Championship Week: Try Not To Get Cute

For most of us, this week is Championship Week for fantasy football players. In my opinion, this year championship week is a bit different than previously because there seems to be a lot of injuries and players getting benched that have come with last week's results. This may cause fantasy players to try to get "cute" with their lineups by picking players off of waivers based upon last week's performance and these unfortunate injuries and benchings. As my man Matt Berry said at the beginning of the playoffs, this is not the time to get cute. At the same point though depending on the situation you may have to look at alternative options to fill out your roster if you're playing in a championship matchup this week, or even if you're trying to place well overall. I'm going to discuss just a few interesting scenarios that you may have come across due to injuries or players getting benched.

Of course I have to start off with my boy Cam Newton. There's a good chance that if you have Newton you're not playing in the championships unless the rest of your squad is full of studs, like my squad in Coast2Coast Ballers. Because of the way the positions are in this league, I had been starting 3 quarterbacks, one at starting quarterback and the other two at the "offensive player" position. Anyway, as of writing this, it's still unclear if Newton is going to play or not. He did throw the ball in practice on Wednesday and the Panthers' camp are saying that the situation is similar to when he missed week 1 and came back week 2. However, if he doesn't come back, Derek Anderson has actually been a reliable replacement for Newton this season. I used him last week and he didn't put up super numbers, but he got me about average fantasy points, and he got the victory for the Panthers.

Sticking with the quarterback position, on Wednesday the Chicago Bears decided to bench Jay Cutler for Jimmy Clausen. This is exactly what Matt Berry and I are talking about with don't get cute. If you have Jay Cutler you already know he wasn't putting up stellar numbers, and putting in Clausen is not going to make a difference at all. Personally, I didn't know Clausen was still in the NFL, but apparently he is and he's getting the start. I don't intentionally give advice on who to start or who to sit, but in this case I implore you not to start Clausen. Even if he does have a decent game, I'm steering away from Clausen at all cause. Do you remember when he was the starter at Carolina before Cam Newton got there? He didn't do anything, and most will say he didn't have any talent around him. I'm not buying that excuse at all because he had Steve Smith Sr. Also if that was the case he would be starting right?

Somehow, DeMarco Murray broke his hand last week against the Philadelphia Eagles and had surgery on Monday. Amazingly he was back on the practice field on Wednesday, but it is still uncertain if he'll start. Should he not start, the next best option probably would be Joseph Randle, who took first-team snaps at practice on Wednesday. My boy Victor like Lance Dunbar, but to me Dunbar hasn't done enough for me to consider him. You can say that starting Dunbar is another example of getting cute. I know that Dallas has an impressive offensive line that has allowed Murray to go crazy, but out of the two back ups, Randle will be the more reliable of the two.

In San Diego, Keenan Allen is out all of a sudden, I'm not quite sure what the injury is as he's been dealing with a groin and a hamstring for most of the season, but he's out. I think the biggest beneficiary from Allen's injury will be Eddie Royal. Even though Phillip Rivers will most likely be looking for Antonio Gates, don't sleep on Royal. He has been a sneaky play all year. If it doesn't go to Gates or Allen, 9 times out of 10 it's going to Royal. He has a few touchdowns this season and should see more targets with Allen out. There's a similar situation going on in Indianapolis with TY Hilton. He should be out this week but I'm not sure who is going to step up. They still have Reggie Wayne, but it gets interesting when it comes to Hakeem Nicks and Donte Moncrief. Nicks and Moncrief have been competing for snaps over the last month. Nicks has had the upside over the last two weeks, but with Hilton out Moncrief should see some additional snaps. I have Moncrief on the team I have playing in the championship this week, but I'm not sure about starting him, I'm trying not to get cute.

I could say something about Johnny Manziel and RGIII, in which both players are starting this week for players who have been benched. However, we all know what RGIII has done this season, and we definitely know what Manziel did last week. Bernie Kosar ripped the Browns' coaching staff and front office this week, pretty much saying that the coaches and front office personnel have failed to do their jobs thus setting up Manziel for failure. He also mentioned that previous quarterbacks from Tim Couch to Brady Quinn had this same problem while they were quarterbacks for Cleveland. I believe this to be true and I also believe that RGIII is dealing with the same situation in Washington. Manziel and RGIII both are athletic guys with the potential to be deadly at the quarterback position, but things just hasn't gone as planned for either. Some fantasy players may have gotten cute last week and started Manziel which resulted in those players crying with their tail between their legs. The question is, do you risk being cute again this week starting Manziel or RGIII?

And Now, Starting At Quarterback...

Cam Newton's truck protects him better than his offensive line

I've been pretty critical of Cam Newton for most of the season. He has not only disappointed me on that PhantasySteez, but also in the actual game. I'm not a Carolina Panthers' fan, but I am a Cam Newton fan and have been since he won the championship at Auburn (I'm not an Auburn fan either). I've had to stick with Newton throughout the fantasy season in which most of the season his performance has been horrendous, but I've managed to grind it out with him. In the two leagues I have him in, one going to the playoffs the other fighting not to come in last place, I've started him all season. Now during a crucial moment in the fantasy football season, it looks like he's going to sit out this week because of that weird accident that happened on Tuesday. So now I'm trying to figure out who am I going to start this week to keep my interesting playoff journey interesting.

The obvious answer of course is Derek Anderson. Anderson did start for Newton in week 1 and actually played quite well. He had 230 yards and two touchdowns with a fantasy score of 13.6 in standard leagues. Anderson has experience and shouldn't have a problem against the Tampa Bay defense. The problem is that he's available in one of the leagues I need him in, but in the other league, Roughing the Picker where the other players stalk the free agency like vultures waiting to feast, he's not available. Unfortunately, the options are very slim after Anderson.

Looking at the free agency in Roughing the Picker, there are only three, maybe four viable options that I would consider to replace Cam Newton; Derek Carr, Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, and Geno Smith. This isn't a sexy list to choose from, but times like these you gotta work with what you got. I got a thing against Derek Carr because he plays for Oakland, I don't trust his receivers, and he's burned me once this season already. Carr was on my boy Victor's team and Victor is in the playoffs, but when I had him he put up some unacceptable numbers and I don't think I really want him on the team. Bortles has been interesting to me all season because Jacksonville seems to start off slow then play come from behind. The only thing is like most I haven't watched a Jacksonville game, so I really don't know what I'm getting myself into if I pick Bortles. I like Bridgewater and in my opinion he's been getting better every week, but he plays against the Detroit Lions this week and they have a good defense. Lastly, Smith is an interesting pick, but the Jets offense is horrible. I know he had a good game last week, but once again the Jets offense is horrible.

I also have Ryan Fitzpatrick and Colt McCoy already on my team. In this league you start two quarterbacks and Fitzpatrick is most likely going to get one of the starts, but I don't know about Colt McCoy. I think he got benched or injured last week so I don't know if he or RG3 is going to get the start (RG3 is not available). So I have about five options that I need to pick from. Who would you start? Hit me up on twitter @donofalldons, google+ +Marcus Nickerson.

One More Week Until Fantasy Playoffs

In most leagues, there's one more week left before the start of the fantasy football playoffs. At this point in the season, there are many very interesting scenarios playing out in the NFL that could have a definite impact on your fantasy team. By now your team probably looks completely different than the team you drafted, or maybe it looks the same just with some minor tweaks. Maybe you're sitting on top of the league or maybe you're fighting for that last playoff spot. This week is crucial and there are some things you definitely should look out for this week...

...Such as that opponent you're facing who is fighting for that last playoff spot. Depending on the make up of your league, this is the guy who started off bad but through good managing and pick ups from free agency, this guy is on multi-game winning streak and could possibly end up winning the league. This happened in my league this year and it's somewhat happening again this season, and it's my fault. I traded Tom Brady after week 4 to the guy who is in currently first place for Ben Roethlisberger. At the time of the trade I was in 8th place and he was in 9th. It worked out fine until two weeks later when the real Tom Brady stood up and has been on fire ever since. I did this with the guy in 4th place too. I wasn't patient with Roethlisberger and I traded him away before the real Big Ben stood up and started throwing mad touchdowns like he was playing Madden. Had I been more patient, I probably wouldn't be fighting not to come in last place (actually, I was patient but with the wrong quarterback, should've traded Cam Newton instead).

There isn't anyone available in my league to help anyone trying to make a playoff push. Everyone in my league are sluts (picking up players they don't necessarily need). My boy Victor picked up Ray Rice yesterday who did get reinstated, but is not on a team and probably won't be on a team this season. However, in many regular leagues there still might be some players available who can help your team out during this oddly stressful time. Some of these guys might not and should not be available in your league, but these guys are definitely worth mentioning because they were not in the picture in the beginning of the season, but they now play a key role in their respective team's success.

If C.J. Anderson is available in your league, you should grab him real quick. I had never heard of this guy until about two weeks ago, but he has a major advantage because he plays with Peyton Manning. Over the last three weeks he has scored an average of 19.76 points in standard leagues, including 25.5 points last week when he rushed for 167 yards. Most running backs can excel in a Peyton Manning offense and Anderson is definitely taking major advantage of this opportunity.

Even though Odell Beckham Jr. plays for the Giants (I'm not a Giants fan), I can't sleep on him on that PhantasySteez. He was injured for the beginning of the season but since then he's been pretty productive, especially since Victor Cruz went out for the season. He's probably not available in your league and by now everyone has seen the catch that has gotten the attention of almost everyone. That was no fluke, the catch was real and Beckham Jr. is definitely one to watch out for as the playoffs is just around the corner and he will definitely have an impact for some lucky players who start him.

Another guy who has came up all of a sudden is Mark Sanchez. I personally didn't think he would do good in Chip Kelly's offense, especially after what happened to him with the Jets. However, Sanchez has used that Jest situation as fuel and has mounted a major comeback, probably the comeback of the season. He's been at the helm for the past three weeks and has put up good numbers. It helps when you got Shady McCoy in the backfield, just like when he had LaDamian Tomlinson back there with the Jets. On Thanksgiving Sanchez had 21.48 points which was well over the 17.47 points that were projected. I know he already played this week, but watch out for teams who has him starting at quarterback.

If I'm going to put Mark Sanchez on this list, I have to also put his favorite target Jordan Matthews on it too. Matthews is a second round pick and since Sanchez has been at quarterback, Matthews' stock has noticeably risen. Even though he plays behind Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper, Matthews has proven that he can also be relied on. You'll probably catch him as a WR3 on most squads, but his fantasy point production has major potential.

I think I'm only making the playoffs in one league, but I'm still playing spoiler in the leagues I'm not. Watch out for Mike Evans who has been one of the top receivers over the last month. I also go LeGarette Blount on the squad who had a good game last week back in a Patriots' jersey, but we all know you can't rely too heavily on Patriots' running backs. If you got some sleepers on your radar we should all be looking out for, let me know. Feel free to leave a comment, hit me up on twitter @donofalldons, google+ +Marcus Nickerson, instagram @donspook.

The Fantasy Football Playoff Challenge

Have you ever seen that one commercial for a playoff version of fantasy football where they have the people crying over there poor fantasy football team and they show the team name with their record? And  in thecommercial they're playing that one song "Had A Bad Day" by Daniel Powter? The only site I've known to do it is nfl.com and they giveaway a trip to the Super Bowl. I've always wondered how fantasy football during the playoffs worked. My main question was what happened when a player's team lose? Well, I decided that since I was on that PhantasySteez I would try it out.

First I wanted to figure out how it worked. Here's a screen shot of the rules from nfl.com...

As you can see, it doesn't really give a description of how the points are distributed, but what I find intriguing about it is that multiplier when your player's team wins.  The next week, the points that player accumulates is multiplied.  This is definitely something to keep in mind when it comes to setting up the lineup.

Instead of the familiar head to head format, this playoff version uses more of a pick 'em format where you can pick any player instead of once a player has been chosen by someone else that player is no longer available.  They use an overall leader board which presumably determines the winner of the Super Bowl prize.  You can also join our create groups with your people just like in the regular fantasy football leagues.

So this is who I picked up...

When I was picking my players, I tried to keep in mind the weather crisis that most of the country is going through right now (but not here in So-Cal). Starting with my running backs, LeSean McCoy is clutch. It's gonna be cold in Green Bay so i think Ed Lacy should get some good touches. Even though the Saints are a dome team and they're playing in Philadelphia in the snow today,  I picked Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham because I figured that connection would be most likely to score. That goes for pretty much the rest of my lineup too.  A.J. Green and Jordy Nelson play in the snow too, but I figure if Aaron Rogers and Andy Dalton are going to throw it's probably going to be to Nelson and Green respectively.  Adam Vinatieri is a kicker playing in a dome so that was a no brainer. The Bengals Defense play at home in the snow against the Chargers of San Diego, another no brainer.

So we'll see how this goes. I didn't create any groups because I decided to do this at the last minute,  but I'll keep yall posted.

Vacation

It's the playoffs... Or to be more specific,  it's Fantasy Football Super Bowl week. Win or go home. Guess where I am right now... AT HOME. I'm on a little little vacation from my regular job. Feels good, but it hasn't done anything as far as my losing streak on that PhantasySteez is concerned.

To start off, in my two main leagues, Roughing the Picker and Coast2Coast Ballers, I have officially been eliminated.  In Roughing the Picker I was eliminated a couple of weeks ago, and I lost the 5th place game last week. My boy Victor lost last week too, but right now he's in the 3rd place game hoping that Frank Gore doesn't go off tonight.  In Coast2Coast Ballers I lost last week to my arch rival Mr. Hindsman and im pretty sure I lost this weekend as well in the 5th place game.  Basically,  in both leagues I finished in 6th place.  Very disappointing.

On the plus side, I got 3 teams,  one on ESPN two on Yahoo, in championship games.  Starting with the ESPN league, I'm currently ahead right now and I got one player for tonight. However, ESPN leagues have two week playoff games. So it's not over, but I go into next week with an advantage which will bring me that much closer to winning the league.

I my Yahoo leagues, I have a split between the two leagues. One league I lost so I'll end up in second. Not bad, but nobody remembers second place. If I can steal a line from Ricky Bobby, "If you ain't 1st, you're last" The other Yahoo league I'm in victory lane. I'm up by 11 points and I still have Phil Dawson to play tonight. My opponent has nobody left,  so that's one guaranteed trophy for the mantle.

So now it's pretty much a wrap for fantasy football. Now I have to think about what's next because I've enjoyed writing about fantasy football, but with the season quickly coming to an end what do I write about now? Most likely it'll be my fantasy basketball teams. I have two of them but I've been shying away from writing about it simply because I can't decide to write it under this blog PhantasySteez or create a whole new blog for it. Most likely, I'll probably just do it on that PhantasySteez instead of creating a while new blog, but who knows. We'll have to wait and see.

Lastly,  I just want to say thank you to all those who read my blog. When I first started, it was just something to do.  But it has motivated me in so many ways and my readers have motivated me as well. Shout out to 2 Cs,  Victor,  Mr. Hindsman, +Salvatore Surra, +Robyn Adams, Isolda Aldana, and everyone else who reads my blog. I greatly appreciate your support. Happy Holidays.

Playoffs!!

Playoffs! I had been waiting for this to come up all season, but now that it's here, I don't even want to play the game anymore. Something happened not this past weekend, but the weekend before last week in one of my leagues. It kind of just killed the whole PhantasySteez for me.

In one of my main leagues, Coast2Coast Ballers, I felt like I got bamboozled. I after Sunday night I was up by at least 170 points against my opponent. For Monday, my opponent had Golden Tate and the Saints Defense. Now, in this league the way the score settings are, you defense can easily score 170 points. My defense, the Packers Defense, had pretty much scored the difference of the score at this time, having 1 touchdown, 2 forced fumbles and two interceptions. The Saints Defense, who played the Seahawks, had no touchdowns, no interceptions, no force fumbles, and the Seahawks scored 34 points against them, yet they scored like 185 points. By the end of the Monday night, I had lost by 20 points.



I was low key pissed off. How did the my team have a much impressive defense have a pretty decent defensive outcome while the Saints Defense had a miserable outcome but had more fantasy points than my Packers Defense? I ranted about this in our league and this was the response I got from the commish...

Like how I scratched out everyone else's comments #GalaxyNote3

Rules are rules, but I was pissed. All the Saints did was tackle. Special teams didn't do anything. I was very upset. So upset in fact, I didn't even want to play anymore. Even though I had barely made the playoffs in Roughing the Picker that week, this mockery of points just killed the whole scenario for me. I didn't plan for anything last week. I didn't do any research, no writing, no nothing. Then Friday, I got my new toy, the Galaxy Note 3! Shout out to 2Cs!! I played around most of the weekend, and by Sunday morning, I was happy again... content. Now though, I was spending Sunday morning trying to make sure my lineups were good in Roughing the Picker where it was the first week of the playoffs and in Coast2Coast Ballers where it was the last week of the regular season and I was trying to keep a hold of the first round bye.

Well, I got blew out in both games. Most of my players had bad games, most likely due to injury or bad weather. It was snowing everywhere this past Sunday. Ironic part is, the scores in two different leagues, on two different platforms, look almost identical.

So I'm out of the playoffs in Roughing the Picker. As far as Coast2Coast Ballers, me losing has me barely in the playoffs in sixth place. Not only that, I have to play Mr. Hindsman this week. The two of us weren't expecting this matchup until the championship. Apparently, I'm not the only one who has fallen off as he has lost four in a row and both of us lost our top ranked status. So now only one of us are going to to ship... maybe.

I still intend on going to the championship, regardless on if I have to play Mr. Hindsman in the first round. I must plan carefully though if I'm to win because Mr. Hindsman can be relentless on that PhantasySteez. Last time I played him in Week 1, he won convincingly. This time though, I'm trying to have opposite results. Mr. Hindsman like to run multiple quarterbacks, as most of the players in this league do. Outside of Cam Newton, my quarterback squad sucks. Luckily, it looks like Aaron Rodgers is not going to play this week, so I picked up Matt Flynn off of waivers. Flynn has been inconsistent for the most part, but he has improved with every start. Also, the Packers play the Dallas Cowboys this week, and their pass defense sucks ass.

I also picked up Kirk Cousins. In case you missed it, RG3 has been benched and Cousins is going to start. This could be a good thing in the NFL and on that PhantasySteez. Last season, Cousins started in two or three games and did fairly well. Actually, he did above average. This week the Redskins play the Atlanta Falcons and Cousins could potentially feast on their defense. Most likely I'm going to start Cousins and not Flynn, which will have my lineup looking like this...

The Don vs. Mr. Hindsman II

Pretty tasty matchup on that PhantasySteez, I must say.

The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat

Well, here we are. Week 13. In most leagues, this is the last week of the fantasy football regular season. The last chance to make it into the winner's bracket of the playoffs. In most of my leagues I'm averaging a record of about 7-5, but of course in my two main leagues one is playoff bound and the other is not.

Starting out with my most important, the league I have money on, I have failed to make the winner's bracket in Roughing the Picker. I talked a little about what happened with Danny Woodhead and Bob Rainey yesterday so I won't go into why I think I lost this week. Instead, I look at some of the inconsistencies of my lineup. I drafted Alfred Morris, but I was never quite sold on him having a solid sophomore campaign. I tried to trade him for Trent Richardson. Good thing Choopie refused that trade as we all know how Richardson has been doing this season. So I've been stuck with Morris who was too good to drop, but playing for a confused Washington Redskins team has definitely affected his production.

Aside from Morris, I was never really a fan of having two quarterbacks on my bench. Even though this is a two quarterback league,  I knew I didn't need to have two quarterbacks on the bench. I felt like it was limiting the capacity of my bench, which i realized later to be fact as I suffered during bye weeks. I never fixed the situation until last week when I dropped Geno Smith for Bob Rainey, and as we all know, Rainey didn't do shit this past week.

Crazy part is I still have a very slim chance to make the playoffs. As of writing this, I was going over the league schedule and playoff format and it looks like this league takes six teams to the playoffs. I thought it was only four teams that went into the winner's bracket. Currently, I'm in seventh place, and coincidentally, I'm playing the guy who is in sixth place. This put me in a must-win situation, or as I like to call it, Manning Eli mode. I'll get more into that later, but right now I can't stress how imperative victory has become. Should I win, I'll have the same record as my opponent, but I would've scored more points overall, thus putting me in sixth place.

The scenario is not as scary in my other main league, Coast2Coast Ballers. I recovered from a four game losing streak last week with a victory of Ron. I'm still in second place, but I got Savel on my ass. The playoffs doesn't start until week 15, so I'm trying to retain second place so I can get that first round bye. Also coincidentally, I play Savel again week 14. Savel beat me a few weeks ago after I talked all that shit. I should still be able to win, but I gotta be careful. Just one loss could have me in the same situation I'm as Roughing the Picker.... MANNING ELI!