Thursday, November 4, 2010

Losing Stinks

Losing in fantasy football stinks. I know a good amount about football and I think I always make the right moves but I still lose, why is this? The simple answer is just plain bad luck. There is no way to avoid luck in fantasy football. I have played quarterbacks who are going against one of the worst defenses in the league and they end up doing nothing. Then I bench them when they play against a great defense and they end up with 300 yards and 3 touchdowns.

These types of things cannot be predicted, and as a fantasy football player you just need to do whatever to make your odds of winning the greatest. I consider it alot of poker. The best poker player in a tournament will lose quite often to lesser players, and that is just because of dumb luck. They do have the best chances of winning though because of their strong skills and good decision making.

In a short period of time with fantasy football you could win every game or lose every single one no matter how good or bad your decisions are. If you are a strong player, over time statistics will run their course and you will win in the long run.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Week 8 Quarterback Rankings

Here are the week 8 quarterback rankings. Based on their matchup and recent performance.

1 Peyton Manning IND (vs HOU)
2 Philip Rivers SD (vs TEN)
3 Ben Roethlisberger PIT (at NO)
4 Drew Brees NO (vs PIT)
5 Aaron Rodgers GB (at NYJ)
6 Kyle Orton DEN (at SF)
7 Matt Schaub HOU (at IND)
8 Carson Palmer CIN (vs MIA)
9 Matt Cassel KC (vs BUF)
10 Tom Brady NE (vs MIN)
11 Ryan Fitzpatrick BUF (at KC)
12 Matthew Stafford DET (vs WAS)
13 Chad Henne MIA (at CIN)
14 Jon Kitna DAL (vs JAC)
15 Josh Freeman TB (at ARI)
16 Donovan McNabb WAS (at DET)
17 Brett Favre MIN (at NE)
18 Mark Sanchez NYJ (vs GB)
19 Sam Bradford STL (vs CAR)
20 Matt Hasselbeck SEA (at OAK)
21 Vince Young TEN (at SD)
22 Matt Moore CAR (at STL)
23 David Garrard JAC (at DAL)
24 Jason Campbell OAK (vs SEA)

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Players to add week 7

Here is who you should add this week 7.

Quarter Backs

Matt Cassel KC - Did well last week and has another easy matchup this week.

Matt Stafford DET- Keep an eye on him. The Lions offense is much stronger than people and other teams think

Running Backs

Justin Forsett SEA - Starting to take over for the Seahawks in carries.

Danny Woodhead NE - Looked great last week against the strong defense of the Ravens. Expect even more carries for him this week against SD.

Chris Ivory NO - Filling in for the Saints due to injuries of the other starting backs. Expect alot of yards again from him on a powerful offensive team.

Mike Hart IND - Like Ivory keep an eye on Mike Hart because the other two starting backs have uncertain injuries for the Colts.

Wide Receivers

Deion Branch NE - had a great week with his new Quarterback Tom Brady. Expect 70+ yards and 1 TD from Branch.

Patrick Clayton SD - Lots of injuries for the Chargers in the receiving positions. They are going against the Patriots this week who have not have had the strongest pass defense this year so far.

Tight Ends

Todd Heap BALT - Looked good against he Patriots and has an easy opponent, Buffalo this week coming up.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Play Ben Roethlisberger this week or not.

Play him. At first I had doubt he wouldn't be ready for this weeks game since he hasn't played a real game in weeks. First off he is playing Cleveland, who although they aren't the worst in the league, they still have let up 1100 passing yards and a slightly above average amount of rushing yards. Expect the Steelers offense to be in full form and I would not be surprised if they let Ben throw the ball. Don't be worried about him not being ready for the game either, multiple sources have gone over his strong work ethic during his suspension, and if there was a time to prove himself and win the fans back this is it. Coaches know this as well, so expect a pass heavy game plan.

It is kinda funny for me to be writing this though, because I do have Roethlisberger and I am not starting him. The reason is simply matchup. I have Jay Cutler playing against the Seahawks who have the 3rd worst passing defense in the league. He is coming off a concussion so this could be a bad decision. I really like him though, he's improved alot last year and loves to put up big numbers. I expect a 300+ yard game from Cutler. Thats fantasy football for you though and its going to be a blast watching it.

Although this picture might suggest otherwise.

Aaron Rodgers is officially active Week 6

Good news for Rodgers team owners. He is active and will be playing. Still be careful with starting him especially if you have a strong backup because he probably will not be 100%.

"Packers QB Aaron Rodgers (concussion) will start in Week 6 after he wasn't listed among the inactives for Green Bay's against the Dolphins."

Also be sure to make correct decisions on your WR and RB for Greenbay.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Week 6 Quarterback Rankings

Here is a ranking of current Quarter backs for Week 6. Matchups are taken into consideration.

1 Peyton Manning IND (at WAS)
2 Philip Rivers SD (at STL)
3 Drew Brees NO (at TB)
4 Eli Manning NYG (vs DET)
5 Ben Roethlisberger PIT (vs CLE)
6 Tony Romo DAL (at MIN)
7 Kyle Orton DEN (vs NYJ)
8 Tom Brady NE (vs BAL)
9 Jay Cutler CHI (vs SEA)
10 Matt Schaub HOU (vs KC)
11 Joe Flacco BAL (at NE)
12 Matt Ryan ATL (at PHI)
13 Vince Young TEN (at JAC)
14 Mark Sanchez NYJ (at DEN)
15 Brett Favre MIN (vs DAL)
16 Matt Cassel KC (at HOU)
17 Chad Henne MIA (at GB)
18 David Garrard JAC (vs TEN)
19 Josh Freeman TB (vs NO)
20 Donovan McNabb WAS (vs IND)
21 Shaun Hill DET (at NYG)
22 Kevin Kolb PHI (vs ATL)
23 Alex Smith SF (vs OAK)
24 Jason Campbell OAK (at SF)

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Choosing your defense

How important is the defense to your team? The simple answer is not very important relative to your positional players, but a good defense can be the difference between winning and losing a week. On average a defense will earn 5-10 points, anything over 10 points I consider to be great. Almost always you get points for sacks, ints and fumble recovery and some leagues get points based on how few points and yards they allowed.

When evaluating the football teams defense it is important to understand their team as a whole. One trend I noticed is when a team has an offense that scores a ton of points, then their defense will often let up alot of points. Usually in the NFL you don't see games for 41-7, if one team is dominant the winning team's defense usually plays less conservative. Now this can be a good and bad thing, so let me explain. If your defense is giving up tons of points thats bad of course, but if they are forcing the opponent to force alot of passes it creates the opportunity for turnovers.

Simple logic of injuries also apply to defenses. If a team's star cornerback is hurt, thats would obviously be a red flag. Now there is a debate on whether or not you should have two defenses on your team week to week. The advantage is so that you can play the matchups correctly. This is a very good idea because like I said in my previous matchup post, playing them correctly can net you a ton of points. I would only keep one defense on my team if it was one of the few elite defenses in the league.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Understanding matchup

It is very important to look at matchups for your players, the team your players are playing against. This is one thing that can separate a good fantasy football owner or a bad one. Say if you have 3 really good wide receives, which is not uncommon, and you're not sure which ones to play. One of the most important factors to whether or not they score alot of points is the defense they are playing against. Look at numbers like rushing yards and passing yards allowed for the defense you are going against.

Obviously going against a team that allows alot of passing yards is a good thing. This is what you want to look at first. You want to also see the defense's difference between passing yards and rushing yards. Coaches are going to look at these numbers as well and if they see a big difference between the two the coach will try to exploit this. Be sure to bench the players that are going against strong defenses in their respective category.

Don't strictly go by these numbers though. I will almost always choose my 1st round drafted running back to start, even if he is going against a great defense. Especially since my backup running backs are not that great. There are many factors in determining who to start week to week, be sure to look at the defenses those players are going against.

Monday, October 4, 2010

The Luck factor of Fantasy football

Unfortunately no matter how many good moves you make you can still lose to just plain bad luck. Every fantasy football player will come to this at some point and it can be really frustrating. This past week I was tied with my opponent, I still had my QB left to play and he had nothing. I needed 1 point, just 25 yards or a touchdown. Jay Cutler ended up getting -3 points for me, which is unheard of. It hurt, because I thought I did all the right moves, but sometimes you just lose to bad luck.

This is a fantasy game, so we don't have actual control of what players do. This is pretty obvious though. Thats why if you if take part in this hobby, make sure you take everything with a grain of salt. Understand that you will have good luck and bad luck, over a long period of time it will even out. In order to win though over time, you need to make consistently good moves week to week.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Trading Fantasy Players

Knowing when and how to trade is very important. It can also be very difficult to be a successful at trading. Most of the time if you're in a good league where people know their stuff, you're not going to be able to rip anyone off. Its a bit insulting to propose a ridiculous trade to someone. Trading can be very beneficial even if its completely even.

Say if you need a backup running back. You are probably going to want to trade away one of your bench WR or QB for a backup RB. Look at the possible people to trade with and see what they need. Look for weaknesses in their team and then tell them how if we traded these players both of our teams would be better. It is great to send a note along with the trade of why you think it is a good idea. Most trades only happen with the low tier players.

Be prepared to get turned down on trades and don't use it as a major source for your players to fill injuries and bye weeks, that's the waiver wires job.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Your bench

Your bench players are not only there in case someone gets hurt or for your starters bye week. Another important part of your bench is matchups. What I mean by matchups is say for example you have a good quarterback, not amazing but just good. You also have a slightly above average quarterback on your bench. It is important to look at the matchups for both quarterbacks, meaning look at the teams they are playing against. Do some research about their defense and whether or not they give up lots of passing yards or not. If your good quarterback is playing the best defense in the league, you might want to consider playing your backup. This is why the late rounds can be so important of a draft. You need to get quality backups who can be a starter a couple of times a season.

You will make mistakes sometimes, trust me it happens. You play your backup and your starter ends up doing great. My rule of thumb is if you are unsure who to play, stick with your starter. Basically the same philosophy that NFL coaches use.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Pay League vs Free Leagues

There are tons of free fantasy football leagues to join, yahoo.com, espn.com and nfl.com are to just name a few. I used to enjoy the free leagues when I first started playing fantasy football for obvious reasons, but there was one major problem. Almost every single free league people don't actually follow their team throughout the draft. If there is an online draft you'd be lucky if half the people show up. Playing in these leagues isn't so much fun if no one is taking it serious. I end up playing against people who have 3 starters on bye weeks and I win easily.

This year for the first time I joined a pay to enter league. This particular one is with friends and family, and was $140 to enter. All the money that is collected is spread out to the 1st and 2nd place finishers along with weekly winners, so you do have a chance to win a lot of money. The money isn't so much the important part though, its more about the dedication everyone puts in. There is no such thing as team owners playing people on a bye week. People actually use the waiver wire and offer trades to each other.

If $140 is too much there are plenty of online sites where you can pay $20-40. With this small fee there is a much better chance that everyone in your league will take it seriously. Usually there are great prize structures associated with winning as well. So if you've played fantasy football for a couple years I still suggest trying the pay leagues, I think you'll learn alot more and have much more fun.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Why I like Fantasy Football

I love football, I am a New England Patriots fan. I've always liked watching the Patriots but I was never a huge football fan. The reason I like fantasy football so much is because it makes you a bigger fan of the game. Now each week I have fun watching random games between teams just because they have my players on them. Also its fun to root against the players that are on my opponents team. Sure I understand if you think this is all silly, watching sports in a way is, but I think they're good social activity. Can be alot of fun when you're in a league with friends and family, watching games together.

Its a hobby, just like playing videos games, reading books or playing the guitar. It is something we do on our free time for fun. Obviously its not for everyone, but if you're on the fence maybe you should give a league a try, probably next year though its a little late now :\

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

When to draft a Kicker

Most leagues draft 12-18 players. A kicker should ALWAYS be picked towards the end no matter what. Someone might think, well I got my starting players for every other position why not get a great kick in say the 7th or 8th round. No no this is bad. Those middle rounds it is much more valuable to get backup players. The thing with kickers is that the top 10 in the league all score approximately the same amount of points throughout a season. Thats why there is no rush to pick one. In my recent draft, which was 16 rounds, I picked only one kicker and it was in the 15th round. Also don't worry about a backup kicker just yet for your starter's bye week. I suggest just wait until that week and drop a weak bench player.

In conclusion, get ONE kicker in the last couple rounds no matter what.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Waiver wire

All leagues have a thing called the waiver wire. This is the method used to pick up free agents for your team. The waiver wire is extremely important for picking up hot players to replace your injured or lackluster players. Now the way it works is the following, after every week each team in the league is ranked by how well they did. This is the priority list, and is used to determine who gets what player. What you need to do is pick which players you would like to get and make an order.

Say there are 5 players you want, you are not necessary guaranteed to get any of them, and it is important to put your most desired player on the top of your priority list. You also need to specify which player you would drop to make room for them, but they are only dropped if you get the player you request. At a particular time, usually sometime around Tuesday the waiver wire goes into action and players are picked based on the priority list.

Hoped this help, I know I had difficult time understanding it at first.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The quarterback

Here is some great information about picking quarterbacks in drafts. I always had a difficult time knowing when to pick them. What it comes down to is just the value of the particular player. Will there ever a #1 overall quarterback in a draft? Probably not but there always is a couple in the first round.

edit, new video old one wasn't working

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Ryan Grant done for season

If you are a Greenbay Packers fan I'm sure you already know but their starting running back Ryan Grant is out for the season. This is a big blow to a team that is expected to do very well in the playoffs. For fantasy football this just increases the value of the Packers Quarterback and Wide Receivers. So the value of AAron Rodgers, Greg Jennings and Donald Driver just went up a bit. Also keep an eye on the backup for Greenbay, Brandon Jackson. He could be taking over as the #1 back and be a valuable fantasy player.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Laurence Maroney traded to Denver

The New England Patriots have traded Laurence Maroney to the Denver Broncos for a 4th round draft pick. Maroney has been a bit of a disappointment since he has been a Patriot. Being injured alot and notorious for his dance style of running he was never fully accepted by the Patriots fans. I don't really like the trade because we didn't get very much for him, and I still believe he has so much potential if he could be healthy.

As for Fantasy Football, he may be a player to pick up off of waivers once he is healthy, but only if he is 100%. He is not going to be their #1 back, they have Knowshon Moreno. So I'm not really sure where he will fit in for them. Becareful putting him on your roster.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Knowing your scoring system.

Knowing your scoring system is probably the most important way of being successful in a fantasy football league. Is your league a touch down driven or a yards gained driven league. By standard it is usually fairly balanced, but it my case it was not. Touch downs were only worth 4 points for all positions, so yards gained was a big source of your weekly points. Also there are bonus' in my league if your player gets a certain amount of yards. This bonus can really be the difference between a win and a lost.

The way to take this into consideration when drafting is you need to look for players that match your point system. Running backs who get lots of touch downs but only because they run it in from the goal line may not be that valuable to you. You want the player who will run 100 yards a week but may only get 1 touchdown.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Randy Moss

So yesterday after a really great win against the Bengals, Randy Moss vented on the podium at the press conference. What he wants is an extension to his contract right now. He feels that he hasn't been appreciated by the ownership, team and fans for the past 3 years. Tom Brady just received a contract extension for 4 years just a few days ago making him the highest paid player in the NFL, so obviously Moss is a bit bothered by this. In my opinion he does have a right to be upset, he is one of the best receivers in the history of the game, and easily a hall of fame candidate when he retires. Moss just wants to get paid, and its unfortunate as a fan to have to hear about this. As a fan we don't really care about contract issues or how much players make, we just want wins and have the best players as possible on our team. So after hearing his comments yesterday afternoon it is a bit unsettling, but I think the days of Randy Moss in New England will be ending at this season.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Football starts today! (sort of)

Ok I know the season started on Thursday with the Vikings and Saints, but I feel like the season really starts today. My team (Patriots) are playing a very important game against the Bengals, which I'm very excited for. It is also going to be very exciting keeping track of my other players on my fantasy team. I have a few playing at 4oclock so I hope those games are being broadcast.

What I am most worried about is my quarterback. I picked Jay Cutler in the 4th round of my draft, which some people might consider too early for him. He had a great season 2 years ago, and although he put up great numbers last year, he had a ton of interceptions. This year he got a new coach that he has worked with before. What I've read is that he is going to be throwing much better but we'll see. If he puts up bad numbers I'm going to be screwed for a few weeks. My backup is Ben Roethlisberger so I have to wait 4 weeks for him to even be available.

Gooo CUTLER

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Funny fantasy football rap video

Although this is kinda off topic I thought it was a pretty cool video. Hope you enjoy!

Running backs as a first round pick

Running backs are usually the highest scoring players in fantasy football. Conventional wisdom for drafting usually says to get a running back in the 1st and 2nd round. I tend to agree with this to a point, because it depends alot on your scoring system. For me I had the 6th pick, so I was in a good position to pick Andre Johnson 1st (the best wide receiver). It came down to the wire but I ended up not selecting him, I choose Michael Turner instead. Turner had a great year last year but was injured, he was on pace for some incredible numbers. I heard he was completely healthy so I went with him.

First round picks are so important. You must get good production out of your 1st round guy or you'll be in big trouble in my opinion. Its obviously possible to win a league without even a 1st round pick, but highly unlikely

Finally my 2nd round pick was Mendenhall of Pittsburg, with I thought was a good value pick for 2nd round. Hoping he does well.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Rotoworld

One of my favorite sites that I used to become well prepared for my fantasy football draft was Rotoworld.com. It is a great site because it has up to the minute information about players. Looking through their injury report was very helpful before the draft. I was able to know exactly who was hurt and for how long. Also they have great rankings and cheat sheets for your draft needs.




Not only is it great for fantasy football but it has great information for all sports. You're able to have all the important information at your finger tips to check on your favorite team and sport. I like it a little more than sites like ESPN.com because often you get stories and articles mixed. If i want just news and information rotoworld is the way to go.

First fantasy football draft

Last Friday night I went to my first live fantasy football draft. Now I've played fantasy football for a few years now, but its always been in free leagues. This league I'm in cost $140 and has 12 people, so its no joke. Playing for a decent amount of money adds a whole new level of excitement. For example, just last night I was watching the Viking vs Saints game, I am a big football fan but I usually don't watch games other than my home town Patriots. I had the Saints defense and the Viking's tight end. It was so much fun cheering them to get points that I didn't really care about the outcome of the game.

Anyways about the draft, it was like I said a live draft, all 12 teams owners were there. Tons of good junk food was consumed and then we began. Unfortunately I had strep throat at the time so it made the night much longer than it should have been but it still went by pretty fast. Luckily I was very well prepared, I did do my homework and I knew the players fairly well.