FanHouse Coach Killers 09

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.

This is where the divide between fantasy and reality becomes apparent.

For fantasy owners who had him in their lineups, Roy Williams, who posted five catches for 105 yards and a touchdown -- his best game of the season and his best yardage day since Nov. 18, 2007 -- was probably a factor in a winning performance.

But for the Cowboys, Williams was a primary factor in a momentum-killing 17-7 loss to the struggling Packers.

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.

My colleague Tom Herrera sometimes talks about this generation of hyper-knowledgeable NFL fans, thanks to the proliferation of fantasy football and better exposure to all 32 teams. And yet there are still large amounts of people who underestimate, outside of your obvious game-changing and/or explosive plays, the impact of special teams on the final score.

So it goes.

For the second straight week, our focus is on a Florida team pulling out a win in which special teams made a large impact. Sometimes that impact was obvious, sometimes it wasn't. Yet it was a constant presence in one of the most embarrassing losses of the season, one which might have broken the camel's back in Green Bay.

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.

The Jets entered Week 8 allowing 20.4 yards per return. The Dolphins entered Week 8 gaining a hair over 22 yards per return. It seemed we were set for an unremarkable day of kickoffs.

And then Ted Ginn, Jr. happened.

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.

In light of their recent faux pas, it'd be easy to make JaMarcus Russell or Larry Johnson the Coach Killer of the week. After getting benched in a loss to the Jets, Russell explained that he wasn't Oakland's problem, proving that he's as aware of himself as he is of a blitz. Or how to line up for the first play of the game, despite practicing it all week.

Larry Johnson, well, we know that story by now. Johnson added insult to ineffectiveness in the wake of the Chiefs' 37-7 loss to the Chargers, making life harder on a first-year coach trying to retain any shred of credibility with a terrible roster.

But Russell is not an NFL-capable player, and Johnson is a headcase. They haven't fooled us into believing otherwise. Jake Delhomme, however, had us all believing he was an NFL quarterback. A gambler, sure, but one who came through more often than not. ... D'oh.

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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.

This has nothing to do with the 26-0 shutout the Packers laid on the Lions last Sunday.

Typically, this space is reserved for a player or players whose performance on a given week made his coach's week miserable or job status shaky. But we're going a little bit bigger picture this week.

In this instance, it was the Lions' brass playing the role of coach killer on a coach manning sidelines over 500 miles south.

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.

Derek Anderson is by no means Tom Brady. Matter of fact, as far as quarterbacking skills go, he's probably just a notch above Kyle Brady. And when you lead your unit in posting such a pitiful day -- six points, 193 yards, 3.3 yards per play, 22 net passing yards on a 2-for-17 performance -- you're at least partially to blame.

That being said, in the Browns' 6-3 win over the Bills, Anderson got by with no help from his friends. He sang out a tune, and his pass-catchers stood up and walked out on him.

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.

Sometimes, picking one player for the week's Coach Killer is tough. When you've got Tony Romo's decision-making, JaMarcus Russell's ineptitude, Mark Clayton's stone hands and the entire St. Louis Rams' existence to choose from, you wish the bounty of bad could be spread across multiple weeks so you can hit them all. Alas, we can't.

There has been no shortage of criticism lobbed at those people thus far this week (including at FanHouse). It seemed easy to pick on them more. While there's been some heat in the general direction of this week's subject of Coach Killers, tucked away in the trenches you're obscured a bit more from the national media. Until now, that is.

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.

After Monday night's 27-23 Colts win over the Dolphins, Chad Pennington had this to say: "It's not about statistics, it's about scoring points and winning football games." He was referring to the now-infamous advantage in time of possession the Dolphins wildcat'd together, and how the game proved to be the exception to the rule that typically links time of possession with victory.

He could have just as easily been talking about his "No. 1 receiver," Ted Ginn Jr.

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.

You're a long-snapper. You only have one job, and it's an important one. It's also a job borne out of repetition and mindlessness -- you crouch, you grab the ball, you fire it backwards. Over and over and over again. After so many reps, muscle memory kicks in and you don't have to think about it. You shouldn't think about it, either, because thinking instead of just feeling it through gets you in trouble.