Greg's Week 7 Rankings

Week 7 is one of the toughest bye weeks of 2007. Keeping in mind that the Chargers, Packers, Panthers, and Browns on byes this week, there are some big holes in many lineups, from QB (Favre, Derek Anderson), to RB (LT), to WR (Steve Smith, Donald Driver, Braylon Edwards) to TE (Gates, Winslow Jr.). So without further ado, here are our first rankings!

Quarterback
1 Tom Brady
2 Tony Romo
3 Carson Palmer
4 Peyton Manning
5 Matt Hasselbeck
6 David Garrard
7 Jeff Garcia
8 Eli Manning
9 Ben Roethlisberger
10 Donovan McNabb
11 Jason Campbell
12 Matt Schaub
13 Jon Kitna
14 Drew Brees
15 Damon Huard
16 Chad Pennington
17 Joey Harrington
18 Brian Griese
19 Vince Young
20 Marc Bulger
21 Cleo Lemon
22 Daunte Culpepper
23 Jay Cutler
24 Steve McNair
25 Tarvaris Jackson

Notes:
The Pats have another juicy matchup this week, this time against the 0-6 Dolphins. This game has all the makings of a "we'll play down to your level for a while" game, so Matt Cassell might not get as many snaps as hoped... I like Garrard against the Colts this week, even with Bob Sanders back from his injury. I have a hunch that the Colts are going to make the Jags beat them with the pass, and considering that Garrard doesn't make many mistakes, this could be an upset in the making....

Running Back
1 Larry Johnson
2 Willie Parker
3 Brian Westbrook
4 Joseph Addai
5 Shaun Alexander
6 Ronnie Brown
7 Adrian Peterson
8 Rudi Johnson
9 Willis McGahee
10 Laurence Maroney
11 LaMont Jordan
12 Edgerrin James
13 Thomas Jones
14 Frank Gore
15 Reggie Bush
16 Travis Henry
17 Marion Barber III
18 Marshawn Lynch
19 Maurice Jones-Drew
20 Clinton Portis
21 Brandon Jacobs
22 Cedric Benson
23 LenDale White
24 Derrick Ward
25 Kevin Jones
26 Earnest Graham
27 Kenny Watson
28 Ahman Green
29 Brian Leonard
30 Jerious Norwood
31 Julius Jones
32 Chester Taylor
33 Najeh Davenport
34 Warrick Dunn
35 Kenton Keith
36 Chris Brown
37 Justin Fargas
38 Fred Taylor
39 Leonard Weaver
40 Kevin Faulk

Notes: Yes, I ranked LJ #1 this week. Great matchup against the Raiders' poor rush defense, making this potentially LJ's best start of the year. On the other side, I like Jordan to have a big game as well, provided that his back holds up. Really tough matchup for Henry Sunday night against the Steelers. That game has 13-10 written all over it...

Wide Reciever
1 Randy Moss
2 Chad Johnson
3 Terrell Owens
4 Plaxico Burress
5 T.J. Houshmandzadeh
6 Reggie Wayne
7 Marvin Harrison
8 Torry Holt
9 Derrick Mason
10 Larry Fitzgerald
11 Jerricho Cotchery
12 Joey Galloway
13 Roy Williams
14 Patrick Crayton
15 Wes Welker
16 Dwayne Bowe
17 Laveranues Coles
18 Marques Colston
19 Anquan Boldin
20 Javon Walker
21 Santonio Holmes
22 Kevin Curtis
23 Donte' Stallworth
24 Calvin Johnson
25 Bobby Engram
26 Roddy White
27 Brandon Marshall
28 Shaun McDonald
29 Bernard Berrian
30 Ronald Curry
31 Antwaan Randle El
32 Santana Moss
33 Andre Davis
34 Ike Hilliard
35 Kevin Walter
36 Marty Booker
37 Jerry Porter
38 Darrell Jackson
39 Hines Ward
40 Michael Jenkins

Notes:
Ocho Cinco is already salivating over his matchup against the Jets this week. Here's hoping that the New England area carries the game, as I both despise Mangina and own Johnson in my league... I might have put Harrison a bit high in his first game back - he might drop a few spots when the rankings update is posted later this week. Temper your expectations for the DET WR's this week, as they face a tough TB secondary...

Tight End
1 Jason Witten
2 Dallas Clark
3 Tony Gonzalez
4 Jeremy Shockey
5 Chris Cooley
6 Heath Miller
7 Owen Daniels
8 Todd Heap
9 Desmond Clark
10 Chris Baker
11 Alge Crumpler
12 Randy McMichael
13 Alex Smith
14 David Martin
15 Greg Olsen
16 Eric Johnson
17 Reggie Kelly
18 Quinn Sypniewski
19 Marcedes Lewis
20 Bo Scaife


With Ben Watson likely out, 3 of the top 10 TE's are not playing this week (Gates/Winslow Jr.). One potential sleeper is Quinn Sypniewski for Baltimore, provided that Heap doesn't play this week. Buffalo near the bottom of the league in defending TE's. As mentioned in the Waiver column, I don't really expect much out of Kyle Brady this week, even with Watson not playing. At most, maybe 2 catches for 10 yards & a TD...

Kicker
1 Kris Brown
2 Matt Stover
3 Stephen Gostkowski
4 Nick Folk
5 Neil Rackers
6 Adam Vinatieri
7 Jeff Reed
8 Jay Feely
9 Robbie Gould
10 Shayne Graham
11 Ryan Longwell
12 David Akers
13 Lawrence Tynes
14 Josh Brown
15 Jason Elam
16 Rob Bironas
17 Matt Bryant
18 Dave Rayner
19 Jason Hanson
20 Mike Nugent

DEFENSE/ST
1 Patriots D/ST
2 Ravens D/ST
3 Steelers D/ST
4 Chiefs D/ST
5 Redskins D/ST
6 Titans D/ST
7 Buccaneers D/ST
8 Giants D/ST
9 Vikings D/ST
10 Bears D/ST
11 Jaguars D/ST
12 Seahawks D/ST
13 Texans D/ST
14 Bills D/ST
15 Cowboys D/ST
16 Eagles D/ST
17 Falcons D/ST
18 Lions D/ST
19 Bengals D/ST
20 Raiders D/ST