ALL HAIL DEMARCO MURRAY!!! WE ARE NOT WORTHY!!!
These were my exact thoughts on Sunday as I watched DeMarco Murray's (253 YDS, 1 TD) stats jump off the page in his first career start for the Dallas Cowboys against the once-again pathetic St. Louis Rams. Just to warn you, I am positive, just like last week, there will be much more DeMarco Murray talk throughout this blog. Stay tuned.
Now that we have that beast of a performance out of the way, I could not help but notice that other than an obvious day at the office for Aaron Rodger (24 COMP, 335 YDS, 3 TD's) and Drew Brees (31 COMP, 325, 5 TD's) beating the snot out of the Colts, for the second week in a row, it seemed to be somewhat of a quiet week from the fantasy aspect of the game. This is however comparing to what we were treated to at the beginning of the season. It seems as if the defenses are starting to wake up and find ways to stop quarterbacks from absolutely torching them week-in and week-out. Well, the Colts have decided to abort that strategy but hey, to each is his/her own (#sadColtsfan).
However, there is one man that was able to keep the excitement and debates alive on the weekend. Care to guess who? Yes, you guessed correctly, none other than Tim Tebow (13 COMP, 161 YDS, 2 TD's, 65 RU YDS, 2PT CONV). First and foremost, I am NOT a Tim Tebow fan nor have I ever been or will be. If I was jammed for a quarterback one week in fantasy and he was available, I most definitely would snatch him up hoping for those always wonderful rushing stats and touchdowns from my quarterback. That being said, as a fan of football, I cannot stand Tim Tebow (Just to get things straight, I am not meaning to start a "crap"-storm here, just my thoughts on Tebow as a quarterback and a fantasy asset). This week only solidified my feelings about the Broncos "saviour". Tebow was garbage the whole game against arguably the worst team in the league in the Miami Dolphins. Up until the fourth quarter with 5:23 left in the game, Tim Tebow's stat line read 4-14 passing for 40 yards, 19 rush yards, zero touchdowns, sacked 6 times and Denver as a team lead by Tebow was 0-10 on third down conversions (Thank-you to Yahoo! Sports for these stats). Yes in the end Tebow led the team to two touchdowns and converted a rushing 2-point conversion, but that does not take anything away from his BRUTAL game for the first 55 minutes of the game. And it was not Tebow who kicked and recovered the onside kick for nice field positioning, it was not Tebow who held the Miami offense from scoring in overtime, nor was it Tim Tebow kicking the 52-yard game-winning field goal in overtime. Matt Prater did not get near as much credit as deserved but was overshadowed by Tebows "heroics". Now I am probably sounding extremely irritating like a lot of other Tebow haters here, but from what I saw this weekend, Tim Tebow is nothing more than an average quarterback that can run like a fullback. I am not hating on the guy, I just do not see it in him like others do and will continue to think that way until consistently proven elsewise. This week will be quite the test against what is normally a very tough San Diego defense (Until Plaxico Burress found, or, put holes in their defense). Oh, did I mention beneath all the talk of his "AMAZING" comeback and great late-game play, it was against the Miami Dolphins?
For those Tebow fans, I apologize. Had to get it off my chest. Moving along. In the leagues I am currently participating in there was plenty of victories to go around as witnessed victories in all three leagues. Starting off with our con-joined ESPN league; it was our third win in a row and we won this one with authority. We picked up an 85-49 victory and it was all thanks to the one they call, DeMarco Murray. Murray racked up 31 points was our obvious team-points leader. The next behind him, John Kasay with 15 points. Kasay was a fill in pick-up for the injured Sebastian Janikowski and boy did that one pay off for us. Other than those two it was a pretty ugly week but hey, whatever captures the 'W' right? Side question: When does Reggie Wayne become droppable?
In our Yahoo! league Jon and myself were both able to jump back on the winning train and did in an emphatic way winning our match-up by 32 and 54 points respectively. Once again I recieved an amazing output from DeMarco Murray leading the way for my banged up group of running backs (McFadden-foot, Wells-knee). Plaxico Burress also decided to show up for me this weekend and did it with a BANG catching 4 balls for 25 yards and 3 touchdowns. The win was also a divisional win against Thomas (@Imtherealdougie), giving me the edge later down the road. This week half of my team is either on the bye (Sanchez, Burress, Keller, McFadden, Starks, GB DST) or hurt (McFadden, Wells). I have a couple fill-in guys playing this week but with some very favorable match-ups. Moving my record to 7-1 would put me in a very good position to clinch a playoff spot much sooner than expected. RUN DEMARCO RUN!!!
Jon's playoff hopes on the other hand are in serious jeopardy but the win he picked up in week 7 over Jordan (@jbeckham723) is a positive step towards that goal. Jon received a very solid and balanced amount of points from his team which was inevitably lead by Adrian Peterson's (1 REC, 175 TOTAL YDS, 1 TD) 24 points. With the good there does come some bad and Jon will be without Santana Moss for up to 6 weeks with a broken hand. He did however scoop up Michael Jenkins a couple weeks back for the FA pool and that is a guy I believe will have a very good second half with Christian Ponder at the quarterback position for Minnesota. All Jon needs now is for me to tack on a loss to his brothers record. Yes Jon, I am more than willing to help you out.
Moving on to the Booms, Bums and Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 8...
BOOMS:
DEMARCO MURRAY (DAL-RB): 253 rushing yards and 1 touchdown in his first career start, amazing. I had this guy wired last week but I will tell you, I was not expecting this. I did not think the Rams run defense was this bad. Either way, Murray was unstoppable and although I doubt he repeats or even comes close to repeating this performance against the often poor Eagles run defense, it has all the makings in world for another MONSTER of a game this coming weekend.
DREW BREES (NO-QB): I am sure Jared (@JPDClinton) will like this one. In our Yahoo! league Drew Brees put up 52.50 fantasy points and 62 real points against the Colts. Not that you could not of seen this one coming, it is incredibly remarkable nonetheless. The Saints play the Rams this weekend. The Rams have the second-least amount of fantasy points (In Yahoo! leagues) in the league. My advice: keep Drew Brees and any other significant Saint you own active with confidence this week.
Honorable Mentions: Arian Foster (Hou-RB), Matt Forte (Chi-RB), Ben Roethlisberger (Pit-QB)
BUMS:
CHRIS JOHNSON (TEN-RB): This was a guy that more often than not was drafted within the top 5 of most drafts and potentially even taken first overall. Chris Johnson (6 REC, 45 TOTAL YDS) is the definition of a BUM this year. This incredibly awful production has been a re-occurring theme for him all year long and I honestly believe that if he does not tear up the Colts defense this weekend, that is it for him. His value will drop to Ryan Torain level. You can also forget about a 1st or 2nd round pick next year, not even close to being worth that at this point. It is now or never for Chris Johnson. Start looking at Jamie Harper and Javon Ringer for some significant carries down the stretch whether you are a Chris Johnson owner or not.
MILES AUSTIN (DAL-WR): Choosing Miles Austin (2 REC, 16 YDS) for this section is a little unfair considering the game DeMarco Murray had. That being said, Murray's dominance on the ground should have paved way for more than 2 catches and 16 yards for what I believe is an elite wide receiver in this league. I doubt this will continue for Austin and the Cowboys especially now that teams know what Murray is capable of and are essentially forced to stack the box and give Austin the chance to burn single coverages for some big yardage and several touchdowns throughout the remainder of the Cowboys games.
Honorable Mentions: Ray Rice (Bal-RB), Rashard Mendenhall (Pit-RB), Daniel Thomas (Mia-RB) (Should have TORCHED Denver's defense)
WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS:
MICHAEL JENKINS (MIN-WR): As previously mentioned I think Michael Jenkins (3 REC, 111 YDS, 1 TD) can see a significant rise in production with Christian Ponder now throwing him the ball. McNabb's bounce passes were just not doing Jenkins any favors. He has shown in the past that he is capable of being a reliable receiver when he was with Atlanta. I do not want to compare him to Brandon Lloyd of last year but I think you could see somewhat of the same thing out of Jenkins with the Vikings and Ponder.
FRED DAVIS (WAS-TE): I think we could be looking at the next elite tight end in the game in Fred Davis. This week the Redskins placed Chris Cooley on the IR which finally paves way for Fred Davis to get all the targets he can handle. Not only is Santana Moss out for a significant amount of time but Washington's game also took a hit with Tim Hightower going down for the year (Not that that makes any difference to Mike Shanahan). Washington's offense is nothing to write home about but I think Fred Davis can become a serious fantasy asset and a serious keeper pick for those in leagues with more than 2 keepers. Go grab this guy, potential starter status.
Honorable Mentions: Ryan Torain (Was-RB), Roy Helu (Was-RB), Jerome Simpson (Cin-WR)
And this is where the fun ends. Only to start back up on Sunday. I sure do hope Beanie Wells can play this weekend because I think he could be a very sneaky play against Baltimore. Call me crazy but I think Baltimore's performance against the "'Move Like' Jaguars" (@dannysuperstar) puts a serious damper on their confidence. I like Philip Rivers to finally show up this week against fraudulent Kansas City defense, Calvin Johnson should MURDER the Broncos secondary, with or without Matthew Stafford and Stevie Johnson should come off the bye running circles around the Washington defense putting up some very nice numbers. And for all you Chris Johnson owners, if you refuse to sit him, please, for your own sake, trade him before it is too late.
Don't forget to set your lineups
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Week 6: Fantasy Football In-Review
As the 14th century English author Geoffrey Chaucer once said, "All good things must come to an end" (Yes I had to look that up using "The Phrase Finder": http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/1379.html). And that phrase, unfortunately, properly applies to the end result of my match-up this past weekend in our Yahoo! fantasy league. Although my players performances were not awful, they did not however stand a chance against my opponent, thus suffering my first loss of the season. More about that later on.
How did everyone else fare this weekend? From my personal point of view it seemed as if there were a lot of first half touchdowns scored on the weekend while the second half was much more quiet. Thus a promising fantasy performance for some may not have turned out too well in the end. The two men however that stood out above the rest and were affected by the "second-half slump", Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers (17 COMP, 310 YDS, 3 TD's) and New York "Football" Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw (2 REC, 130 TOTAL YDS, 3 TD's). These two had MONSTER games and single-handily beat the snot out of my Yahoo! team. Where it is expected out of Rodgers, Bradshaw actually came as a bit of a surprise to me. Bradshaw came into the game only scoring 2 rushing touchdowns on the year and had yet to crack the 90-yard mark on the ground this year. His rise in production could have been attributed to the absence of Brandon Jacobs (knee). Although Jacobs is expected to return after the Giants bye week, I believe Bradshaw's breakout game could lead to some big numbers down the road for the Giants and fantasy owners. This also makes him a fabulous sell-high candidate if you are afraid of Jacbos return and potentially stealing carries from Bradshaw.
Aside from the Packers dominating and the Dolphins and Colts pooping the bed, there were several teams changing the pace in regards to their performance and winning ways. Let us quickly review some of these teams and what they did in week 6...
The Detroit Lions chances of going undefeated on the season came to an end when they were dropped by the San Francisco 49ers. It was an extremely emotional game between the two now 5-1 teams. At the end of the game Lions head coach Jim Schwartz and 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh went to exchange handshakes at midfield and before you know it things exploded between the two coaches. After a UFC match almost broke out between I could not help but wonder, what kind of playoff match-up between the two teams this sets up. **<Cue Joe Buck intro HERE>** The Giants won a nail-biter over the "Cinderella" Buffalo Bills and while moving into first place in the always competitive NFC East in the process. Staying on the East coast, the Philadelphia Eagles picked up a much needed win over the Washington Redskins while intercepting Rex Grossman 4 times along the way amd ultimately knocking Sexy Rexy out of the starting quarterback role in Washington. Lastly but certainly not least, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens were all able to pick up a victory this past Sunday solidifying the AFC North as arguably the toughest division in football. The Steelers seem to be rounding out as the elite team we once thought they were at the beginning of the season. The Ravens are putting their early season domination on the backs of Ray Rice and their stingy defense lead by All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis. And to much surprise the now Carson Palmer-less Cincinnati Bengals led by their rookie ginger quarterback Andy Dalton and impressive pass defense are 4-2 on the season and are showing no signs of missing 85 and 81. Oh how I love the NFL.
Let us shift gears over to the fantasy aspect of the NF where Jon and I were successful for the second week in a row winning a close one 97-94 in our ESPN league. Rashard Mendenhall (146 YDS, 1 TD) FINALLY got off the schneid and paired some solid production along with the ever so consistent back of ours, Ray Rice (5 REC, 161 TOTAL YDS). We also received a very respectable amount of points from the Raiders DST with the Chargers DST on the bye this week. We were able to acquire DeMarco Murray off the waivers and plan on starting him this weekend against the lowly Rams. Look for a heavy workload for Murray as the feature back in Dallas for the next couple of weeks. If he really wants to be considered that "go-to" fantasy back he will have to start catching the ball a bit more, especially for those in PPR leagues. Got to capture that elusive third win in a row.
I personally was also able to pickup Murray in our Yahoo! league. I had been sitting with the number one waiver spot and decided that now was the time to use it. I will also need to see some solid production out of DeMarco if I want to get back into the 'W' column. As previously mentioned I suffered my first loss of the season this weekend at the hands of Tyler (@OvieMyHomie). What made the loss so much more worse was the fact that it was a divisional loss. Week 7 marks the end of the first wave of our league-wide divisional match-ups and I need the victory over Thomas (@Imtherealdougie) more than ever. This week I am without Wes Welker due to the Patriots bye and am looking for Plaxico Burress to step up in his place. Well, how about a touchdown to start Plax? It also looks as if Andre Johnson will be kept out of the Texans game against the Titans for Thomas and makes my match-up a slight bit easier. Your going down Tommy.
Jon suffered an even tougher loss, is now 0-2 in his divisional match-ups and currently sitting at the bottom of his division standings and 11th overall in the league. Did I mention the loss was to his brother who is running away with that division? Jon is in need of a serious boost and is making the hopeful moves to gain one. In last 7 days Jon has acquired Reggie Wayne for Ryan Fitzpatrick and Anquan Boldin and Peyton Hillis (hamstring) for Deion Branch, LaDainian Tomlinson and Mike Thomas. It is going to be tough for him to crawl out of his divisions basement but if anyone is capable of it I know he is.
It is now time for everyone's favorite section, Booms, Bums and Waiver Wire Pickups.
BOOMS:
AHMAD BRADSHAW (NYG-RB): I would LOVE to forget about this man and how touchdown'd me to death this weekend, but how do you look past a 3 touchdown game? Like I have already said, he was a BEAST against the Bills. Just my luck to draw this match-up. Solid performance nonetheless.
AARON RODGERS (GB-QB): Hey look! Another player that beat me this weekend! There did not seem to be too many BIG fantasy outputs on the weekend hence why I am choosing a quarterback for this section. Nothing against Rodgers, it is just that no one else matched up to him. Rodgers was able to gain 310 passing yards and 3 passing TD's with only 17 completions against the Rams. Just another day at the office for Mr. Rodgers, no pun intended.
Honorable Mentions: Josh Freeman (TB-QB) (Bounce back game for Freeman), Michael Turner (Atl-RB), Marques Colston (NO-WR)
BUMS:
ADRIAN PETERSON (MIN-RB): On Sunday night, although he was able to reach the endzone, Adrian Peterson (39 YDS, 1 TD) was only able to gain 39 rush yards against a Chicago defense that has been quite average as of late. I feel sorry for Peterson owners because it seems as if the Vikings are not using him as much as they, well, should be. I do not think that this trend will continue for Peterson but it will interesting to see how the Vikings utilize AD from now on with Christian Ponder now leading the offense.
VERNON DAVIS (SF-TE): I'm sorry, but with San Francisco playing like the NFC contenders they seem to be, Vernon Davis should be front and center in that offense and Alex Smith should be using him in the passing game nonstop. Vernon Davis is one of the most talented and athletic tight ends in the game and this weekend he had 2 catches for 8 yards. That is uncalled for. Just like Peterson, I do not think this will be a consistent line for Davis going forward but Alex Smith needs to start getting his receivers and Davis more involved when the offense is on the field if they want to continue to have success because once defenses find a way to put a complete stop to Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter, hello bad Alex Smith and bad San Francisco 49ers.
Honorable Mentions: Roddy White (Atl-WR), Jermichael Finley (GB-TE), Rex Grossman (Was-QB) (Wow Grossman is BAD #4INT)
WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS:
DEMARCO MURRAY (DAL-RB): I have talked enough of Murray in this blog. The longer Felix is out the more Murray's value increases. Go get this guy if you are short on running backs.
MONTARIO HARDESTY (CLE-RB): So far this season Hardesty has not done much for the Browns even with Peyton Hillis being in and out of the lineup. But it seems at bare minimum Hillis will miss week 7 when the Browns take on the Seahwaks. If so, Hardesty will be in line for a full workload and have a chance to shine. Obviously the Browns are willing to give Hardesty the chance to play and get consistent touches not only with Hillis battling injuries and the Madden Curse, but also because there were rumors prior to the just recently passed trade deadline of Hillis being shopped around. Hardesty is another guy you should go grab, even if it is only for the one week. Also a great handcuff for Peyton Hillis owners.
Honorable Mentions: Jackie Battle (KC-RB), Carson Palmer (Oak-RB) (Complete speculative pickup in my opinion), Demaryius Thomas (Den-WR)
With week 6 in the books and week 7 right around the corner, the NFL only gets better and better with every passing week. Make sure you are keeping aware of the the upcoming Thursday night games and remembering to set your lineups and make any add/drop moves prior to those Thursday night games. This weekend I really like Cam Newton to go H~A~M against the Redskins and Chris Johnson to get back to his "Chris Johnson" ways against the depleted Texans defense. Also if you have the option, sit Matt Ryan against an angry Detroit team and defense, Ryan may be in trouble this weekend. My sleeper of the week is Seahwaks WR Sidney Rice (at this point Rice CAN be considered a sleeper). Good luck in week 7 everybody!
Don't forget to set your lineups
How did everyone else fare this weekend? From my personal point of view it seemed as if there were a lot of first half touchdowns scored on the weekend while the second half was much more quiet. Thus a promising fantasy performance for some may not have turned out too well in the end. The two men however that stood out above the rest and were affected by the "second-half slump", Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers (17 COMP, 310 YDS, 3 TD's) and New York "Football" Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw (2 REC, 130 TOTAL YDS, 3 TD's). These two had MONSTER games and single-handily beat the snot out of my Yahoo! team. Where it is expected out of Rodgers, Bradshaw actually came as a bit of a surprise to me. Bradshaw came into the game only scoring 2 rushing touchdowns on the year and had yet to crack the 90-yard mark on the ground this year. His rise in production could have been attributed to the absence of Brandon Jacobs (knee). Although Jacobs is expected to return after the Giants bye week, I believe Bradshaw's breakout game could lead to some big numbers down the road for the Giants and fantasy owners. This also makes him a fabulous sell-high candidate if you are afraid of Jacbos return and potentially stealing carries from Bradshaw.
Aside from the Packers dominating and the Dolphins and Colts pooping the bed, there were several teams changing the pace in regards to their performance and winning ways. Let us quickly review some of these teams and what they did in week 6...
The Detroit Lions chances of going undefeated on the season came to an end when they were dropped by the San Francisco 49ers. It was an extremely emotional game between the two now 5-1 teams. At the end of the game Lions head coach Jim Schwartz and 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh went to exchange handshakes at midfield and before you know it things exploded between the two coaches. After a UFC match almost broke out between I could not help but wonder, what kind of playoff match-up between the two teams this sets up. **<Cue Joe Buck intro HERE>** The Giants won a nail-biter over the "Cinderella" Buffalo Bills and while moving into first place in the always competitive NFC East in the process. Staying on the East coast, the Philadelphia Eagles picked up a much needed win over the Washington Redskins while intercepting Rex Grossman 4 times along the way amd ultimately knocking Sexy Rexy out of the starting quarterback role in Washington. Lastly but certainly not least, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens were all able to pick up a victory this past Sunday solidifying the AFC North as arguably the toughest division in football. The Steelers seem to be rounding out as the elite team we once thought they were at the beginning of the season. The Ravens are putting their early season domination on the backs of Ray Rice and their stingy defense lead by All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis. And to much surprise the now Carson Palmer-less Cincinnati Bengals led by their rookie ginger quarterback Andy Dalton and impressive pass defense are 4-2 on the season and are showing no signs of missing 85 and 81. Oh how I love the NFL.
Let us shift gears over to the fantasy aspect of the NF where Jon and I were successful for the second week in a row winning a close one 97-94 in our ESPN league. Rashard Mendenhall (146 YDS, 1 TD) FINALLY got off the schneid and paired some solid production along with the ever so consistent back of ours, Ray Rice (5 REC, 161 TOTAL YDS). We also received a very respectable amount of points from the Raiders DST with the Chargers DST on the bye this week. We were able to acquire DeMarco Murray off the waivers and plan on starting him this weekend against the lowly Rams. Look for a heavy workload for Murray as the feature back in Dallas for the next couple of weeks. If he really wants to be considered that "go-to" fantasy back he will have to start catching the ball a bit more, especially for those in PPR leagues. Got to capture that elusive third win in a row.
I personally was also able to pickup Murray in our Yahoo! league. I had been sitting with the number one waiver spot and decided that now was the time to use it. I will also need to see some solid production out of DeMarco if I want to get back into the 'W' column. As previously mentioned I suffered my first loss of the season this weekend at the hands of Tyler (@OvieMyHomie). What made the loss so much more worse was the fact that it was a divisional loss. Week 7 marks the end of the first wave of our league-wide divisional match-ups and I need the victory over Thomas (@Imtherealdougie) more than ever. This week I am without Wes Welker due to the Patriots bye and am looking for Plaxico Burress to step up in his place. Well, how about a touchdown to start Plax? It also looks as if Andre Johnson will be kept out of the Texans game against the Titans for Thomas and makes my match-up a slight bit easier. Your going down Tommy.
Jon suffered an even tougher loss, is now 0-2 in his divisional match-ups and currently sitting at the bottom of his division standings and 11th overall in the league. Did I mention the loss was to his brother who is running away with that division? Jon is in need of a serious boost and is making the hopeful moves to gain one. In last 7 days Jon has acquired Reggie Wayne for Ryan Fitzpatrick and Anquan Boldin and Peyton Hillis (hamstring) for Deion Branch, LaDainian Tomlinson and Mike Thomas. It is going to be tough for him to crawl out of his divisions basement but if anyone is capable of it I know he is.
It is now time for everyone's favorite section, Booms, Bums and Waiver Wire Pickups.
BOOMS:
AHMAD BRADSHAW (NYG-RB): I would LOVE to forget about this man and how touchdown'd me to death this weekend, but how do you look past a 3 touchdown game? Like I have already said, he was a BEAST against the Bills. Just my luck to draw this match-up. Solid performance nonetheless.
AARON RODGERS (GB-QB): Hey look! Another player that beat me this weekend! There did not seem to be too many BIG fantasy outputs on the weekend hence why I am choosing a quarterback for this section. Nothing against Rodgers, it is just that no one else matched up to him. Rodgers was able to gain 310 passing yards and 3 passing TD's with only 17 completions against the Rams. Just another day at the office for Mr. Rodgers, no pun intended.
Honorable Mentions: Josh Freeman (TB-QB) (Bounce back game for Freeman), Michael Turner (Atl-RB), Marques Colston (NO-WR)
BUMS:
ADRIAN PETERSON (MIN-RB): On Sunday night, although he was able to reach the endzone, Adrian Peterson (39 YDS, 1 TD) was only able to gain 39 rush yards against a Chicago defense that has been quite average as of late. I feel sorry for Peterson owners because it seems as if the Vikings are not using him as much as they, well, should be. I do not think that this trend will continue for Peterson but it will interesting to see how the Vikings utilize AD from now on with Christian Ponder now leading the offense.
VERNON DAVIS (SF-TE): I'm sorry, but with San Francisco playing like the NFC contenders they seem to be, Vernon Davis should be front and center in that offense and Alex Smith should be using him in the passing game nonstop. Vernon Davis is one of the most talented and athletic tight ends in the game and this weekend he had 2 catches for 8 yards. That is uncalled for. Just like Peterson, I do not think this will be a consistent line for Davis going forward but Alex Smith needs to start getting his receivers and Davis more involved when the offense is on the field if they want to continue to have success because once defenses find a way to put a complete stop to Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter, hello bad Alex Smith and bad San Francisco 49ers.
Honorable Mentions: Roddy White (Atl-WR), Jermichael Finley (GB-TE), Rex Grossman (Was-QB) (Wow Grossman is BAD #4INT)
WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS:
DEMARCO MURRAY (DAL-RB): I have talked enough of Murray in this blog. The longer Felix is out the more Murray's value increases. Go get this guy if you are short on running backs.
MONTARIO HARDESTY (CLE-RB): So far this season Hardesty has not done much for the Browns even with Peyton Hillis being in and out of the lineup. But it seems at bare minimum Hillis will miss week 7 when the Browns take on the Seahwaks. If so, Hardesty will be in line for a full workload and have a chance to shine. Obviously the Browns are willing to give Hardesty the chance to play and get consistent touches not only with Hillis battling injuries and the Madden Curse, but also because there were rumors prior to the just recently passed trade deadline of Hillis being shopped around. Hardesty is another guy you should go grab, even if it is only for the one week. Also a great handcuff for Peyton Hillis owners.
Honorable Mentions: Jackie Battle (KC-RB), Carson Palmer (Oak-RB) (Complete speculative pickup in my opinion), Demaryius Thomas (Den-WR)
With week 6 in the books and week 7 right around the corner, the NFL only gets better and better with every passing week. Make sure you are keeping aware of the the upcoming Thursday night games and remembering to set your lineups and make any add/drop moves prior to those Thursday night games. This weekend I really like Cam Newton to go H~A~M against the Redskins and Chris Johnson to get back to his "Chris Johnson" ways against the depleted Texans defense. Also if you have the option, sit Matt Ryan against an angry Detroit team and defense, Ryan may be in trouble this weekend. My sleeper of the week is Seahwaks WR Sidney Rice (at this point Rice CAN be considered a sleeper). Good luck in week 7 everybody!
Don't forget to set your lineups
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Week 5: Fantasy Football In-Review
Happy Week 5 everybody! Before I jump into anything, I would like to offer the chance to my readers to get their name and questions into next weeks Fantasy Football In-Review blog. If you have any questions about pickups, starts, sits or matchups for the following week (it would be week 7), send them to be either by Twitter (@DBraemer), Facebook or to my email (colts10@hotmail.com). Just like Jon and I do on the podcasts I will include you and your questions on the blog. Now that I have got that out of the way...
The season is starting to get on a role and teams not only in the National Football League but Fantasy Football Leagues around the world are separating themselves from the pack and solidifying themselves as serious contenders at the top of the standings. As all you anxious readers of this blog know, I was unable to get a piece on here for Week 4. I have been under the weather for the past week and it simply will NOT GO AWAY. However, there is no excuse to be absent any longer and I am determined to keep this show running.
Week 5 was quite the week for myself. I won my first proline of the season (Big shout-outs to the Bills, Raiders, Packers and Lions), I pulled out another come from behind victory on Monday night over a division rival in Zach (@ZacharyAllard) in our league all thanks to Megatron and am 5-0 to start the season sitting atop our league standings, and the Colts are one week closer to acquiring Andrew Luck in next years draft. Like I said, it was a good weekend. All those stunning headlines aside, one tops them all, and that is the Oakland Raiders putting up a 'W' in Houston for their late owner, Al Davis. Davis passed away on Saturday at the age of 82. I am obviously not old enough to truly understand first-hand Davis' accomplishments, antics or the much deeper things he did for the NFL, but from what I have heard, read and have been told, the man was great for the game, love him or hate him. He was a rebel, just like the label his team is often given. He was famous for controversial decisions, for example: In the 2000 NFL Draft, under Al Davis' command, the Oakland Raiders selected placekicker Sebastian Janikowski 17th overall, making him the only kicker to ever be taken in the first round. At the time, yes, it seems crazy. However, this past weekend, Janikowski went 4-4 on his field goal attempts and 3 of those 4 converted were 50-plus yards. The man has a cannon for a leg. Not to say that Davis envisioned this 10 years ago, but obviously he saw something inside that crazy, old, experienced and intelligent mind of his. The Raiders did go on this weekend to beat the Houston Texans and do like their owner once and always said (you know where this one is going), Just Win Baby.
Lets now shift gears from the Raiders winning to the Lions moving closer to an undefeated season! I cannot believe I just said that. It is true though, the Detroit Lions are 5-0 for the first time since 1956 and are doing it in style. The Lions are arguably the biggest surprise of the season (we cannot forget about the Buffalo Bills) and are showing no signs of slowing down. Matthew Stafford looks healthier than ever and is playing the quarterback position at a pro-bowl level. Calvin Johnson is on pace to SMASH Randy Moss' receiving touchdowns in a season record already pulling down 9 in the first 5 games of the season. And let us not forget about the Lions defense. They are playing at an elite level and are led by the front four of Suh, Vanden Boesch, Williams and Avril. The return of their first round draft choice Nick Fairley will only improve the solidity of that line. Their pass defense has been questionable at times but as a whole the defense is getting to the quarterback, forcing turnovers and putting a seal on games late when it matters most. This team is full of young players on their way to stardom and have the experienced players where needed. I believe it is safe to say that the Detroit Lions are serious Super Bowl contenders this year if they can continue to play the way the have been going forward into the season.
Moving on the the meat and potatoes of this blog, fantasy football. After a rough start in our ESPN league, Jon and I were able to pick up a much needed win this weekend. Now, normally in fantasy football you tend to rely on your playmakers week-in and week-out. Whether it be your star quarterback, your endzone hunting running back, or your ball-hawking wide receivers. This week, Dwayne Bowe (7 REC, 128 YDS, 2 TD's) aside, we relied on the leg of the aforementioned Sebastian Janikowski. In our league his 4 field-goals (54, 55, 50, 42) and 2 extra points were worth an obvious season high 20 points. He single-handily... or LEGily led us to victory this weekend. Next week we are without the likes of Dwayne Bowe, Mike Tolbert and the Chargers DST. But as far as I'm concerned, as long as we got Janikowski, the championship is ours.
It should also be noted that in our Yahoo! league certain players were able to make an equal impact as they did in our ESPN league. As I am watching the Raiders-Texans game on Sunday, admiring these BOMBS of kicks Janikowski is making I shoot Jon a text saying how MONEY he is for us right now and could not help but wonder who has him in our Yahoo! league. Jon's response: "The guy you are facing". FML. Mr. Zachary Allard. My division rival. Not only did he have Sea Bass, but Pierre Garcon (5 REC, 125 YDS, 2 TD's) as well in his flex spot. Once the Packer game was over I went into Monday night down 19+ points to Zach. He still had Brian Urlacher (2 STKL, 1 ATKL) whereas I was still sitting on Jason Hanson (7 PTS) and Calvin Johnson (5 REC, 130 YDS, 1 TD). As previously mentioned I was able to capture my fifth win of the season and remain undefeated. I love me some Megatron. Next week I take on my "arch-nemesis" and divisional rival in Tyler who also sports a very nice 4-1 record and dominating victories over the last 3 weeks. I am without a banged up V-Jax and Beanie Wells in Week 6, nothing my team cannot overcome. Bring it on 6-0.
Jon on the other hand suffered a defeat that looked to be quite painful. Not only was it to Dan (@dannysuperstar) who was able to pick up his first win of the season, but it also came on the heels of an amazing performance by Jon's first-round keeper, Adrian Peterson (122 RUYDS, 3 TD's). Not to mention it was also a divisional match-up. That being said, there still is 5 more divisional match-ups throughout the regular season and still a small amount of time to make-up that ground in a VERY weak division (combined W-L record, 6-14). Flumpy is the only person standing in your way Jon. Hammer on your keyboard next time you go to set your lineup, you never know what could happen.
Time to get into the Booms, Bums and Waiver Wire Pickups of the week.
BOOMS:
BEN ROETHLISBERGER (PIT-QB): Normally I avoid choosing quarterbacks for this section but it is hard to avoid Jared's (@JPDClinton) favourite quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (24 COMP, 228 YDS, 5 TD's) for several reasons. One being that he threw 5 touchdown passes and the other that he was playing on a bum ankle. I know Roethlisberger has a record of making injuries seem bigger than they are so he can play the hero role, but this one was hard to argue against considering the news and information we did have leading into the game. And probably for the first time this season, the offensive line was able to keep him off the turf for the majority of the game.
ADRIAN PETERSON (MIN-RB): Like I had already stated, Peterson had an incredible game scoring 3 touchdowns all coming in the first quarter leading the Vikings to their first win of the season over the Arizona Cardinals. It was a little unfortunate to not see Peterson hit pay-dirt again in the remaining 3 quarters but regardless of the final stat line, I would take a 3 touchdown game from any of my players any day, ALL DAY.
Honorable Mentions: Matt Cassel (KC-QB), Dwayne Bowe (KC-WR), Doug Baldwin (Sea-WR) (Needs a consistent quarterback)
BUMS:
DARREN MCFADDEN (OAK-RB): Although the Raiders were able to pick up an emotional win in Houston this past Sunday, until second half where he picked up 40 yards, Darren McFadden (2 REC, 68 TOTAL YDS) was nowhere to be found against a Houston defense that he had all the potential to run wild on. As a McFadden owner this output was extremely discouraging but nothing you should be putting a warning sign up for. Michael Bush (9 YDS) was also extremely ineffective so we could chalk this one up to a good showing on the ground by the Houston defense.
JOSEPH ADDAI (IND-RB): Not to imply that Joseph Addai (1 REC, 25 TOTAL YDS) should or normally does put up eye-popping numbers, but the Kansas City defense is futile this year and Addai should have put up much better numbers than he was able to manage on Sunday. He aggravated his hamstring in the game so this opens the door for Delone Carter (2 REC, 34 TOTAL YDS, 1 TD) to carve his way into some consistent reps out of the Colt backfield. Addai may be safe once Peyton comes back but performances like this do not help his cause with the team or fantasy owners.
Honorable Mentions: Matt Ryan (Atl-QB), Josh Freeman (TB-QB), Brandon Lloyd (Den-WR) (1 REC, 20 YDs... Welcome to the Tim Tebow era Bronco fans)
WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS:
DOUG BALDWIN (SEA-WR): I know it is hard to justify a Seahawk wideout as a pickup in fantasy football but I truly think that if Seattle can find consistency at the quarterback position and Baldwin is able to find chemistry with that quarterback, he could end up having a big year considering what he is valued at now and was at the beginning of the season, next to nothing. This is the third game this year he has had if not a big game but a very respectable one and should be on everyone's watchlist going forward especially if Charlie Whitehurst ends up becoming Seattle's long-term quarterback.
MALCOLM FLOYD (SD-WR): Can comeone please explain to me why this man is only owned in 57% of Yahoo! leagues?! I understand he only has 1 touchdown this season and Philip Rivers is struggling somewhat, but once this San Diego offense starts going full-speed, Malcolm Floyd (3 REC, 100 YDS, 1 TD) will become the forgotten man by defenses across the league and is bound to have monster numbers every week he takes the field. This past week playing opposite a banged up Vincent Jackson (3 REC, 34 YDS), Floyd provided solid stats for a guy that is probably a WR3 on most fantasy teams. Go grab this guy if he is available in your league.
Honorable Mentions: Curtis Painter (Ind-QB), James Jones (GB-WR), Jackie Battle (KC-RB)
That wraps up this weeks in-review, be sure to send me your fantasy football questions to either Twitter (@DBraemer), Facebook or my email (colts10@hotmail.com) and I will answer them in next weeks blog. YES there will be one next week. This weekend I am loving Aaron Rodgers against the St. Louis defense (who isn't?), a bounce back from Darren McFadden against the Browns, BJGE against the Cowboys HORRENDOUS run defense and Brandon LaFell as a sleeper pick against the Falcons. As always you can find us (@TheSportsReps) or myself on Twitter, Facebook, iTunes or as always here on our website. Good luck in week 6 and especially because of the bye weeks...
Don't forget to set your lineups
The season is starting to get on a role and teams not only in the National Football League but Fantasy Football Leagues around the world are separating themselves from the pack and solidifying themselves as serious contenders at the top of the standings. As all you anxious readers of this blog know, I was unable to get a piece on here for Week 4. I have been under the weather for the past week and it simply will NOT GO AWAY. However, there is no excuse to be absent any longer and I am determined to keep this show running.
Week 5 was quite the week for myself. I won my first proline of the season (Big shout-outs to the Bills, Raiders, Packers and Lions), I pulled out another come from behind victory on Monday night over a division rival in Zach (@ZacharyAllard) in our league all thanks to Megatron and am 5-0 to start the season sitting atop our league standings, and the Colts are one week closer to acquiring Andrew Luck in next years draft. Like I said, it was a good weekend. All those stunning headlines aside, one tops them all, and that is the Oakland Raiders putting up a 'W' in Houston for their late owner, Al Davis. Davis passed away on Saturday at the age of 82. I am obviously not old enough to truly understand first-hand Davis' accomplishments, antics or the much deeper things he did for the NFL, but from what I have heard, read and have been told, the man was great for the game, love him or hate him. He was a rebel, just like the label his team is often given. He was famous for controversial decisions, for example: In the 2000 NFL Draft, under Al Davis' command, the Oakland Raiders selected placekicker Sebastian Janikowski 17th overall, making him the only kicker to ever be taken in the first round. At the time, yes, it seems crazy. However, this past weekend, Janikowski went 4-4 on his field goal attempts and 3 of those 4 converted were 50-plus yards. The man has a cannon for a leg. Not to say that Davis envisioned this 10 years ago, but obviously he saw something inside that crazy, old, experienced and intelligent mind of his. The Raiders did go on this weekend to beat the Houston Texans and do like their owner once and always said (you know where this one is going), Just Win Baby.
Lets now shift gears from the Raiders winning to the Lions moving closer to an undefeated season! I cannot believe I just said that. It is true though, the Detroit Lions are 5-0 for the first time since 1956 and are doing it in style. The Lions are arguably the biggest surprise of the season (we cannot forget about the Buffalo Bills) and are showing no signs of slowing down. Matthew Stafford looks healthier than ever and is playing the quarterback position at a pro-bowl level. Calvin Johnson is on pace to SMASH Randy Moss' receiving touchdowns in a season record already pulling down 9 in the first 5 games of the season. And let us not forget about the Lions defense. They are playing at an elite level and are led by the front four of Suh, Vanden Boesch, Williams and Avril. The return of their first round draft choice Nick Fairley will only improve the solidity of that line. Their pass defense has been questionable at times but as a whole the defense is getting to the quarterback, forcing turnovers and putting a seal on games late when it matters most. This team is full of young players on their way to stardom and have the experienced players where needed. I believe it is safe to say that the Detroit Lions are serious Super Bowl contenders this year if they can continue to play the way the have been going forward into the season.
Moving on the the meat and potatoes of this blog, fantasy football. After a rough start in our ESPN league, Jon and I were able to pick up a much needed win this weekend. Now, normally in fantasy football you tend to rely on your playmakers week-in and week-out. Whether it be your star quarterback, your endzone hunting running back, or your ball-hawking wide receivers. This week, Dwayne Bowe (7 REC, 128 YDS, 2 TD's) aside, we relied on the leg of the aforementioned Sebastian Janikowski. In our league his 4 field-goals (54, 55, 50, 42) and 2 extra points were worth an obvious season high 20 points. He single-handily... or LEGily led us to victory this weekend. Next week we are without the likes of Dwayne Bowe, Mike Tolbert and the Chargers DST. But as far as I'm concerned, as long as we got Janikowski, the championship is ours.
It should also be noted that in our Yahoo! league certain players were able to make an equal impact as they did in our ESPN league. As I am watching the Raiders-Texans game on Sunday, admiring these BOMBS of kicks Janikowski is making I shoot Jon a text saying how MONEY he is for us right now and could not help but wonder who has him in our Yahoo! league. Jon's response: "The guy you are facing". FML. Mr. Zachary Allard. My division rival. Not only did he have Sea Bass, but Pierre Garcon (5 REC, 125 YDS, 2 TD's) as well in his flex spot. Once the Packer game was over I went into Monday night down 19+ points to Zach. He still had Brian Urlacher (2 STKL, 1 ATKL) whereas I was still sitting on Jason Hanson (7 PTS) and Calvin Johnson (5 REC, 130 YDS, 1 TD). As previously mentioned I was able to capture my fifth win of the season and remain undefeated. I love me some Megatron. Next week I take on my "arch-nemesis" and divisional rival in Tyler who also sports a very nice 4-1 record and dominating victories over the last 3 weeks. I am without a banged up V-Jax and Beanie Wells in Week 6, nothing my team cannot overcome. Bring it on 6-0.
Jon on the other hand suffered a defeat that looked to be quite painful. Not only was it to Dan (@dannysuperstar) who was able to pick up his first win of the season, but it also came on the heels of an amazing performance by Jon's first-round keeper, Adrian Peterson (122 RUYDS, 3 TD's). Not to mention it was also a divisional match-up. That being said, there still is 5 more divisional match-ups throughout the regular season and still a small amount of time to make-up that ground in a VERY weak division (combined W-L record, 6-14). Flumpy is the only person standing in your way Jon. Hammer on your keyboard next time you go to set your lineup, you never know what could happen.
Time to get into the Booms, Bums and Waiver Wire Pickups of the week.
BOOMS:
BEN ROETHLISBERGER (PIT-QB): Normally I avoid choosing quarterbacks for this section but it is hard to avoid Jared's (@JPDClinton) favourite quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (24 COMP, 228 YDS, 5 TD's) for several reasons. One being that he threw 5 touchdown passes and the other that he was playing on a bum ankle. I know Roethlisberger has a record of making injuries seem bigger than they are so he can play the hero role, but this one was hard to argue against considering the news and information we did have leading into the game. And probably for the first time this season, the offensive line was able to keep him off the turf for the majority of the game.
ADRIAN PETERSON (MIN-RB): Like I had already stated, Peterson had an incredible game scoring 3 touchdowns all coming in the first quarter leading the Vikings to their first win of the season over the Arizona Cardinals. It was a little unfortunate to not see Peterson hit pay-dirt again in the remaining 3 quarters but regardless of the final stat line, I would take a 3 touchdown game from any of my players any day, ALL DAY.
Honorable Mentions: Matt Cassel (KC-QB), Dwayne Bowe (KC-WR), Doug Baldwin (Sea-WR) (Needs a consistent quarterback)
BUMS:
DARREN MCFADDEN (OAK-RB): Although the Raiders were able to pick up an emotional win in Houston this past Sunday, until second half where he picked up 40 yards, Darren McFadden (2 REC, 68 TOTAL YDS) was nowhere to be found against a Houston defense that he had all the potential to run wild on. As a McFadden owner this output was extremely discouraging but nothing you should be putting a warning sign up for. Michael Bush (9 YDS) was also extremely ineffective so we could chalk this one up to a good showing on the ground by the Houston defense.
JOSEPH ADDAI (IND-RB): Not to imply that Joseph Addai (1 REC, 25 TOTAL YDS) should or normally does put up eye-popping numbers, but the Kansas City defense is futile this year and Addai should have put up much better numbers than he was able to manage on Sunday. He aggravated his hamstring in the game so this opens the door for Delone Carter (2 REC, 34 TOTAL YDS, 1 TD) to carve his way into some consistent reps out of the Colt backfield. Addai may be safe once Peyton comes back but performances like this do not help his cause with the team or fantasy owners.
Honorable Mentions: Matt Ryan (Atl-QB), Josh Freeman (TB-QB), Brandon Lloyd (Den-WR) (1 REC, 20 YDs... Welcome to the Tim Tebow era Bronco fans)
WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS:
DOUG BALDWIN (SEA-WR): I know it is hard to justify a Seahawk wideout as a pickup in fantasy football but I truly think that if Seattle can find consistency at the quarterback position and Baldwin is able to find chemistry with that quarterback, he could end up having a big year considering what he is valued at now and was at the beginning of the season, next to nothing. This is the third game this year he has had if not a big game but a very respectable one and should be on everyone's watchlist going forward especially if Charlie Whitehurst ends up becoming Seattle's long-term quarterback.
MALCOLM FLOYD (SD-WR): Can comeone please explain to me why this man is only owned in 57% of Yahoo! leagues?! I understand he only has 1 touchdown this season and Philip Rivers is struggling somewhat, but once this San Diego offense starts going full-speed, Malcolm Floyd (3 REC, 100 YDS, 1 TD) will become the forgotten man by defenses across the league and is bound to have monster numbers every week he takes the field. This past week playing opposite a banged up Vincent Jackson (3 REC, 34 YDS), Floyd provided solid stats for a guy that is probably a WR3 on most fantasy teams. Go grab this guy if he is available in your league.
Honorable Mentions: Curtis Painter (Ind-QB), James Jones (GB-WR), Jackie Battle (KC-RB)
That wraps up this weeks in-review, be sure to send me your fantasy football questions to either Twitter (@DBraemer), Facebook or my email (colts10@hotmail.com) and I will answer them in next weeks blog. YES there will be one next week. This weekend I am loving Aaron Rodgers against the St. Louis defense (who isn't?), a bounce back from Darren McFadden against the Browns, BJGE against the Cowboys HORRENDOUS run defense and Brandon LaFell as a sleeper pick against the Falcons. As always you can find us (@TheSportsReps) or myself on Twitter, Facebook, iTunes or as always here on our website. Good luck in week 6 and especially because of the bye weeks...
Don't forget to set your lineups
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