Joe & Daphne's Preview: The NFC North

Pictured: Daphne being held by not Joe.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe) and Daphne Parello (@DaphnePup)

We finish up our NFC previews with the high-flying North.

I know, imagining a division where passes are flying all over the yard at Lambeau Field and Solider Field is a little weird, but with three of the league's Top-13 passers returning from last season, along with a promising sophomore, and half the division (Minnesota and Detroit) playing indoors, this isn't the NFC Norse of old.

Even with all those yards through the air returning, there are still questions for each team in the North. Can Green Bay find enough defense to get to Super Sunday? Can the Bears turn Jay Cutler's gaudy yardage totals into wins? Can Detroit take the next step and truly contend in the NFC, and how far can Teddy Bridgewater carry Minnesota in his second season, especially with the help of reinstated All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson?

Daphne and I investigate.

Last Minute Fantasy "Start'ems and Sit'ems:" Week 2

Patriots running back Shane Vereen could be in line for an increased workload and bigger fantasy numbers this week.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

We'll see how regularly we can keep this going, but this is the first week of SuiteSports' last minute fantasy football advice.

We're going to try to do this every Sunday morning, though it will likely depend on the kind of Saturday fellow editor Jeremy Conlin and I have.

Don't feel bad, that's the same attitude I have toward my 77 fantasy teams as well.

Just kidding, I only have three, but it seems like 77 sometimes when I find myself simultaneously rooting for and against every wide receiver in the league.

Anyways, here are some guys you may want to plug in or pull out before kickoff today. Obviously, you're going to want to start the Peyton Mannings and LeSean McCoys of the world every week, but here are some guys on the border of a QB1, WR2, RB2 or Flex spot.

Weekend Football Roundup - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Plenty of QBs put up huge numbers this weekend, but perhaps nobody scored a bigger win than Andrew Luck in Indy's come-from-behind victory over Seattle.

 By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Every Tuesday during football season, editors Jeremy and Joe will bring you the good, the bad and the ugly from the college and pro football weekend that was.

The Good

Quarterbacks in Losing Efforts

Among quarterbacks not named Peyton Manning, there's a strong argument to be made that the three best performances from quarterbacks in Week 5 came from losing teams. Manning's counterpart, the tragic figure of Tony Romo, threw for over 500 yards at an obscene clip of 14.1 yards per attempt. He added five touchdown passes (and one ill-timed interception that was more bad luck than bad football) and some of the most precise throws seen all season. Joining Romo among the losers was Jay Cutler (24-33, 358 yards, 2 TDs, 128.1 Passer Rating), who out-dueled his more-acclaimed opponent in Drew Brees (29-35, 288 yards, 2 TDs, 120.0 Rating), and Matt Ryan, who had an exemplary performance on Monday night, completing 36 of 45 passes for 319 yards and two scores, including a late touchdown drive that included two 4th-down conversions to take a 28-27 lead that was eventually squandered by a porous Atlanta defense.

-JC

Studs and Duds: A Big Week for D-Bag QBs

By Jeremy Conlin and Joe Parello

Studs and Duds is a weekly feature on Suite Sports. Who had a good week? Who had a bad week?

Studs:

Hugh Freeze

On Signing Day 2007, Freeze was an assistant on then-Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron's staff when the Rebel coaches received the bad news that the nation's top prospect, Joe McKnight, was committing to USC instead of Ole Miss.

At the time, it was considered a minor miracle that McKnight was even considering the hapless Rebels, and Orgeron was considered to be the nation's best salesmen in the recruiting game.

Well, the student became the master on Signing Day 2013, as Freeze did was his mentor could not: close the deal on the best high school football player in the country. When Robert Nkemdiche committed to the Rebels, it not only gave some much needed punch to their pass rush, it legitimized Oxford as a Blue Chip destination once again.

The fact that Ole Miss would also add five star Florida offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil on Signing Day and already had five star receiver Laquon Treadwell "in the boat," led to the Rebels earning a consensus top-10 recruiting ranking.

It also led to speculation that they had to be cheating. Heck, even I labeled them as "The Program that Has No Business Recruiting this Well." It's also amusing, because back in late 2006, Orgeron joked that if McKnight committed to the Rebels, they would be investigated by the NCAA.

But Freeze, who prior to Wednesday was best known for being Michael Oher's high school coach in The Blind Side, claims this class is full of natural "ins" with recruits and kids really recruiting for the program. We'll see how it works out when they get on campus, but on the recruiting trail, Freeze is the top stud in the country.

-JP