Last Second Decisions – Benchers Ain’t $#%& But Hoes And Tricks

Ugh.  My bench calls last week, in a way to sum them up, is like the Vikings this season.  AP has to go through an unimaginable tragedy, then there’s rumors of him being traded, then they bring in a scrapheap of a QB in Josh Freeman who is going to start.  On a lighter note, ESPN wants the head of whomever scheduled the Monday Night Football games this year.  Wait – that’s lighter?  Ummm, yea if Joe Pesci is the head-deliverer!

I hated going into LSD this week.  Haha, a sentence I never thought I’d say… But yeah, it was a brutal week, and despite utterly clobbering the other Razzball Writers and being one of the handful of teams undefeated in RCLs, I just can’t quite seem to hit my stride in Last Second Decisions so far this year.  But what is hitting its stride is RCL Basketball, and we’re gearing up for the best and biggest season we’ve ever had over there on hoops.  If you need your fantasy get-me-over when NFL is over and until Baseball and daily Grey-dates (what I call Grey updates, but now realize that sounds like a Cougar dating site term), hoops is you perfect go-to through the second half of Winter to early Spring.

As painful as it is, looking at last week’s picks – Joe Flacco was my only real home run.  And it was barely a home run.  Like a Nori Aoki homer.  What does that tell you.  At least DeAngelo Williams had over 100 yards and a really solid PPR week too.  BenJarvus Green-Ellis got 86 on the ground, I think that’s a push, then I blew it with DeAndre Hopkins and Austin Pettis.  Pettis is dead to me.  Then to my benchers… and it gets worse.  My only win there was Anquan Boldin.  But bench calls for Matthew Stafford, Larry Fitzgerald (last Sunday), Stevan Ridley and Vincent Jackson were all catastrophes.  Clear cut 1-4 there.  Hey that’s still better than the Giants!  Hopefully I break out of mediocrity and failure with who I like in week 7 and their % started in ESPN and Yahoo, respectively (NOTE – these are not always recommendations for 1-for-1 swaps, just guys I like who are understarted and guys I hate overstarted):

POSSIBLE STARTERS

Nick Foles (25.6%, 40%)  He’s a boom or bust play this week, but I’m leaning towards boom against the league-leader in QB fantasy points against – America’s Team.  Chip Kelly will keep his high-paced offense going, keeping both defenses tired and scoring aplenty.  I’m starting Foles with confidence.

Joseph Randle (32.4%, 34%)  In that same game, I think the Cowboys win this one and try to keep Kelly’s offense off the field with a heavy dose of Randle in his first career start.  Also a guy I have for my DraftKings lineups this week, I think Randle is virtually a must-start flex option with the amount of work he’ll get in a pretty good matchup.

Kris Durham (0.2%, 3%)  With Ryan Broyles officially dead to me after fizzling out given a great opportunity, and Calvin Johnson looking like he’s much closer to full strength, I think it will leave Durham a lot of room in what should be a great game with Cincy coming into town.  Luckily it’s in Ford Field and not in that typhoon we saw Tom Brady try to play in two weeks ago, and I have a feeling the Bengals get a lead.  While his average of 10.5 targets the past two weeks probably won’t carry over, I think with Megatron healthier, he’ll get 8-9 quality targets and not being forced the ball.  A nice deep league play, and I have him going in two leagues.

Fred Jackson (40.5%, 52%)  I’m going higher up in the %s than usual with picking Jackson rather than my usual deeper sleepers, but I was shocked at how low his %-start percentage is this week.  I guess there is some concern that he had his first single-digit fantasy outing last week, but therein lies what should be a lack of concern!  Dude put up double digits in his first 5 games!  Starter in all leagues.

Coby Fleener (16.2%, 20%)  This is your last chance, dawg!  With hands made out of MegaMan cannons, Fleener is dropping em like they’re hot worse than Sean Connery dropping mercenaries on Alcatraz.  Man that movie makes no sense.  But is just so damn fun!  Anyway, in the Peyton/Luck Bowl, I think everyone can agree the Colts will need to pass frequently and the Broncs give up lots of points to TEs and if Fleener can wash his hands from all the Crisco he dips his gloves in, he’ll be fine.  A nice Jimmy Graham fill in or deeper play.

SON OF A BENCH

Colin Kaepernick (60.0%, 56%) Well, if my bench calls are going to go so bad, I might as well pick a QB I need to win me a game in a tough league this week, right?  Right?!  Cure of the reverse jynx!  Listen, I am not too optimistic on SanFran C.K. in what should be a slog-fest of short runs and dude’s on the ground.  Kinda like the Black Plague. The Titans give up the 4th-least points to fantasy QBs and I think Kaepernick is on the outside looking in of fantasy starters.

Stevan Ridley (71.8%, 49%)  I’m going double-or-nothing on this one!  After a surprise breakout last week, the Pats go to the Jets who really wreaked havoc on their offense in week 2.  Given some of that was the rain, but I think with Gronk (likely) back out there, the Pats try to get their passing game in synch and Ridley doesn’t get as many carries as fantasy owners would hope.  Not buying the bounce back quite yet.

Dwayne Bowe (41.%, 44%)  As much as I wish this was Thursday and I could’ve put Larry Fitzgerald as another double-or-nothing bust pick (and been right!), I’m sticking with Bowe as a guy you still shouldn’t be starting in virtually any 12-team or under league.  The Texans, despite being awful, have given up the fewest points to opposing WRs and I don’t see any way this isn’t a 20-3 type game with the Texans starting some dude at QB that sounds like a porn star.  It’s going to borrrrrrrring.  No thanks on Bowe.

James Jones (28.5%, 24%)  At the time of this writing (wee hours of Sunday morning), JJ seems pretty unlikely to suit up, and with a 4:25 kick-off, there’s no way I’d want to be stuck letting him roll in my last WR or Flex spot unless I had another late-game option ready to go.  I’ll miss him this week on my undefeated Writer’s League team, but nabbed Kris Durham and hoping the power of LSD gets me highhhhh – point totals (acronym puns are so fun)!

Maurice Jones-Drew (69.7%, 60%)  I struggled with this one, and couldn’t find anyone better so went with an obvious option.  Sue me.  Sure he looked pretty good last week as the Jags didn’t get full American History X-ed by the Broncos like everyone thought, but I don’t see another good game here.  Pretty easy bench if you have decent options.

If you have any last second decisions, shoot some comments below or tweet me @jbgilpin – and remember I’m going to be a little slower getting to them but I’ll get to everything well before kickoff!   Good luck in week 7!