The Emerald City Rejoices as Basketball Finally Returns

Yes, there were some choice news items between the Eagles trade of LeSean McCoy to yesterday’s whopper (with cheese, mind you), and of course they occurred while I enjoyed Spring Training in Phoenix. But I’m back and here to make amends, and it’s as if I was astoundingly prescient with knowing when the right time was to come back to report on all the NFL news items missed. Late yesterday afternoon, the New Orleans Saints traded Jimmy Graham (BUT DOES HE PLAY BASKETBALL?) and their 4th round selection to the Seattle Seahawks for Max Unger and their 1st round selection in the upcoming draft. The move clearly shows two things: First, the Saints are clearing large amounts of cap space. When you combine this transaction with their other releases and pay cuts, you might call this a heavy re-tool. Also, it will allow Breesus to really live up to his name by carrying this now heavy cross. For the Seahawks, well, I guess if you don’t fire your offensive coordinator for a questionable call that may have lost a Super Bowl, I guess quelling the masses by getting the best (or second best, depending on what the Gronk injured) tight end is a strong plan B. Intrestingly enough, though both McCoy and now Graham have moved within a week, elite players at their respective positions, you can make an argument that then the Eagles, and now the Saints had pretty good returns. I mean, if you’re going to burn it down, burn that f*cker down right, amiright folks?

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Start ‘Em and Sit ‘Em, Week 15: Feed the Crow

December 13, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football | 62 Comments

by: waterloo

It only took until Week 15 of the NFL season, but it looks like Mike Pettine actually wants to win games in Cleveland. After suffering through 13 games with Brian Hoyer as the quarterback, Pettine made the call to start Johnny Manziel this week against Cincinnati. Look, I’m on record as saying that Manziel is going to be a bust in the league, and I stand by that. However, Manziel can’t be as bad as Hoyer, and he’s the spark plug this offense needs.

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DraftKings: Locker Here To Shoulder Titans’ Burden

December 10, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football, DraftKings | 89 Comments

by: Sky

Hrm…how am I gonna do this…*Goes and reads ‘How To Sell A Bad Idea For Dummies*. I got it! He’s cheap! Yikes, readers and readettes, we’re really digging down into the down and dirty at QB suggesting Jake Locker at $5,400 but there’s some reason for optimism here. One, it’s your money, not mine…JK. The big reason I’m staring down the barrel of Jake’s cannon arm is the matchup. The Jets have been a wreck in the secondary all year. So bad, they’ve allowed a top 15 or better finish to quarterbacks with names like Alex Smith, Teddy Bridgewater and Kyle Orton (twice). If you were looking for a sign that something’s not working, Orton hanging big weeks on you more than once in a season is a pretty good indicator. Now of course, none of this touts Locker as a great play. He’s a risk. A big one, in fact. There’s no sign nor indication that Locker will ever be a good NFL QB at this point but DFS DGAF, y’all! Boy can scramble. Let’s just pretend that he has ‘started’ 4 games this year since he was hurt half way through week 4 and has played back to back 4th quarters the last two weeks when Zach Mettenberger’s shoulder turned into ground beef. In those ‘4 starts’, Locker has averaged about 34 yards on the ground and has a rushing TD to his credit. The great thing about rushing TDs? They’re worth more than passing TDs…seriously, you play this game, why am I telling you? So Locker could net you 9 points with 30 yards rushing and a TD without doing much out of the norm for his style of play. Now let’s take that ‘could’ and tack on the bad passing defense to date by the Jets that has allowed a 29:5 TD to INT ratio and an average of 258 passing yards a game for the year. Now let’s not kid ourselves, this could easily blow up in our faces like we just got a present from Jokey Smurf so I wouldn’t get cute and play him in cash games. That said, if you’re a GPP’in, you’re lookin’ to cut corners on pricing wherever you can and this could be that one time you’ll remember the 2014 Titans fondly. Enjoy. But enough about Denzel Washington, let’s move on. Here’s my red hot takes for the week 14 DK slate…

New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 10 team league of Razzball writers and friends to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It lets us know that you care!

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DraftKings: Shades Of His Former Shady-ness

December 3, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football, DraftKings | 48 Comments

by: Sky

When previewing matchups on DraftKings, it gets a little too easy to be lazy. Just roster the guys with the green OPRK, avoid the guys with it in red and maybe kinda/sorta glance at the neutral white guys. BTW, neutral white guys should be the name of the political party in Switzerland. You’re free to use it, Swiss Mrs. out there…but more to the point, I have a little secret for you. Come closer so I can whisper it into your ear. No, closer…EVERYONE CAN BE RUN ON! Sorry, felt the yelling would smack you from complacent analysis. Not like it hurt your ears, you’ve been listening to Rise Against at top volume with your ear buds jammed into your head. PS, don’t do that. Both listen to them and jack the volume up. Both are bad for you. Now where were we…oh yeah, anyone can be run on. When looking at Seattle’s rush defense, you have to allow for caveats. Yes, their numbers suggest running on them isn’t a good thing. They’ve only allowed 3.5 yards per carry on the year, a stat which is 4th best on the year. They’ve also only allowed 1036 rushing yards, good for 5th best. But I have two stat lines for you to debunk this mindset: 29/115/1 and 20/159/2. The first stat line is DeMarco Murray from week 6 in Seattle and the second one is Jamaal Charles from week 11 in KC. The rest of the lead backs Seattle has faced this year? A litany of circumstantial meh. Alfred Morris without RG3 under center in week 5? Trash. Darren McFadden at home in week 9? C’mon, man. Andre Williams in week 10? Dumpster fire. In fact, Seattle gave up 18/85/1 to Tre Mason and 16/79 to Jonathan Stewart this year too but if you asked anyone if Seattle is a stout run defense and they’ll say ‘yes’m’. Well, maybe not ‘yes’m’ unless you talk with a lot of people from the south. But that doesn’t tell you much about why you should start LeSean McCoy, of course so lets get Shady for a minute. First, let’s talk price tag: $6,400. If he’s your RB1 this week, that’s prettay, prettay nice. Secondly, he averages 22 touches a game on the season. That’s nice floor. Thirdly that’s also a fourthly and possibly a fifthly, he’s scored a touchdown and/or had over 100 yards from scrimmage in 6 of his last 7 games and three of his four touchdowns this season have come in the last four games. Don’t be throwing no shade at Shady this week, friends. But enough about that, let’s talk about another that. Here’s my red hot takes on the week 14 DK slate…

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Waiver Wired, Week 14: Heeeeeeere’s Johnny!

December 2, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football | 19 Comments

by: Andrew Nordmeier

The Internet nearly broke this week when the Cleveland Browns announced they were going to start rookie Johnny Manziel at quarterback… or so we think. It looks like Brian Hoyer might be sent to the bench to give the Browns a spark, according to published reports. But is he worth it from a fantasy standpoint? We’ll examine that and more as we take a dive into the waiver wire. There are three or four weeks left in your fantasy season, so this is the time to make the solid moves that will get you into the playoffs. So, what about Manziel? Yes, he was a change of pace for the Browns, as he rushed for a touchdown last week, but let’s see why you don’t want him. Tight end Jordan Cameron is questionable for this week after missing his last five games with concussion symptoms. Miles Austin is still hospitalized after taking a hit to his lower back and hurting his kidneys. Andrew Hawkins is the best receiving threat the team has right now that’s healthy. Yes, Josh Gordon is there too, but I would want to see how Manziel works with all of his weapons before seeing how much he impacts fantasy values on Lake Erie. The Browns finish the season with Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Carolina in Week 16 and Baltimore in Week 17. The chances are there for Manziel to throw it a bunch and get the all-important rushing yardage as well with a pair of weak rush defenses during the fantasy playoffs. Dare we say it, Manziel could be a nice play down the stretch if you want a quarterback with a good situation that you can pick up now.

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Waiver Wired, Week 7: We’re Not on Cruz Control

October 14, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football, Waiver Wire | 58 Comments

by: Andrew Nordmeier

The 2014 NFL season looks more and more like a demolition derby of humanity with each passing week. In Week 6, Victor Cruz of the New York Giants was the biggest name to see his season end. He ruptured the patella tendon in his knee on a fourth-down play and that was it. The night didn’t get any easier for the New York Giants as they lost Jerrel Jernigan for the season, which put them down two wide receivers. Losing 27-0 to the Eagles on Sunday night seemed to be secondary. Things worsened for the Giants in one day but is your fantasy team dealing with injuries? Of course it is. If you haven’t had a player get hurt you’re either extremely lucky or it’s a total fluke. Either way, we’ll help you get through this difficult time of the season.

Let’s look back and see the big fantasy-relevant names who got hurt on Week 6…

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Streamers, Week 6: Streamers on Repeat

October 9, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football, Roster Strategy | 25 Comments

by: Nico

Good Afternoon, loyal followers! Yes, I’m talking to you! All four of you! If you feel a little déjà vu reading this article, it’s totally fine. You’re not tripping from all the hallucinogens you dropped following The Grateful Dead tour around the country… You’re just re-reading a few names you’ve read here already. Since I’m sure you’ve all been absorbing these stat-filled riddles like sponges, I’m going to attempt to give you some opinions based on personnel and personal (not a stutter!) observations I’ve noticed over the first third of the season. However, I can’t completely avoid the numbers, so just bear with me. On a positive note, the last three weeks have been quite a resurgence for the Streamer Department. We’ve nailed three Top-10 QB’s, three Top-10 TE’s, a Top-10 DST, and 2 Top-10 Kickers in that time span. Let’s get after it!

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DraftKings: Extending An Oliver Branch

October 8, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football, DraftKings | 96 Comments

by: Sky

And I quote, ‘(extending an) olive branch is usually a symbol of peace or victory’. The quote goes on to say ‘…and was historically worn by brides and virgins.’ Well given you all play fantasy sports, I’m just gonna assume the latter applies to at least 90% of you. And THAT’s how I make my triumphant return to writing after taking last week off: insulting your sexual goings on. *Pats own back*. In seriousness, I am extending you said Branden Oliver branch as both a sign of peace and victory. You see, I made you draft Donald Brown on a few teams a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, Dammit Donald has returned with a vengeance this season but thankful to all owners and DK players, he’s not gonna be on the menu for quite some time. So to make up for this horrendous mistake, I’m gonna stay with the Chargers backfield which should lead you to a beautiful victory come Sunday as Oliver’s price tag of $5,500 puts you in a prime spot to price yourself well elsewhere. Two symbolic twigs for the price of one! You should count yourself as lucky. Given that the Raiders have been 4th worst against the run for fantasy purposes this year and Oliver steamrolled a strong Jets rush defense last week for 116 yards on the ground alone, we could be looking at a momentous day. I’d say he makes for a great cash game play but I’d be skeptical he isn’t shouted at the rooftops by everybody so he’s probably a weak GPP play; you’re trying to keep up with the jones if you roll with him there, very similarly to what happened with Rashad Jennings last week. In any case, he’s just one of many DK calls for this week so let’s have at it. Here’s my hot takes for the week 6 DK slate…

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Waiver Wired, Week 6: Brother, Can You Spare A Running Back?

October 7, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football, Waiver Wire | 45 Comments

by: Andrew Nordmeier

This past week was brutally tough on running backs. We saw several of them get injured and there are lead backs who will miss multiple weeks from the Denver Broncos and New York Giants. Factor in Kansas City and New Orleans are on bye this week, and it makes for a minefield of running backs to work through. We’ll help you get through it in this week’s column. Here we go.

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Matt Prater Will Have a Couple of Voicemail Messages Waiting for Him Today

October 6, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Daily Notes | 75 Comments

by: Jay

In a thrilling day of footballing, there were nine games decided by a touchdown or less, three games decided by a field goal or less, and two overtime victories. It was enough to make some teams (looking directly at you Jim Caldwell and the Lions) wonder why someone like Alex Henery, who single-handedly (or footedly? Is that a word?) lost the game against the Kyle Orton led Bills 17-14, (to what was a 58-yard field goal to Dan Carpenter) still holds a job in the NFL. Missing one field goal is okay. Missing two is unacceptable. Missing three in a game, one of which came with 51 seconds remaining… well… if anything, Henery should be immediately cut just for allowing the above photo to be a thing. Fun fact: If you look up the word “d*ckish” in the dictionary, you’ll find a smug Jim Schwartz smiling right back at you. And while you could easily see getting carried off the field after beating Detroit in the fifth week of the regular season as the most Buffalo thing ever (landing as a tie with eating and drinking too much before sobbing uncontrollably… or is that Cleveland?), apparently asking your team to do this in the preseason, as far back as OTA’s seems, I don’t know, spiteful? Smarmy? Maladjusted? Well, to be fair, with Schwartz, no one would ever see him being that kind of guy… But hey, some good came out of this. Kyle Orton threw for over 300+ yards with a touchdown against the number one ranked defense in the NFL, which is pretty good. And probably the eighth sign that the end of the world is here.

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Week 4 Early Games: There Will Be Blood

September 28, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Gameday | 115 Comments

by: Jay

“I want to make sure that whatever team I go to, they’re going to get the best, in-shape 35-year-old guy they can get. If that happens to run through Bank of America Stadium, put your goggles on cause there’s going to be blood and guts everywhere.” — Steve Smith, Charlotte radio station WFNZ-AM.

Soooo, that was graphic. And as if someone in the NFL head office was listening to him, even without the benefit of it being on video tape, it appears we’ll get to see Steve Smith’s best Duke Nukem impersonation this Sunday, as the scheduling gods have sent the Carolina Panthers to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor (the shining two-by-two square mile gem of the area, or what I call the “safe-zone”. Haha, just kidding, it’s not that safe) to do mortal football combat with Smith and the rest of the Ravens. And probably Joe Flacco’s elite eyebrows. Those things have a license to kill. And, you know, check down.

Week 4 Rankings have been updated for today’s games. You can check them out here.

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Battle Flex, Week 4: Good Bye “Week” to You

September 26, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Football, Roster Strategy | 44 Comments

by: J-FOH

Jay went all Beatles in his ranks this week. I’m going all early 80’s MTV and say this is a Good Bye “Week” to You. Yes, this is a gift, not a problem. We got this bro! Have a beer and listen to me ramble for a minute. I can’t believe I remember watching this video when I was seven years old. I can’t believe I remember videos. I can’t believe I went to the “they don’t show videos anymore card”. Should I talk about my first portable audio cassette player that only had fast forward and weighed five pounds? No, it wasn’t a Sony, and therefore I can’t call it a Walkman. I turned 39 earlier this month and I have to say, I’m ready for my mid-life crisis car with T-tops. Last week I got back into form after that miserable Week 2. Lamar Miller and DeAndre Hopkins both won their battles, and I rested easy for once. I take this very seriously, at least the analysis part, because I want to help you win your week. I’m working real hard to give you my best effort when it comes to the tough calls you have to make.

Please, blog, may I have some more?