The Rise of the No-Name QB, And Other Insights on Week 6 in the NFL

Cleo Lemon, Tim Rattay, Derek Anderson, Vinny Testeverde, Gus Frerotte, Kerry Collins...Are these really the QB's who played significant time in week 6 of the NFL season? About 1/5 of the league is fielding a field general who has no business starting an NFL team in 2007. Testeverde is about as old as Julio Franco, Frerotte is the guy who knocked himself out with a head butt to a wall, and Cleo Lemon sounds like a guy who would be a character on 'Good Times.' Nevertheless, in an age of first round bonus babies and increased competition, these journeymen took the reigns and performed admirably for their teams (except Frerotte, of course, who head-butted his way to 5 INT's). With injuries impacting teams at an all-time high rate this season, expect this trend to continue.

Here are some more insights on week 6 of the NFL season:

• The additons of Randy Moss and Donte Stallworth to the Pats have been grabbing headlines, but how about little WR Wes Welker. He's catching short passes underneath and becoming a valuable possession receiver for Tom Brady. Look for him to be a consistent pest to opposing defenses as the season continues.

• As noted in this blog last week, WR Bobby Engram (9 catches, 120 yds) and TE Owen Daniels (5 catches, 79 yds) put up nice games this week. Keep them in your starting lineups until Deion Branch and Andre Johnson return.

• QB David Garrard looks like the real deal. The former backup has taken over the QB position for Jacksonville and stabilized the unit. The fact that he has yet to throw an interception this season is incredible!

• QB Chad Pennington looked shaky again this week. He has a matchup against the Bengals next week, which may hold off the call for Kellen Clemens. The Jets may be better off feeding the Bungles to Clemens now so he can get a quality start under his belt. The last time the Jets made a significant QB change was when Pennington replaced Testerverde in 2003. The Jets made the playoffs that season. Looks like history may repeat itself.

• Boy, was I wrong about Derek Anderson. The guy currently has more fantasy points than Peyton Manning. He's always been a gunslinger, but he is correcting his mistakes and not turning over the football. And, he's making a stud out of former 1st round pick Braylon Edwards. Keep riding Anderson while he's hot.

• Adrian Peterson is such a godzilla-like monster that I saw Japanese peasants running from Chicago this weekend.

• Miami is 0-6 and currently on the clock...With talent like Ronnie Brown, Chris Chambers, and Jason Taylor, it's amazing they can be this bad.

• Anyone see Marion Barber's run out of the endzone to avoid a safety?? The RB plays angry and gives Dallas some attitude. He's a keeper and will take over the full-time job next season when they let Julius Jones walk.