Mattison made the handcuff report back in the pre-season as a premium handcuff, and needs to be rostered by all Dalvin Cook owners heading down the stretch of the fantasy football regular season. Barely on the field for a quarter of the Vikings offensive snaps (26.4%), Mattison's athletic ability was still on full display. The Vikings are giving Mattison the ball when he is on the field, touching the ball 78.9% percent of his snaps compared to Dalvins 54.9%. In week 8, Alexander took 13 carries for 61 yards, averaging 4.7 yards per carry, and now averaging 4.9 ypc on the season. If anything were to happen to Cook, Mattison is fully capable of producing in our fantasy lineups in an offense built around the run. The Vikings rank 3rd in the NFL in rushing attempts per game (32.9). Mattison is averaging 10.8 touches per game over the past 4 weeks, if he is able to find the field for more than 26% of the offensive snaps he'll start to flirt with weekly flex value.
Monthly Archives: October 2019
Coleman Pitches a Tent
October 28, 2019 | Fantasy Football Daily Notes | 16 Commentsby: Donkey Teeth
I used to put my trusty Coleman tent to work every summer. A group of college friends and I would gather for a long weekend of debauchery and mosquito bites. Eventually, after enough blood loss, we outgrew the authentic camping experience and upgraded to cabin glamping. Also, our old campsite not-so-politely asked us to never come back. Regardless, my Coleman tent hasn't seen any use in recent years. That is, until yesterday, when Tevin Coleman helped me pitch a tent as he obliterated the Panthers defense with 11 carries for 105 yards, 2 catches for 13 yards and 4 touchdowns! Who do I call if my tent has been erect for over 24 hours? Anyway, here’s what else I saw during yesterday’s late games in fantasy football:
Sam Darnold’s Week 8 Ghost Was…. Ryan Griffin?
October 28, 2019 | Fantasy Football Daily Notes | 22 Commentsby: MB
You just knew Eddie's kick wasn't going to go in too right? It didn't matter that it was only a 41-yard kick. You see, the Bears are kind of like the Buccaneers when it comes to the kicking game. The kicking game is cursed. Once Pineiro hit the upright in the first half, any kick that was going to be important didn't stand a chance. It was in Eddie's head, it was in the crowd's head, and it was in my head at home.
I was watching the game with a good buddy who is a Bears fan and it was completely quiet for most of the drive. The only thing that was said the whole drive was by him. He just kept repeating, "Why aren't they going for a touchdown? They need to go for a touchdown, you can't leave it up to the kicker." He was right. We all were right. Here is what else I saw during the early slate of games on Sunday.
Another Sunday is upon us! We're in the middle of bye week season and doing the best to scrap together winning lineups to make the playoff push. We do have a game in London this week and I'm wondering if the Ram's fan base will be bigger across seas than it is in L.A. Russell Wilson will continue his MVP campaign against the Matt Ryan-less Atlanta Falcons. The Bears host the Chargers and it's probably a valid question if you're asking yourself if any of these teams will be able to score. Sam Darnold will try and shake the ghosts that have been haunting him as the Jets travel to Jacksonville.
Who knows what we'll get from the Raiders when they visit Houston on Sunday, but if you believe the words of Jarvis Landry, the Browns are going to beat the Patriots. The Carolina Panthers should match up very well against the 49ers, and I'm also not sleeping on the Mahomes-less Chiefs against the Packers to close out the day. Whatever happens today, it should be another entertaining Sunday. Best of luck to each and every one of you. Let's see what injuries we have.
Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em, Week 8: City Of Angels Vs. The Bungles
October 26, 2019 | Start/Sit | 20 Commentsby: Zach
For a lot of fantasy owners, now is the time to either look towards the playoffs, or go into damage control and try to salvage your season while you can. Both decisions are important, but for now, let's talk about this week. One of the matchups I'm keeping an eye on is the Rams at home against the Bengals. It's been an up-and-down season for Los Angeles, but this is still a good team that will play well against weaker opponents that we can take advantage of in fantasy. And to say that the Bengals are a weaker opponent... is putting it mildly.
RazzBowl Revelations: Donkey Dreams
October 26, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Football, RazzBowl | 8 Commentsby: Donkey Teeth
I had a vivid dream last night. It was so real. I was in bed, buck naked, with my supermodel girlfriend on one side and the RazzBowl trophy nestled on my other side. When I awoke, only one of the objects of my affection was actually there: the RazzBowl trophy. That's right, I sleep naked with the RazzBowl trophy every night! And my supermodel girlfriend is out of town for the weekend doing supermodel stuff.
But there's another man with his eyes and heart set on the now moist RazzBowl trophy: Pat Fitzmaurice of The Football Girl. Our top dog, Fitzmaurice, has extended his lead out to a commanding 38 points and has now held the lead back to back weeks and, maybe even more impressively, his squad has been top 3 in the overall standings for the entire season except for one week when he fell down to 6th place. Can he close the deal and lay with the fabled RazzBowl trophy? Only time will tell.
What makes the RazzBowl especially unique compared to other best ball formats and industry leagues is our addition of a $10 FAAB budget for the entire way season with a minimum of $1 bids. This allows teams to cycle out dead roster spots (e.g. Andrew Luck, Lamar Miller, etc) but it also means each team will only be allowed a maximum of ten moves for the entire season. Every dollar of each competitor’s free agent budget is just as precious as a Bill Belichick smile.
When teams choose to pony up their FAAB, it’s worthwhile to take a look and see why. There could be a goldmine of speculative adds buried in the RazzBowl transactions this season.
Here were the top buys from the penultimate RazzBowl FAAB run (FAAB ends after next week's run), along with some donkey thoughts:
Daily Blitz Podcast – Week 8 Start/Sit w/ @MattWi77iams
October 26, 2019 | Fantasy Football Mercenaries |by: MattWi77iams
@MattWi77iams & @NickFaberNFL break down Week 8 in @fantasyfootball. Game by game analysis of who to start/sit with a priority streamers list.
A clash between two AFC teams that enter week 8 with highest projected point total, thanks to the reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes sidelined while he recovers from a knee injury.
Per NFL Next Gen Stats, Derek Carr has the 11th highest passer rating and NFL best completion percentage (74.1). On paper, this is an interesting matchup for Carr who is: facing a defense that has allowed the 4th most receiving yards per game, just placed DB Phillip Gaines on IR, are without DB Bradley Roby until after their bye week, have DB Tashaun Gibson questionable, and are 6.5 point road dogs. BUT Carr ranks 9th in fewest pass attempts per game, has the 8th fewest passes over 20 yards, lacks elite receiving weapons outside of his TE and has a head coach who is enamored with running the ball. Carr is best viewed as a 2-QB league starter and desperation spot fill in 1-qb leagues. Rudy projects Carr as QB21 in week 8.
Before Game Of Thrones, HBO had a terrible-but-awesome show about some bros in Hollywood. It was called Entourage. I guess it was called Entourage because the friends formed an entourage. High brow stuff! This show was exactly what 19-21 year-old me needed every Sunday. Would I again binge watch the show that got me into serialized television even with a lot better television coming out almost weekly? Hell yeah I would.
Anyways, if you haven’t seen Entourage, Johnny Drama is the less famous brother of Vincent Chase, but before Vince got famous, Drama starred in a terrible cult classic show called Viking Quest. The way Minnesota played last night is probably comparable to Viking Quest if it were an actual show.
Data Domination Week 8: Russell Wilson Continues His MVP Quest
October 25, 2019 | Fantasy Football Strategy | 2 Commentsby: Pat
The NFL year goes by so fast and the fantasy football season with it. As we approach the halfway point of 2019, I plan to spend next week’s article with a blurb on the second half outlook of each team, or player from each team, from a data point perspective. For this week though we stick with the norm of finding trends and in-week matchups we can expose. Hope everyone has a great finish to the first half of the fantasy season!
Fantasy Football Weekly Rankings, Week 8: Brought to You by the Letter “J”
October 24, 2019 | Weekly Rankings | 8 Commentsby: Jay
| 2019 Accuracy | Rank | QB | RB | WR | TE | K | DST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 7 | 104 | 25 | 66 | 129 | 113 | 28 | 26 |
| Week 6 | 81 | 74 | 118 | 28 | 76 | 76 | 37 |
| Week 5 | 58 | 68 | 8 | 113 | 41 | 10 | 39 |
| Week 4 | 83 | 37 | 64 | 90 | 120 | 77 | 80 |
| Week 3 | 89 | 86 | 117 | 32 | 106 | 27 | 13 |
| Week 2 | 2 | 17 | 9 | 26 | 39 | 69 | 35 |
| Week 1 | 47 | 81 | 31 | 49 | 76 | 26 | 24 |
| Cumulative | 52 | 34 | 49 | 68 | 95 | 31 | 19 |
What are you ranking? Everything! You get a ranking, you get a ranking, everybody gets a ranking! You’ll find my Standard, Half-PPR, and PPR rankings below.
What are my rankings bona fidas? Well, there’s finishing in the FantasyPros Top-10 Draft Accuracy (7th Place) in 2017, Top-25 Weekly Accuracy (23rd Place) in 2017, Top-5 Draft Accuracy (3rd place) in 2016, Top-10 Weekly Accuracy (10th Place) in 2016, Top-25 Weekly Accuracy in 2015 (21st Place) and on average we’ve finished in the Top-10 Draft Accuracy (9th Overall) and the Top-20 Weekly Accuracy (18th Overall) for the past four years and finished 30th overall for our Draft Rankings with a 32nd overall finish in Weekly just last season. And this is out of over 100+ industry sites and experts year-after-year. I’d like to think we’re pretty good at this stuff…
What does the word bona fidas mean? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, bo·na fi·des ˌbō-nə-ˈfī-ˌdēz , ÷ˈbō-nə-ˌfīdz means 1 : good faith : sincerity, 2 : the fact of being genuine —often plural in construction, 3 : evidence of one’s good faith or genuineness —often plural in construction, 4 : evidence of one’s qualifications or achievements —often plural in construction. On a separate note, I think it would make a great name for a cat.
What’s my ranking process? I’ve actually written about this in the past, and instead of working hard for new and enlightening content, I have chosen the more efficient (lazy, ahem) method and dropping in a link to that post here. Honestly, my process hasn’t changed much at all (the ole “don’t fix what ain’t broke” proverb comes to mind) and so my “A Day in the Life of a Fantasy Football Ranker” story still remains relevant to this day. (The TL;DR is: I’m lazy as fudge. Well, I mean the other “f” word, but I’m hungry.)
How should I use your rankings? The same way your mother does. Which actually makes no sense. (Unless your mother is in the running to always finish top-3 in your Fantasy Football league. And if that’s the case, say hello to her for me.)
I have been following a simple metric this season for running backs: weighted opportunities (WO) per game. This summer I found that WO/g correlated strongly with fantasy points (FP) per game with an R2 of 0.88 based off 2018 numbers. Granted, this was a small sample size of only 1 year but it's all the data I had.
In a nutshell, the idea is that players should have a FP/WO ratio of about 1, and if they are above that they are either very efficient or lucky (probably via TDs). If they are below that number, the inverse is assumed. In that piece I identified 4 backs that looked like strong buys this offseason, so let's see if FP/WO helped.
