Fantasy Football is Ever-Changing

...and I'm about to pull my hair out.

Every year it gets further and further away from the way it was back when I began playing.. in about 1996. Back then you could comfortably draft a decent QB, two studly backs, and two good receivers, and could count on them to produce week-in and week-out. Of course there are gonna be bad weeks here and there. And of course once in a while (maybe a half-dozen times a season back then), someone you'd never heard of would go nuts because he got the chance to do so.

Miami's Reggie Bush had a monster game today (Source - Rhona Wise/AP)


Let me show you something.

If you had fielded this line-up this week:
QB - A.Dalton CIN
RB - A.Brown NYG
RB - J.Battle SD
WR - D.Amendola StL
WR - D.Avery IND
FLEX - L.Miller RB MIA
TE - B.Myers OAK
K - J.Tucker BAL
D/ST - SEAHAWKS
(comma)

...using a normal PPR scoring system, you would've beat the guy who fielded this team this week:
QB - A.Rodgers GB
RB - D.McFadden OAK
RB - C.Johnson TEN
WR - A.Johnson HOU
WR - L.Fitzgerald ARZ
FLEX - B.Marshall CHI
TE - A.Hernandez NE
K - D.Bailey DAL
D/ST - PATRIOTS

...by a score of 181-41.

Yeah you know Andy Dalton, and you've heard of Amendola, and Jackie Battle, but what about the other guys? Does anyone even use Tucker this season? Anyone outside the state of Washington brave enough to use the Seahawks this week? Isn't it time to declare that CJ2k, or whatever he's called, is no longer a stud? How many of you started Reggie Bush this week?

Did anyone other than me look at an available Patriots defense on the waiver wire, and start drooling upon realization that they're hosting an Arizona Cardinals team with their back-up QB? Granted Skelton's not a superstar, but Kolb is still the "back-up". This is also a team that has had trouble running the ball for what, 6 years now (including their Super Bowl team)? And no one wins at New England, right?

Did anyone else, like I did, see "Patriots win by 15+" -vs.- "any other result" on ESPN's Streak For The Cash today, and still think it's a lock, even given the 15 points?

Did anyone else, like I did, have Antonio Gates on their roster, and no back-up? I mean the guy's almost always on the injury report, and how many games has he missed in his career, 2 maybe?

I'll not even mention Vick's SEVEN turnovers in 2 games. OK maybe I just did.

I know how to make fantasy football better, but most traditional FFL-ers aren't gonna like it. The way most leagues have evolved is adding more owners. Hell, I saw some 20- to 24-owner leagues when signing up this season. That's all fine and good if you want one or two studs, and you have that many good friends. I still prefer 10 teams, or 12. Each owner has several studs, and the NFL team depth stays pretty even.

I say starting rosters need to expand - again. A lot of leagues now start 2 QBs. I still am not a proponent of this. Why? Because there are still only 32 starting QBs. What has continued to change in this league each year without fail is the amount of players who are being used at RB and WR. And yes, even TE now too.

I remember when we started 1-2-2-1-1-1.. 8 roster slots. Then a few years later someone noticed that teams' 3rd WRs were having good games, and a 3rd WR was added. Then to help even-out their scoring, or to counter drafting urges, there was a FLEX put in so that 5th RB or WR could be just that.. either.

Perhaps it's time to graduate to 1QB - 3RB - 3WR - 1TE - 1K - 1D? Maybe even two TEs, but starting that 6th RB/WR each week might be fun!

A Minute & 20 Seconds

Via / Source: Gary Varvel at the Indianapolis Star, and Creators Dot Com

The NFL Right Now

Image Source

Defensive lines are getting much much stronger as time goes by. The entire line of scrimmage as a whole is being more & more controlled by the defensive side. The value of a QB who can - in 2-3 seconds - escape pressure, and turn a likely sack into anything positive, or even the possibility of a big play, is skyrocketing as we speak. The great QBs of today will accept the worst possible outcome from that point on. There's even a slight few who will usually turn it into something positive.

Fewer and fewer teams are finding RBs who can game-after-game find the holes, produce the extra 3-4 yards more times than not, make the first guy miss, and more importantly do it for four quarters.

Because of this.. defenses are focusing more on stopping the pass, but I still haven't figured out why yet. Superstars at corner and safety don't necessarily make the defense a great defense. The entirety of the center of the field must be controlled, and that's why most corners these days suffer. Once both safeties realize they must control the deep center of the field (8-20 yards from the line), teams might realize that they need to be much more worried about the quality of their players at the line.

Offenses are starting to realize that the "pocket passer" thing isn't working nearly as much as it used to. How Peyton Manning performs next year will be huge news. He and Tom Brady are a bout the only ones left. These two will likely continue to get it done. But I think the trend is more towards a Brees, or a Romo, who routinely turn bad plays into good ones. The other extreme is the Vick & Newton who completely confuse defenses. These two are in a class alone, but because they do the same thing that Brees and Romo do, but from a RB's perspective. If there is ever a player who is so equally both a back and a quarterback, NFL defenses will have their work cut out.

Then again, pressure on the backfield is the key, and the solidity of the line of scrimmage will ultimately win.

Why is San Francisco overrated? Because they don't have the offense to conquer the elite defenses. Dallas? Baltimore? Yeah those are two of them.

NFL Bye Weeks Are Coming

I just realized this, and thought I'd pass it on for what it's worth.

The bye structure is different this season than in most previous ones, and I don't know why - other than all the possible lockout ramifications. Instead of starting at week 5 with 4 teams per week, then a couple weeks with 6 teams on bye, wrapping it up at week 10, this is how it is this season.
Image Source

The odd & interesting thing is there are no byes week-10:

Wk-5: 6 teams (CLE, DAL, STL, MIA, WAS, BAL)
Wk-6: 6 teams (DEN, TEN, KC, ARZ, SD, SEA)
Wk-7: 6 teams (BUF, CIN, NE, NYG, PHI, SF)
Wk-8: 6 teams (ATL, CHI, GB, OAK, NYJ, TB)
Wk-9: 4 teams (DET, MIN, CAR, JAX)
Wk-10: NONE -- wtf?
Wk-11: 4 teams (HOU, IND, NO, PHI) ..and DONE!

Thanksgiving falls in wk-12, so I'm not sure what's so special about wk-10, but hey if they're gonna spread it out more like this, they ought to spread it out even more, I say.

32 ÷ 4 = 8 Eight weeks, 4 thru 11, four teams each!

Or why not bunch 'em up? 32 ÷ 8 = 4 (duh) Four weeks, 6 thru 9, eight teams each?

Fantasy struggles either way. The ideal scenario for fantasy football is NO friggin' byes, but for some reason the NFL feels the need to give every team a week off - even though it is at a different time of the season for most of them. Which begs the question - what is the reason for the bye weeks anyway? Hmm...

Fantasy football would obviously be more "slammed" with the 2nd of those two options. For those four weeks fantasy teams would be scrambling to add/drop half their roster perhaps, and the result would suck... but it would "get it over with" in a much more concise period of time. The first idea provides fantasy teams to not be bogged down by a bunch of substitutions at one time, but it would simply stretch out the period of worrying about bye weeks a lot longer.

We all hate the bye weeks and must deal with them - or must we?

Top 10 Grumpiest Andy Rooney Segments

I'm not posting any of them. I like the post that I'm about to link you to, but I'm not posting any of them because it seems to me that Andy Rooney is ALWAYS grumpy! I do give the guy a lot of credit - some of his segments have been very entertaining, and if nothing else, thought provoking throughout the years. But gimme a break - lately it seems the guy has no clue what is going on in the world these days!

Now I'm almost 39, but I'm surely not 19, so I've seen my share of his segments. But hey - the guy is 91 (NINETY-ONE) years old!! It is now time to retire, Mr Rooney. Swallow your pride and just do it. We'll be OK without you.

Some of the topics are:
~ Lady Gaga
~ Sleeping
~ Models & Advertising
~ When I was Your Age
~ Watches

Click here to see Time Magazine's rendition of Andy Rooney's top-10 Grumpiest Segments.

Via

Super Bowl Interruptus

The NFL made a huge, monumental mistake scheduling the Pro Bowl the week between the league championship games, and the Super Bowl. Every player in this league wants to be in the position that players who play for Indy & New Orleans are in. Probably 95% of them would give up ANY trip to a Pro Bowl, for a trip to the big game.

Guess who the voted-in starting QBs are? Right, Drew Brees, and Peyton Manning.

These two NFL teams had 14 players voted into the Pro-Bowl (7 each) - a super honor for any team, given that only 2 other teams had more of their players voted in (Dallas & Philly, both 9).

Now, back to the Super Bowl. Wait.. We can't because the NFL is mandating those 14 players to make a Pro Bowl appearance - whether or not they choose to play in the game. At this point I have no idea what that number is. I would guess it's close to zero. And it should be.

And that's a shame for everyone involved - except certain guys who may have otherwise been snubbed. All 14 of these guys would much rather not disrupt their team preparation for the BIG GAME (hello?), and have to make that commitment this weekend. So they lose out on an otherwise fun, career-rewarding trip to Hawaii, and the honor of playing in a star-studded game ...if they want. Most of them do, you know.

The game itself suffers because 14 of it's 120 players can't be forced to participate! While the Pro Bowl might attract a significantly larger number of commitments due to the earlier date, it's also guaranteeing itself that those who are on Super Bowl teams won't be there.

And shame on you for doing that to them!