Early Games Live Thread, Week 5

The first month of the season is already gone (or I guess more accurately, one quarter), but however you’d like to describe the passage of time this football season, one thing is eminently clear: there are a lot of undefeated teams. Six in fact. They are the Bengals, Broncos, Falcons, Packers, Panthers, and the Patriots (because there is no God). Out of those teams, it is my ~~expert~~ pedestrian opinion, only two teams have staying power to continue at an elite level all the way through to the Super Bowl, and that’s the Packers and the Patriots (because of the aforementioned God being missing in action.) The Bengals will once again go 12-4 and then 0-1 in the playoffs (until they tell me otherwise), Peyton Manning’s arm will probably fall off once December comes around, the Falcons have feasted on teams that measure right below suck, and the Panthers are pretty beat up. Plus, I don’t believe the NFL accepts playoff teams from the NFC South unless they are under .500. This kinda-sorta (close enough!) segues into the interesting Seahawks/Bengals game. Can Dalton continue playing above the Dalton line? Will Seattle’s offensive line continue to be about as effective as what recovery water is to concussions? Learn the answers to these questions and more!

Rankings have been updated for today’s games and can be found here.

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Streamers, Week 5: Two For the Price of One

by: waterloo

What’s the saying again? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Or, should I say, Foles me once and twice. Last time I picked Nick Foles as a streamer, he kind of spit the bed, if you will. Now, it’s tempting to go with him again in Green Bay, as the opposing quarterback puts up good fantasy numbers be default thanks to Aaron Rodgers being locked in at home. But no. Not this time, though I would consider him if I needed someone. This week, both of the top streamer quarterbacks come from the same game in Kansas City. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

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The Stats Machine, YTD Rankings

October 10, 2015 | 2015 Buy/Sell, 2015 Fantasy Football | 3 Comments

by: malamoney

In order to provide the most accurate rankings it was essential that I instruct The Stats Machine to recalculate the first three weeks’ results, accounting for opposing defenses. This was a bit more work that I had anticipated, but alas, I have the results. Can you believe that the top running back is C.J. Anderson? I hope not. That waste of a first round pick has been as useful as tits on a bull. And how about Jeremy Hill. Had it not been for last week’s three touchdown effort, he’d be a useful as a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest. Here is what The Stats Machine has computed based on the first four weeks…

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Start ‘Em and Sit ‘Em, Week 5: Bathing in Russell Wilson’s Holy Water

October 10, 2015 | 2015 Fantasy Football, 2015 Roster Strategy | 57 Comments

by: LT Murray IV

Homies, I’m home! Greetings! I come to you live from Kathmandu, at a retreat where other Elder God chosen worshipers come to participate in peyote smoking, animal sacrifice, and some other mind-stimulating activities I’m not at liberty to discuss. Living at this elevation has really helped me clear my head of all negative thoughts and distractions, and if the Elders are correct, this will be the greatest weekend of my Fantasy Football predicting life. Thus far, we’ve discussed “fear of failure” and “radical acceptance”, and all of a sudden, things have become so clear for me; Razzball will go on to become the largest fantasy sports site on the planet and I will ride around our world’s largest cities on an elephant while women throw themselves at my well manicured feet. You’ve got to be realistic about these things.

I am Tehol Beddict and this is Start ‘Em and Sit ‘Em! Take heed!

My rankings have been updated and can be found here.

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RCL Update, Week 5: Are We Having Fun Yet?

October 9, 2015 | 2015 Fantasy Football, 2015 Razzball Commenter Leagues | 13 Comments

by: J-FOH

You know what I love around here… Jay. If I even mention the Chargers, I get an editors note. [Jay’s Note: True.] Like if I wanted to be a jerk, I would say the Chargers were originally from L.A. and need to come back home again. Or that I was a Denver fan since they drafted Elway and I found out my uncle had Bronco season tickets from day one of the franchise, but I wore this hat prior to that. Yup, I thought it was cool because it looked like the old Pittsburgh Pirates hat and it was 1980… I was five-years-old. Speaking of the Chargers, with Gates returning, will this completely change everything they have done in fantasy so far? I hope you sold Keenan Allen… I’m kidding of course, but situations like this do worry me. Philip has a bestie already Ladarius and Keenan. Antonio es numero uno. Like we say on the baseball side, I’ll be watching this situation like a cyclops with a monocle. With possible injuries to Johnson and Floyd, this could be a real shizz show to predict when they are healthy. I also wonder if Woodhead will be catching as many balls out of the backfield. My Samoan NFL guru friend thinks that if they were smart the would line Greene up as a wide receiver and really mess with their opponents. These are just my thoughts when looking at what a team will do when someone this important returns to the field. It’s football, the teams change game plans like Tehol changes booty calls… week-to-week. Wait, a minute, I’m here to write an update… or am I?

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The Stats Machine, Week 5: The Most Electrifying Stats

October 9, 2015 | 2015 Buy/Sell, 2015 Fantasy Football | 37 Comments

by: malamoney

FINALLY!!! The defense has come to The Stats Machine! For the past many weeks I have been promising an updated algorithm in which opposing the defense is accounted for. Today I deliver on that promise. The premise is simple. All offensive performances will be weighted based on the ranking of the defense against which they posted said performance. Defenses have been ranked by the following four categories. Passing yards allowed vs QB. Rushing yards allowed vs RB. Receiving yards allowed vs WR. And receiving yards allowed vs TE. If one team allowed jus a few yards less than the next, but has given up several more touchdowns to a give position, I have swapped them in the rankings. With that preamble out of the way, let’s get to it.

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FanDuel, Week 5: A Swift Brees

October 9, 2015 | 2015 Daily Fantasy, 2015 Fantasy Football | 6 Comments

by: Zach

What a weird week. I’m not talking about how the Falcons Devonta Freeman was the only player last week to score more points than Chiefs Kicker Cairo Santos, it was just the fact that HOLY COW DEVONTA FREEMAN WAS THE ONLY PLAYER TO DO BETTER THAN CAIRO SANTOS. At this point, it’s just best to give up and start playing Daily Fantasy Hockey. That’s what I’m doing. Seriously though, Alec Martinez is such a value play. Yes, he’s behind Drew Doughty, but the Sharks’ offense isn’t all that, he’s on the second PP and Defensive Lines and plus, his ATOI was almost close to 20 minutes per game last year! C’etait incroyable! Anyhow, I may have said to start Colin Kaepernick last week, but I am very confident in saying that both Carson Palmer and Alec Martinez will eventually make me very happy. I love you Carson Palmer and Alec Martinez. But DFS Hockey isn’t what Jay wants me to do. So let’s do what Jay wants me to do.

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That Was So Very Houston of the Texans

October 9, 2015 | 2015 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Daily Notes | 82 Comments

by: Jay

In a surprising turn of events for Thursday Night Football, this game was actually semi-entertaining. I’m saying “semi” because I don’t want to get too crazy here, seeing as how there were plenty of trademarks for a Thursday game present. But there was some offense, and a lot of it came from old people. Matt Hasselbeck, Frank Gore, Andre Johnson, and Adam Vinatieri all directly contributed to the Colts victory, combining their centuries of experience in the NFL into spry performances. However, the more direct contributions to a crucial Colts victory came from Brian Hoyer (and the ineffective Texans defense). After Ryan Mallet was pulled because Arian Foster whiffed on a catch (Bill O’Brien logic!), we saw an accurate, decisive, and competent three quarters from Hoyer. And then, on a potential game-tying drive at the two minute warning, complete and utter derp (shown above) happened. It’s essentially what Brett Favre could do so well (not counting cell phone technology) back in the day. And as the Colts once again get rewarded for mediocrity by being in the worst division in football (for at least 15 years now), the Texans continue to be the posterchild for the modern day NFL: If you don’t have a quarterback, you’re f*cked.

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Thursday Night Football Live Thread, Week 5: Colts vs. Texans

October 8, 2015 | 2015 Fantasy Football, 2015 GameDay Notes | 18 Comments

by: Jay

In a legendary battle between Matt Hasselbeck (with the added bonus of recovering from a viral infection, which I’m just assuming is called “getting old”) and Ryan Mallet, the Colts will hope to hold onto an already tumultuous season against a division rival that’s been their personal punching bag for the last decade. Andrew Luck is still experiencing shoulder “pain”, even though he’s been throwing well this week in practice. Then again, sitting Luck seems to be the “big picture” decision that I would normally support. Though, this type of mindset seems odd coming from a franchise that hasn’t noticed issues on their offensive and defensive lines for about three years now (or the past twenty, if you think about it). But the Texans seem to be impressed with the Colts front office decision-making so much that they themselves have chosen to waste away the career of probably one of the best modern-day defensive players with attaching mediocre everything around J.J. Watt. Except at the quarterback position. No, the Texans always find a way to turn that position into a complete and utter dumpster fire. So here we are, two mediocre teams resting their hopes on one Matt Hasselbeck and one Ryan Mallet… yup, sounds like peak Thursday Night Football to me!

Rankings have been updated for tonight game and can be found here.

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The Injury Report, Week 5: The Empire Strikes Steve Smith’s Back

October 8, 2015 | 2015 Fantasy Football, 2015 Injury Report | 14 Comments

by: RotoLance

Some dude in black hit Steve Smith’s back. And he was off to a great start this year. For some reason I wasn’t watching the game last Thursday, I was following it though my Twitter timeline and FantasyCast. Which I think was something that actually heightened the “experience”. It meant being flooded with Joe Flacco “elite” Tweets, however. I mean, when I saw through FantasyCast that Joe Flacco had rushed for zero (or negative) yards on a 4th down play, if I recall, I immediately checked my timeline for the expected barrage of inevitable “Elite Sneak” Tweets. Like this one:

Elitesneak

— Jason Longfellow (@jaywrong) October 2, 2015

So how about actually discussing that Steve Smith injury.. Okay. In due time. Firstly, I want to remind all of you that I’m ordering this injury discussion from greatest impact to least impact on your fantasy teams. And Steve Smith’s leading off. Which is both good and bad. It’s good that we don’t have a more significant injury this week and bad for all the Steve Smith owners, because he was going to return value over his cost this year.

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Smokey Says, Week 5: Poppin’ Willie’s

October 8, 2015 | 2015 Buy/Sell, 2015 Fantasy Football | 10 Comments

by: Smokey

Put your helmets on (this is for your safety). I don’t need to actually wear one, becuase helmets are for squares and homeless roller-bladers. It is making a comeback amongst the less fortunate. Don’t believe me? Go use the interwebs. Everytime I use the term “poppin'”, the addicted side of my personality jumps to the forefront of who… what… where. For nonsensical terms and since it’s football season, lets keep it civil and discuss some footie. Last week went fairly well for my prediction, as a matter of fact, the week before that went just as nice. One day I will have a flock of basement-dwelling social media bangers asking me roster questions. This week is all about a team that some have written off as a fantasy blah so far through four weeks. I am talking about the Saints, and the player that I am hyping this week is Willie Snead. The Saints travel to the land of fantasy brotherly love when it comes to the wide-out position. Wanna hear more about Fast Willie and how the Eagles are going to get exposed… again?

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IDP Rankings, Week 5: The (Cow)Boys are Back in Town

October 8, 2015 | 2015 Fantasy Football, 2015 IDP Rankings, 2015 IDP Report | 28 Comments

by: Kevin Kumpf

Period	Accuracy	Rank	High	Low	Percentile
Week 4	54.3%	15 out of 21	59.9%	31.5%	Top 75%
2015	59.2%	5 out of 19	61.9%	50.1%	Top 30%

In August, it’s easy to draft a guy who’s going to miss the first four games with a suspension. “I’ll be patient,” you tell yourself. “I’m getting him at a discount, and worst-case scenario I’ll be 2-2 when he comes back.” You probably also talked yourself into Jeff Janis and Devin Funchess. As soon as the games start, things change, and even the best laid plans can go awry. I bring this up because both Rolando McClain and Greg Hardy return from suspension this week, and there is a decent chance that at least one of them is on your waiver wire. If that’s the case, pick them up NOW. McClain had a resurgent 2014, proving himself as a borderline weekly starter when he was healthy. I’d be hesitant to start him this week, as he will likely rotate with Anthony Hitchens, but given the uncertainty surrounding Sean Lee’s concussion status, McClain is absolutely worth picking up. The bigger deal is obviously Hardy, who has the potential to inject some life into what has been a miserable DL position so far in 2015. He immediately becomes a top-20 DL, with top-5 upside.

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