Yardbarker: Marshall Faulk

Rams News and Notes

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:51:07 -0500

The Rams are looking more and more to be a contender for the pundits "Sleeper of the Year". This (unofficial) award goes to the team which every pundit from the web, to bloggers, to the CBS Morning Show think will be a surprise team in the NFL in 2008. The other contenders are the Minnesota Vikings (who Dr. Z on Si.com pegged to win it all) and the Buffalo Bills (who had one of their players guarantee a playoff berth). Mike Florio of Profootballtalk.com writes at Yahoo! Sports about the four teams he thinks will crash the playoff party after missing out last year. Pro Football Reference came out with their All-Franchise teams and the St. Louis Rams are well represented in the St.Louis/LA Rams category. Unsurprisingly, Torry Holt, Issac Bruce and Marshall Faulk have the highest Approximate Value scores for the team. Head here for the rest of the team and explanation about Approximate Value.

Rams News and Notes

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:51:07 -0500

Fantasy Insider: How to Spot A Fantasy Football Sleeper

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:24:12 -0500

How to Spot A Fantasy Football Sleeper is a knack that could make or break your fantasy team. Daniel Kalles gives all you fantasy owners a "How To" locate and find fantasy sleepers and plenty of time to exam the players you feel could be sleepers this season. Best of luck this season. As Daniel Kalles, The first thing you need to know about finding a "sleeper" is figuring out what a sleeper is. Many people will have many different explanations as to what a sleeper really is, where to find them and how important they are, but they will pretty much agree that a sleeper is someone who doesn't have a big name, probably doesn't start, hasn't put up big numbers in the past, who now might have a chance to have a breakout season and be a difference maker on your team. Sleepers are usually either late round draft picks or waiver-wire pick-ups who went undrafted. Now how to spot sleepers, when to draft them, and how long you wait until you believe they are actually worth putting in your lineup are all a little different. Having one of the few sleepers who pan out and be a worthy starter can make the difference in winning your league or not winning. No one starts off the season knowing which sleeper will for sure breakout; all you can do is try and draft one or two and hope that a couple of things fall your way and your sleeper goes from nobody to somebody just like that. It's very hard to go into the draft focused on the guys who will be drafted in the later rounds, but the truth is many drafts are won in the later rounds. If you can have a good draft from top to bottom, it will help you down the line; having a deep team will help you in the event of an injury or to make trades. It's not very difficult to draft players in the first bunch of rounds, guys like Alexander, Tomlinson, Owens, Moss, these players have a history, they have done it before, we can look at their numbers and see where they should be drafted, but a sleeper is different. Most sleepers haven't played enough to accumulate enough stats to make decisions on, so you have to take a small sample (if one exists) to figure out who might be the sleepers of this year's draft. There are many different places and ways to find sleepers. One way is to look for 2nd or 3rd year players who had a chance to play near the end of the year before. At the end of most seasons, the teams out of the playoff hunt will look at some young players, giving them starts and letting veterans sit out. Watching these players can sometimes give you a hint into who might be a good sleeper the next season, if they play a good game or two. Look at Willie Parker who was undrafted out of college and was sitting on the bench in 2004 when the Steelers went 15-1. In the last game of the season, once they had already clinched home field advantage, they decided to rest veteran running back Jerome Bettis, and see what Parker could do. He went into Buffalo, on a cold January Sunday, to face the hottest team in football. The Bills were looking to get a victory and a spot in the playoffs. Well, Parker gained 102 yards on only 19 carries, to help the Steelers win the game, and give anyone who was actually paying attention to this Steelers backup a 1200 yards rusher out of nowhere in 2005. Now this doesn't mean things will always work out for you, but it's a good way of finding a sleeper. Another way of finding a sleeper is to watch the player and coach movement in the off-season, and see which players have been put in situations where they might be able to break out, with the help of certain coaches and their philosophies. A player who might have been going downhill in his career, or hasn't been able to find his way yet might be able to change that by being on a team whose system better suits their abilities. Koren Robinson is a good example. He's a former 1st round pick of the Seahawks, and while he had a couple of solid seasons with them (78 for 1240 yards and 5 TD's in 2002), he was let go at the end of 2004 because of off-field and poor behavior issues. He latched on to the Vikings as their top return man and part time WR. During the off-season they hired new head coach Brad Childress, who brings with him his West Coast offense, and they traded Nate Burleson, leaving the spot of #1 WR open. With those and many other changes the Vikings made on offense, they go into the season looking for players to step up and be leaders. Robinson has a good chance of doing that because he is a step ahead of most of the other WR's because he played in the West Coast offense while in Seattle. He could be in for a very big season. While all this looks good and could very well happen, many times it doesn't, and guys like Robinson will always be picked up for his potential, but might never realize it, because he can't control his other issues. These are just a couple of the many ways to find a sleeper. So, make sure to always pay attention to injury situations, and follow closely what players are doing at training camp. Doing this can help you find many sleepers. Lastly, don't forget that you can still find sleepers after the draft in the first couple of weeks of the season. If you see a player break out and do better then expected, don't sit on the sidelines and watch - make an effort to pick them up and see if they can sustain that output. Or if you know that a starting player has any injury at all, make sure you're the one to get anyone who might back that player up, because once a player goes down, whoever takes over can be a real steal.

NFL INSIDER: Favre and Thompson: --- Behind the Scenes Glimpse

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:06:52 -0500

In exclusive interviews with various flies on the wall, The Frozen Tundra was able to piece together additional information to provide a background to determine how this trade developed. I have reconstructed the timeline of events based on those reports. March 1, 2008: Favre calls Ted Thompson to tell him he wants Randy Moss to be signed. "If not, I will know you are not trying to get me the personnel I need, and I'm not sure I want to stay in that situation," he declared. There are no reports out of flies in Green Bay, since at that time of the year it is still too cold and they are dormant. However, it is believed by one fly he could hear Thompson laugh in reply, "Are you serious?! Do you think we would take on that headache long-term just so you will maybe play another year or two? Even the fans wouldn't be on your side with this one–they hate him!" After that, the phone call abruptly March 4, 2008: After Moss re-signs with New England, Favre calls Thompson several times, always hanging up without speaking about ten seconds later. The last time he calls and says, "call me back and let me know what you will do to entice me to come back, or I'll have to retire by the end of the week." He then hangs up the phone. There are no return calls. March 6, 2008: Favre announces his retirement, and everyone publicly expresses sorrow that an era is coming to an end. It is reported by a fly in Kiln that Favre later tells his wife, "I know I heard cork pop in Thompson's office." April 26, 2008: Coach Mike McCarthy tells Thompson, "You better get me somebody else. Aaron is great and all, but he gets hurt at the drop of a feather. I need some insurance if I'm gonna be expected to win a title!" Thompson promptly drafts Brian Brohm. July 1, 2008: Favre contacts McCarthy, saying "Thompson won't return my calls. I'm sorry I made him mad by retiring, but I thought he needed to know I was serious when I threatened to quit. I didn't know he'd make me follow through on it. Will you talk to him?" McCarthy replied, "I'll see what I can do, Brett. You know I would like to have you under center, but your return would put us in a difficult place now. We've moved on, and sometimes you can't go back to the way things were." July 3, 2008: Brett has just seen a History Channel program on guerrilla warfare, and knowing ESPN will just die if they can't talk about Favre, he sends his mother and brother out to do his bidding. Both of them attempt to paint Brett as someone who has kept himself ready to help the Packers and the organization as not wanting the legend who won a championship for them anymore. July 4, 2008:After not hearing back from either McCarthy or Thompson, Favre is contacted by Roger Goodell, asking how his quest to return is going. "Ted won't return my calls," Brett says. Goodell says, "since you're the biggest star in the league, it's in our best interests to pay to have the call routed through New York. He'll have to answer it if he thinks it's the league office." Thompson does answer, but merely promises to call Brett back after he is done with his vacation. July 7, 2008: Thompson is done with his vacation. Brett stands by the phone, even saying at 8pm, "he just got back. He's probably got a lot of work to do, so he'll be there late." No call. July 10, 2008: Having still received no call and hearing Packers Vice President in charge of player personnel, Mark Murphy, say that as far as they know Favre is still retired and is not trying to return, he gets on the phone to his agent. "Pull out all the stops," he tells him. "What do you think it's going to look like if I make a public statement that you want to come back and they won't let you? Maybe they won't get all those sell-outs. Maybe no one's gonna buy your jersey anymore." July 11, 2008: Mortensen gets a call from Brett's agent stating that Brett wants the team to release him. I want to thank the flies in Kiln, MS and Green Bay, WI for their contributions. There were also two flies in New York, NY, reporting from the draft and league office. In some cases, it took generations of flies meticulously passing on this information from generation to generation, as it was accumulated over the last four-plus months, which is over 30 fly lifetimes! On Tuesday, July 15, we will have new accounts as this story, originally broken on Bleacher Report, develops.

Top 5 Colts Rookie Seasons

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:53:52 -0500

As Colts fans, we all know how good Polian drafts. Some players like Reggie Wayne take longer to blossom into stars, but some reveal their greatness the first time they put on their pads. As the 2008 season approaches with high expectations placed on this rookie class, let's look back at the greatest rookie season performances by Colts draftees. 5. Dominic Rhodes, Undrafted Free Agent, 2001: While all of the players that will follow were actually drafted, Rhodes wasn't thought to be a top 246 player in this draft. When Edgerrin James tore his ACL in the sixth game of the season, Rhodes came in and proved every critic wrong. Rhodes became the first UDFA to rush for over 1000 yards, gaining 1104 yards while scoring 9 touchdowns on the ground. His rookie season is the greatest ever for an undrafted free agent running back, and he is back in Indy to try to repeat his dominant performance in his rookie year, which was not seen over the past six seasons. 4. Dwight Freeney, Round 1, Pick 11, 2002: Freeney was drafted because of his phenomenal pass rushing skills, and he definitely improved the Colts pass rush in his rookie year. Freeney, although he only started 8 games, had 13 sacks, 9 forced fumbles, and 45 tackles. His rookie year was arguably his best season, and he was ripped off on the Rookie of the Year award, which went to Julius Peppers. Freeney has had a Hall of Fame-worthy career so far, and he is expected to come back from his injury stronger than ever. 3. Duane Bickett, Round 1, Pick 5, 1985: Before there was Patrick Willis, there was Duane Bickett. Like Willis, Bickett did not take long adjusting to the pro game. As the starting right outside linebacker in 1985, he had 141 tackles, a forced fumble, an interception, and 6 sacks. Bickett took home the Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 1985, and he kept on improving until his career in Indy ended. 2. Marshall Faulk, Round 1, Pick 2, 1994: Faulk won the Rookie of the Year in 1994, and looking at his stats, there is no question why. Faulk had 1282 rushing yards, 12 total touchdowns, and 552 receiving yards. Faulk was a main reason why the Colts were one controversial call away from making it to the Super Bowl in 1996. Though he is remembered more for his career in Saint Louis, his rookie year established him as an NFL great and a future Hall of Famer. 1. Edgerrin James, Round 1, Pick 4, 1999: Did you expect anyone else? Edgerrin's rookie year may be the greatest debut in the history of offensive rookies. Edgerrin led the league in rushing with 1553 yards. He also had 17 total touchdowns and helped the Colts have the biggest turnaround in NFL history, going from 3-13 to 13-3 in only one season. Edgerrin may have left for less green pastures in Arizona, but his early years with the Colts were strong enough to get him into the Hall of Fame, possibly on the first ballot. Photo by Matthew J. Lee from the Boston Globe

Brown Greatest Ever

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:17:06 -0500

In a follow up to yesterday's reported "top 64 running backs" ESPN has a new list out today, the best running backs of all time. Atop the list is Cleveland Browns great Jim Brown, who is still active with the club as an Executive Advisor . Now I don't care if you call me a homer but this is something I have been advocating since I was 5 or 6, and even possibly earlier. All I have to say that it is about time ESPN recognizes Brown because it seems that they don't appreciate anyone who played before 1989. Again, I may be a bit biased, for until recently they never gave more than 2 minutes of coverage to the Browns all season. But call me crazy when I say it takes time to assess a player's career, which is why it drives me so crazy when people label Ladainian Tomlinson or Marshall Faulk the greatest of all time. It's those people who don't know their NFL history that need to sit down and watch footage of Brown.

Patriots players contribute off the field

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:09:41 -0500

Football players from the New England Patriots and around the NFL are associated with multiple charity organizations and attend charity events. Offensive Lineman Matt Light and his Light Foundation have been hosting various events over the last few years. This year in June, the Light Foundation will bring together Native American youth and youngsters from Rhode Island for a two-week outdoor experience with a five-day football camp. The event will support the local Northern Cheyenne Boys & Girls Club. Light recently spent a week on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation hunting buffalo. The meat from that harvest will help feed hundreds of local children from the Boys & Girls Club Light is also planning a July golfing event in Ireland. As part of the Southwest Ireland Charity Golf Tour, Light, a few other NFL players and fans will be touring Ballybunion Old Course, the Waterville Course, The Dooks Links, Tralee, and Ring of Kerry. All proceeds will go to the Light Foundation. "The Light Foundation strives to empower young people to reach their highest potential by initiating and supporting hands on programs and events that promote the development of secular moral values and personal financial acumen so as to instill a sense of self-reliance, sufficiency and independence. We endeavor to accomplish this mission by combining traditional outdoor activities and experiences with athletic endeavors addressing the physical and mental aspects of humanity that make us all unique." Other Patriots are also helping with charities clos to their heart, as Linebacker Tedy Bruschi met recently met at Gillette Stadium with other stroke survivors from around New England. The event is part of the American Stroke Association large-scale stroke awareness campaign. Pictures and film from the event will be used as a part of their campaign. Although we are still waiting to hear if Junior Seau is interested to return to the NFL, he recently held his 16th annual golfing tournament for his Junior Seau Foundation. Seau was interviewed by Fox Sports about coming back to the NFL and he said he hasn't really thought about it yet as he is still recovering from shoulder surgery. Rodney Harrison was one of many NFL players in attendance and also interviewed. A former teammate with Seau in San Deigo, Harrison commented on Seau's commitment to attain high goals on and off the field. It is great knowing the players are contributing to make the world a better place. GO PATS!

If Pat's didnt cheat would Warner be Hall of Fame Bound?

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:27:06 -0500

Here's a tough question to all football enthusiasts if the Patriots never cheated in Super Bowl XXXVI as speculated, and Kurt Warner won his second Superbowl, would he still be in St. Louis? Would he be Hall of Fame bound? In the 2001 season Kurt Warner led his team to a 14-2 record. The offense he led was so explosive it was called "The greatest show on turf" at the end of the season he was named MVP for the second time. Now heres the issue lets say Warners Rams vs Brady's Pats minus spygate equalled another title for St. Louis? I mean Kurt threw for 365 yards threw a touchdown and ran one in and would have been MVP if the Rams won. After a few injury prone years he became somewhat of a journeymen QB and now plays for Arizona.................. Would Kurt Warner have had an illustrious career which would end him up in Canton, Ohio?

Rams Retire Marshall Faulk's Number 28

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:22:57 -0500

Do you remember how good Marshall Faulk was? He was the LaDanian Tomlinson and Brian Westbrook of his time. He could do it all. He was a dominant force rushing the ball and receiving out of the backfield. An integral part of the "Greatest Show on Turf." Well, the Rams recognized Faulk for his accomplishments and contribution to their team by retiring his jersey number 28.

Marshall Faulk attacks Howie Mandel

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:12:31 -0500

Howie Mandel has OCD and doesn't want his hand shook - preferring the fist bump. Marshall Faulk ignores this and shakes his hand anyway, which freaks Mandel out.

It's Been Interesting, To Say The Least

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:38:22 -0500

From poor decisions to downright bizarre behavior, the Rams tenure in St. Louis has been nothing short of interesting.

Detroit Fans thinking Faulk Yeah!

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 05:25:36 -0500

Mike Martz is considering bringing in Faulk as an "insurance policy" for Detroit with Kevin Jones down and out for a long period of time. I am not sure I would use the words insurance policy when describing Faulk's role on an NFL squad. Faulk's return to the NFL will officially make the NFL Network commentator crew the worst on television.

Is there a Madden Curse?

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 02:16:06 -0500

Actually, the fellas at 'Sports Matters' look at whether there is an EA sports curse....that means they profiled the 29 athletes that appeared on the covers of every NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL game EA has produced. Congratulations to Dwayne Wade who actually won a championship after appearing on the cover of NBA 2006. If he hadn't, the findings at the end of this article would look much worse than they already do. Players on this years EA games. MLB 2K6 - Derek Jeter NBA 2007 - Tracy McGrady NHL 2007 - Alexander Ovechkin NFL 2007 - Shaun Alexander