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Sunday's Best Comeback stories replace familiar facesPosted: Monday November 26, 2001 1:43 PM
By James Quintong, CNNSI.com There aren't a lot of the usual suspects among this week's top fantasy performers. The Rams play Monday night and a lot of the regular names had solid but not necessarily eye-popping results. Instead, many of this week's leaders appear to be candidates for comeback player of the year (or just comeback player of the week). Some have been coming off terrible seasons (or two or three). Others have been coming off injuries. Others are rising out of the ashes of obscurity. Whatever the case, a number of this week's studs weren't taken very high in your fantasy draft, further proving you need to do well in the back half of the draft and on the free agent wire.
Top 10 Studs1. Eric Moulds, WR, Bills (6 catches, 196 yards, 2 TDs): As I've said before, Moulds' best days this year has been with Alex Van Pelt, not Rob Johnson, at quarterback. Buffalo made it a point to get the ball in Moulds' hands on Sunday, and he ran with it, tallying scores of 54 and 80 yards. He's been a major disappointment this year, but with Van Pelt under center, his value could shoot back up. 2. Antowain Smith, RB, Patriots (24 carries, 111 yards, 1 TD; 3 catches, 42 yards, 1 TD): His magical resurgence continues as he helped New England's amazing rise from the ashes. The Saints' defense is supposed to be one of the best in the league, but there have been plenty of struggles this year.
3. Ahman Green, RB, Packers (22 carries, 102 yards, 1 TD; 2 catches, 48 yards, 1 TD): You figured he'd have a field day against the Lions' defense, and he did. Nice numbers for fantasy owners, plus he gets a turkey leg for his effort. 4. Tom Brady, QB, Patriots (19-26, 258 yards, 4 TDs): The Brady legend continues to grow. Think Drew Bledsoe is getting his job back anytime soon? 5. Steve McNair, QB, Titans (23-37, 334 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs; 6 carries, 18 yards, 1 TD): He had been struggling in recent weeks, so it's nice to see him getting the passing game back in order. Unfortunately, Eddie George still hasn't got into the swing of things, and there's only so much McNair can do on his own to get Tennessee any wins. 6. Kordell Stewart, QB, Steelers (19-31, 254 yards, 2 TDs; 8 carries, 54 yards, 1 TD): Yet again, we're seeing the Slash that made him a first-round pick seemingly an eternity ago. He's getting the most of Plaxico Burress and Hines Ward, which will go a long way in opening up the Pittsburgh offense. He should be a major favorite for comeback player of the year. 7. Dominic Rhodes, RB, Colts (27 carries, 104 yards, 2 TDs, 1 lost fumble; 6 catches, 43 yards): He's doing just fine filling in for Edgerrin James. Given all the looks he's gotten so far, you wonder whether he should get even more carries and stop Peyton Manning from throwing all time and forcing all of those interceptions. 8. Jay Fiedler, QB, Dolphins (18-31, 262 yards, 3 TDs; 4 carries, 28 yards): With the running game still struggling, Fiedler has started to replicate some of Dan Marino's magic. As much as he lost the game for Miami last week, he won it for them this time despite being down 10 twice in the fourth quarter. He's proving to be one of the better mid-level fantasy quarterbacks, a real steal given his value at draft time. 9. Tim Brown, WR, Raiders (6 catches, 117 yards, 2 TDs): You figured he'd have a big game after Jerry Rice went off last week against the Chargers. Plus, given how the Giants struggled against Randy Moss and Cris Carter on Monday, it was a recipe for success for Brown. 10. Garrison Hearst, RB, 49ers (12 carries, 106 yards, 2 TDs; 1 catch, 6 yards): Of course, Slash's contending for comeback of the year is overshadowed in a big way by the return of Hearst from that near career-threatening foot injury. Scary to think he put up all of those yards on just 12 carries, including TD dashes of 28 and 43 yards Just missing the cut: Chris Chambers, WR, Dolphins (5 catches, 101 yards, 2 TDs); Tiki Barber, RB, Giants (19 carries, 124 yards, 1 TD; 5 catches, 41 yards); Doug Flutie, QB, Chargers (33-44, 308 yards, 2 TDs); Peyton Manning, QB, Colts (31-51, 370 yards, 1 TD; 4 INTs); Priest Holmes, RB, Chiefs (26 carries, 120 yards; 3 catches, 70 yards).
Top 5 Duds1. Emmitt Smith, RB, Cowboys (9 carries, 9 yards): What a disappointing Thanksgiving for Emmitt, who has seven 100-yard efforts on turkey day. Granted, Dallas had to throw the ball a lot in the second half, but it was Troy Hambrick, not Emmitt, getting the ball at the goal line. You know Emmitt is looking for the rushing record, but is the end near? There was some talk during the week that he should take a page from Mark McGwire's book and hang it up. 2. Donovan McNabb, QB, Eagles (15-27, 92 yards; 3 carries, 39 yards): This is the second consecutive week he's struggled against lesser division foes. This time, it hurt his team down the stretch. This mediocre play doesn't help anyone, especially his very streaky receivers. It's hard to figure out McNabb since he had favorable matchups the last two weeks and did very little. 3. Randy Moss, WR, Vikings (4 catches, 25 yards): We thought we saw the old Randy Moss come back when he scored three TDs on Monday night. Unfortunately we got the 2001 edition of Moss on Sunday night. He says he needs to get in the game early so he can rev it up later. Sounds like a pretty crummy idea if you're the Vikings. Sure you need to get him the ball early to establish a rhythm but it hurts later if he hasn't done anything and you need a clutch effort out of him late. 4. Marty Booker, WR, Bears (3 catches, 9 yards): Fresh off a career game against the Bucs, Booker comes up painfully empty the next week that fantasy owners rush to put him in the starting lineup. It was a good matchup coming in with the iffy Vikings defense, but Chicago found most of its success on the ground and grounding Booker in the process. 5. Tyrone Wheatley, RB, Raiders (5 carries, 17 yards): Well, he did return from injury but he did little on the scoresheet while Charlie Garner and Zack Crockett both reached the end zone. Sometimes that's the problem when you have an abundance of solid running backs like the Raiders -- too many carries get split up too many ways. Wheatley will have his chances, but it's hard to rely on him on a regular basis.
Top 5 Surprises1. Alex Van Pelt, QB, Bills (21-34, 309 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT): He's looked reasonably sharp in the games he's played. As stated above, Van Pelt has made good use of Eric Moulds, a sure way to pile up the stats. The Buffalo running game also looked good, surprisingly, against the Miami defense, so his stats can't all be pinned on him having to throw the ball while rallying the team from behind. 2. James Allen, RB, Bears (27 carries, 107 yards; 1 catch, 5 yards): With Anthony Thomas sidelined with a hamstring injury, Allen showed why he used to be the starting running back by plowing through the Vikings in the first half and in the last couple of minutes of the game. However, he spent most of the second half flailing around, showing why Thomas is the starter. 3. Ki-Jana Carter, RB, Redskins (18 carries, 56 yards, 1 TD; 2 catches, 9 yards): Surprisingly, he was selected in one of my fantasy drafts this season. That was only because we deal with very deep rosters and filling that sixth running back spot usually means finding familiar names, no matter how dubious. Carter did a nice job splitting carries with Stephen Davis and scoring the only TD in the win over the Eagles. You still don't want him on your fantasy team, unless you're really desperate or are a big Penn State fan. 4. Bob Christian, RB, Falcons (4 carries, 78 yards, 1 TD; 5 catches, 44 yards): He's back on this list yet again. Nice to see him putting up nice stats the few times he sees the ball. As I said last week, he'll have some good games from time to time but you'd rather not have him on your team on a regular basis. He's one of those players you keep on rooting for (especially in my case, being a fellow a Northwestern alum) but know you can't have on a fantasy team. 5. Terrence Wilkins, WR, Colts (8 catches, 81 yards): With the Indianapolis receiving corps beat up, Peyton Manning was probably glad to see Wilkins make an impact on the offense again. Granted, Manning had to throw a lot after helping put the Colts back into a hole, but someone had to catch the passes if Marvin Harrison isn't getting them. James Quintong is Fantasy Sports producer at CNNSI.com.
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