The R&B Shuffle

The injury merry-go-round still seems to be spinning, pulling in running back after running back and spitting out nothing but piles of mangled flesh. I feel like I'm trapped in a fantasy football version of As the World Turns where all the shitty actors have been replaced by football players and each successive week the plot lines get stranger, unwittingly more stupid and less likely to happen. But this is reality, isn't it?

Last week, LJ went down with what was reported to be foot sprain. Spin doctor jargon to say the least. I hope no one was biting when they held LJ's undefined starting status in front of us like a carrot, giving us the hope that we may actually be able to field a team that week, then snatched it away at the last second. At least this week they were kind enough to rule him out before the waiver wire opened up. But it makes last week's dog and pony show that much more infurriating. You think he had a better shot at playing last week than this week? Fuck no! Let's be men and call an apple an apple.

It's time to face the fact that LJ is really hurt and it couldn't have come at a worse time. I mean, reports earlier this week said that the swelling had just begun to go down. I've had a few (ha!) injuries in my day and I'll tell you, body parts don't stay swollen for over a week unless: a) you've broken a bone or b) you really torn apart some muscle and sinew - we're talking ligaments and tendons and all the fun stuff. Look how long it took Deion Branch to come back from his foot injury, assuming he plays this week. Or how long Kevin Jones had to sit out at the beginning of the season while recovering from foot surgery - a surgery which is apparently back to bothering him. Anyone remember a certain one year removed MVP's craptacular 2006? Another victim of the foot. Feet are fickle that's all there is to it. Ankles might be worse, but I'm not convinced.

The LJ injury paved the way for your great grandfather, Priest Holmes, to take the reigns and, honestly, I thought he performed fairly well. All of the fantasy sites (ESPN, Yahoo! and CBS) had him grading out high, which was ridiculous pipe-dreaming. What the hell did they think was going to happen? The dudes got three inches of dust to knock off - that's going to take a little time. I was just happy he got 20 carries and didn't fumble the ball. Sure, the six or seven fantasy points he put up weren't game changing but at least they were something.

I expect that he does better this week. Brody Croyle is starting and the Chiefs are going to try establishing the run to protect him. That means at least 20 to 25 carries for Priest and hopefully a couple of catches after they go down by too much and start airing it out. I'm not saying he's a great play against a fast Indy defense, but I don't think 100 combine yards is out of the question. Will he get the goal line carries? Will the Chiefs get to the goal line? That's anybody's guess.

Onto the newest flavor of the week, Chester Taylor. At least he'll be well rested. And a good matchup against the much maligned Oakland Raiders could mean a productive start, rewarding those who've picked him up and have the balls to start him. But outside of this weekend, I'm not buying. We've seen that show before pre-Peterson. Nothing has changed since opening day - the quarterback position is still a toss up, the wide receivers are pedestrian and the offensive line is league average. Adrian Peterson is a beast; an injury-prone beast to be sure, but a beast all the same. You could have put him on any team and he would have re-written history. Peterson was that team's confidence, their swagger - the intangible. As cliche as it's becoming to say, with Berman spouting it every Sunday and Monday, he is the Vikings "x-factor". Without him, they'll return to their defense-can-keep-us-in-it-for-a-while losing selves. Like solar systems, teams without a star die. Chester going to be right there along for the slow ride to the bottom.

Speaking of long rides to the bottom, it looks like the A-train is scheduled to return to service this week. Anyone want to take that ride through Pat-D town? Yeah, I thought not.