By JIMMY D / LT means LaDainian Tomlinson or Lotsa TDs| Jimmy's archive

NFL Week 10 marvels

LT – lotsa touchdowns.

OK, that’s not what poolies mean when they talk about San Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson.

But they might as well.

The guy is a glutton for the endzone. He scored four more times Sunday in the harried 49-41 Charger comeback against the Bengals.

He’s had nine trips across the goal line the past three weeks and 16 overall, separating himself from the preseason hype among his fellow fantasy starlets – Shaun Alexander and Larry Johnson.

Alexander struggled behind a reworked offensive line before getting hurt and LJ has been hot and cold for the Chiefs. LT is now head and shoulders above the rest in fantasy production, and he wasn’t alone in generating gaudy fantasy numbers in Week 10.

Cincy’s Chad Johnson finally had his legs going as fast as his mouth, grabbing two long TD scores among his 11 catches and 260 yards. He easily led all WRs, with Jimmy’s Donte Stallworth and Donald Driver 10 fantasy points behind.

Among running backs, Willie Parker continued to dazzle, going for a pair of long gallops, scoring twice and eating up 225 yards. Brandon Jacobs managed just nine yards rushing for the Giants Sunday night, but his two goal-line plunges gave him 12 fantasy points, tied with Steven Jackson of the Rams who rushed for 133 yards, but only one score.

Among the quarterbacks, Peyton Manning looked like gold this week against the Bills, but he struggled. The same could not be said for Carson Palmer, who exploded for three TDs and 440 yards passing.

But he still lost, thanks to the stellar fantasy numbers generated by Philip Rivers, with 337 yards and three scoring passes.

Big Ben finally had a productive week, with three TDs and zero picks and Steve McNair was great in his return to Tennessee, throwing for an unlikely 373 yards and three scores.

Drew Brees threw for nearly 400 yards, Tony Romo went over 300 and Rex Grossman was Jeckyl and Hyde within the same game, playing horribly in the first half, before going off in the second against the Giants.

Just ducky in Anaheim

With just one loss on the season and youngsters carrying the bulk of the scoring load, Anaheim is on an early-season roll.

But through all the quacking about Stanley Cup parades, you should listen to Jimmy’s duck call for caution.

Here’s why. While Andy McDonald and Teemu Selanne have been good, they are the only two veteran presences who have been productive so far.

It’s nice to have youngsters lighting the lamp (Chris Kunitz, eight; Corey Perry, five; Dustin Penner, six; Ryan Getzlaf, seven) but what happens if they hit a collective wall or lose a bit of confidence?

The Norris-winning tandem of Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger and resurgence of former Moosey J.S. Giguere ensure the defensive side is taken care of. Jimmy just isn’t so sure they can continue to win the 3-2 games like they did Sunday night over Minnesota. That game came on the heels of a bellweather 3-0 loss at Calgary.

So while the Ducks are sitting pretty right now, watch for any trends that indicate they might turn into ugly fantasy ducklings. They play five of their next six at home with lightweights Philly, Phoenix and Chicago among them.

Jimmy back on top

It was worrisome when the first Sunday boxscore Jimmy checked was the 49-41 San Diego win over Cincinnati. With T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Antonio Gates scoring minimal fantasy points, Jimmy figured this would be a bad week.

But many of the other biggest plays of the day were made by Jimmy’s Jackals – Donte Stallworth's 84-yard TD, Donald Driver’s 82-yard TD and Frank Gore’s 61-yarder. Jimmy even benched Darrell Jackson, Ahman Green and Vince Young and still won in a breeze over the first-place Bootleggers in his head-to-head league.

Jimmy also plucked Buffalo running back Anthony Thomas off waivers this week after Willis McGahee’s injury proved more serious than initially thought. Jimmy figured Thomas would have a good week against the sieve Colt run defense, so even though he couldn’t crack Jimmy’s lineup, we made sure nobody else could have him by sticking him on the Jackal bench.

Who’s No. 1?

Jimmy doesn’t usually mention college football in this space, since there is little fantasy impact. But with bowl season – and bowl contests looming in December – it’s worth tuning in Saturday for the Ohio State vs. Michigan tilt.

The game should be a beauty, with the No. 1 Buckeyes hosting the No. 2 Wolverines. At stake is the Big Ten conference title and possibly a rematch in the BCS National Championship Game in January.

If the game is tight and well-played, then both could retain their top BCS ranking, which would make them candidates to play again for the national title. If it’s a blowout, the door will be opened for another school – maybe Florida, USC, Notre Dame or darkhorse Arkansas – to grab the No. 2 rank.

The game goes at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and http://www.SportsBettingStats.com has Ohio State opening as seven-point favorites.

Stay busy, stay lucky and check out Jimmy’s shaved-head adventure at www.JimmyDSports.com where you can watch Jimmy in pain and contribute a few bucks to cancer charity if you like.

JPoole@herald.ca

Jimmy D