23
Nov
2010
Tuesday morning NFL notebook
Rivers fits in San Diego as well as Eli Manning ever would have. (Source: Splog.com)
¶ Chargers wide receiver Patrick Crayton dislocated his left wrist in the team’s 35-14 win over the Denver Broncos on Monday night and could miss two weeks, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Crayton, who had three catches for 105 yards and a touchdown, benefited from the return of wideout Malcolm Floyd, who re-tweeked his hamstring, according to the newspaper. Crayton’s set for an MRI today. None of this is good news for the Chargers, trying to distance themselves from the pack in the AFC West with an irritated Colts team on tap Sunday night.
¶ NFL.com’s Adam Rank journeys to the dark side of Philip Rivers’ titanic season — namely, your fantasy team, clinging to a lead heading into Monday, only to watch Rivers carve you up like Thursday’s bird. Rank feels your pain, fantasy owners:
“One week you are Mike Eruzione celebrating the ‘Miracle on Ice’ during the opening credits of the Wide World of Sports,” Rank writes. “The next week you are that anonymous skier wiping out in a blaze of snowy glory.”
¶ Do you think our grandfathers, who fought in wars across the globe to keep us free, would smile proudly on fantasy football? It’s probably harmless, until I take it one step too far and play fantasy businessman — where I sit on the couch and get points for someone else’s productivity and ingenuity. That, sir, would be going too fa… wait, that’s the stock market — and our ancestors invented that thing. OK, we’re good… continue on.
¶ Heading into Week 12, three Browns quarterbacks have generated three wins and three ankle sprains. Eric Mangini won’t say, but possibly three high-ankle sprains (which is the equivalent of a maternity leave in this league). Colt McCoy played most of the second half against the Jaguars on a sprained left ankle that required an MRI exam Monday. Per usual, Mangenius is quiet about who will start Sunday — and this might be the VERY first time in Cleveland that the decision even matters. On the heels of the battered, laborious Quinn vs. Anderson debates — which resulted in NOTHING, zero — the emergence of McCoy is a revelation for Browns fans used to the team’s Week 16 starter being a guy who started the year as a CVS check-out clerk in central New Jersey. With that said, we might see Jake Delhomme face his old team this weekend.
Speaking of the mess in Carolina, coach John Fox hinted at a potential mistake in allowing Delhomme to leave in the offseason.
“Looking back, sitting here at 1-9, I’m not sure how many moves were right,” Fox said Monday. “And that’s not being critical of anybody other than hindsight is always 20-20. But I know Jake is happy where he is. Sometimes change is good. I don’t believe in looking back.”
Not controversial. Fox is just being real about the quarterback mess in his own backyard — something Delhomme likely couldn’t have improved on. Delhomme’s done very little in Cleveland beyond hold a clipboard and nest in the whirlpool with Big Baby.
Before the season, people talked about Fox “writing his own check” for a new coaching job — almost anywhere he wanted. That’s quieted down, but he’s one of the better coaches in the league, despite this season’s Ho Chi Minh trail-like campaign.
12
Nov
2010
Now this is Fantasy Football (VIDEO)
Fantasy Football has literally taken over America, with millions of wanna-be GMs poring over their make believe rosters week-in and week-out, in an effort to prove superior football knowledge over their peers. It’s changed the way most of us watch the game, and we at R&R are certainly no different, spending far too much team each week managing our fake line-ups. And we’re not too proud to admit it.
Well for the folks over at G4 – who certainly know a thing or too about being a geek – the word “fantasy” conjures up some different images (i.e., World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons and the like). So the nerds over there took the time to imagine what it would look like if their definition of “fantasy” collided with our world of pro football … and present it to us in a Tecmo Bowl-style video game. Need I say more?
Enjoy, Via G4:
1
Sep
2010
It’s just a Fantasy, It’s not the real thing
+10 points for anyone who got the Billy Joel reference in the post title
Along with the start of the NFL season, comes the beginning of Fantasy Football, giving millions of armchair GM’s an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is and show off their football knowledge against their peers.
Admittedly, I’m a bit of a fantasy football geek. I’m currently in 2 leagues, which is down from the 3 I used to play in. With three leagues, it was just way too confusing knowing who to root for/against in any given game, and often times, you were rooting for/against the same guy! So I knocked it down to a much more manageable 2 fantasy teams, much to the delight of my fiancee, I’m sure.
At this point, if you haven’t done your homework and ranked your players, you’re kind of screwed. I mean, I’m sure plenty of guys fly by the seat of their pants, and they probably end up doing fine (which effing kills me) … but in general, you’re better off having a strategy going in. I’m the kind of guy who likes to hit a home run with every pick, though this has never happened. But after enough years doing this, I hope I’ve at least learned the kind of players to avoid, and which guys present the best value at each draft pick. That’s the key word – value. My strategy is to take the best player available – not entirely regardless of position – and stack your roster with people who will actually score points. You can always make trades later in the season. I’m done with rolling the dice on rookies until they show that their talents translate to the NFL. Skip the boom or bust guys … give me the guys I can count on for 10 points every week. Inevitably, quite a few of the players you draft won’t be on your roster come mid-season. But the draft is where you build your foundation, and determines how much you’ll have to scramble in free agency week in and out.
Reality check: Lest we forget, at the end of the day this is all really just for fun, so I try not to take it too seriously. First and foremost, I’m a football fan, and my real-world allegiances (and overall perspective) take precedence over my fantasy world. But you can’t help feel attached to anything you invest this much energy into, and you best believe my roster will be filled with players I like, and can cheer for on Sundays.
21
Oct
2009
Running Back By Committee Monopoly: a better strategy for FF owners?
As any Fantasy Football player can tell you, the NFL trend of Running Back By Committee (RBBC) – while great for the freshness & longevity of the athletes – has been horrible for fantasy purposes.
No longer do you have the luxury of relying on a workhorse back to carry the ball 30+ times/game and take you to the playoffs nearly by himself. Instead, with most teams employing some form of RBBC, you have to choose between two (sometimes three) backs who are sharing the load, and hope that your guy gets a decent amount of touches each week. Touchdown vultures and change-of-pace backs are all making an impact in FantasyLand, and it’s getting harder & harder to predict who will get the most points from week to week. Are there any other Felix & Julius Jones owners out there who feel my pain?
Mad props (yeah, I said it) to the guys at PigskinDoctors for coming up with this Running Back By Committee Monopoly Board. They pretty much nailed it:
5
May
2009
Cinco de Drinko Morning Linko
Green Bay Packers Swine Flu PSA
It’s Cinco de Mayo today, which means we’re going to be drinking margaritas and breaking pinatas all day long. That’s what this holiday means, right?
The PSA from above is from 1976, when the US government thought it would be best to recruit members of the Green Bay Packers to educate the public about the Swine Flu epidemic. In case you were asking yourself, “What’s the defense for it, holmes?“, here’s your answer.
Here are your Tuesday Morning Links:
- ESPN’s John Clayton tells us the 8 things he’s gleaned from NFL Mini-camps
- MVN lists their Top 10 Breakout candidates for 2009. Fantasy owners take note.
- Football Outsiders has a great look at the off-season moves in the NFC East
- Brett Favre tells Trent Dilfer he isn’t returning to football. Yeah, right.
- Busted Coverage gives us 12 sports-related translations to try out during Cinco de Mayo drunkeness
