Shark Tank Football - Week 12 - Draft Review

I don't really feel like writing anything this week. I don't like any of the characters suggested like Star Wars - nothing personal - it's just too much thinking at this time especially since I have only seen each Star Wars movie once (well, I haven't seen the fifth/second one) and I saw them each… in the theatre during their first release. This means I haven't seen Star Wars in 27 years, The Empire Strikes Back in 24 years and The Return of the Jedi in 21. So yeah, I can't do any Star Wars characters. Sorry, Brent.

Anyway, I thought instead, I would look back at the Fantasy Draft. We hearken back to Labor Day and I'll give each owner The Brent Liu THAT'S A GREAT PICK award. And we will look at bad picks and they have to be drafted in the top half of the draft - the earlier the better. That would be the Elijah Liao THAT PICK STUNK award. Key waiver wire pickups are noted and will be looked at later but for now, these only pertain to players actually drafted by their team.

Also to satisfy my own curiosity, next week I will rescore some of the games had the scoring for quarterback touchdowns was three points per TD instead of the six. That obviously would have changed the face of the draft. Peyton Manning, Daunte Culpepper, Brett Favre and other quarterbacks would have been drafted much higher since they would generally score more touchdown passes than any running back or receiver score. And yes, I am bitter.

First, the standings as two more teams punched their tickets for the playoffs:

Rk   Team                   W-L    Total     Avg 

 1*  Just Stew It           9-3   1088.83   90.74

 2*  Tiki Torry Terrell     8-4   1078.63   89.89

 3*  HeHateShaq             8-4   1041.42   86.79

 4*  Blue Power             7-5   1077.90   89.83

 5*  Ophir Gophirs          7-5    970.92   80.91

 6   Shazaam!               5-7    994.20   82.85

 7   THE JUNGERNAUT         5-7    912.15   76.01

 8   unDaunted              4-8   1035.81   86.32

 9   This Team Stinks       4-8    898.14   74.85

10   Err McNair             3-9    831.98   69.33

Just Stew It 90.48 - Shazaam! 83.42

Just Stew It (9-3) gained sole possession of first place as the defense gave up only three points, registered four sacks, two takeaways and an interception return for a touchdown. Stewart has a one-game lead and will face off against high-powered Peyton Manning and Blue Power next week. Corey Dillon and Joe Horn each had 100+ yard days and a touchdown apiece.

For Shazaam! (5-7), they are still on the playoff bubble but in good shape as they a one-game and a 96 point lead on ninth place This Team Stinks. David Carr threw for two scores and the defense notched five forced turnovers. Jerome Bettis continued his resurgence as he had his fourth straight 100-yard game and rumbled into the end zone. But empty performances by Roy Williams and Reggie Wayne dealt Shazaam! a fatal blow.

Tiki Torry Terrell 91.40 - Err McNair 53.40

Kalvin's Tiki Torry Terrell (8-4) snapped a two-game losing streak thanks to a 378 yards and two touchdowns from disappointment turned revelation Drew Brees. Rudi Johnson also snapped out of a slump by running for 202 yards and two scores. That was more than enough to move into a second-place tie with HeHateShaq with TTT ahead by 37 points for the #2 seed.

Unfortunately for Dan, Err McNair (3-9) is on the verge of elimination from playoff contention with only two games remaining. Chad Johnson had a spectacular touchdown catch along with 117 yards. Unfortunately, Steve McNair was back and playing and threw three touchdowns from the bench. Meanwhile, Joey Harrington was benched in his game against the Colts. Even the insertion of rookie Keary Colbert and McNair would still have left Err McNair short.

unDaunted 117.18 - HeHateShaq 91.35

It looks like Laurie's team is primed for its annual playoff run. Randy Moss was not in the lineup but Brandon Stokley had three touchdown catches and Julius Jones one-upped his brother Thomas with two touchdowns in the Bears/Cowboys game as unDaunted (4-8) moves into the eighth and final playoff spot with a convincing victory. Alge Crumpler and Reuben Droughns each had 100 yards from scrimmage and a score. unDaunted would face Just Stew It if the playoffs started today in what would be an explosive matchup.

For HeHateShaq (8-4), the loss dropped them into third place. Brett Favre threw for three scores on Monday night and Antonio Gates caught two more touchdown passes. But production for Brent's team was spotty elsewhere despite the gaudy 91.35 total.

Blue Power 88.28 - This Team Stinks 64.22

Peyton Manning threw six more touchdown passes to account for nearly half of Blue Power's (7-5) Week 12 point total as Willie continues to ascend the standings. No other Blue Power player reached double figures in points but it was enough. Blue Power square off against Just Stew It in the matchup of the week as the two leading teams by points go at it.

This Team Stinks (4-8) fell into a tie for eighth place with unDaunted but are almost 140 points in arrears of Laurie's team. Jake Delhomme threw for two or more touchdowns for the fourth straight week and Michael Pittman caught two touchdown passes. Elijah was hurt when Ahman Green did not dress for his game and Jerry F. Porter's three-touchdown game from the bench. Who knew he'd do so well in a driving blizzard??? Their best chance to make the playoffs will come against THE JUNGERNAUT next week. A This Team Stinks victory by more than 13 points will move This Team Stinks into no worse than eighth place. However, a loss would all but mathematically eliminated This Team Stinks.

Ophir Gophirs 132.61 - THE JUNGERNAUT 95.04

Rob's Gophirs (7-5) continue to fly sky high. They have now won six of their last seven and had a resounding win over THE JUNGERNAUT (5-7). Willis McGahee, drafted as an insurance policy against Travis Henry, ran for four touchdowns and had 142 yards from scrimmage. Marvin Harrison had three touchdowns as his November resurgence has coincided with that of the Gophirs. Isaac Bruce had 170 yards receiving and a touchdown and is the only 1,000-yard receiver in the NFL. Darren Blaylock also had two scores to give Ophir their highest output of the season. They have now broken 100 points four out of the last five weeks and tallied 93 in the other game. The Gophirs would meet Blue Power in a #4 versus #5 first round matchup if the season ended today.

For THE JUNGERNAUT, they had a fine performance but were soundly beaten by a red-hot team. Donovan McNabb, Domanick Davis and LaDainian Tomlinson each has 18 fantasy points. Tomlinson scored twice and Davis had 181 yards and a score. Next week's matchup against This Team Stinks could determine the final playoff spot.

THAT'S A GREAT PICK

Stewart's Just Stew It: Adam Vinatieri, 13th round. I hesitate to include a kicker in this category but Vinatieri has been that good. Thanks to the Patriots' good but not overly explosive offense, Vinatieri has booted 28 field goals and 28 extra points. He has also thrown a touchdown pass. Vinatieri is in the top 40 overall by total production which is pretty good for a 13th round pick. Shaun Alexander also gets some dap as he leads the NFL in rushing and is fourth in touchdowns but he was an easy first round pick and Tom Brady has been outstanding especially with the scoring change. But Stewart's selection of Vinatieri was a GREAT PICK.

Kalvin's Tiki Torry Terrell: Tiki Barber, fifth round. Drew Brees has been Kal's MVP but he was scraped off the waiver wire. Good job, Kal. But for the draft, Barber was passed up because his main competition, Ron Dayne, came into the Giants' training camp slimmed down and ready to take carries away from Barber and Dayne was going to get goal line carries anyway limiting Barber's overall value. Instead, Barber won the job outright and ended up taking Dayne's goal line carries because Dayne was too skinny and lost power. Barber leads everyone with 1541 total yards from scrimmage (1145 rushing, 496 receiving) and ten total touchdowns. Terrell Owens was a great pickup in a trade for Jamal Lewis and T.O. leads receivers with 13 scores and four new celebrations (Ray Lewis, speed skating, situps, and the little Dallas star). But for Kal's draft, Tiki Barber in the fifth round was a GREAT PICK.

Brent's HeHateShaq: Brett Favre, fifth round. Antonio Gates was taken off the waiver wire and has been the most effective tight end in the league. Terrell Owens was a great pick in the third round and Brent parlayed Owens into Jamal Lewis. That trade has not worked out so well. With the amount of turnover on Brent's team, he only has five of the 16 players he drafted. The best one left is Favre who has thrown 22 touchdowns against 11 picks for 2841 yards. Brent dabbled with Brian Griese but you can't really go wrong with Brett Favre. For Brent, John Madden thinks his fifth round pick of Brett Fav-ruh was a GREAT PICK.

Willie's Blue Power: Peyton Manning, first round and Curtis Martin, seventh round. Peyton Manning is having a season for the ages with 41 touchdown passes. He has accounted for a mind-numbing 326.45 fantasy points. Despite his being a first round pick and the scoring error, Manning has been the MVP and was picked at the end of Round One. But the steal of the running back class was Curtis Martin in the seventh round. Martin is third in the league in rushing and has 10 touchdowns on his ledger. He has been the fourth most valuable fantasy running back behind only Barber, Alexander and Holmes. Not bad for a seventh round pick even though he's struggled the last few game after Chad Pennington went down and teams gear up for the run against the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets! So for Willie, his first and seventh round selections of Peyton Manning and Curtis Martin were GREAT PICKS.

Rob's Ophir Gophirs: Willis McGahee, 12th round. Rob knew that though Travis Henry, his third round pick (more on him later), was the nominal starter, McGahee would be breathing down his neck. As disturbing a visual image that is, McGahee took the starting job in Week 8 for good and has run for 726 yards and seven touchdowns including four last week sparking the Gophirs second half run to the top of the Shark Tank. Ashley Lelie has been the Broncos' top receiver with 724 yards and six touchdowns and was a great pick in the 13th round. The Gophirs also scooped up Derrick Blaylock and others off the waiver wire but for Rob, drafting Willis McGahee as insurance in the 12th round was a GREAT PICK.

Aaron's Shazaam!: Jerome Bettis, 16th round. Aaron picked up Bettis even though he lost his starting tailback job in Pittsburgh to Duce Staley. It became apparent early on that Bettis, while he wouldn't get a lot of carries, would get all the calls on short yardage situations including at the goal line. After Week 6, The Bus had only 58 yards rushing but seven touchdowns. Since Staley went down in Week 8, Bettis has run like the Bettis of old. He has been a workhorse over the last four games carrying the ball an average 31 times for 120 yards per game and has now scored 11 touchdowns on the year which ties him with LaDainian Tomlinson for second among running backs behind Priest Holmes. That was a GREAT PICK.

Byron's THE JUNGERNAUT: Donovan McNabb, third round. McNabb got a bad rap after his mediocre (from a fantasy perspective) 2003. But the arrival of Terrell Owens has resulted in McNabb being well on his way to a career high in yards passing and touchdown passes. McNabb has fired 23 touchdowns against five interceptions with Terrell Owens being on the business end of 13 of those 23. McNabb has also run for three more scores. Rod Smith in the sixth round and Warrick Dunn in the eighth were also great value picks but for Byron, his third round selection of Donovan McNabb was a GREAT PICK.

Laurie's unDaunted: Daunte Culpepper, second round. Thanks to the league's scoring change, Culpepper has been the clear #2 player in the league behind only Peyton Manning. Even without the change, Culpepper would still be more valuable than anyone outside of Manning and more valuable than any running back or receiver. Daunte has thrown for 3180 yards, 28 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. He has also rushed for 257 yards and two more touchdowns. Laurie has been the victim of losing many close high-scoring games but with Culpepper going well, unDaunted can give any team big problems. Alge Crumpler was a good pick in the eighth round and there were nice free agent pickups like Brandon Stokley and Reuben Droughns but for Laurie's unDaunted, her second round selection of Daunte Culpepper was a GREAT PICK.

Elijah's This Team Stinks: None. After looking through my picks, I can confidently say that none of them were great. My best players were free agent pickups like Jake Delhomme and Michael Pittman. Delhomme has thrown 10 touchdowns in four games and Pittman has run for big yardage since injuries derailed Charlie Garner and Mike Alstott. I only have seven guys that I drafted and half of them having really been productive. So for me, I had absolutely, positively ZERO GREAT PICKS.

Dan's Err McNair: Javon Walker, fifth round. Despite the team's dismal season, Dan scored a gem in Round 5 with Walker who has 960 yards and nine touchdown receptions. Walker is tied for third among receivers for touchdowns and third in receiving yards. The only receivers that have been more valuable than Walker are Marvin Harrison and Terrell Owens. Jason Witten in the 15th round was also a nice find at tight end as was rookie Keary Colbert in the 16th round but for Dan, Javon Walker in the fifth round was a GREAT PICK.

THAT PICK STUNK

Stewart's Just Stew It: Koren Robinson, sixth round. When you're 9-3 and in first place, bad picks are probably few and far between. Fred Taylor was a risk in Round 3 and early in the season, Taylor lost carries at the goal line limiting him to only one rushing touchdown. But he has rushed for 904 yards, received 288 more with a touchdown so I can't really say that pick stunk because he has been productive. Todd Heap was the second tight end selected and that pick stunk due to Heap's injury but that's the way things are and I won't give a That Pick Stunk award to an injured player. Koren Robinson was the only really bad pick Stewart had in the first half of the draft. He was helped by the fact that he already had a draft in another league a few days prior to our draft but good job anyway. Robinson has only 31 catches for 495 yards and two touchdowns. Robinson's big problem is having the dropsies and serving a four-week suspension for violating the NFL's drug policy. So while I had to look, Stewart's sixth round pick of Koren Robinson STUNK.

Kalvin's Tiki Torry Terrell: Michael Bennett, fourth round. Really, Kalvin didn't have any bad picks in the first 12 rounds aside from Bennett. Like I said with Stewart's pick of Heap, I don't like to use injured players. But Heap was a durable tight end. On the other hand, all the owners knew that Bennett had a sprained knee and would miss the beginning of the season. He never got it going, got hurt again, and lost his job to Onterrio Smith and rookie Mewelde Moore. Kal eased the pain of Bennett's absence by astutely snatching up Moore while Smith was out and more than made up for Bennett's injury. But since Kal really didn't have any other bad picks in the first twelve rounds (when have we been able to say that???), fourth round pick Michael Bennett STUNK.

Brent's HeHateShaq: Peerless Price, sixth round. Can't really see a bad pick in the first five rounds. The trade of Rudi Johnson and Terrell Owens to acquire Jamal Lewis and Anquan Boldin did not work out so well and would notch the That Trade Stunk award. But Price was expected to be Michael Vick's number one receiving target. Instead Alge Crumpler has become The Joystick's favorite target and Price has only 428 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Quentin Griffin was a seventh round pick that lost his job but he was a risky pick anyway. Drafting Mike Vanderjagt in the ninth round seemed like a good idea but he has been hurt because the Colts keep scoring touchdowns instead of settling for field goals. Price has been a big disappointment in Atlanta and for Brent, his sixth round pick of Price STUNK.

Willie's Blue Power: Laveranues Coles, fourth round. Larry Fitzgerald appeared to be a reach in Round Two, especially as the 11th overall pick ahead of guys like Marvin Harrison, Corey Dillon and Terrell Owens. But Fitzgerald has been mildly productive despite having the likes of Josh McCown and Shaun King throwing the ball. But Coles was expected to be a good pick as the 31st overall pick. While Coles has 661 yards, not a horrible total, he has only hit paydirt once. Coles was coming off back-to-back 1200 receiving yard seasons and a combined 11 touchdowns. But he has been a victim of the poor quarterback play of Mark Brunell. Fortunately, the numbers of Manning has covered up most mistakes but for Willie, his fourth round pick of Laveranues Coles STUNK.

Rob's Ophir Gophirs: Deuce McAllister, first round and Travis Henry, third round. One expects more from a first round pick than 612 yards rushing and six touchdowns. McAllister has not been one of the more productive backs in the league and has been a big disappointment despite being nicked up with injuries. Henry also got hurt with a sprained foot and eventually lost his job to McGahee. The loss of Henry was palatable to Rob because he had McGahee in the fold. Santana Moss has been a mild disappointment with only 656 yards and two scores but in terms of value lost based on draft position, Rob's selections of Deuce McAllister and Travis Henry STUNK.

Aaron's Shazaam!: Matt Hasselbeck, third round. Hasselbeck was respectable through Week 4 as he threw for six touchdowns and only two interceptions. But after the Seahawks choke job against Aaron's Rams in Week 4, Aaron has gotten the worst of both worlds. He and the Rams have only five wins. Meanwhile, Hasselbeck has been awful save a game against the 49ers in Week 9. Since Week 5, Hasselbeck has thrown 10 interceptions and Aaron has put in David Carr instead. Some of it can be blamed on the butterfingers of Seahawks receivers but Hasselbeck still shoulders some of the blame. Marshall Faulk as a second round pick was also a reach as he has only 969 yards and 4 touchdowns but Faulk's dropoff in production wasn't totally unexpected. For Aaron, the third round pick of Matt Hasselbeck STUNK.

Byron's THE JUNGERNAUT: Amani Toomer, fifth round. Steve Smith was Byron's fourth round pick but was lost for the season due to a broken leg. Toomer was drafted one round later and has laid a big egg - as in zero touchdowns. Toomer, along with having our league's favorite name, has only 42 catches for 566 yards. Toomer leads the Giants in receiving yards but the inability of Kurt Warner and Eli Manning to throw touchdowns (six and one respectively) has hurt his value. So for that reason, Byron's fifth round pick of Amani Toomer STUNK.

Laurie's unDaunted: Kevin Jones, fourth round. Kevin Jones was expected to be the lead back for the Lions and as a rookie, it gave him good value as Laurie's fourth round pick. Jones has not really been all that bad but he didn't do anything through Week 9 and Laurie let him go for Droughns. Laurie also dropped Chris Chambers, her fifth round pick, when it was obvious Chambers didn't have anyone throwing him the football. Since then Jones has rushed well including 199 yards the last two weeks… but too bad he's not on unDaunted anymore. So for Laurie, her fourth round pick of Kevin Jones STUNK.

Elijah's This Team Stinks: Kevan Barlow, second round. So many choices. Injuries hurt as fifth rounder Kellen Winslow and sixth rounder Charlie Garner were gone by Week Three. But Barlow has been a big disappointment. He's only run for 581 yards and six touchdowns as teams have lined up eight-man fronts against the 49ers since they have no reliable passing offense. Joe Montana is not coming through that door. Steve Young is not coming through that door. Not even Y.A. Tittle or John Brodie are coming through that door. Rick Pitino would be proud. So while it's not all Barlow's fault, his production has been woeful for a second round pick. Therefore, my second round pick of Kevan Barlow STUNK. Heck, all my picks, football AND basketball STUNK.

Dan's Err McNair: Clinton Portis, first round. First round picks are usually can't miss running backs, quarterbacks, and Randy Moss. Portis was traded from the Broncos to the Redskins in the offseason and was expected to do great things for Joe Gibbs and Dan Len off two straight 1500-yard seasons and 29 rushing touchdowns the last two years. The Broncos said it was their system that made Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson and this year, Reuben Droughns productive. Portis demonstrated that indeed he is a good back with 945 yards but he even trails Droughns by one yard. And having only two rushing touchdowns is unacceptable for a consensus first round pick. So while other guys like Stephen Davis and Steve McNair were injured, Portis has no excuse which is unusual for anyone named Clinton. Anyway, Dan's first round pick of Clinton Portis STUNK.