Squish (268)
E-roc (127)
Shirley (66)
Jeff (53)
Tommy (53)
Mal (51)
Ken (44)
Amir (40)
TJ (29)
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!
Latest Updates: steven jackson RSS
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Hits & Misses - Week 16: CHAMPIONSHIP TIME!
Brandon
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Hits & Misses - Week 8: Happy Halloween!
Brandon
With Halloween right around the corner, hopefully your fantasy teams are in for more treats than tricks! While there is no game on Sunday night due to the World Series, I’m excited for the treat we’ll all get on Monday night when we actually get to see a good football game (Falcons @ Saints), instead of what we were forced to witness last week. Make sure to set your rosters early on Saturday so that you don’t forget while you’re nursing that post-party hangover on Sunday!Anyways, here are our “Hits” and “Misses” for week eight, 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!) We start it off with a few big name running backs that you may be concerned about… (More …)
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Hits & Misses - Week 5: Pierre Garcon makes the list
Brandon
Here are our “Hits” and “Misses” for week five, 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!) As always, I’ve tried to leave the most obvious picks off the list, such as Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne’s scheduled abuse of the Titans secondary on Sunday night, so that I can save space for players that might have you scratching your head a little more. Anyways, here is your hits and misses for the week… (More …)
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Brandon's 2009 teams
Brandon
This past weekend Matt and I had both of the drafts for our main fantasy football leagues, the League of Champions (12 team, re-draft, non-PPR) and our keeper league (12 team, 0.5 PPR.) I wanted to share the two teams I ended up with along with some commentary on where I felt good about my picks and where I may have slipped up a bit, so here you go. (More …)
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Brandon
Our quarterback and running back cheat sheets have been updated, so make sure to check them out before your draft! Some players who have moved up or down include Tony Romo, Brett Favre, Steven Jackson, Jamal Lewis, Ryan Grant and more…
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Brandon
With the server finally back up and running, let me just put up a few notes that I wanted to mention over the past day or so…
- Michael Lombardi from the National Football Post writes, “(The Browns) found a back in the later rounds this year, sixth-round pick James Davis, who looks like the real deal. I’m still not sold that Jamal Lewis will make the team.” While I don’t take such a pessimistic view on Lewis’ future with the team, this is scary enough to think about to make you want to avoid Jamal in your league’s draft and scoop up James Davis late.
- Looks like the Rams are going to run the ball a lot this year with troubles in their passing games, so expect a heavy dose of Steven Jackson all year long as long as he remains healthy. I’m liking him more and more as a top pick for your fantasy team.
- There still seems to be no conclusion to the debate over who will take the goal-line carries in Baltimore. For now the only running back it’s safe to draft from the Ravens is Ray Rice, who will almost certainly get the bulk of the carries when not near the endzone.
- After Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks’ monster, 144 yard, two touchdown performance in week three of the preseason, it seems like he’ll be a factor the teams passing game come the regular season. Domenik Hixon on the other hand could see less reps and is probably not someone you want to be targeting as one of your top three wide outs at this point.
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Blogger League team: FFGeekBlog.com
Brandon
Yesterday was the live draft for The Hazean‘s Blogger League, which he’s hosted for the past few years and features many fantasy football bloggers from across the web. Unfortunately for team FFGeekBlog.com, I logged in about two minutes before the 8 PM start time, only to realize that Java needed to be updated on the laptop I was using! By the time I actually got into the draft room, Rams running back Steven Jackson had already been selected as my first pick (#4). At first I was a little discouraged by this pick, but as the other bloggers reminded me, this is a PPR and S-Jax should see all the work he can handle this season in both the running AND passing game (he had 90 receptions a few years ago!), so it should be alright. Anyways, here is the team I ended up with, along with the round I made the pick in parenthesis. (Note: The league plays a QB, RB, WR1, WR2, TE, WR/RB, K and DEF.)
- QB Peyton Manning (2)
- RB Steven Jackson (1)
- WR Chad Ochocinco (3)
- WR Eddie Royal (4)
- TE Zach Miller (10)
- RB/WR Felix Jones (5)
- K Stephen Gostkowski (11)
- DEF New York Giants (8)
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Running back rankings for 2009
Brandon
Following my wide receiver rankings, here is the list for running backs. Keep in mind that this is primarily for non-PPR leagues, but I’ve mentioned in my comments the tailbacks that will be valued higher in leagues that award points for receptions.
You can check out the rest of our positional cheat sheets here.
- Adrian Peterson, MIN – Unless you’re in a PPR league, A-Pete is top dog and Favre should distract defenses a bit and open more holes.
- Michael Turner, ATL – As with Peterson, he is spectacular as long as you’re not in a PPR league, and he’s only slightly less than spectacular then.
- DeAngelo Williams, CAR – Jonathan Stewart continues to show durability issues, meaning plenty of carries again this year for D-Williams!
- Matt Forte, CHI – I’m digging Forte this season with Cutler in town.
- Maurice Jones-Drew, JAX – Finally mini-me becomes the feature back…I expect it to pay some dividends
- Steven Jackson, STL – UPGRADE! The Rams offense scares me…and S-Jax has trouble staying healthy. He is a beast though.
- LaDainian Tomlinson, SD – He didn’t go from the best in the league to Average Joe over night. Expect LT to surprise the quick-to-be-haters this year.
- Frank Gore, SF – Taking a leadership role on the team, hopefully it equates to some leader-like stats.
- Brian Westbrook, PHI – He’s never played a full 16 game season and there are already injury worries. He’s a monster when he plays (especially in PPR leagues), but he’ll be 30 in a few weeks and this could be the year he starts slowing down, LT-style.
- Ryan Grant, GB – UPGRADE! As long as he stays healthy, Grant should put up decent numbers.
- Brandon Jacobs, NYG – He’s a beast when not injured, just hope he can stay on his two feet the whole season.
- Chris Johnson, TEN – He hasn’t been impressing this preseason, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt at this point.
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Matt
I think Funston is spot-on with his top 5. Sportsline is nuts. Forte at #3? Steven Jackson all the way down at #9?! LT at #17?!?!?!!?
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Hits and Misses - Week 10: "Purple Jesus" ready to roll at home
Brandon
It’s pretty amazing the luck (of the bad variety) that I’ve had so far this season with my feature “hit” picks, the latest victim being my own personal favorite, the man who shares my name and plays receiver for the Denver Broncos, Mr. Brandon Marshall (two catches for 27 yards?!!) However, I did end up the week with a decent 13-7-5* record on the big days of quarterbacks Donovan McNabb and Kurt Warner, plus the misfortunes of Bills running back Marshawn Lynch and a few others (even if Marshall, Clinton Portis’ big day receiving, and Kyle Orton’s injury all tried to screw me!)
Maybe picking the most obvious guy each week that is “supposed” to have a huge game is the wrong approach. If I pick LaDainian Tomlinson to have a big day against the high school players the Chiefs call a defense, is he going to get shut out? This week I’m going to change my approach a bit and go with my gut as to which player will have a big day and not base my pick solely on the numbers. While I’m not going out on a huge limb here, my big play of the week is for Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, aka Purple Jesus, to run wild on the Green Bay Packers…
Hits
- Adrian Peterson, RB, Vikings: While quarterback Gus Frerotte tries his best against the vaunted Packers pass defense (see the “Others” section of my misses list below), this will be a game where the Vikings try to run the ball down Green Bay’s throat with Peterson and Chester Taylor. The Pack is allowing nearly five yards per carry to opposing tailbacks and almost 150 yards a game, but you can expect Minnesota to land on the plus side of that average. The first time these two teams met this season (at Green Bay), Peterson, who is averaging around 120 yards per game at home this season, broke the century mark and also scored a touchdown as the team rushed for over 180 yards…and I’m predicting at least those results this time. (More …)
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Week 8 Weekend Wrap-Up: I guess Westbrook wasn't hurt, huh?
Brandon
In a weekend where the Saints and Chargers put on a jolly good show for those fortunate enough to witness the game in London, the real star this past Sunday was a guy who was questionable to even play. Philadelphia running back (although calling him just a running back is quite an understatement) Brian Westbrook left his team’s week six match with the 49er’s with what would be confirmed as fractured ribs and coming into this weekend, it was up in the air if he would even play. However, I guess a bye week was just what the doctor ordered to heal those ribs, because Westbrook went off in a big way! For those managers brave enough to plug him into their line-up, you were rewarded heavily after he rushed for 167 yards and two touchdowns, while catching six balls for an additional 42 yards (for a whopping total of 209 yards and two scores!) It’s likely that Westbrook single-handedly beat a few fantasy teams out there. Anyways, enough drooling over Westbrook…let’s get to the rest of the action from the weekend…
- Philadelphia 27, Atlanta 14: Unfortunately for the Falcons, when they acquired Michael “The Burner” Turner in the offseason, they didn’t realize they were only getting half a player. Turner (58 yards) continued his trend of having difficulty against decent defenses in this one and while the passing game was running on all cylinders (Matt Ryan – 277 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT; Roddy White – 8 catches for 113 yards, 2 TD), the lack of a balanced attack might have cost them this one. (More …)
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Ask the Geeks - Week 5
Brandon
Here are our responses to the first couple of questions for the week. Remember, you can always ask us questions by clicking the Ask the Geeks logo on the left sidebar (or this link).Jeff asks: I am in a league where QB TDs count as 6 points. My current QBs are Garrard, Bulger and Griese. I have been offered Aaron Rodgers and Jacksonville DEF for my Tennessee DEF. Should I make the trade?
Brandon’s take: Jeff, I’m not all that high on your quarterbacks right now and having Rodgers in there (assuming he’s healthy) would be a pretty decent upgrade. However, I just took a look at my league and the difference in fantasy points between the Titans and Jags is pretty staggering. Tennessee leads the NFL with 66 fantasy points through four weeks, while Jacksonville only has 23…a difference of 43 points (over 10 a week!) Looking at the schedules of both “players” (Rodgers/Titans), the Titans seem to have the easier road ahead. I also think David Garrard will rebound from a rough first couple games (he did alright last week) and should hold down your quarterback position. In short, don’t make the trade. Keep the Titans and have faith in Garrard.
Matt’s take: What are you doing with Bulger still on your roster? I don’t think Rodgers is necessarily a huge upgrade from Garrard, especially since Garrard’s numbers will only improve as his o-line slowly returns to health. (More …)
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Missing in Action: Where are Steven Jackson and others?
Brandon
As we approach week three of the preseason, many of you may have been wondering where the star player you plan to draft has been the first two weeks, so I wrote this article to try to put some of your worries to rest. Below are some of the key players that haven’t played a snap so far in the preseason and an explanation of why they haven’t, which will hopefully allow you to sleep a little bit better (or worse I guess, depending on what you expected to hear):
- Steven Jackson (RB-STL): Where has Steven Jackson been this preseason so far? If you happen to be a Jackson owner in a league where the draft has already taken place, I’m sure that you are well aware that he’s currently holding out, expecting the team to propose a contract extension that will keep him financially sound well into the future. There were rumors over the weekend that these talks had progressed somewhat, but that does not appear to be the case. Coach Linehan stated “It is getting critical to where time now becomes more of an issue for just the physical part of getting ready for the opener…Every day we miss now…does start to factor in as to what the workload will be from the start.” It appears that the team is beginning to plan for a start of the season without Steven Jackson (or at least with a non-100% ready Jackson), which is not a good thing for fantasy owners. If they can work out a new contract and get him into at least the last preseason game for some reps, you should be alright though. You’re still drafting Jackson as a top five running back, but because of these contract questions, and the fact that the offense has looked bad in general this preseason, I’m taking him at #5, behind LT, AP, Addai and Westbrook. (Update 8/20/08: Steven Jackson has ended his holdout! Feel free to take him with the 3rd to 5th pick of the draft.)
- Ryan Grant (RB-GB): After earning a big contract extension last season, Grant has been nursing a strained hamstring this preseason and the team is most likely protecting their investment at this point. He says that he’d be out on the field if it was the regular season, but he’s just taking it careful. There appears to be no risk at this point of him missing any time to start the year, so draft him as normal, towards the end of the first round or beginning of the second. (More …)
