Don’t worry, this isn’t an American Literature class. I won’t be quoting Ken Kesey to you and expecting you to get the reference. Namely because I never read it, though I’m sure I should’ve after treating wikipedia like my personal cliff’s notes. But it is a great way to introduce a guy that we here at Razzball have been all over since day one, nay day zero. It all started a couple of weeks ago when I said ‘hey, you know the playoffs are starting soon. Maybe you have an open spot on your bench for a possible upside play in light of the Willis McGehee injury’. And thus, Razzball lust for Knowshon Moreno had begun. Then our resident defensive pass/rush strategist Loudon said he seconds that E-Knowshon for this week’s matchup. What I’m trying to tell you all is damn it feels good to be a gangster. Knowshon finished a career night with 32 carries for 119 yards and his second touchdown of the season and his first as a starter for the Broncos. He also chipped in 48 yards on 4 catches as Denver ground out the final 5 minutes of the game to avoid Raider garbage time heroes. Sorry, you know that means Brandon Myers did nothing this week folks. It’s how life goes sometimes. This is one of those games where you don’t analyze the YPC too hard. Circumstances dictated someone had to run the clock out at the end and Moreno was the guy. In the end, I’m not going to tell you he looked amazing. In Moreno, I did not see someone that could change the world at the tailback position. I’ll simply say this: neither was McGehee and he was an RB2 before going down. Unless you’re Rashad Jennings, being healthy and garnering 20 touches against a porous run defense should be enough to make you a worthy start. So we here at Razzball hope you got in on this great Knowshon that we gave you before everyone was talking about him. In other Thursday Night Football news for 2012 fantasy football…
Peyton Manning – If you were a Manning owner who missed the game and I told you he had 310 passing yards and the Broncos got to the redzone 6 times on the night, well it means you know me well enough for me to talk to you and that I’m setting you up for a letdown. He finished the night with one touchdown, one interception, and plenty of red forehead which – coincidentally – is probably what developed on owners foreheads from multiple harsh facepalms as the night wore on. Team was able to execute until they got within the 20 yard line and then it’s like the offensive coordinator lost the next play calls. Or maybe they wanted Matt Prater to develop some confidence going into the playoffs. Peyton is so magnanimous sometimes.
Rod Streater – Followed up his 3 catch, 96 yard, 1 touchdown performance vs the Browns with a 4 catch, 100 yard game against the tough secondary of the Broncos. Next week he gets the Chiefs in what could end up being the biggest battle for futile supremacy the world has ever seen which makes another 100 yard game possible. This week, you get to pick him up and put him on your bench because it was a Thursday game. It’s life on easy Streat for you.
Carson Palmer – The number one definition over at urban dictionary for ‘Palmer’ is ‘Someone who’s on top of his game..No one can compete with him at everything he does..aka the champ..handsome charming and articulate.’. I’d have to assume from that there are a lot of Raiders fans who only watch 4th quarters. I personally like the second definition but for reasons not connected to what we’re talking about. Carson actually finished the night with two scores and one of them didn’t happen in the 4th, to everyone’s amazement. He finished the night with 273 passing yards, an INT and a higher QB rating than Peyton which clearly makes him the better player. Stats don’t lie, people!
Eric Decker/Demaryius Thomas – Despite not catching a touchdown, both receivers put up reasonable numbers as Eric went for 88 yards on 8 receptions and Thomas went for 83 on 5. It had been a while since ED got his fantasy score up and the first time in 3 games that DT didn’t have a TD.
Darren McFadden – Don’t look at the box score stats: 11 carries for 52 yards with 12 yards on 2 receptions and a touchdown. The key to his night was an early 3rd quarter run that netted him 36 yards. So 10 carries went for 16 yards and he would’ve had around 30 yards total to go with that TD. Or as I’d put it, a flex play. I wasn’t Darren anyone to start McFadden this week in the rankings and I still stand behind the reasoning.
Darrius Heyward-Bey – Step right up, DHB, and accept your prize! What did I win? You’ve won the Raiders junktime touchdown of the night, courtesy of Palmer but that’s not all! In addition to your 6 fantasy points, we’re giving you 56 receiving yards to go with it on one reception for a grand total of 11.6 points when the game was over! But I play in a PPR league. Well then we’ll throw in another 0.5 points for good measure! Truthfully, his run was pretty good though it took a lot of falling down on the Broncos part for it to happen. He finished the night with 82 yards, 5 receptions and a dirty look from Myers as he lost out to Palmer’s Garbage time game.
