Cape Town Makana (4-6)
Cape Town was probably over-performing at 4-2. They are certainly under-performing–and distressingly so–at 4-6.
It doesn’t really add up: Cape Town has the 3rd best rushing attack and a decent enough passing game as well as the 3rd best overall defense in the league. They’ve been a bit susceptible to the big play, but this team should be over .500.
#Bottom Line
Roster Moves. Move Loadholt down. Replace Peterson as PR; look at replacing Asiata on KOs. Bring Thomas into rotation.
Draft Needs. LB, DL, TE.
Week Four Draftee Update: William Thomas. Has done alright, but moving up more to incompetence ahead of him than anything else.
#QB
Teddy Bridgewater has surprised, performing well enough to keep his job, with a 65% completion rate and only 5 interceptions. Only 7 TDs has kept his QB rating down, but it’s not truly bad (83), and when you add in 230 yards rushing, he’s been actually good. Bridgewater is hurt for another 2 weeks and replacement Fran Tarkenton has looked good so far–it could be interesting when Bridgewater comes back.
#RB
Adrian Peterson was averaging over 6 yards a carry when he got hurt (he is unlikely to return during the regular season), and Cape Town looked to have no replacement. Then up stepped Andre Ellington: 715 yards and 5 TDs later, they have clearly found their replacement. Ben Tate and Jerick McKinnon have done well in reserve roles, but both Matt Asiata and John David Crow have been downright poor.
#WR & TE
It’s Randy Moss and Larry Fitzgerald, all day. Moss has 66 catches for 816 yards; Fitzgerald 59 for 833 and the duo has combined for 9 TDs. Greg Jennings and Cris Carter have emerged as reliable options as well.
TE has been a weakness: Kyle Rudolph has been OK, but there’s been little else.
#OL
This is a strong group, led by Randall McDaniel, Steve Hutchinson, John Sullivan, and Jared Veldheer. Hutchinson has been a little inconsistent, but still solid overall. Grady Alderman has been good as a fill-in at T; Phil Loadholt merely mediocre.
#DL
Calais Campbell (12 hurries and 4 stuffs) was enjoying a great season until his injury. He may be back before the end of the year. Unfortunately, the rest of the line has been no better than solid. Sharrif Floyd (3 sacks and 6 stuffs), Jared Allen (10 hurries and 6 stuffs), and Alan Page (8 hurries and 4 stuffs) could all be doing more.
#LB
This is an area of need: Chad Greenway has 36 tackles to lead the group, not much else of note, especially with Anthony Barr being out for the season. Karlos Dansby has been reasonable. That’s some faint praise right there.
#DB
They’ve been asked to do too much, but they’ve done it: Paul Krause and Aeneas Williams have 3 interceptions each, and Williams leads the team with 44 tackles and 9 deflections. Joey Browner has done well at S and Antonio Cromartie has forced 3 fumbles.
#P & K
This has not been a good year to be a Makana kicker. Chandler Catanzaro started the year perfect on all his kicks (8 XPs and 9 FGs). Injured. In stepped Jim Bakken. Perfect on 11 XPs and 4-5 on FTs. Injured. So now it’s Fuad Reveiz. And, guess what? Perfect on the XPs and 9-12 on FGs, including a 53 yarder. So … Cape Town has had great kicking; it’s just come from 3 different people. Bakken and Catanzaro are unlikely to be back during the regular season.
Jeff Locke has been OK as a punter, but not good enough to prevent murmurs of discontent.
#Returns
Cordarrell Patterson and Asiata have split the job on KOs: Patterson has done well, Asiata less so. Patterson is injured for about another month. Patrick Peterson has been miserable on punts, and is likely to be replaced.