True story, one of my favorite bands growing up was Stone Temple Pilots. The band was a chameleon. When they burst on the scene, they were brushed off as a band that was just trying to cash in on that ‘Pearl Jam’ sound. I never got that statement, made no sense. You trying to tell me you can picture Eddie Vedder performing Sex Type Thing? Heck, could you picture Creed doing it? No, you can’t and that singer was a terrible Eddie mimic. And before you say it, Creed defenders, THE DOORS MY SHINY BABOON BUTT! So what do they do after Core gets bashed but follow up with Purple, an album that swings from heavy to punk and almost always with a Led Zeppelin lilt. Admittedly, their third album could’ve been their final album. They explored no new genres after ‘Tiny Music…’ but by this time Scott Weiland was so drug-addled he thought that this was a good idea. We get it, Scott, you liked David Bowie but…well, you’re not Ziggy Stardust, my man. In the end, the DeLeo brothers could be heavy or melodic, all within the same song. They were a very underrated guitar/bass duo and Kratz was a frickin hammer on the drums. I mention all this because my title is a reference to an STP song of my youth and a reminder that even half the Peyton Manning we’re used to seeing is better than most QBs out there right now. Now I don’t have the stats from last night in terms of his splits, but here were the numbers coming into the night. Through the five games entering tonight, Peyton had a 711 yards while completing over 68% of his passes in the first half compared to 784 yards and 63% in the second…oh wait, those aren’t the telling stats. In the first half, Peyton had a 3:3 TD to INT ratio for the first half of games while holding a whopping 8:0 split in the second half. So what happens tonight but a comeback from a 24-0 deficit. I’ll spare you the suspense on part of it: Manning had a 0:1 split at half time but then turned around to throw 3 TDs in the second half. So if my math is correct, he’s now on pace to throw 29 TDs in the second half of games alone this season. Granted, Aaron Rodgers was on pace to do that in one night on Sunday Night Football but we’re not here to talk about that. Half the Manning he used to be is still better than most QBs you’d start right now and that’s a good place to be in for his owners. In other fantasy football news…
Eric Decker - Could’ve improved Peyton’s first half TD:INT splits if he hadn’t found the ground more interesting around the 45 in the first half. Oh well, he had a Tosh.0 retribution shot in the second half and he didn’t fail it as he ended the night with 6 receptions for 98 yards and a second half touchdown with his 9 targets. Quietly – and I say quietly because everyone has been hyped about D.T. since the preseason – Decker is on pace for a 90 rec, 1175 yard season to go with 5 TDs. Minus the TDs, daddy like. If you read that last sentence just right, it’s Pedo-bear approved.
Philip Rivers - Was the anti-Peyton tonight, going from a 2:1 split in the first half to a 0:2 with a fumble disaster in the second half. On the one hand, I blame Norv Turner. On the other, I blame Rivers himself. On my third hand which is actually one of our writers jaywrong trying to touch me inappropriately, Rivers short-armed a few passes in the second half for some strange reason. Not sure if it’s fatigue or carelessness but it’s concerning nonetheless.
Demaryius Thomas – Two receptions on two targets for 37 yards with one of those recs being a TD to save the night, fantasy-wise, for his owners. Nothing to worry about here, just a night in which Brandon Stokley got 4 for 48 and a TD due to the other def paying him a lot of attention. He’s still beastly and you still love him for it.
Antonio Gates - Was the main fantasy sports haven for owners of SD players on the night, nabbing two touchdowns on his 6 receptions for 81. I still think he’s a sell if you can do it. For the most part this year Antonio has looked and played like he belongs in an over 55 Gate-d community.
Ryan Mathews - The bad was he scored zero touchdowns. The worse was averaging only 3.4 YPC. The silver lining is he ran the ball 22 times with the next closest in carries being Ronnie Brown with only 3. There was a lot of fear after his fumble and the talk of carry splits going forward with Jackie Battle when I was telling you to buy him. Now just ignore everything else I said in there and I look like a frickin genius!
Willis McGahee – I think at one point in the first half, McGehee had 7 yards on 8 carries so to see he finished with 56 for 17 is actually quite impressive. Maybe second half Manning is rubbing off on his ‘ole Willy. Neverthewho, he ended the night with approx 10 fantasy points. He’s RB2-lite, peeps, don’t get angry cuz you traded MJD expecting McGehee to carry your team. BTW, thank you for trading me MJD.
Denver Defense - True story, in a friend’s league where we count everything – PPR (both rush and rec), completions and incompletions, return yards, Jon Gruden quotes – I was projected to score 142 on the week and the other guy 125. Well we went into Sunday night nearly tied at 135 and I knew I had lost because he had Rodgers and Mathews up against my merely mortal DEN DEF. My friends, there is nothing more gut-wrenching than having your defense score about 30 points for you and to have the 3rd most points overall for the week only to lose by 18 anyway. Painful. Oh and back to the defense. I think it’s better than many people think and it’s not just because of tonight. I’ve mentioned previously when they faced the Falcons they were impressive and I stand by the statement. If you’re stuck with an underperforming DEF, it wouldn’t hurt to give the Broncos a shot.
Plush is a song from Core. You meant to say that the second album is named Purple.
Ugh, yup. I did my edit review and actually thought I’d fixed that. Thanks!
Please rank these guys on waivers….
I need to pick up a WR this week
Hixon,givens,k wright,boldin,Williams…
Standard league
Was leaning towards Hixon as he gets targets
Thanks!!!
That’s actually a nice batch of WRs there. I’d have to rank them as Wright/Hixon/Williams/Boldin/Givens but they’re all quality WR3 material. Wright is getting his fair share of targets right now, too.
Hello Sky!!!
So traded Turner for Matt Ryan and the Vick for Murray….Got to watch Vick play like Ryan and Ryan play like Vick also got to watch murray sit the sidelines in a game where he was on pace to match his 2011 effort of 245 yrds. Love this game haha (Oh and add one more game of proof for the Roddy/Julio conspiracy theroy)
Quick question (NON PPR) my bench is crowded with injuries now, can I drop Garcon I feel this foot injury has gone on for too long. Also would you drop Ballard for Felix Jones? Thanks hoep your weekend was better than mine.
Hey Murph! Ouch. Sounds like your week 6 was my week 5 in one league. My weekend went pretty well, actually. 3-1 all around but that put all my teams at 3-3. The league I lost – deep league with friends from HS – I had 167 points. I lead the league in total points but my for/against is 916 to 901 so far. Might be a snake-bitten year.
Yeah, I’m not gonna say you’re on to something RE: Roddy/Julio, but it’s definitely been interesting. Just seems too fluky to be true. Maybe Ryan sees Roddy better in home unis…just weird.
@Sky,
Wouldn’t be fun if it was predictable just have to work your way through these things hopefully that was a one game trend for Ryan. Good to hear you got the win!!! At this point would you drop garçon and is Ballard a better flex play than Felix?
Oh indeed; if we knew what was coming, I doubt any of us would get on the ride to begin with. Garcon can be a drop if there’s something of interest on waivers. I’d prefer Felix at this juncture but I haven’t dug down very deep yet for week 7.
@Sky,
Santana Moss
Randle Cobb
Kendal Wright
Josh Gordon
Devery Henderson
Hawkins
Yeah, you can drop Garcon. I’d rank Wright/Cobb in one tier, Hawkins in his own, Moss/Gordon in another then finally Devery.
@Sky,
Thanks Sky, it will be interesting to see how all the RB injuries play out this week during practice.
Oh no problem and indeed.
One more….
Would u drop Kendall hunter to pick up Daryl Richardson for my bench?
I was leaning that way…
Standard league
Thanks
Looks like Richardson is going to get touches so that would make sense to me.
Hey Sky,
At 2-4 (4 way tie for the 3rd playoff spot in my division) and have injury/bye problems coming up with the RBs and WRs on my PPR team:
Foster, FJax, Murray, JStew
Jennings, Bowe, Nicks, DMoore, SuperMario
Romo
VDavis
Dolphins
Kicker
My potential moves with 2nd waiver pick:
1. Pick up Felix, but have to drop JStew. It makes sense IF Murray is out for more than a week or two, but of course JStew is better as soon as Murray is back.
2. Pick up KWright as the best WR available (next best are Avery, Givens, Hill, Blackmon, DHB, Henderson).
Questions:
1. Which waiver pick would you prioritize?
2. What are your thoughts on MIA DST after their bye? I’m probably going to drop to avoid a zero, but with 17!?!?!? DSTs owned in my 12 team league I have to at least think about holding them until the end of the week so I can try to reclaim them (or DEN….thanks for pointing them out).
1. ) How high are you on the waiver chart? Felix is going to go pretty high, I’m going to guess which – by default – might make Wright your choice for the week. If you are high up, Felix would be mine.
2. ) I like MIA but don’t think their offense will put them in bad spots all year. Could throw them back in the pool and then decide between them and DEN once the byes are over.
@Sky, I’m second in the waiver and the guy in front of me needs to take Felix. Thus, I suspect the waiver order exercise will turn out to be academic. Since this is my second year playing, I appreciate the feedback nonetheless to help me figure things out.
Yeah, injuries to RBs create opportunities so Felix would normally be my waiver call. WR fluctuates more so they’d always be second on my priority list unless you see a Victor Cruz type out there (Kendall Wright is not).
I have Rudolph and Finley, is it ok to drop Finley at this point? it seems Rogers is liking others near the goal line more than Finley. I need to grab players for the bye week
One of those ‘depends who you’re picking up’ situations. I don’t mind it, just wonder what you’re grabbing instead of him.
@Sky, looking at Sidney Rice and Fred Jackson. I have mendenhall this coming week and Bush with the bye week on my bench. So, if Mendenhall is a no go I have no RB2. I like Finley, but he doesnt get the ball when it counts and that hurts.
@Jack Full of Hate,
What is this a 8 teamer? Those are some pretty high quality waiver wire pickups…As a packer fan, I would dump Finley…he is junk.
If F-Jax is available, I’d take him over Finley.
@Sky, who do you like better this week Felix Jones, Daryl Richardson or LaGarrett Blount?
Sidney rice or Josh Gordon ROS?
Jones is set for a full workload, I’d have to go with him.
I’d lean Rice
@Sky, lean? did you flip a coin?
Ha no. I just see them as low end WR3s. The line just isn’t huge
@Sky, I am stuck in my RCL with either Rice, Gordon or Hill. I like neither, but I see both as their teams possible number one. Hill because he is the tallest guy they have, Rice because Seattle has no passing game and he is the tallest one there, and Gordon because he is fast and Little can’t stop dropping the ball and I figure eventually they will stop throwing him the ball.
Ah, if that’s the crew I’m partial to Hill. Just think Weeden will eventually get things going with other receivers and Wilson will have weeks where he disappears behind a conservative offensive gameplan.
@Jack Full of Hate, sorry broseph.
Stupid phone… I dont know why that dude dropped f. Jax but im swoopin! Ha
@Prezii, you know I play in other leagues and my teams are very similar. Wasn’t thinking i was getting him in RCL. good for you, i do have a hunch about Rice across the board
@Jack Full of Hate, other leagues where f jax is on the wire? I ws just assuming that league. I dunno why that guy dropped him. He had a lot of byes last week i guess..
@Prezii, f-jax is available in all my leagues, crazy right? One is an 8 team though. Don’t get me wrong he scares the crap out of me with Spiller looking like the better player. I assumed in RCL he wouldn’t get past you. I have grown tired of Finley in all my leagues and thanks to the sky I have Rudolph across the board.
With all this talk about Donald Brown’s knee can I drop him since there are a few good adds this week at RB?
Only talk I’ve heard has him out 2 to 3 weeks, just as originally diagnosed. Ballard wasn’t all that impressive Sunday; just depends who you’re trying to pick up.
@Sky,
Standard Scoring need imediate impact player. Brown feels like dead weight at this point I dont see his upside being that high even if he returns in a few weeks. Thinking Ballard will break out this week against cleveland.
P Thomas
J Stewart
Felix Jones
D Richardson
I Redman
L Blount
W Powell
Powell has the surest shot at carries ROS and performed well with his opportunity last week so he’d be the winner for me. Felix would get the nod if it weren’t for the uncertainty involving Murray.
Good Day Sky!
Dude in my league lost Demarco and really needs an RB in a deep 12 team non ppr.
Who would you rather receive in return for Antonio Brown and Mean Alex Green
@Dynamite Dan, Sorry that sent early….
My options are Mike Wallace or Andre Johnson
I would pick AJ but I dont know if I trust him to stay healthy all year. (Or if Houston will have locked up a playoff spot by Week 16)
Thanks for the advice!
I’d want Wallace.
Oh and no problem and good day back!
Sky
Couldn’t wait for the Sell High/Buy Low article…I need to make a trade for this week.
I have Tony Gonzalez and want to target Gronk or Graham owners. Who has more upside? Is there anyone I can target with Gonz?
I own Rudolph, Olsen, and Keller too. It’s an 18-man roster, .5 ppr league, with TE and Flex (WR/RB/TE) league, so owning 2 TEs doesn’t hurt.
Possible deals: Murray & Gronk for Gonzalez & Mendy
Graham & Wright for Gonzalez & Cobb
Let me know your thoughts; appreciate your time. Thanks Sky!
I like Graham vs Gronk ROS. Straight up for Graham might’ve worked last week while he was on bye and the owner was in need.
Not really hip about the trades you’re showing with Murray’s severity of injury unknown right now and how you already have 4 TE. If you own Rudolph, I’d be willing to see if you can get a WR1 in return, honestly.
@Sky, taking your advice I can place a few Gonz for WR1 offers to teams with WR depth and need for TE. Which is my best return?
Gonz for
Welker?
Decker?
Wallace?
D Thomas?
I’ll go Welker for consistency
@Sky, and 2nd on that last?
Sorry about that. Rest of um are Wallace/DT/Decker with the dividing line between Wallace & DT being pretty minimal. Easily all three guys could finish in the top 40 ROS.
Hey Sky
Ive got a mini-follow up from this mornings question
I could either offer the previously asked
Antonio Brown/Alex Green for Mike Wallace
or
Brown/Dougie Martin for Mike Wallace and Demarco Murray.
Any idea on the severity of Murrays sprain? I don’t know if the 2nd trade is worth the hastle as Dougie seems healthy and heating up.
As always, your insight is much appreciated. Thanks again.
I don’t know much about Murray’s health condition at this stage but if they’re already ruling him out for the week – and they are – the worry wart in me says don’t make that trade.
@Sky, Thanks!
@Sky,
I believe you called this Murray “break down” after the week 1 Dallas/NYG game? Wish I would have listened….I think this is going to be a season ender Murray has never been classified as a durable guy. Devestating for most owners as he was drafted as a RB1/2
Hey sky!! With matty ice on a bigga bye, who should i trigga try?
Freeman – NO
Hasselback – BUF
Cutler – DET
Ponder – ARI
I’d go with Freeman, it should be fly.
This is my first year playing wih waivers. I’ve got the #1 spot and I’ve been waiting to use it on a major pick up. Is Felix the guy to use it on? It’s not a ppr league and we play a wr/rb flex spot.
These are the running backs and wide receivers I have right now. I’m 3-2-1 tied for sixth.
RB – Chris Johnson
Doug Martin
DeAngelo Williams
Ben Tate
WR – Victor Cruz
Jordy Nelson
Miles Austin
Andre Roberts
Micheal Crabtree
I’ll put it this way: it’s dangerous but I’m taking the leap on Felix as my ‘RB out of the blue’ pick. I don’t like how the reports of when Murray will play again are split between the coaching staff and the player. Makes me question his true health at this point.
@Sky, thanks bro. I’m just hoping its one of those rb injuries that lingers.
Ha well is hate to wish that on anyone but ill wish for you this time!
TE waiver question non PPR ROS
Pettigrew
Fred Davis
Gresham
Keller
Fleener
Olsen
Davis/Olsen/Pettigrew/Gresham/Keller/Fleener
@Sky,
Thanks….currently in a state of panic and rebuilding
Gotcha, no worries
Any thoughts on Dominic Hixon moving forward ROS?
With Nicks’ issues, I think Hixon has a solid season from here on out. May not score many touchdowns but 4~6 catches a game with 60~80 might become the standard. Good WR3 to have a around.