Gronk’s Health – This has been the biggest story for the last week and a half, and will continue to be the leading story until we see Gronkowski play on Sunday. With the recent report coming from his dad that he has a high ankle sprain, this is a major issue for the Patriots. Gronkowski has become the focal point of the offense, allowing others like Welker and Hernandez more room to run. If Gronk is unable to be effective during the game, the Giants won’t have to double him and can concentrate on taking away Brady’s other targets. If this is the reality, Deon Branch could be the key to the Patriots passing game. If Gronk is able to be effective, than the pressure is on the Giants’ mediocre core of linebackers to handle two stud TEs.

Giants Pass Rush – In Super Bowl XLII the Giants’ pass rush shocked the New England offensive line and overwhelmed Brady. The Patriots were to inept to handle the rush, or make game time adjustments to slow down Giants. However, the Giants don’t have the same type of D they had in ’07. While their front 4 are the best in the game, their linebackers are weak, and can’t be left alone in 1on1 pass coverage all game. The Patriots O-Line handled the Ravens front 7 and if they do the same to the Giants, Brady will carve their weak (but not as pathetic as the Patriots) secondary.

Turnover Battle – While this is a no brainer key to the game, the events in both the AFC and NFC Championship games, makes this even more important. In the AFC Championship, Brady and the Patriots almost blew their chance to be in the Super Bowl with turnover after turnover. Brady was surprisingly bad, throwing three INTs including an awful decision to take a shot down field after a Brandon Spikes‘ interception that could have sealed the game. After the Patriot escaped elimination after numerous turnovers, the Giants got their berth to the Super Bowl capitalizing on turnovers. Kyle Williams inability to hold onto the football, and the fact he thought he could fool the 700 angles of instant replay, allowed the Giants to sneak into the Super Bowl. The Patriots had similar issues with Danny WoodHead fumbling on a kickoff return. If the Giants are able to force multiple turnovers, this game could get out of hand. Look for the giants to try and fluster Brady and force him to make bad decisions.

Since taking office, Goodell has suspended over 7 players and handed out more fines than I think we’ve ever seen in the sport. While people are more intrigued with the with the sport and the fan base is growing rapidly in all demographics. While there is a lot of attention being given to the game, the media has clearly paid more attention to the fines and suspensions. We have no one but Goodell to thank for this with the rule changes he has laid down over the last 5 years. There is a fine line of protecting the players, and controlling the game that he may have crossed. The most disappointing rule change is clearly the fact that he moved up the kickoff. Not only does it take one of the most exciting plays out of the game, but he also may have cost some players a job and a shot to live out their dream. Goodell also crossed the line with some of the rules that favor the offense. While it is exciting to see points on the board, it’s not as exciting to see them do it with 15yrd penalty after 15yrd penalty. While the main issue is that there isn’t parody from referee crew to referee crew, it is Goodell’s job to make sure that they are all on the same page.

That being sad, nothing can be taken away from Goodell for what he did during the lock out. Not only did he respectively reduce his salary to $1, but he saved a sport we all love. In the last year, he negotiated a 4 1/2 month locate, extended and negotiated long-term tv contracts that will bring in more revenue for the next 10 years, and saw the NFL have one of its most successful seasons ever. So while we may criticize ”The Man” for trying to change the game too much, we can all be glad Goodell is here to stay.

He is not Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire (who is nearing a $100 millon deal with the Knicks), Dwayne Wade, or Dirk Nowitski.  He is Lebron James and right or wrong, he is the most imporatnt man in basketball.  Not for his playing ability or marketing power, though those things are certainly why everyone wants him.  But it’s for his decision.

James is a free agent and has been since 12:01 am July 1st.  He is the straw that stirs the drink in what is being recognized as the biggest free agent year ever in the NBA.  With so many of it’s top stars opting for free agency, some teams gave up on last season in order to clear cap space to sign one – or in some cases more than one – of these young players.

Yesterday, the son of Akron, Ohio sat down with the likes of Nets owners Mikhail Prokhorov and rapper Jay-Z, Nets coach Avery Johnson, and GM Rod Thorn.  He also entertained the New York Knicks who had a truckload of stuff to bring with them – literally.

Today, sporting a white t-shirt and baggy sweat pants (the perfect choice of clothing for an important business meeting with professional excecutives offering millions and millions of dollars) he entertained the Miami Heat with Heat exec. and former coach Pat Riley, Heat owner Micky Arison, coach Erik Spoelstra and former Heat center Alonzo Mourning (all wearing business suits – way to be overdressed) in toe. 

After a courtesy meet and greet with the L.A. Clipppers, James will call it a day.  In tomorrow’s Main Event, LeBron will be entertaining the Chicago Bulls, as well as his old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers - the 2 teams considered the favorites to land him. 

He hopes to make a decision by July 5th.  What James decides may shape the NBA for the next decade.

WR Steve Smith, Carolina branch (Panthers) has a broken arm he suffered in a flag football game according to Mike Cranston, AP sports writer.

Smith had surgery Sunday night on the same arm he broke against the New York Giants last season, though not in the same place. The team does not have a timetable for his return.

However, all may not be lost, fantasy owners because though Smith will miss the start of training camp for certain, the reports at this early stage sound optimistic about Smith possibly being able to play by week 1 of the regular season.

Either way, I wouldn’t count on Smith being a top notch WR this season.

So Albert Haynesworth took the check. The $21 million dollars that was offered to him on April 1 to do just one thing: Show up and do his best. That apparently wasn’t what Haynesworth had in mind when he accepted the check instead of the other offer. Freedom.

Haynesworth met with new ‘Skins head coach Mike Shanahan and the latter offered him a way out. A way out of a $100 million contract and the rest of the $40 million guaranteed money that Haynesworth signed on for under then-head coach Jim Zorn.

Why would he want out? Because Shanahan runs a 3-4 defense and Haynesworth is more comfortable in a 4-3. Apparently Haynesworth has a big problem with it. So big in fact, that Haynesworth has made a spectacle of the situation, and is not showing up for offseason workouts.

Haynesworth has even alienated his teammates. His selfishness has turned off everyone within the organization and many outside of it. “He didn’t turn down the money, but he never intended to show up.” sites one source.

The only thing it appears the Redskins can do at this point is trade him. After all, he is worthless to his team now that nobody wants him there and he doesn’t want to be there. But right now they are more concerned with getting some or all of the $21 million back that he accepted only 2 1/2 months ago.

Click for an updated version of my 2010 fantasy mock draft!

http://nfldraftmock.com/2010-nfl-fantasy-football-mock-draft/

As your fantasy football expert, I am here with a warning.  Do not commit these common fantsy draft mistakes.  If you do, you’ll likely miss your playoffs and wish you had heeded these 5 deadly sins of fantasy drafting:

1.      Taking the D/ST or DEF and K positions early:

I’ll be short and sweet here.  The D/ST or DEF and K positions can wait until the end of your draft.  There generally is not that much discrepancy in defensive point totals for the top 10 defenses in the league each week.  In addition, D/ST stats vary from year to year because there are so many altering factors.  Every single year I find a D/ST that surprises and does very well in fantasy points on the waiver wire and I end up dropping the one I drafted by mid-season.  If you drafted yours in the 8^th round (in a 16 round league), you could have gotten a good WR or backup QB in that spot but wasted the pick only to find out that the better defense was never even drafted.  The only thing I’ll say about kickers is that they are a bigger waste of a draft pick than the defenses.  Please don’t come crying to me if you lose your league and you drafted a D/ST, DEF, or K before the third to last round.  I’ll shun you!

2.      Drafting with your heart instead of your head:

‘Homerism’ affects fantasy owners in ways that can really affect their teams.  You may love your (insert team name here) but don’t draft a player because he plays for your favorite team.  Draft a player because you really believe that he can help your fantasy team.  I’ve seen owners draft players from their team because they let their heart convince their mind that it was a good move.  Needless to say, they didn’t even have a chance to win.  The same can be said for not drafting players from teams you dislike.  You may pass on a player that can be the difference for your fantasy team.  He could be that one missing piece who has a career year and wins you your championship!  Pretend in your draft that each player plays for a team you like, and take the best player available that suits your team’s needs.  Use your head instead of your heart, and you’ll have a much greater chance to win.

3.      Going into the draft without a plan:

This is a very important, but simple concept.  Look at bye weeks for players you want to draft, participate in some interactive mock drafts to get a good feel, or – most importantly – read my 2010 NFL FANTASY FOOTBALL MOCK DRAFT, and have a plan in place before your draft.  Are you going to take the best player available each round?  Drafting RB’s first?  Taking a QB first to assure that you get your guy?  When should you start drafting WR’s?  In the draft, the clock is running.  A plan will guide you so you don’t run out of time on a pick and draft players you really don’t want by mistake.  It will also help you to visualize scenarios that may occur and be more capable of making a good decision if they do.

4.      Drafting without regard to bye weeks:

When you are drafting, pay close attention to bye weeks.  If you draft too many players that have the same bye week, you’ll have no players to use for that particular week and will likely end up trading for a lower valued player or dropping one of your good players to pick one up from the free agent list.  This is another reason why it is a must that you go into your draft with a plan of some sort.  At minimum, look at bye week conflicts.  If necessary, make a cheat sheet of players listed by position and bye week.  This could help you in your decision making while you’re on the clock! 

5.      Not doing your homework:

My second grader comes home from school each day with a math page and a spelling page to return the following day.  He doesn’t always get the answers right, but being the attentive father that I am, I check his work for accuracy.  I won’t give him the answers, but I will guide him by showing him what he did wrong and asking him to do it again, possibly with a pointer or two.  My son is an Honor Roll student.  He gets good grades at crunch time on tests. What does this have to do with your fantasy draft?  He wouldn’t be an honor roll student or get those good grades if he didn’t work at it.  If he didn’t do his homework.  The same goes for a fantasy owner.  Sure, one year an owner could surprise and even win a league without studying much.  But if you really want to be a good fantasy player, do your homework.  Look at statistics from a particular player for the past 2 years.  Find out if injuries played a factor in a down year, if any roster changes might affect a certain player, and even the current NFL schedule for his team.  I don’t expect you to check out every player, but it does wonders if you do a little research on at least a few and look at fantasy trends from the prior season.  They could give you clues to get an edge on your opponent.

http://nfldraftmock.com/2010-nfl-fantasy-football-mock-draft/

It’s only May, and pro football’s preseason doesn’t even start for another 2 months and change.  Some NFL players are showing up for voluntary team workouts, while others are opting to stay home a while longer.  This is the time of year that we find out which players are working to get better, faster, and stronger.  These players are working out, trying to fix the little things that they still need to work on.  They are not perfect, but they want to be champions so they are willing to do their homework.  They watch film, gain or lose weight, whichever they believe will help them, and they stay around football even when there is no football being played.

 Fantasy football owners should follow the lead of these players.  After all, we too want to be champions.  How can we as fantasy owners keep working in the offseason?  For starters, it would help if we were tracking free agency and the NFL draft. By knowing who is playing where, and what teams seem to be gearing toward, we can set our minds on which players are worth drafting and when. 

Another way to keep in offseason fantasy shape is to play other fantasy sports.  There is a fantasy game to be played all year round.  I finished second in my fantasy basketball league this season, losing in the championship game.  Not bad considering football is my sport.  I am currently in several baseball fantasy leagues as well.  While other fantasy sports will not directly impact your fantasy football team in the coming year, it can help you keep your mind fantasy sharp.  That is, you are keeping your mind active in fantasy sports. 

I will admit that in the different sports, the way one plays fantasy football, basketball, or baseball is a little different given the scoring and the statistics differences.  I do, however believe that by staying fantasy active, it can help keep you ready for the next fantasy football season.

 Many of you are not going to play fantasy sports of other types.  You are only interested in football.  The solution for you is to use mock drafts to get ready for your fantasy draft.  You can read my 2010 NFL FANTASY FOOTBALL MOCK DRAFT to get a feel of which round each player is projected to be drafted in fantasy drafts, and in addition you can participate in some mock drafts online.  ESPN.com has an interactive mock draft on their website.  

You can join a mock draft which usually starts immediately.  This can be a valuable tool to use to find out which round/number players are being drafted.  For instance, you may want to draft Roddy White, and you suspect that he will still be available in the 6^th round.  Your actual draft day comes and you are drafting players, getting other players that you believe will be gone in the next rounds, so you wait to draft him.   

You have it in your mind that you’ll draft White in the 5^th round to make certain that you get him.  The fourth round comes, and you draft your second running back for example, and 2 picks later another team drafts White.

He never made it to the 5^th round.  This could have been avoided if you had known that Roddy White was generally being drafted in the 3^rd round (that’s an example, not an official projection).  Had you participated in 3-4 mock drafts, you’d have known this and you would have been able to decide if he was worth drafting that early, and if so you may have gotten to him before someone else did.

 There’s no way to know for sure where a player is going to get drafted, obviously because people can draft whoever they wish whenever they wish.  But you’d have had a much better chance at getting not only White, but other players because you’d have an idea of when you’d need to take them in the draft.  Mock drafts are a great way to get into fantasy draft shape and can better help you to prepare as you go into your draft. 

Remember: it is important to go into battle with a battle plan.  If you go in blindly with no plan, you’ll get caught off guard and end up with a poor fantasy team.  Each owner’s plan can vary based on philosophy, but any plan is better than no plan at all, and being in fantasy shape before you draft is a great place to start.

Each season, there are players who excel and go above and beyond expectations and have enormous fantasy stats.  Likewise each season, fantasy owners make the mistake of expecting the same from them the following season.  Some players have team changes which can seriously impact their star players’ production in a very negative way, yet they still get drafted high based on their prior season’s production.  With this in mind, I offer to you my top 5 players for whom you should draft with the understanding that they likely will decline to varying degrees in fantasy points this season:

1.  Chris Johnson – Titans RB: 

Surprised to see his name here?  You shouldn’t be.  Johnson became the 6th player in NFL history to amass 2,000 rushing yds from scrimmage in 2009.  There is a reason why there have only been 6.  It’s very hard to do.  No one has done it in multiple seasons, and while Johnson has the talent to be a Hall Of Famer one day, history says that the 2,000 yd mark won’t happen again for the star RB.  This in addition to the news coming out of Titans camp that the team is expected to give Johnson less carries this season, so their star doesn’t wear out.  Vince Young is expected to pass more this season, and defenses will no doubt be scheming against Johnson defensively.  He’s no doubt still a top 3 pick, and will probably go #1 more often than not, but a repeat of last year isn’t realistic.

2.  Ray Rice – Ravens RB:

Rice’s stats last season were 254 carries for 1,339 yds plus 78 receptions for 702 yds.  Those are good numbers that won’t be repeated this year.  Last season, Joe Flacco could only rely on aging veteran Derrick Mason at WR, so Rice was his outlet.  Rice also saw more carries as a result of the lack of a passing game.  This offseason, the Ravens showed that they want to be more committed to the pass by acquiring WRs Anquan Boldin and Donte’ Stallworth to add to the returning Mason.  The addition of the sure-handed Boldin will give the Ravens passing game a huge boost and they will probably use Stallworth in the slot.  Mason will probably be the #2 WR with Boldin as the #1.  Flacco will have options this season and will not have to rely so heavily on the running backs to catch passes out of the backfield.  The Ravens did try to pass downfield last year, but there was nobody they could count on to consistently catch passes.  This year they will have that.  Also not to be overlooked is the fact that the Ravens gave a lot of goal line and short yardage carries to Willis McGahee, who had 14 total TD’s last season to Rice’s 8.  Rice will be drafted as a top 5 pick, but his stats may disappoint for being drafted so high.

Don’t forget to see my 2010 NFL FANTASY FOOTBALL MOCK DRAFT to help guide you!!!

3.  Steven Jackson – Rams RB:

Yes, I know, the top 3 are all RB’s.  But hear me out yet again.  324 carries puts a lot of wear and tear on a player’s body.  Jackson got that many carries for 1,416 yds in ’09, and that was because the Rams had no other offensive players who could be counted on.  Jackson carried the team on his back last season and it is showing in a literal sense, as the Rams star had back surgery in the offseason.  If this surgery doesn’t heal just right, Jackson may have a harder time carrying the load yet again in 2010.  Let’s also not forget that Jackson played in 15 games last year, but hasn’t played a full season since 2006.  He’ll get his 6th straight 1,000 yard season, but far shy of 1,700 total yards.

4. Larry Fitzgerald – Cardinals WR:

Easy.  Kurt Warner is gone, and Fitz will be catching passes (if he gets the ball to him) from Matt Leinart.  In 2006, Leinart played in 12 games.  That was the only year in Larry’s career where he failed to reach the 1,000 receiving yards mark other than his rookie year.  Leinart threw for 12 TD’s that season and Fitzgerald only caught 6 of them.  Leinart threw for 12 INT’s that season, 1 more than the number of TD’s he threw.  Last season Leinart played in 8 games.  He threw 0 TDs and 3 INT’s.  With the Cards trading WR Anquan Boldin, defenses can now dedicate more attention than ever to covering Larry.  The Cardinals are also attempting to get more involved in the running game.  This leaves Larry Fitzgerald to be a fantasy bust this season, and he’ll be the second or third WR off the board in your fantasy draft.  Do not be the one who makes this mistake.

5.  Thomas Jones – Chiefs RB:

Jones was the featured runner for the Jets last season and had 331 carries for 1,402 yds and 14 TD’s.  What a difference one offseason can make.  The Jets decided to part ways with Jones, and signed Ladanian Tomlinson to go alongside Shonn Greene.  Jones is now a Chief and they already have a young feature back in Jamaal Charles.  How the carries get split between the two is yet to be determined, but in no way will Jones get as many carries as Charles, barring injury.  Jones is 31, and most running backs start their decline at 30, so Jones will probably be used on third downs, short yardage, and to spell Charles during games.  Even if he does get more carries than I’m expecting, it will be well shy of 300, and Jones will likely have less than 1,000 yards rushing.  Look for a big drop off in 2010.