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Believe it or not I am still going strong in my head-to-head points league in fantasy baseball. It’s the second week of a two-week World Series, but I’ve still got one foot in the fantasy baseball door. Between baseball and my eleven football leagues I haven’t had much time to consider how I’d like to contribute to the football side of things here at Razzball this season. I thought, perhaps, I would give some of you the opportunity to suggest some topics you’d like to see me cover. What subjects could potentially provide you with a weekly post that might help you gain an edge in your league?

In the meantime I’m pretty much going rogue. Just about everyone I know in my personal life that plays fantasy football comes to me with questions. A guy from work, whom I don’t care for very much, swears by the advice of Matthew Berry. He said that his Love/Hate post is his go-to source each week. He even suggested I start reading it if I want to win my league. I responded by asking how many times he has won his league. After a long winded spout of bullsh*t, he said he hadn’t won it yet. I laughed and told him to keep up the good work.

This did give me an idea however. Let’s see what Mr. Berry has to say. What did he say about last week and how would have following his advice helped me. Spoiler alert! His advice blows.

Some quarterbacks he loved…

Ben Roethlisberger – Big Ben is great at home was the basis of his argument. Who cares how much the Vikings blitzed last year or how Ben has been third most accurate passer against pressure? These just don’t seem like compelling reasons for me to stick him in my starting lineup. In week one he fell outside the top ten, scoring only 15.7 fantasy points against a mediocre Browns defense. Who cares if it was in Cleveland. Roethlisberger did finish week two in the top ten, but he was in the bottom half scoring just 17.5 points. I’d say this call was a push.

Jameis Winston – Emotional home opener blah blah blah. Against a Bears defense the allowed 17.9 points to Matt Ryan in week one at home, Winston managed only 12.5 points. Despite Chicago turning the ball over four times, Jameis threw for only 204 yards. His opponent, Mike Glennon (who?), threw for 301. Winston’s day was good enough for 20th best among quarterbacks. Glad I didn’t start him!

Some quarterbacks he hated…

Carson Wentz – Here’s a quote. “I don’t see Wentz being able to do what Tom Brady wasn’t able to do last week and throw for over 270 yards. Wentz is outside my top 15 this week.” Guess what. Wentz threw for 333 yards, two touchdowns and 24.8 points. Only Tom Brady scored more points in week two.

Matthew Stafford – If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. After being in his hate column for week one Stafford went on to finish as the second best QB for that week throwing for 292 yards, 4 touchdowns, and most importantly, 27.1 fantasy points. While he did acknowledge the sh*tty call, between Stafford in week 1 and Wentz in week 2, Berry is now two for two in hating the QB the finished second best for the week.

Some running backs he loved…

Ty Montgomery – Way to break out the Captain Obvious costume on this one. Halloween must be right around the corner. Everyone and their mother knew Montgomery was in store for a big game. Tell me something I don’t know!

Marshawn Lynch – Wait is it 2014 again? Nope. Falling outside the top twenty RB for the week with only 11.9 points, Lynch wasn’t even the top running back on his own team in week 2. Both Jalen Richard and Cordarrelle Patterson rushed for more yards. Granted, they both did so thanks to breaking a huge 40+ yard carry, but that doesn’t change the end result. Lynch was not a good call.

Jacquizz Rodgers – Quiz carried the ball 19 times for 67 yards. Thankfully a touchdown bailed out his day giving him 12.7 fantasy points. Hey, he scored more points than Lynch!

Some running backs he hated…

Isaiah Crowell – If I’m being fair, he hit this nail right on the head. Crowell carried ten times for 37 yards. But let’s be honest, was anyone really starting him if they had any other options after he carried 17 times for 33 yards in week one?

Frank Gore – Captain Obvious strikes again. Hating a Colt’s player? Why would anyone do that. This game was much closer than I expected, but did anyone really think Gore was going to have a ton of chances? By the way, isn’t Gore almost 40? Wikipedia says he’s actually 30-Gore (34).

Ameer Abdullah – Why do we care how many points the Giants defense allowed to opposing running backs in 2016? Abdullah actually had a good game on the ground. He ran the ball 17 times for 86 yards, averaging 5.05 yards per carry. He came up a touchdown short of a solid fantasy day.

Some wide receivers he loved…

Brandin Cooks – What the flock is the revenge game narrative. Apparently he tried using the revenge philosophy with Adrian Peterson against the Vikings last week. It blew up in his face and I bet he’s feeling a bit of deja vu after this call. Tom Brady threw for 447 yards, one of his best games statistically of his career, and Cooks ended up with two catches for 37 yards. If you started Cooks you ended up with a whopping 6.3 fantasy points in PPR leagues. I’m not saying you should have sat Cooks, I’m just saying Matthew Berry is a dipsh*t.

Golden Tate – More like Golden Taint. The advice said that Tate should be in for a big workload. Well, he was targeted four times. He caught all four for a grand total of 25 yards. Big workload? More like big load… of sh*t. Tate and Cooks combined for 12.8 points. Sounds like the combination for a loss in any fantasy league.

Tyreek Hill – “I have Hill as a top-15 play this week.” This was all predicated on the fact that the Eagles have given up the most 25+ receptions since the start of last season. Tyreek finished the week with four catches for 43 yards and 8.9 points. He wasn’t even a top 15 wide receiver. As a matter of fact, 45 wide receivers finished with more points than Hill.

Adam Thielen – I’m going to give him a pass on this one since Bradford ended up being a game day no go. That said, Thielen had 5 receptions for 44 yards and a fumble. He totaled 7.4 points. These four receivers combined for 29.1 points. Michael Crabtree had 32 by himself.

Others receiving votes included Cooper Kupp (6.3 points), John Brown (DNP) and Tedd Ginn Jr. (5.4 points). I’m surprised Odell Beckham Jr. (7.6 points) wasn’t in the “love list”.

Some wide receivers he hated…

T.Y. Hilton – As long as Andrew Luck is out, Hilton will be on his hate list. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel. If you need someone to tell you to steer clear of Hilton, you deserve to be starting him. I don’t own him in any of the double digit leagues that I’m in.

Dez Bryant – Bryant led the league targets in week two with 16. He caught seven of them for 59 yards and a score, totaling 18.9 points. According to the blurb, the only way Dez would be useful was if he scored a touchdown. Even without the touchdown, the 12.9 points would have been more than all four of the receivers highlighted in the love column.

Some tight ends he loved…

Charles Clay – Did you know that over the past five regular season games that Clay has been the third-best tight end in fantasy? Big deal. Last week he had three catches for 23 yards. That was enough for 5.3 points and 30th amongst tight ends. I’m glad I ignored this advice.

Delanie Walker – This turned out to be a good call as Walker ended the day with 16.2 points, however a lot of that had to do with a one yard touchdown run. Not your everyday stat from a tight end. Berry’s reasoning was the Walker should see the lion’s share of targets. Delanie saw just four of Mariota’s 23 targets.

A tight end he hated…

Jack Doyle – “Doyle is merely a touchdown-dependent, low-end TE2 this week.” Oh really! Doyle finished the week with eight catches on eight targets for 79 yards. He did not score a touchdown, yet his 15.9 points were sixth most among tight ends. He outscored Eric Ebron, Evan Engram and Coby Fleener. All three of these tight ends found the end zone.

Breaking news! Matthew Berry says he hates Spencer Ware, Julian Edelman and Cameron Meredith this week. And he just tweeted reminding everyone to get Todd Gurley and Carlos Hyde in your lineups before Sundays game begin.

I’m starting to realize that maybe this Love/Hate article is for people who are just too damn lazy to do even the slightest bit of homework. Some of these were simply no-brainers, but most were flat out sh*t calls. You’re better off getting your advice from Matthew Perry.

Hit me up with post ideas in the comments section.

 

 

Follow malamoney on Twitter at @malamoney.