By JIMMY D / Pats back as fantasy producers on Sunday | Jimmy's archive

With apologies to Meatloaf (whose 8-track of Bat Out Of Hell is one of Jimmy's favourites), one out of three ain’t bad.

Fantasy football freaks have grown accustomed to 400+ yard, 4-TD performances from New England’s QB, 100+ yard games from New England’s RBs and 3-TD performances by New England WRs.

What they are still trying to get accustomed to – and trying to figure out if they can trust it to continue - is seeing Matt Cassel instead of Tom Brady and Kevin Faulk instead of Laurence Maroney putting up those numbers.

If there is one thing you can trust, it’s Randy Moss winning jump balls in the end zone especially when a defence is dumb enough to put single coverage on him half the game.

The Pats pounded the Dolphins 48-28 Sunday and Cassel and Moss landed in the Top 3 overall in fantasy production according to Yahoo! league formats. Who finished above them?

Speedy fire hydrant Michael Turner ran for 117 yards and four TDs against the Panthers in the Atlanta upset. That’s seven TDs in three weeks for the running back alleged to be too slow or one-dimensional to carry the load.

Topping the list of players you didn’t want to have in your lineup – and why would you? – was Trent Green. After replacing the freshly concussed Marc Bulger in the first quarter, he proceeded to complete 20 of 30 passes. Unfortunately, four of those completions were made by the Bears, who routed the Rams 27-3 at St. Louis.

Donovan McNabb, who Coach Andy Reid promised will start Thursday against Arizona, was dreadful again, fumbling and throwing a pair of picks as the Eagles were clawed up by the Ravens. He accounted for minus 2 fantasy points after being projected for 15.

Fortunately, Jimmy’s Week 11 head-to-head league opponent had McNabb so the gridiron Gremlins still had a chance with the Monday Nighter to play.

Did you have Jay Cutler in your lineup this week? Sorry about that. The Broncos got bucked 31-10 at home by the lame Raiders, who only threw 12 passes all game. Cutler threw it 37 times, but connected just 16 times (17 counting the INT he chucked to Thomas Howard).

Who’s Harry Douglas?

If you hadn’t heard of the Atlanta rookie before last weekend, you have heard of him now. The rookie WR scored on a 61-yard punt return and a short reverse against Carolina which placed him third among receivers behind that Moss guy and that Owens guy in Dallas. All TO did was catch seven passes for 213 yards and a score. Not bad company.

With the Falcons coming on strong behind rookie pivot Matt Ryan, he is worth a look with San Diego and New Orleans next up on the schedule.

Schneider a winner or a weiner?

Someone is going to be the beneficiary of the Roberto Luongo groin injury and it probably won’t be career backup Curtis Sanford. Could it be Vancouver prospect Cory Schneider finally gets the chance to prove his No. 1-worthy?

The Canucks recalled him from Manitoba of the AHL, although he wasn’t expected to start right away. The first-rounder from the 2004 draft was picked by Jimmy D is his keeper league as a 16-year-old.

We’ll see how he does this week and there is little room for error with the anemic Canuck offence.

Goodbye to-Morrow

Dallas captain Brenden Morrow tore his ACL and is done for the year, more bad news for a struggling Stars team that sits last in the Pacific Division. It’s the second time in three seasons the mighty mite’s season has ended prematurely due to injury.

Jimmy D

jpoole@herald.ca