MFM's interactive fantasy football blog - 2010 version

[Mike MacGregor 20]

UPDATE: One of my offers got a counter offer which I accepted: I'm getting Jennings and Garcon and giving up Malcom Floyd. There will be those who think I'm paying too much, but when you believe in the potential of both Jennings and Garcon as I do, you do it.

 

I've found that when it comes to trades like this, you've got to believe your 'story-line' and go with your instincts.

 

Comments?

 

Floyd - bad game and injured

 

Jennings - great game

 

Garcon - great game

 

Re: timing on the trade, see :20 mark of this video:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlEcYhUpnKY

[madd futher mucker 36]

LOL - Thanks, Mike. Great vid.

 

(Oh, and I guess we should have dropped out that KC rookie TE instead of Ward, huh?).

 

But the KICKER is at least you did better than me.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

I switched Mathews in for Ward. Should have stuck with Ward and I'd already have my game won. Either of Caddy, Ward over Mathews or Celek over Moeaki would have done it. Really thought Moeaki would have done more against the HOU secondary. That is a rookie TE for you though. All I need now is a single catch from Britt for the win - please get it early!

 

And Krueger has a 22 point lead in his game going against Britt, so we're looking for a middle between 0 and 22. Should be do able.

 

I checked your lineup yesterday. Sucks about Tynes. I hate those surprise kicker problems. Doesn't look like it would have made a difference though (in the game). Take it as a reminder to us if/when we get to the championship round after waivers it isn't the worst idea in the world to carry 2 kickers then.

[madd futher mucker 36]

Shorter update tonight. This was my worst weekend yet this season as I went 3-3.

 

As Mike toasted my trade (above), it looks even better when I started both Jennings and Garcon and that was the margin of victory to get me the win in my Redraft league to remain undefeated. I also survived having both Nicks AND Austin in my line-up to remain undefeated in my auction league.

 

And I did beat my son to go 4-2 in my Friends and Family league. I needed to make some line-up ‘repairs’ to pull out the win. First I decided to trade Shonn Greene for Heath Miller and inserted him in my line-up instead of Scheffler. Secondly I decided to play D Bowe instead of Amendola.

 

So two of my 3 wins were the direct result of being proactive with my roster management, and I was looking a little like a fantasy genius. Unfortunately, I used up all my genius, and my good fortune ended right there.

 

My 5 game unbeaten streak in the FFPC came to an end. None of my studs had anything near a studly game, and the rules don’t allow for pick-ups after the waiver bids, so I took a big fat zero from Tynes. The good news is that I didn’t drop very far at all down the rankings. Still top 25.

 

I also lost in my Dynasty league, dropping to 3-3.

 

Lastly, I’m knowing what it feels like to be Jerry Jones, as I dropped to 1-5 in my deep keeper league where I really had expected to compete in my first year in the league.

 

Fantasy football is a funny and humbling game. The only match-up I really expected to lose was against my son, and after my roster moves, I ended up winning it. But I sure did not expect to lose those three other games this week-end.

 

With my five teams last year, I had two losing weeks. So if 3-3 is as bad as it gets, I’m ok with that.

[madd futher mucker 36]

My dad always used to say that “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. We shall see. This week, with the Dallas Clark news, coming on the heels of the Finley loss, many owners are scrambling at TE. Add the Austin Collie (I'm extra glad I traded for Garcon in my redraft league right now!) and De Jax situation at WR, and assorted injuries at RB and QB, and almost all fantasy owners, including yours truly are really squirming and scratching our heads. In all but two of my leagues, I’ve been forced into survival mode.

 

It all made for lots of new waiver wire guys to consider this week, especially at WR: Branch, Avant, Alexander, Crayton and others. I will need to land one badly in my FFPC league, but otherwise I pretty much stayed away from WRs, but I had to find some emergency patches at RB (Ivory) and at QB (Fitzpatrick or McCoy???).

 

Only in my Auction league and my Redraft league, both undefeated, was I able to execute my plan - to begin to prepare for the post season.

 

I had to make desperation moves at QB going into week 7 for Team 1, my 3 - 3 semi-dynasty 12 team 22 player PPR league. With Manning on bye and Gradkowski injured, I cornered the market on waiver wire fodder QBs, picking up left-overs Colt McCoy and Fitzpatrick. Unless Gradkowski can somehow start, I think I’m rolling with the young Colt. (I just might be the only fantasy owner in America starting him this week.) Hard times! I’m also starting the newly acquired KC defense instead of Philly. Kind of ugly (my starters are bolded):

P Manning, Gradkowski, McCoy, Fitzpatrick, Witten, Z Miller, Gould, KC, Phil

Bradshaw, S Jax, Turner, Snelling, C Williams, Sproles, B Scott, BJG-E, Woodhead

Owens, Gaffney, Floyd, M Thomas, Amendola

 

With 1-5 Team 2, my ten team non-PPR deep keeper, I picked Ivory off waivers and plugged him into the line-up (dropping Jac Jones), and I replaced Rackers with Carpenter. Very ugly!

Starters are in bold:

Schaub, Eli Manning, Finley, Celek, Quarless, Carpenter

P Thomas, Best, M Bush, Ivory, R Williams, Tolbert

Owens, Floyd, Gaffney, Wallace, Knox, Moore, Murphy, S Rice

 

In Team 3, my Family and Friends (12 team 16 player PPR keep 7 keeper) team, as I mentioned, I picked up the Dallas D and traded away Shonn Greene for H Miller, moves that got me to 4-2. This week I also swapped out Scheffler for J Graham, two Dannys - Amendola for Woodhead, and I grabbed Dan Carpenter for Rackers.

Now my team is:

Big Ben, Bradford, J Gresham, H Miller, Carpenter, DAL

MJD, Foster, M Bush, Hillis, F Jones,

Bowe, Gaffney, MSW, Woodhead (WR/RB)

MSW is still on my team somehow. I was hoping for a trade before the deadline.

 

I was able to begin preparing for the playoffs in earnest in Team 4, my 6-0 redraft league. I suppressed the urge to pick up any ’hot’ waiver wire guys like Branch and D Alexander and instead I picked up TWO more defenses - KC and MIA to go with SF, and Freeman to cover Eli‘s upcoming bye. I dropped Shiancoe, Scott, and Jacoby Jones to make room. My starters are in bold:

Eli, Freeman, Z Miller, Gresham, KC, MIA, SF, Reed

Gore, Foster, Stewart, BJG-E

Fitz, Jennings, Gaffney, Garcon, Britt

 

And Team 5, my 5-1 high stakes FBG/ Fantasy Football Players Championship team, is at a crossroads, and that road is getting rockier. Last week was one I really needed to win, not just to go 6-0, but with Clark going down and a tough schedule ahead, just to survive. Ironically, Dan Carpenter, the kicker I WOULD have replaced Tynes with, put up 15 which would have given me a narrow win. And my missed week 3 Pettigrew pick-up looms much larger now that Clark is out indefinitely. Ouch!

I’m pretty sure I’ll be coming down to earth, and that his week’s waiver wire pick-ups will be critical to my long-term success. Bids will be opened tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s what I got:

Romo, Young, Dal Clark, Z Miller, Dreessen, , Quarless, CIN, TENN, Tynes

Gore, Best, Hightower, Ch Taylor,

Harvin, Floyd, M Williams, Shipley, Edelman, Cribbs, S Rice

I’ll be editing in some waiver pick-ups tomorrow night, as I need to plug-and-play one more functional player to complete my line-up. I have no idea who I’ll wind up with! In addition, this week I happen to be going against the team who is #2 to me in total fantasy points. Not good.

 

EDIT: I won Avant, Tamme, and Dan Carpenter off the waiver wire this week, so Avant goes into the line-up as my 4th WR, and Carpenter is my kicker.

 

I wouldn’t mind any of you cheering me up a little by venting your fantasy problems this week and how you are going about solving them. I already told you my dad’s old saying. Mine is:

 

There are choices that you make in everything you do.

You must always keep in mind those choices made - make you!

 

So make great choices this week - both with your fantasy teams and in your real life. Fantasy football sometime mirrors LIFE!

 

And best of luck this weekend.

[stonewall 647]

Injuries have been rough on us all this season! I have been fortunate thusfar in my five 12-team leagues, sitting at 28-7-1 combined. However, it is not quite as good as it seems in a couple of those leagues. My worst record is 4-2, but I am only in 2nd place in my division, with a team sitting at 5-1 and two teams below me just a game back at 3-3. Tough division.......in one of the other divisions, the 1st place teeam is 2-4! I lost Finley in 4 leagues, and am rolling with Moeaki and O. Daniels, and barely getting by. However, I think Daniels is on the upswing from here out.

 

I also lost Pierre in a couple of leagues, but was deep at RB and have added Ivory. I am scrambling to replace Addai also. Torrain, who I picked up on waivers, won me 2 games last week. Ironically, I am also rolling with SF and KC (love their schedules)in all my leagues, and am eyeing Miami as a possible pick up for the playoffs.

 

In my "last years champions only" 12-man redraft league, I was undefeated until last week when I played the biggest loudmouth in the league. He beat me by 2 points on CJ2K's 35 yard TD on 4th down late in the 4th quarter on Monday night. Maddening!

 

I have a lot of players on bye this week (own Foster in 4 leagues, and AJ/CJ in a couple), so I have scrambled for replacements. Am rolling with Fat Mike and Crayton, but am not really confident this week. I play against SJ in 4 leagues......and he has a GREAT matchup! I know you are hoping he does well. Anyway, hang in there Madd, keep the blog coming, and remember that in this pursuit of ours....dogged persistence does go a long way in the long haul.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

I'm starting Max Hall in one league this week. Schaub is on bye and Vick is back to being a backup. Wouldn't you prefer to go with Hall over Fitzpatrick or McCoy? Breaston should be back this week for another receiving option. It is like throwing darts with these low ranked, high risk QBs...

 

What about Anthony Armstrong as someone to include in your free agent WR list? He could be decent down the line as teams pay more attention to little Moss.

 

I think I've been fairly lucky with injuries (no Clark, no Collie in any leagues; Finley in a draft masters league) but I do have Gates in my NFFC league. Beat the first place team last week to move into first place. Gates will be a tough start this week with the late game. My backup is Carlson, who has been pretty crap.

 

I haven't looked at possible free agent acquisitions in my FFPC or NFFC leagues yet, but will get to that this morning after I send the pick reminders for the survivor and 3 and Out contests.

 

In my "last years champions only" 12-man redraft league, I was undefeated until last week when I played the biggest loudmouth in the league. He beat me by 2 points on CJ2K's 35 yard TD on 4th down late in the 4th quarter on Monday night. Maddening!

 

Oh, that sucks!

[madd futher mucker 36]

I'm starting Max Hall in one league this week. Schaub is on bye and Vick is back to being a backup. Wouldn't you prefer to go with Hall over Fitzpatrick or McCoy?

 

 

This is a dynasty with 22 player rosters. Hall was rostered or I'd have picked him up, but the only two starting QBs out there were McCoy and Fitz.

 

My pick-ups in the FFPC were Avant (who I got for $82 and I will start), Jacob Tamme (still TE fishing), and Dan Carpenter. Some players I missed out on (underbid) were Branch (he went for $447), Crayton ($227), and D Alexander ($201). I've got two rather pathetic choices for my RB2, Hightower and Chester Taylor who I'm very undecided on.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Gotcha on Hall. Makes sense.

 

I got Blair White in both the FFPC and NFFC, $86 in each. He was 3rd on my list in each though. Missed out on Danario Alexander who went for $195/$203 in the two leagues. Mike Williams (SEA) was available in FFPC and went for $386. That will be worth it if he gets 15 targets a game, but I'm still a bit skittish on him and bid under $200 myself. I could use another RB in NFFC and bid $136 on Mike Hart but he went $176.

 

I'm not sure if I'll start Blair White but we'll see in Week 8 how good an option he might be with Clark out, Collie out and perenially injured Anthony Gonzalez if he is still out or not.

 

Damn, the guy I'm playing this week in FFPC got Avant for $1 because no one else had him high enough. The guy blew his wad on Brandon Jackson Week 1 and only had $3 to play with.

 

Tough call on your RB choices. Hightower? Honestly I don't own Hightower so haven't followed what he's done recently, but I know Taylor hasn't been as useful as I thought he might be going into the season.

[WhiteWonder 2,708]

good luck this week. we play each other in the 10 team deep keeper.

 

[madd futher mucker 36]

Football can sometimes be a game of inches. LIFE can sometimes be of the tiniest fractions of inches.

 

I spent from 4:30 until almost halftime in the ER tonight. My eleven year old son was riding his dirt bike on his normal trail behind our house after school today. But last night’s storm blew an old antenna partially over, and an old guywire that had been about 10 feet off the ground supporting it was drooping down to about 4 feet above the trail. My son never saw the wire and it partially cut his neck and throat. Fortunately he was slowing down just then because our dog got out or wire could have severed his head. As it was, where they cleaned his wound, the doctor could see his exposed carotid artery, which Thank God was not cut through. A CAT scan showed no damage to the trachia. So some stiches and a day off from school tomorrow for observation is likey to be the total amount of the damages.

 

I had a lot of mental notes to discuss in my tonight, because it was an amazing weekend fantasy-wise. But given the emotional rollercoaster of the last several hours, I’ll expound more on the twists and turns of my fantasy weekend tomorrow night or the next. So tonight you’ll just get a short summary of the week’s results. I will say that watching football and playing fantasy football does provide me with a kind of a therapuedic effect against the stresses of nights like tonight. And for that, I’m grateful.

 

After Sunday’s games, I had expected to finish the weekend at 4-2 and that is exactly what happened. But thanks to Eli Manning, I won one game in my deep keeper league that I had really expected to lose. (Sorry about that, WhiteWonder - I'm just glad to finally beat SOMEBODY in that friggen league!) Now my record is a slightly more respectable 2 - 5.

 

And up until Dez Bryant took over the game in the last few minutes of tonight’s game, I was SURE I had my dynasty game won. I had a huge lead going into tonight’s game, but my opponent had both Eli AND Bryant going for him, so I lost that one to drop to 3 - 4. Including this week’s match, three of my 4 losses were close defeats against the top scorer for at particular week. I could very easily have been 6-1 in that league.

 

My other loss was in my Auction league which dropped my team from being undefeated to now 6 - 1.

 

I did manage to stay undefeated in my Redraft league, and I actually won my match in the FFPC high stakes league. While that victory was important, my starting QB Romo broke his clavicle (collar bone). I’m guessing he will be out for most of the rest of the fantasy season. I could ill afford to lose him after losing Dallas Clark last week. Vince Young is my back-up. Given the injuries (and that I left 25 points from Shipley on my bench - instead I started Josh Cribbs, who got me exactly TWO fantasy points), I’m lucky to still be in the top 50 over-all. And while my team is tied for the league lead at 6-1, hanging in there will be more than tough.

 

I’ll save my other mental notes for later on in the week.

[stonewall 647]

Fanatsy football aside......I thank the Lord that your son was not more seriously injured. That is a DANGEROUS accident and a close call. Kinda brings everything into perspective.

[We Tigers 71]

Wow. Much love to little MFM. That's going to make for a hell of a tough guy story as he grows up. Glad he's okay.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Damn, that is scary! Glad to hear your son is okay, MFM.

 

I had a bad week, went 1-4, which I was pretty frustrated about. After reading your story now I don't care that much. Definitely need to keep this FF stuff in perspective.

[madd futher mucker 36]

Thanks to all who expressed concern about my son. He's doing very good today so it looks like he will be back at school tomorrow. Thank The Lord - so close! Last night, I kept replaying the 'what could have beens' over and over in my head - My wife and I didn't sleep very well. Especially coming from Wisconsin in the old days before all of the approved groomed snowmobile trails, I've been familiar with too many fatal snowmobile accidents involving barbed wire fences. I especially hate to think about what would have happened if our dog hadn't gotten out and caused him to begin to brake before he hit that wire.

 

As some of you said, these types of events put our little 'game' in perspective compared to the much bigger 'game' of our relationships with our loved ones and of life itself.

 

Thanks again to all who had him in your thoughts. I'll be posting more football stuff here in a day or two.

[madd futher mucker 36]

Well, my boy was back in school today after missing only one day, and of course he hopped on the dirt bike right after school, so all is right with the world.

 

It was a funny weekend, fantasy-wise.

I couldn’t help think of what might have been:

- If I’d started Fitzpatrick instead of McCoy in my dynasty league. I sure wish McCoy hadn’t looked so damn poised in his FIRST NFL game, and I never expected Fitzpatrick to be able to do that against the BALT D.

- If I had only played Jordan Shipley instead of Joshua Cribbs in the FFPC. I originally had Shipley in my lineup when I wasn't sure Cribbs was gonna play, but I almost never play a player his first week back from injury, and when Cribbs was GTG, and return TDs count and Massaquoi was out, it was a no-brainer - that backfired big-time!

- Obviously, I think about what might have been if I hadn’t lost Romo for ¾ of the game and probably for the rest of the fantasy season.

- And if I had only hung onto Kenny Britt in my Auction league instead of dumping his ass after the bar incident for Dexter McCluster.

 

On the other hand, I did NOT pick up and start Denario Alexander or Ben Watson in any of my leagues!

 

But I DID make a few trades:

I traded for Dez Bryant, giving up BJGE in my Redraft league. The trade went through too late to start him (and the other guy had to start Pierre Thomas and take a zero), because by league rule we have a 24 hour protest period even though the commissioner approves all trades. IMO this is a dumb rule, but it did not change the outcome of either his match-up or mine.

 

I also traded Miles Austin for Zack Miller and Mike Wallace. He sent me the offer on Sunday night and I accepted it this morning - I figure Miles will lose just a little bit of value with Romo out, and I wanted another TE to pair with Tony Gonzalez (and we CAN play a TE as a flex). I also LOVE Mike Wallace now that Ben is chuckin the rock.

 

There was another trade I SHOULD have accepted in my dynasty league - I could have gotten Peyton Hillis for Ryan Fitzpatrick from the Romo owner - but NO, I had to get greedy and counter-offered, trying to get one of his defenses as well. What was I even thinking? I’m a real dumb ass sometimes.

 

Oh yea, and I just got some knucklehead to trade me Frank Gore for a bum-toed Antonio Gates and a RBBC-non-touchdown-scoring Ricky Williams.

 

 

 

I gave a little thought to a topic sometimes discussed on this board and that is: How many fantasy teams are the optimum number to manage?

 

I know people (like Cara) who have something like 30 to 50 teams every season. That is WAY too much when you have a family life and run a business.

 

On the other hand, I can see why owners who have only 1 or 2 teams think fantasy football is mostly luck. If my only teams were my deep keeper, where I’m 2 - 5, or my dynasty team where I’m 3 -4 (despite having scored more points than any other team in this 12 team league), I’d be very inclined to think so too.

 

But by owning ½ dozen teams like I do, more of the luck factor cancels itself out. In addition, there are some economies of scale - the projections I do, and the weekly fantasy ‘study’ routine I’ve developed gets applied to all 6 of my teams instead of just 1 or 2. I really don’t think I’d put in all of the effort, even though I enjoy it, for only one team. Especially if, after all that study, my record was a lousy 2-5 at this stage of the season. The 7 - 0 team, and my two 6 - 1 teams make it much easier to live with those other teams, and of course having that many teams lets me know that the skill factor really does ‘win out".

 

Lastly, here's some thoughts about waiver pick-ups. I believe that mid-season waiver pick-ups are significantly more of a crap-shoot than early and late season pick-ups. My theory as to why is too long for me to explain here, but there appear to be more ‘false break-outs’ during this part of the season which can break your heart if you pick them up and plug them in right away. Part of it is, if they hadn't broken out til week 7 or 8, how can you really trust them? But there were lots of guys to take fliers on this week: Fitzpatrick, Kitna, Matt Moore (part 2), McGahee, Sproles, Blount, Donald Brown (also part 2) and Mike Hart, Evans, James Jones, Blair White, McCluster (again, part 2), Gettis, and Riley Cooper - just to name about a dozen. Sorting out the fool’s gold from the real thing is the challenge.

 

I hope that those who need the help this week and for the rest of the season are up to the task.

 

And as always, I'd like for you to chime in here with your thoughts too. BTW, I threw in that phony Gore trade just to see if anyone would catch the reference to someone else's post (I must give credit to llano).

[WhiteWonder 2,708]

 

- And if I had only hung onto Kenny Britt in my Auction league instead of dumping his ass after the bar incident for Dexter McCluster.

 

really? after 3 or 4 consecutive games with a TD you let his first off field incident sway you to drop him? I understand the concern but to flat out drop him was a little hasty I think. Not the type of move i would expect from a skilled ff owner

 

also glad to read your son is ok.

[avocado 0]

This is my first year with fantasy. A friend has a league with some co-workers and they needed a tenth, so in I went. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far (other than the auction, which took friggin' forever, and I had no clue about the good players). I've been trying to take it to heart, reading 3-4 different websites each day, in addition to podcasts and these forums, and while I've had some success (4-3, two of the losses due to unlucky breakouts), I can see the appeal of having multiple teams to help give balance to the amount of time I'm spending 'researching' versus output and gratification. 3-4 seems like fun, 6+ and I would stop caring (already too attached to my team, would consider starting some of them over higher ranked players because 'they don't deserve to sit on the bench.' having so many teams would make it seem like i'm not 'committed' to each one)

[madd futher mucker 36]

really? after 3 or 4 consecutive games with a TD you let his first off field incident sway you to drop him? I understand the concern but to flat out drop him was a little hasty I think. Not the type of move i would expect from a skilled ff owner

 

also glad to read your son is ok.

 

HeyWonder, since Britt was in Coach Fox's doghouse before, I didn't expect much from Kenny for a while. Nor did I trust the Young to get him enough touches for PPR anyway. I don't think I'd have dropped him in non-PPR. It also helped that I was undefeated in this 12 teamer and my other WRs in the redraft league were now Fitz, Jennings, Garcon, Bryant,and Gaffney. Picking up McCluster gave me some extra flexibility to use as a RB (yahoo league). But yes, I did feel like a noob when he went off for his monster game. And I was kinda poking fun at myself here about my great decision-making ability.

 

BTW it was great to beat your ass last weekend.

[madd futher mucker 36]

This is my first year with fantasy. A friend has a league with some co-workers and they needed a tenth, so in I went. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far (other than the auction, which took friggin' forever, and I had no clue about the good players). I've been trying to take it to heart, reading 3-4 different websites each day, in addition to podcasts and these forums, and while I've had some success (4-3, two of the losses due to unlucky breakouts), I can see the appeal of having multiple teams to help give balance to the amount of time I'm spending 'researching' versus output and gratification. 3-4 seems like fun, 6+ and I would stop caring (already too attached to my team, would consider starting some of them over higher ranked players because 'they don't deserve to sit on the bench.' having so many teams would make it seem like i'm not 'committed' to each one)

 

Welcome to a great hobby. Way back in 1999, I was introduced to fantasy football after having played a couple of years of fantasy basketball. I had only one team and finished dead last, but I was hooked. About 7 years ago, I played in my last fantasy basketball league, and graduated to three fantasy teams. For the last couple of years I've been playing in 5, and finally this year it was 6. Up until maybe 6 years ago, I was still basically drafting from magazines. But if I'm going to have any teams, I want to out-study and out-maneuver my competition, so I can win the bragging rights AND their money. That's just the way I am.

 

Because the 'prep' is essentially a fixed time commitment regardless of the number of teams, I think that for me it doesn't really take much more time to play in 6 than it does for 3 or 4 teams. About 5 years ago,I decided to try my hand at dynasty league requiring year round scouting/player evaluation, and after the 1st year of dynasty, I decided to try my hand at doing my own player projections, rather than rely on any website projections or rankings.

 

So I put a lot of time into it, and I can more easily justify the time spent by having more teams.

 

But I'm glad you are having a lot of fun with it, and I hope that this 'bored' and my blog can help you a little as you taste the thrill of victory in your league.

 

BTW, Auction format is my favorite, and if your auction took over 3 hours to do 16 or 17 rounds in a 10 team league, your league could probably use some advice on how to conduct the auction. 3 hours isn't too long to spend drinking beer and throwing insults at your buddies.

[WhiteWonder 2,708]

HeyWonder, since Britt was in Coach Fox's doghouse before, I didn't expect much from Kenny for a while. Nor did I trust the Young to get him enough touches for PPR anyway. I don't think I'd have dropped him in non-PPR. It also helped that I was undefeated in this 12 teamer and my other WRs in the redraft league were now Fitz, Jennings, Garcon, Bryant,and Gaffney. Picking up McCluster gave me some extra flexibility to use as a RB (yahoo league). But yes, I did feel like a noob when he went off for his monster game. And I was kinda poking fun at myself here about my great decision-making ability.

 

BTW it was great to beat your ass last weekend.

 

haha. yeah, perfect time for Eli to toss 4 td's

 

idk, if it was a PPR i still would have held on to him, i think. Jennings isn't a favorite of mine in PPR formats, but you do have depth either way so I guess it doesn't matter all that much.

[madd futher mucker 36]

We'll be halfway done with the season this week, and I'm feeling pretty good about my chances to have a good weekend.

 

My A - auction league team took its 1st loss last week. This is only a 10 team PPR league. Even with 5 guys on bye this week, I should be ok. Here’s my team - starters in bold.

Rivers, Z Miller, T Gonzalez, Nugent, KC,

Foster, Bradshaw, Forte, Hillis, Torain, J Stewart

Fitz, Nicks, Wallace, M Williams (TB), R Moss, Garcon

Note: I Edited - see post below.

 

Team 1, my semi-dynasty 12 team 22 player PPR league is now 3 - 4. I lost last week because I played Colt McCoy and left Fitzpatrick on my bench. Ouch! It didn’t take me too long to drop McCoy, and after turning down Fitzpatrick for BJGE, a trade I probably should have accepted and thought I missed out on, today I negotiated over the phone with the other owner and I got Lynch instead. So I might have come out a little ahead. I’m still tinkering but my possible starters are bolded, (I must start at least 3 Wrs though):

P Manning, Gradkowski, Witten, Z Miller, Carpenter, KC,, NYG, Phil

Bradshaw, S Jax, Turner, Lynch, Snelling, C Williams, Sproles, BJGE, Woodhead

Owens, Gaffney, Floyd, M Thomas, Amendola

 

With the 2 -5 Team 2, my ten team non-PPR deep keeper, just for fun I dropped Quarless and I picked Gettis off waivers. Last week, I picked up Tamme, and I’m starting him instead of Celek. Otherwise, no major changes - but maybe there should be!

Schaub, Eli Manning, Celek, Tamme, Carpenter

P Thomas, Best, M Bush, Ivory, R Williams, Tolbert

Owens, Floyd, Gaffney, Wallace, Knox, Moore, Murphy, Gettis, S Rice

 

In Team 3, my Family and Friends (12 team 16 player PPR keep 7 keeper) team, is now 5 -2. I dropped H Miller and DAL for KC and MIA. Here’s my team now:

Big Ben, Bradford, Gresham, Finley, Carpenter, KC, MIA

MJD, Foster, M Bush, Hillis, F Jones

Bowe, Gaffney, MSW, Woodhead (WR/RB)

 

My only undefeated team is in my team 4 redraft league. After my excellent trade of BJGE to get Dez Bryant, I picked up my 4th defense, dropping McCluster’s high ankle sprain and swapping out kickers. My starters are in bold:

Eli, Freeman, Z Miller, Gresham, KC, MIA, SF, NYJ, Longwell

Gore, Foster, Stewart

Fitz, Jennings, Gaffney, Bryant, Garcon

 

And Team 5, my high stakes FBG/ Fantasy Football Players Championship team, is at 6 - 1. I got seriously outbid on Jon Kitna this week - so I‘ve gotta roll with Vince Young this week, but I did get Darren Sproles and Roscoe Parrish.

After losing Dallas Clark, Tony Romo (and probably Floyd until about week 11), my team is considerably weaker than I’d hoped:

Young, Romo, Z Miller, Tamme, Quarless, Carpenter, CIN, TENN

Gore, Best, Sproles, Hightower

Harvin, M Williams, Shipley, Parrish, Avant, Edelman, Floyd, S Rice

I don't feel good about missing out on Kitna, and I don't have much money left in my waiver account - so I have to hope that Romo can get back in 6 weeks. But I think I've done a decent job in overcoming my bad luck.

 

And of course I'm hoping for much better luck this weekend - both for myself and for your teams as well. Keep up the discussion here.

[JTB 52]

We'll be halfway done with the season this week, and I'm feeling pretty good about my chances to have a good weekend.

 

My A - auction league team took its 1st loss last week. This is only a 10 team PPR league. Even with 5 guys on bye this week, I should be ok. Heres my team - starters in bold.

Rivers, Z Miller, T Gonzalez, Nugent, KC, BALT

Foster, Bradshaw, Forte, Hillis, Torain

Fitz, Nicks, Wallace, M Williams (TB), R Moss, Garcon

 

Team 1, my semi-dynasty 12 team 22 player PPR league is now 3 - 4. I lost last week because I played Colt McCoy and left Fitzpatrick on my bench. Ouch! It didnt take me too long to drop McCoy, and after turning down Fitzpatrick for BJGE, a trade I probably should have accepted and thought I missed out on, today I negotiated over the phone with the other owner and I got Lynch instead. So I might have come out a little ahead. Im still tinkering but my possible starters are bolded, (I must start at least 3 Wrs though):

P Manning, Gradkowski, Witten, Z Miller, Carpenter, KC,, NYG, Phil

Bradshaw, S Jax, Turner, Lynch, Snelling, C Williams, Sproles, BJGE, Woodhead

Owens, Gaffney, Floyd, M Thomas, Amendola

 

With the 2 -5 Team 2, my ten team non-PPR deep keeper, just for fun I dropped Quarless and I picked Gettis off waivers. Last week, I picked up Tamme, and Im starting him instead of Celek. Otherwise, no major changes - but maybe there should be!

Schaub, Eli Manning, Celek, Tamme, Carpenter

P Thomas, Best, M Bush, Ivory, R Williams, Tolbert

Owens, Floyd, Gaffney, Wallace, Knox, Moore, Murphy, Gettis, S Rice

 

In Team 3, my Family and Friends (12 team 16 player PPR keep 7 keeper) team, is now 5 -2. I dropped H Miller and DAL for KC and MIA. Heres my team now:

Big Ben, Bradford, Gresham, Finley, Carpenter, KC, MIA

MJD, Foster, M Bush, Hillis, F Jones

Bowe, Gaffney, MSW, Woodhead (WR/RB)

 

My only undefeated team is in my team 4 redraft league. After my excellent trade of BJGE to get Dez Bryant, I picked up my 4th defense, dropping McClusters high ankle sprain and swapping out kickers. My starters are in bold:

Eli, Freeman, Z Miller, Gresham, KC, MIA, SF, NYJ, Longwell

Gore, Foster, Stewart

Fitz, Jennings, Gaffney, Bryant, Garcon

 

And Team 5, my high stakes FBG/ Fantasy Football Players Championship team, is at 6 - 1. I got seriously outbid on Jon Kitna this week - so Ive gotta roll with Vince Young this week, but I did get Darren Sproles and Roscoe Parrish.

After losing Dallas Clark, Tony Romo (and probably Floyd until week 11, my team is considerably weaker than Id hoped:

Young, Romo, Z Miller, Tamme, Quarless, Carpenter, CIN, TENN

Gore, Best, Sproles, Hightower

Harvin, M Williams, Shipley, Parrish, Avant, Edelman, Floyd, S Rice

I don't feel good about missing out on Kitna, and I don't have much money left in my waiver account - so I have to hope that Romo can get back in 6 weeks. But I think I've done a decent job in overcoming my bad luck.

 

And of course I'm hoping for much better luck this weekend - both for myself and for your teams as well. Keep up the discussion here.

 

 

Nicks? H. Nicks of the G-Men is on Bye.

[madd futher mucker 36]

Nicks? H. Nicks of the G-Men is on Bye.

 

Thanks for the catch, man - if I would have played Nicks. But it turns out I just bolded the wrong receiver here. I did have Fitz starting, not Nicks. But I'm glad you caught it because I know I COULD have made a line-up error. It is something that playing in 6 leagues is very easy to do and I've done it before (not this year yet).

 

But just to update, someone dropped J Stewart earlier in the week, which meant waiver bids opened for him this morning rather than Wednesday. Since DeAngelo's status wasn't immediately decided, and others were sleeping on him, I was able to bid a pretty small amount to get him on my roster - and I had to drop BALT. So Stewart is in the line-up and both Mikes - Williams and Wallace are now on my bench.

[madd futher mucker 36]

I have no idea why one of the absolute classics of literary humor relating to fantasy football ever got "moved" from this forearm, but I took the liberty of re-sequencing it, and cleaning up the spelling a little, so that it may be preserved here on my blog as my personal tribute to steamypoop (who kind of reminds me of George Costanza). May it forever remain in the archives of this FFToday bored. Enjoy!

 

I'm 40 years old and been married twice. The first one took the house. The second one lasted six months before she ran off with another guy - i didnt even bother to get divorced. I work in a mail room, have no savings, drive a 17-year old ford tempo, and live in a basement apartment with my cat. I'm nearly 300 pounds and balder than the day i was born. But I’ve worked very hard to better myself in many ways. I am no longer super-sizing it for lunch. I decided to accept my baldness and shaved my head. I bought 2 new outfits at the gap and decided to take better care of my hygiene. I bought a dumbell and have been working out with it every day. And i put an ad up on eharmony.

 

Anyway, I got this email a few weeks ago from a jennifer, a 23-year-old aspiring swimwear model who enjoys rock climbing and just so happened to come across my profile and was "intrigued." we exchanged a few emails and it turned out that jennifer also really likes cats, jellybeans, and that show two and a half men. We set a date to meet at the bar at TGI Fridays, my first date in more than ten years! I wore my best slacks and short sleeved dress shirt and found a prominent place at the bar, which was pretty empty for a friday night. After 2 hours of sitting at the bar it became obvious that jennifer (if that's her real name) wasnt going to show. When i got home later her account had been dismantled. I probably should've gotten her phone number, cuz now i'll never know whether she stood me up or had some sort of accident.

 

So i met my brother donald for lunch one weekend and we got to talking about the whole eharmony / jennifer fiasco and the fact that i cant get laid. Donald said that I need to get off my butt and meet some new people instead of just sitting in my apartment, playing x-box or hanging out with my cat or whatever, so he invited me to join his fantasy football league with his co-workers. I said fine. I bought my first fantasy football guide and did some studying to get ready for the big draft.

 

I ended up getting the 12th out of 12 picks, which wasn’t so hot but that’s okay, I’m not a real competitive guy anyway and I was having fun tossing back a few brewskies and eating some stuffed potato skins, hot wings, mozzarella sticks and sliders at the applebees where they hold the draft. Also it looked like I did really great in the draft. I landed two really good running backs (deangelo williams and ryan mathews) to go along with a pair of “stud” receivers (steve smith and larry fitzgerald) and a “sleeper” tight end. I also got a great value with jay cutler and matt stafford at quarterback – whoa stacked right? At the end of the draft I was feeling really good about my chances.

 

-Until my bro said it was a “big money league” and the entrance fee was $200! Who has that kind of money??? not me! But that’s okay my brother’s the commissioner, said he could put me on some kind of payment plan so I’d only pay $50 per week and he’d even give me a ride home from the draft, that sound fair right?

 

Well you might be surprised to hear that my team was a lot better on paper than they are for real. I’m 0-7 now with the lowest total points. And in five of the 7 games my opponent has scored the most points of the week. I thought I could fix my team when I tried to “sell high” by trading this guy name arian foster for schonn greene after week 1 … big mistake!

 

What’s even worse is that my brothers’ coworkers are total jerks! And put up on the league message board every week stuff like “nice going fatty!” and “damn your team sucks fatty!” so far I’ve only paid off half I owe my brother and I’m probably not going to make the playoffs. Oh well live and learn right? I guess I just come back and try harder next year.

 

This fantasy football stuff, it gets better, right?

 

In exchange for his permission to reprint this piece of literary art, I've taken steamypoop under my personal fantasy football tutelage. Let none of Donald's co-workers even think of posting "fatty" jokes about 'poop' on that league message board ever again.

[madd futher mucker 36]

Judging from the (lack of) comments regariding my steamypoop 'tribute', I guess that I was the only one who thought that te post was hilarious. But it did remind me of my first season in fantasy football.

 

My take on the Randy Moss release:

Before I get into the week-ends results, I’ll make just a few comments (like everybody else) about Brad Childress waiving Randy Moss. I’m sure that Childress just wrote his own ticket out of Minnesota with the move, for several reasons:

 

1. You don’t waive a playmaker of Moss’ caliber who you got for a 3rd round draft chioce only 3 weeks before. In the games I watched, Moss was always bracket covered, and still managed to draw several interference penalties to help the Vikings move the chains.

 

2. According to tweets and reports I’ve read, Ziggy Wilf (who had an active hand in getting Moss to come to the Vikes for a 3rd round pick) was livid, because he was not notified first hand about the impending decision.

 

3. Percy Harvin and several other players were also PO’d. Harvin, because Moss had taken to ‘mentoring’ him on the finer points of WR play, can now expect to get double coverage, and again will have to play the x receiver role, which isn’t the position that best suits his skill-set. I’m guessing that Favre (who only co-exists with Childress through his long and strong relationship with offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will have weigh in behind the scenes loud and clear on this as well. In short, it is my personal belief that Childress has now lost the team - especially the offensive side.

 

Being a Packer fan, I’m not sad that that this move was the final kiss of death for any chances the Vikes had of making the play-offs this year. Until I read the news this afternoon, I read the comments from the Dallas beat writers about the total disarray of the Cowboys. I never thought that the Vikings could do worse in that department especially within the space of less than a day!

 

 

Now to my week-end results: Another week-end of 4 - 2! Thanks, Dan Carpenter - I wish I had you in all 6 of my leagues, but 4 out of 6 isn’t bad.

 

My Redraft league team extended its undefeated record, without Mr. Carpenter. This is not the team I’d expected would be 8 -0 at this stage of the season. It did not hurt that I played the last place team this week.

 

I also patched together enough with my FBG/FFPC team to move to 7 - 1. We play an 11 game season schedule, so I’m just about a lock for the league play-offs here. I’m still in the top 35 out of 1608 teams, so I also have a shot at a ’big money’ spot. But next week I play the team that is second to me in the league - and as of right now I’ve don't even have a healthy QB on my roster and I have only about $31 waiver dollars left to land one with. I will also have Gore on a bye week and Harvin might not be a go. Yikes! But after week 9, I will finish up against two doormat teams. BTW, I haven’t reported on how Mike and Mike are doing in the FFPC lately - the answer is: Not good - at least not this last weekend!

 

My “A” Auction league team, now 6 - 2 took it’s second loss in a row after starting 6 - 0. I ran into a really hot team here and my studs did very little to help me so I lost by just less than 10 FPs. But in the beginning of the season, THIS is the team that I thought was my strongest by far.

 

I also narrowly won with my Friends and Family team league, to also move to 6 - 2. Carpenter and Woodhead were difference makers, both in this league and in my Dynasty league, where I finally got to 4 - 4 after a poor start.

 

Lastly is my Deep Keeper league team. Yes I played the top team - a real powerhouse. Yes, this is the only league in which I started Jake Tamme (who I also picked up but did not play in the FFPC). And yes, I again lost to drop my record to 2 -6. In each of the last two years I’ve bought existing dynasty or keeper teams that needed fixing. Last year I finished last in my Dynasty team. This year, despite only a 4 - 4 record so far, that team has put up the most points of all the teams in the 12 team league. This year, my Deep Keeper team is starting off the same way. I guess that proves that I can’t buy into a ‘project’ team and expect to make the play-offs in the 1st year..

 

Sometime I think I’ll write about what to look for when buying a ‘project’ team in an existing league - I definitely got some insights based on my last two year’s experience.

 

As always please feel free to comment on anything here, or just share how your week-end went.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

I am definitely having a rough time in the FFPC. Thought I had some great matchup advantages this week against my opponent, and I did, except he earned about 60% of his points from Matt Stafford + Calvin Johnson. Of course I started Kenny Britt this week and took a zero. Benched Ryan Mathews and he finally found the end zone. Sadly, this league I'm in is really tight. One team is 6-2, three at 5-3, three at 4-4 and all the rest at 3-5. I'm now at 3-5 as the team just can't get on the same page at the same time. What could have been, what could have been...

 

After losing the prior week and dropping out of 1st in NFFC I won again this week, so now I am 2nd in record, 4th in scoring. Another tight league with one 7-1, two 6-2, two 5-3 teams. Only 30 points separate the top four scoring teams. This one is a longer regular season at 13 weeks.

 

I thought the steamypoop diatribe was funny, but maybe not tribute worthy

[madd futher mucker 36]

Today’s topic is Roster Moves!

 

Doug Orth, probably my favorite FFToday writer, recently wrote a column called The All-out Blitz (Vol 24). He made some excellent observations in that article, but to introduce this topic I‘ll quote:

“Aggressiveness is a characteristic that tends to reward fantasy owners more times than not….. In that same vein, I hope to apply that same kind of pressure to the owners in all of my leagues by beating my opponents to the punch in regards to personnel moves. Sometimes, reaching a conclusion about a player too quickly is much like trying to blitz Peyton Manning – dangerous and painful. However, coming to a correct conclusion two weeks or two minutes quicker than your opponents is considered foresight. Fantasy owners can be a uneasy lot, knowing that one two-or-three-game losing streak can wreak irreparable damage to his/her team’s chances to make a visit to the fantasy postseason. But just as it is in the NFL and in life, it’s hard to land the big prize by playing scared.”

 

Those that follow this blog know that I am CONSTANTLY tinkering with my rosters and finding the situational ’edges’ that are available to all of us every week. (and as you will read, so is my competition!) While sometimes I guess wrong, I try to think ahead of my competition and anticipate events. Over the long haul I believe that my good roster decisions far outweigh my poorer ones.

 

Most of you know that I play mostly in leagues that either have 25 or 30 transaction limits per season or are blind-bid waiver systems. Where there are reasonable transaction limits, I feel it adds to the complexity and the skill required to compete, and I feel that it gives me an advantage. Similarly, there is a great deal of skill required in managing a budget in leagues that use a blind-bid waiver system (which I believe is the ‘best’ waiver system to use in your leagues). Either way, needless to say, I usually max out my transactions or my waiver budget in every league.

 

Every one of my teams, like every one of my kids, has a different ’personality’ and gets unique opportunities that require completely different strategies. The important thing is learning to think ’outside the box’. In my Redraft league, I have FOUR defenses rostered. On the other hand, in my Auction league, I couldn’t pass up the chance to pick up Blount, S Rice and V Jax, so this week I’m probably going to compete without a starting defense or kicker.

 

[My rationale: I've got enough firepower that I should win this weekend even if I don't get a trade made this week. I'm sure some guys in my league are just sitting back waiting to see who I will drop. Others will see that they can get a decent 2 for 1 if they need depth, and will probably put in a late-week counter offer. I have a reasonable chance of winning this week-ends match up playing with two positions empty based on the team I face. But even if I lose, I will not be losing to a competing team and therefore there is very little chance that my team won't make the play-offs. If I can't make a trade in time for the weekend, but actually win, there is a much better chance that I'll get a trade that I like next week.

There is also a very practical ' wait and see' aspect to this. It is a PPR league. Frankly I'd like another week or two to get some clarity as to who to cut. Obviously, Rivers, T Gonzalez, and Z Miller stay on the team, as does Foster, Bradshaw, Nicks, Garcon and probably Fitz and TB's Mike Williams. I'd like to see a week or two more from Hillis, Torain and Blount before I decide if any should be dropped (any possible injury this weekend comes into play here as well). Regarding WRs, Mike Wallace is a very nice player, but he really isn't a PPR guy: Randy Moss (who hadn't been claimed yet at the time I made my moves) might be kicked off the island because of lack of targets in TENN: and giving myself another week will not hurt in evaluating how much of a contribution I might expect from Rice and V Jax for my play-off run. In short, I just don't know my best cuts would be right now if I wind up having to cut someone.

So I win if I get a trade or two to my liking, and I win by getting extra time to get more clarity regarding my ultimate team to finish the season with. My downside is minimal, as worst case I lose a game to a non-contender anyway, and I trade one for these guys for a great kicker or defense if I have to.]

 

Whether you agree or disagree with my strategy, you can see that I’m never on auto-pilot. And if you think that I’M never on ‘auto-pilot, just keep reading and see what my FFPC opponent did to me this week!

 

With that as a set-up here are my teams and the roster moves I made (so far) this week

 

 

We’ll start with my 10 team PPR Auction league team that is now 6 - 2. This is the team where, barring a trade tonight, I’m intentionally taking a zero for my defense and my kicker, because I picked up Blount, V Jax and S Rice. Here’s my team - starters in bold.

Rivers, Z Miller, A Gonzalez

Foster, Bradshaw, Forte, Hillis, Torain, Blount

Fitz, Nicks, Wallace, M Williams (TB), R Moss, Garcon, V Jax, S Rice

 

Team 1, my semi-dynasty 12 team 22 player PPR league finally made it to 4 - 4. With Amendola and Gaffney on bye, I needed to pick up some bye week WRs, so Seji Ajirotutu and Earl Bennett found their way onto my team. My starters are bolded:

P Manning, Gradkowski, Witten, Z Miller, Carpenter, KC, Phil, NYG

Bradshaw, S Jax, Lynch, Snelling, C Williams, Sproles, BJGE, Woodhead, Choice

Owens, Gaffney, Floyd, Amendola, Ajirotutu, L Moore

EDIT: Late trade - I just traded Turner for Lance Moore, Choice and a 2nd round rookie pick.

 

With Team 2, my ten team non-PPR deep keeper, now 2 - 6, I was not able to find any changes to make:

Schaub, Eli Manning, Celek, Tamme, Carpenter

P Thomas, Best, M Bush, Ivory, R Williams, Tolbert

Owens, Floyd, Gaffney, Wallace, Knox, Moore, Murphy, Gettis, S Rice

 

I traded Peyton Hillis for Pierre Garcon in Team 3, my Family and Friends (12 team 16 player PPR keep 7 keeper) team, which is now 6 - 2. This is a keeper league, and I like Garcon’s long term value slightly better than Hillis'. But this is a very close trade though.

Ben, Bradshaw, Tamme, Finley, Carpenter, KC, MIA

MJD, Foster, M Bush, F Jones

Garcon, Bowe, Gaffney, MSW, Woodhead (WR/RB)

 

My only undefeated team is still in my Team 4 redraft league. No changes made at all this week except I added the Jets D. My starters are in bold:

Eli, Freeman, Z Miller, Gresham, KC, MIA, SF, NYJ, Longwell

Gore, Foster, Stewart

Fitz, Jennings, Gaffney, Bryant, Garcon

 

Team 5 is my high stakes FBG/ Fantasy Football Players Championship team, which is 7 - 1. And I will be playing the team that is 6-2 this week. Strategically, I have to hand it to him.

 

I only had $32 left in my waiver bid bank (out of $1000), and with Romo injured and Young on bye I was without a QB this week. There wasn’t much need for the rest of the league to pick up QBs so I figured I’d have no problem getting one of the starting QBs on the waiver wire out of Derrick Anderson, Campbell, M Moore, McCoy, or Charlie Whitehurst (in that order). Just to be safe, I put bids in on all 5 QBs (but with only a $3 bid on Whitehurst). Yea, the guy I’m playing put $33 bids on the four other QBs and now has SIX QBs on his roster just to 'block me! It's a damn good thing he forgot about Whitehurst.

So I got Whitehurst for $3, and I know it's a long-shot, but of course I’m hoping Whitehurst goes off for about 400 yds and sticks it right up my opponent's ass in the process!! I also got Stevens-Howling for $4 to ’hand-cuff Hightower who appears to be on the outs and Wells is Questionable this week. I spent a grand total of $7 this week and have $25 left to spend.

 

So here’s what I’ve got to run with this week.

Young, Romo, Whitehurst, Z Miller, Tamme, Quarless, Carpenter, CINCY, TENN

Gore, Best, Sproles, Hightower, Stevens-HowlingHarvin,

M Williams, Shipley, Parrish, Floyd, S Rice

Obviously I’d be playing Harvin and Zack Miller if they were healthy, but you gotta go with who you have. So I'll be trying to win this one with smoke and mirrors. Wish me luck.

 

This was a rather long post, and I’m sure that I’ll get several comments from you on some of these rather interesting moves. BTW, What do you guys think of my trades? Hillis for Garcon or my Turner for L Moore, T Choice and a 2nd round 2011 rookie. Am I out of my mind? -I'm still waiting on a trade or two in the Auction league.

 

It should be an interesting week-end to say the least. (The family is going to an indoor water park in Dallas, which will limit my football some).

 

As always, I’m hoping your fantasy weekend is not just interesting but also rewarding as well.

[madd futher mucker 36]

Not much to discuss as our family just got back from the indoor water park resort tonight, Gray Wolf Lodge in Grapevine (very close to Valley Ranch, home of the Dallas Cowboys), so I didn’t watch much football this weekend.

 

But the weekend went well fantasywise, as I only took one loss. And with the season now more than half over my record for the 6 teams is 38 - 16.

 

My Redraft league went to 9 - 0. And in my Auction team which went to 7 - 2, I ignored the defense and kicker and fielded only 8 players. All I did was set a league high for the year with 202 fantasy points: Rivers 37.1 , Foster 35.7, Hillis 35, Bradshaw, 25.2, Nicks, 24.8, Fitz 17.7, Gonzo 15.2 and Forte 11.1.

 

I also won my 4th straight in the Friends and Family league, again going to 7-2.

 

In the Dynasty league, where although I lead the league in total fantasy points, my win finally took me to a winning record at 5-4. I even won in the Keeper league, where now I’m 3 - 6.

 

My closest contest was my 13 point loss in the FFPC. There is no way that I was going to start Percy Harvin after hearing about his pre-game warm-ups. I absolutely hate this year’s over-used trite expression “Who knew?“, but in this case it is appropriate. Nah, I didn’t get much from Whitehurst, Sproles and Hightower. One guy who did give me more than I expected was Roscoe Parrish - and yes, he’s another out-for-the-season injury casualty.

 

BTW, I noticed that Mike MacGregor finally put up the week he was hoping for, scoring 173 fantasy points. Both Mikes are now at 4 - 5. My team is now 7-2 and I've dropped to second place in my 12 team league - although still leading the league in total fantasy points. And after 9 weeks I'm in the top 85 over-all in the FFPC.

[Stewburtx8 67]

I guess my question would be, why are you so down on Peyton Hillis (maybe you're not anymore)? I guess it's a little late to ask this question after his biggest week of the season, but the guy has scored in all but 1 game this season. I just know you weren't sold on him in your auction league, and you traded him for Garcon in your one keeper league. Is it just the lack of a previous track record? He was averaging almost 4.5 yards per carry before this week, and now is up to 4.8 yards per carry. He also is very versatile in the passing game, and is averaging almost 5 targets and 4 receptions per game, with almost 30 yards receiving per game. Just seems like the kind of guy who wouldn't be very prone to bad games, especially in a PPR format (now that I said that he will put up a poor week this week). He is only 24 years old and seems like a long term keeper type player. He even showed flashes of his potential as a rookie in late 2008. Thoughts?

[madd futher mucker 36]

Excellent question, Stewburtx8! The quote below was from a post I made two years ago (almost to the day) - before Hillis had his break-out game while playing for Shanahan. You can see that I was one of Hillis' earliest and biggest boosters.

 

November 2008[/b] - 11:21 PM' timestamp='1289439944' post='4361801']

 

I swore off Denver backs for the last two years..........until now.

 

Peyton Hillis is the Denver back to own for the rest of the year. Why?

1. Young has a nagging groin injury which may linger; Shanny doesn't like him because of his very frequent injuries; he is not a 20 touch RB even when healthy.

 

2. The ONLY reason Tatum (can't even carry my suitcase) Bell was signed is because he knows the offensive terminology. Period. He couldn't even make it as a BACK-UP RB in Detroit( I might have been able to make that team as a RB and I'm 61 years old) and there IS NO ONE ELSE NOW EXCEPT:

 

Peyton Hillis:

 

He is a perfect fit for Denver's pass-first offense. He was the Arkansas fullback with F Jones and D Mac. I don't remember if he lead the Razorbacks in recpts by a Back, but if not he was damn close. Excellent hands and receiver out of the backfield.

Also an excellent blocker for Cutler.

 

Hard-nosed, straight ahead power runner. He hits the hole quickly; he's not fast by any means, but he runs faster in pads than his timed speed indicates. What he's not gonna do is break off long runs, but he will get you the short yardage TDs, pick up the hard 3rd and 2's and get plenty of catches for PPR leagues.

 

He'll stay on the field because there IS no other reliable option and he's just the kind of back that can be a perfect fit for the offense Denver is running right now. If Shanny screws this one up, I ain't never gonna use a Denver RB again.

 

In fact, I'll state that trading Hillis for Cleveland's back-up QB Brady Quinn was one of the biggest McDaniels' fiascos in his short career in Denver - and a true measure of his incompetence.

 

Ironically I took plenty of flack for the Hillis for Garcon trade in my Friends and Family Keeper league. "Even with all his FFL experience the old man can still be fleeced!" was the common sentiment of league chat. And I may well have made a hasty trade, but it was not because I don't love Hillis' game. In fact I've come to appreciate it even more after what he did this weekend. And yes, I could have been the 'loser' in this trade! Like I said in my post, pulling the trigger on this was a very close decision.

 

But I made the trade for some very concrete reasons.

 

I read somewhere that the average functional* lifespan of a starting RB in the NFL is something like 3 1/2 years, or about half as long as the functional lifespan of a starting WR.

'Functional' in this sense means the ability to perform at the same level without significant production drop-off. I would submit that RBs such as Brandon Jacobs and Marion Barber are past their 'functional' lifespan.

 

The ferocity with which Hillis runs without ragard for his body reminds me a little of the early Brandon Jacobs, and I believe that there is a very strong chance that his 'functional' career will be shortened by injury because of his 'take-no-prisoners' running style.

 

Secondly, going forward this year, Hillis has a very tough schedule against teams that are tough against the run.

 

Thirdly, this is a deep keeper league, and I project Pierre Garcon as a future stud WR. Not only does he have all the tools, but Reggie Wayne is no longer a 'spring chicken'. So this trade reminds me of Brutus line in 'Julius Caesar' - "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more."

 

Lastly, this trade gave the rest of the league the perception (perhaps reality?) that I can be had. That's not a bad thing at all. In a couple of my leagues more than a few owners are afraid to trade with me. In that respect, 'losing', or appearing to lose a trade once in a while is good for my image.

[madd futher mucker 36]

Since this week begins the Thursday night game part of the NFL schedule, we need to get an early start on planning for the week 10 games. I’ve long been in favor of reasonable season transaction limits - or even better - of the blind bid waiver system because I believe it makes the waiver process much more interesting and adds to the complexity of the fantasy game. That said, I usually start feeling short of moves in most leagues just about now, week 10, and this year is no exception. So this week’s roster planning was just a little more uncomfortable than the earlier ones.

 

I like to save a couple of late season transactions for either ‘emergencies’, or in keeper leagues for those inevitable year-end break-out players. In my blind bid leagues, I’m already out of money in the FFPC league and in my Auction league (where I still have 3 ‘free‘ moves left, and I’m down to my last $11 in my dynasty league. The FFPC waiver deal was a new experience for me and I think I overspent (along with just about everybody else in my league) in the early part of the year. And I’m very short of transactions in my Family and Friends league as well. The only leagues where I’m in great shape are my Deep Keeper league which has no restrictions; and in my Redraft league, where I just really don’t have many moves I care to make.

 

If there has been a theme that runs through my teams, it is that most of my earliest moves were made with the play-offs in mind, and I believe you’ll agree when looking at my teams that I’m already pretty well positioned for the play-offs in each one. You will also notice that the waiver pick-up ‘du jour’ was the Tampa Bay Defense.

 

Starting again with my 10 team PPR Auction league (now 7 - 2) . This is the team where last week I took a zero at kicker and defense rather than make some drops, trying to get a 3 for 2 or 2 for 1 trade. No dice! Tonight I concluded that the rest of the league is just not going to trade with me, so I dropped Torain and Forte and picked up the TB defense and their kicker, Conner Barth. I’ve burned through 22 of my allotted 25 transactions, and I don’t really want to drop any more talent on the wire, so this week I’ll play my D and K, but I'll take an intentional zero at QB! I’ll admit it is an unusual way to run a fantasy team, but my chances of winning this week without a QB are actually pretty good. Here’s my starters in bold.

Rivers (bye), Z Miller, T Gonz:lez, TB, Barth

Foster, Bradshaw, Hillis, Blount

Fitz, Nicks, Wallace, M Williams (TB), R Moss, Garcon, V Jax, S Rice

 

Team 1, my semi-dynasty 12 team 22 player PPR league finally made has a winning record at 5 - 4. This is a blind bid waiver league, and as mentioned I’m down to my last $11 of my $100 budget after picking up the Tampa Bay D. I believe I mentioned that I made one big (and perhaps controversial) trade last week: Turner for Choice, L Moore and a 2nd round rookie pick. I also may have hit a home run with last week’s pick-up of Seji Ajirotutu - I think he‘s dynasty gold for next year. This week it is:

P Manning, Gradkowski, Witten, Z Miller, Carpenter, KC, Phil, NYG, TB

Bradshaw, S Jax, Lynch, Sproles, Choice, BJGE, Woodhead

Owens, Gaffney, Floyd, Amendola, Ajirotutu, L Moore

Team 2 is the ten team non-PPR deep keeper, now 3 - 6. There are no transaction limits in that league, and no blind bid system. I picked up what I believe will be a future stud TE in Jimmy Graham, and through what was pretty much an irrelevant accident, I dropped Ivory and picked up McCluster.

Schaub, Eli Manning, Celek, Tamme, J Graham, Carpenter

P Thomas, Best, M Bush, Ricky Williams, Tolbert

Owens, Floyd, Gaffney,Wallace, Knox, Moore, Murphy, McCluster, S Rice

This week in Team 3, my 7 - 2 Family and Friends (12 team 16 player PPR keep 7 keeper) team, I traded MSW for J Stewart (I still believe in his keeper value), and I dropped Michael Bush for the Tampa Bay defense. Now I’ve used all but 2 transactions in this league with a 30 transaction per season limit. Here’s this week’s starters:

Ben, Bradford, Tamme, Finley, Carpenter, KC, MIA, TB

MJD, Foster, F Jones, Stewart,

Garcon, Bowe, Gaffney Woodhead (WR/RB)

 

Again, no changes were made to my undefeated redraft team 4 this week. At a certain point, you just say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! My starters are in bold:

Eli, Freeman, Z Miller, Gresham, KC, MIA, SF, NYJ, LongwellGore, Foster, Stewart

Fitz, Jennings, Gaffney, Bryant, Garcon

 

Team 5, my high stakes FBG/ Fantasy Football Players Championship team, is now 7 - 2, and I hope will find easier sledding this week. I spent my last $25 of my original $1000 budget as follows: Kerry Collins $21 (insurance for Vince Young), Mason Crosby $2, and Buffalo’s David Nelson (who should get all of Parrish’s targets - besides I remember fondly Ozzie and Harriet and Ricky and David Nelson). BTW, after last week, Harvin is not coming out of my line-up unless he’s dead!

So here’s my final FFPC team and this week’s starters:

Collins or Young, Romo, Z Miller, Tamme, Carpenter, Crosby, CIN, TENN

Gore, Best, Sproles, Hightower, Stevens-Howling

Harvin, M Williams, Shipley, Floyd, S Rice, D Nelson

 

That's about it for week 10, and I'd like to think that I might finally put up a week where I'll go undefeated for all my teams. At least I can hope. And as usual, I'll hope the same for your teams.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

BTW, I noticed that Mike MacGregor finally put up the week he was hoping for, scoring 173 fantasy points. Both Mikes are now at 4 - 5. My team is now 7-2 and I've dropped to second place in my 12 team league - although still leading the league in total fantasy points. And after 9 weeks I'm in the top 85 over-all in the FFPC.

 

Finally is right! The team came together for once with Vick, Hernandez and the Packers D, but at 4-5 I am certainly a long shot to make the playoffs at this point. I need to win out I'd wager and everything else break right. I'll keep plugging away and see what happens.

 

Wow, I can't believe your opponent scooped up 4 QBs. How does a 6-2 team have enough players to drop to do that? He must have dropped some half decent depth, no? I did check your score last week and saw the loss. Too bad, but since you're pretty much set for the top 4 all that really matters at this point is earning the most points you can.

 

I have a battle for first place this week in my NFFC league. I actually thought I pulled into first last week but the first place team pulled a win out of his hat late. He's 8-1, I'm 7-2 and we faceoff in Week 10. I actually dropped Marion Barber as I had a few holes to fill and after much debate wanted to keep my upside/backup guys (Scott, Ringer, even Choice) over Barber. Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me, but I picked up Mike Goodson, Joel Dreessen (Gates on bye, taking a shot Daniels sits) and CLE DEF (NO on bye).

 

Can't comment on the rest right now, have to run. Good luck mfm and everyone this week!

[madd futher mucker 36]

I feel bad that I didn't blog this for your consideration before most waiver wires got re-locked for the weekend. I buried this little nugget in a post the other day started by nospk called "Thoughts on waiver wire WRs this week".

 

 

"In my 20 player 12 team FFPC PPR league, I chose Buffalo's David Nelson as my WR5 for the rest of the season ahead of several better known names: Brandon Gibson, WR STL; Jacoby Jones, WR HOU; Jason Avant, WR PHI; Devin Hester, WR CHI; Mohamed Massaquoi, WR CLE; Seyi Ajirotutu, WR SDG (yes he's still not rostered); Chansi Stuckey, WR CLE; Michael Spurlock, WR TAM.

 

While there are no guarantees that this is a better choice than some of the others, here are my reasons:

 

1. Fitzpatrick is passing like a maniac to all of his targets.

2. Even with Evans, Steve Johnson, and Parrish in the mix, Nelson has averaged 3 catches per game for the last 5 weeks.

3. Roscoe Parrish is out for the season. As the slot receiver, he has been a viable fantasy factor for the last month. David Nelson should get almost all of the targets that went to Parrish.

4. At 6'5" and 220 lbs, Nelson presents a nice big target and a good redzone threat.

 

IMO, David Nelson is the ultimate pre-emptive waiver wire pick-up at this time for deeper leagues because I believe he will put up the most consistent production going forward."

 

It will be interesting to see what Nelson will do this weekend. I obviously think there's some real value here.

 

EDIT: I was feeling really good last night about my chances in the FFPC this week until Roddy White put up 37.8 fantasy points on me Today, not so much.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

I feel bad that I didn't blog this for your consideration before most waiver wires got re-locked for the weekend. I buried this little nugget in a post the other day started by nospk called "Thoughts on waiver wire WRs thsi week".

 

 

"In my 20 player 12 team FFPC PPR league, I chose Buffalo's David Nelson as my WR5 for the rest of the season ahead of several better known names: Brandon Gibson, WR STL; Jacoby Jones, WR HOU; Jason Avant, WR PHI; Devin Hester, WR CHI; Mohamed Massaquoi, WR CLE; Seyi Ajirotutu, WR SDG (yes he's still not rostered); Chansi Stuckey, WR CLE; Michael Spurlock, WR TAM.

 

While there are no guarantees that this is a better choice than some of the others, here are my reasons:

 

1. Fitzpatrick is passing like a maniac to all of his targets.

2. Even with Evans, Steve Johnson, and Parrish in the mix, Nelson has averaged 3 catches per game for the last 5 weeks.

3. Roscoe Parrish is out for the season. As the slot receiver, he has been a viable fantasy factor for the last month. David Nelson should get almost all of the targets that went to Parrish.

4. At 6'5" and 220 lbs, Nelson presents a nice big target and a good redzone threat.

 

IMO, David Nelson is the ultimate pre-emptive waiver wire pick-up at this time for deeper leagues because I believe he will put up the most consistent production going forward."

 

It will be interesting to see what Nelson will do this weekend. I obviously think there's some real value here.

 

EDIT: I was feeling really good last night about my chances in the FFPC this week until Roddy White put up 37.8 fantasy points on me Today, not so much.

 

Ugh, that sucks playing against White. I said it on our Facebook page last night... PUSH OFF!

 

In terms of Nelson, I actually needed a TE this week in NFFC with Gates on bye/injured. In terms of backups I had been holding John Carlson all year and he's done essentially jack. I picked up Jermaine Gresham last week to cover for Gates, but with Shipley back he's not doing much. For this week I dropped Gresham (and Carlson) and picked up Joel Dreessen. Playing against the Jags, and at the time I rolled the dice Owen Daniels would be out, I think Dreessen could be in line for a solid game. Of course, I was just looking for the best one week play as I'm expecting (praying!) Gates is back next week.

[madd futher mucker 36]

I like that Dreessen pick-up a lot. You might have to get more than just one game out of him. I realize that this is the NFFC and not the FFPC, but my buddy in the FFPC picked up Randy McMichael this week as insurance thinking that Gates might be done for the season.

 

But I'd really be interested in what lessons you learned about working the waiver wire in the FFPC.

 

My own lessons so far are:

 

First, to be VERY aggressive in rostering TEs with the potential to get a lot of targets. Thank the lord I was able to get Tamme after losing out on my bid for Hernandez. It may have saved my season with Clark going out and Zack Miller now hurt. BTW, you remember I also picked up Dreessen early only to dump his ass back on the wire when it was apparent that Daniels had re-asserted himself. Hard to know that he would later get the hammy injury or I'd have kept Dreessen.

 

Secondly, I would not over-pay for the other positions. I thought I did a fairly good job of this, but in reality I wasted far too much early on pick-ups. Since I have this need to pick up and sift through a lot of players - some like Shipley and Parrish (and to a lessor extent, Sproles) panned out, as many or more did not. Only when I really got short of money, did I start using it wisely - and I still got some quality guys at the end - for a hell of a lot less.

 

So in retrospect, I'd rather be one of the last ones to spend all of my money rather than one of the first.

 

But I really like the FFPC format with the extra 1/2PPR for TEs. And there's no doubt that I'll be competing in it again next year. BTW, you could convince me to do the NFFC as well. we also have to get Orth involved. I kinda want to see if he's as good as his projections.

[madd futher mucker 36]

Another week of 4 - 2, but on two levels it might be interesting to know how I got there.

 

On one level there were a lot of posts recently on the ‘bored’ about how you decide who to start and other in-season roster moves, and which projections or experts to ‘trust’ . After a review of my teams' weekly performance and the ‘second level’ of how I got there, I’ll walk you through my personal weekly ‘ritual’.

 

 

 

Finally, I’m competing for the play-offs in every one of my six of my leagues,with an over-all season record of 42 - 18.

 

Let’s start out with my STILL unbeaten, now 10 - 0, Redraft league which coasted to a win. After reading Doug Orth’s (The Fantasy Guru) post about Anthony Fasano, I decided he was a better play with Pennington under center than Jermaine Graham, so I swapped TEs on the waiver wire and plugged him in. Both Fasano and Gresham both had career weeks. BTW, when you are fortunate enough to have an undefeated team this late in the season, it’s ok to pat your self on the back as long as you don’t break your arm doing it. But recognize it for what it is - a statistical outlier representing more than your share of good luck.

 

My Family and Friends keeper league team also won to go to 8 - 2 after starting the season relatively slowly.

I also logged a nice win in my Dynasty league, going to 6-4 and moving into second place in my division.

 

My final win was in my deep keeper non-PPR league where I needed everything Mike Wallace gave me, and DeSean Jackson’s night to basically end with his early 88 yard TD to eek out a win by only .4 fantasy points. I couldn’t believe that he was basically done for the night. Just when I thought I could breath a sigh of relief, Vick threw a 10 yard pass to him late in the 4th quarter. I was more than a little upset until I realized that De JAX had come up 4 yards short of snatching away my fantasy win. I’d been lucky up until now not to have had too many close losses this year. This win was too close for comfort, but it brought my 4-6 team to a 3 way tie for second place in my division, and if the season ended today, MY team would be one of the four teams in the play-offs based on tiebreaker.

 

Going to my losers, let’s discuss my Auction league loss, where I saved a roster move by keeping Rivers as my starter and taking an intentional zero at QB. I was up by 10 FPs going into Monday night and regretting not dropping S Rice on the waiver wire to pick up a Garrard or a Freeman. My opponent only had this guy named Vick left to play. Turns out it wouldn’t have mattered who I picked up, Vick put up the highest Fantasy score by a QB ever recorded! So even though I lost, saving a roster move turned out to be the wise decision. I’m now in 2nd place in that league at 7 - 3 with a very strong team the rest of the way out. As an aside, I found the ‘forum’ discussion about ’expert’ prediction accuracy generally to be highly amusing. Any website projections that could not have predicted Vick’s explosion is highly suspect, right?

 

I also lost my second in a row with my worst total score of the season in my FBG/FFPC high stakes league to drop to a tie for 2nd place at 7 - 3. I also dropped out of the top 150 over-all. Fortunately, I'm still the league leader in total fantasy points, I’ve sewed up a play-off berth as the regular season ends next week, and then we start playing for the money.

I’ve got an interesting team with a lot of question marks. Will Romo come back and play? (Vince Young and Kerry Collins don’t exactly make me too confident. What about Sidney Rice? Malcom Floyd? Jake Tamme’s back? Jahvid Best’s turf toe. Lots of questions and not many answers. Whatever happens here, I’m proud of overcoming injuries to Romo, Dallas Clark, Floyd, Z Miller, and even losing Roscoe Parrish hurt some. If everything breaks ok, I could go pretty far; if not, that’s fantasy football. Stay tuned.

BTW, Mike Macgregor pulled to 5 - 5 and Mike Krueger dropped to 4 - 6. I think after next week, it is probably realistic to think I’ll be the last one standing from FFtoday.

 

 

 

If you stuck with me so far, now I’ll walk you through a typical week in prep for my week-end games. I do have a subscription to Football Guys, but just about all of the content that I use is free except for stats like weekly target and touch data (which I believe I could find elsewhere for free if I had to).

 

Daily, I read or at least skim the FFtoday bored (which time permitting, I obviously also post to), the Shark Pool at FBGs, The Redzone (news stories for around the NFL), and RotoWorld player news. I also might skim a few ’tweets’ from a couple of guys who I follow - I myself am not that much of a ’tweeter’ though. Of course on any given day for any of my teams I might throw out a trade or two.

 

Monday night, in addition to watching the game (and getting the kid to bed), I try to update the rosters of each team on my computer spreadsheet I keep for each league. Then I print off the spreadsheet for each league so I have it handy all week if a potential trade or roster move occurs to me. I also listen to an 'Audible' Recap podcast of each of the games played through Sunday.

 

Tuesday night, I look at Pigskin Addiction’s early player projections by each team’s upcoming week-end match-up. This acquaints me early to potential match-up concerns. For as early as they are put together, they are surprisingly good. Generally I write notes on a yellow legal pad. I also listen to a Tuesday Audible - Waiver Wire Special pod cast, and consider waiver moves for 3 of my six teams which use the Yahoo site.

 

Wednesday night, I look at the player projections by each team’s match-ups done by FantasySharks, comparing them to my Pigskin Addiction notes. I also place my waiver bids for my other 3 MFL-hosted teams before 7 pm. After waiver bids are processed, I insert my initial line-ups for each of my teams. Inserting an early line-up is a good habit to get into, as some found out the hard way last Thursday.

 

Thursday night I review the Yahoo projections, especially the match-up ranking under ‘research’. Occasionsally I’m alerted to a free agent pearl I may have missed for a ‘plug-and-play. Otherwise I do very little except for my daily reads.

 

Friday night, I listen to the Audible Round Table (Lammey, Bloom, Waldman) to pick up general ideas of player trends. In addition, I read RotoWorld's Evan Silva’s write-up of Match-ups.

 

Also Friday night or Saturday sometime, I write my line-ups for each team on a yellow legal pad - making note of ‘game-time decisions, and giving a final tweak to any roster decisions I’m not sure of by going to Fantasy pros.com expert player opinions. I love this site (and I’ll be surprised if it stays free) for the comparison of rankings of the different experts. While many of the ‘experts’ are ranked pretty closely, the ones I hold in highest regard are Sigmund Bloom (FBGs), Josh Moore (4for4.com), Andy Behrens (Yahoo), and John Paulsen (The Scores Report). In case of a ‘tie’ I’ll often go with what the consensus of these four guys think. I also have been known to tweet, email or call local beat writers for a specific team if I a specific question that I haven‘t gotten an answer for elsewhere.

 

Sunday morning about ½ hour before game-time, I go to the Shark Pool at FootballGuys for all the last minute pinned updates on relevant players who are truly game time decisions.

 

Obviously, family considerations often alter this schedule a little, but this is basically my weekly fantasy football routine. Between this weekly ‘ritual’, watching some football and writing this blog twice a week, (given that I CAN multi-task - read and watch football or listen to a podcast at the same time) I’d say I devote about 12 - 15 hours a week to this hobby of ours.

 

I’d be very interested in your comments or discussion.

[stonewall 647]

Enjoyable read, as always, Madd. Interesting insight into your weekly prep. I would say 10-12 hours/week in about normal for me. Congrats on your overall record so far. I am in one less league than you (5), and managed a 5-0 week to put my overall record at 37-12-1. I did have a mis-step with Best in one league (started over Hillis)......couldn't resist the matchup. However, I was able to overcome with the help of a strong WR corp of Miles/CJ/Fat Mike, along with a good game from Garrard who was filling in nicely for Rodgers.

 

Despite my record, I only have a playoff berth cinched in 2 leagues, although if the season ended today I would be in the playoffs as the #1 or #2 seed in all 5. In one highly competitive 12-man money redraft, consisting only of owners who won championships last year, I am at 7-3.......along with 5 other teams. Hard to shake 'em. In another winners league, I am 1st in my division off 4 at 7-3, but the 3 other owners are all 6-4. It will all come down to intra-divisional games in weeks 12-14. In one of the other 3 divisions in that league, the top dog is only 4-5-1....and 2 games up on the next owner. Sure makes a difference what division you end up in.

 

I have good luck plugging in one-week WR's in 4 of the leagues, and I love to have one skill position (esp. a WR) that I can drop in a weekly sleeper....prognosticators and gurus be danged! It really adds to the excitement for me and, if he hits, gives you that feeling of contentment and satisfaction knowing that this was all you as an attentive owner. It is the gambler in me, and sometimes it blows up in my face, obviously. Two weeks ago I played Tutu form San Diego, last week it was Fat Mike, and this week I am rolling with Walter.....hoping that he pulls a "Burleson" with AJ on Revis Island. Time will tell.

 

Good luck this week Madd. (BTW....you accidently typed Graham instead of Gresham)

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Dreessen sucked. I watched the CIN-IND game and Palmer didn't even look at Gresham all game, so I thought I made the right call... until he exploded in the 4th quarter for the 9 catches. Very strange to not use a player so long and then lock on to him afterwards, although T.O. was having a very off game to say the least. It is possible Palmer had enough of him and then went to Gresham from there. With Gates playing Monday it is going to be a tough call whether to start him or not this week.

 

All that said, I did win my 1st place matchup in the NFFC to take over 1st place. The game was downright bizarre with all the garbage points this week. I had Wayne and Marshall early and they did next to nothing, and the Giants were getting destroyed (Eli, Bradshaw), so I figured I was done. Next thing I know Lloyd and Bowe vaulted me ahead of my opponent, and we went back and forth down to the wire until end of the Giants game. He had Amendola and Crabtree but luckily nothing happened in the STL-SF OT for those guys.

 

The top teams have similar 8-2 records but I have the points tie breaker well in hand. I think we go 13 weeks though so I need to keep it going.

 

In the FFPC Vick helped me pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Another rollercoaster. I thought going into Sunday night I was set, down by 40 but with 4 players to go - VIck, S Moss... Ward and Hernandez! Ward and Hernandez: nada. Okay, now I think I'm finished until Vick goes nuts.

 

I am 5-5 but there is exactly one scenario where I can make the playoffs. The current 4th place team is 6-4, and there are two other 5-5 teams. None of us play each other. If I win and all three of them lose, then I'm in. I would win a points tie break over the 6-4 team, but both 5-5 teams have outscored me. It is a longshot for sure, but who knows. I am playing against the first place team this week.

 

In terms of weekly fantasy prep I'm not sure I'm the best person to judge against given what I do for a living. That said, I could probably be a lot better prepping for my own teams. I don't do anything nearly as structured as you guys. I read the boards for ideas and news. I don't venture to different fantasy sites looking for fantasy opinions or insight; I more stick to "real football" news instead of fantasy slant stuff. I usually Google player names for the latest news if I want more detail, and then check the stats and matchups here and Krueger's projections for a second opinion. I often do things last minute because family and work stuff get in the way - work stuff being technical stuff not actually expanding my football knowledge. I'm sure if I didn't do some of the last minute tinkering with my lineups this year I'd have a few more wins, or maybe those losses are the ones that stick out in my memory!

[madd futher mucker 36]

Last week at this time, I lamented that my freewheeling roster move days were rapidly coming to an end, and I made only two trades and two waiver pick-ups for one of my teams, one waiver move on another, but other than that I made no roster moves other than starter changes in my other four leagues

 

My 10 team PPR Auction league is now 7 - 3. I made no changes to my roster so here are this weeks starters (in bold):

Rivers, Z Miller, T Gonzalez, TB, Barth

Foster, Bradshaw, Hillis, Blount

Fitz, Nicks, Wallace, M Williams (TB), R Moss, Garcon, V Jax, S Rice

 

I did pull off two trades for Team 1, my semi-dynasty teamin a 12 team 22 player PPR league, which is now 6 - 4. The sum of the trades is that I got Fred Jackson, Santana Moss, and a 2nd round rookie pick for Jason Witten, BJGE and a third round rookie pick. I then picked Delanie Walker and the AZ defense off of waivers and dropped the Gradkowski and the TB defense. So now my team looks like this:

P Manning, Z Miller, D Walker, Carpenter, KC, AZ, Phil, NYG

Bradshaw, S Jax, Lynch, Sproles, Choice, F Jackson, Woodhead

S Moss, Owens, Gaffney, Floyd, Amendola, Ajirotutu, L Moore

 

Team 2 is the ten team non-PPR deep keeper, now 4 - 6. I happily pulled Keiland Williams off the waiver wire, and for about the 3rd time in this league, I dropped McCluster. And for the 1st time this year other than his bye, Im leaving Best on my bench:

Schaub, Eli Manning, Celek, Tamme, J Graham, Carpenter

P Thomas, Best, M Bush, Ricky Williams, K Williams, Tolbert

Owens, Floyd, Gaffney, Wallace, Knox, L Moore, Murphy, McCluster, S Rice

 

This week Team 3, my 8 - 2 Family and Friends team (12 team 16 player PPR keep 7 keeper, this week I play the team with whom Im tied for 1st. There were no roster changes yet, although Im contemplating one. But Ive used all but 2 of my 30 seasonal transactions, so I don't know if i should pull the trigger. Heres who Ive got going this week:

Ben, Bradford, Tamme, Finley, Carpenter, KC, MIA, TB

MJD, Foster, F Jones, Woodhead (WR/RB)

Garcon, Bowe, Gaffney

 

For the 3rd straight week, I also made no changes to my undefeated redraft team this week. My starters are in bold:

Eli, Freeman, Z Miller, Fasano, KC, MIA, SF, NYJ, Longwell

Gore, Foster, Stewart

Fitz, Jennings, Gaffney, Bryant, Garcon

 

Team 5, my high stakes FBG/ Fantasy Football Players Championship team, is 7 - 3. I had no roster moves left in that league, so Ive got a couple WDIS decisions to make but basically Im rolling with:

Young, Collins, Romo, Z Miller, Tamme, Crosby OR Carpenter, CIN, TENN

Gore, Best OR Hightower, Sproles, Stevens-Howling

Harvin, M Williams, Floyd, Shipley, S Rice, D Nelson

 

I somehow feel strangely confident that this might be the week where EVERYTHING goes right. And of course, I hope everything goes right with your teams as well.