Still looking for that first 'W'! I'm not going to go complain and bitch though. Overall, my team has played pretty decent, so I can't ask for much more than that. I'll get one someday =). Besides, Adam could have beaten me a lot worse than the score indicated this past week.
I'm having much better success in one of my other leagues. I pulled off a trade a couple weeks ago where I sent Brandon Jacobs and Kevin Smith to a guy for Joseph Addai (after Addai had to go against Chicago and Minnesota's run defenses). Take a look at this roster:
QB: Kurt Warner, Eli Manning, Carson Palmer
RB: Adrian Peterson, Joseph Addai, Steve Slaton
WR: Reggie Wayne, Hines Ward, Laverneous Coles, Braylon Edwards, Marques Colston
TE: Dallas Clark, Owen Daniels
K: Nick Folk
DEF: Baltimore
Not bad for a standard 10-team league, yeah? I got Ward and Coles late in the draft, and somebody dropped Colston after he got hurt. I figure when he gets back I'll have huge depth at WR, so I can trade someone for RB depth if needed. I can play the matchups with Warner and Manning, so I feel comfortable there, and if Palmer does anything, I'll find someone desperate for a QB and trade him away.
So my St. Louis over Buffalo upset pick was looking good for a half! Fucking Trent Green throwing pick sixes. The bad thing about making picks early in the week is you miss out on the good information, like Bulger being benched and Palmer not being able to play against Cleveland. Would anyone in their right mind pick Cincinnati over Cleveland without Palmer? Shut up, Kevin, no you wouldn't...
Okay, updated standings:
Mike: 40
Adam: 32
Kevin: 31
Go make those Week 5 picks!
Week 5 Picks:
Tennessee over Baltimore
Carolina over Kansas City
New York over Seattle
Green Bay over Atlanta
Detroit over Chicago
Miami over San Diego
Indianapolis over Houston
Philadelphia over Washington
Denver over Tampa Bay
Arizona over Buffalo
New England over San Francisco
Dallas over Cincinnati
Jacksonville over Pittsburgh
New Orleans over Minnesota
My upsets: Detroit over Chicago AND Miami over San Diego! What?!?! Crazy??? Detroit coming off a bye week at home, Chicago coming off the high of a big (and physical) win against Philly, and Detroit ready to turn a new leaf in the post-Millen era. Hey, those Lions can't run, but they'll throw on them! And Miami! Again, at home, coming off the bye, and San Diego has to fly cross country to play the Dolphins. And has anybody been less than impressed with SD's defense? I have! Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams stay in the groove they were in against New England and the Dolphins win a squeaker against a superior team.
And hey, if they don't win, they'll at least cover the spread. Put money on that.
Fantasy Guys I Was Impressed With This Week:
QB: Brett Favre. What's better than Ronnie Brown's five touchdowns? Why six of course! Except Ronnie got his without turning the ball over...just saying...but hey, six touchdowns is still pretty frickin' amazing.
RB: Chris Johnson. A lot of guys had more yards, but nobody had to run against the league's best rush defense like Johnson did. And against the best rush defense, Johnson went and scored twice, and some would argue (myself included) that he needs to touch the ball a lot more because LenDale White flat out blows. Impressive work with the amount of carries he got.
WR: Mushin Muhammed. Go Green! Go White! Who knew the old fart still had it in him? I wish I did when I was scouring the waiver wire for a receiver...grrr...
TE: Jason Witten. The guy is a man among boys out there. The Redskins had to put a cornerback on him because a linebacker couldn't keep up with him. He still got 90 yards and a touch. Beast. Fucking beast.
Fantasy Guys I Like This Week: QB- Brian Griese (there's going to be a shootout in Denver, and Griese has been throwing it up a lot lately), RB- Steve Slaton (this guy is growing on me...he gets the carries and receptions, which makes him a dual threat...and going against Indy's run defense is not a bad thing, either), WR- Anthony Gonzalez (just a hunch, here...I feel like he's due for one of those Wes Welker-like 7 catches, 70 yards and a TD games), TE- Anthony Fasano (every tight end that has played San Diego has scored. I like that stat when picking a tight end)
Last week I was 2 out of 4. I hit on Jason Campbell and DeShaun Jackson, but missed on Chris Perry (although without Palmer didn't help) and Robert Royal.
~Mikey D
By John Harbaugh, the Baltimore Ravens head coach, on Willis McGahee's eye injury:
"As long as he can see, he'll play. But if he can't see, he's not going to be able to play."
Hahaha, but yeah, it'd be funny as hell to see him try.
~Mikey D
The Lions are awful. 13 points against San Francisco? Come on, now. We might not be the best on defense, but we do have some weapons on the offense, right? Or at least I thought. I've been thinking about arguably the three worst teams in the NFL right now: St. Louis, Kansas City, and Detroit. In my opinion, I think we'd lose to Kansas City (they'd run all over us, and their pass defense is pretty good...just a bad matchup for us), but beat St. Louis (how is that team soooooo bad???). That puts us in line for the #2 pick...but wait, we're the Lions, so we'll end up being the worst and have the #1.
My god fantasy is frustrating this year! ANYBODY BUT KEVIN this past week. Wasn't looking forward to the matchups he had with his studs, and with good reason. Still, I am happy Marion Barber is making me look good. He trails only Turner (played Det and K.C., enough said there) and Brown (one outrageous game) in running back fantasy points. Marion the Barbarian...keep it up, sir!
Pretty even picking this past week. Believe it or not, none of us correctly picked Miami over New England. Our bad.
Updated Standings:
Mike: 31
Adam: 26
Kevin: 25
Go make those Week 4 picks!
Week 4 Picks:
Cincinnati over Cleveland
Carolina over Atlanta
Denver over Kansas City
Jacksonville over Houston
Tampa Bay over Green Bay
New York over Arizona
New Orleans over San Francisco
Tennessee over Minnesota
St. Louis over Buffalo
San Diego over Oakland
Dallas over Washington
Chicago over Philadelphia
Pittsburgh over Baltimore
My upset: St. Louis over Buffalo. St. Louis is desperate, and they have too much talent to keep playing the way they are. Buffalo is feeling good, perhaps a little too good, and sees a winless team and thinks easy win. Not so fast, my friend! St. Louis, at home, with something to prove, takes out the cocky, visiting team from Buffalo. Woooo!
Fantasy Guys I Was Impressed With This Week:
QB: Brian Griese. Word on the street is you can't run on the Bears, but you can pass on them. Apparently Tampa Bay believed it. 67 pass attempts?!?! Holy shit. I know the game went to OT, but damn. Talk about needing an icepack after the game. Couple that with 400+ yards and a couple scores, and you've made me impressed.
WR: Brandon Lloyd. He's bounced around a bit in the league because of his work ethic. When he was in Washington he never saw the field because he rarely brought it in practice. The Redskins let him go because he had a desire to "pursue other interests". I guess those interests included playing for the Bears and being Kyle Orton's go-to. 6 catches, 124 yards and a touch later against a good Tampa Bay secondary is showing up for work.
RB: Ronnie Brown. Um, easy one. 4 rushing TDs, 1 receiving. Goddamn. Nobody could have seen that coming. I'm sorry Stacey, at least you won this week.
TE: Anthony Fasono. I wish he was still available for a bye-week filler. 2nd TD this year for Miami...they're looking for him!
Fantasy Guys I Like This Week: QB- Jason Campbell (played well the last two weeks, and will have to throw a lot to keep up with the Dallas offense), RB- Chris Perry (this just in: you can run on Cleveland), WR- DeShaun Jackson (you can't run against Chicago, so that means you have to...), TE- Robert Royal (is there such thing as a bad play against the St. Louis defense?)
Last week I would say 2 out of the 4 I "liked" did well (JT O'Sullivan, Michael Turner). Going with some "sleepers" this week.
~Mikey D
Have you noticed these picks are being made earlier and earlier in the week? Sigh, soooo busy.
Alright, the updated standings:
Mike: 20
Adam: 16
Kevin: 14
Go make your picks!
Week 3 Picks:
Atlanta over Kansas City
Buffalo over Oakland
New York over Cincinnati
New England over Miami
Tennessee over Houston
Chicago over Tampa Bay
Arizona over Washington
Minnesota over Carolina
San Francisco over Detroit
Denver over New Orleans
Philadelphia over Pittsburgh
Seattle over St. Louis
Cleveland over Baltimore
Indianapolis over Jacksonville
Dallas over Green Bay
San Diego over New York
Hard to pick upsets this week. A lot of chalk, in my opinion. So my shocker special goes back Washington. Coming off the big win against the Saints, a lot of love is being given to the Skins. Arizona has to fly cross country to greet Washington at raucous FedEx Field. Arizona looks good though, and the Redskins are highly unpredictable. I like the Cards in a mild upset.
Fantasy Guys I Was Most Impressed With This Week:
QB: Philip Rivers. Easy to pick Jay Cutler again, but I sang his praises week one. So let me give it to Rivers, who threw for 377 yards, 3 TDs and an INT. I wouldn't have expected those numbers from Rivers against the Lions, much less Denver's heralded secondary. Couple that with the fact that Rivers was in Denver and lost LT to injury early, and it makes his stats even more remarkable.
WR: Santana Moss. Okay, Brandon Marshall was fantastic, but I knew he'd be good (not that good, but good). I threw Santana Moss under the bus before the season because I thought he was done...and then he scored TDs his first two games, including 100+ and a 67 yard bomb against the Saints yesterday. I was wrong, Mr. Moss. You still got it.
RB: Darren McFadden. The leading rusher yesterday? McFadden. First, he was supposed to be a little banged up coming off the Monday night game against Denver, so to lead the league in rushing while being hurt is a feat in itself. When Fargas went down, McFadden took over...and led to Grace cursing that she should have started him (although I think Jonathan Stewart, the other rookie back on her bench, would have gotten her more points). First or second round pick for sure next year.
TE: Tony Scheffler. I read a lot in fantasy magazines about him and Cutler establishing a good connection, but it's hard to tell what's just fluff and what's truth. Apparently that was two TDs against San Diego truth. Cutler is going to make this guy into a top-10 fantasy TE this year because Cutler is going to be a top-5 fantasy QB. Again, damn you Amber for taking him two picks before me! Could Cutler and Scheffler have a Brees-Gates connection? Perhaps I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
Fantasy Guys I Like This Week: QB- JT O'Sullivan (Against Detroit at home? Sure.), RB- Michael Turner (The Chiefs are awful...McFadden rolled to 160, imagine what Turner will bulldoze), WR- Steve Smith (Welcome Back! Play game tape of what Reggie Wayne just did to the Minny secondary. If you have time, check out what Greg Jennings did the week before.), TE- Tony Scheffler (Have I mentioned I like the guy?)
~Mikey D
As a math teacher I find this amusing:
~Mikey D
Alright, so I lost week one in fantasy to Grace. Not a big deal and not the end of the world. I've lost plenty of times, so I'm used to the feeling.
But never in my four years of playing have I had this feeling. The amount of injuries my team has accrued over one week is driving me up the wall. I can't even make it to the second game of the fantasy season without stressing about replacements.
Today, it was Marques Colston. Gone for 4-6 weeks. So let me recap. And this is just my team!
WR- Marques Colston (finger, 4-6 weeks)
TE- Dallas Clark (out indefinitely...he could be dead for all I know)
RB- Marion Barber (bruised ribs...questionable for Monday)
QB- Ben Roethlisberger (bruised shoulder, left game early past Sunday, probable for Sunday)
WR- Nate Burleson (out for the year, no longer on my team...)
Couple that with Braylon coming off an injury and Marshall being suspended, and my team feels like a train wreck already.
One guy goes down, okay, but one every single day...uggggh. Perhaps I'm just jinxed this year. Every player I touches goes down.
Chad Pennington, you are a dead man walking.
~Mikey D
P.S.~ Make your picks below Kev!
Yeah, I'm posting this shit early. I just don't know if I'll have another free second this week to actually calm down and think about these logically. My brain is pretty close to being fried.
After last week, the standing are this:
Mike: 10 right
Kevin: 8 right
Adam: 8 right
Okay, go reply and make your Week 2 picks before reading mine.
Week 2:
Tennessee over Cincinnati
Jacksonville over Buffalo
Minnesota over Indianapolis
Green Bay over Detroit
Tampa Bay over Atlanta
New York over St. Louis
Kansas City over Oakland
Carolina over Chicago
Washington over New Orleans
Seattle over San Francisco
New England over New York
San Diego over Denver
Arizona over Miami
Houston over Baltimore
Pittsburgh over Cleveland
Dallas over Philadelphia
My shocker special: Those Redskins! At home against a nice, cushy Saints defense, and something to prove. Sniff sniff....smells like an upset!
Fantasy Guys I Was Impressed With This Past Week:
QB: Jay Cutler. McNabb had the best stats, but that game was at home against St. Louis (sorry, but even with mediocre receivers a QB can succeed there). Cutler went to Oakland, where in the past he's done horrible. He also went there without his best receiver and a question mark at running back. All he did was throw for 300 and 2 touches. I was so upset losing this guy in our fantasy draft to Amber (2 picks away!), and he looked awesome.
WR: Randy Moss. Nobody had a particularly stellar stat line out of the receivers except for a few. I chose Moss because when Brady went down in the 1st quarter I fully expected Moss to be non-existant for the rest of the game. But I credit Moss, he played hard for the full four quarters, and he was rewarded with 116 and a touch. The Patriots need him, and I am worried he'll shut it down if Cassel doesn't deliver him the ball, or the Pats start to lose. For one week though, he surprised me.
RB: Willie Parker. Yes, Turner had the 200+, but Parker was the top fantasy back. Three touchdowns? He had only 2 all of last year (which, Kevin, has to make you thrilled to see)! He looks like the Willie Parker of old, when he scored in the double digits in TDs a couple years ago. Mendenhall, who?
TE: Dante Rosario. Game winning TD catch, 96 yards and a touchdown. Well done, sir, well done. Time will tell if he's a one-hit wonder (Steve Smith is coming back soon...), but for one week, he's king of the tight ends.
~Mikey D
Okay, lets put the "Ironman" title on the line again (whoever has it currently)! The one with the most correct picks at the end of the year will be crowned "Ironman"....a title that doesn't seem the least bit fitting for picking football game winners. But it is what it is.
Okay click reply and make your picks before reading mine!
Week 1:
Obviously, the Giants/Redskins game doesn't matter. But I pick the Giants.
Baltimore over Cincinnati
Miami over New York
New England over Kansas City
Pittsburgh over Houston
Tennessee over Jacksonville
Detroit over Atlanta
Philadelphia over St. Louis
Buffalo over Seattle
New Orleans over Tampa Bay
Dallas over Cleveland
San Diego over Carolina
Arizona over San Francisco
Indianapolis over Chicago
Oakland over Denver
Green Bay over Minnesota
Game I hope I get to see this weekend: Cleveland versus Dallas.
Game I'll probably get to see: Miami/New York and Philadelphia/St. Louis
Game I have no interest in whatsoever: Oakland versus Denver
Enjoy the games.
~Mikey D
So I don't normally promote websites, but I think this one is rather cool. Maybe you've already heard about this website and I'm late to the party, but if you have an extra hour or two, take some time and peruse this site.
The site is called TED (Technology, Education, Design). Each year TED, "brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)". In short, over a thousand people come together to talk and share ideas on a variety of topics. "Ideas worth spreading," as they like to say.
It's just a really neat concept and I think a worthwhile site.
Here is one video that I like in particular, as it pertains to education. This video is about schools today killing student creativity. You don't, however, have to be a teacher to appreciate it, which is nice. As Sir Ken Robinson says, "we all have an interest in education." My favorite part is about 15:30 into the video.
Anyway, that's it. Take a gander if you'd like.
~Mikey D
