Squish (268)
E-roc (127)
Shirley (66)
Jeff (53)
Tommy (53)
Mal (51)
Ken (44)
Amir (40)
TJ (29)
Whether you’re in the finals or the semis this week, now is not the time to remain blindly loyal to the defensive unit that’s taken you this far. It’s certainly tempting to stick with what works, but given that DEF is by far the most opponent-dependent position in fantasy football, it’s more than worth it to check the waiver wire for defenses with juicy matchups. (More …)
Updates from August, 2010
-
No stone unturned: DEF sleepers
Matt
-
Hits & Misses - Week 16: CHAMPIONSHIP TIME!
Brandon
Here are our “Hits” and “Misses” for this week. It’s championship week for most league’s out there, so hopefully these tips can help you bring home the bacon! As usual, please feel free to leave a comment on any of our posts with additional hit/miss questions and we’ll try our hardest to get back to you in a timely fashion. Good luck!
-
Week 16 Defenses to Consider
Brandon
Here’s a quick list of teams that are playing some of the worst offenses in the league this week and could be available in your league in case you were looking for a plug-in. We’ve included the percent owned in parenthesis, as well as highlighted our favorites in green:
- Green Bay (96%) vs Seattle
- Arizona (91%) vs St. Louis
- New England (83%) vs Jacksonville
- Cincinnati (81%) vs Kansas City
- New York Giants (72%) vs Carolina
- Indianapolis (71%) vs New York Jets
- San Francisco (70%) vs Detroit
- Dallas (65%) @ Washington
- Atlanta (30%) vs Buffalo
- Cleveland (18%) vs Oakland
-
The Wire - Week 16: Championship Week
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week 16. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis. With your league championship in sight, I’ve simplified the list a bit this week, as I figure there is a lot less competition for the top waiver wire players this week. If you have any additional questions though, please feel free to ask away and I’ll try to get them before the end of the day so you can finalize your roster as soon as possible. Good luck!
-
Matt
RT @MollyQerim_ESPN – Matt Ryan..Michael Turner…Steven Jackson…Larry Fitzgerald…TO all in
-
Ask the Geeks - Week 15: The Saints Go Marching Down!
Brandon
Another last minute Ask the Geeks this week, but I wanted to get out some Ask the Geek questions before the games started today so people can get closer to bringing home those championship trophies! Remember to leave any other questions you might have as comments on any of our posts and we’ll try to respond if we can.
Mark asks…
Ganther or Fred Jackson? And don’t give me any of that Buffalo bias
-
Matt
Matt Millen, calling the game with the Saints down 21 in the 4th quarter: “You can sense some urgency now on the part of New Orleans.” This is a man who truly deserves his reputation.
-
Hits & Misses - Week 15: Almost Championship Time!
Brandon
Here are our “Hits” and “Misses” for this week. I didn’t have much time over these past few days, so right now all you have to go on are the players names, their opponents and your good faith in the FF geeks. Tonight or tomorrow I’ll try to add some descriptions to explain my picks a bit more. Remember to leave any hit/miss questions you have as a comment on this post (or any other post for that matter) and good luck!
-
Thursday Night Football: IND @ JAX
Brandon
Although everyone probably already knows (but just in case!), the Colts head to Jacksonville to play the Jaguars on Thursday Night Football tonight. For at least this game it seems that Indianapolis doesn’t plan to do sit any of their stars (unless the score gets lop-sided early I assume.) This means it’s pretty safe to keep Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark in your line-ups as usual. I’m not as confident with Joseph Addai though, as he’s had injury troubles in the past and the team may be more apt to get him to the bench early to ensure he’s healthy down the stretch.
For the Jaguars, Maurice Jones-Drew could have a tough go of it, but you can’t really bench him unless you have an running back corps and can replace him. Mike Sims-Walker has a pretty decent match-up with the Colts coming off a game in which they allowed a 21 reception, 200 yard, two touchdown performance to his old UCF teammate, Brandon Marshall. No one else on the roster is really up for consideration, so I’ll leave it at that. Good luck!
-
Matt
If you’re feeling down because you’re already knocked out of your league’s playoffs and can’t stand the thought of a football game tonight without fantasy implications, turn that frown upside down – Fantasy U.S. Supreme Court is IN THE HIZZOUSE! Imagine the trash you’ll be talking when you correctly guess the vote split on the upcoming federal campaign spending case! That’s three points sucka!
-
The Wire - Week 15: Slim Pickings
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week 15. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis. We’re coming down to crunch-time now, with the playoffs starting/continuing in nearly every league out there at this point, so hopefully you don’t have to rely too much on the players listed here. As usual, good luck to everyone as you try to get one step closer to that league championship!
-
Week 15 Defenses to Consider
Brandon
Here’s a quick list of teams that are playing some of the worst offenses in the league this week and could be available in your league in case you were looking for a plug-in. We’ve included the percent owned in parenthesis, as well as highlighted our favorites in green:
- Baltimore (99%) vs Chicago
- Minnesota (99%) @ Carolina
- New England (85%) @ Buffalo
- Denver (84%) vs Oakland
- San Diego (82%) vs Cincinnatti
- Arizona (80%) @ Detroit
- Tennessee (72%) vs Miami
- Seattle (35%) vs Tampa Bay
- Atlanta (29%) @ New York Jets
- Houston (23%) @ St. Louis
- Kansas City (3%) vs Cleveland
-
FFGeekSmackdown Update
Matt
As I mentioned last week, Brandon and I wound up squaring off in the first round of both of our biggest leagues. Heading into the Monday night game, a split looks pretty likely. Both matchups are still technically up for grabs, but Brandon’s in better shape than me overall – his lead in our keeper league is pretty much a stranglehold, and it’s certainly within the realm of possibility that he’ll be able to overtake me in the League of Champions matchup as well.
Keeper league (screenshot): All those years where Brandon kept drafting Brandon Marshall two rounds early just because he had the same name finally paid off. Breaston’s not going to get me anywhere close to the 29 points I need, I think that’s pretty clear. But I’ll probably break the 140-point mark for only the third time this season and still lose.
League of Champions (screenshot): Andre Johnson came up huge; I just hope that plus the 5-7 points Crabtree will probably get me is enough to hold off Gore and Alex Smith. I’d be feeling a whole lot better if I’d started McNabb over Roethlisberger, that’s for sure. This is exactly the kind of decision that will haunt me for years if I lose this one – what the hell was I thinking starting the QB of a team on a downward spiral in zero-degree conditions?!
-
Mike Sims-Walker IS playing today...get him in your line-up! Devin Hester and M...
Brandon
Mike Sims-Walker IS playing today…get him in your line-up!
Percy Harvin, Devin Hester and Mike Bell are INACTIVE today…make sure to bench them!
-
Ask the Geeks - Week 14: The Playoffs Begin!
Brandon
Sorry for the late post, but I wanted to get out some Ask the Geek questions before the games started today. Hopefully everyone can win their match-ups and advance one step closer to their league championship! Remember to leave any other questions you might have as comments on any of our posts and we’ll try to respond if we can.
Jones asks…
Do you start any of these guys over D. Williams this week: Wayne, Smith(NYG), McCoy, Crabtree?
-
Brandon
Jaguars receiver Mike Sims-Walker has been downgraded to Doubtful for this weekend’s game, so keep a close eye on his status heading into Sunday if you were relying on his services.
-
Matt
Wow, Pittsburgh – what happened? I guess I was a little off about Roethlisberger – which is just frigging great because I started him over McNabb against Brandon.
-
Fantasy Outlook: Steelers @ Browns
Matt
It’s tempting to give the Browns a better shot to win this one that they probably deserve. After all, the Steelers are on a four-game slide that includes baffling losses to the Chiefs and Raiders, and they’ll be without two team captains (Troy Polamalu and Hines Ward). When you look at the game from the Browns’ perspective, your season’s effectively over, but at least you can spoil the playoff hopes of your long-time rival. They’ll show up to play (unlike most weeks).
Still, it’s the frigging Browns. My money’s on Pittsburgh.
From a fantasy perspective, Cleveland is generally a statistical bonanza for opposing players. They give up the second-most points to fantasy RBs and the tenth-most to QBs. Tight ends do particularly well against them (6th-most points) while they’re in the top half of the league in terms of defending against wide receivers. Heath Miller is a must-start, especially with Ward on the bench. Ben Roethlisberger is just a step below the elite QBs this week – I’d consider him a top-5 or -6 QB. Santonio Holmes had 104 yards against the Browns in week 6, and with Ward out he’ll likely be targeted more, so he’s an excellent start unless the weather limits the Steelers’ ability to go vertical. Rashard Mendenhall‘s ankle should be fine, and given the weather, he’ll get a ton of touches against that awful rush defense. He’s easily a top-10 back this week.
The Steelers, on the other hand, remain a tough fantasy opponent, though less so in recent weeks. They’re second only to the Vikings at stopping the run, so don’t expect much from Jerome Harrison (just hope he doesn’t get hurt – the Browns have KC and OAK coming up on the schedule). I have zero faith in Brady Quinn on a sunny 70-degree day, so I wouldn’t start him in the snow if you held a gun to my head. Same for any of the Browns receivers – if you’re thinking about starting any of them, how the hell did you make your league’s playoffs? Evan Moore could be a sneaky TE play if you’re desperate, given that Quinn will probably be going to his check-down option quite a bit.
-
Hits & Misses - Week 14: Win or Go Home!
Brandon
Here are our “Hits” and “Misses” for the upcoming games, listing players you want to make sure are in your lineup, as well as those you might consider shelving for the week (or at least lowering your expectations!) In most leagues out there this is the first week of the playoffs, so you absolutely need to win if you want to continue your journey towards that league championship. Hopefully a few of these hit and miss suggestions will help you make those tough roster decisions and if they don’t, please feel free to leave a comment with your specific situation. Good luck!
-
As luck would have it...
Matt
Brandon and I are matched up in the first round of the playoffs in both of our big leagues. Of course this would happen. Sorry BMarshall2, but it’s kill time. Matchup screenshots are after the jump (though we both have some lineup decisions to make… I’ve noted mine). May the best geek win.
