FanHouse Bradsmith

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet the ...
Offense in transition. With a new head coach along with rookies at quarterback and time-sharing running back, the best work of the Jets' offense will be in 2010 and beyond. They'll look to win with defense and taking care of the football in 2009, and you know that doesn't bode well when it comes to garnering massive amounts of fantasy points.

There are finds to be had on any team, but no Jets should be taken in the first three rounds of your draft -- and that's being conservative.

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One of the most intriguing prospects in this weekend's NFL draft is West Virginia quarterback Pat White. A sensational athlete, White dominated the Big East during his college career and enters this weekend as a man without a position. Can he overcome his lack of size and succeed as a quarterback in the NFL? Will he became the latest quarterback-to-wide receiver project and follow in the footsteps of players like Antwaan Randle-El? Or will he bring back the "Slash" position, combined with the recent fad that is the wildcat offense, and become a unique weapon that gives opposing defensive coordinators fits?

It doesn't matter your affiliation to a certain team, we can all admit that, during a sports year, athletes make just as many idiotic decisions on the field as they do off it. You have backward passes, premature celebrations, and rare "I'm not even sure what was supposed to be happening there" plays that can make you go bald from all the head scratching. This year was no different in the NFL, and here is what we came up with as the NFL's dumbest plays of 2008.

Dan Orlovsky's Phantom Safety -- Do you want to know how bad this play actually was? When bringing this idea up to the FanHouse football group, all I had to say about this play was, "Dan Orlovsky." Everyone knew which play I was talking about. The poor guy was thrown into a terrible situation in Detroit, and decided his legacy was going to be "running out of the back of the end zone without ever really knowing what went on." Running out of the end zone as a quarterback is one thing ... not knowing you did so and continuing the play is quite another. I can guarantee Orlovsky one thing -- his video will be shown by high-school coaches all around the nation as what not to do when stuffed back by your own end zone.

The Free Kick Attempt by Neil Rackers -- It sure wasn't the dumbest play of the year, but it was definitely the most confusing. With five seconds left in the first half against the Giants, Ken Whisenhunt actually made the decision to opt for a "free kick," even though nobody knew what in the world a free kick was. Rackers set the ball up on a tee, rared back his heavy leg and ... muffed it. Not only was it unsuccessful, but it gave the Giants a chance to return it. I guess the good news was that we learned what a free kick was and that Rackers has no 68-yard leg.

I understand desperate times call for desperate measures and whatnot, and it's inconceivable that things could get much worse for the Detroit Lions -- even if they re-hired Matt Millen to play offensive line. But even with the organization wallowing in its own wretchedness, this idea, proposed by mlive.com's Tom Kowalski, is, well, mental.

Lions insider Tom Kowalski doesn't think imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick is the perfect solution to Detroit's quarterback controversy, but he does think the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback might be worth a look.

"I know the old Lions would never consider it, but you never know with the new Lions that they may think outside the box a little more - I think it's worth a shot."

Kowalski also added: "Vick's biggest problem when he was playing before was that his ego was out of control, he thought that the way he played the game was right, he had no humility to him at all ... After what he's gone through, my guess is he would appreciate the NFL and the opportunity to play football a lot more and might actually study the game plan and work on his technique - so why not take a shot?"

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: Chad Pennington enters 2008 trying to prove yet again that he -- wait, what? Who? Really? Didn't he retire? Oh. I see. It doesn't seem like Brett Favre wants to play in New York this year, he's basically said so much in the most diplomatic way possible, which means this is the year where Favre stops having fun. This is the year he stops looking like a kid again, to support the cliche. And it can be argued that that magic has perpetuated itself, and has been the reason Favre is still considered -- rightfully or not -- one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Without it, I can imagine 2008 being a disaster for Favre -- bad play and missed games. And then the New York media jumps in and the misery just compounds. That's how I see 2008 rolling. Oh, plus, they don't have a decent backup quarterback. Heat Index: 6

Every week, NFL FanHouse hits the lowlights from Sunday's action, looking at those players who did the most to move their head coaches that much closer to returning to the Bed and Breakfast business.

Miami Dolphins
That's right, for the first time in Coach Killers' short history, an entire organization earns the top spot. And they definitely earned it.

I understand the Dolphins are rebuilding, even though it's mid-season, but did everybody forget that they had a game Sunday? Want an example of how quickly things got out of hand against the Patriots? Here are Tom Brady's first half stats: 16 of 19 for 291 yards and FIVE TOUCHDOWNS. He finished with six for the day, and 27 for the year. There's a real chance he gets 100 by Christmas.

The Dolphins are now 0-7, and they truly have nothing to play for this season. Everything is about 2008 and beyond. Knowing that, it was encouraging to see Derek Hagan and Ted Ginn combine to haul in seven passes for 93 yards, and Ronnie Brown looked good until ... he left the game with an injury. Yeah, God has smited the 2007 Dolphins.

Silver lining: Joey Porter got his first sack of the season!

Things keep getting worse for the New York Jets. A blowout loss in New England, an injured quarterback, another loss in Baltimore, allegations of cheating against Eric Mangini and now their lone Pro Bowler from 2006 is out for the season. Justin Miller was forced out of Sunday's game after suffering a knee injury on a kickoff return in the second quarter and now the Newark Star-Ledger is reporting that he will miss the remainder of the season.

Miller is a huge loss for the Jets. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, including a franchise-record 103-yarder against the Colts, and has taken three kicks the distance during his two years with the club. They were also counting on him to contribute as a cornerback this season but a hamstring injury hamstrung him during the preseason. He was strafed by Randy Moss in the first half of the opener and rode the bench for the remainder of that game but figured to get another chance at some point.

If Darrelle Revis plays to reputation there shouldn't be any problem replacing him in the defensive backfield but the Jets will struggle to replace Miller's explosiveness in the return game. Leon Washington and Brad Smith should get the first crack at the job with little-used wideout Wallace Wright also an option. Washington had an 86-yard return in preseason but Miller was one of the league's best and the Jets offense looks like it's going to need a lot of help generating points this year.

The New York Jets rounded out their preseason with a 13-11 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, which concluded on a game winning field goal off the foot of Mike Nugent.

Marques Tuiasosopo led the Jets in passing, going 9 of 16 for 78 yards. And while the statistics aren't that impressive, he was the catalyst on the Jets final drive. He showed some good poise and leadership ability on that series, possibly winning him the third quarterback job over Brad Smith.

The rushing attack was also something to behold tonight for New York. Even with Leon Washington and Thomas Jones sitting out, the Jets were able to gain 113 yards on the ground. Stacy Tutt led the way with 48 yards, while Danny Ware added 33 of his own.

Defensively, things weren't quite as positive. While the Jets did manage to hold the Eagles to 11 points, quarterback Kevin Kolb was able to pick their secondary apart. He ended the night going 22 of 33 (33 passes in a preseason game, are you kidding me?) for 220 yards and a touchdown -- obviously not a positive thing for the Jets second and third team secondaries.

Tonight, the New York Jets open their preseason in a 7:00 pm (est.) showdown with the Michael Vick-less Atlanta Falcons at Giants Stadium.

Spotlight:

Unfortunately, the biggest story surrounding the New York Jets tonight won't be about what happens on the field; it will be about what hasn't happened off of it. The team and first-round selection Darrelle Revis have been unable to agree to a deal and he, along with the Raiders' JaMarcus Russell, remain the only two rookies without a contract.

Because of this holdout and some injuries in the secondary, the Jets expect a lot of their young talent to see significant time tonight. Manny Collins, Alphonso Hodge, Raymond Ventrone, Jamie Thompson and James Ihedigbo will all get to play quite a bit and have their best chance to make a lasting impression on Coach Eric Mangini and the rest of the Jets coaching staff.

In an affront to those who like to ritually get soused tailgating on Saturdays, the University of Missouri is comin' strong with the nyet!

The AP is reporting that University Policy will no longer permit "beer kegs and bulk quantities of alcohol" at football games. The majority of the Missouri fan base know an easier way to curb their consumption: hire a winning football coach. After two disappointing seasons where the Tigers went a combined 12-11 despite having one of the league's best talents in quarterback Brad Smith, the Mizzou faithful are losing their patience with coach Gary Pinkel.

The police's understandable but poorly timed move to curb excessive consumption probably isn't related to Pinkel, but it might as well be as many fans may be looking for any and all reasons to can the coach, be it high oil prices or this.