O'Malley's Tallies: Week 6 -- Familiar Faces back in the Spotlight

If I really wanted to make things easy for my readers this week, my entire article could simply read “STUDS: New England Patriots” and “DUDS: St. Louis Rams.” In just that one sentence, all the readers country wide could understand how dominant the Patriots were vs. the Cowboys Sunday and just how putrid the 0-6 St. Louis Rams played. While there is little doubt that this is a very fair assessment, I would not be doing my job if I ignored the various other highs and lows that week 6 had to offer. With that being said, here is the week 6 edition of “O.T’s”….

STUDS

1. LaDanian Tomlinson – I know I was dogging him in the beginning of the year for his sub par play. I will be the first to admit that. However, I think we all knew it was just a matter of time before L.T. decided to have a coming out party didn’t we? Going up against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday in a major division clash, Tomlinson stepped up BIG TIME and torched the boys in black for 199 yards on 24 carries and scored 4 touchdowns to lead the Bolts to a 28-14 victory. After starting off the season slow, it seems that the Chargers have really gotten their swagger back heading into the bye week.

2. Maurice Jones Drew – What a difference two weeks can make! It seems like just yesterday I could remember a bunch of people slapping the “one year wonder” tag on M.J.D. and ready to trade him for whatever possible. After carrying the rock for nearly 10 yards a pop these past two weeks, those who were patient are definitely seeing their reward now. On Sunday vs. Houston, M.J.D. stuck the proverbial fork into the Texans with two 4^th quarter touchdowns are finished the day with 12 carries for 125 yards. Not a bad day at the office if you ask me…

3. Adrian Peterson – Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you your 2007 Offensive Rookie of the Year, Mr. Adrian Peterson!! There it is, I’ve said it. Mark it down, quote me on it, do whatever you want to do. This former Oklahoma Sooner is downright legit and he definitely showed the country that on Sunday. Going against a stingy Chicago defense that has been finally starting to get healthy, A. Pete carried the rock 20 times for a mind blowing 224 yards and had three touchdowns. In addition, Peterson also had 128 kick returning yards including a crucial 53 yard return late in the 4^th to help set up Ryan Longwell’s game winning field goal to help the Purple People Eaters leave Chi Town with a W.

4. Patriots – As I mentioned earlier, I could easily take up the entire page with studs from this game. Whether it was Tom Brady, Wes Welker, Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, or various members of the defense, this team went into Dallas against the unbeaten Cowboys and made them look absolutely inferior. I hate to say this as a Fish fan but after a performance like this, it is looking more and more possible that the 72’ undefeated team may have company late in December..

5. Vinny Testaverde – While his numbers may not have been as flashy as the boys above, Vinny Testaverde’s performance Sunday went beyond statistics. Signed off his couch only a week ago after Jake Delhomme and David Carr went down with injuries, Vinny stepped in (with a very brief knowledge of the offense) and helped lead his Carolina Panthers to a road victory against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. On the day, Vinny completed 60% of his passes, 200 yards, and one late touchdown to Steve Smith to help his Panthers improve to 4-2.

DUDS

1. Gus Frerotte – Ugh. Where do I begin? I will make this as short and non painful as possible to read: 19-36, 208 yards, 5 interceptions, 0 touchdowns. I think it is safe to say the Gus Frerotte experiment in the St. Louis may have come to an end.

2. Shaun Alexander – You know things are not going too well for Shaun Alexander when he gets replaced in the forth quarter by LEONARD WEAVER. Who!? After only managing 35 yards on 14 carries actually a less than stellar Saints Defense, Alexander was benched during a few crucial fourth quarter drives and even heard a collection of boos from the Qwest Field faithful. Now on the wrong side of thirty, things are definitely not looking so good for the former NFL MVP.

3. Miami Defense – When a backup quarterback named Cleo Lemon helps puts up 31 points for your team, in my opinion the defense has to step up and bring home the win. Sunday in Cleveland, however, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. The Dolphins defense repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with dumb penalties, a terrible third down conversion rate, and horrific secondary play to cause the team to drop to 0-6 and make Anderson to Edwards look like Montana to Rice.

4. Marques Colston – At the beginning of the year, many people like myself thought Marques Colston would have a MONSTER year. I mean why not? Joe Horn left via free agency making him the #1 receiver and he had another off-season to really learn and get a feel for Sean Payton’s offense. Despite these facts, things just haven’t been really working out for the former Hofstra product. While he did indeed catch a touchdown on Sunday night vs. the Seahawks, it was the rest of his stat line that was somewhat alarming: One catch for 2 yards. Doesn’t really seem like #1 caliber numbers to me…

Well that is all for this week folks. Hopefully the majority of your fantasy teams are continuing to be in the playoff hunt and that you avoid the injury bugs that lurks each and every year. See you all next week!!

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