Players

Before the season I touted Kansas City as my sleeper D/ST. It hasn’t turned out that way, in part due to the season-ending injury to safety Eric Berry.

But it’s hard to ignore the 10 takeaways the Chiefs have produced the past two weeks. There are still some outstanding playmakers on this unit, starting with OLB Tamba Hali and shutdown corner Brandon Flowers.

In Monday night’s game vs. San Diego, Hali caused several penalties while harassing Philip Rivers. He clawed for sacks in the fourth quarter and overtime. Flowers blanketed Vincent Jackson and Malcolm Floyd, though Flowers dropped an easy interception. Derrick Johnson burst through the line to sack Rivers.

The Chiefs also got their first fumble recovery of the season. They had failed to recover any of the first seven fumbles they caused, a pretty unlucky stat. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re eight weeks into the season and Darelle Revis is doing something pretty special. The level of play he’s returned to after a 2010 season slowed by early injury is causing people to draw legitimate comparisons to Deion Sanders in his prime.

To this point, Revis has been thrown at 33 times. He has allowed 10 receptions. He has yet to give up a touchdown, though he has scored one of his own. Opposing quarterbacks are just as likely to have the ball picked (four times) or batted down (another six times) as they are to have it caught by their intended receiver when they challenge Revis’ coverage. Picking on Revis this season is yielding a QB rating of just 2.9. Yes, 2.9. Read the rest of this entry »

Take a casual glance at the numbers, pretty much any of them, and you’d be inclined to think Vick isn’t playing at the same level as he did in 2010.

His team, despite all the preseason hype, is 2-4 and seemingly playing a must-win game every week. He’s already thrown more regular season interceptions (eight) than he did last year (six) when he was in the running for league MVP.

Still, PFF founder Neil Hornsby included him on his recent Pro Bowl Cheat Sheet along with Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers in the NFC, and ahead of such quarterbacks as Eli Manning and Matthew Stafford.

Let’s have a look at why that might have been …

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The New England Patriots selected cornerback Devin McCourty with the 27th pick of the 2010 NFL Draft. The pick raised some eyebrows (a common occurrence with Bill Belichick involved) as McCourty was viewed only as a special teams ace with a chance to contribute as a nickel CB in his rookie season.  Almost immediately, Belichick began praising his instincts and ability to pick up the defense and McCourty was thrust into a starting cornerback role.

McCourty exceeded expectations throughout 2010, not missing a defensive snap until Week 8 and excelling on multiple special teams units. His biggest contribution, though, was locking down the LCB job, a key position that had been a revolving door since Asante Samuel left the team after the 2007 season.

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Last year, it took outside linebacker Clay Matthews just one game to accumulate three sacks. We are six weeks into the 2011 season, and Matthews is just sitting at two. While some have been quick to defend one of the most well-known players on the Super Bowl defense, others have already decided he isn’t the player he once was.
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So which is it? Has Clay Matthews made a turn for the worse, or is his two sack total not telling the whole story? If you’re familiar with our work, you know we’ve seen Matthews on every play he’s been in and know what the whole story is. Read on and be clued in.
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The IDP Breakdown is a weekly feature column that goes game by game and looks at all of the key matchups to help you identify big value plays, some not-so-obvious starts, and players to avoid. Analysis is based in part on Jeff Ratcliffe’s weekly projections for the defensive linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs. Read the rest of this entry »

The IDP Breakdown is a weekly feature column that goes game by game and looks at all of the key matchups to help you identify big value plays, some not-so-obvious starts, and players to avoid. Analysis is based in part on Jeff Ratcliffe’s weekly projections for the defensive linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs. Read the rest of this entry »

IDP Stock Market looks at IDP players that are being overvalued and undervalued based on our advanced NFL statistics. If you’re looking for the sell-high or buy-low IDP candidates for your fantasy roster, this is the article for you.

Buy:

Jabaal Sheard – DE – Cleveland Browns

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Each week, I’ll take a look at some critical match-ups between star offensive players and top-tier IDP opponents. The analysis will help you to determine whether or not a tough match-up will have an impact on the players’ “start” status. This week, I’ll look at two different types of match-ups. The first will be a pass-rusher (Charles Johnson) going up against a quarterback (Aaron Rodgers). The second match-up pits a receiver (Larry Fitzgerald) going up against a ballhawking cornerback (DeAngelo Hall). Let’s get to it…

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The IDP Base Package is a weekly feature column that goes game by game and looks at all of the key matchups to help you identify big value plays, some not-so-obvious starts, and players to avoid. Analysis is based in part on Jeff Ratcliffe’s weekly projections for the defensive linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs.

Read the rest of this entry »