Fantasy Look: Week 15 Preview
Patrick Daly
Thursday May 5, 2005
Looking around the league, you’ll have to keep an eye on the New York Dragons, where OS Kevin Swayne has returned to the field after missing most of the season due to injury. That means OS Mike Horacek could see a further hit to numbers that haven’t been all that stellar for someone who has QB Aaron Garcia to keep him busy. Over the past five weeks Horacek has consistently scored one touchdown in each game, but hasn’t hit the 100-yard mark in receiving since Week 9.
In a week where upsets abounded, Nashville Kats OS Fred Coleman had his best scoring game of the season with six catches for 75 yards and three touchdowns against the San Jose SaberCats. Coleman appears to have regained the offensive specialist spot from OS Travis McGriff. Although, despite the increased output last week by Coleman and QB Leon Murray, starting any member of the Nashville Kats has proven to be a risk as they have had little consistency through the course of the season.
Despite WR/LB Sean Scott’s hot start in Philadelphia, the story lately has been WR/DB Marcus Knight. During the past six-game stretch, Scott has managed only five total scores, while Knight has become QB Tony Graziani’s most used target while accounting for 20 touchdowns during that span. Unfortunately, Knight is off this week, so you’ll have to fill the gap elsewhere at least until next week.
Grand Rapids Rampage QB Michael Bishop continues to be one of the most exciting players in the Arena Football League and had one of his best games last week in an upset of the Colorado Crush. Bishop completed 80% of his passes (25 of 31) for 310 yards and five touchdowns while adding two more scores on the ground, a place where he’s done a good portion of his damage this season. Although I think he still has work to do as a passer, he’s finding ways to produce fantasy points through the air and on the ground, which has made him a valuable commodity.
In Los Angeles, Avengers OS Tony Locke has taken a firm grasp on the offensive specialist spot, and while he won’t make anyone forget OS Chris Jackson completely, he’s been a fairly steady producer since entering the lineup. In the last five weeks, he’s compiled 683 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. The Avengers will need him to step up for this week’s contest against San Jose, but he faired well in his Week 4 debut against the SaberCats when he finished with 118 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Speaking of San Jose, OS Rashied Davis continues to thrive in the SaberCats’ offense and you have to wonder how much better his numbers could have been with a full season of play – he missed the first two weeks of the season and didn’t step into the offensive specialist role into late in the first half of the year.
Finally, make note of those teams that have fallen out of the playoff race, which includes the Columbus Destroyers, Grand Rapids Rampage, Arizona Rattlers and Austin Wranglers. While these teams are still playing for pride and for next year, you might see less time going to veteran players. Although, chances are unless you have Rattlers OS Siaha Burley, who needs nine more touchdown grabs to complete his assault on the single-season receiving touchdown record, you haven’t been getting too much production from players on these teams this season anyway.
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
