ffdh win championships

73. Jerry Porter

7/28: Another underacheiving, frequently injured, disgruntled player. Downgrade this, I have an injury-leave practice early wearing a belt studed with large metal dollar signs, idiot of a player.

Oakland has plenty of talent in Whitted, Curry and Gabriel. They need him, but, wont miss him.

The T.O. infection spreads.

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It's troubling to see Robert Gallery have an injury so soon. Injuries are a good indication of attitude. Winning teams suck it up and play. Losing teams use them as excuses. I'm not talking about the Theisman, season over, type; but, the McNabb hernia or the numerous, you never heard about them, Bruschi injuries that simply prove strength of character.

Gallery has already been an under-performer, and, the team needs him to excel this year more then ever.

Watch the lists to see how many Raiders are injured in camp, and, you will see the general attitude they have to the new coaching staff and quarterback.

Porter has always had an attitude. He has always shown flashes of brilliance and potential, but, never had the professionalism to put it together for an entire season.

He's valuable and will give you a good game, but, consistency has eluded him.

He has had a series of nagging injuries which hold him back from a higher ranking.

Moss, Jordan, Brooks, Gabriel, and Porter are a talented and dangerous combination. Porter has a great chance for a breakout year. But, so many other years were great breakout chances too.

If Brooks and Moss work things out, then Porter could easily put up Wayne and Houshmandzadeh numbers. At 6' 2" 225, he has the size and is in an odd year, his seventh season.

He has always groused that he is not the #1 receiver and never accepted his #2 role. He has never bothered to earn the #1 receiver role, either.

Last year he was 30th with 44 points. In '04 he was 15th with 69.

Expect a bounce back year with new hope and a better, hopefully, healthier team. More then 70 points? Probably not.

However, Porter already has a strained calf and it is a lingering problem.

He is quickly living out an unremarkable career and that's very sad. His potential is much greater than this. If only someone could get into his head and impress upon him the incredible future that could be his, and, how fleeting the lottery pick job, he has, is.

48. Aaron Brooks

Not So Secret Sleeper Alert!!!

Brooks has the skills to make this happen.

I could be completely wrong, but, he doesn't seem too intelligent. He seems to lose it under the pressure of the big game and reverts to making stupid decisions. If moments of destiny make your career then Brooks has been ruined by many.

The nice thing about life is that it continues to go on.

You keep getting chances over and over again to succeed.

Shell and his coaches should be able to reign in Brooks inconsistencies and utilize his great talents. He is a known quantity to them and they, hopefully, will be able to manipulate him to greatness.

In the mean-time the man can flat-out play. His numbers through the beginning of the season can be gaudy. He has always been close to the top and just seemed like he could almost do it every year.

Maybe the real issue is New Orleans. The team does seem to be snake-bit. Could the owner have crossed a Cajun priestess once and incurred a curse?

Could the freewheeling atmosphere of a permanent party city have effected the attitudes and constitution of it's team?

Oakland is as blue collar as you can get. It has it's own mystique, and far from being cursed Al Davis is the one who does the cursing!

A great receiver coupled with a good quarterback is the recipe for fantasy championships. Randy Moss has had a disaffected, rough time since running over a meter lady, admitting to frequent drug use and now having to endure his best friend and rival getting a championship ring.

He looked good opening up his new business the other day. It shows maturity and planning.

I think he's far from done and looking at this year as an opportunity.

With an emerging line, a new attitude, a great running game, a cadre of tall and fast receivers and a new city; Brooks may be feeling strong and ready to create a whole new destiny.

It's time to write a new ending to his story.

The Oakland Raiders will be scoring more points than a pick-up basketball game. Any team that wants to beat them will have to outpoint them and in the division they're in, any team can. It's going to be a wild ride in the A.F.C. West and I doubt any other Division will provide as many points for fantasy football.

23. Lamont Jordan

Speaking of enigmas.

The team says they will rely more on Jordan and Moss this year. with Moss healthy they are expecting great things.

This placement reflects my feelings that Moss will re-emerge this year; and about the questions that surround this team.

Actually, I would draft him before James if it's down to this choice.

Aaron Brooks is the key to his success. If he can play competently and the coaching staff can figure out what Haslett couldn't, and, get him to make the good decisions late in the game and season, then Oakland; and Jordan, will go a long way.

Perhaps what Brooks needs the most is courage and this trip to Oz, (they are near L.A. and have you seen the fans in the stands lately!) and audience before the curtain, (c'mon you don't think Al Davis uses this prop?) might gift him with what the Lion got. Or is it the Scarecrows heart that he really needs? The Tinman's brain?

Hopefully the great and all-powerful Oz can give him all three instead of a fast trip back to Kansas! (or wherever)

Anyway, Jordan should be higher but I'm concerned about his consistency as a fantasy scorer. He didn't help me out too much last year, and I never could figure out when I should play him.

I guess I had an embarrassment of riches with L. J., R. J. and the Cadillac too.

still: '05 10th, 85 total: 1,7,7,8,Bye,13,20,8,3,1,1,13,1,0,2,0,0

What happened!

Could he actually sustain that beginning all year in '06? That would entail reaching an elite status!

Does this line kind of show us what Chester Taylor's line will look like in his first year with a new team? Should I reverse their two spots?

Oakland has a brutal schedule and a dismal defense.

The offense will be on the field a lot and often coming from behind.

Their games will be shoot-outs, rollicking brawls rolling from the barroom floor, through the swinging doors and into the mud and manure; where Al Sweringen, from his balcony,  will give bible-education-inspired-language commentary to his friend-in-a-box.

The faithful will clash their plastic maces on their plastic shields and knock plastic helmets in furious revelry, that will cause fathers all along the west coast to lock up their daughters until Christmas; when Oakland will be retired, out of the playoffs.

I think Jordan is an excellent choice for a second runningback and a good possibility for a great season. This low in the actual draft would be a steal! He won't be there.

The real question is if he will actually be worth it. If Brooks explodes and a losing record decimates team attitudes and chemistry, and Moss and Porter just can't get along and simply don't care, again; then his numbers will suffer.

I'm wondering if he's a possible injury candidate as well. As a career back-up, did he work as hard at conditioning, was the injury last year simply a speedbump or an indication that more are to come?

Will what happened at the end of last season simply repeat itself this year?

Many questions and great promise, a good risk to be one of the few players that could crack the top ten, and not be on a playoff team.

Jordan wants to succeed and is hungry to be respected as one of the best. He will need the tumblers falling into place for this to happen. Robert Gallery and the O-line need to step up and perform to their potential, instead of another season of underachieving.

Shell, to me, is also an enigma. He was a great O-lineman and could spark pride and confidence into five hearts. If he can get Brooks to perform to his potential and keep his receivers heads in the game then leads would translate into relying on Jordan to keep the opposing offenses off the field; and if this happens, a winning record and a great season for all will be had.

20. Randy Moss

Randy Moss won many fantasy championships, graced many fantasy magazine covers,and then, notoriously, flamed out.

T.O. isn't the only receiver to destroy a team.

Sapp was challenged to refute the 32nd ranking that the N.F.L. Live crew gave Oakland. He couldn't hold a game face nor a blocking O-lineman. Schleroth went through him the way many did last season and many will this one.

He laughed and agreed they were terrible.

Well, the lemonade here, is that if the defense continually allows scores then the offense will be on the field a lot and this isn't an ordinary offense. Basically, Oakland is in for a shootout week after week all season long.

And this can only be good news for Fantasy fans.

Aaron Brooks is simply not the sharpest knife in the drawer. After watching him closely through the years; he's been on more then one of my teams, his late game and late season collapses are due to a lack of 'higher intelligence. There's a reason Brady has championships, and Brooks doesn't.

Brooks can run an offense. He is a gifted, durable athlete who can take control of a game and deliver a victory. He throws accurate darts and has some mobility in the pocket.

He will be a decent starter in Oakland, and, reigned in and tightly controlled by an aware coaching staff, he could be a great one.

He's being handed the keys to a Ferrari; okay, not that, but, at the very least a solid early 70's American muscle car!

The underachieving O-line has talent and a new coaching staff may coax it out of them. The running game is excellent and he has three maybe five good receivers to throw to. Two of them are awesome.

Jerry Porter is a threat on every play, and, if he can be comfortable in his role, an excellent second receiver; possibly the best in the league.

Moss is a premier, god-gifted athlete, who has wrestled with his demons and found himself, survived.

His best friend just got a world championship ring with Miami, and don't think he isn't gloating about it.

Moss has every reason to be excited, fired up and on point this year. He's healthy and rested and things are coming together in Oakland for something special.

Oh, not a division championship this year or the next; and, probably not a wild card playoff berth either, but, an offensive powerhouse scoring frequently and efficiently can be an intoxicating thing. If everything gells the way it should, the first few games will be like an espresso double-shot intravenously injected into his veins.

He's been there before and he knows what to do. This season will be more then a wake up call, it will be a wake up to a brand new day.

Moss isn't Owens. He's not a bad guy, or at least that's the way we perceive him. I think most of America loves him.

He seems a little beaten down by his excesses and the system. On T.V., while opening his new juice shop he seemed humble and a bit uncomfortable.

He can't but feel comfortable with Dennis Green and Aaron Brooks, and soon, we will watch the benefits of that happy family.

I guarantee that all Oakland games will be fun to watch, unless you're an Oakland fan. Still, in the gathering excitement, if they finish with a winning record and a modest respectability for their defense, then, I'll salute them.

We Pittsburgh fans definitely miss our old nemesis. There isn't any hatred between true warrior combatants, for each knows, that they are measured by the strength of their opponent; and, these two have few rivals to their epic battles and long dominance in sports history.

An immaculate reception aside, both teams are remembered with respect and fondness.

Lets hope that Randy Moss's history isn't over yet.

I'm betting, it won't be.

perhaps it helps that he's in an odd year; ninth.