Graham’atical Error?

So here I am, cruising along with my fantasy year with Jimmy Graham a pick in one of my friends leagues. Then the whole foot issue comes up and my response is ‘O-M-G’ and I’m like ‘I’m a grown-ass man…why am I saying OMG?’ These are all important questions to evaluate as we dip into the psyche of a man who told you to SELL Graham not long ago. To be fair, Tehol and I discussed at length – read: he and I tweeted at each other and I asked ‘Is this bad?’ and he was like ‘bro, it’s bad’ and I was like ‘thanks, brah, you’re right’ and he was all ‘like totes no probs, breh’ and I was all like ‘this is terrible dialogue to post on a website’ and he was all like ‘true, bruh’ – so we felt we had this subject covered. To be fair, Graham has been much more hit/miss than many of his owners would’ve expected given the start. He was the cream of the crop at TE before the injury, how could the injury not affect that? That was a rhetorical question, of course, but thank you for the response. After catching 5 catches for 100 yards, scoring a TD and Shaquille O’Neal’ing a goal post, I think we have our answer. Graham is ‘Godzilla’ to us western folk and ‘Godjira’ to the East. You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him until his foot falls off. I 100% own that my sell call could’ve been wrong but remember, we still have 4 more weeks until the season is over; if his reduced workload caused you any fantasy playoff heartache, feel free to cry into my abundant bosom. Ok, my bosom isn’t that abundant, leave me go, weeping one. Anywho, I’m sure you’re gonna ask: what do we do with Graham ROS? Well, sell windows have most likely come and gone so that’s no longer an option. Add/drop…who’s dropping Graham and adding fluff? Not me. So your only hope is you start him all week, every week until it pans out right. He hasn’t been terrible since the injury, just frustrating compared to previous numbers. Only so much control can be contributed to this little world we live in for fantasy and sometimes, little jackwads like myself come along and tell you how to do things and find I’m wrong. In other news from TNF from week 12 of the 2013 Fantasy Football season…

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Weekly IDP Rankings: Week Twelve For 2013 Fantasy Football

by: Kevin Kumpf

After Week 10, everyone was all “Vincent Rey this” and “Vincent Rey that,” and “Did you hear that Vincent Rey is the new IDP sheriff Cincinnati with Maualuga hurt?” Well Week 11 showed that you can shoot the sheriff, but you cannot kill the deputy. The deputy in this case is Vontaze Burfict, who had an all-world performance against the Browns with 15 tackles and a forced fumble, which he then recovered and took to the house. Burfict’s big Week 11 pushed him above Kiko Alonso to the top spot among all IDPs this season. There was some thought preseason that Burfict’s 2012 was a fluke, and Cincy’s bizarre fascination with Rey Maualuga would prevent Burfict from putting up true LB1 numbers, but those thoughts have been firmly put to rest.

Alas, Burfict is on a bye this week, but out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind. It might be more difficult now, but if Burfict’s owner needs LB stats this week, and your team has already clinched the playoffs, make an offer on the idle LB and see what happens. If you’re in an especially shallow league and Burfict’s owner dropped him due to the bye, make room on your bench for the man who I recently, like 200 words ago, nicknamed “The Deputy.”

Here are some other IDP happenings as we head into Week 12:

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Bet the Farm: NFL Week 12 Betting Contest

November 21, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Bet The Farm | 12 Comments

by: Josh Carey

Welcome to Bet the Farm, Razzball’s weekly NFL wagering contest. We’re back for our second season and ready to take you on over the course of 17 weeks of NFL play. For those new to the game, here are the rules:

You start with $1,000 in contest money to make wagers with. You may join in any week.
You can wager on the spread or Over/Under for any NFL game, so long as your pick is made by kickoff of that game. The Yahoo Sports Odds page is a good place to get betting lines: you may use the best line you find available when you make your post, but revisions to wagers are not allowed.
Your wager must be in an increment of $10.
You must beat the House: Therefore, you only receive 90% of your wager for a win ($9 on a $10 bet), but lose 100% of your wager on a loss.
Your wager may be any amount between $10 and your full bankroll.
New this year: If you lose your entire bankroll, you are allowed a re-buy for another $1,000. Unlimited re-buys are available.
New this year: Bet the Farm staff will keep track of the full leaderboard for all participants. However, any player who has taken a re-buy will be listed below all players who have not taken a re-buy – even those with lower current balances. It’s always better to not lose all your money. Players with two re-buys will be listed below those with one re-buy, and so on.

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What The Flacco Am I Thinking?

November 21, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Weekly Rankings | 289 Comments

by: Sky

I think I’ve finally done it. I’ve done gone and lost my mind up in this. It’s week 12 and I’m telling you that Joe Flacco – yes that Joe Flacco – is a top ten QB this week. Man, I’m going so against the grain. How against the grain are you, Sky? I’m so against the grain right now, my wood shop teacher just retroactively expelled me for a week. *Crickets* Standup routine…yeah, I’m still working on it. But here’s the scenario: as boring as Flacco can be – and is and will forever be – oil and water don’t mix and by that I mean…hold on a minute *grabs flask and fills with water and oil*. See? Ok, science class is out for the day. Back to fantasy football. I don’t know if you noticed last weeks Jets vs Bills game – and unless you’re a huge fan of either, you probably didn’t – but EJ Manuel performed what would be described as a ‘vertical pass’ many a time and found himself to be very successful doing it. The big thing about that? His top receiving threats of Wood and Stevie J weren’t in. He was chucking to Goodwin and Graham who, though decent, are still young and, well, they ain’t the #1 and #2 on that team. So the Jets gave up a combined 155 yards to these two last week and it propelled EJ into the top 12 for QBs in scoring. And so enter the Flacco. Baltimore was successful last year with their running game but also with taking long shots down the field. For as much as I rag on Flacco, he does have a strong arm and he does throw an accurate deep ball. The cool thing about that? Jets gave up at least three passing plays that cleared 30 yards, two of them clearing 40. For all the good the Jets rushing defense has been, their passing defense has been equally bad. So with that in mind, Jacoby Jones gets a bit of a bump for the week and I think Flacco has a strong chance at a 250~275 yard passing day and 2 or 3 TDs. In other points of dissent, Ryan Mathews now has 10 or more points in four of his last 5 for standard scoring and faces a KC defense that for as strong as it is, can be run on. Since KC’s offense isn’t exactly an offensive juggernaut, there’s plenty of time for Mathews to get in his carries and pursue his 4th 100 yard game on the year (3 in his last 5). Oh and no AP in the top 5? Yeah, could come back to bite me but there were so many great matchups this week for above average RBs. It was hard to say any of the guys I put ahead of him don’t have a great chance to outshine him. Just note Andre Brown was my breaking point Even my insanity has its limits. Meanwhile, Kenny Stills with a 40 yard bomb and a TD in your WR3 spot sounds about right to me. Cotchery? Well, Antonio is gonna be Haden his stay in Cleveland and either he or Sanders is gonna have himself a fine day. If Sanders can’t go, Cotchery will probably steal his spot in the WR rankings…and your heart. And in Miami, if He-Man doesn’t score at least a TD with 60 or 70 yards, I will have to protest. Defensively, there’s a pile of interesting ones out there. Riaders? Decent against the run, they’re at home and Ryan Fitzpatrick is the Titans starting QB. Could be an under the radar top 10 play this week. Rams I just couldn’t let linger outside the top 10 after their showing in Indy and coming off a bye while playing at home. Could get an electric crowd and a big scoring day from them. This week I made 28 paper footballs and had my wife kick field goals on the table. Inside each, there was a name of a kicker. If she missed, those kickers didn’t make the top 10 and had to try again. Then we ate hot pockets and went to bed. Still a better love story than Twilight. Wait, what? Ok, that’s a wrap. Good luck to you this week, bad luck to your opponents and game on. Here’s the week 12 rankings for 2013 Fantasy Football…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Week 12 Players to Play/Avoid: Different Shades of Brown

November 20, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Rush & Pass Strategy | 59 Comments

by: Loudon

Although there are plenty of players capable of rising above a bad matchup, terms like “Revis Island” would not exist if it wasn’t at least somewhat true. Take T.Y. Hilton, for instance. After the loss of Reggie Wayne, Hilton has been an incredible asset for fantasy owners, but put him up against the Titans’ defense and suddenly he’s scoring less than 5 fantasy points. He should have a slightly easier time against Arizona this weekend, but I mean it when I say slightly. Cecil Shorts is a talented guy and he only managed 22 yards against Arizona last Sunday so start Hilton if you need him, but don’t expect WR1 production.

Speaking of Tennessee’s defense, they travel to Oakland this week and that makes the Raiders’ WRs unplayable. Rod Streater had a great outing this past weekend and Denarius Moore has been pretty consistent this weekend, but there are much better options this week.

Another consistent WR this year has been Antonio Brown, but this is definitely the week to sell high on him. Brown is still worth starting in many leagues. He hasn’t scored below six fantasy points in standard scoring leagues yet this season. However, Joe Haden is a special talent. If you were to rattle off a few receivers more talented than Antonio Brown, A.J. Green might be one of the people you list and Green was held to two catches for seven yards with Haden as his shadow. You never want to bench your best guys, but depending on your available options, you will want to consider it with Brown this week.

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BuyBuy O’Riley

November 20, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Buy/Sell | 171 Comments

by: Sky

Out here on the fields. He fights for his meals. He puts his back into his living. And then he gets wasted! And says something really dumb that you probably shouldn’t click on while at work. Deadspin, ya couldn’t censor the word in your title? What the Eff…see? You can get the point across without actually saying it. Neverthewho! It seems that our media darling Riley Cooper has torn the fantasyniks asunder. One side of the camp will tell you he’s been extremely lucky with the production he’s had since week 6. I mean, he’s only averaging 6 targets per game during that span. Want a little perspective on how low that is? Well, over the last 4 weeks, he’s outscored Demaryius Thomas (10.75 TPG), Pierre Garcon (10.5 TPG) and AJ Green (11.5 TPG). So somehow, he’s squeezing similar or better production from 40%-45% less targets. REGRESSION ALERT! Right? Well, maybe not so fast. You see, chemistry is a crazy thing between QB and receiver. This Foles to Cooper love affair could be spotted last year as the season wound down and has carried into this year. It’s not just that Foles likes throwing to Cooper because he’s a great receiver – I don’t think he is – or because he’s especially fast – he’s not – but because he trusts him. Trust goes a long way in those relationships. I have no doubt Foles and Cooper would excel at a marriage retreat with trust exercises. Catch me Coop I’m falling into your loving arms! That’s Foles. He calls him Coop, trust me. All this to say, Foles is willing to throw dangerous passes Riley’s way because he knows he’ll fight for them. Plus Cooper has this going for him: he’s not the best receiver on his own team. But, but Sky…you said to buy him…why would I not want the best receiver on the team? That’s the great thing about Riley and his situation. He doesn’t have to be to get results. DeSean pulls the toughest corner more often than not, the ground game threat usually keeps the safety playing up tight and Cooper is left by his lonesome to do some damage against the second best coverage player on the team. And because this topic is getting ridiculously long, I’d like to finish with a few notes. Consider this the lightening round portion of your reading info-tainment. Since becoming a starter, Foles is averaging 26.4 attempts per game. Remember when we all said ‘these stats can’t be sustained because of low target totals’? Well, Cooper has been 22.7% of Foles’ targets during that span. Perspective? Aforementioned DT has been 22.7% of Peyton’s all year. Yup, for as explosive as the Eagles offense has been for the year, many forget they’re a run-first team and Foles hasn’t had to attempt many passes to garner the success he’s had. Oh and Cooper’s last game was regression? FUGGEDABAHDIT. Dropped a would be 40+ yard bomb of a touchdown and got dropped at the one inch line for another TD opportunity. Cooper is as real as he needs to be, just had a ‘bad’ game and is on bye. BuyBuy O’Riley indeed. In other buy/sell news for 2013 Fantasy Football…

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Jam it or Cram it: Blame it on the Rainey

November 19, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Waiver Wire | 72 Comments

by: The Guru

The possibilities are nearly endless with the Bobby Rainey references. Who knew Bobby Rainey would go off for nearly 35 fantasy points and start trending on Twitter? Some of my faves include #ItsRaineyMen, #NovemberRainey, #ChocolateRainey and #SomewhereOverTheRaineyBow. Personally, I went the Milli Vanilli route because I see Bobby Rainey more fraud than Grammy winner. Now and then something comes along that is just too good to be true. Ask Sky about his investment in Planet Hollywood. One of those things was the “band” Milli Vanilli. Back in late 80’s, early 90’s, your-humble-but-nonetheless-handsome Guru was trapped in Top 40 radio Hell and forced to spin tunes by MC Hammer, Wilson Phillips and Roxette. I refer to those four years as my “lost weekend.” Personally, I believe we all need a few lost years or decades in our lives. It’s hard to respect someone that didn’t completely piss away their life for at least a year or two doing something crazy like follow the Grateful Dead, travel with the carnival or marry a Russian bride. Unfortunately, I wasted my time playing the lip-sync hits from Milli Vanilli. Blame it on the rain. And the free cocaine. It’s time to jam it or cram it.

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RCL Football Update: Week 11

November 19, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Commenter Leagues, Razzball Writers League | 13 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

2013 RCL Football Ugh… RCL needs a new definition. “Ridiculously Callous Leagues”. “Random Chance Leagues”. “Really wanna Choke myself Leagues”. My teams are tanking worse than M. Night Shyamalan’s directorial career. My Writer’s League squad has dropped three straight, my RCL team which was decent is looking god awful; it’s just been a rough few weeks on virtually all my teams. Stupid Nick’s 1-9 team starting Michael Floyd. Fantasy football is all luck [drops mic]. You can check out the full interactive 2013-2014 RCL Standings tab up under “Leagues” that shows you how you’re stacking up against your Razzball competitors in your journey to RCL glory.

RCL Top Scorer TOP SCORER: May the world sing your praises, Puttin on the Fitz, for topping the RCL scoreboard in week 11 and becoming a legend amongst RCL teams. Fitz stomped all over the Rancho Rajneesh league for 191.52 points led by Bobby Rainey in an astute gamble (started in only 3% of Yahoo leagues), LeSean McCoy and the huge Antonio Brown game. Conrgats to the Fitz! Unfortunately that only moves him to 6-5, while the two top RCL teams heading into week 11, Mega Gronk SMASH! and ReadOptionForDummies, both got wins moving to 10-1 and solidify top spots on the RCL leader board.

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Lights, Cam, NEWTON!

November 19, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Daily Notes | 143 Comments

by: Sky

Football is a funny sport, especially for a team that rarely gets to be in the spotlight. The last time I remember seeing Cam Newton under the watchful eye of prime time, it was Thursday Night Football, week 3 and it was the 2012 season. Heading into the game, the Panthers were 1-1 and were fresh off a win over a division rival – the New Orleans Saints – and were riding high. It was Cam’s second season in the league and people were expecting great things from the young man. And then September 20th happened and the good times left the building. Cam and company left their home turf after a humiliating loss at the hands of the Giants. After a 36-7 loss, a lot of people – both fantasy enthusiasts and real – began to question Supermans superpowers. Was the guy that looked like he was pouting on the sidelines under his towel really a leader? Was the guy who just threw 3 interceptions really the person that was gonna bring Carolina back to prominence? And so on and so forth and the rest of the season played out and people forgave but never forgot the towel-covered Cam. He was a childish athlete who’d never learn how to play within the game, they said. An egotistical prat who lacked the ability to guide a team to victory, they chattered. And for most of 2012, the people were right. But some light must’ve popped on at the end of 2012 as they went on to win 5 of their last 6. Sure, the Panthers finished 7-9 but there were flashes of the team we saw on Monday last year. We were just too blinded by Cam hatred to see. And of that Cam hatred? Well, to help his team go to 8-3 on the 2013 season, Newton finished with 209 passing yards and 3 passing TDs while leading his team in rushing on the night with 62. Yeah, but you ain’t talking fantasy, Sky, this is all about real football. No one cares. Well you SHOULD care, imaginary reader. This team is fighting for the playoffs. It has motivation and incentive down the stretch to actually win their division and a supercharged Cam can be a Superman Cam at any moment and tonight he definitely was that. Cam looked better than he has in a while in the passing game. I don’t know if it was his receivers stepping up or him playing at another level – I’ll defer towards the former but that’s cuz Cam’s been pretty damn good all year, y’all – but there’s reason for JB to be pointing at the back of that jersey tonight. Cam is legit. Panthers are legit. And now I have to write about other guys and I’m completely spent. In other news from week 11 MNF for the 2013 Fantasy Football season…

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The Razzball Football Podcast – The One Where JB Does A One Man Show

November 18, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Razzball Podcast | 14 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

The Razzball Podcast returns, and appropriately for a week of no-shows from several fantasy studs, it’s only me manning the podcast with super producer Kyle turning the knobs. We would survive a zombie invasion, Kyle! I recap all the action from week 11 including the Bobby Rainey breakout, why I’m still in love with Kris Durham and my DraftKings picks in my quest for a ticket into the Week 17 Millionaire Finale. I also go into why Nick’s Writers League team is a piece of hot garbage. If your game hinges on tonight’s game, good luck and be rooting for my Panthers!

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Bucs Were Saving Bobby For A Rainey Day

November 18, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Daily Notes | 169 Comments

by: Sky

I swear, players with names like this were made for Razzball. Do you know how many puns I’m gonna squeeze out of this down the stretch with him? Trust me, you don’t even know. But more to the point, we here have been all over this guy this week. This isn’t an ‘I toldja so’ but I do hope you all listened to the Razzball Podcast on Tuesday when I said you should pick up Chris Rainey. Then I hope you read the first comment on the Podcast post where I clarified who I was talking about. Anyone out there picking up the 5th string RB for the Steelers…mea culpa. Hopefully you read my BUY column on the following day and made sure it was Bobby Rainey. Sure, I didn’t tell you to start him but Tampa Bay said Leonard was starting. And clearly Tampa Bay never lies…wait, what? Neverthewho! Finally, as if we didn’t treat you like a baby seal enough, we clubbed you over the head on Friday with J-FOH making Rainey the lead in The Handcuff Report. All this to say, unless you were in a coma for the last week, we got you in early on this gem. And if you’re reading us first after coming out of a coma, thank you! Now you should really put life in perspective if we’re the first thing you think of upon waking from something like that. But now that we’re done slapping each other on the ass for the good call over here, let’s get to the numbers: Rainey carried the load in Tampa with 30 carries for 163 yards and 2 TDs on the ground while chipping in 2 for 4 through the air and another score. Yes, that’s three TDs from a guy who’s 23% owned as of mid-day Sunday which probably means he was owned under 10% prior to games starting. Seriously guys, put it at automatic waivers when Sundays start. Cheaters! But more about Bobby: that boy ain’t right…to opposing defenses. There was a lot of concern about his size holding him back from being a lead RB but all I have to say to that is Warrick Dunn. Bobby (5-8, 212) and Warrick (5-9, 180) have a little in common in that area. Everyone wants to pick on the little guy back there but little doesn’t mean these guys can’t carry the load when presented. Looking forward, Rainey had a nice matchup against a Falcons team that has given up plenty on the ground to fantasy backs on the year so I’m not going to anoint him straight away. I’d like to see a little adversity before I do that but I do think if you nabbed him, you’ve got a mid-tier RB2 right now with explosive upside and the potential to make up for all the RB heartache you’ve no doubt suffered to date. Here’s to Rainey making you into the Reigning champion this year. See? We got this for days, people. In other news from Sunday of week 11 for 2013 Fantasy Football…

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The Handcuff Report – Love Rainey O’er Me

November 16, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Handcuff Report | 56 Comments

by: J-FOH

Why did I pick up Bobby Rainey, the guy who was waived by the Cleveland Browns back in October? This move makes me feel dirty, not pigpen dirty, but the I just picked up a hooker in an alley dirty. Maybe I should go back to the beginning. *wavy lines wavy lines wavy lines* I drafted Doug Martin in the hopes he would lead me to championship glory. He’s PPR gold and that’s all I play, standard makes me fall asleep from boredom. But nope, that was an unwise selection. Hey I listened to Sky and I was so pissed at him that I hopped on a little plane, flew to where he lives, got drunk and told him off. What can I say, I really think my insults are better in person. OK, now I grab Mike James who drops 158 on the Seahawks and makes me think that maybe I scored some pure lottery type luck. Nope, that’s strike two on your hopes and dreams. Now what do I do, Tampa is cursed, they lost their QB who woke up one day and said “I suck”, a bunch of them got MRSA, their coach is a dick, and now Brian Leonard is the lead back. Wait!….What? Bobby Rainey looked so good on Monday night, “well Jack he was playing the weak rush D of the Dolphins”, that is true diligent commenter. But Really? I know what I’ll do, I’ll grab both and beat the devil at his own game. Damn, this shizz is making me depressed. Rainey has the upside here. If you don’t already own him I would grab him. Bucs are showing signs of life and I think every current and former Browns running back is better than T-Rich. Yup, I would drop T-Rich for Rainey. If you’re going to go for it then I would go grab Rainey and hopefully the curse of the Bucs is over and they all play really well ROS.

Please, blog, may I have some more?