Notjustagame.com hosts another weekly podcast. We discuss hot topics of the NFL. Discussions on Jay Cutler, Randy Moss, Marshawn Lynch, dink and dump offenses, and much more. We also give a few solid spread plays and under the radar starters/benchings for the week.

By Zack Cimini
notjustagame23@gmail.com

Remember the days when Carson Palmer looked like he could be and played like an elite fantasy quarterback? Questioning Palmer now boils around several areas. He is on a talented team with a nucleus that’s been building forward. Additions have been made that should bolster this team and propel them for not just divisional contention but a strong playoff push. Yet, the majority of questions circling this Bengals team point at Palmer.

Palmer has declined in a plethora of areas. Maybe he has never fully recovered from apparent elbow issues from a few years ago. Early season rust? Possibly. Some of the throws Palmer has been making though are just down right third string quarterback level. He is firing into areas of the field he has no business. Against the Panthers this past weekend he was lucky he was only intercepted twice. Numerous throws were errant and dropped by the Panthers defense. For quite a while the Panthers remained in the game against the Benglas. Even though they were starting Jimmy Clausen who was having a typical rookie quarterback nightmare debut.

With a current quarterback rating of 71, the front office has to be taken note. We see them looking to either bring in a quarterback via free agency or through the draft to give Palmer some pressure.

The Bengals were able to side step Palmer’s struggles last season by basically flipping their offense from prior years. Instead of gunning the football they became one of the top teams in the league at rushing the football. Cedric Benson had games were he carried the football 37, 34, 36, and 29 times. A very high amount compared to most starting backs in the league. Palmer’s career average of yards per game also was a paltry 193 yards.

Fantasy owners were disappointed last year in Palmer’s productions and are realizing that is not going to change. Can he turn it around once he develops a better feel for rookie Jordan Shipley and veteran Terrell Owens? We highly doubt it. Whatever is going on with Palmer it seems that he has hit that ugly Jake Delhomme wall. He has the ability to make an array of throws but consistency will never be a path he can take. He’ll deliver a dandy of a pass to Chad Johnson and two plays later throw a pick directly to a middle linebacker. Defensive schemes don’t change up enough for Palmer to not recognize the disguises and what’s going on out there. He has to regain confidence and get this team clicking offensively. If not there season could get real ugly.

At this point, Palmer should be considered as a fantasy backup quarterback with little upside. Until he proves he can limit his interceptions he should never start unless it’s a prime matchup. His yardage numbers are not there and you can’t anticipate him having a game of multiple touchdown passes. It’s a sad day when Palmer is rated on the same tier level of a Ryan Fitzpatrick or Bruce Gradkowski. That’s reality, as Palmer has done a 360 in the wrong fashion of where people thought he would be at this point in his career.

By Zack Cimini
Notjustagame23@gmail.com

Week one is practically in the books and serious question marks have already risen, or for some fantasy players re-risen. Those of you that drafted some of the players we are about to mention might be panicking already. Before you dig in for a potential trade lets analyze some of the bust performances that occurred. It’s only one game but for most of these guys it’s lingering from last season.

DeSean Jackson
In a game where Philadelphia abandoned the run extremely early you would of expected Jackson to have a showcase game. Didn’t happen. He was quiet all night and his catches were short out routes with no YAC. Not what were use to from his 2008 and 2009 seasons. Just goes to show a different quarterback does make a difference. It looks like Jackson may have to get use to another arm in that of Vick’s here shortly, which could lower Jackson’s value even more.

Frank Gore
Gore is a prolific back no question about it. Are worries have to do with Alex Smith who looks as if he is in the bottom five of the league in that department. If he does not improve the formula the Seahawks used to stop Gore will be replayed all season. Seattle stacked the box and dared Smith to beat them with his arm. He couldn’t do it, and Gore suffered immensely from it.

CJ Spiller
Spiller had one of the best preseasons of any running back which had analysts sky warding him up draft boards. So for week one he goes out and gets fantasy owners a fabulous point total of one, and that’s if your league combines total yards. Buffalo’s offense has been anemic for years. Spiller’s going to have to earn his yards this year the tough way.

Mike Turner
His breakout season of 2008 is really starting to look like light ages ago. Last year he blamed his performance on fighting through nagging injuries and bulking up too much. The weight was lost and he was supposed to be back to 2008 form. Facing the Steelers is usually a tough task so will downplay his week one performance for now. We are still worried though. Maybe he just had too many carries in 2008.

Brandon Jacobs
The Giants survived week one thanks in large part to Matt Moore giving away three critical interceptions inside Giants territory. A win can keep certain aspects hidden temporarily. Not Jacobs. He just can not penetrate holes and carry the ball like he did two to three years ago. He looks like a big lumbering fullback carrying the ball, and defenders are taking him down with ease. If New York is going to be successful they’re going to have to replace Jacobs as the feature back quickly.

Tim Hightower

Squandered a starting role with Beanie out by doing what he did best last season, fumble. Hightower fumbled the ball twice and did little to get the balance offensively the Cardinals needed. Maybe he should of trained with AP in the offseason to work on his fumbling issues. He was near the top last season and is already on pace to earn those honors again.

Alex Smith
An atrocious outing by Smith just has Niner nation dumbfounded. Many had picked them to get over the hump they’ve been fighting since Steve Young retired. Defensively they weren’t there, and if Smith does not pick it up the team will likely lose interest. It all starts at the quarterback position and Smith just does not have it.

Jason Campbell
Debuting with a new team couldn’t go any worse than Campbell’s Sunday. He threw the football 37 times and average yards per attempt was below five. That’s Jamarcus Russel type numbers. Campbell needs to remove this game from his memory and utilize his speedy receivers. He has the arm to gun the football but needs to show some daringness to get out of his methodical approach.

Derek Anderson
He got the Cardinals a win with a late fourth quarter drive for a touchdown against the…….Rams. Were thinking Matt Leinart could of equaled or had this game wrapped up well before hand. Anderson has the arm but just can not seem to locate the football with regularity. His accuracy beyond ten yards is just erratic. For his credit Larry Fitzgerald is only around 70 percent, and he is working with a young cast of receivers without a formidable tight end to throw to.

By Zack Cimini
Notjustagame23@gmail.com

Cleveland is looking once again at huge changes of trying to dig themselves out from the graveyard of the league. They seem to be headed in the right direction be retooling from the key place in the front office. Making changes up there has been a consistent off-season move though from the Cleveland Browns that has translated into zero improvement as a team. Someone of Mike Holmgren’s caliber is not going to be taking his time to see what he has.

By now the entire league knows the Browns have little to no talent on the offensive side of the football. Just look at the carousel of the backfield as a prime example. The Browns have shuffled through numerous running backs in Jamal Lewis, Chris Jennings, and Jerome Harrison. At times part of the reason for this issue was due to injuries in the backfield. It seemed that Jennings had earned the nod for more carries and a larger share when he had a solid outing that led to the Browns upset win over the Steelers. Magician Mangini though had his own new plans and fooled all fantasy owners by giving the work load to seldom used Jerome Harrison. With only 1.9 percent of fantasy owners starting Harrison that has to be the worst official huge outburst fantasy output not utilized in leagues.

The worse area that the Browns have had horrible management of decisions is at quarterback. The Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn show has been a long drawn out three year horrific episode. During Quinn’s rookie year was the only real reasoning for either or to make a case for themselves. Quinn was a rookie and like most they’re expected to learn from the sideline. Anderson handled the pressure of having a highly praised rookie breathing down his neck like a poised veteran. He had a torrid 2007 season that made him the top out of everyone’s preseason radar steal of the year from the quarterback position. After a year like that you could only figure that Anderson was going to hold a starting role similar to the way Drew Brees did fighting off Philip Rivers, and Brett Favre holding back Aaron Rodgers.

Soon though we all saw that Anderson just had a career year and could not ever break out of his funk. Partly the blame went to the fact that Braylon Edwards developed bad habits with dropped balls, lack of effort, and inability to handle being a number one receiver. You’d think Cleveland would have tried to build better talent at the position of receiver for Edwards and their quarterbacks. That never happened and the Browns finally parted ways with Edwards this year.

On the other side of the quarterback picture was Brady Quinn. He got into a few games in 2008 but was given the job this year based on Anderson ineffectiveness once again. We all know he will miss the last two games with his foot injury but lets break down the ten games he did play in this year. Quinn showed zero pocket precence and played more like a backup quarterback trying not too lose a game. He has to find his niche with the Browns system and trust his physical skills and mental preparation to take some risks downfield. We know that he can take what the defense gives him and make that dump off throw. Any quarterback can do that, but if the Browns are going to ascend even with a few extra wins in 2010 they’re going to need Quinn to elevate his game dramatically.

Don’t be surprised if Mike Vick enters the Browns sweepstakes in the off-season. Cleveland needs someone to put the pressure on Quinn to be more of a force. Both Anderson and Quinn can argue they had zero talent this year to accomplish anything. The main weapon for them happened to be Joshua Cribbs who has only 20 catches but was who they used to run gadget plays to break up the routine throws of Quinn. Holmgren will come in and get his quarterback some play makers. It’ll be up to Quinn to shake his overall career sixty six quarterback rating. If not, the Quinn project in Cleveland will be over and over quickly.

Maybe when Quinn slipped in the 2007 draft there was a main reason for it. Why EAS has used him as a spokesman we have no idea. It must be recession low budget spending.

By Zack Cimini
notjustagame23@gmail.com

As evidenced from the last three to four years fantasy football running back rankings have scattered all over the place. Players just are not as predictable in that position as between the years of 96 and 2003. Teams have retooled and better prepared to have depth to keep their star running backs fresh and durable. Supplanting some of these prior studs with double digit touchdowns has become the norm. Coaches were forced to necessitate less of a load on their number one running back and divide that load up with the second string back. It has made it a nightmare from year to year of what to expect from a back that teetered on solid success the season before.

When the Jaguars parted ways with veteran back Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew shot up the charts for the 2009 season. Rightfully so, as he has been a beast since entering the NFL in the 2006 season. At his size the Jaguars questioned if he could handle a full time starring role. At 5’7 and a little over 200 pounds he is a back of rare combination and comprises the tools to be a threat for years to come. Based upon how he has done thus far in 2009 he seems to be secure for years to come as a fantasy Tomlinson. Meaning he could be destined to rack up double digit touchdowns and dual threat receiving and rushing yardage.

Here at Notjustagame though we have extreme cause for concern and caution for Jones-Drew’s future to hold up.

For Jones-Drew’s size and what he does on the field who does he compare to of the last five to six years in his position? We would compare him to a Brian Westbrook type. Westbrook has a few more inches on Jones-Drew but they are almost identical weight. So we would say that’s a fair assessment. Similar to Jones-Drew, Westbrook had a veteran back to break up duties most of his career in Duce Staley and then Correll Buckhalter. Westbrooks injury woes have been throughout his career but they didn’t start to climb until recently. See Westbrook was always hurt but he usually only missed a few games while battling through and playing hurt on the field. That ends up catching up with you.

In MJD’s season long segmented show on the NFL Network he has detailed how rough and hard it is for his body to recover. That’s just the life of an NFL running back, but he knows his body and is ready to go every Sunday. A body can only take so much and Drew will be exiting his fourth complete season as an NFL back. The wear and tear is definitely there and the Jaguars have failed to protect their future investment.

Jones-Drew is second in the league in carries at 278. His previous three seasons he only averaged 176 carries, with last year being his highest total at 197. With two games left he will easily break the 300 mark and be somewhere around 310. This does not disclude the fact that Jones-Drew also has 49 catches on the year. That ranks him fifth for running backs in catches and he is 44th in the league for that statistic. Saying that the Jaguars may be overworking and possibly burning out their star back is an understatement.

There isn’t a team in the league besides maybe a St. Louis that doesn’t break up the load a bit with their star back. Can you name the Jaguars primary backup running back? Think, think…is it on the tip of your tongue? We don’t think so. The seldom used running backs name is Rashard Jennings. He is averaging a whopping two carries a game.

Ask Atlanta how overworking their star back in 2008 and not using a backup running back worked out for them a year later. We just do not see it as a wise move to increase a backs carries by nearly 50 percent. It may not be next year the Jones-Drew starts to break down but it will happen sooner than later if the Jaguars do not make it a point to lessen his work load.

By Zack Cimini
notjustagame23@gmail.com

Looking around the NFL we’ve seen the tussle and round about back and forth changes with starting quarterbacks worse than the coaching carousel. In Cleveland, we’ve seen it with Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson, San Francisco with Alex Smith and Shaun Hill, Oakland, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Detroit, and the list goes on and on. You’d expect some teams to have an answer somewhere within their depth charts to position their team and be able to lead them.

With Jake Lockler making the announcement that he will return for his senior season that means that there will be less talent for teams to try and correct these awful issues. The quarterback situations in the NFL are at a point of desperate measures. There have been numerous games this season that showcases this point. The following statistics by these quarterbacks actually translated to a win for their respective teams somehow. Luckily at the top of the crop for quarterbacks there are perennial future hall of famers that are taking much attention for how poor the quarterbacking actually is right now. Even last years rookies that came on strong a year ago have struggled in 2009 in Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco.

Jamarcus Russell- 7-24 for 109 yards…translated to a week two victory 13-10 over the KC Chiefs
Ryan Fitzpatrick- 12-20 for 86 yards translated to a week fourteen victory 16-10 over the KC Chiefs
Derek Anderson- 2-17 for 23 yards translated to a week five 6-3 win over the Buffalo Bills
*Jake Delhomme- 9-17 for 65 yards translated to a week 6 28-21 win over the Tampa Bay Bucs
7-14 for 90 yards translated to a week 8 34-21 win over the Arizona Cardinals

This is just stupefying to see these type of performances continue with winning results. How are teams unable to counter such a terrible performance from the lead catalyst on the other side of the ball? Since teams won’t be able to correct these issues in the draft it means they’ll have to dive deep onto other teams rosters in hope of landing some sort of respectable 2010 season. Some teams have excuses as they’re in a transition phase and trying to develop their young quarterbacks. Most though just need to make that tough decision and move on to a future prospect.

We do know this…the way Mike Vick’s played the last few weeks has likely re-entered teams minds to think hard about getting him on their roster. Vick seems to be settling back into NFL game speed and that has translated into more of his involvement with the Eagles packaging him in on crucial plays. Philadelphia actually has the best talented depth chart at the quarterback position. Kevin Kolb played fantastic in two starts due to McNabb’s rib injury. Philadelphia will have to find a way to continue build for a Super Bowl run and Donovan McNabb isn’t going anywhere. Look for the Eagles to shop their primary backup quarterbacks.

Brett Favre’s proved aging at quarterback can be a good thing. Arizona’s Kurt Warner is two years younger (38) and not showing any signs of slowing down. The game he missed with post concussion symptoms showcased just how far along he is running this team than backup Matt Leinart. Once the off-season comes around the Cardinals will likely look for Warner to give them an answer on how many years he plans on playing. If he has multiple years left in the tank look for the Cardinals to shop Leinart and give him a chance to go through actual growing pains on the field.

A couple of other quarterbacks to keep an eye on happen to be quarterbacks that lost their jobs this season. Tarvaris Jackson is in a position where he will have too much pressure and no shot at ever fielding a game in a Minnesota Vikings uniform as a starter. The way Brett Favre has come out and won is exactly how Brad Childress pictured it. It isn’t Jackson that you see Favre going to asking what he is seeing from another set of quarterbacks eyes. It is Sage Rosenfels.

In San Francisco Shaun Hill inevitably was yanked due to his Delhomme like performances and inability to stretch the field. A year ago though he was doing a fine job and had this team clicking. Maybe the pressure of having a former number one pick breathing down his neck to take his job finally got too him. Nevertheless teams like proven winners that can get the job done, and Hill has shown that he can do just that. It appears that Alex Smith is doing enough now that this quarterback battle of three years may finally be over.