that was a passing touchdown to RB LeSean McCoy several weeks ago at Philadelphia in the victory over the Eagles.

Marshawn Lynch, Felix Jones, Cedric Benson, LeSean McCoy, LeGarrette Blount and Jahvid Best  have combined for 211 yards on 70 carries this season. That’s a half inch over 3 yards per carry, on average. Offensive coordinators will need to find a new way to play their game, and relying on the big pass isn’t going to be a reliable option with the 49er defense swarming the quarterback.

The San Francisco 49ers have this week off, to try to figure out how to win the first half of their games. They’ve gone into half time either trailing, or nearly losing, every week, and they’ve relied on the second half to come back and win. Let’s show some game starts with the 49ers taking a strong lead.

The NFC West division? Yeah, we all know it’s a joke. The 49ers “have been going” to the playoffs for several years now, and always seem to blow it somehow. Except this year, there are whispers of the 49ers getting a first-round bye, and seeing my Green Bay Packers (6-0) in the playoffs. They’re atop their division, and looking great in the NFC. The Seattle Seahawks (2-3) are 2.5 games back. The Arizona Cardinals (1-4) are 3.5 games back. The St Louis Rams (0-5) are just way back.

In fact, I’ll make this statement. If the 49ers go to the Super Bowl this year, I’ll get a tattoo in their honor during Pro Bowl week.

As if this year’s NFL season hasn’t been crazy enough, 8 of this week’s top-5 are outside of the top-10 overall for the season. Ahmad Bradshaw claims the lone 30-point performance, putting it to those hapless Bills with 3 scores. Only two quarterbacks landed in the 20-point range, but all 5 running backs had a 20+ point performance. To make things even more exciting, all 6 wide receivers this week are fresh in our top-5 list.

My 49ers are 2nd in the NFL/NFC at 5-1, my Packers are atop by themselves at 6-0, and my prediction Eagles & Falcons are doing quite horrible. My fantasy teams with money involved are both 4-2, so being first/second place in those isn’t too shabby.

And, as you’ve been waiting for, on to the list!  Read the rest of this entry » Top NFL players week 6

Winning the Super Bowl and meeting the president isn’t enough. Now you need a milk moustache! Hey, it’s my favorite drink (with orange juice a close runner-up) so I fully support these ads.

“How many of you have seen the ‘Got milk?’ ads with Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings?” Angie Edge of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board asked a roomful of elementary school students, invoking the names of two Green Bay Packers stars. Hands shot up.

In Wisconsin, the nation’s top cheese producer, with more dairy cows per square mile than any other state, it’s hard to miss the message that milk does a body good. Especially if you’re a child. That’s because the nonprofit milk board, funded by dairy farmers, spends about $950,000 a year on talks, concerts, posters and a website promoting dairy’s health benefits to school children.

The milk board touts chocolate milk as a natural sports drink for children and teenagers. “Muscles fueled with chocolate milk are muscles fueled with nutritious energy,” states a brochure for parents.

According to the board’s most recent annual report, during the 2009-10 school year, it sent 90 percent of Wisconsin schools promotional materials such as a stand-up poster of Jennings, the Green Bay Packers wide receiver, holding a glass of chocolate milk, and planned to give six high schools chocolate milk for the 2010 football season.

The group reinforces the messages during school visits. “Have you heard the research that chocolate milk is the ultimate sports beverage?” Edge asked students.

Chew on this: The San Francisco 49ers are second place in the entire NFL (5-1), behind only my Green Bay Packers (6-0), and even ahead of my New Orleans Saints (4-2) after their loss this weekend.

After walking into Ford Field in Detroit, and doing what the Chicago Bears could not, the 49ers are now no longer under the radar in the NFL. They are the threat that no one took seriously for the past month, and the team that the bay area has been looking to re-find for the past decade.

I was watching the game yesterday and couldn’t help but cringe at the offside calls, due to the loud crowd noise and dangerous defensive linemen that the Lions employ. I saw why Jay Cutler was sacked so many times, but the offensive linemen for the 49ers got it done in the end. They held the quarterback sack and hit counts to a minimum, and opened up holes for Frank Gore (15 carries, 141 yards, 1 touchdown – his best game of the year and second straight 100+ yard week).  Read the rest of this entry » The 49ers are the only on…

The San Francisco 49ers are sitting atop the NFC West with a 4-1 record and are heading to Detroit to take on the 5-0 Lions. It’s a wholly exciting game on paper, much more so than most of us would have figured just a few short months ago. I was hoping the Bears would win, despite how much I hated the idea of Chicago taking a victory, but any way to keep the Green Bay Packers at the #1 spot I’m okay with.

The 49ers find themselves in a pretty good situation. Despite a win by the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, they remain in a great place atop the NFC West division, two games above the next competition, sporting a 4-1 record; the lone blemish being an overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys on a blown play. They’re coming off a dominating win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and a good win that just might have sucked the rest of the life out of Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles, overcoming a 20+ point differential to win in impressive fashion.

The Buccaneers had been 3-1 coming into the game at Candlestick Park, and the 49ers executed on all levels. They stopped LeGarrete Blount, they made Josh Freeman look terrible, and they dealt with the Tampa Bay defense like no team has this season. That’s an awfully good Buccaneers team, and a great win, especially by such a margin. Now, they’re hitting the road before a bye week, to take on the Detroit Lions.  Read the rest of this entry » Can the 49ers tear into t…

We’re about a third of the way through the season already – wow! There’s plenty of surprising teams out there, not least of which are my San Francisco 49ers who are two games up in the NFC West. Their next big test will be against the Detroit Lions next week who are making big waves themselves at 5-0, tied with the Super Bowl winning Green Bay Packers in the NFL, as well as being in the same division.

This week’s view of top players has a few of your weekly guys that you can count on to gather you tons of fantasy points week after week, as well as some new additions to the list. Cam Newton continues to shine, but I still haven’t started him in any week, due to the fact I typically have Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers as well on my roster, who are solid & proven starters. The Minnesota Vikings toppled the Arizona Cardinals, so Adrian Peterson certainly played hard, and the unlikely Kansas City Chiefs beat out the hapless Indianapolis Colts, who may never be with Peyton Manning again.

Without further ado…  Read the rest of this entry » Top NFL players week 5

In a weekend interview on 790 The Zone in Atlanta, Brett Favre said Aaron Rodgers “fell into a good situation” in Green Bay.  Was it an insult?

And I’d like to think that he watched, he learned, and then when he got a chance to play, he brought in his ability which is obviously very good or they wouldn’t have drafted him in the first round. He’s got tremendous talent, he’s very bright and he got a chance to watch and see successful teams do it right. And so he just kind of fell into a good situation. On top of that, he’s a good player.

I don’t think there’s any pressure on him now, the talent around him is even better than when I was there. So I’m really kind of surprised it took him so long. In the early part of last year, it hadn’t quite clicked yet and I didn’t know it would. I just kind of figured when they hit their stride, they’re going to be hard to beat. And that’s what happened.

Favre seems to sound as if Rodgers’ talent was a secondary factor in his success with the Packers, and that the real reason is that he was lucky enough to fall into the right situation in Green Bay.   On the other hand, Favre is known for long, meandering answers in interviews, so that may have just been a stream-of-consciousness observation that had no bad intention attached to it. Knowing ‘ole Brett, we know pretty much anything can just come out of his mouth at any time.