This is the final week of the preseason, and also the final
week of 5 Things You Need to Know.
Next week, heading into the first week of the regular season, I will begin
counting down 10 topics.
1. Only
7 days left before the season starts!
Yes, the regular season starts next Wednesday, not Thursday, as is tradition. The 2012 Democratic
National Convention is Thursday, September 6, so the season opener, featuring
the Cowboys and Giants in an NFC East showdown in New York, was moved to a day
earlier.
2. NFL
transactions’ effects on Fantasy Football
This week tends to be one of the busiest in terms of teams
signing and releasing players, understandably. Teams must finalize their 53-man
rosters before the week ends, leading to the releases of particularly desirable
fantasy players. Don’t jump ship too early, though. I drafted Billy Cundiff as
a backup kicker in my fantasy draft. The Ravens released him and I immediately
dropped him and went after Justin Tucker. Lucky for me, no one went after
Cundiff and when the Redskins released Graham Gano and Neil Rackers to pick up
Cundiff, I was able to get him back. You may not be so lucky, so before you
drop players like Chris Cooley just because they were released, wait to see
what their next move it. Although, if you picked up Terrell Owens in the draft,
you should feel safe dropping him now. Even if another team picks him up, he
won’t contribute to your season.
3. Bill
Belichick may have lost his mind
The Patriots play the New York Giants this week in their
preseason finale, and have announced that many of their starters will get
significant playing team in the game. Week 4 of the preseason is traditionally
a game where the backups play almost the entire game so the coaches can get one
more look at them before making final decisions on who to keep and who to cut.
If the Patriots already know for sure most of these decisions, that’s fantastic
for them, but this is still a dangerous decision.
The Giants have a sense of pride about playing the Patriots,
and no doubt that pride has been injected into the backups. As if the Giants
players didn’t have enough reason to give it their best this week – trying to
lock down roster spots and all – they get to do so against their hated rival
from just outside Boston. Belichick is asking for one of his starters to get
hurt. If this turns out the way I envision it, at least all this ridiculous
talk about Belichick’s name being added to the Lombardi Trophy should come to
an end.
4. Week
4 starts Today!!
The Patriots game I referenced above is today at 7:00 p.m.
and is the start of a slate of three games being played tonight. The Redskins
host the Buccaneers in their preseason finale at 7:00 as well, and the Dolphins
play in Dallas at 8:30. The other 13 games of this week will all be played
tomorrow, beginning at 6:30 with the Falcons and the Jaguars and running all
the way into the early morning Friday, as the Cardinals host the Broncos with
an 11:00 p.m. EDT start.
5. My
new radio show kicks of Tonight!!
I will be on WMUC College Park Radio, 88.1 FM, with two of
my friends tonight from 7-8 p.m. We have been talking with each other about
sports for a couple years now and have decided to take it to the radio this
year, and tonight will be our first show. If you live in the College Park area,
you can tune in on the radio. If you don’t live in the area, go to WMUC Sports
and click the big red ‘Listen Live’ button. It will open up in iTunes and you
can listen that way right from your computer. While my expertise is undoubtedly
pro football, we all bring different interests, knowledge, and opinions to the
table and will be talking about a wide range of sports, which should make for
an interesting show, especially once we shake out all the cobwebs tonight. So
be sure to tune in!
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