The Brady Crunch

Honestly, I know it looked bad. I saw the knee buckle. But somehow, I didn't believe it was *that* bad. Maybe I just didn't want to believe it was that bad. On my Facebook status, I posted "hyperextension, not *super* serious" and I half-expected him to come trotting out after half-time, Paul Pierce Style, to lead the team to an inspirational victory.

[Heavy sigh.]

Matt Cassel is the man now -- for now. Meanwhile, the Pats need depth, and I find the list of possible additional QBs being discussed to be fairly comical. One TV commentator this AM was pretending to be Vinny Testaverte: "Don't answer that phone! I'm retired! Seriously!" The Globe's Chad Finn has picked up on the joke, too, adding Grogan's name to the ever growing list of geriatric signal-callers. OK, so Culpepper isn't *that* old, and I love Doug Flutie as much as anybody (or more) (probably more), but still.

Well, if we're going to throw around unlikely names, I've got one to add to the pile: Former UNH QB Ricky Santos. Although he's a few inches taller at 6'1", he's a Flutiesque Playmaker Extraordinaire who's gone to Canada to ply his trade. He won the Walter Payton Award for outstanding 1-AA player, just like UNH's own Jerry Azumah did, and Azumah went on to have a nice career with Da Bears. FYI, other Payton Award winners include names such as Westbrook, Megget, McNair, and Romo.

Now for something completely different: Let's introduce the Super Squirrels 2008 Edition!

Player, Team, Position, Draft Order

Week 1 Starters:

Kurt Warner, Ari QB (#3)
Earnest Graham, TB RB (Keeper)
DeAngelo Williams, Car RB (#2)
Anquan Boldin, Ari WR (Keeper)
Calvin Johnson, Det WR (#1)
Tony Gonzalez, KC TE (Keeper)
Brian Urlacher, Chi LB (Keeper)
Aaron Schobel, Buf DE (#7)
Pacman Jones, Dal CB (Waivers)
Jason Elam, Atl K (Keeper)

Week 1 Bench:

Willis McGahee, Bal RB (Keeper)
Eli Manning, NYG QB (Keeper)
Ellis Hobbs, NE CB (Keeper)
Donte' Stallworth, Cle WR (Keeper)
Reggie Williams, Jac WR (#4)
Aaron Rodgers, GB QB (#5)
Lofa Tatupu, Sea LB (#6)
Julian Peterson, Sea LB (#8)

We got to keep a starter for each position slot from last year, so the teams were already pretty well set. My draft strategy wasn't much of a strategy in that I've been focusing on winning the baseball championship so I didn't really do my homework. (I'm in 1st place in a 13-team league, so don't quibble with me!)

All that said, I knew Calvin Johnson, AKA Megatron, was put back in the pool by some poor fool, and I was damned if I was gonna let him get by my 1st round pick. I was very pleased to get him with the 4th pick overall in the 1st round, and my opponents comments let me know it was a good one with their grumbling and grousing in the chat room!

After that, I concentrated on getting the players I had last year that I wanted back, namely Kurt Warner, DeAngelo Williams (who I really like as a sleeper pick, BTW), and Reggie Williams.

Perhaps my most interesting pick came next, when I realized Brett Favre's heir apparent was still on the board. I like him a lot and I'd be surprised if I don't find a time to start Rodgers this season.

Because we give so many points to IDPs (tackles =1, sacks, INTs, passes defended, fumbles caused and recovered, etc.), LBs are more important in this league than you might think, so I spent my last few picks filling in the D. As a big Mosi Tatupu fan, I'm also a big Lofa Tatupu fan, and Peterson was simply to keep him away from somebody else.

And I added Schobel for the DL position because I expect the Bills to have a solid defense this year, but moreso because I knew it would make my upstate-NY-native girlfriend happy if I had a Buffalo Bill on the roster. (Yep, the smartest pick I made all day.) ;-)