How It Went Down

By now the fantasy football season is about half way complete, if you don't included the playoffs. This is a very important aspect to keep in mind, especially if you're record is worse than 3-3. Now, before I go any further, some of you readers who are still coming to this page is probably asking yourselves where the $#@! has he been these two months? Posting out of no where when it's about to be week 7? Well, to be honest, I was about to give up on writing and finish up my biology degree. But something weird happened. Apparently some of you guys like my blog and sent me e-mails about returning. Thanks for that. Secondly, I had to write a paper for my Psychology class and it was so seamless, so easy, so... it just flowed. It took me like 15 minutes to crank out 1000 words. It put a smile on myself. Plus, even though I hadn't been taking fantasy football as seriously as I should have, I did something for the first time, and I had to share.

For the first time, I got my feet wet and tried daily fantasy sports. To be more specific, I tried FanDuel for the first time. I was a little skeptical about the whole daily fantasy sports situation from the jump, even though I had heard about it a few years ago. The reasons being is for one I didn't like the salary cap game. I had played it a few times back in the early 2000s but not in a daily fantasy format. Secondly, I didn't want to get caught up in losing money playing daily fantasy. For a long time I had felt that Daily Fantasy was kind of like playing the lotto or something, or entering into Publisher's Clearinghouse or something like that. Even though it had always been in the back of my mind to do it, I let it slip by for a while. This year however, it was very difficult to pass up. FanDuel and Draft Kings both upped their marketing efforts this season. Every commercial is either for FanDuel or Draft Kings. Not to mention, I had some peer pressure too. So I decided to give it a go. For my first week, I sucked dramatically, but now that I got my feet wet and I have an idea of what I winning team looks like, I've become even more intrigued. I entered at the last minute, but this week I'm going to make sure I do a little more research so next week hopefully I can win something.

Speaking of research, that's something I definitely haven't been doing. Usually just like everyone else, I'm on different websites, watching or listening to different fantasy football podcasts/shows, reading Matthew Berry's Love/Hate column, downloading apps and all kinds of things to make sure my lineups are good for the upcoming week. I've glanced at Berry's column a couple of times this season, but mainly for entertainment as I've developed a habit of not paying attention to these so-called experts. Apparently, I'm no expert either, so I should start doing a little more research on a weekly basis... not only for informational purposes, but also to network with other fantasy football people. There's so many though, including this blog, to choose from. I'll probably stick with the mainstream sites such as ESPN, Yahoo and NFL.com, but if any of you who are still reading have any good links feel free to let me know.

I usually talk about some teams that I'm currently running and while I do intend to continue doing so, I won't cover every league. Just Roughing the Picker and the other one... the one with my friends from Dillard whose league name I can't recall... oh yeah, it's Coast2Coast Ballers. Anyhoo, In Roughing the Picker this week, I had a fabulous trade set up to receive Peyton Manning and send over Brandon Marshall and Latavius Murray. Now, I know Manning hasn't been "Rocket Laser Arm" this week, but I believed that when it cam down to it, and Denver was ever behind, it would be Peyton Time. That hasn't happened yet and this could be the reason why my peers decided to veto the trade. No one has come clean and admitted they were the ones who vetoed the trade, but they way I see it, it may have looked like I was giving up too much for a declining Manning. However, I feel I was getting the better of the trade because regardless Manning is still Peyton Manning, top 5 quarterback in the league. Plus, even though Marshall has been consistent, Murray has not, so I thought it was a fair enough trade. When the trade was vetoed Saturday night, it threw me off because Manning was supposed to be on my team by the 12:01 a.m. Sunday morning. The trade was vetoed, and I ended up having to pick up Colin Kaepernick. The Kaepernick pick actually worked out, but I still ended up losing by 5 freaking points.

The other league Coast2Coast Ballers, I'm in a 3-way tie for third place. This league is funny because I started off 4-0. A couple of weeks ago my Samsung Note 3 was stolen and this shut down my whole operation. I rely on my Note 3 for everything, including hotspot as I do not pay for internet service in my home. Without my Note 3 I was helpless... well not totally because I could always jump on when at work, but at work I'm unbelievably busy working the graveyard shift. I'm not trying to use this as an excuse, but things haven't been right ever since. Mr. Hindsman, my fantasy football rival, made a comment about me going on a serious losing streak, and I hate to say it but he might be right. I've lost the last two weeks putting me at 4-2. The problem? I think it's I have too many Green Bay Packers on my squad. I got Rodgers, Lacy, Cobb, and Richard Rodgers who I should've benched this past week. In fact, everyone except for Rodgers could've been benched. Cobb isn't taking advantage of Jordy Nelson being injured, and Lacy is injured himself. I'll make some adjustments, but these studs are turning in duds early on in the season. The Packers have a bye this coming week, but I'm going to have to figure out what to do with these dudes. Richard Rodgers is most likely gone, but I'll most likely hang on to Cobb and Lacy... for now.

Fantasy Football Drafting Season

The first NFL Preseason game is less than a week away, finally. Fantasy Football is upon us once again, finally. PhantasySteez is about to get more interesting, finally. Sometime this month, PhantasySteez turns two years old. To be honest I have ambivalent feelings about this two year anniversary if that's what you want to call it. While I have enjoyed writing about fantasy sports, the "business side" of running a blog is bananas with all that SEO marketing terminology and ranking. Also, I noticed that my enthusiasm for writing about fantasy sports fades a little during basketball season and almost completely during baseball season. I wrote about how fantasy football is the most popular of the three major sports last year around this time, and that is probably the most vague yet accurately true post that applies to me personally. I have seen an increase of material on the other two fantasy sports, especially from a Daily Fantasy point of view. However, personally I enjoy writing about fantasy football more than fantasy baseball and basketball, even though I like to play all three fantasy games.

With that said, I have already drafted two teams for this fantasy football season. I started out with a mock draft but that was the first and last mock draft I've done this season. I wrote a post about why I prefer to just draft a real team over doing mock drafts (this was actually the first post on this blog). This hasn't changed my in my views and as my friend Victor realized yesterday, real drafts are way more fun than mock drafts. When you do mock drafts, you know it's not real and it's like you're just waiting for it to be over with. With real drafts, it's more serious and there's a little more competitive banter. You know you're going to be jarring with 9 other guys for the next four months, so there's a little more conversation, trash talking, and competitive spirit in real drafts. It's even better in person, but we'll get to that later after I have my draft for Roughing the Picker.

Later on this week, I'm going to get into player rankings and all that other good stuff (we usually don't do that at PhantasySteez, but change is good). But before I get into all that does anyone even pay attention to preseason rankings? Of course they do, but how does preseason rankings dictate the way you're going to draft? Depending on what type of player you are, you're living by preseason rankings, you're drafting your favorite players, or you're going against the grain of what all these expert are saying and just drafting the players you want. After completing two drafts, and trust me I know that's not a lot, I would say all three of these drafting traits play a big role in the outcome of your draft. I'm sure it's this is not the case for everyone, but for a majority of people I'm sure an average draft strategy sounds something like this:

You spend a reasonable amount of time reading magazines and looking at websites where there are player rankings. The rankings from these various sources may slightly differ, but for the most part these lists are damn near identical. As you study these rankings you're looking to see where your favorite players or players who did well last season are ranked. Afterwards depending on what you see, you're like "these guys don't know what they're talking about," and you decide you're going to do the exact opposite of whatever those guys are suggesting. At the end of the day you pretty much have a mental picture of what you want your team to look like.

After you've daydreamed your ideal squad, the next thing you're usually worried about is the draft order. Most people, including myself, have nightmares about what position they will have in the draft. Naturally, you want to have the number one pick, but nine times out of ten you won't get that pick. It is widely believed that you want the first or last position because you with the first pick you can get the best player available and with both first and tenth picks you will have two consecutive picks which can be used to a major advantage. Some prefer the middle of the pack where your picks come a little quicker, but some such as myself hate this position. This year it's become more apparent that no matter which position I get, my team seems to look somewhat identical. This goes back to the me having a mental picture of what I want my team to look like. No matter where I drafted, be it 3rd or 6th respectively, I still managed to get either the players I wanted or someone close to that player. Of course some jerk took a few picks that I wanted, but when you compare my two teams, the core of my squads are very similar. No matter where you draft, you already have a preconceived thought of how you want to put together your team and there's a good chance you're not going to deviate from the strategy (unless you've had too much to drink during the draft).

Similar teams, but one squad has more players

In the end, it's important to make sure you regardless of whatever strategy you employ in the draft you get a team that you are satisfied with. It's also important that regardless of the outcome of your draft you own up to your picks and not try to blame your weak squad on someone else. It kind of ruins the game when you have those cry babies who want to blame their fantasy blunders on advice they took from fantasy experts. No one is holding a gun to your head and telling you to draft DeAngelo Williams or anyone else. It's your decision, and that's alone is what's going to make your fantasy football season your own unique experience. As always, send me a line on Twitter @donofalldons. 

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?

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.

Going into Week 12...

Fantasy Football Playoffs is right around the corner and right now you're either trying to maintain position, trying to build momentum to get into playoffs, or you're tanking. Every move is crucial at this point and even the sexiest lineup can be unpredictable. There are a few names going around this week and while some may be a clear bet to have a good week, others are not what they appear to be.

Jonas Gray had a Patriots' career day last week against the Colts and he is one of the top pick ups for most people in most leagues. I considered dropping Montee Ball who should be out for the next 2-3 weeks for Gray but I decided not too because of two reasons. First, as a Patriots fan I know that a running back can have a career game one week and have a vanishing act game the next week. Secondly, I know that the Patriots will change up their game plan next week. It is well noted that when the Patriots play the Colts, the Patriots pound the ball and expose the Colts weak run defense. It has worked over the past two seasons, but going against the Lions who have a top rated run defense, I expect Gray to not get as many touches and for Tom Brady to take over as he usually does. By the way, LeGarette Blount signed with the Patriots on Thursday, so now Gray has to come behind Shane Vereen and Blount. It's not looking too good for the kid.

Speaking of quarterbacks, one person I wanted to add this week and who I should've added two weeks ago is Josh McCown. I've never been a huge fan of his as I've always thought his success in Chicago last season was a fluke. While his stat line hasn't been off the charts, he's been consistent and has been one of the better fantasy football quarterbacks recently. He has one of the best fantasy football wide receivers to throw it to in Mike Evans. Evans has dominated over the last month and I was lucky to pick him up through free agency. Also, McCown still has Vincent Jackson to throw it to on the other side, but the real advantage is Evans. McCown may not light the board up with yards and completions, but with Jackson and Evans he should get at least two touchdowns a week.

There are a lot of interesting things going on in Cleveland this week. Josh Gordon is expected to come back from his suspension. Doesn't it seem like Gordon is always suspended to start the season? Usually he comes back and scores a lot of fantasy points for us. With the Browns doing so good and Brian Hoyer performing better than usual, he shouldn't have a problem producing on that PhantasySteez right? This could be, but I have to be a little pessimistic because the Browns let go of Ben Tate this week. Tate is now with the Vikings and this could be a good thing for Teddy Bridgewater, but what's going to happen with the Gordon and the Browns' backfield? With Tate's departure it'll be between Isaiah Crowell and Terrence West. I haven't seen either of them play, but if one of these guys don't step up it could be a rough return for Gordon. Well, then again the Browns' running game has always been kind of jacked up and that hasn't stopped Gordon in the past.



Last but not least, RGIII is starting his third game since coming back from injury. He's been in the sports news lately for trying to throw his teammates under the bus, but coach Jay Gruden defended and his players and let it be known that RGIII is the one who needs to get his rep up. I wonder if RGIII will rise to the occasion. Since his return he has had below average production on that PhantasySteez, and it mostly comes from sacks and turnovers. I believe that he has all the weapons he need with DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon (who has fallen off), Jordan Reed and Alfred Morris. However, last week he stunk it up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and this week they play the 49ers who are looking better now that Aldon Smith is back in the lineup. I don't want to start RGIII this week, but unfortunately in a league where free agency is beyond slim, I have no choice.

Feeling Some Kind of Way

As the fantasy football season continues on, I find myself in an interesting position as a fantasy football player. For some reason, this season feels very different than previously. One thing is I'm not having the success I've had in previous seasons, and it has kind of lead me to losing interest in playing the game. For instance, this morning my boy Vic had called me to talk fantasy football, but I was totally not interested in the conversation. I was watching a game at the time, a game that I was upset about having to watch, and none of my players were in the game. Secondly Vic was questioning me about why I haven't picked up Shaun  Hill. At that moment Hill had just threw his touchdown pass to Kenny Britt, a pretty play might I add. I have no interest in Hill, but Victor was pointing out that at the moment Hill had more fantasy points than Cam Newton, which was true at the time but turns out Cam found some way to turn it around and did eventually outscore Hill.

Speaking of Cam Newton, he has been a thorn in my side all season as I'm sure most of you who owns him feels the same way. Last week, I was ready to just get rid of Newton all together. I felt like one of those losers who take fantasy football way too seriously and go off on players' twitter accounts. I didn't resort to that low life behavior though. Instead I tried to trade him to another player in my league but all I was offered in return was a bag of Fritos. In the league Roughing the Picker, I've lost 7 games already and in most of those losses, Cam Newton did not meet his projections. In week 8 he got me 7 points, and he followed that up with 11 and 13 points in weeks 9 and 10 respectively. I already dropped him in another league, Coast2Coast Ballers, but that came back and bit me in the ass because my opponent picked him up this week when Cam decided he didn't want to play like Tim Tebow.

Going forward at this point, I don't know what I'm going to do with Cam. Even though he did okay this week, in most weeks he's been absolutely horrific. I've had opportunities to trade him multiple times but I felt it was dumb to trade him because of his potential. I mean, this is Cam Newton we're talking about. He's bound to come around sometime right?

In this league Roughing the Picker, the last place player pays the prize for the third place and currently I'm in last place. That will change this week as the two players that are in 8th and 9th will lose, but how am I going to maintain that going on? Newton is on a bye next week and my other two quarterbacks are RG3 and Mike Vick (Roughing the Picker is 2 quarterback league). Vick has been not great, but better than expected. RG3 on the other hand, well in a week that he should've dominated against a week Tampa Bay defense, he finished with 207 yards, one touchdown, and 2 interceptions. Honestly, a part of me wants to tank, but as I mentioned earlier the last place guy has to pay the third place guy, we did this to prevent tanking in the first place. Funny thing about it is that I still have an outside chance of making the playoffs, but quite frankly I'm almost to the point to where it's not even worth it. The only thing that's motivating me to keep playing at this point is avoiding finishing in last place and having to pay the third place winner.

I mentioned my other league Coast2Coast Ballers earlier and I should be somewhat satisfied in this league. Even though I should lose this week, I've been dominating throughout the season. Including this week I've lost two out of the last three games but that's mainly because of byes. I'm still in playoff contention and I should rebound sooner rather than later. The reason why I'm not feeling this league though is because it's so quiet. This league in particular is why I play fantasy football. Usually the competitive banter is off the charts. It's a very prideful league and trash talking is usually a constant. This season however, no one is talking. Even the commissioner has been quiet as of late.

This has made this league mad boring. My fantasy football rival Mr. Hindsman is in this league and when we played, there was nothing epic about it. I almost forgot we were playing against each other. He's not doing too good in this league and another league that we're in and it's like he's lost interest because of it. I called him out about this last week on Facebook and his response was simply, I forgot. I FORGOT? He was talking all that good ish during the preseason and now all of a sudden he forgot? I expect more from Mr. Hindsman but I know, the sun don't shine, the sun don't shine. I'll go ahead and win the league, since it was also thrown in my face that I haven't won the league yet, but I'm going to put an asterisk by this victory because it just isn't the same.

How Many?

How many of you started Branden Oliver? He was one of the flavors of the week last week and he came through for those who picked him up. Oliver had 26 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown.  He also had 23 receiving yards. The other flavor of the week didn't do as good. How many of you started Andre Williams? I did and I lost in the two leagues I own him in. Williams had 16 carries for 58 yards and no touchdowns. I might keep Williams though because even though he didn't produce like everyone thought he would,  he's not the main problem to me losing in those two leagues.

Once again I made a benching error.  How many of you benched Larry Fitzgerald? I woke up Sunday morning and felt like I needed to get Fitzgerald out of there ASAP. Sounds familiar right? But I had a valid reason. Fitzgerald was scoring low for my team and it had seemed as if the Cardinals were not going to throw the ball to him just because his name is Larry Fitzgerald. Something happened though, Carson Palmer came back from injury and Palmer knows who his #1 receiver is. Fitzgerald had 6 catches for 98 yards and a touchdown, and I had him on the bench. Worst part is I replaced him for Kendall Wright who didn't do anything against Jacksonville.  I lost by just a few points and starting Fitzgerald definitely would've made up some of the difference.

On the other hand though, it looks like Cam Newton is starting to get back to his old self. I was considering trading Cam and I had been reading everywhere that he should be benched until he started running the football again. How many of you benched Cam Newton? I don't think many of you did, but I know one person in Big Mike's league did and missed out on 284 passing yards, two touchdowns, 107 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. It's what everyone who drafted Cam had been waiting for. When Cam runs the ball, he's a top 5 quarterback. When he doesn't,  he's like in the late teens to early 20s. Hopefully we can get more of the running Cam for now on.

Response and Reactions

Week 5 in the NFL was a pretty interesting week indeed. I made some teerible mistakes this week and I realized that I needed to get back on the grind. If I continue on like this I'll end up in last place. Last place is no bueno, the last place has to pay the third place's prize money. So after months of being away, PhantasySteez is back! I have been playing fantasy sports all along. Both of my baseball teams came in 3rd place. Right now though, in between my 5 leagues (one of those leagues I won't talk about much) my teams are either doing extremely well or extremely poor. I jotted down some notes about how exactly I ended up in this situation.

Starting off with the biggest and dumbest mistake of the day, for some odd reason I benched Matt Forte in Noe's league, Show Me Ur TDs. Noe is this guy that works with Victor and invited us. Back to the matter, I woke up on Sunday morning and felt like I should bench Forte for Giovanni Bernard. Why did I come to such a dumb ass decision? I figured that Bernard would have a field day against the Patriots' disoriented defense.  Bernard did produce but Forte dominated scoring 23 points, 12 more than Bernard. I only lost by 4 points. Had I started Forte, I would've had more than enough to continue my winning streak and move on to 4-1. I'm still in second, but the lesson of the day is DON'T BENCH FORTE.

The rest of the mistakes all comes from the ever so competitive Roughing the Picker. This year is unique for me because I was not able to attend the draft and Victor basically drafted my team for me. I'm in 9th place today and not necessarily because of the draft but because of once again, bad decisions... and good managing by my opponent Mark. This guy has been trying to get Cam Newton or Ben Roethlisberger  from me but I want Nick Foles and he's not willing to go for it. I've been hinting that it needs to be Newton for Foles because in a two quarterback league, Mark did not have a reliable second quarterback, which is why

he was pressing me for Newton in the first place. In the midst of checking scores and stats I noticed this guy had Austin Davis in the game. He picked him up last Wednesday and decided to put him in. Why all of a sudden Davis wants to have a breakout game? He got Mark 45 points like his last name is Manning. This league is PPC (pass per completion) or 1/2 PPC, or something like that. Meanwhile Roethlisberger was below average from a phantasy point of view and Cam still isn't running. I got Bridgewater, but I'm going to have to keep an eye on all three of them.



It wasn't just Davis that killed me. Thanks to Victor, Mark also has Julio Jones and Eddie Lacy to go along with Antonio Brown. He is, or he WAS weak at quarterback but he has good productive "role players" once again thanks to Victor. My squad however, I have decent receivers but my running backs suck.

I got stuck with C.J. Spiller and Maurice Jones-Drew as my starting running backs. I dropped Jones-Drew for Chris Ivory and I've been running with them. This combination has me so uncomfortable every week. With Spiller you don't know whats going to happen between him and Fred Jackson. With Ivory he gets touches but from a phantasy point of view he's mediocre at best.

I feel the same way about one of my receivers so I low key been trying to trade Percy Harvin for a running back. It's not been as easy I thought it would be because either the other players are trying to send me someone of lesser value, or they see the same thing I do in Harvin. He's a top 10 receiver and he can be productive, but you have to consider how Seattle uses him. He goes out on little screen passes and runs reverses. In Seattle's system he's a decoy with big play potential, not the consistent main threat that you want in your phantasy receiver. Like I said I got a decent group of receivers, so I'm willing to trade Harvin for a productive running back to try to balance out my team.

On a more positive note, things are going smoothly in Coast2Coast Ballers, the league with my Dillard University classmates. I'm in first place and I can honestly say its because my draft was immaculate. In this league there's one quarterback but two Offensive Player positions. Yes, you can put quarterbacks there potentially having three quarterbacks. I've adopted this strategy from my phantasy arch nemesis Mr. Hindsman. He'a won three championships using this strategy and after being kindly reminded that he's beaten me in a championship I felt no shame in using the tactic. Funny thing this year is Mr. Hindsman is in 9th place right now. He's been quiet these last few weeks, but winning in this league is nothing unless I see Mr. Hindsman in the playoffs.

What makes matters worse is Mr. Hindsman, Victor and myself are in another league my boy Mike invited us to... AND MR. HINDSMAN IS IN 11th PLACE. He says he's trying to adjust to the Yahoo! format, and while I didn't agree with his excuse this league is a little different.  There are 14 players and the draft was crazy long. By the time it was your turn to pick everyone you had on your radar were gone. Free agency is very slim so you literally have to work with what you got. Mike is in 1st but to my pleasant surprise I'm in 6th and Victor is in 2nd place. He drafted really well, but I have a lot of make or break players that I need to work on. Somehow I need to figure out what to do with Larry Fitzgerald and Roddy White. The Cardinals are not feeding the ball to Fitzgerald and White is living in Julio Jones' shadow.

Okay, so I've been MIA for months and I come back 5 weeks in like nothing happened.  However PhantasySteez is improving everyday with interesting fantasy tidbits and what nots from a player's point of view. Got something to say? Leave a comment. Tweet me @donofalldons Google+ +MarcusNickerson Instagram @donspook :-)