Kickoff 2014

It’s kickoff night in the NFL, which means fantasy football season has been in full swing for about a month and a half already with commissioners putting together leagues and recruiting players.  As readers last season will know, I was out of the fantasy football game for a couple of years last year before I was sucked back in.  I was obviously pretty rusty and stuck to formulas that had won me championships 5-10 years ago, but the NFL is a different much more pass happy animal now.  As such, I’ve updated some of my strategies.

1) Wide Receivers are more reliable than Running Backs and while the WR pool is deep, it really pays off to pull out the biggest fish early.  RB scarcity still makes it essential to get one of the best in the first two rounds if you can, but avoid going running back – running back in the first two rounds unless you get a great value or there are other circumstances like a significant portion of the elite player pool being unavailable in a keeper league.

2) I’m sure you’ve read this elsewhere, but if you only need one QB or TE, unless you are able to get one in the top tier in a reasonable round, it pays to stock up on Running Backs and Wide Receivers instead and get your Quarterback and Tight End later on.  There are anywhere between 15-20 reliable quarterbacks for fantasy purposes this year and it’s completely up in the air which ones will outperform the others, so if you are in a 12-team league there are more than enough to go around.  Sit back and let everybody else reach on quarterback first and let them risk picking the wrong one and cherry pick what’s left for yourself after you’ve already given yourself a substantial advantage on the other positions in the early rounds.

3) As always, you should always save your kicker pick for the last pick.  This is even more true this year as if you drafted before a couple of days before the start of the season, odds are the kicker you drafted has either been suspended, lost his job or been traded to another team.  Kickers are arbitrary and unpredictable and before this year the argument against that notion was always look at Matt Prater, one of the strongest legs in the NFL on one of the best offenses in football and has been an elite kicker every season of his career.  But if you reached on Prater early this year, the jokes on you because he won’t be the Broncos starting kicker this weekend or any weekend for the first month and a half of the season due to a suspension.  Meanwhile, the guys like me who waited to draft a kicker in the last round could drop our last round choice and pick up the guy that will actually be kicking balls in Denver, Brandon McManus.

So, ideally after 5 rounds of drafting, unless you got a great value on Jimmy Graham, Rob Gronkowski, Julius Thomas, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, or Drew Brees, you should have some combination of 2 or 3 Running Backs and 2 or 3 Wide Receivers.  Then, feel free to either get more RB/WR depth or if you feel comfortable with what you’ve got there, grab your QB and TE in the next rounds.  After all, in most cases it makes more sense to finish drafting your starting lineup before you start grabbing guys to stick on your bench.  It just depends on the health of the players you drafted early and or how much faith you have in them.

Here is how it turned out for me in my 8 leagues this year.

Let the Wookie Win – (The only league I was in this year – This is a keeper league and I had the first pick in the draft, so even though I traded a late pick for AJ Green, I didn’t put the keeper tag on him because he would have been my only keeper and having the first pick, it made more sense to throw him back and see if anybody better didn’t get kept.  Fortunately, the owners who had LeSean McCoy and Matt Forte last year each forgot to select their keepers and so those players dropped back into draft and were fair game.  Those of you who followed last year also know that I traded pieces of my team last year for draft picks and so I ended up with 9 picks in the first 6 rounds which I used all of on RB / WR depth and so I’m poised for a huge run because even if a few of those guys go down with injuries, I have more than enough top caliber players at the position to remain a contender.)

– Team Name – Kessel Runners

– QB – Tony Romo, Jay Cutler

– RB – LeSean McCoy, Zac Stacy, Ray Rice, Joique Bell, Devonta Freeman

– WR – Jordy Nelson, Larry Fitzgerald, Keenan Allen, Jeremy Maclin, Michael Floyd, Jordan Matthews

– TE – Kyle Rudolph

– DEF/ST – Rams

– K – Brandon McManus

Damn It, It’s Humid in Mordor – (This is a new keeper league started by me and my friend Rob.  It is a Superflex 1/2 Point PPR and the only non-standard league I am playing in this year.  Instead of splitting RB, WR and TE into different positions, we start one QB, one OP (Offensive Player aka Superflex – can play a second QB in this slot), and 6 FLEX (regular flex position).  In this instance, RBs were going off the board like it was a standard league, so I grabbed pretty much all WR because that’s where the most points to be had were pretty much every time my pick came up and given that WR are generally easier to keep healthy, for every running back that goes down with an injury, my chances of winning the championship in this league will go up.)

– Team Name – Moria Mighty Miners

– QB – Aaron Rodgers, Carson Palmer, Geno Smith, Derek Carr

– FLEX – Dez Bryant, Julio Jones, Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, Cordarelle Patterson, Emmanuel Sanders, Kendall Wright, Darren Sproles, Brandin Cooks, Jordan Matthews, Dexter McCluster, Zach Ertz

– DEF / ST – Browns

– K – Brandon McManus

ESPN Public Leagues (There are two of these that I am involved in, both 10 team leagues.  I tried to get into some 12 team ESPN leagues, but could never get one off the ground as 10 teams is the norm and the wait was just substantially longer to get one of these drafts going.  The first one, there were some definite rubes in the league, taking non-elite QBs and TEs in the first round, thus allowing me to get a great deal of two top-tier RBs at the end of the first round, start of the second round turn.)

– Team Name – Columbia Colossus

– QB – Matthew Stafford

– RB – Marshawn Lynch, Eddie Lacy, Ray Rice, Lamar Miller, Andre Williams, Ahmad Bradshaw, Knile Davis

– WR – Jordy Nelson, Alshon Jeffery, Keenan Allen, Marques Colston, Danny Amendola

– TE – Jordan Cameron

– DEF / ST – Rams

– K – Dan Bailey

– Team Name – Missouri Showmen

– QB – Tony Romo

– RB – Doug Martin, Zac Stacy, CJ Spiller, Fred Jackson, Maurice Jones-Drew, Lamar Miller

– WR – Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, Keenan Allen, Michael Floyd, Justin Hunter, Jordan Matthews

– TE – Jordan Cameron

– DEF / ST – Rams

– K – Robbie Gould

Yahoo Standard Leagues (Again, the standard is 10-team leagues here.  Unlike in ESPN leagues, there is no FLEX and instead you must start 2 RB and 3 WR.  Always know your leagues settings and change your strategy accordingly.  All of my team names on yahoo are inspired by The League on FXX.)

– Team Name – Password is Taco

– QB – Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill

– RB – Matt Forte, Frank Gore, Ben Tate, Steven Jackson

– WR – Julio Jones, Jordy Nelson, Marques Colston, Julian Edelman, Sammy Watkins, Jordan Matthews

– TE – Julius Thomas

– DEF / ST – Broncos

– K – Matt Bryant

– Team Name – Yobogoya Deluxe

– QB – Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger

– RB – Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore, CJ Spiller, Ben Tate

– WR – Julio Jones, Alshon Jeffery, Marques Colston, Julian Edelman, Reggie Wayne, Jordan Matthews

– TE – Julius Thomas

– DEF / ST – Buccaneers

– K – Robbie Gould

– Team Name – Chalupa Batman

– QB – Matthew Stafford

– RB – Montee Ball, Doug Martin, Reggie Bush, Ben Tate, Maurice Jones-Drew

– WR – Antonio Brown, Jeremy Maclin, Mike Wallace, Julian Edelman, Reggie Wayne, Anquan Boldin

– TE – Jimmy Graham

– DEF / ST – Rams

– K – Blair Walsh

– Team Name – Shiva Blasters

– QB – Tom Brady, Nick Foles

– RB – Adrian Peterson, Montee Ball, Ben Tate, Ray Rice, Fred Jackson

– WR – Alshon Jeffery, Andre Johnson, Michael Crabtree, Jeremy Maclin, Golden Tate

– TE – Martellus Bennett

– DEF / ST – Buccaneers

– K – Matt Bryant

 

As you can see, I’ve used a few different strategies, but there were a few players that I tended to gravitate too.  It’s a good idea to not put all your eggs in one basket because then if that basket breaks, it breaks on all of your fantasy teams.  However, for simplicity’s sake, don’t be afraid to take the same player in multiple different drafts.  It’ll make your cheering much less confusing on game day that way.  Happy viewing.  Don’t text and drive, but also don’t update your roster and drive.

Working out the Kinks (Salary Cap Stud)

Looking back, I can see that this season in fantasy football was about just what the title of this post says – Working out the Kinks.  Or better yet, scrubbing off the rust.  After setting out the last two years of Fantasy Football to better enjoy the game as a whole, I returned this year and did not perform at nearly the same level I was used to in the past.  Now, some of that may be that the only league I played in was a keeper league in which I inherited a roster that didn’t have a lot of appeal to me from somebody else that exited the league.  Some of it may have been caused by some slight micromanaging on my part.  And some of it may have been that I just didn’t trust my gut on players I drafted long enough after some of them got off to a very disappointing start while I kept my faith in my early running back picks and did not see that faith rewarded.

All in all, I think by the end of the year, I had a much better team put together and as it turns out in this particular league, I played well enough to beat just under half of the playoff teams on any given week, but only well enough to beat perhaps one of the consolation ladder teams on any given week. Consolation Teams averaged about 10 points more per game than playoff teams in this league and some of the playoff teams laid some really stinky eggs.  My final two consolation playoff opponents outscored the league champions Semifinal and Championship Round opponents by 80 points – that’s 40 points per game more that my opponents on the bottom rung of the consolation ladder were posting than teams that were in the Semifinals and the Championship game. And having sold off a few important pieces of my team to rebuild for next year, there was just no way for me to compete with that.  However, I am much happier with the picks and potential keepers that I traded for than I would be had I managed to avoid finishing in last place in the consolation playoffs.

Meanwhile, since Week 12, I’ve been playing the Floating Salary Cap game on ESPN and have been very good at it thus far.  In just 5 weeks, I’ve amassed 662 points with my salary cap squad (that’s 132.4 points / week) and almost 30 points per week above the average player.

Here are a few tips for any fellow Salary Cap Players out there.

1) Don’t buy in on any Chiefs this week against San Diego – Even though the Chiefs had one of their biggest offensive games of the season against San Diego in Week 12, this game is meaningless to the Chiefs.  Neither a win or a loss can effect their playoff positioning and starters and backups will both be worked into the mix in that game.  I don’t think you can trust their defense in a meaningless game and if you’ve been riding Jamaal Charles for the last few weeks, it is time to cash out on him and get somebody that is going to be seeing a full workload because Knile Davis is likely to see many more carries than Charles this week.  Davis might be a good cheap option if you want to go that route.  Same situation with Chase Daniel and Alex Smith, though I wouldn’t advocate picking up Daniel at all.  The only Chief that it seems safe to play this week would be Ryan Succop.

2) In Foles we trust – Nick Foles has been the #2 quarterback in all of fantasy football since Week 9 and he’s still a cheaper buy that Tony Romo, Matt Stafford, Andy Dalton and a whole slew of other quarterbacks who have disappointed lately, including Robert Griffin III who has been benched for the last two weeks.  He is a must play.

3) Green Akers? – David Akers has been one of the most disappointing kickers of late.  Thusly, he is the cheapest kicker available.  However, he gets to kick indoors this week at the Metrodome against a lousy Vikings defense.  And while the Lions have nothing to play for and might just phone this game in, kickers can’t afford to phone it in or they get replaced at the drop of the hat, so look for Akers to be sharp with whatever opportunities he gets and this late in the season, having your kicker not be effected by the weather because he’s playing in a dome is a big plus.  So, if you can use the money to drop your kicker’s price to pick up Akers to get an upgrade you are confident in at another position, then you should strongly consider making that move this week.

Catching Up (Consolation Playoff Push)

First off, allow me to apologize for not keeping up to date on the weekly recaps, but I felt that at that point in the season to do so would have been pretty repetitive every week.  However, we have reached that portion of the season where I am playing meaningful games again, even if they are only my opportunity to climb out of the cellar in the consolation playoffs and avoid losing the bottom rung game of the consolation ladder on the final week of the season (AKA the Toilet Bowl Game).

To briefly recap up to this point why I’m in jeopardy of playing in the toilet bowl next week – my top 3 draft picks, all running backs, got off to incredibly slow starts.  My fourth pick, Randall Cobb, broke his leg early in the season.  My strategy of waiting until the late rounds for a quarterback while adding depth at other positions did not pay off.  When I tried to alter that course by trading for a quarterback, I landed Robert Griffin III, who has run hot and cold all season long and that Redskins team supporting him ended up falling well, well below expectations and now he is benched for the last 3 games of the season.  Stevan Ridley, who at one point got to be very reliable, suddenly wasn’t and got himself benched.  And once my team ended up at 1-6, I began the process of rebuilding for next season at the price of futilely competing down the stretch this year.  If it does end up that I finish in last place, I am perfectly okay with that because I got paid handsomely for the pieces of my team that I sold off and I am in great position for next season.

Here is the outlook on the members of my team for the final two games of this fantasy season.

QB – Nick Foles, tremendous matchup this week in the dome at Minnesota against a very poor defense.  I think Foles has a very good chance to be the top point producer at quarterback this week anywhere in the NFL.  Against Chicago next week, Foles is a maybe play.  My backup option now that I’ve jettisoned RG3 (even in a keeper league, he’s definitely not worth using a pick in the first three rounds to retain) is Alex Smith, who gets to rough up the Raiders this week and then maybe earn a start over Foles on my team when he plays the Colts in week 16.

RB – Maurice Jones-Drew has easily been my most reliable guy at RB the past 4-5 weeks.  However, during his 103-yard rushing performance against Houston last week, he pulled his hamstring and has sat out of practice all week and is listed as doubtful.  The fact that he might not play on a week where he has an outstanding matchup against a Bills defense that has performed horrendously against the Falcons and Buccaneers the last two weeks is a real shame.  However, I picked up Jordan Todman to play in his place should he be declared inactive because my other options this week are CJ Spiller, Stevan Ridley and Ray Rice, none of whom I have any confidence in this week.  In fact, I have a lot of confidence that Ray Rice will do next to nothing against the Lions on Monday night.  Ridley isn’t really playable until Hobo Bill stops Belichicking Ridley owners and gives him back his lead back status and Ridley proves he can handle it without getting himself benched again.  Right now, if MJD is active, he plays and Spiller is my 2, simply because he’s the lesser of all the other evils and believe it or not, he has the best chance for success and the smallest chance of a major breakdown compared to Rice and Ridley this week, in my humble estimation.  However, next week Rice gets the Patriots, who have not been up to their usual levels on defense in past weeks, so maybe Rice could put together a big game next week, but this week he rides the bench for me.

Wide Receiver – My three healthy or semi-healthy options are Cecil Shorts, Julian Edelman and Da’Rick Rodgers, who broke out last week in a big way against the Bengals.  However, he’s still very unproven.  I also have Randall Cobb, if by some miracle he gets cleared to play in either of the next two weeks.  Shorts and Edelman are my two guys this week with Rodgers as play B if Shorts, who is listed as questionable, is declared inactive this weekend.  Or if by some miracle the Packers magically clear Cobb and put him on the field against the Cowboys, he may become a must play for me at my weakest position.

Tight End – Charles Clay has a very good game against the Steelers and a solid game against the Jets the week before that and he matches up against the Patriots this week, who have proven to be weak over the middle lately.  I am very excited about his prospects this week.  And due to some poor matchups and unreliability issues at running back and wide receiver, I will be starting two tight ends this week with Coby Fleener in the flex against the Texans, who have given up the tenth most points to tight ends over the course of the season and he continues to lead the team in targets in recent weeks despite Rodgers emergence last week.  I also have Dennis Pitta on my bench, who is potentially a great play next week when he also matches up against the Patriots.

Defense / Special Teams – Detroit Lions.  I picked up the Lions this week because they match up against Turnover Joe and the Ravens, whose offensive line sucks.  They can’t move the ball on the ground unless they’re matched up against horrible run defenses like the Bears or Dolphins (the two teams that Rice went over 20 points against this season).  Plus, Flacco throws more than his fair share of interceptions and when they get down to the red zone, it always seems like they’re having to settle for a field goal.  So, I figure they should be held to less than 20 points easily with a couple of interceptions and maybe Earnest Ross can return a kick for a Touchdown and boost their point total.  Plus, the Lions play a horrible Giants team next week.  I’m not scared to play them despite the Eagles having a huge game on the ground against them in the snow last week.  I think that was a huge outlier for a defense that has been tough on the run all year long.

Kicker – I already played Nick Novak this week against the Broncos and he got me a respectable 9 points.  Maybe I’ll stick with him next week against the Raiders or maybe I’ll find an option I like better.

So, here is how it shakes out.  I only need to win this week or next week and either win means I don’t finish in dead last.  A win this week would be preferable because it automatically moves me out of the toilet bowl game altogether and a win is definitely doable this week, though I am a little scared that my opponent has Russel Wilson, Marshawn Lynch AND the Seahawks defense, all against the New York Giants dumpster fire squadron.  A good sign is that he still has Tavon Austin in his lineup and he is very questionable this week, so it’s looking like a 0 in that spot for my opponent and your opponent putting up zeroes is never a bad thing.

*Fingers Crossed* for luck for my team this week and best of luck to all of you, whether your champions hopes are still alive or whether you’re trying to avoid finishing in the cellar like me.

Week 10 Recap – Rebuilding, Retooling, Reloading for 2014

Not that it’s going to surprise anybody with me clearly building a team for next year, but I lost again to drop to 2-8.  I’m now 3 games off the playoff race with just 3 weeks left in the regular season, but I’ve given up on the playoff race for almost a month now since I traded away DeSean Jackson and DeAngelo Williams for picks.  And since then, Jonathan Stewart has returned to the Carolina backfield, turning them into a three-headed monster with Stewart, Williams and Tolbert and most experts want no part of any of them now that they have to split carries among three different backs and with Tolbert getting the goal line work, but the fewest carries most likely going forward.  Whereas Jackson would easily still be starting for me every week, he wouldn’t have made a difference in any of the losses I’ve suffered since trading him, so I don’t feel bad about auctioning him off at all, especially since that 4th round pick I got in exchange for him is going to be a big help.  And the 6th round pick I got for Williams feels like a steal now that he’s trapped in a 3-way time share and has just 2 touchdowns all year.

And now working for next year has taken on more than just trading away valuable player for draft picks, but I’m acquiring potentially phenomenal keeper options for next year. Just barely getting a trade processed before game time, I traded away a 9th round pick for C.J. Spiller and I think I got a real bargain here.  While Spiller is having ankle issues and trapped in a time-share situation with Fred Jackson, he would presumably be 100% by the start of next season and Fred Jackson would be 33, so odds are real good that Spiller takes a very firm control of that backfield next year, if not by the end of this year once Jackson’s batteries run out down the stretch.

Disaster struck in the Monday night game as Mike James fractured his ankle and has been placed on injured reserve along with teammate Doug Martin.  As a result, I dropped him for his replacement Brian Leonard and am currently trading Leonard for injured reserver Arian Foster (pending league approval) in the hopes that Foster will recover from off-season back surgery and return to his elite status next year.  With Ray Rice’s star fading a bit, Maurice Jones-Drew trapped behind a horrid Jaguars offensive line and Ridley getting Belichecked up until a couple of weeks ago, it feels great to have all 5 of these guys fantasy fates in my hands for next season (I can keep up to 3 of them and wait and choose which 3 part of the way through the preseason) along with a great amount of high draft picks.  The future looks pretty bright right about now for this team.

Roster Update

QB – Robert Griffin III, Nick Foles

RB – Ray Rice, Stevan Ridley, Maurice Jones-Drew, CJ Spiller, Arian Foster (pending review)

WR – Randall Cobb, Percy Harvin, Marvin Jones, Cecil Shorts, Aaron Dobson, Mario Manningham

TE – Coby Fleener, Charles Clay

D/ST – Houston Texans

K – Graham Gano

Updated Draft Pick Info

Keeper Rounds – 3 picks

4th Round – 2 picks

5th Round – 1 pick

6th Round – 3 picks

7th Round – 1 pick

8th Round – 1 pick

10th Round – 1 pick

11th Round – 1 pick

12th Round – 2 picks

15th Round – 1 pick

I won’t bore you with further details of my team’s poor performance this week, but you can check it out for yourself here if you like.  http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/boxscorequick?leagueId=27211&teamId=9&scoringPeriodId=10&seasonId=2013&view=scoringperiod&version=quick

Week 9 Recap – Canton Heroes vs. Alderaan Players

To start off this week, there are a few roster changes to take note of from a few weeks ago to catch you up.

Greg Jennings was dropped in favor of adding Marvin Jones last week after his spectacular 4 touchdown game two weeks ago against the Jets.  Without Matt Cassel throwing the ball around in Minnesota, it seems that everybody not named Adrian Peterson on that team is devoid of fantasy value.  Another wide receiver added on that week was Aaron Dobson in exchange for Andrew Quarless, the Green Bay tight end who I added after trading away both DeSean Jackson and DeAngelo Williams for draft picks next year before the Week 8 games.  After those two adds, I managed to knock off the team with the best record in the league, the Alderaan Players one week after my team put up a pitiful 54.7 points.

Stevan Ridley has emerged the last three weeks as easily the most reliable player on my team, which didn’t look like it could ever happen after his incredibly horrible start at the beginning of the year.  The Patriots seem to have settled into a pattern where Ridley gets most of the work with Brandon Bolden changing the pace.  Bolden has ended up with the first rushing touchdown for 3 straight weeks for the Patriots, but then Ridley covers pretty much all of the red zone work from there up until they have a safe lead and then LaGarrette Blount comes in and mops up in garbage time.  And that plan more than works for me so long as the Patriots offensive attack keeps on rolling and I see no reason to think that it wouldn’t with Dobson emerging as a great target for Brady and with Amendola and Gronkowski apparently both healthy for the time being.

Playing the Cowboys match-up against the Vikings wound up being crucial this week as they put up 13 points whereas my opponents’ Saints Defense only put up 2 points against the Jets.  However, the Cowboys have the Saints this coming week and then their bye, so they don’t seem to be of any use to me for the next few weeks, so I dropped them.  I still have the Colts defense in reserve, but I figure on playing the Texans Defense for the next three weeks as they match-up against the Cardinals, Raiders and Jaguars.

On the quarterback front, it seems that RG3 is at least beyond having another horrible week like he did against Denver as he played well against the Chargers and led his team down the field for a win in overtime.  However, he received no scoring points because the Redskins red zone rushing attack picked the Chargers apart with Alfred Morris getting a touchdown and fullback Darrel Young running the ball in 3 times, including the game winner.  He also threw in interception that was fluky that cost him 2 points, so he should have had a 12 point day instead of 10, maybe more if they’re forced to throw in the red zone on one or two of those scoring plays.  It feels fluky to me that he didn’t get in on any of the scoring.  In addition, after his incredible week I’ve added Nick Foles.  Maybe somebody will want to trade for him that needs a quarterback or maybe he’ll be a great back-up just in case.  Either way, after a game where he threw more touchdowns (7) than incomplete passes (6), even if Michael Vick reclaims the starting job, Foles is likely worth a roster spot for the remainder of the season just in case.

Leaving the team this week in addition to the Cowboys Defense is Jarrett Boykin, since Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone and thus the Packers will likely be relying much more heavily on their running game and with James Jones back and Randall Cobb due to be back in 2-3 weeks or so, Boykin is a 3 or a 4 receiver for the rest of the way and until Rodgers gets back I don’t see any of the receivers apart from Nelson and Jones being worth a roster spot.

Updated Roster

QB – Robert Griffin III, Nick Foles

RB – Ray Rice, Stevan Ridley, Maurice Jones-Drew, Mike James

WR – Randall Cobb, Percy Harvin, Cecil Shorts, Marvin Jones, Aaron Dobson, Eddie Royal

TE – Charles Clay, Coby Fleener

D/ST – Texans, Colts

K – Graham Gano

Week 9 Box Score

Canton Heroes – 85.1

– QB – Robert Griffin III – 10.7

– RB – Ray Rice – 3.8

– RB – Stevan Ridley – 22.4

– WR – Eddie Royal – 11.6

– WR – Marvin Jones – 6.6

– TE – Charles Clay – 3.5

– Flex – Jarrett Boykin – 1.5

– D/ST – Cowboys – 13

– K – Graham Gano – 12

Alderaan Players – 80

– QB – Jake Locker – 10

– RB – Jamaal Charles – 9.6

– RB – Fred Jackson – 9.9

– WR – Brian Hartline – 3.9

– WR – Donnie Avery – 2.2

– TE – Jimmy Graham – 23.6

– Flex – Rod Streater – 9.8

– D/ST – Saints – 2

– K – Steven Hauschka – 9

Obviously, if the Players don’t have both Matthew Stafford and Victor Cruz on a bye that week, it spells trouble for me, but it’s clear that after picking up the win this week over the top team in the league up to this point, even with two 20 point players on the bench (Mike James 20.6 and Aaron Dobson 25) and adding Nick Foles off of a 40-plus point game, this team is dangerous down the stretch and in the consolation / toilet bowl avoidance playoffs.

Week 7 Recap – Canton Heroes vs. KU’s Only Football Hope

1-6, pretty much time to throw out any delusions of making it to the Shiva Bowl.  As such, I’ve entered into rebuilding mode with a pretty good amount of success over the past week.

Last week I added Brandon Jacobs and just 3 days later traded him away for a 6th round pick.  I then used that empty roster slot to add Green Bay Wide Receiver Jarrett Boykin, who had a very solid first day for my team although he was on the bench.  He’s going to be pressed into duty for the Heroes this week though because I’ve dealt away DeSean Jackson for a 4th Round pick (which is the first round after the keeper selections in this league), Cecil Shorts isn’t healthy enough to be really trusted to play, though you may see him in my starting lineup this week, Percy Harvin is up in the air as to whether or not he’ll play for the first time this season on Monday and I’m not enthusiastic about going with Mike James or DeAngelo WIlliams against each other tomorrow night (also, I’ve agreed to trade DeAngelo WIlliams away for a 6th and 12 round pick and am waiting on that trade to be processed sometime tomorrow afternoon).

New additions since my last update – Jarrett Boykin, Mike James, Cowboys D/ST, Graham Gano, Eddie Royal

Departures – DeSean Jackson (Trade), Brandon Jacobs (Trade), Lions D/ST, Blair Walsh, Bernard Pierce

I go with Gano this week primarily because Blair Walsh is far from healthy and the Vikings offense is on the skids.  The Cowboys have been very impressive the last two weeks against the Redskins and Eagles, so I’m excited to see if they can hold up one more week against Detroit.  Mike James of course takes over for Doug Martin at Running Back in Tampa due to Martin’s torn labrum (shoulder) that may keep him sidelined for the remainder of the season and Boykin gets the chance to shine in Green Bay’s awesome passing game with Randall Cobb out with a fractured leg and James Jones’ return still in question for this week after he sat out last week. Eddie Royal has been boom or bust this year, but I like he chances to have a couple of more boom games, especially with matchups against the Redskins and his former team, the Broncos coming up the next two weeks after his bye this week.

Week 7 Box Score

Canton Heroes – 60.2

– QB – Robert Griffin III – 25.4

– RB – Ray Rice – 7.4

– RB – DeAngelo Williams – 5.9

– WR – DeSean Jackson – 2.1

– WR – Greg Jennings – 4.1

– TE – Charles Clay – 6.7

– Flex – Coby Fleener – 9.8

– D/ST – Lions – -1

– K – Blair Walsh – 0

KU’s Only Football Hope – 88.6

– QB – Andrew Luck – 29.9

– RB – C.J. Spiller – 0.7

– RB – Eddie Lacy – 16.8

– WR – Demaryius Thomas – 14.2

– WR – Steve Johnston – 6.1

– TE – Tony Gonzalez – 3

– Flex – Brent Celek – 0.3

– D/ST – Chiefs – 12

– K – Ryan Succop – 5

And while some might think my roster is somewhat depleted after trading away Jackson, Cobb being injured and potentially trading away DeAngelo Williams as well, it’ll be well worth it when I put together an incredible team next year with my amazing draft picks I’ve gotten in return for Jackson, Williams (pending) and Jacobs.  Here is what my 2014 draft looks like currently

1st Round – Keeper Option

2nd Round – Keeper Option

3rd Round – Keeper Option

4th Round – My Pick

4th Round – From KU’s Only Football Hope

5th Round – My Pick

6th Round – My Pick

6th Round – From Marshall Law

6th Round – From KU’s Only Football Hope

7th Round – My Pick

8th Round – My Pick

9th Round – My Pick

10th Round – My Pick

11th Round – My Pick

12th Round – My Pick

12th Round – From KU’s Only Football Hope

Yeah, the idea of having 2 4th Round Picks (First Round after Keepers) and 3 6th Round Picks (Third Round after Keepers) as well as having my entire team drafted by the end of the 12th Round (16 Picks), is pretty darn exciting.  I have a lot to look forward to for next year.  In the meantime, I’m going to hunt the waiver wire to try to field a competitive team each and every week and try my best to avoid the toilet bowl game at the end of the season (our version of the Sacco, for my fellow fans of The League).

Week 6 Recap – Canton Heroes vs. Muffin Stuffers

Man, when the injury bug bites – it bites hard.

I’m not the only one who got bit, but I’m probably the one that it hurt the most because it puts me at 1-5 and hands me my fourth consecutive loss of the season.

Randall Cobb broke his leg and is out until at least December.  Cecil Shorts didn’t hurt himself as badly, but his injury knocked him out of the game the first and only time the ball was thrown to him against Denver’s very poor pass defense (though they do force quite a few interceptions, they also give up massive amounts of receiving yards and TDs).  Thus, Justin Blackmon got to have an even bigger day than he would have with Shorts getting his usual amount of targets and what should have probably been a very lucrative day for Shorts fantasy wise, he instead gives me a 0 from the flex position this week.

I probably wasn’t going to win anyway because Stevan Ridley finally decided to put up more than 4-7 points per week, but because he’d been such a poor performer, sat out with an injury last week and was stuck in a timeshare, I had sat him on my bench where up until last week he belonged.  (He’s probably going to stay there again this week because he has a rough matchup against the Jets while Ray Rice, DeAngelo Williams and my newest running back Brandon Jacobs have very favorable matchups against Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Minnesota respectively.)  Add to the mix that Marshawn Lynch went over 150 yards with a couple of TDs for my opponent and I was pretty much sunk no matter what I did.

I’m still not ready to trust Ridley or MJD to not put up less than 5 points on any given week and maybe I should not be trusting Ray Rice to help out since he went for under 5 against Green Bay this week.

Anyway, it’s looking like I have a lot of work to do to make up the 2 games I’m off the Playoff pace, even though maybe a 5 or 6 win team could make the cut the way things are looking.

New additions – Brandon Jacobs, Lions D/ST

Farewells – Eddie Royal, Broncos D/ST

Week 6 Box Score

Canton Heroes – 64.6

– QB – Robert Griffin III – 12.7

– RB – Ray Rice – 5.9

– RB – DeAngelo Williams – 11.7

– WR – Randall Cobb – 5.3

– WR – DeSean Jackson – 18.4

– TE – Coby Fleener – 1.6

– Flex – Cecil Shorts – 0

– D/ST – Broncos – 6

– K – Blair Walsh – 4

Muffin Stuffers – 93.5

– QB – Colin Kaepernick – 15.8

– RB – Marshawn Lynch – 27.5

– RB – Trent Richardson – 5.3

– WR – Tavon Austin – 0.3

– WR – Julian Edelman – 5.7

– TE – Jason Witten – 2.7

– Flex – Andre Ellington – 15.2

– D/ST – Seahawks – 12

– K – Greg Zuerlein – 9

Week 5 Recap – Canton Heroes vs. Narnia Creations

I played Peyton Manning this week and he beat me almost single-handedly.  It happens.  We move on to the next week.

I knew Peyton was going to be in trouble against Dallas and my own QB, Robert Griffin III was on a bye week, so I needed a QB who could deliver in a shootout.  I ended up choosing Brian Hoyer.  If he doesn’t tear his ACL because nobody in Cleveland could teach him how to slide properly, I probably come out of this week 2-3 and 1 game off the playoff pace instead of 1-4 and 2 games back.  That Bills defense is exactly as bad as I thought they were, as evidenced by the fact that they gave up a 37-point game to a team whose quarterback tore his ACL on his team’s second drive of the game.  However, had I stuck with Geno Smith or Ryan Tannehill, I still could have won this week.  That’s just the way this season has gone the first five weeks, even when I gauge the situation correctly, I still end up on the losing end.

I also played the wrong Tight End this week.  Sunday morning, I decided that if the Colts were going to beat the Seahawks like I thought they would, they were going to need a big game from Coby Fleener, so I started him over Charles Clay.  End result, 11.2 for Clay, 1.5 for Fleener.  Judgment – BAD move.  I should have just slept in instead of waking up early and deciding to make that one line-up change.  I lost by 7.4 points.  If Clay is in instead of Fleener, I win by 2.3.  But those kind of what ifs, I don’t like to fall back on because the other guy always has guys on the bench that scored better than the guys that he played also, so if you get into that what if game, it only causes you more headaches.  The best advice I can give any of you and take myself is to not think that way.  Don’t dwell on it and move on to making your team the best it can be for the next week.

Speaking of which, my team is stacked full of great matchups this week.  ESPN projects my total at 113 points, but that could end up being very very light if Ray Rice and the Ravens run the ball like they did last week.  And they are playing Green Bay, so that’s not that much of a stretch so long as they don’t get bombed early by Rogers & Co.  They learned from the game against the Bills that no matter what the score is, throwing the ball 50 times and running it 9 times is never going to win you a game no matter how bad the other team is.  If the Ravens had committed themselves to giving the ball to Ray Rice against Buffalo, even when they were down 2 TDs early, they could have probably salvaged a win.  (I mean Bilal Powell did run for 120 yards against the Bills, they stink at defending the run.)  But instead, the Ravens played into their hands and lost by a field goal.  Lesson learned – Ray Rice got 27 carries against the Dolphins in Week 5 and 2 TDs.  Expect more of the same moving forward, my fellow Ray Rice owners because Mr. Harbaugh is not a stupid man.  He must have had a massive cerebral flatulation Week 4, but that isn’t going to happen again.

As for my team, look at what some of my key players have coming up.

QB – Robert Griffin III vs. Dallas, Chicago, Denver and San Diego the next 4 weeks.  The Bears defense is far from what it once was (as the Lions and Steelers both proved recently) and the rest of those teams have been terrible against the pass this year.  Sure, the Broncos will still get some interceptions and usually salvage a positive fantasy score (and usually put up double digits going into the 4th quarter until garbage time TDs drag them back down to the 9-10 point range for the week – I would know since they are my defense, though this week they just flat out sucked, Peyton not only killed the Dallas defense, he killed his own defense as well as they struggled to keep up with a pass happy Cowboy attack.)  But, back to RGIII, the only bad week he should have left on his schedule is Week 12 against San Fransisco (maybe Week 14 against KC).  Plus, he has Atlanta and the Cowboys again Weeks 15 and 16, which in this league are the last two weeks of the playoffs.

RB – Ray Rice vs. Green Bay and Pittsburgh the next two weeks, DeAngelo Williams against the Vikings and the Rams, MJD against the Broncos and Chargers.  All 3 of those guys returned to at least decent form this week and Ray Rice put my team on his back and would have carried us to victory if not for pesky Peyton and the game where nobody played defense.

WR – Randall Cobb takes on Baltimore (the team that gave up 7 TDs to Peyton) and Cleveland and has a pretty easy schedule against the NFC East and the rest of the NFC North the rest of the way.  DeSean Jackson of course gets to play everybody from the NFC East again and although he gets stranded on Revis Island this week, he’s got Dallas, Cleveland, Oakland and Green Bay coming up.  Greg Jennings and Cecil Shorts are both good plays this week against Carolina and Denver respectively, but they after that Jennings gets the Giants and his old team the Packers while Shorts gets San Diego next week (he plays the 49ers the week after that, so he’ll probably be on the bench that week although he gets lots of balls thrown to him regardless because the Jaguars are always throwing the ball because they’re always behind.)

My Broncos Defense gets to pick on Jacksonville this week.  They are projected at 9 points and while Shorts and Blackman will probably score high, the rest of the Jaguars (including MJD) probably won’t because Henne is going to throw interceptions gallore and MJD probably won’t get a lot of carries because the Jags will be down 3 scores by the end of the first quarter probably.

Here are the roster updates.  Brian Hoyer is gone because he’s out for the year and even if he wasn’t, he was just a one time only play while RGIII was on his bye.  Sebastian Janikowski is also gone, not through any fault of his own, but because Blair Walsh of the Vikings was sitting there and he’s averaging double digit points per week while kicking indoors for a team that has a very very strong running game and he already had his bye week.  You can’t do much better than that.  I also picked up Jonathan Stewart a week early since he is eligible to come back next week against the Rams (not that he will for sure), but since I have DeAngelo and have not been able to rely on MJD and Ridley continually, another option at RB was welcome over adding more WR depth like Terrance Williams of the Cowboys or Rueben Randle of the Giants who were my next two choices.

Updated Canton Heroes roster

QB – Robert Griffin III (my only QB from here on out barring injury or a very stupid dropped QB by my counterparts)

RB – Ray Rice, DeAngelo Williams, Maurice Jones-Drew, Stevan Ridley, Bernard Pierce, Jonathan Stewart

WR – Randall Cobb, DeSean Jackson, Greg Jennings, Cecil Shorts, Eddie Royal, Percy Harvin (IR)

TE – Coby Fleener, Charles Clay (Bye)

D/ST – Broncos

K- Blair Walsh

Even though I’m 1-4, I don’t feel like it this week.  This team is capable of keeping up with Rob’s 5-0 Alderaan Players (a name I gave him BTW) for the rest of the way so long as my Running Backs (Ray Rice in particular) don’t go back to putting up 2-3 points per week.  With the matchups my guys have going forward, we are still very much a threat.  The hard times are OVER.  Everybody else better beware.

Week 5 Box Score

Canton Heroes

– QB – Brian Hoyer – 2.1

– RB – Ray Rice – 20.2

– RB – Maurice Jones-Drew – 8.6

– WR – Randall Cobb – 10.7

– WR – DeSean Jackson – 19.2

– TE – Coby Fleener – 1.5

– Flex – DeAngelo Williams – 6.9

– D/ST – Broncos – -2

– K – Sebastian Janikowski – 12

Narnia Creations – 86.6

– QB – Peyton Manning – 35.2

– RB – Arian Foster – 11.8

– RB – Ronnie “Weaksauce McFumbles” Hillman – 5.9

– WR – Torrey Smith – 12.1

– WR – Andre Johnston – 3.9

– TE – Scott Chandler – 4.9

– Flex – Sidney Rice – 0.8

– D/ST – Ravens – 8

– K – Nick Novak – 4

Week 4 Recap – Canton Heroes vs. off alot

Another bad week from me.  Another week of underperforming running backs lands me with the lowest score in the league for the second week in a row.  It happens.

By the way, if anybody wants to know, I won the championship in four out of the five fantasy baseball leagues I played in this year.  I was in the third place game in the fifth league, but devoted my time to the other four and didn’t pay much attention to it and still ended up with a 5-5 tie, but lost the tiebreaker and thus ended up in 4th place there.  4 1sts and 1 4th – Yeah, I’ll take that every single year please.

Back to football.

Let’s start with Ray Rice, who granted we all knew was going to be limited due to his injury, but the entire Ravens running game was overly limited in that game against Buffalo, who had just given up over 120 yards to Bilal freakin’ Powell the week before.  The Bills defense is obviously a doormat, or if they aren’t they’ve got me fooled.  But even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while and the Ravens pretty much stuffed a handful down their throats and helped them out this week.  The Ravens still only lost by a touchdown, but I have to think that if Ray Rice or Bernard Pierce either one is healthy for that full game (Rice’s hip and Pierce’s strained calf) that they don’t have to rely on the throwing game so much so early and then Flacco doesn’t throw the five interceptions that he threw and the Ravens score a couple of more touchdowns and win that game by at least two scores.  Despite those five interceptions and Rice only getting 5 carries and Pierce only getting four carries, the Ravens still only lost that game by a field goal.  The Bills are not that good a team and don’t get fooled by the obscenely low fantasy numbers the Ravens guys put up this week.  So, the fact that I played Ray Rice, expecting that even though he was limited, 40-50 yards and a TD or maybe even 2 TDs wouldn’t have been surprising at all.  Instead, he only got 17 yards.  He did almost get a touchdown catch at the end of the game, but Flacco must have thought he was throwing to somebody else because he threw it a mile over poor short little Ray Rice’s head.  Way to justify your big contract, Joe.  Your team was in a game they should have easily won, but because of you they were behind in the final two minutes and you lead them down to the red zone and have a chance to redeem yourself and you throw a 12-foot high pass to a 5’8” running back.  Get the ball down a little bit for Rice or throw it to somebody else.

Try as I might, I just can’t get Stevan Ridley on the bench and keep him there.  With Randall Cobb and DeAngelo Williams on their bye week, I was kind of forced to play Ridley at the Flex behind Rice and MJD as my lead two backs and Ridley actually outperformed them with his best game of the year so far (though he has set the bar incredibly low there).  So, things are a little more promising for Stevan Ridley, though it seems like everyweek somebody wants to jump on the bandwagon of one of his back-ups in the timeshare.  Last week it was Brandon Bolden, but he was a non factor.  This week, they’re jumping on LaGarette Blount because he managed to break a 47-yard touchdown run.  That’s what we call a lucky break.  Look at the rest of his stats for the game.  You take that one run away and he’s got 8 carries for 17 yards, barely over 2 yards per carry.  He’s not going to be fantasy playable.  He’s just eating up a spot on your roster that could be better used.  Hell, you’re probably better off with a back-up kicker than you are with Blount.  Unless you’re desperate or stupid, you’re not putting him in whereas while I don’t advocate holding two kickers, you would at least presumably use your second kicker and you should not be using Blount.  Even if Ridley gets hurt, that job goes to Bolden or Vereen if healthy.  Blount might get a bigger share in the run game this next week because of that lucky break making his stats look all pretty, but don’t expect more than that 2.2 yards per carry from him moving forward.

Now, you could notice that I’m 1-3 at this point and just disregard some or all of the advice above, but this is common sense stuff I’m talking about here.

To recap some of the roster moves I made over this past week, my trade for Robert Griffin III went through, so the Heroes wave bye-bye to Pierre Garcon and say good riddance to bad rubbish in the form of Jay Cutler via that trade.  Now, it’s RG3’s bye week, so I need a quarterback and since I’m up against Peyton Manning this week, I need lightning in a bottle and I can’t rely on Geno Smith after his terrible day against the Titans this week, so I’m going with Brian Hoyer and hoping the Browns / Bills game tomorrow night ends up being a shootout and I get proven right about how crappy that Bills defense is.  Don’t get fooled by the week they had against the Ravens.  Remember what they did two weeks ago against the hapless Jets’ offense which prompted me to add Geno Smith on the off chance he used that game for a launching pad for a hot streak (he didn’t).  But hey, that was before I had RG3.  After this week, unless he gets hurt, I shouldn’t need another quarterback for the rest of the season.

With that 2-for-1 trade going through, I had an empty spot on my roster, which I used to grab Percy Harvin, who should become the Seahawks #1 target for Russell Wilson rather easily once he’s healthy.  And since he’s hurt, I got to stash him on my IR slot and create another open space on my roster, which I used to grab Greg Jennings, who Fear the Roo made the mistake of dropping.  Unfortunately, I didn’t play Jennings because of the Vikings QB situation, but I knew that having Matt Cassel take over for Christian Ponder would be a beneficial move for Jennings.  I just wanted to see it in action for a week before I trusted him enough to plug him into the line-up.  He’ll probably be seeing plenty of playing time for the Heroes moving forward presuming that Christian Ponder doesn’t get handed the reins at QB again.

So, here is an updated look at the Heroes roster for Week 5.

QB – Robert Griffin III (bye), Brian Hoyer

RB – Ray Rice, Maurice Jones-Drew, DeAngelo Williams, Stevan Ridley, Bernard Pierce

WR – Randall Cobb, DeSean Jackson, Greg Jennings (bye), Eddie Royal, Cecil Shorts

TE – Coby Fleener, Charles Clay

D/ST – Broncos

K – Sebastian Janikowski

And so you all have the opportunity to laugh at my misfortune, here is my Week 4 Box Score.

Canton Heroes – 60.7

– QB – Robert Griffin III – 14

– RB – Ray Rice – 1.7

– RB – Maurice Jones-Drew – 2.8

– WR – DeSean Jackson – 3.4

– WR – Eddie Royal – 4.2

– TE – Coby Fleener – 13.7

– Flex – Stevan Ridley – 7.9

– D/ST – Broncos – 12

– K – Sebastian Janikowski – 1

off alot – 93

– QB – Tony Romo – 18.5

– RB – Adrian Peterson – 26

– RB – Alfred Morris – 7.1

– WR – Calvin Johnson – 10.4

– WR – Hakeem Nicks – 3.3

– TE – Tyler Eifert – 3.9

– Flex – Lamar Miller – 12.8

– D/ST – Bengals – 4

– K – Garrett Hartley – 7

Week 3 Recap: Canton Heroes vs. Marshall Law

I’m not going to go on at length too much about what happened with my team this week because frankly, they stunk up the joint.  A little of it can be blamed on bad match-ups, but in order to win, you have to beat the good teams and not just beat up on the Raiders and the Jaguars.

Chief among my disappointments was once again Stevan Ridley and hence he will be sitting on my bench until he proves that he can be a legitimate fantasy scoring option (4-5 points a week ain’t cutting it).

Carson Palmer rewarded my faith in him this season by putting up just 3 points against the Saints, who are playing at a vastly higher level defensively than they should be able to in the early weeks of the season given that they have a pretty poor pass rush.  Granted, the Cardinals have pretty much the worst pass blockers in the league, so Palmer remains a given to have bad weeks here and there.  However, I’m changing things up at QB and rolling the dice on Geno Smith, who I picked up this week and I’ve also worked out a trade pending league approval that lands me Robert Griffin III, who should have a monster week against Oakland this upcoming week.

On the bright side, in addition to my new QB look, my bench peformed better than was to be expected, though they still wouldn’t have been able to get me the win since Marshall Law’s team performed well above their means and got the second highest score of the week.

Next Week vs. off alot (Tony Romo, Adrian Peterson, Alfred Morris, Calvin Johnston, Hakeem Nicks, Jermichael Finley, Lamar Miller, Bengals D/ST, Garrett Hartley)

Week 3 Box Score

Canton Heroes – 48.9

– QB – Carson Palmer – 3

– RB – Stevan Ridley – 4.3

– RB – DeAngelo Williams – 11.7

– WR – Randall Cobb – 5.4

– WR – DeSean Jackson – 6.2

– TE – Charles Clay – 4

– Flex – Pierre Garcon – 8.3

– D/ST – Broncos – 3

– K – Sebastian Janikowski – 3

Marshall Law – 115.5

– QB – Matt Ryan – 15

– RB – DeMarco Murray – 26.3

– RB – Bilal Powell – 15.8

– WR – AJ Green – 10.6

– WR – Brandon Marshall – 5.2

– TE – Antonio Gates – 11.5

– Flex – Vincent Brown – 1.1

– D/ST – Falcons – 13

– K – Matt Prater – 17

Updated Canton Heroes Lineup for Week 4 (Pending Trade Approval)

– QB – Robert Griffin III, Geno Smith

– RB – Ray Rice, Maurice Jones-Drew, DeAngelo Williams, Stevan Ridley, Bernard Pierce

– WR – Randall Cobb, DeSean Jackson, Eddie Royal, Cecil Shorts III

– TE – Coby Fleener, Charles Clay

– D/ST – Broncos

– K – Sebastian Janikowski