Football Wrap Week 4: Ducky Boys, Donovan's Revenge, and Sweet Fantasy

"You've never known fear until you've seen ducky boys"

Don't look now but the hottest team in America lies in Eugene. If anyone doubted the Ducks minus Jeremiah Masoli would do anything but win the Pac-10, Saturday should've put them to rest.

Stanford had em up 21-3 in the FIRST quarter. Andrew Luck was auditioning for the NFL as Brent Musberger named him the best college QB he's seen since Peyton Manning. TD pass here, TD run there, he made it look easy.

Somehow, that clicked on a switch and the Ducks just exploded. Drop a 49-pound atom bomb of offense that sent Stanford back to the woodshed. Forget replacing Masoli, they just found the next Dennis Dixon in Darron Thomas (355 total yards, 4 total TD's).

I don't see anybody slowing down this offense. If Thomas isn't throwing and running around like a maniac, he's handing it off to phenom LaMichael James (above, only averaging 8 yards a carry) or Kenjon Barner. They look just as lethal as they with Dixon or Masoli. And in case we all forgot, they shut out the Cardinal in the 2nd half.

Forget winning the Pac-10, if Ohio State loses to Michigan or if by some reason Boise State isn't worthy to be No. 2, Alabama will find out what the Pac-10's gonna see this year. Fear the Ducky Boys.

- Shoelace Robinson nearly put up 500 yards again? But the best part of the last game was that GW drive. That's where you go from an unstoppable video game character to a QB threat. That's how you grow up in 60 minutes - and if Michigan's D ever gets better, the Heisman will be his a landslide

- On that note. Michigan-Ohio State for the Rose Bowl, the Heisman and the national title game???

- I knew Alabama would smoke Florida but I didn't know they'd have BBQ gators by halftime. No. 1 until proven otherwise.

- Deja vu all over again for USC losing a last second kick to UW. Local connects Nick Folk (above with the dagger Pt. 2), Steve Sarkisian and D-coordinator Nick Holt haunt the Trojan program and once Washington sees their Cali recruits pay dividends, it's gonna really haunt USC for years to come. Already saw it with backup QB Keith Price throwing a TD on his first ever college pass.

- I haven't seen UCLA run that well since Maurice Jones-Drew got overshadowed by Reggie Bush 5 years ago. The Pistol is starting produce results and the combo of Johnathan "Jet Ski" Franklin and Derrick "DC-33" is paying off as Thunder and Lightning. Three-game winning streak ain't bad.


If there's a better story than Donovan McNabb coming back to Philly and winning, it'd be his words to his teammates. Everyone makes a mistake and the Eagles made one last year. Nothing better than coming back after you've been kicked out and owning the house you once ruled.

Only regret is that Michael Vick got hurt and had to miss most of the game. Kevin Kolb looked more shook than anybody. Guess that's what happens when your job gets taken and nobody has faith in you anymore. That's the cold part about revenge, it has bigger consequences than you intended.

(#5's prolly got some Kool Moe Dee in his I-Pod: "How Ya Like Me Now")

In one game, McNabb threw a TD, slowed Mike Vick's mojo, made Kolb look like a rookie and turned  Philly into the City of Brotherly Love and Pain. Several players got hurt in the game. Revenge hurts more than your intended target. And McNabb had to revel in it like a champ.

- Glad to see my San Diego Chargers and the NY Midgets have a sack race yesterday. Too bad the Midgets won 10-9 but both defenses tore Arizona and Chicago up like lions. Big ups to Shaun Phillips (3 sacks, scored a TD), Mike Tolbert (first career 100 yd game) and Ryan Matthews scoring his first NFL TD for SD.

- I bugged out when Fox showed LaDainian Tomlinson having 19 CATCHES for 130+ yards. Then I bugged out even more when they corrected their goof. 19 carries, 133 yards??? Turn back the clock LT, nobody's happier than me.

- Sleeper of the year is easily Arian Foster. Best RB of the year so far after he dismantled the Colts in Week 1 and showed his value to his team by playing well after sitting out due to violations. Fantasy owners rejoice but Texas fans should too

- Special Teams Player of the Weekend: Patrick Chung. Blocked punt, Blocked FG and a Pick-6 on Monday? I remember dude at Oregon and thinking he was a good player but THAT's making an impact. Chad Henne must've said "Here have this pass, you played way better than anybody on our team so go ahead and score."

- Hate to admit it but it's getting harder to argue Terrell Owens as not worthy of the Hall of Fame. 1st WR in history to have a 200 yard game with 3 teams and his numbers are still growing. He's a jerk who forced his way off two teams, turned down Baltimore and Ray Lewis (and was unfairly blamed for being a Cowboys distraction)  but he was also one of the best WR's of the last decade.

FANTASY REPORT - Oh, how sweet it is to be back on top. 3-1 this weekend and my only loss was a small one to the fantasy guru in my main ESPN League. I did some extra digging around and found some gems. I'll be going by team names instead of leagues.

ESPN: California Crushers 1-3 (Lost by 9 despite four guys with over 20 point. Freaking Colts D screwed me over)
ESPN: Inglewood Stars 1-3 (Finally got my first win since my opponent apparently took the week off)
Yahoo: EvBeez's Army 2-2 (See Inglewood Stars)
Yahoo: Boltin Cowboys 2-2 (Took down the #1 team in the league. BAM!)

Fantasy Winners: San Diego Chargers D, Patriots tailback Ben Green-Ellis. ATL kicker Matt Bryant. Late pickups that boosted my squads and I see em doing damage later on too. And finally glad Maurice Jones-Drew got off his cold start.

Fantasy FAILS: Giants WR Steve Smith. I had high hopes dude would prove me right calling him a sleeper. It's hard to hate on one of the greatest athletes Los Angeles has ever produced but dude's having a disappointing season. Blame Eli Manning but he's killing me worse than MJD. Same with the Colts D and Jeremy Maclin.

Key this week was being proactive and doing work. Just gotta do it again to keep it a great week.

End of an Era (Thank you L.T.)

It was the saddest I've felt since Emmitt Smith started a decline with the Cowboys. LaDainian Tomlinson telling the San Diego Union Tribune today that his career with the Chargers is over. Even though we saw it coming, it's still sad it has to end this way.

I'll get to the numbers in a minute but I'll share some personal testimonies. Coming to San Diego for college in 2002, I never saw a city rally around a team like they did the Chargers and I had just left a city fresh off a Lakers three-peat. I had never been around a football environment before in person so I was dazzled by the love the city had for its team. At the center of it all was Tomlinson - who I saw demolish the WAC at TCU in high school and only happened to be there because the team traded away the No. 1 pick for Michael Vick.

(I always wonder what if that trade never went down....Vick becomes a freak in San Diego? Does LT have the career he does in Atlanta? And what about Drew Brees, who was drafted in the 2nd round? - that trade affected three teams if you count New Orleans)

The city loved LT like they loved any of their past icons. Tony Gwynn is Mr. Padre and you almost forget that he earned his stripes in Long Beach, he's a San Diego icon. Same with Kellen Winslow, Trevor Hoffman, Pastor Miles McPherson of the Rock Church down there - if you played sports and made an impact, you are beloved. And LT earned it with his charity work and friendly persona.

In 2007 and 2008, after I started working for the paper I had the chance to meet LT at this local radio award show for ESPN. I almost didn't want to be in a picture with him but I'm glad I did. He greeted everyone warmly and in 08 when I asked him about his injury, he was gracious to share how his recovery was going. It's still one of the highlights of my career (and yes, this is the first pic of myself I've posted on the blog)

On the field, his work speaks for itself. 8th all time in rushing yards, 3rd in total TD's, holds several NFL records (including most TD's (rushing and overall) in a season). One of the greatest scorers the game has ever seen and one of the greatest seasons in league history - his MVP season of 2006 that was absolutely special to behold.

I remember when he set the season TD record, he said he wanted his linemen there to share it. He wasn't showy but always businesslike and he earned the respect of his peers and NFL legends for it.

I saw the decline in 2008 when he couldn't go in the AFC Title game. The season after was a tough grind where Darren Sproles became the bigger go-to-guy showing off speed that Tomlinson started losing. Then came the playoff win against Indy where Sproles dominated and LT was on the sidelines. I said before the year that if he wanted to save his career, the team needed to split carries. But the speed wasn't there, the burst was gone and he was reduced to a power back most of the year.

The end was near and no matter how much Chargers fans wanted him to stay, we knew that LT was no longer what he was. The running game was a liability, no longer a strength, And at least he was classy enough to make his decision so the team can draft a solid tailback in the upcoming draft.

For a city that has seen too many of its players leave early (Rodney Harrison, Junior Seau, the aforementioned Hoffman), LT joins the list of players who left their mark in the 619 but won't close the final chapter of their book there. He was easily my favorite player of the decade and it's fitting he reminded me of Emmitt Smith (my all-time favorite) because he idolized him growing up in Texas.

Stay classy, LT. Good luck with the rest of your career and Chargers fans everywhere - especially in San Diego - thank you for the memories.