Week 8 Winners and Losers
Week 8 was a week of firsts for the Denver Broncos and the Tennessee Titans. The Broncos suffered their first loss of the season thanks to the revived defense of the Baltimore Ravens. Meanwhile, the Titans got the monkey off of their back and finally got a win over the dwindling Jaguars. Some would accredit this win to Vince Young getting his first start of the season, others would blame it on Chris Johnson's 228 rushing yards. You decide which side of the fence you land on this one. Then there were some teams that just kept on doing their same old same old as the Colts and Saints remained undefeated giving some idiots hopes for a perfect Super Bowl. If any part of the NFL was quiet, it was probably all of the fans at the Lions/Redskins...*cough*...game. However, the fantasy football world was definitely as loud as ever so lets dive in and take a look at the winners and losers of week 8.
Winners
Chris Johnson: As earlier mentioned, Johnson amassed 228 yards on the ground. This doesn't tell you half the story however. Johnson absolutely dominated this game. Ripping off touchdown runs of 52 and 89. Looks like CJ's initials could be M-V-P.
Ryan Moats: Not like you have a chance of picking this guy up in your league any more. But at this time last week you would never have even thought about it. But 126 yards and 3 touchdowns later, Moats may be the answer the Texans have been looking for to solve the question of Steve Slaton.
Quarterbacks who played in Green Bay this week: Between the two of them, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers passed the ball for 531 yards, 5 touchdowns, and no interceptions. The only difference to note between the two is that Brett Favre got to play the game behind a real offensive line.
Mark Sanchez: Granted, he was only playing against the Miami Dolphins, but he still took care of the ball throwing for 2 TD's and no picks. On an even better note, he stayed away from amusement park food for the WHOLE game.
Reggie Wayne: On a day where Peyton Manning (gulp) failed to pass for a single touchdown, Reggie Wayne still managed to catch a touchdown, helping the Colts struggle to a win. With 147 yards and a touchdown thrown to him by Colts running back Joseph Addai, Wayne showed that there is more than one star with a horseshoe on their helmet.
Ted Ginn Jr.: Considering this is the week the Dolphins dropped him from his #1 spot on the depth chart, I am just as surprised as you are to see his name here, however, anytime you make history you are going to get talked about. Ginn had 299 return yards and 2 kicks returned for a touchdown.
Losers
Ronnie Brown: The Jets declawed this Wildcat by only allowing him 29 all purpose yards and not once getting into the endzone. This is far from the kind of production fantasy owners are used to and Brown left many of them winless in week 8.
Kyle Orton: 152 passing yards is not horribly below his average. 0 interceptions is keeping in time with his accurate season. And throwing 0 touchdowns isn't totally un-Orton-ish. However, these stats have never looked more ugly than what Orton showed on Sunday against the Ravens. Never taking a chance down field and seeminly scared out of his mind by the second quarter. Granted, the Broncos O-line was left in utter confusion by the Ravens blitzing scheme. This still left Fantasy owners sure that their team still could never depend on Kyle Orton to be the starting quarterback.
Ted Ginn Jr.: A winner and a loser? Although he enjoyed an amazing day returning the football he also went the entire day without a single catch. Unfortunately, he is not going to rack up those kind of return yards in any other game for the rest of his career, so unless he can find a way to start grabbing some catches, Ginn Jr. will still be an extremely risky move for fantasy owners.