Bet the Farm: NFL Week 8 Betting Contest

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.

Standings After Week 7:

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Weekly Rankings: Yeah The Boykin Play

by: Sky

Dedication. Devotion. Turning all the night time into the day. You hear that sweet little synth riff yet? No? How about the jangly blues guitar faintly being played underneath it…no? Hrm, what can I say, I tried. I’m guessing none of you will get the song which is fine. Not the finest work by those guys but the first person who can give me the name of the song and the band wins…well nothing. You googled it, cheater! Well, it’s a major bye week full of bad matchups for RBs and great matchups for WRs. So good, in fact, a guy that might not even be owned in your league in Jarrett Boykin could return a WR1 value on the week. I follow him up with Terrance Williams playing against a Detroit secondary that loves to give the secondary WR in any offense a good day. I think Greg Jennings has a ‘see what you guys are missing?’ day against his former team mates as the Vikings lose 47-10 but he had a great day so that’s all that matters, right? In other news, I haven’t given up on Andre Ellington. Hopefully Arians hasn’t either…especially without some kind of explanation. Maybe he’ll figure out throwing to the running back on screens will relieve the pressure on a beleaguered o-line and give Palmer some breathing room for those deep pass plays. I know, I know: crazy talk. It’s gonna be a weird week in ATL until we know more about their RB situation. Yahoo’s already annointing SJax the starter via their projections but he just started practicing on Wednesday…yeah, ok. That would be pretty weird for a guy who supposedly had a setback just a week ago. Well, whatever, I’m keeping my expectations on all of them low for now until I hear more news and strongly suggest the same for you. Nice possible cheap ‘this game is a blow out, here come the reserves’ RBs to throw at you would be Turbin and Hunter. Oh, and check down master Jason Campbell mutes Gordon a bit this week and increases the likelihood that the Ogre – Ogbonnaya – gets a lot of worthless checkdowns, making him flex-worthy in my book. And as always, my kickers were selected by a highly scientific process of trying to burp all the state names. Hrm…that’s not really scientific…nor does it really do anything. Yeah, they’re still kickers. But enough of that, on with the show. Here’s week 8’s rankings for 2013 Fantasy Football…

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Week 8 Players to Play/Avoid: Stacy’s Mom…Isn’t Starting Him This Week

October 23, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Rush & Pass Strategy | 92 Comments

by: Loudon

With Nick Foles showing the world why Michael Vick was the starting quarterback for Philadelphia, Reggie Wayne tearing his ACL, Doug Martin injuring his shoulder (DO NOT DROP HIM YET), and the future of both Arian Foster and Ben Tate now up in the air following their bye week, this week has been a mess, but we still have to press on. Here are your bad and good matchups for week 8.

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DraftKings – Nick Gets A Chance Of Redemption A Mere Week Later

October 23, 2013 | DraftKings | 12 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

My biggest reason for digging daily fantasy leagues, and DraftKings is by far my favorite, is I can brag right away. As in, “HAHA Nick I owned you this week!” While I still finished just out of the money, I had a solid team and can still brag to dear Nicholas. If you didn’t catch it last week, Nick and I tweeted out our line-ups and my immediate response to his was “Josh Freeman?!” This just isn’t Nick’s year for football… And with DraftKings you get immediate bragging rights unlike your yearly leagues. Sure my 7-0 Writer’s League Team is going to do better than Nick’s 1-6 team, but hey, at least I know for sure I won DraftKings!

Nick and I are going to face off again in the same $1 challenge to see if I can go double-or-nothing against him. We’re putting our teams together now and will tweet them out right before kickoff on Sunday as well. Razzball Nation is of course invited to join and track our teams and see how you stack up against us in the same challenge. And pick Josh Freeman again Nick!

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In The Midnight Hour She Cried ‘Mor, Mor, Morris’

October 23, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Buy/Sell | 283 Comments

by: Sky

Alright everybody. It’s that time. Grab your fingerless, studded leather gloves, tease your hair out so it looks like you stuck your finger in a light socket and send your red leather jacket through a paper shredder. Yes, we’re gonna rock out to some Billy Idol and listen to the buy low tale of Alfred Morris. But wait, what, huh? How’s a guy who’s performing well – currently a mid-range RB2 in most formats – be close to consideration as a buy low you ask? Well, under the hood there’s some stats. Morris is currently 4th in rushing yards per game (78.7), 8th in total rushing yards (472 with his bye week already passed), tied for second for 20+ yard runs on the year (5) and 4th in yards per attempt (5.2). With all of that, how in the world could he be underrated you ask? Simple: touchdowns. Morris is currently tied with a plethora – word of the day – of guys who are stuck at 3 rushing touchdowns ranging from Brandon Jacobs (yuck sauce) to Kendall Hunter (yes, a backup RB). This whole pile is 1 TD behind Morris’ teammate Roy Helu. You know, the guy who got every rushing TD in the game on Sunday. Three actually. Frustration creates opportunity if you’re ready to seize it. Given the dearth of injuries this last week and the steady nature of The Butler, a ROS RB6 or RB7 is well within sight and this could be your last chance to get in on that. Buy while you still can and let out a little Rebel Yell while you do. In other buy/sell news for 2013 Fantasy Football…

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Jam it or Cram it: The Battered and the Broken Edition

October 22, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Waiver Wire | 87 Comments

by: The Guru

Week 7 in the NFL was like the first five minutes of Saving Private Ryan – carnage. It was one rough week with big-name players left battered, broken, concussed and crying . Sing it, Bono: Sunday, bloody Sunday. The Bucs’ Doug Martin is out for the year with a torn labrum. So much for that number one pick. The Colts’ Reggie Wayne suffered a season-ending torn ACL. The Rams’ Sam Bradford is gone for the year with the same injury. In the Fantasy Football world, ACL stands for: All Championships Lost. Jay Cutler broke his groin and no amount of Kristin Cavallari massaging is going to fix it; he’s out 6 weeks. Philly’s new favorite son Nick Foles appears done and is sitting in a dark room with his drool cup after suffering the dreaded “C” word the NFL hates to hear – concussion. Packers tight end Jermichael Finley went down with his second serious head injury this season and spent the night in the ICU thinking he was at Disney World. Arian Foster was lost to a hammy, Brian Cushing broke his leg, Lance Briggs is out with a fractured shoulder, Champ Bailey hurt his foot and Peyton Manning’s forehead is still the color of a baboon’s ass. Oh, its always like that. Good news for Peyton owners. With so many roster shattering injuries and six teams on byes this week, it’s time to do some deep digging into the waiver wire medical bag. Get me a morphine drip and let’s jam it or cram it.

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RCL Football Update: Week 7

October 22, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Commenter Leagues, Razzball Writers League | 30 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

2013 RCL Football When the next meeting of the designers of those inspiration posters goes down, one of them will be forced to suggest a picture of my Writer’s League team when the word “Perfection” comes up. Perfection is a tricky thing. On one hand, I’m expected to win every week now, and on the other, screw it I’m 7-0 baby! I don’t think I’ve ever had a 7-0 team in any competitive leagues in over 10 years of playing fantasy football, it’s a tough feat to accomplish. The perfect record puts me in a class with only 4 other RCL teams which you can check out atop 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: If you missed this week’s Pod, then you missed that Release the KRAKEN! from the Take On Jaywrong 2 league was the top scoring team through Sunday this week, and it held up through MNF to officially lead the RCL in scoring. Kraken released! With big weeks from VJax, Forte and Jacquizz, it was the big game from Jordan Reed as Kraken’s bye-week fill-in for Jimmy Graham that put him over the top with 195.56 points. I’m pretty sure this was the first week no RCL team topped 200, but that diminishes nothing Kraken! He moves to 6-1 and atop JayWrong’s second league and gets a very tough matchup against Fish’s Official Team in week 8 to try and keep the #1 spot. Congrats again Kraken and keep Jay being Wrong!

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Giants RB On The Cover Of Sports Hillis-trated

October 22, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Daily Notes | 216 Comments

by: Sky

The narrative of tonight’s game would best be read in a Sam Elliott voice. No, I’m not talking about those crappy Dodge commercials. No again, I’m not talking about his turn as the Chupadogra in Marmaduke. How’d you even know he was that without Wikipedia anyways? Nah, I’m rocking The Big Lebowski on this one and going with ‘The Stranger’. Sometimes there’s a man…I won’t say a hero, ’cause, what’s a hero? But sometimes, there’s a man. And I’m talkin’ about Peyton Hillis here. Sometimes, there’s a man, well, he’s the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that’s Hillis, in New Jersey. And even if he’s a lazy man – and Hillis was most certainly that. Quite possibly the laziest in Bergen County, which would place him high in the runnin’ back world for laziest worldwide. But sometimes there’s a man…sometimes, there’s a man…Aw, I lost my train of thought here. But what I do know is on a night rife with Fantasy futility, the the bridge to a winning week was brought down by the unlikeliest of guys on a night of the unlikeliest suckitude we’ve seen in prime time so far this year. Hillis gave us his best Hynoski impersonation for most of the night as he rumbled for 81 tough yards and a touchdown to help hold down the first win of the NFL season for his beleaguered team mates. Indeed, sometimes there’s a man…who doesn’t really matter and will never be heard from again. You can call Peyton Hillis the dude and I’m just fine with that. But he’s not the capitalized ‘Dude’. He’s some schmo that stumbled onto an 0-6 team and whose lead back for the week got hurt and needed a spark for the night and he was it. And with this narrative, I fully expect the first question to be ‘should I pick up Hillis’ because I’ve trained you all well in the art of snark. Good lord, this game was terrible. Thank you, voice of Sam Elliott in my head, for making it palpable. In other 2013 Fantasy Football news…

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The Razzball Football Podcast – The One Where JB Rocks Nick In DraftKings

October 21, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Razzball Podcast | 4 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

Week 7 is (mostly) in the books, and despite the worst MNF game ever, it was a huge week capped off with the Battle of 1812 (yeah, that one took me a split second…). JayWrong goes over that game and everything AFC (including yet another Chargers win), then I go over the NFC notes including a Panthers win and a rant about how the St. Louis Rams carried themselves. But I do wish the best to Sam Bradford… Fluke injury. Murph then calls in reporting on that and all the other injuries from Sunday, and lists himself in the report after suffering a loss to my 7-0 Writer’s Team! Or so I assume, Muprh! Drink more of that moonshine I sent ya that kept ya out last week! Erases memories… Good luck to everyone in week 8!

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COMMENCE PONY BOWL

October 21, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Daily Notes | 17 Comments

by: Jay

Good tidings everyone and welcome, once again, to this quickly/drunkenly-typed post of one handsome man’s observations of Sunday Night Football. I’d like to thank Sky for covering my slot last week, as, if you didn’t hear, was because my birthday weekend finally arrived after a year-long wait. Sky seemed to understand that a three-day alcohol binge was not the best precursor to write a Sunday Night Football recap… Naw, I’m just messing with you, he didn’t mention that at all. He was actually wondering why that weekend would be any different then my normal routine. Well played sir, well played. The difference? More crying. Goodbye age-30, my self-labeled peak. Hello early 30’s. So, football… hey, wait a second… are you kidding me? Peyton Manning returned to Indy last night? No one told me! Way to downplay a narrative sports media! Let us go over this premier horse game. Hey, John Elway, why the long face? HAR HAR.

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Matt Fuerte

October 21, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Daily Notes | 222 Comments

by: Sky

There was a lot of buzz about the Chicago Bears offense heading into the season. B-Marsh was gonna have a great year and Alshon was going to improve upon a decent but unhealthy rookie campaign. Cutler was going to have his most productive QB year yet. And underneath it all, Matt Forte was just kinda there. Sure, much of the offense was tailored to a guy like Forte but in most rankings, Forte wasn’t cracking the top 5 running backs. I’m not just talking for myself here – I put him 14th in PPR for RBs…you can berate me in the comments -he was getting treated like what he has been in most seasons coming into 2013. A low touchdown back who had strong PPR value and would gain you over 1000 yards on the ground. Nothing to go crazy over by any means. But clearly the value-flip has switched. After today’s effort of 19/91/3 to go with 2/18 through the air, Forte is pacing out to be a guy that’ll clear 1700 yards on the year to go with 13 touchdowns and a whopping 80 receptions. I doubt the reception numbers on many levels but if he finishes in the 60 range, color me not surprised. He’s been a bit of an unsung RB hero this year in a draft full of disappointments and here’s me standing up and saluting Matt and his efforts. Let’s hope he doesn’t have to do it much with McCown moving forward. In other news from week 7 for 2013 Fantasy Football…

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

October 20, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Football, Last Second Decisions | 181 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

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.

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