10 Things You Need to Know: NFL Regular Season Week 3

Steve Sabol, President and co-Founder of NFL Films,
died Tuesday morning of brain cancer. He was 69.

Don’t forget to listen to an all-new broadcast of The All-Sports Crew tonight at 7 p.m. on WMUC Sports. We had a special show last night, the podcast of which is currently on iTunes. I received word that the WMUC Sports server is currently down, so I am not sure yet when, or if, tonight’s show will be made into a podcast, but if it is I’ll get the word out and it will end up on iTunes within a day of the server being up and running.

10.            Death Threats

On the last Redskins drive of Sunday’s game, Josh Morgan made a reception that set up a very manageable 48-yard field goal that could have tied the game and sent it to overtime. Instead, he threw the football at Cortland Finnegan, was penalized 15 yards, and set up Billy Cundiff for an impossible 63-yard field goal. He has received numerous death threats on Twitter.

9.            In-Season Arrests

Hours after a very long game, a 27-21 victory over the Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner was arrested and charged with a DUI. He says he expects to play this weekend against San Diego, but he could be punished by the NFL under its player-conduct policy. There has been no word what that punishment could be.

8.            Replacement Officials

I wasn’t going to include them in this list, but it is worth noting that the replacements did far worse in Week 2 than in the opening weekend of the regular season. It is acceptable to struggle as long as you are learning from your mistakes, moving on from them, and being better for it. But these refs have not yet shown signs of improvement; yet there is still no sign of talks advancing with the real officials.

7.            Fantasy Disappointments

Keep in mind the point totals here are from my league, which may have different scoring setting than yours, but those who struggled in one league most likely scored in all leagues.

Of course there are many disappointments every week, but I try to stick to the players with high ownership among fantasy leagues.

Matthew Stafford, Det QB – 13 points

Aaron Rodgers, QB QB – 11 points

Peyton Manning, Den QB – 8 points

Jay Cutler, Chi QB – 3 points

Chris Johnson, Ten RB – 3 points (second straight week in single digits)

Julio Jones, Atl WR – 3 points

Larry Fitzgerald, Ari WR – 0.5 points

Braylon Edwards, Sea WR – 0 points (may be on his way out)

A lot of people jumped all over Jacob Tamme in fantasy after getting a lot of targets from Manning in Week 1. But the first time Manning targeted him, he threw a pick. He didn’t really look for him much more the rest of the night. Fear not, don’t dump him, but you might want to bench him for a week.

6.            Fantasy Surprises

C.J. Spiller had another huge game this week. Last week I said not to jump on the bandwagon yet, because Fred Jackson is expected to be back in a few weeks. Well, now is the time to jump on him if he is still somehow unowned. Last week he scored 25 points in my league. This week, 29.5. Even when Jackson comes back, Spiller may be the new #1 in Buffalo, and if not he should still get a good number of carries. Expect him to make the most of either situation.

Some other surprises:

Eli Manning, NYG QB – 31 points (despite 3 second quarter interceptions)

Reggie Bush, Mia RB – 34.5 points

Willis McGahee, Den RB – 25 points

Victor Cruz, NYG WR – 30.5 points

Hakeem Nicks, NYG WR – 30 points (Yes, two Giants wide receivers with 30+ fantasy points. You can’t go wrong with either.)

Bills D/ST – 27 points (Second straight week a team has done that, last week was the Browns.)

5.            Games to Watch

Like last week, I’ll be more specific on why these are the biggest games to watch in my predictions post tomorrow.

•  New York Giants at Carolina Panthers (Thursday Night Football)
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Dallas Cowboys (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• New York Jets at Miami Dolphins (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• Cincinnati Bengals at Washington Redskins (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• Philadelphia Eagles at Arizona Cardinals (Sunday, 4:05 p.m.)
• Atlanta Falcons at San Diego Chargers (Sunday, 4:05 p.m.)
• Houston Texans at Denver Broncos (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)
• New England Patriots at Baltimore Ravens (Sunday Night Football)

4.            Power Rankings

For the sake of space, I will list just the top 6 and the bottom 6 here. You can see the rest on NFL.com.

1. San Francisco 49ers	27. Kansas City Chiefs
2. Houston Texans	28. Miami Dolphins
3. Green Bay Packers	29. Tennessee Titans
4. Atlanta Falcons	30. Jacksonville Jaguars
5. Baltimore Ravens	31. Cleveland Browns
6. New England Patriots	32. Oakland Raiders

The Rams had the biggest jump, moving up 8 spots to #21 on the list. The Cowboys and Chiefs had the biggest falls, both falling 8 spots, Dallas to #17 and the Chiefs to #27.

3.            Atlanta Falcons

Last week I saved a spot to talk about how impressed I was with the Ravens, and then they fell to the Eagles. The Falcons have impressed for two straight weeks, so hopefully I don’t jinx them for their trip to San Diego this weekend.

Matt Ryan, as Flacco did in Week 1, has done a very nice job running a no huddle scheme in Atlanta. The Falcons responded to their critics, who hassled them for scoring just a safety against the Giants in the 2011 postseason, by demolishing the Chiefs in Week 1. Then they defended their home field by picking off Peyton Manning three times in the opening quarter and building just enough of a lead that Denver couldn’t pull off a miracle. This weekend is a good chance for Ryan and his team to back up their first two performances of the 2012 campaign.

2.            San Francisco 49ers

For consecutive weeks the 49ers sit atop the NFL.com power rankings. The only other two teams not to change spots were the Buccaneers at #18 and the Bengals at #20.

Alex Smith is looking more and more like a field general type quarterback. Frank Gore is still an integral part of the offense, no doubt there. But Smith is making all the throws. The move to pick up Mario Manningham obviously ended up being a good decision in the end, and Michael Crabtree made some huge third down plays in the team’s win over Detroit on Sunday Night.

And don’t forget, their defense is as good as, if not better than, last year’s version. Look out for this team. I picked the Packers as the team to beat in the NFC before the preseason. It’s still early, but all signs are saying that I picked the wrong top-2 NFC team from last year’s regular season.

1.            Steve Sabol, dead of brain cancer at 69

Very sad news came out yesterday that the president of NFL Films, and one of the original founders, Steve Sabol dies of brain cancer. NFL Films is an essential part of studying the history of the National Football League, and it changed the way we remember the game, we view the game, and look toward the future of the game.

His father, Ed Sabol, 96, retired as President of NFL Films in 1995 and was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. I have no doubt that there is a place in Canton with Steve’s name on it as well. My best wishes go out to his family, and may he rest in peace.