Studs and Duds for Week 10
By Paul Celmer
Of late I have received many questions of the form: Why has "player X" not been included in the Studs and Duds column for this week. Let me take a few moments to explain this phenomenon. Things are not as simple as they appear.
First, the "Studs and Duds" column is a listing of "selected" studs and duds from each week. What this "selected" means is that this column looks first at those players that have scored either abnormally high or abnormally low (which in the land of Arenafootball the number of these players can sometimes be quite large).
Then we select out those that have done studly achievements for more than one week. And then we cull again from this pool of potential studs and duds to select an elite subset of those that are of special merit.
In short, I do not go over every single stud and every single dud. On the contrary, I select from the obvious studs and duds from the week and analyze only those I feel really need an deeper look. And thus this is how we can, for example, have last week's column without Randy Gatewood being listed as a Stud. Yes, Gatewood caught a studly 5 touchdowns in week 9. But for an Arenafootball receiver to be considered a genuine stud he must produce week in and week out, and THEN catch 5 TDs to get noticed (by the way, Gatewood only had two TDs in Week 10. Pretty good. Not yet a stud, but pretty good. Now if Bonner has put the misfirings of the early part of the season behind him, Gatewood looks on track to emerge as a true stud. But not quite there yet...)
So, who did it this week?
THE STUDS
John Dutton
This quarterback snapped back from a horrible, weak Week 9 and has earned the palm laurels of Co-King of the Studs. Dutton played with the bile of vengeance surging in his liver and went 26 of 41 for 270 yards and 9 tosses into the place that matters most. The Crush needed this win over the Kats to improve their playoff situation, and they also needed the large margin of victory for tiebreaking purposes since they lost to the Kats earlier in the season (after head to head, margin of victory is the next tiebreaker in who gets a playoff berth). Of course, having Damien Harrell to throw to doesn't hurt, but Dutton picked his team up from the disembowelment they suffered last week doing what we expected this week and castrating the Kats.
Damian Harrell
This Offensive Specialist for the Colorado Crush earns Co-King of the Studs with his amazing performance. Harrell had 12 receptions for 134 yards and 5 TDs as he continues to be the No. 1 guy Dutton looks to when the Crush need points. What is special about Harrell is the crazy numbers he produces week in and week out. Watch and be amazed.
Chris Jackson
This perennial stud Offensive Specialist for the Georgia Force was a 7-TD machine last week, and week 10 was, surprise, surprise, not much different. Chris "Spiderman" Jackson did fumble a kick-off return in the first half, but this just made him play that much harder, forcing him to atone by taking 5 TDs to the house. After pulling out my slide rule, I believe that makes 12 touchdowns in two weeks. The only real difference in Week 10 was that he made it look even easier to pull in TD bombs over the heads of the hapless KC Brigade defenders. This amazing performance is on top of being a consistent every week stud. C-Jax is the Duke of the Studs, but he is well on his way to becoming the King of the Studs for the season.
Shane Stafford
The hurricane in the eye of the Tampa Bay storm, this quarterback is like a kid with a lite-bright on Christmas morning. He just does not stop lighting up the scoreboard, and week 10 was no different as he had 8 TDs. Of special note here is the Stafford shared the wealth among four different receivers. This distribution is much more of a lethal offensive, as opposed to some in the Arena league that rely on only one major stud receiver (say the Crush, for example). The quadruple-headed monster Stafford orchestrates is impossible to stop. You cut one head off, say the Freddie Solomon head, and like the ancient Hydra, another head (like Lawrence Samuels -- three TDs) springs up in its place.
Mark Grieb
Looks like this veteran Quarterback for the San Jose Sabercats is back on track. This hepcat went 26 for 37 for a monster 361 yards and 9 TDs. Now how cool would a Grieb-Dolezel shootout in the ArenaBowl be? Just for old times sake?
THE DUDS
After the glorious highs, must always come the horrible lows. Such is life in the Land of Arena Fantasy...
Marcus Nash
This Offensive Specialist for the Las Vegas Gladiators got shut down in week 10. Nash had just 7 catches for 71 yards and no TDs. This lack of production is particularly troubling given the fact that Nash's QB, Fife, looked good and the team scored 63 points in their domination of the Las Angeles Avengers in this battle between the leagues two "Las" teams. Check Nash's injury status, as one of his old wounds might be acting up.
Dane Krager
It is always easy to find duds among the rushers (Dan Alexander of the Kats this week comes to mind), but this fullback for the Austin Wranglers has been near the top of the fantasy fullbacks in the league the whole season. In week 10 however, the motor in this 72 Chevy Caprice fell out onto the interstate. Krager was listed as probable on the injury report, but was inactivated for the game. Not surprisingly this little piece of information not relayed in time to the outside world resulted in zero fantasy points for Krager owners.
Matt D'Orazio
This Chicago Quarterback had been one of the unexpected bright spots in terms of fantasy points in the first half of the season. Now, however, teams are finding a way to contain D'Orazio's rushing abilities and his numbers are falling fast. In week 10 he went 16 of 24 for only 1 TD. Something is going wrong in the city of broad shoulders.
THE SAP IS RISING
Neither fish nor fowl, there are some good things that defy the Aristotelian mania for categorization. The players in this list were not expected to be studly, yet stepped-up bigtime. Will they continue to produce? You have to judge these in a case-by-case analysis.
Angel Estrada
This wide receiver for the New York Dragons has flown under the fantasy radar but is ready to emerge as a good source of points for the remainder of the season. Estrada caught 6 for 64 yards and 2 TDs (one TD was a return of an interception). If you are a Horacek owner watch out for Estrada vulturing some of Horacek's numbers as appeared to happen this week.
Ben Nelson
This Offensive Specialist for the San Jose Sabercats had a spectacular 11 catches for a 203 long yards and 5 TDs. This guy's sap is more than rising, it is overflowing. Another week with production that is even close to this one and Nelson moves uptown into the golden fields of the Studs.
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