Madden Curse

The question is, was the trade and all of the bad publicity a result of the Madden curse, or has the curse not taken into effect yet?

And since Favre is wearing a Packers jersey in the cover (which EA has no intention of changing), does this mean that both Green Bay and Favre will be cursed this season?

Consider this: Green Bay has likely ZERO chance of making the playoffs now, after botching the handling of this entire situation. They've estranged their own fans and insulted an NFL legend. I don't know about you but if I'm GB why would I side with a relative unknown and unproven Aaron Rodgers? Just doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

As for Brett Favre, he's joining a really bad team that will all of a sudden become a team that has a chance at the playoffs. I think they can do it because Brett makes them that much better. But is Favre is cursed?

RB with a new QB

Someone asked me whether or not I thought Green Bay Packers running back Ryan Grant could repeat his amazing rookie breakout performances this season without Brett Favre. That's big question because without Favre they're going with Aaron Rodgers, who has never started in his career. Being thrusted in this type of role will be a huge responsibility. I don't know about Rodgers but personally I'm not too worried about Grant. I have him in one of my keeper leagues as my #3 RB behind Steven Jackson and Maurice Jones-Drew although I'd argue Grant could be my 2nd best guy.

I'm sure many other fantasy owners are wondering whether opponents will just stack the line and stop Grant, forcing Rodgers to win games with his arm and hope he makes tons of rookie mistakes. I won't disagree that Rodgers has to be half-decent for Grant to have a great year, but I don't think it's reason to downgrade Grant.

Grant became the main ball carrier for Green Bay starting week 8, and amassed 1048 yards (929 rushing) and 8 touchdowns in that span. He did that in 10 games. This means he averaged 104.8 yards (93 rushing) and 0.8 touchdowns per game as a starter.

Over a 16 game span, Grant would have had 1677 total yards and 13 touchdowns. That's pretty good for a rookie.

In the past there have been several RBs who not only performed well despite a rookie quarterback taking over, they did exceptionally well -- some of them turned in career bests. Marshall Faulk was huge in Peyton Manning's first year. (I'm not comparing Aaron Rodgers to Peyton Manning, so take a chill pill.). Hold your breath, there's more -- Antowain Smith had his best season playing for the Pats in Tom Brady's first season. In Phillip Rivers' first season as starting quarterback, LaDainian Tomlinson had his best career as a professional football player. Frank Gore had his best season in Alex Smith's first full season as a starter -- in fact if you count Smith's starts in 2005, Gore career pretty much took off the same time as Smith's did. I don't know if you remember this far back but Duce Staley had a pretty nice year til he got hurt, and Jerome Bettis was so good in relief he made it to the Pro Bowl, his first time in 3 years. That was in Ben Roethlisberger's first season. In Tony Romo's first season 2006, that was the year Marion Barber broke out for 14 TDs. Heck, even when Kyle Boller took over as starter in Baltimore in 2003, Jamal Lewis had his best year ever as pro.

I've included average QBs such as Kyle Boller, Alex Smith, Tom Brady (just kidding!) to prove that Aaron Rodgers doesn't need to be a superstar quarterback for Grant to succeed.

The only guys I can think of where a young quarterback took over for a team and the RB sucked was Jay Cutler (no notable breakout for any RB in Denver), Matt Schaub (TJ Duckett and Warrick Dunn, neither had a huge breakout season).

As long as Aaron Rodgers doesn't turn out as bad as Cutler or Schaub (two guys who aren't necessarily bad QBs as they just didn't have good runningbacks), I think Grant is going to be just fine. And you can only assume that Rodgers will get better or they'll get a better QB. Packers fans simply won't stand for years of mediocrity at QB (see Baltimore, Miami for details,).

Two interesting games left..

I've paid little attention to my Raptors the last few weeks because of the NFL playoffs, but as the NFL post-season winds down, I will slowly shift my attention back to the Raptors.

The Raptors are playing like crap, in my opinion. I haven't paid too much attention to them over the past month but I know that although they've won half their games, half the teams they've played sucked. There is no urgency or intensity in their approach to the game. When you watch a game, they look like they're expecting something to happen, as if the game will just come to them.

This is a really young team that is still learning what it takes to win games. They play hard very occasionally and half the time it works. Well the problem with this is that kids will work hard and if they don't see results, then why work hard? And then there are times where the hard work pays off, they win, and they play an easy game where they didn't have to work hard, and then the effort reverts to the old way.

The next frustrating part of the team is the misuse of players. Here are my suggestions to Bryan Colangelo and Sam Mitchell:

Kapono needs the ball to score. You're paying him almost $7M/year to shoot the ball but no one passes it to him. He's no good as a decoy if he doesn't score first.

Chris Bosh: If the lane is open, do not pull up for a jump shot. That is what small forwards and shooting guards do. You are the power forward. Note that first word "Power"? Your mid-range jumper has become your bread and butter, when it should only be your secret weapon. Use it when they've clogged the paint and you have no where else to go. I'm more impressed when you score 20 points in the paint than 40 points on jump shots. It helps everyone else, trust me.

Bryan Colangelo: Juan Dixon sucks as a point guard. You know it, I know it. I think even he knows it. Jose needs a real backup.

Since I've got your attention, here's another one: It's not that I've given up on him, but you need to sign someone to help us forget about Andrea Bargnani for a little while. Because Toronto fans expect instant success without any growth period, and it'll take Bargnani longer to reach his potential than fans have patience for. But see, if you don't do something now, media will be all over it and Bargnani will hear the word "bust" too often and it will ruin his confidence and eventually, his career.

In terms of the NFL, this past weekend was disappointing to say the least.

First, the San Diego Chargers beat my beloved Indianapolis Colts, preventing the possibility of watching two awesome games:

1) The most prolific quarterback in the past decade (Peyton Manning) vs the best clutch performing quarterback in the past decade (Tom Brady). And then following that game, we'd see
2) The most prolific quarterback in the past decade (Peyton Manning) vs the best quarterback alive ever period (Brett Favre).

Secondly, the San Diego Chargers lost key players LaDainian Tomlinson and Phillip Rivers, to injury, which means the Patriots have been given a free ride to the Superbowl to face the Packers.

Am I being too quick to write off the New York Giants? I don't think so. The Giants are a team that is required to establish the run before they can have any kind of effectiving passing game. Eli Manning is not a great 'under-pressure' quarterback. Unfortunately for Brandon Jacobs, the Packers are one of the best teams in the league at stopping the run. And then moving on to their offensive line, also formidable. The holes that these guys open up for Grant, Jackson and Jones. Unbelievable.

This'll be a great piece to write about next week when the Superbowl matchup has been set in stone, but can you remember a time when Favre has had the kind of talent he has around him today? I can't. Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Brandon Jackson and Ryan Grant. They're not exactly Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donte Stallworth and Laurence Maroney, but put them up against pretenders like Antonio Freeman, Robert Brooks, Mark Chmura and Dorsey Levens.. that's a whole new ball game.

The same comparison can be made for Tom Brady who has never really had the offensive weapons that he has this year... although the comparison ends right there when you consider all the offensive records Favre holds while Brady, at least statistically, hasn't had much to offer until this season.