Cardinals, Broncos, Chiefs, Chargers, Seahawks, and Titans are on the bye this week

With John Fox naming Tim Tebow the starting quarterback for the Broncos’ when they come back from their by this week all but ends Kyle Orton’s stay in Denver. Brady Quinn will be the backup; we should see Orton dealt in the near future.

Tebow’s statistics seem to make him a worthy fantasy player. In three starts last year he compiled some good stats, although he lost two of the three games. He had multiple touchdown games in each start, passing for an average of 217 yards and rushing for an average of sixty six yards a game, while throwing and running for 7 scores during that stretch. He posted solid fantasy statistics, and last week he threw and ran for a score. 

On the surface the stats are good, but beware of his mechanics which remind me of another running left handed quarterback, not Hall of Famer Steve Young, but Chicago’s Bobby Douglas. If you remember Douglas who also played a few games with the Chargers, Saints, Packers you saw a quarterback who did not win much. His starting record was 16 wins 36 losses, and one tie.

Douglas came to the Bears in 1969, and lasted to the middle of 1975 with them. He was not a scrambling quarterback; he was a runner who tried to throw. Douglas played for their Bears in the middle of their worst stretch in franchise history, they had a losing record every year from 1969 to 1975, and Douglas was the starter for most of those games.

His signature season was 1972, he set a then a NFL record with 968 rushing yards for a quarterback, scored 8 touchdowns, and averaged 6.9 yards a carry for the 4-9-1 Bears. A record that was not broken to Michael Vick’s 1,039 yards with the 2006 Falcons, but Vick had two more games, Douglas actually averaged more rushing yards per game.

The Bears’ problem was that while he ran for all those yards, he only completed 75 of 198 passes, a 37.9 completion rate that year.  He threw for just 1,246 yards, had nine scoring throws and twelve interceptions. Along with the interceptions, he had nine fumbles. He accounted for twenty one turnovers, while starting every game that season.  In the Bears last win of 1972, he completed just one pass, but ran for two scores in a 21-12 win over the hapless Eagles.

Douglas finished his career completing just 43% of his passes, throwing for thirty six touchdowns, and 64 interceptions. He ran for 2,654 yards and 22 scores, but had 31 fumbles. He accounted for 95 turnovers in 53 career games.

Douglas was fun to watch, but you never wanted to have to count on him. The 1973 Street and Smith described Douglas’1972 season like this: “Fortunately for Chicago, quarterback Bobby Douglas ran like a moose, unfortunately for them he also throws like one.”

Bills, WR David Nelson was moved from the slot to the outside Sunday with Donald Jones’ injury…the move may be subtle, but coverage is far tougher on the outside, Nelson’s fantasy points will suffer 

Panthers, Cam Newton has gotten most of the carries when the Panthers have been inside the ten yard line, scoring 5 rushing touchdowns...the good news for Newton owners is that offensive coordinator Rod Chudzinski says that should continue…not good news for DeAngelo Williams

Bengals, RB Cedric Benson is appealing his three game suspension, which means he could play against the Colts Sunday, who allow 145 yards a game on the ground, needless to say a great match up…if Benson does not play , then Bernard Scott becomes the sleeper pick of the week

Browns, WR Greg Little will start is week against the 30^th ranked pass defense of the Raiders…Little led  the Browns with six receptions and 8 targets in their week 4 game against the Titans…he can physically match up well against any defensive back in the league

Lions, WR Calvin Johnson is the first player in NFL history to record nine touchdown receptions in the first five weeks of a season…something that Don Hutson in 1942, Elroy Hirsch in 1951, Jerry Rice in 1987, and Randy Moss in 2007 did not accomplish, those are considered by NFL historians the greatest single season performances by a wide receiver   

Houston, quarterback Matt Schaub is listed day to day with a sore shoulder and thigh bruise but should play Sunday in Baltimore….he attempted 62 passes, threw for 393 yards , and three touchdowns in their overtime loss to the  Ravens in 2010, all with WR  Andre Johnson, who will miss this week’s game…TE Owen Daniels had his biggest yardage game in 2010 with ninety one receiving yards that night…also, RB Arian Foster had 100 yards on the ground on twenty carries that game…Houston added former Raven and Jet WR Derrick Mason this week to their roster   

Colts,  RB Joseph Addai left the game Sunday with a hamstring injury…Addai said it was not a tear just a strain but my bet is Delone Carter, who scored last week, gets the start against Bengals Sunday…tough match up, Bengals allow just 88.6 yards a game on the ground

Chiefs, with the Raiders and Dolphins on their schedule the next few weeks, RB Jackie Battle is worth a roster move for the bye weeks…he had 19 carries for 119 yards Sunday, it was against a weak Colt run defense but the Chiefs are starting to get some offensive rhythm, granted they beat winless teams in the Vikings and Colts…but Battle seems to be the player head coach Todd Haley wants touching the ball more than veteran Thomas Jones

Giants, RB Brandon Jacobs should be back Sunday, QB Eli Manning has four consecutive multiple touchdown pass games and has a great match up this week against the Bills who allow 280 yards a game in the air and have given up 10 scoring throws, they do have twelve interceptions but just 5 sacks.

Steelers, Head coach Mike Tomlin was noncommittal on Rashard Mendenhall’s status this week for the Jaguars, expect to see Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer…I did all the Ben Roethlisberger owners a favor but suggesting he sit last week against the Titans, his five TD passes tied a team record he already shared with Terry Bradshaw and Mark Malone… if you watched that game, you saw the Titans bite on every play action fake, they were playing run on every snap

Chargers, even though they are on a bye this week TE Antonio Gates as of now does not expect to play week 7 against the Jets…

49ers, WR’s Michael Crabtree and Ted Ginn Jr will start against the Lions with Josh Morgan’ injury…the quiet story line of the year in the NFC is how much improved QB Alex Smith under the tutelage of head coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst

Seahawks, Seahawks have a bye this week….QB Charlie Whitehurst who threw for a score against the Giants will work with the first team offense, it appears Tarvaris Jackson will miss some tine with a pectoral injury….rookie WR Doug Baldwin from Stanford has thirteen receptions for 220 yards and a touchdown the last two weeks

Buccaneers, With LaGarrette Blount hurting, Earnest Graham will get the majority of the touches against the 16^th ranked run defense of the Saints Sunday, he is by far a better receiver than Blount

Titans, QB Matt Hasselbeck needs two touchdown passes to reach 187 TD passes for his career, which would tie him for 40^th all time… 40^th might not seem like a big deal but it would tie him with Redskin Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh, who is in the top ten on the Backert list of the greatest players of all time.

Redskins, are not saying who the starting back will be Sunday against the Eagles but it should be Ryan Torain….which is one of the strongest match ups of the week facing the soft 30^th ranked run defense of the Eagles who allow 140 yards a game on the ground