Football is back tonight at 5pm WST on NBC.  There will be the intriguing matchup of last year’s NFC Championship Game teams, the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints.  We all remember Brett Favre getting rocked to the ground several times in last year’s defeat.  I am sure he hasn’t forgotten and hopefully has been planning all off season how to get his revenge.  Look for the Vikings to start the season off with a bang, winning by 2-3 touchdowns.

Farhan Latif writes exclusively for CloudFantasy.  Email him  here

The start of the new season is also a fresh start to Cloud Fantasy’s NFL Picks.  There are a few close calls this week.  Minnesota at New Orleans for starters is a tough one to call but I know Brett Favre wants revenge for last year and his team has been planning ever since last year’s NFC Championship Game defeat.  Atlanta at Pittsburgh is really a question of how tough the Steelers defense is since Big Ben won’t be on the field to lead their drives down field. 

Cincinnati at New England and Baltimore at NY Jets are the two other really interesting matchups for Cincinnati and Baltimore having overnight becoming Wide Receiver Power Houses which makes you wonder in their first games even against the good defenses of New England and the NY Jets can they be stopped?  Cincinnati’s new offense will confuse New England because not only have the Bengals added TO but their quarterback, Carson Palmer, and he have already built a great chemistry so their shouldn’t be a feeling out period so I give the win to the Bengals. 

On the other side I don’t feel even with four good wide receivers including an injured one who won’t play, Donte Stallworth, the Ravens will beat the Jets.  I realize they both have good defenses as well but the Jets last year were a better team and were that close to being a Super Bowl team and I feel in week one with the Jets new acquisitions of Santino Holmes and LT being easy to integrate into the offense they should be able to squeeze out this game for the win.  There are just too many new offensive pieces for the Ravens to figure out all in game one against the best defense in the league especially considering their quarterback, Joe Flanco, is good but not a world beater.  But do watch out for the Ravens after their first few games, with three to four big name wide receivers, one elite running back, two other good running backs, a good tight end and a little time for their good young quarterback to figure it all out they could easily be not only in the Super Bowl but be the Super Bowl champions. 

Farhan Latif writes exclusively for CloudFantasy.  Email him  here

“Atlanta was cool, but they don’t have a lot of national television games. But Boston, with Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, I said we can do it.  A lot of people said I only got the league minimum salary, but that’s all right.  I’m the luckiest guy in the world.  I’ve had four max contracts in one lifetime, I don’t care about that little million. Did I want $10 million? I’m always going to put the number high.  I could have gotten $8 million from Atlanta and Detroit, but it wasn’t about that.  It was about being somewhere and being seen and winning.”

Not enough “national television games”, classic.  Funny how being seen is so important.  Wait, we are talking about Shaq, he needs that attention.  Who wants to play for a team nobody cares about anyways?  He needs to be a part of a big show and the Boston Celtics clearly are.  And he said he would like to win and the Celtics were 7 minutes away from winning it all last year.  But what if being seen wasn’t so important and if winning didn’t mean winning a championship but merely winning a lot of games?

The Atlanta Hawks could have really used him more than any other team.  Their front court has been undersized for awhile and need a quality center with size so they can stop playing guys out of position.  Shaq would have gotten the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals.  

The other option being the Detroit Pistons would have been ugly for so many reasons.  Yes, he would have had the biggest impact on their team.  But he would have been asked to do way too much considering their lack of talent, size, toughness and their duplicate talent.  He might have gotten them to the playoffs at best then he would have left after the season in a huff and a puff cursing everyone from Joe Dumars on down to the ball boys from all the frustration of having to do so much of the heavy lifting.

Ed Jones writes exclusively for CloudFantasy.  Email him here

Farhan Latif writes exclusively for CloudFantasy.  Email him  here

Farhan Latif writes exclusively for CloudFantasy.  Email him  here

First the Cincinnati Bengals showed  they don’t know what they want at wide reciever and then the Dallas Cowboys showed they don’t know and now the Seattle Seahawks are falling in line and getting rid of their best wide reciever, T.J. Houshmandzadeh by trading or releasing him.  Why in the world are these teams making these mistakes?  Somebody is going to get T.J. dirt cheap and start him. 

To really rub it in T.J. can sign for the minimum since his contract includes offset language that makes Seattle liable to pay whatever his new team doesn’t.  So if  he signs for $850,000, the Seahawks would have to pay the remaining $6.15 million.  Damn, this is a really bad move by the Hawks.  This after signing him to a five-year, $40 million contract last offseason.  They have wound up paying him $15 million for his one season. 

Fantasy Football players get T.J and hope that last year wasn’t his fault and more the fault of the team.  Do pry that he signs with a better team with a better quarterback and offense.  I really feel if does all of this he will go back to putting up big numbers again.

Ed Jones writes exclusively for CloudFantasy.  Email him here

“I’m glad that it’s over so I can now know what needs to be focused on.  I’m going to a contender.  A legitimate shot to go out there and be the No. 2 and contribute.  You know I’m licking my chops about that one.  I go from one Pro Bowl quarterback [Tony Romo] to another [Philip Rivers].  One Pro Bowl tight end [Jason Witten] to another [Antonio Gates].  Another dominant defense, a nice, young running back, a good offensive line … I’m looking forward to it.”  Patrick Crayton sounds happy, I know he had a long summer thinking about all of this.  Crayton and backup offensive lineman Pat McQuistan got to the San Diego Chargers for a seventh-round pick in next year’s draft which will be upgraded to a sixth-round pick if Crayton catches 40 or more passes in 2010.

Earlier in the day, these were the comments, “why wait?  It is clear the direction in which the organization is moving in.  Crayton is not part of the rebuilding plans.”  These were Patrick Crayton’s agent’s, Fred Lyles, thoughts about Crayton’s situation.  Then Crayton said, “you always wonder what it is.  I don’t know what’s going to happen, though.”  Yes, Crayton wanted to be released.  But I wonder why didn’t the Cowboys just release some of the C grade wide receivers on their roster? 

The Cowboys had thought about cutting or releasing Sam Hurd.  Sam Hurd or Patrick Crayton was the question.  Sam Hurt is a nice C grade or worse wide receiver who someday might get better but Patrick Crayton is a B grade wide receiver who has been a big part of the offensive for years now and has a great partnership with quarterback Tony Romo.  They should have got rid of Hurd and kept Crayton.

Fantasy Football players, this is a DAMN GOOD trade for Crayton, he is going to a very good team, with a very good offense, a very good quarterback, great tightend, and very good running backs.  He might even be the Charger 1# wide reciever as long as Vincent Jackson sits out.  Love this move Fantasy Football players. 

Farhan Latif writes exclusively for CloudFantasy.  Email him  here

There are a few different nice looking pairs of Air Jordan’s coming out tomorrow, September 3rd.  There are these Jordan Comfort VIS 11’s which is the Air Jordan XI Upper Fused with an Air Max 1 Sole in either white/varisty royal or white/varsity red.  Then there is the Jordan 2010 Team in six different colors and let’s not forget the Jordan Retro 9 in black/grey/red.  Which do I recommend?   Well I have already ordered the Jordan 2010 Team in white/grey/navy blue.  So clearly these are my winner of all of the new shoes coming out and I will give a full review of them by the end of next week. 

Farhan Latif writes exclusively for CloudFantasy.  Email him  here

Vernon Davis now a lieutenant for Coach Singletary?  Wow, I never thought this day would come.  So Michael Crabtree hasn’t been in any of the 49ers preseason games or even been practicing with the team and now Davis is mad.  Should Davis have taken this behind closed doors?  Or should he have started a fight with Crabtree during practice to rally the troops?  Anytime you can light a fire under a whole team that hasn’t been to the playoffs in years you have to go for it.  Interesting how the 49ers two most exciting personalities got into the most exciting situation of the season so far while neither has barely seen the field.

Ed Jones writes exclusively for CloudFantasy.  Email him here

Most people are usually debating between CJ ,AP, MJD for the number one selection. For those of you that don’t know those initials, they stand for Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson, and Maurice Jones-Drew. You can’t go wrong with any of those selections, however I would like to show some love for my main man from Rutgers in New Jersey, Ray Rice.

If you look at the overall numbers, Chris Johnson had the most rushing yards with a monstrous number of 2,006 yards. Throw in two more reception TDs and his total along with his rushing scores make it 16 for the year. If you look at all of the NFL backs who have run for 2,000 yards in one season, their next year did not even come close to those numbers. Here is a list of how the players did in their next season: OJ Simpson and his 1994 white ford bronco, 1125 yards in 1974, Eric Dickerson 1234 yards in 1985, Barry Sanders 1491 yards in 1998, Terrell Davis 211 in 1999, and Jamal Lewis 1006 yards in 2004. Unless Chris Johnson starts racing a cheetah, he will be the fastest player in the NFL, but not top on my fantasy team this year.

Let’s look at AP next; he scored the most touchdowns out of any back in this list, with a total of 18 of them. I am surprised to see that he didn’t have any receiving touch downs. He rushed for 1,383 yards with 436 receiving yards. We can’t forget the six fumbles he coughed up, even though that is a minor stat in fantasy. I think the Brett Favre saga has something negative about it towards the whole team and might change their moral some. I also believe that Toby Gerhart might get a few of the goaline carries and third down plays.

The third piece to this puzzle is Maurice Jones-Drew. He rushed for 1,391 yards with 16 trips to the end zone (1 td reception). He has the fewest receiving yards out of the bunch with 374. I believe that Jones-Drew might have a better season than the first two players on this list. However, the best option is in this next selection.

His name is Ray Rice, R-dub, and R-squared, however you call it; he will be a beast for your roster. I believe that Ray Rice is the best catching and yards per catch running back in the league. He had 702 receiving yards last year, and with his breakaway ability, he may be able to eclipse the 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards plateau. Who did it last you ask? 49er fans will remember Roger Craig doing it in 1985; however Marshall Faulk of the Rams did it in 1999. Don’t worry, Willis McGahee won’t be taking any carries away from Rice. Rice is the man and will dominate in every aspect for your team.

Harrison Ellman writes exclusively for CloudFantasy.  Email him here