http://www.sportstwo.com/Story/View/NFL/GENERAL/8631</p><h2>Rotisserie By The Numbers: Players to Panic About</h2> Thursday, September 20, 2007 09:53 AM By Craig Rondinone PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer </p> Should fantasy owners be losing sleep at night because LaDainian Tomlinson only has 68 rushing yards in two games? Is Steven Jackson on the verge of proving that last year's breakout season was a one-hit wonder ala Dexy's Midnight Runners? Could Anquan Boldin being 48th in the NFL in receiving yards be cause for alarm? </p> Fantasy owners should not panic about Tomlinson, Jackson or Boldin. They will all be fine. Bad beginnings happen to even the best players, and normally for reasons that have little to do with the players themselves. But not all players that have gotten off to sluggish starts are guaranteed to have Pro Bowl seasons. There are a few where the warning signs are brighter than the San Diego Chargers' powder blue uniforms. Here are the players, their production, their problems and what their fantasy outlooks might be. </p> </p>Lee Evans, Bills: Two games, four receptions, 22 yards. This would not be a problem if this was coming from a backup fullback, a third-string tight end or a Notre Dame flanker. But this is Lee Evans! You know, the fastest and most dangerous <div class="pre">deep threat in the NFL! Last season, Evans outran any coverage</div> thrown at him on his way to 1,292 receiving yards. This season he looks like he could not get open if he was man-to-man against a slow-footed midget. </p>Fantasy Outlook: Fantasy owners know the problem is not Evans. It is quarterback J.P. Losman. Evans already has to contend with double coverages because he is so good and the other Bills receivers are so bad, and if he does find open space in a secondary he has to pray Losman throws him an accurate pass. Losman looks like he has regressed after looking much better at the end of the 2006 season, so fantasy owners have to be concerned that he is not going to be capable of getting the ball to Evans on a consistent basis. I think Evans will still have a fair share of 100-yard outings, but I also think he will have a good amount of 30-yard games as well. DeAngelo Williams, Panthers: Williams was supposed to overtake DeShaun Foster and win the starting tailback job. So far the </p>rushing attempts have been divided this way Foster 26, Williams 23. Carolina's new zone blocking scheme was also supposed to open up holes for the speedster. So far Williams has 93 rushing yards and zero touchdowns. He has also added six receptions for 33 yards. </p>Fantasy Outlook: Most fantasy pundits were assuming Williams would outplay the average-at-best Foster and get the majority of the carries, and maybe that will happen later in the season. But it does not look like it is happening right away. Foster has been starting and has a higher yards-per-carry average, and Williams has not established himself as the more dynamic runner as of yet. Give this situation some time to play out, because Foster could sprain a toenail tomorrow and get placed on injured reserve. </p>The New York Giants defense: Good to see New York's new attacking style has worked early-season wonders (80 points allowed in two games). Also good to see that holding out for the entire preseason worked wonders for Michael Strahan (six tackles, no sacks). Tony Romo looked like Johnny Unitas in New York's first game against Dallas, and old Brett Favre looked like the old Brett Favre in New York's second game against Green Bay. The Giants and Cleveland Browns are battling for the crown of worst defense in fantasy football, although on paper the Giants have too much talent to be this terrible. </p>Fantasy Outlook: Try and scheme however you want, defensive <div class="pre">coordinator Steve Spagnuolo! No defensive game plan can work</div> with this defense, because they cannot tackle, cover or pressure the quarterback. If everything was working correctly, defensive ends Strahan and Osi Umenyiora would be wreaking havoc with their outside pass rushes, thus protecting their holey secondary. That is not happening, though, and there is no reason to think it will anytime soon because it did not happen all of last year. Whatever you do, if you have any offensive fantasy players facing this defense, by all means put them in your lineup that week. </p>Ronnie Brown, Dolphins: Brown has more going against him than the Republican Party. He has a quarterback in Trent Green who has lost more off his fastball than Tim Wakefield, an offensive line going on its umpteenth-straight season of being one of the worst in the NFL and a new head coach in Cam Cameron who has a strange fascination with scatback Jesse Chatman. This is why Brown only has 22 rushes for just 65 yards in two contests. At <div class="pre">least he is consistent 11 carries for 32 yards in one game, 11</div> carries for 33 yards in the other. Fantasy Outlook: The scariest thing about Brown is that he has failed to perform like a running back taken second overall in the NFL draft (2005). His numbers are OK (907 rushing yards in 2005, 1,008 rushing yards in 2006, 10 total touchdowns), but fantasy owners were expecting more out of a player drafted so high. Brown has not shown the talent of a Tomlinson, Jackson or Larry Johnson. Can this all be blamed on his teammates? The jury is still out, but with every subpar game, the window of </p>opportunity is closing on Brown and possibly opening for backup Chatman. </p>RUN AND SHOOT: If you blamed the New York Jets' sackless game against New England during the opening week on the Pats' illegal videotaping it is time to find another scapegoat, because the Jets had no sacks again in Week 2 against a Jonathan Ogden-less Baltimore line. Look for Jerricho Cotchery to blitz more often. Isn't it funny that Atlanta decided to replace Michael Vick at quarterback with the only guy arguably less accurate than Vick was, Joey Harrington? Things have gotten funnier, because now the Falcons have gone from having the fastest quarterback in the league in Vick to having the slowest by signing Byron Leftwich. </p> By the way, Atlanta's annual Let's bring back ancient Morten Andersen story is growing tiresome. Instead of making the 47-year old kicker look like a conquering hero returning to save the day every year, how about Atlanta goes out and signs or drafts a decent kicker under the age of 40 before the season gets underway? Pick up Pacman Jones in your fantasy pro wrestling league! Pacman has smoothly made the transition to the squared circle as his tag team won the TNA World Tag Team titles. How exciting is that? Pacman might not be a champ for long, though. At the next TNA pay-per-view Team Pacman has to defend its newly-won belts against Inky and Blinky. </p> </p>QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Craig Johnston from Minneapolis, Minnesota asks, San Diego kicker Nate Kaeding has yet to make a field goal in two games. Should I drop him and pick up another kicker available on my league's waiver wire? </p>Answer: First off, great first name. Secondly, you are doing a disservice to Craigs everywhere with this question. Kaeding is arguably the best kicker in fantasy football (No. 1 on my kicker list two columns ago). It is not Kaeding's fault that he has only had one field goal chance in two weeks, which he missed. San Diego played against two premier defenses, Chicago and New England, and Tomlinson, Philip Rivers and the rest of the crew looked more lost than Tank Johnson at a gun-control rally. Please be patient with Kaeding. He will eventually get field goal opportunities, and he will make 90 percent of them. Plus, L.T. will start scoring bushels of touchdowns, providing his kicker truckloads of extra point chances. With kickers you should just pick one and stick with him throughout the entire year, because there is no way to predict how many field goal attempts he could get by the end of the season. </p> For more information on Craig and his columns, visit www.publishedauthors.net/craigrondinone. </p>
