The Fantasy Football Geek Blog

Updates from August, 2010

• 

  Ask the Geeks: Week 9 (Part 3)

  Brandon 6:29 pm on 11/03/2007 | 0 Permalink Reply
  

  Wow! This has been our biggest Ask the Geeks week yet, so let’s keep it going…

  Kyle asks: What two should I start out of these three RBs? LaMont Jordan, Laurence Maroney, Jamal Lewis.

  Brandon’s take: Sorry Kyle, but I’m not digging your RB options this week. However, if you have to go with two of those, I’d recommend Laurence Maroney and Jamal Lewis. After a solid start, LaMont Jordan has been terrible the past few weeks and it looks like Justin Fargas and Domanic Rhodes will be stealing carries all season long. While Maroney and Lewis aren’t great plays on a week-to-week basis, they should do better than Jordan will.

  Matt’s take: Jordan posted an absolutely horrible yards-per-carry average last week (just barely over 1.0), so with so many options in the Oakland backfield, it’s hard to see the coaching staff giving him a full load. This is a backfield to avoid completely until further notice.

  (More …)

   

  Reply Click here to cancel reply.

  
  Name (required)

  
  Email (required)

   
• 

  Ask the Geeks: Week 9 (Part 2)

  Brandon 4:54 pm on 11/02/2007 | 3 Permalink Reply
  

  Joe asks: I’ve got a RB problem on my hand this weekend. I’ve got 2 RB positions, and a W/R. I’ve got Addai, Marion Barber, Kevin Jones, and Frank Gore. My initial thought was Addai, Barber and Jones. What’s your take?

  Brandon’s take: Although you most likely spent a top 5 pick on him, I think you might want to bench Frank Gore this week. Addai is a no brainer to start. Kevin Jones has improved each week since returning from injury and goes against a terrible Denver rush defense this week (I’ve also projected him as a "stud" this week). The final decision is really between Barber and Gore. Barber proved that he can run against even a good rush defense two weeks ago when he almost hit 100 yards against Minnesota and should do well again this week. Gore on the other hand could potentially not even play this week with an ankle injury, but if he does I wouldn’t expect all that great numbers anyways.

  (More …)

   
• 

  Harrison's knee pain might not ever subside

  Matt 4:46 pm on 11/02/2007 | 0 Permalink Reply
  

  Looks like the writing may be on the wall for Marvin Harrison’s status as a top fantasy wide receiver. Teammate Reggie Wayne has taken his place as the deadliest weapon in Peyton Manning’s arsenal, and now ESPN is reporting that doctors have told Harrison "his knee pain is likely to persist through the remainder of the season and perhaps for the rest of his career."

  Tough news for Harrison owners who were hoping he’d be back to 100% by the fantasy playoffs. On the bright side, Marvin’s begging his coaches to let him play, so maybe he’ll be at least serviceable the rest of the way.

   
• 

  Five Potential Shockers for Week 9

  Matt 2:26 pm on 11/02/2007 | 3 Permalink Reply
  

  Obligatory explanatory introduction for the uninitiated: If you haven’t seen my previous “shocker” posts, my definition of a fantasy shocker is a player who comes out of relatively nowhere, has a gigantic, multi-touchdown game, becomes the hottest waiver commodity the following week, and then soon sinks back into the relative obscurity from whence he came.

  One thing I want to clarify is why I decided to make these picks a weekly feature. I certainly don’t expect to get these right anywhere close to half of the time. These seemingly crazy suggestions are meant to help owners who find themselves in a rough spot due to bye weeks and/or injuries, and don’t see any reasonable plug-in options on their bench or the waiver wire. I try to find players who are completely overlooked, but might have significant upside for one reason or another. On my own teams, I prefer to start high-risk, high-reward players over the known-mediocre-commodity types. If you’re the same way, these picks are meant for you.

  Oh, and because trying to predict the unpredictable is a lot of fun.

  With that out of the way, let’s see if I had any success with last week’s picks…

  (More …)

   
• 

  Ask the Geeks: Week 9

  Matt 4:28 pm on 11/01/2007 | 3 Permalink Reply
  

  Jason asks: Would you sit Addai and Wayne against the Pats? I can plug in Willis McGahee and A. Boldin as replacements.

  Matt’s take: The Pats may have one of the toughest rushing defenses in the league, so Addai’s not as strong a play as he normally is. But look at who McGahee’s up against – the Steelers’ even-tougher rushing defense. Starting a lesser RB against a better rush D makes zero sense.

  Reggie Wayne, meanwhile, is a must-start. Always. I don’t care who he’s playing. Peyton Manning is good enough to find him against any defense. And why would you have to plug Boldin in as a replacement for Wayne? Isn’t he just your #2 wide receiver?

  This question makes less and less sense to me the more I think about it.

  Brandon’s take: The short answer: No. Play Addai and Wayne. This will be an offensive fireworks display. I expect big numbers from all skill players involved. By the way, the Patriots only have a good rush defense because they force opponents to start throwing the ball in the first quarter (Indy will most likely not be forced into that situation until the third quarter at the earliest).

  (More …)

   
• 

  Random post of the day: Cheerleader nearly trampled

  Brandon 10:30 am on 11/01/2007 | 0 Permalink Reply
  

  In case you missed this video on TV or the internet the past few days, I figured we should share it with our readers. Luckily the girl is not hurt, but WOW…what was she thinking?!

   
• 

  Studs and Duds: Week 9

  Brandon 9:52 am on 11/01/2007 | 3 Permalink Reply
  

  Looks like I’m back to my winning ways, going 15-5-8 with my studs and duds picks last week. LenDale White, Brandon Jacobs and Reggie Brown validated their "stud" designations, but the Brian Griese and DeShaun Wynn picks didn’t work out so well. Vinny Testeverde, Quinn Gray, and most of the Oakland backfield backed up my "duds" argument as well. With most of the focus this week being on the Patriots-Colts game, I have to imagine that nearly all offensive players in that game will have a successful afternoon, but here are some suggestions that incorporate some of the less glorious games of the weekend…

  Studs

  Kevin Jones (DET): Jones seems to be fully healed from that injury that had him on the bench at the beginning of the season and he appears to be getting better each week. This trend should continue as the Lions play a Broncos defense that continues to prove that they are the worst in the league at stopping the run.

  Shaun Alexander (SEA): Apparently it’s not SA’s fault that he’s been bad this year…it’s his offensive line’s. Anyway you spin it, Alexander has been a disappointment so far, but his luck could change this week against the Browns, who are allowing nearly 140 yards a game on the ground.

  (More …)

   
• 

  Draftmix.com Blogger Challenge - we won!

  Matt 9:04 am on 11/01/2007 | 1 Permalink Reply
  

  Brandon and I drafted a team in a competition among fantasy sports bloggers hosted by Draftmix.com. It was a one-week "league," with 12 teams. We had the second pick and snagged LT, who did surprisingly little against Houston, but that wasn’t a problem thanks to big games from some of our other picks: Joseph Addai (109 yards, 3 TDs), Reggie Wayne (168 yards, 1 TD), Hines Ward (88 yards, 2 TDs), and Philip Rivers (3 TDs).

  Draftmix is a lot of fun. As we get closer to the regular fantasy football playoffs, I can see a lot of people whose fantasy teams are tanking turning to this site to get another shot at winning something. They’re still working on their cashier system, but soon you’ll be able to play for real money. The site as a whole is still in beta (or "preseason," as they call it), and they’re still working out a few kinks as you’d expect, but they’ve got a great idea and it’s implemented well. The draft is my favorite part of the season anyway, and it was interesting to be able to draft a squad with so much more knowledge about the players than you have when you draft in the preseason. I think this could really take off.

  Along with the $100 grand prize, we got this sweet digital trophy (props to Matt from Draftmix for even working our logo into it).

  
  A couple of screenshots after the jump.
  (More …)