Studs and Duds: NFL Week Six

By Brett Malamud

There was a lot of good action out on the fields this week, including many big fantasy performances. The injury bug may have ruined some fantasy owners seasons, in addition to the players’ respective teams. Here’s this week’s edition of Studs and Duds:

Stud: Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens

Flacco came out firing and finished the day going 21-for-29 with 306 yards and five touchdowns in route to a 48-17 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Dud: Chris Johnson and Chris Ivory, New York Jets

The running duo for Gang Green were halted this week against the Denver Broncos. The pair combined for 11 carries and just 16 yards in the Jets 31-17 loss. I’d like to take this time to call out the offensive line too. They didn’t help the cause either.

Stud: T.Y. Hilton, Indianpolis Colts

Normally, you might see Andrew Luck here in the studs list, but not this week. Instead, his receiver T.Y. Hilton takes the spot after hauling in all nine of his targets for 223 yards and a touchdown.

Dud: Mike Nugent, Cincinnati Bengals

It not fun that one play can dictate whether you end up on this list or not. That’s the case here with Mike Nugent. The kicker Nugent came into the game this week for the last play of overtime between the Bengals and Carolina Panthers. Nugent kicked a 36-yard field goal wide right as the clock expired to end the game in a tie. Teammate Adam “Pacman” Jones wasn’t afraid to call out his kicker after the game.”We were in a perfect position to win the game, two seconds left on the clock, we’ve got to win the game,” Jones said. “Everybody in here gets paid to do a job and that’s what everybody needs to do.”

Mike Nugent Looked down in frustration after missing the game winning 36-yard field goal. (Via CBS Sports)

Stud: Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers

Cam was the man this week against the Cincinnati Bengals. The quarterback finished with 284 passing yards and two touchdowns through the air. In addition, Newton had 17 rushes for 107 yards and a rushing touchdown.

Dud: Injured Wide Receivers

Victor Cruz, Calvin Johnson didn’t practice all week and missed this week’s game in Minnesota, nursing an ankle injury. Johnson was pulled just a week earlier after injuring the ankle in week five’s matchup against Buffalo. A.J. Green was taken off the practice field on a cart on Wednesday after hurting his toe. The Bengals wide receiver missed Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers and will also miss this week’s matchup against the Colts. The Giants lost their top wide receiver in Victor Cruz this week after he tore his patella tendon this week in the Giants’ matchup in Philadelphia on Monday night. Cruz will likely miss the remainder of the season.

Stud: Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles headed into this one fired up. They dubbed the game “the blackout” and wore their black uniforms. Philadelphia shut out the Giants 27-0.

Dud: New York Giants

Eli Manning didn’t look great, but I don’t think that it was his fault. The offensive line looked shut down this week, much like their New York counterparts, the Jets. The Giants also lost Victor Cruz for the season. They looked flat for most of the game and in the end, the G-men were shutout 27-0.

Stud: Tom Brady, New England Patriots

There were questions headed into this week about Brady’s health, but Tom Brady shut those questions down. He stepped into the AFC East matchup against the Buffalo Bills and fired four touchdowns over 361 passing yards.

Stud: Oakland Raiders

Now I know people will look at this and say, “Hey Brett, the Raiders lost,” and I know. Look at the other side of the field though. You’ll see the San Diego Chargers, a team that shutout the Jets 31-0 last week. Many including myself would argue that the Jets are a much better team than the Raiders despite their struggles. That said, the Raiders came into this one with a new coach in Tony Sparano and came within a field goal of the Chargers, ultimately surrendering a touchdown in the final two minutes of the game to lose 31-28. The winless Raiders should be proud of their effort this week, even though the outcome wasn’t in their favor.

Brett Malamud is a Computer Science Major at Binghamton University. He is the co-founder of dabuzzza.com. His favorite athletes are Derek Jeter and Todd Bertuzzi. You can follow him on twitter at @brettnyy

08/23/14

Things We Learned: Jets-Giants

By Brett Malamud

Last night, the Jets and Giants battled it out for bragging rights in the preseason and a silly trophy named the Snoopy Trophy (yes, hilarious). In the end, the Giants came out on top 35-24 but there was more to the game than the Snoopy Trophy (still hilarious).

Although he’s the backup, Chris Ivory is a threat on the ground that the Jets can use this season (Via USA Today)

From the Giants side:

The Giants first team offensive line still needs work. There were countless mistakes, especially on the left side of the line. Sure they were facing Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson, but there’s still no excuse. Eli Manning had a lot of pressure from the Jets D-Line all night. Will Beatty and Geoff Schwartz (left the game with a dislocated toe) must step up.
The first team defense must also improve if they want to compete in the NFC East. The first quarter saw the Jets march down the field twice. The secondary got burned a few times and will need to work to improve that. The Giants also lost DT Markus Kuhn and CB Zack Bowman. Jason Pierre-Paul got taken out after hurting his knee but returned back to action. I’d still keep an eye on him though, as he’s the heart of the defense.
A promising young quarterback in Ryan Nassib was present. Nassib was 8-12 for 103 yards and three touchdowns. He’ll make a good backup to Eli Manning.

From the Jets side:

Geno Smith was great. He was 9-14 for 137 yards with a touchdown. He led the Jets down the field twice on two great drives. He’s the winner in what was really not a competition for the starting QB position. Michael Vick played well too, as did Matt Simms.
The running backs look like they’ll help a lot on the offensive end of the field. My bold prediction is that Chris Johnson will have a great year. He had a lot of open space in this one, and showed what he could do when given space. Johnson finished the game with 42 yards on nine carries. The speedy Chris Ivory also had a great game. He finished the game with 50 yards on six carries. Look for the two to pair for an impressive tag team.
The screen plays are back! The Jets had three huge gains on screen plays. It should definitely be a sign of things to come this season, especially against a schedule of teams that are heavy on blitzing.