The Fantasy League Guru The Fantasy
League Guru regrets his recent hiatus and promises to deliver
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Remember the Titans? No, not that Denzel movie. I mean the
Tennessee Titans.
Do you remember the Titans of 2000? How about the Super Bowl
edition of 1999? Do you remember how they used to have a
suffocating defense and a bruising running game?
I barely do.
The 2001 Titans are a disgrace to fantasy football. I knew that
after the Music City Miracle, karma would one day catch this
team.
It all starts with Eddie George. I knew the optimism over the
recovery from offseason toe surgery was too good to be true.
That’s why I drafted Anthony Thomas as an insurance policy in
the only league where I got stuck with George.
Coming into 2001, this Buckeye was too tempting an option to
pass up. Since entering the league in 1996, George has not missed a
game. He’s been Mr. Consistency, failing to rush for 1,300
yards only once (he finished with 1,294 yards in 1998). His
touchdown total reached 16 last season, and his 403 carries
combined with his 50 catches meant this workhorse was a vital part
of the Titan offense week in and week out.
So more than a third into the 2001 season, George has only one
touchdown and is averaging 2.6 yards a carry. On top of his slow
recovery from toe surgery, George tweaked his knee on Monday Night
Football in an embarrassing 34-7 loss to the Steelers. He managed
to gain only 13 yards on 10 carries before being pulled from the
game for UCLA product Skip Hicks.
The lack of a running game isn’t making things any easier
for a battered and bruised Steve McNair. After taking a helmet to
the chest in the season opener against Miami, things have not
gotten much better for McNair.
He returned in Week 4 against the Ravens, and not surprisingly
he finished with 154 yards and zero TDs. So far this season McNair
has failed to throw for more than 230 yards in any game, but more
alarmingly, he has yet to connect on more than one TD pass in a
single game.
Derrick Mason has been an absolute bust at wide receiver. He has
eight catches for 169 games in four games. That kind of total is
respectable for two games, downright putrid in four. Needless to
say he has regressed from his 63-catch, 895-yard, five TD
performance in 2000.
Tight ends Frank Wychek and Erron Kinney are the only bright
spots of this offense, and that’s on the disturbing end
because Wychek is barely averaging more than 40 yards a game
““ and that includes a seven catch, 100-yd performance two
weeks ago that I’m sure had several fantasy owners scouring
the waiver wire.
Joe Nedney has produced about what was expected of him, but the
problem with starting a kicker from a team as inconsistent as the
Titans is you get stuck with close to nothing every now and then
““ like the single point he got on Monday night against the
Steelers.
And finally, don’t get me started on that defense. Where
has the Freak, Jevon Kearse, gone? Wasn’t Kevin Carter
supposed to soften the constant double teams? The two have combined
for five of the disappointing 12 Titan sacks in six games.
Turnover-wise, it doesn’t get any better. A defense that
fed off chaos in 2000 when it forced 21 fumbles and intercepted
opposing QBs 17 times, has four forced fumbles and two INTs to show
so far.
It’s almost as if the world has been turned upside down
and the Bungals, er … Bengals, have taken over the role of the
Titans.
Now, that’s one scary thought.