weekinsports

   This week, in my fantasy football league, I have a problem. I have the fortunate pleasure of owning both Tony Romo and Kurt Warner. If you read my first blog, I praised Kurt Warner’s performance this year. He is having an unbelievable year. When Romo went down with his finger injury, Warner came through for me better then I could have hoped. Romo was putting up big numbers before he went down, but so was Warner. My problem is their match ups. The Arizona Cardinals are playing the New York Giants, while the Dallas Cowboys are playing the San Francisco 49ers. See my dilemma? The Giants are probably the best team in the league, while the 49ers are one of the worst. Everything says go with the hot hand, the person who helped me claim first place for the fifth strait week. That would be Warner. I was, in fact, in first or second place the first part of the season with Romo. So do I start my third round pick in Romo, or my free agent pick-up of the year in Warner? This must be a similar debate real teams have year after year. For example, Matt Lienart was a highly touted, first round pick for the Arizona Cardinals. The organization and fans wanted him to start and succeed. This year, however, Warner won the starting job and has not looked back. Another example would be the Chicago Bears. The team wanted so bad for Rex Grossman to be their number one guy. He too was a highly touted, first round pick. This year, the Bears finally gave up on him and gave the starting job to Kyle Orton. Orton has been having a very good year in his own right, but not like Warner. I find it interesting that something so superficial such as fantasy football, could relate to the real life game. Back to who to start, the match up says that I would stupid not to start Romo. But then I would feel like I had given up on Warner. He deserves the start and is capable of putting up winning numbers against the Giants. That being said, Romo better put up big numbers against the Niners. I guess what I am saying is, just because a player is a high commodity or a name brand, does not give him the right to automatically start. After writing this and giving it some thought, I am going to start Romo. Why? Because it is not real and I want to win. But if I had the privilege to run an NFL team, Warner would start against the ‘85 Bears. Not because I think he would win, or that he is the best in the league, but because he deserves it. And so do all the other pre-season backups who take over and do nothing but perform and be the utmost professional.

   So my beloved, the Chicago Bears, got beat up on last Sunday. This was to their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers. But not only did they lose 37-3, but it was an embarrassing 37-3. You see, they were one of the best defenses against the run. Not true Sunday. They gave up a ridiculous 200 yards on the ground. Ryan Grant, the Packers running back, had his best game of the year. He rushed for 145 yards and a touchdown. Putrid!

   My Bears could not have asked for a better comeback game. They are playing the 2-8 St. Louis Rams. Now if you are a betting man, or woman, put your house up on this game. The Rams are 29th against the run, 24th against the pass and 30th overall defense. Now there is no arguing that the Rams are a bad team, but why can’t they win on Sunday? Because they do not have Stephen Jackson. He is one of the only play makers left on a once potent offense. He is injured and will sit out his third game in four weeks.

   The Chicago Bears have not had such an embarrassing loss since I can remember. They WILL stop Antonio Pittman, put pressure on Marc Bulger and run all over the field. I am not saying this as just a fan, I am saying it as a fact. As of Tuesday, the spread on the game is Bears -8 1/2. That is giving a lot of points, but I am confident that my team will show everyone that they are still the favorites to win the NFC North. Bears 27, Rams 6. Matt Forte runs for more then 100 yards and a touchdown. Kyle Orton throws for 250 yards and two touchdowns. Defense steps up with 3 sacks and an interception. Lets see on Monday. If I am wrong, please beat me up with plenty of fun comments Monday.

   The 2008 fantasy football season is coming to an end. Last years fantasy stud and MVP, Tom Brady, went on to win the NFL MVP award. Will it happen the same way this year? My vote goes to the ageless one, Kurt Warner. He is putting up numbers comperable to those in his MVP season with “the greatest show on turf”. 

   In 1999, while with the St. Louis Rams, he started all 16 games, won the MVP and led his team to a championship. He threw for 4,353 yards and 41 touchdowns. At that time he was just 28 years old. Now fast foward 9 seasons and two teams later. He is with the Arizona Cardinals, his team is leading their division and he is putting up huge numbers. As of week 11, he has thrown for 3,550 yards and 21 touchdowns. He is doing this at the ripe old age of 37. Earlier this season he was competing for the starting job against Matt Leinart and contemplating retirement. When his wide reciever, Anquan Boldin, went down with a brutal face injury, he acctually broke down in tears to his wife. The reality of his age and the brutality of the game was catching up to him. He wanted to retire right then. With the words from his wife and not wanting to let his team down, he continued on. And boy did he ever. The Cardinals are off to one of their best records in a long time, they are playing consistant, “playoff” football, and their leader is showing everyone that age is just a number.

   Now back to the point. His fantasy numbers are as consistant as you can get. He is averaging 21.22 points per game in RTSports.com’s fantasy league. With remaing games against teams with weaker pass defenses like his former team, the St. Louis Rams, and the Minnesota Vikings, he should continue to put up #1 quarterback numbers. So when the 2008 fantasy season is over, Kurt Warner will be my vote as MVP. Now I ask all of you, should he be the NFL’s MVP? well the numbers do not lie. I say yes… And what a story that would be!