Stop Eli Manning. Stop him before it's too late.

In the game against the Ravens last night, the play-by-play will tell you that, early in the first, Eli fumbled. It will later tell you that the Giants got the ball back and Eli led the team on a touchdown drive, hitting up-and-coming receivers like Michael Jennings and Steve Smith in the process. Maybe this morning you read about how both those receivers were hurt on the drive. Maybe you also read that two other injuries occurred within roughly the same 2 minute timespan (Sam Madison pulled his right hammy and Will Demps dislocated his elbow).

What you probably haven't read is how all this is Eli's fault. Jennings had to ssssssttttttrrrreeeeeetttttttccccchhhhhhh to get the last ball he caught and that's what caused his ACL to detach and zip up his leg like a window shade (NOT like a 'lamp shade', which is what Madden said). Smith caught an Ed Reed forearm shiver to the head catching the TD that Eli zipped to him in between Ed and another Baltimore defender.

And I don't have proof, but I bet Eli said to Demps at one point something like "launching yourself in the air and hitting another guy with your helmet always seemed like a good idea to me; I mean it's not like you're gonna dislocate your elbow or anything".

Sam Madison, meanwhile, pulled his hammy while thinking "Oh crap, I can't let Baltimore score because we don't have a good enough QB to lead us back. Gotta run, gotta run, gotta..... OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!".

I think when the book closes on Eli's career, that book will be entitled "Who Wanted It Less?" and it will have been co-written by Drew Bledsoe.

(note: this ultimately means I've dropped Plax a few notches, due to the fact that Eli will probably get him killed at some point).

Doug Tucker must've been watching a different game

Doug Tucker, an AP sports writer, wrote the game recap for Miami vs. KC at Yahoo!. This line, in particular, vexes me:

Miami's retooled offensive line, a big worry all during training camp, opened hole after hole in the first quarter for Ronnie Brown, who had gains of 12 and 10 yards to get Green's long drive started.

I actually took the time out of my busy schedule to rewatch Ronnie's runs, since I still had the game on my DVR. I would say, that of his 13 rushes, a mere 2 or 3 of the good ones were because of open holes. Oh, sure, it's easy to say a hole was open by virtue of the fact that there was a space for him to run through. But if you look closer, you'll see a lot of fancy footwork, a couple of cutbacks and some poor tackling by KC.

If you want to see what open holes look like, check out what Minnesota's O-line was able to open up for Adrian Peterson against the Jets.

Friday night action

Some quick thoughts before I go to bed:

• Carolina running backs looked pretty good tonight; maybe it wasn't just a false positive from facing the Giants last week. Delhomme, however, continued to struggle. I may need to adjust his ranking as well as that of Steve Smith


• McNabb was, in a word, awesome. He seemed pretty locked in with Kevin Curtis, whom I also may have been wrong about. Maybe he won't be this year's Nate Burleson after all.


• MIN's Adrian Peterson continued to shine, but NYJ's Pennington may have taken a step backwards.


• Another stinker from Marshawn Lynch. Still, I think I've got him ranked just about right.

Goodnight you princes (and princesses) of fantasy football!

Dolphins at Chiefs

This definitely isn't an attempt to 'live blog' as I've officially stopped watching the game. I have no desire to partake in "Cleo and Brody's Excellent Adventure".

Even when Trent Green and Damon Huard were in there, though, there wasn't much to write home about.

Ronnie Brown looked good, but I think that was in spite of the Miami O. Trent Green again looked pretty bad, although Jaws tried to pump him up, saying that there were some drops that were not his fault. Again, you have to look at the O-line. Too many times, it looked like a jailbreak on defense. Brown only got his yards due to some nifty moves, some overpursuit by KC and some plain ol' dumb luck. Nifty moves will only work so many times and not all defenses overpursue.

It's clear that Ronnie Brown is Cam Cameron's Tomlinson, just like David Martin is 'supposed' to be Cameron's new Antonio Gates. Martin was targeted a bunch of times, but did have one or two drops. Don't go bumping Martin up your draft board, though. I'm not (I'll add him at the bottom, though).

Stop the presses: Chris Chambers caught a ball!

I don't have much to say about KC because Larry Johnson still hasn't signed, but I WILL say that I know Michael Bennett is a capable RB and if he couldn't get anything going, chances are LJ won't fare too much better. KC's O-line seemed content to play their own little game of 'anything you can do we can do worse' with Miami's O-line.

If I only got paid for this...

this is the kind of article I'd write. But alas, I have a full time job and a 6 month old at home (who's on my lap right now), so you get what you've gotten the past couple of days. I will try to provide more info going forward. Not sure how I missed Rex Grossman's nearly perfect performance, but I did and now I'm kicking myself for it.

Also, this is the kind of blog I'd have, if only I got paid for this. While the preseason is nice, I really won't be able to fulfill my 'mission statement' of debunking the 'experts' out there until the regular season gets going. Until then, I'm just another shlub with a 'notebook' on as many pre-season games as possible.

Willis McGahee is almost a top 10 back?

Take away his 16 yard run and he had 3 rushes for 4 yards.

Brian Westbrook also went 3 for 4 (not the good kind) but at least chipped in a reception for 23 yards.

Something I forgot I know (or something I know I forgot!)

Upon further review, I had already included Byron Leftwich in the 'move up' poll (why haven't you voted yet?), but I never said anything about Leftwich or his backup (or replacement?), David Garrard. Both played good games, but I'm very skeptical, having been burnt by both last year.