Who is your favorite team?

[GTAXI]

Usually start this thread every year just to get a pulse on
everyone's team.

1. Who is your favorite team, and how will they finish this year?
Patriots. - I think they will get a bye, and win a playoff game, but fall
short in the AFC Championship to the Chargers.

2. Who is your team's sleeper? - Look out for Aaron Hernandez. He has looked awsome in the pre-season, and has been Brady's #1 target so far. I looking at 65 catches 750 yrs with 6 TDS.

3. Who will disapoint? - The easy answer would be Ocho-Cinco but I actually think he will be decent #3 receiver once he get the offense down, but I am going to go with Brady. Brady will still be very good, but not a top 5 fantasy qb. .

4. How would rank the defense (fantasy wise)? - It's a little hard to predict because we haven't seen Fat Albert or Ellis play yet, but I think they will be a tad better than last year. They got Leigh Bodden back which will help their pass defense, and on paper they have a much improved DL. I will rank them 7.

List your teams.

[Trautdiggity]

I'll see if Revo agrees or disagrees with my takes since he's the other resident G-Men fanatic:

1. Who is your favorite team, and how will they finish this year?
New York Giants, apologies to Jerry Reese, 3rd in the NFC East, shy of a WC.

2. Who is your team's sleeper?

I'll give three:
One for Fantasy football: Brandon Jacobs, man he has looked like a beast so far and he's FIRED up. If he can keep that energy and attitude aimed at being on the field and contributing it will be huge.
One which impacts Fantasy football: the interior linemen. Everyone freaked out when they cut O'Hara and slid Diehl inside, but David Baas today is a better center than O'Hara and Diehl is a very good guard (despite being a well below-average tackle) coupled with Snee they will make the run game strong.
One for non-Fantasy: Jason Pierre-Paul. Why did Osi have no leverage? Because JPP is ready to join the elite ranks of NFC East pass rushers (and that is a formidable group).

3. Who will disappoint?
I don't think there will be a lot of major let downs (people might think Manningham or Bradshaw but I don't think so) so I'll say everyone outside of Eli, Bradshaw, Jacobs, Nicks and Manningham. Quite honestly there is very little to like about the rest of the offense most notably the third receiver applicants (Hixon and Cruz)

4. How would rank the defense (fantasy wise)?
Do yourself a favor, if you have a preseason draft guide, take a big black marker and cross the Giants out of it. Before the preseason, this team was likely a borderline starting Fantasy defense. Now with injuries to T-Square (Terrell Thomas), Marvin Austin, Prince Amukamara, Osi, and a lack of quality free agent additions, they don't belong anywhere near 12-teamers.

[Stephen]

1. Who is your favorite team, and how will they finish this year?
Cowboys. They'll finish 9-7 behind the "The Dream Team" which should be good enough for a Wild Card game loss to New Orleans.

2. Who is your team's sleeper? - Tashard Choice. Marion Barber is gone and a lot of attention is being given to Rookie DeMarco Murray. Tashard Choice is a very talented back who has shown the ability to be fairly ellusive back when given an opportunity. Felix Jones has had some injury problems in his short career and I think Choice will firmly establish himself as the #2 ahead of Murray and could be a nice fantasy player should Barber miss any time.

3. Who will disapoint? - Jason Garrett. During his time in Dallas as Offensive Coordinator and now Head Coach it seems that Garrett often times falls into the trap of being "too clever" and sometimes out smarts himself. Sometimes the boring play is the right one. Romo, Witten, Austin, Jones and Dez Bryant are good enough (should the newly rebuilt O-Line hold up) to keep the Cowboys in games, but I bet there will be more than a handful of possessions shortened due to the combo of Garrett's playcalling and Romo's lack of decision making quality and desire to always make something out of nothing.

4. How would rank the defense (fantasy wise)? - The front line is nice and Demarcus Ware is one of the top Defensive players in football. They have some quietly strong players in Brady James and Keith Brooking that are solid tacklers. However, the secondary is a mess and Dallas missed out on the top DBs in Free Agency that could have made a significant difference. Rob Ryan brings swagger, but lacks any tangible evidence or stats that he is even half the defensive mind his brother is. You can put Rims on a Kia and say that it's an amazing car, but at the end of the day you're still driving a Kia. As a result, I wouldn't want the Cowboys as even my bye week Defense until Terrence Newman/Mike Jenkins/Sensabaugh and company can prove they can defend the pass.

[Moonlight J]

Redskins -- 6 and 10

Roy Helu Jr because Shanny will use every RB possible.


They will all disappoint because they all suck but Hightower isn't going to make it as a feature back and is going to be a low low RB2 if not high RB3

The only thing worth watching as it plays better without FatAlbert wasting oxygen on the line.

[Hammer]

1. Who is your favorite team, and how will they finish this year?
Denver Broncos- 6-10 Last in the AFC West
2. Who is your team's sleeper? - I will list 2
Eric Decker- Great hands, runs great routes and There always seems to be an issue with Royal. Decker will be a reliable WR3 for your fantasy team.
Julius Thomas- I know TE's are deep this year but if you can grab this guy cheap in a dynasty league, do it.

3. Who will disapoint? - Orton- handcuffed by a conservative offense will make Orton look Bear-like.

4. How would rank the defense (fantasy wise)? - a lot better than last year, once healthy. The return of Elvis and addition of Miller will make for a lot of pressure. Now if only the can stay healthy. Losing Warren hurt.

[onejayhawk]

1. Who is your favorite team, and how will they finish this year?

Chiefs. They will be hard pressed to match last year. I predicted 8-8, they earned 9-7 and finished 10-6. In 2009 they earned 5-11, but fininshed 3-13. Point is that there was real improvement last year, but it was 4 games worth, not 7. The schedule is MUCH harder, so i predict 9-7, playoff wildcard.

2. Who is your team's sleeper? - TE Tony Moeaki.

3. Who will disapoint?

The whole offense. The bulk of the schedule difficulty is from playing elite defenses, Chargers twice, Jets, Bears, Steelers, Packers, Ravens, Patriots.

4. How would rank the defense (fantasy wise)?

Better than expected. The offense has a death march from weeks 10-15. The defense has some dofter touches. Top 10 is possible, since the pass rush is much improved.

J

[willthethrill]

1. Who is your favorite team, and how will they finish this year?
Eagles, 11-5, 1st in East, lose in NFC Championship game due to Andy Reid getting out-coached.

2. Who is your team's sleeper?
None of the Eagles will come cheap. But one who will is Brent Celek, and I think that he'll be a top-10 TE this year. I also think that Steve Smith will be a nice late-rounder in PPR leagues.

3. Who will disappoint?
I'll say Desean Jackson-He's being drafted very high but he'll put up some weeks where he does next to nothing. The overall numbers will be there, but like home run hitters in baseball, you'll have to deal with the strikeouts. I think that Maclin will be the more consistent WR, but DJax will have 4-5 huge weeks.

4. How would rank the defense (fantasy wise)?
Definitely up there. Sacks and interceptions will abound. If your league penalizes for poor rushing defense, then the Eagles will want to be avoided.

[revo]

I'll see if Revo agrees or disagrees with my takes since he's the other resident G-Men fanatic:

1. Who is your favorite team, and how will they finish this year?
New York Giants, apologies to Jerry Reese, 3rd in the NFC East, shy of a WC.

2. Who is your team's sleeper?

I'll give three:
One for Fantasy football: Brandon Jacobs, man he has looked like a beast so far and he's FIRED up. If he can keep that energy and attitude aimed at being on the field and contributing it will be huge.
One which impacts Fantasy football: the interior linemen. Everyone freaked out when they cut O'Hara and slid Diehl inside, but David Baas today is a better center than O'Hara and Diehl is a very good guard (despite being a well below-average tackle) coupled with Snee they will make the run game strong.
One for non-Fantasy: Jason Pierre-Paul. Why did Osi have no leverage? Because JPP is ready to join the elite ranks of NFC East pass rushers (and that is a formidable group).

3. Who will disappoint?
I don't think there will be a lot of major let downs (people might think Manningham or Bradshaw but I don't think so) so I'll say everyone outside of Eli, Bradshaw, Jacobs, Nicks and Manningham. Quite honestly there is very little to like about the rest of the offense most notably the third receiver applicants (Hixon and Cruz)

4. How would rank the defense (fantasy wise)?
Do yourself a favor, if you have a preseason draft guide, take a big black marker and cross the Giants out of it. Before the preseason, this team was likely a borderline starting Fantasy defense. Now with injuries to T-Square (Terrell Thomas), Marvin Austin, Prince Amukamara, Osi, and a lack of quality free agent additions, they don't belong anywhere near 12-teamers.

Yeah, I agree with this.

If they make the playoffs, it will be because Eli has gotten over his INT hiccups and made the clutch plays. But the defense is the real question mark here.

[Stephen]

Yeah, I agree with this.

If they make the playoffs, it will be because 4-6 other teams completely imploded.

Fixed.

[griswold]

1. Who is your favorite team, and how will they finish this year?

Browns. I think they'll be very competitive in every game but will finish the year 8-8. Which is a great improvement for the Browns.

2. Who is your team's sleeper? - TE Evan Moore

3. Who will disapoint?

Josh Cribbs - Without his ability to return kicks, you've taken an scoring threat away.

4. How would rank the defense (fantasy wise)?

Better than expected. In fact, I think against the weaker teams like the Bengals, etc., they're worth starting on your fantasy team.

Hey, just my Brownies.

Gris

[revo]

Fixed.

That may be the diatribe of a Cowboys fan, but at worst the Giants will finish 8-8. They still have one of the best offenses in the NFC, as well as two to three All Pros in their defense.

They also don't have a very tough schedule until the second half of the year. Conceivably, they could go 6-2 or 7-1 before the ledge drops off.

I expect 9-7, I'd love to see 10-6. I wouldn't count them out.

[Stephen]

Nah - I'm not really a raving Cowboys fan by any stretch and have no long term history with the team. Became a "fan" when I moved to Dallas 5 years ago.

If the Giants D was healthy, I'd be right there with you. As is I think they are going to struggle a bit at the start of the season. The loss of Kevin Boss will likely hurt as well.

Without so many injuries I'd put them 2nd in the NFC East and in the playoffs. As is, I think it's a long shot.

[Trautdiggity]

That may be the diatribe of a Cowboys fan, but at worst the Giants will finish 8-8. They still have one of the best offenses in the NFC, as well as two to three All Pros in their defense.

They also don't have a very tough schedule until the second half of the year. Conceivably, they could go 6-2 or 7-1 before the ledge drops off.

I expect 9-7, I'd love to see 10-6. I wouldn't count them out.

Pay no mind to bitter Dallas fans whimpering in the corner. There are four teams I would say look better on paper that the Giants for sure: Green Bay, Atlanta, New Orleans and Philly. There are several others I think are packed in a tight group in the NFC: Dallas, Tampa, Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago and the Giants. It would be surprising to see one of those top four miss the playoffs. It wouldn't be surprising to see any of the other six make or miss the playoffs. The great wrench is once again the NFC West and it's putrid mediocrity.

[revo]

Nah - I'm not really a raving Cowboys fan by any stretch and have no long term history with the team. Became a "fan" when I moved to Dallas 5 years ago.

If the Giants D was healthy, I'd be right there with you. As is I think they are going to struggle a bit at the start of the season. The loss of Kevin Boss will likely hurt as well.

Without so many injuries I'd put them 2nd in the NFC East and in the playoffs. As is, I think it's a long shot.

Osi will be back by Week 2 or 3. Losing Thomas hurts, but that's it as far as "major" injuries go. Obviously, their D-Line needs to make up for their potential shortfall in the defensive backfield.

Losing Kevin Boss won't hurt them. Travis Beckum should be good for 350 yds receiving, and the other guys will divvy up the remaining 200 Boss had. There's no real loss there.

The Giants are dealing with a ton of injuries to key players.

A ton of key injuries? To who? Osi for a couple of games, Thomas for the season, and two rookies. That's it. I'm not sure I would classify that as "a ton."

[Stephen]

Perspective, gentlemen.

I love that because I happen to cheer for Dallas and made a goofy joke that I'm a "bitter fan whimpering in the corner". I like the Giants quite a bit.

The Giants are dealing with a ton of injuries to key players. You guys pointed that out yourselves. I'm not saying they'll go 4-12 or anything absurd like that. In fact, if they were healthy I'd put them decisively ahead of the Cowboys for 2nd place in the NFC East. As it is, I agree with Revo that 8-8 is right about where they'll be. One play is the difference between 7-9 to 8-8 and 8-8 to 9/7 so we aren't really saying different things.

I have the Giants and Cowboys splitting the season series and the Cowboys finishing at 9-7 so I'm hardly a homer. And that's optimistic. I could easily see them going 8-8 as well.

I have no huge history with the Cowboys, I just elected to cheer for them when I moved here and didn't really have a team that I called "mine" before that.