Posts tagged BrianGriese at FanHouse

Only in the 2008 version of the AFC West could a team enter week 16 two games under .500, and still have a fighting chance to win the division. That's the position the San Diego Chargers find themselves in, as they bring their 6-8 record into Tampa Bay on Sunday, riding a two-game winning streak in an effort to salvage what has been a rather disappointing season.

A win for the Chargers would keep whatever playoff hopes they have alive, at least until they find out the results of the Buffalo-Denver game. A San Diego win, combined with a Denver loss, would set the stage for a week 17 game (in San Diego) to decide the AFC West champion. It could be quite a party, just so Ed Hochuli isn't invited.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is coming in riding a two-game skid, both of which came against NFC South foes, leaving the Buccaneers in the middle of a free-for-all for the two NFC wild card spots. Still, the biggest problem for the Buccaneers seems to be the fact they're dealing with a rash of injuries, including quarterback Jeff Garcia and linebacker Derrick Brooks. Garcia sat out Sunday's overtime loss to Atlanta, and has been limited in practice most of the week.

After dropping two consecutive NFC South games, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in need of some good news. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen at the moment, as head coach Jon Gruden announced on Monday that safety Jermaine Phillips will be lost for the season with a broken forearm.

Even worse, linebacker Derrick Brooks, who is the NFL's very own iron man, suffered a rib injury in the loss that is "very concerning" to Gruden. Not exactly what the doctor ordered for a team that's still desperately fighting for one of the final playoff spots in the NFC.

Two weeks ago Tampa Bay was sitting with a 9-3 record, on top of the NFC South. Now, the Buccaneers find themselves in a three-way battle with Dallas and Atlanta for the two NFC wild card spots, and they're losing players almost as fast as they're losing games.

With running back Earnest Graham already out of the lineup, the Buccaneers had to rely on backup quarterback Brian Griese in Sunday's loss to Atlanta thanks to a calf injury to starter Jeff Garcia. Now comes the news of Phillips and Brooks, and, well, that's not good news for Tampa Bay.

What is good news for Tampa Bay, however, is the fact it closes out the season with home games against San Diego and Oakland.

Tampa Bay managed to keep pace with Carolina in the NFC South on Sunday, outlasting the Vikings for a 19-13 win. The Buccaneers (7-3) remain a game behind first place Carolina, as the two teams will meet on Monday night, December 8, in Charlotte. Hopefully it's more exciting than this game was.

As for today's contest, Tampa Bay didn't get the early Christmas gift Jon Gruden was hoping for earlier in the week in Cadillac Williams, but it did get a rock-solid performance from quarterback Jeff Garcia, as the 38-year old veteran completed 23-of-30 passes for 255 yards. He also ran the ball six times for 21 yards.

It's good for Tampa Bay's sake that Gruden quickly realized he made a tremendous error in judgment earlier in the year, when he came to the conclusion that Brian Griese was a better option for his offense. Clearly, Garcia can still play a little bit, and the Buccaneers are a better team for it.

Other than that, not much else happened in this one except a lot of defense and a lot of field goals.

Waiver Wire Wonders is your weekly guide on how to use/abuse those pesky waiver claims that come with every fantasy football league.

The beauty of fantasy football is that this late in the season, there are always people of relative importance popping up. Sometimes it's because they took a while to develop, and sometimes they emerge because of early season injuries that turned them into cast offs and pariahs. Yet, here you are, still desperate after all these weeks. Go ahead, don't be shy. You can admit you're at least intrigued by Cadillac.

Cadillac Williams, RB, TB
Yes, that's right. The old car that your grandmother drives is suddenly relevant again. Why? Because he's coming off the PUP soon and Jon Gruden has shown little to absolute zero care about how he manages his roster in the name of winning. (What? Don't believe me? How about starting Brian Griese and putting Earnest Graham in at fullback?) And yeah, Caddy has talent. He's hurt, sure, but, hey, so is Ryan Torian. Sigh. Not your top priority, but certainly worth a claim.

Deion Branch, WR, SEA
Just like this guy. Branch hasn't garnered much attention this year because he hasn't done anything other than pretend he might come back. But he will be back in Week 11, presumably, and that's why you want to grab him now -- if you're hurting at WR and Matt Hasselbeck happens to make it back about the same time, suddenly you're staring at a poor man's Billy Volek - Drew Bennett combo.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Here's Week 7 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory.

Studs

Steven Jackson, RB St. Louis (25 carries, 160 yards, 3 TDs) -- The problems in Dallas are apparent, and they deal a lot more with a porous defense than with a questionable trade deal and an injured starting quarterback. Jackson is basically the St. Louis offense, accounting for more than half of the Rams' offense in his breakout performance of 2008. His day was highlighted by a 56-yard dash through diving Dallas defenders and was the crème brûlée on an already exquisite feast. Left for dead two weeks ago, the Rams have reeled off two straight against tough NFC East opponents and are in the only division they might have a shot at winning, thanks in large part to Jackson's incredible performance.

Every week when the dinner bell rings on Friday evening, we'll be here to provide you a comprehensive injury report for the NFL weekend to follow. For those injuries that go right down to the wire, drop by our Fantasy Fanhouse expert live chat from 10am to 1pm EST every Sunday and we'll take care of you on those bloody game-time decisions. As always, please feel free to chime in with opinions, updates, and rumors in the comments.

The Arizona Cardinals

Anquan Boldin - With a well-timed bye week affording Boldin an extra week to rest his dome, he looks to be on pace for a week 8 return.

The Buffalo Bills

Trent Edwards - Edwards is back at full speed and ready to go after suffering a frightening concussion in week 5. The Bills landed a bye in week 6, so he should be in good shape against the Chargers this week who have been disappointing against the pass.

The Chicago Bears

Brandon Lloyd - Brandon Lloyd continues to nurse a sprained knee that has kept him out of practice. It looks like yet another week of waiting for owners who hope that Brandon Lloyd will return for his ascent to Orton's #1 in Chicago.

Brinson got the ball rolling Sunday night, but NFL FanHouse brainiacs put their humongous eggheads together to continue the discussion: is the Patriots dynasty in the books, or will everything be fine when Tom Brady returns?

Ryan Wilson: Watching the Chargers systematically dismantle the Patriots secondary sent a pretty clear message to the rest of the league: WHEN THROWING THE BALL, FIRST FIND DELTHA O'NEAL, AND THEN CHUCK IT. And while there's a good chance the Patriots would be undefeated (or, at worst, a one-loss team) with a healthy Tom Brady -- and arguably still considered the NFL's best club -- now they're barely ordinary.

Which I think just reinforces the point that great coaches need great players. Hardly original, I know, but a lot of people were interested to see what Bill Belichick would do to keep things going in New England. The answer, it seems, is "start going to church again."

At his post-game press conference, following his teams 27-3 win, Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden announced that Jeff Garcia has earned himself at least one more start in what has been an early season carousel of quarterbacks for Tampa Bay.

Garcia didn't put up huge numbers, but he was an improvement over the turnover prone Brian Griese, and completed over 75% of his passes for the second consecutive game. He remains the Buccaneers best quarterback, and barring injury, should remain the teams starter the rest of the season.

Reading Gruden's comments after the game, however, you have to wonder if Garcia isn't just keeping the seat warm for another switch at the position later this season.

"We're going to start Jeff," Gruden said. "Brian was still unable to be active today. We have a lot of respect for our quarterbacks. We realize it's a hard game to play when you're not healthy. We'll try to get Brian back as soon as we can. In the meantime, Josh and Luke and Jeff have to pick up the slack."

Pick up the slack? I'm not sure what that means. Assuming "Josh and Luke and Jeff" don't throw three interceptions every week, they'll not only have picked up the slack for Griese, they'll have been a pretty sizable upgrade.

In news that should be a surprise to no one, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brian Griese is inactive for today's potential first-place battle with Carolina. Jeff Garcia, as expected for much of the week, will get the start. Josh Johnson will dress as the Buccaneers No. 3 quarterback, as reported by the Tampa Tribune.

Griese was injured in last week's 16-13 loss to Denver, when Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey planted him into the turf on a corner blitz.

It will be Garcia's first start since the teams week one loss to New Orleans. He also relieved Griese this past Sunday and completed 13-of-17 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown.

Wide receiver Joey Galloway is also out for Tampa Bay, and will be replaced by Antonio Bryant.

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

Cincinnati (0-5) at NY Jets (2-2): I'm just going to quickly put this on the table -- when the highlight of your season thus far is your "star" wide receiver kissing the head coach on the head, things are not going well. The Bengals look to me a lot like the cast of "Entourage" looked last week trying to "act" on mushrooms. There is no way bad actors should be forced to act like they're on drugs, unless the point is to make them look very, very stupid. This goes for the Bengals. They have acted like a football team for years, but haven't really produced much, and now we get to see them on mushrooms. It isn't a pretty picture. Also, did you notice I went this entire paragraph without mentioning B _ _ _ _, F _ _ _ _? This is me, taking a stand.

Pick: Jets