by John Miller

Today’s Ryan Torain update on Shark Bites:

From the Rocky Mountain News: “Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said his preference is to keep rookie RB Ryan Torain out Sunday to give him more time to come back from his elbow injury. But the Broncos may need him, given their dinged-up backfield. ‘We’ll wait and see,’ Shanahan said of Torain’s debut.”  Yep, this Torain kid has a big, big underground fantasy buzz. It sounds like Shanahan heard about it. His purpose in life is to disappoint fantasy owners, so we might have to wait one more week to see Torain play.

Here’s what Ryan Torain says on his Blog:

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has (possibly) come.

All I know is I’m most definitely excited to get on the field if Coach calls my name. Like I’ve been saying, I’ve got to be ready if it happens, and right now I know I will be.

Over the bye week, as you all know, I just stayed a couple extra days and conditioned, working out with Coach Tuten. I did some more rehab and studied my playbook — just did a couple of extra things to get right. Get my mind right and my body right. I did have some time to relax though, on Saturday and Sunday, then we were back in here on Monday.

I have noticed one change, though. More and more reporters are coming to my locker during open locker room. It went from having maybe one person come and talk with me to having every camera in the place all gathered around me. It’s not overwhelming or anything like that, though. I’m just answering the questions, telling them what’s going on. The question that’s been asked the most is, “Are you getting playing time?” or “Are you starting?” I can’t answer either of those. Both of those are a game time decision. I don’t know yet, so I’ve just got to stay patient, stay on my Ps and Qs and be ready for everything that could possibly be thrown my way. Then I can go out there and have some fun.

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by John Miller

Gotta love the internet, here’s Kim Kardashian’s celebrity blog where she chronicled her boyfriend Reggie’s knee surgery last week. Interesting tidbit….. Kim says Reggie showed up at her birthday party last Friday night in Vegas: “He surprised me! The [Saints] coaches and doctors agreed that Reggie was well enough to fly to Vegas and attend my party. I was being a total mom type and made a security guard stand next to him so no one would bump into his knee! LOL! He is feeling great and will be back in no time! Yesterday the Saints won their game against the Chargers in London!!!” 

Bush got his meniscus cartilage scoped on Monday, Oct. 20. He’s in Las Vegas that Friday, 4 days later, with no crutches. That’s a good sign.  The Saints are hoping Bush can play in week 11 which would be exactly 4 weeks after his injury.

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Here are the Standings after Week 8 in the Draft Sharks Invitational Leagues:

* Overall Total Points champion gets a free entry & seat at the 2009 World Championship of Fantasy Football. If one of the 4 Draft Sharks staff teams wins, we’re giving our seat to DS customer Clayton Ward, who is stationed in Iraq fighting for our freedom. Keep your head down and come home soon Clayton!  

* We’ve had questions from lurkers about why no one adds or drops players. It’s a ‘DraftMasters’ style league. You stock up with a hefty 22-man roster and have no transactions in-season. Your lineup & score is automatically tallied “best-ball” where your highest scorers count. It’s all about the draft in this format… it’s DraftMasters!

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by John Miller

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by John Miller

More on the breaking steroid report with Saints RB Deuce McAllister and DE Will Smith testing positive for Bumetanide, a masking agent that dilutes the urine. Remember, the report said there was “a rash of positive tests under the steroid policy.” Now there’s a hefty list of busted players circulating on the internet. Remember, this is unsubstantiated rumor:

RB Deuce McAllister (NO)
DE Will Smith (NO)
RB Leon Washington (NYJ)
RB Warrick Dunn (TB)

S Donte Whitner (BUF)
NT Jason Ferguson (MIA)
WR Eddie Royal (DEN)
TE Ben Utecht (CIN)
WR Malcolm Floyd (SD)
S Dawan Landry (BAL)
DT Cornelius Griffin (WAS)

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by John Miller

Willie Parker didn’t step in a hole this week, but something in that left knee is just not right.  He told Jim Wexell of SteelCityInsider.com, “I’m just frustrated.” Parker did the early morning drills (otherwise known as jogging and stretching) Thursday but did not practice.  He had put in a full practice Wednesday. Uh oh.

“It’s doubtful Parker will recover in time for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants,” writes Wexell.

Mike Bires of the Beaver County Times says “it appears more and more” that Mewelde Moore will start.

If Parker just had a small tear in that MCL then conservative treatment and rest would have sufficed after 3 full weeks. Last week was his 3^rd week, but then he stepped in that hole. Parker might have re-frayed that ligament, which could push him back another 3 weeks.

Mewelde Moore stays on fantasy rosters in leagues of all sizes until Parker shows he’s totally past this… which might not be for a while.  Update: Parker is listed as doubtful. He’s out.

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by John Miller

Peter King picks Detroit over Washington, Seattle over San Francisco, Tennessee over Indy… and Philly over Atlanta in a 27-22 squeaker.  A couple extra-nutty picks this week… though he did call Miami over San Diego in week 5. No one else on the planet called that one.

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by John Miller

With Reggie Bush out for 3-4 weeks (they’re hoping) after Monday’s knee meniscus scope, there are questions about the Saints offense without him.  Do not fear, says Jeff Duncan of the Times-Picayune.

“Look at what happened last year when Bush went to the bench with a knee injury and missed the final four games of the season,” writes Duncan.

“The Saints averaged 343.9 yards and 22.2 points a game in the 12 games with Bush in the lineup. They averaged 413.2 yards and 28.2 points in the 4 games without him.”

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by John Miller

I pulled more low-profile numbers from STATS Inc., I find these very interesting… Also, for more in-depth stats have you seen our Draft Sharks Leaderboard?

QB Passing Yards Lost to Penalties

 AFC

 NFC

RB Yards Per Carry in 4th Quarter

 AFC

 NFC

RB-WR-TE Passes Dropped

 AFC

 NFC

   <<< www.draftsharks.com >>>

Here are the Standings after Week 7 in the Draft Sharks Invitational Leagues:

 (Overall Total Points champion gets a free entry in the 2009 WCOFF)

We’ve had questions from outside viewers about why no one is adding and dropping players. It’s a ‘Draftmasters’ style league. You stock up with a 22-man roster and there are no transactions in-season. Your lineup & score is automatically tallied as “best-ball” where your highest scorers count. It’s all about the draft in this format.

   <<< www.draftsharks.com >>>