Midseason Report: The Scooters Slowly Round Into Team No One Wants To Play

On the strength of a 4-2 record (which includes a painful nine-point loss) and status as the third-highest-scoring team in my 14-team league, I’m relatively pleased with where the Scooters stand halfway through our 12-game slate. Gaining some more consistency from guys like quarterback Cam Newton, receiver Vincent Jackson and tight end Kyle Rudolph—and all have showed positive recent signs—would give this squad a dramatic boost, and that’s the goal at the midway point.

What’s Worked:

The two running backs I identified before the draft as best-case options at pick #13 were LeSean McCoy and Matt Forte, so to be able to land both to jumpstart my draft was, in my mind, quite a coup. As the #2 and #7 RB scorers, respectively, in my league, both have largely lived up to their billing, though of course, I would love to see a few more touchdowns from both. Likewise, the #2 D/ST in my league, the Seahawks, have been as advertised, and again, with room to grow from a turnover and scoring standpoint as the season progresses.

Unearthing Julian Edelman in the 13^th round worked out quite well, as he was an  important producer early on, then gave me ammunition to make what I hope will develop into a vital trade.

What Hasn’t:

The buzz was all about the package of plays St. Louis had put together for burner Tavon Austin, who they traded up to land in the first round of the draft. Unfortunately, Austin has been a bust to date, averaging scarcely more per catch than Adrian Peterson does per run, with none of the explosiveness anticipated. Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph was an afterthought on a team with few offensive weapons for some reason early on, and Jets running back Chris Ivory was beat out, then injured. Newton has been spotty, but not outright awful.

Best Move:

The best measure of this deal won’t come for a few weeks—and hinges largely on whether the Rams decide to involve Jared Cook more—but I feel good about trading Edelman and the Titans D/ST for Cook and Colts wideout T.Y. Hilton. I thought briefly about a later deal to land Aaron Rodgers, but balked on the idea of giving up McCoy or the Seahawks defense and quickly dropped the idea, which could turn out to be a wise decision.

In a move that contained elements of good fortune and heartache, I made an early-morning grab of Rams tailback Zac Stacy, who had just been named the starter, putting him directly into my lineup at the expense of Saints back Pierre Thomas—who would, of course, go on to score 34 points that week (in a nine-point loss, no less). A harsh turn of events at the time, but Stacy is looking more and more like a solid producer down the stretch.

Worst Move:

Outside of the Thomas/Stacy transaction above, I couldn’t make myself pull the trigger on picking up Denver tight end Julius Thomas just before the season began, electing to stand pat with Rudolph and Colts tight end Dwayne Allen. As the season got underway, Thomas emerged as a stud, Rudolph was relegated to appearing on milk cartons and Allen was lost for the year due to injury.

Also in the tight end category, I had Lions tight end Joseph Fauria on my roster for a week before dropping him to make room for the addition of Cook. Fauria then turned in a three-touchdown performance this past week, giving him five touchdowns on nine targets thus far this year. So one might be able to see why I am largely cursing the entire tight end position in general to date.

The Wildcard:

Percy Harvin—and it’s not close. Having taken a late-round flier on him as a keeper option, he is now getting closer to health, which could give my lineup the explosive distance scorer it could use to offset inconsistency throughout the wide receiving corps. If he can return to form, I will be positively stacked at the RB/WR positions.

Outlook:

The Scooters reside in a pretty cutthroat division, making it incumbent upon me to begin continue to make the correct roster management choices in terms of who should start on a weekly basis. If Newton can continue to show signs of life, Harvin can inject some energy into a promising group of wideouts, and either Rudolph or Cook can emerge as an every-week player, I do think that there’s plenty that can go awfully right for my snakebit franchise this year.