Unreal – after 3 weeks I lead the Sky Sports/NFLUK Fantasy Competition

Proof for at least one week that I am number one in the UK Fantasy competition

What a shock – I get an email this evening from the NFLUK Fantasy Football team and it transpires that I am top of the entire competition after three full NFL weeks.

For all non UK readers you have to pick 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 K and 1 Team D on a budget see here.

I did win a weekly prize about 3 or 4 years ago after Chris Cooley went mad and scored three touchdowns against the Cowboys, but I have never actually led the competition overall ever.

This should mean that I get my name up in lights – well I should get my name on Sky Sports this Sunday or Monday coming.

I know that this being top of the charts will not last long but its always fun to be top of the tree – shame I do not get any sort of prize.

I do hope that Nick Halling the Sky Sports NFL presenter remembers my name – he made a sarcastic comment about me a few years ago but he may well have forgotten me by now.

For all those UK readers I am not revealing my secrets – all I can say is that this is probably the first and last time that I will be top of the table all season so Ill bask in the temporary September sunshine!

FANTASY DIARY entry #1 – I need a DT !

Ed Johnson #99 my best DT (not good)

With just over 2 months to go until the BBFL begins season 3 my Redskins team needs big help at one position for sure, and that is Defensive Tackle.

In the Action PC game all defenders are rated out of 10 against the run, out of 10 against the pass, and can have a pass rush value up to 7 (the likes of Shawne Merriman and DeMarcus Ware).

Exceptional defenders have an overall rating of 10+ (the likes of NFL defensive player of the year in 2007 – Colts safety Bob Sanders).  Don’t forget in this league we have 55 man rosters, but its based on the NFL players REAL 2007 NFL stats.

My defensive tackles are rated as (1st number run defense rating, 2nd number pass rush ability rating)

Vonnie Holliday 6 – 1 (12 NFL games played out of 16 for the 1-15 Dolphins)

Ed Johnson 5 -1 (16 NFL games played as a Colt rookie) I picked this guy up in the offseason as a free agent

Michael Myers 4 – 1 (15 NFL games played but 4 is a poor rating)

Dwan Edwards 5 – 1 (16 NFL games played as DL and DE) – I also picked this guy up in the offseason as a free agent

This is without doubt the poorest set of defensive tackles in the whole league (20 total teams). So I have work to do !

I am offering up Plaxico Burres the giraffe like New York Giants wideout for a DT with a 7 rating or above.

Do any of you think any of my 4 defensive tackles have any prospects in 2008 ?

I think in true Princess Leia style ‘my only hope’ is Ed Johnson at the Colts, a man who was not even drafted but had in all respects a very sound rookie outing.

Let’s say at this stage I am nervous about all 19 of my opponents 3rd string running backs, let alome their 3rd down backs and starters.

How important do you rate DT’s in the grand scheme of NFL positions ?

Wembley here we come ! Part II Chargers v Saints

Anyone who honestly expects Florida sunshine at the end of October in England is either a born optimist or slightly dillusional so I fully expect the second NFL regular season game to be played in London in yet more blustery gails and drizzling rain, falling from dark forboding clouds, hovvering menacingly above the new Wembley Stadium.

There is an argument that the New York Giants 13-10 win over the Miami Dolphins was a bit of a damp squib (or is that squid to keep the aquatic animal theme!). As one of the 81,176 fans at the game I frankly did note care if the game finished 2-0 with a long snap sailing over the Fins punter’s helmet before making a deafening squelch at the back of the endzone. The fact was we had a regular season NFL game in England – a game that COUNTS, a game that provided statistics that will be forever included in the summary of the 2007 NFL season, and above all a game where the winning teams big W and the losing teams big L counts in the real regular season standings.

I was there from 1988 right up to 1993 to watch NFL pre-season friendly games played at Wembley. As a teenager in love with the NFL I was in hog heaven being able to see the likes of Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Reggie White, Bruce Smith et al come and play in front of my very eyes, but by the time we got to 1993 the novelty had worn off. The ’93 game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions, if memory serves me right, ended with a 13-13 stalemate, and did more damage than good as far as exporting the NFL to a European audience. The starters played in one or two first quarter drives, then got changed and spend the remaining 50 game minutes just joking around like tourists visiting Windsor Castle. By 1993 the real NFL fans (eg – the ones who paid their hard earned money for their tickets and were not on some corporate freebie) were wise to the fact Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith were not going to play more than about 10 plays, and I for one trudged out of Wembley that day thinking 1) that was a waste of money 2) that’s the last time we will see NFL teams in England. Real English NFL fans maybe dreampt of seeing an NFL game at Wembley that really mattered, but even the most optimistic NFL lover could not even dream that almost 15 years later they would be seeing the future Superbowl champions playing a REGULAR SEASON NFL game in front of their very eyes.

Fast forward to 2008 and we are preparing for a game that has my pulse racing. This game – the San Diego Chargers against the New Orleans Saints is an outstanding job by the NFL in the USA and the NFL in the UK to provide a game that is a big thankyou to those fans who grumbled their way home from the American Bowl of 1993, thinking that they would never see an NFL team this side of the pond ever again. Its a perfect game for so many reasons, here are just a few ……..

• This is an opportunity to create a new NFL fanbase in Europe for the Saints and the Chargers. The 2007 game involving the Giants and the Dolphins was involving two teams with ‘established’ or ‘safe’ UK and European fan bases (the safe teams I would classify as the Chicago Bears, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins)
• This game is a ‘risk’ by the NFL as it involves teams that have never won a Superbowl ( and I severely doubt many fairweather fans know the Chargers even played in a Superbowl in the 1990s, let alone had ever heard of Chargers starting quarterback former Redskin Stan Humphries). Everyone loves a risk, and whilst 55,000 tickets have been sold the media coverage I feel will see a marked decline from 2007 by UK journalists
• This game involves a plethora of incredibly exciting ‘gamebreaker’ type players. From the Saints we have gunslinger QB Drew Brees (add to the mix he is a former Charger dumped by his fomer team for a younger model), wide reciever Marques Colston, who has the same talent as Terrell Owens but less of a media profile and less of a cake hole, and running back Reggie Bush, a former Heisman Trophy winner (best college player in the whole of the country) who is capable of catching 15 passes a game. For the Chargers we have the number one player in his position for the entire NFL in tight end Antonion Gates, a man who can ‘slam dunk’ with the best of em, we also have LT II (the original and only real LT is 80s and 90s outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor – Giants drug abusing legend – and the man who helped left tackles get paid a lot more money than they did 20 years ago) running back Ladanian Tomlinson, the one man touchdown machine
• Let’s be honest these teams have some defensive studs ( Jonathan Vilma ILB, Antonio Cromartie CB) but we will be expecting fireworks, with quality passing games exploiting weaknesses, and running games that are both innovative and explosive
• There is the heartwarming New Orleans ‘recovering and rebuilding’ from Hurricane Katrina angle, which will likely see the the impartial fans cheering for a Saints victory
• Both teams have genuine playoff ambitions in 2008 – The Chargers were just one game away from the Superbowl and the Saints will see the return of running back Deuce McAllister as an inspiring factor

I will now aim to get gossip, opinion and everything inbetween as we build up to the second, yes say it loud and say it proud, second regular season NFL game to be played in England.