Well, the first week of the NFL (and of course, fantasy football) is behind us, and as always, there were a few surprises.
Who knew the Cardinals offense would look so explosive after QB Carson Palmer's bad preseason?
Who would have thought the Miami Dolphins would completely man-handle the Pats offense in the second half?
Who would have thought that Tom Brady of all QBs would have the lowest completion % of ALL starting QBs?
Are the Falcons that resurgent or was the home-field advantage the edge in their overtime win against the Saints?
And, best in MY book, who would have thought "Slow-Start" Ron would not only win on the road on opening day (a first for him as a Head Coach) and without Cam Newton? And that the defense looked to be in mid-season form?
Lots of other things to consider as well, such as the C3 standings.
HUGE congrats to LaFellDropsAlot in the Mills league for the highest-scoring team of ALL leagues this week! Apparently, nobody on HIS team dropped much of anything. Le'Veon Bell came through despite the distractions around his recent DUI arrest with 34 fantasy points (FP) for the team, and everyone on the squad produced nicely.
However, as in every week, half of us win, half of us lose. I managed to win my match-up by a score of 123-96, and that 123 FP was 6th-best in my own league. Yeah...I have Tom Brady. He did not have a Brady-esque day in Miami. In fact, in one of the match-ups in my league, I'd have lost to one of the LOSING teams from another match-up.
So, especially for those of you who came out on the short end of things this week, don't lose heart. It's still early, and nobody REALLY knows if any given fantasy performance is going to be predictive of their overall season, the outscored their role, or under-performed in FP for you, he'll see a new team and new defense/offense next week and as we know in today's NFL, personnel match-ups are king.
Teams look for mismatches all over the field and there will be times when your starters will have an easier road than others. As FFL GMs, it's YOUR jobs to look at your roster, look at the positions, and look at the likely match-ups going into the next week and put the players forward that you think will have the best game in fantasy points. No, not necessarily the best PLAY on the field, but fantasy points.
Take it as a subtle reminder to keep the scoring rules in mind when setting your lineup. If you have a guy that emerges as a "TD Vulture," he might be worth more FP than a guy who earns his living between the 20's - for instance, Joique Bell and Reggie Bush in Detroit.
Reggie is by FAR the more famous of the two, but Bell has the 220-lb bulk for goal-line carries. Indeed, he got one last night, scored on it, and as a result, he out-scored his comrade
Bell got 15.1 FP (56 yards, 1 TD) to Bush's 11.s (64 yards, 0 TDs).
I know it's highly unlikely that any single FFL GM has both guys, so this is just an example for purposes of illustration and also a way of showing you who started 0-1 that having a team filled with "big names" doesn't necessarily equate to fantasy victory.
Fantasy football is a discipline truly fixated on the steak, not the sizzle.
Now....take a look at your league standings, which you can also do on your own league's page, and also take a look at the standings in the other 3 leagues. Take note of the high scores and the low ones. Chances are that you're somewhere in-between, so keep "pounding" away.
Lastly, one personal tip from your Commish - I've been playing FFL for a good 15 years now and the best single thing you can do to maximize your chances to win at this point is to watch that waiver wire and use it!
No lie - when Maurice Jones-Drew was behind Fred Taylor I think it was, I saw his potential and nose for the endzone before he became the starter, picked him up, and used him each week for the rest of the season. That pick-up alone along with his then-floor of about 80 yds and 1 TD per game was enough to propel me from being a marginal playoff contender to a pretty good smack-down of a championship run in the league playoffs.
You can apply the Carolina Panthers' motto to your approach to fantasy football:
KeepPounding!
- The Commish
P.S. Stay tuned - the winner of last week's prize should be announced later today!
Click the images to enlarge!
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| Mills League |
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