Want another take on what happened last week? Fantasy Fallout
Wondering who to pick up? Waiver Wire Watch
Looking for a defense? DTBWW
Still have questions? Fire away. I’ll assume it’s standard scoring (no PPR) unless you tell me differently.
Author: John Paulsen (Page 423 of 937)
Reason #581 why I love The Onion…
WASHINGTON—Washington Redskins head coach Jim Zorn held a press conference Sunday to reassure fans that, despite an inability to effectively execute their offense, defense, or special teams, the Redskins were still somewhat comparable to a real football team. “It’s been a tough season so far, and even though we are 2-4, we still have players, uniforms, Motorola headsets—all the components that technically constitute an NFL team, sort of,” Zorn said while grimacing and making a “so-so” gesture with his hand.
The strategy behind DTBWW is that each week, you pick up a defense, preferably one playing at home against a bad offense. And each week, you get pretty good numbers out of your DT position. To see how this approach performed last season, click here.
Last week, I recommended three DTBWW picks. Let’s see how they fared…
#1 Bengals: 2 SK + 1 INT + 1 FR = 4 fantasy points
#2 Redskins: 14 PA (4) + 5 SK = 9 fp
#3 Jaguars: 1 SK + 1 INT = 2 fp
The Texans have a pretty potent offense, so in hindsight it probably wasn’t too smart to take the Bengals, even if they’ve been playing good defense this year. The Jaguars were a disaster, which is a shame, because I was thisclose to recommending the Bucs, who had 16 points against the Panthers. (I did mention Tampa Bay as a bonus pick.) The deciding factor? Anthony Stalter thought the Jags’ DT was a bit better. Thanks for nothing, Stalter.
For the season, my #1 pick is averaging 10.5 ppg, #2 is averaging 9.2 and #3 is averaging 8.3. Combining all the picks, DTBWW is averaging 9.3 points per game. Those are DT7 numbers.
Let’s take a look at this week’s picks. Keep in mind that to be eligible for DTBWW, a defense must be available in at least 40% of ESPN fantasy leagues.
Pick #1: Indianapolis Colts (@ STL)
The Colts are reasonably healthy, well-rested and pretty solid all-around. The Rams’ offense has looked a little better the last couple of weeks, but Donnie Avery is hobbled and Indy should be able to pressure the statuesque Marc Bulger.
Pick #2: Buffalo Bills (@ CAR)
Despite their offensive woes, the Bills have been pretty solid defenisvely. They are fantasy’s 8th-ranked defense and have averaged 8.1 fppg. They face the Panthers, who have been awful offensively. Fantasy defenses are averaging 14.4 against Carolina.
Pick #3: Oakland Raiders (vs. NYJ)
The sheen is off of Mark Sanchez and the verdict is in: He really is a rookie quarterback. Fantasy defenses have scored 9.3 ppg against the Jets through six weeks, and the Saints and Bills have gone for 26 and 12, respectively, in the last three weeks. Meanwhile, the Raiders are showing some life, as evidenced by their performance against a pretty potent Eagles’ offense in Week 6. Nnamdi Asomugha should be back in the lineup and the Jets won’t be helped by a cross country flight.
Bonus Pick: If you run out of options, the Panthers play at home against a Bills offense that will probably run Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB.
Tyrus Thomas not happy about coming off the bench. “I don’t think it should even be questionable from what I contributed to this team last season and what I did throughout camp, but like I said, he [Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro] is the guy that makes the decisions.” Del Negro gave the start to rookie Taj Gibson, who has started much of the preseason and has played pretty well, averaging 12.3 points and 5.9 rebounds. Del Negro said not to read too much into it, so keep Thomas on your list of breakout candidates.
Al Jefferson is out indefinitely with Achilles tendinitis. Coupled with Kevin Love’s hand surgery and the T-Wolves’ front line is not off to a very good start. Jefferson has been going in the second round of fantasy drafts, but expect him to fall into the fourth or fifth depending on what kind of news comes out of Minnesota. It’s starting to look like Big Al is injury-prone.
LaMarcus Aldridge pledges to get an extension signed by Oct. 31. Aldridge’s camp seems to think he’s a max contract player, but the Blazers don’t agree and aren’t willing to do a deal just to get him signed. It’s going to be interesting to see what he eventually signs for. I pegged his value at $13-$14 million per season, but with the projected drop in next year’s salary cap, I wouldn’t be surprised if he signed a deal that averaged a bit less.
Stephen Jackson plans to keep his cool tonight against Kobe. “I’m going to be me, but I guarantee I won’t feed into the nonsense. If it came down to a real fight, I know what would happen. I’m just going to leave that alone, go out and play basketball and try to help my team win.”
Anthony Gonzalez not due back in Week 7. This is speculation by the Indianapolis Star, but Gonzalez only recently resumed running. If you’ve hung onto him this long, wait a week or two more and see how this situation develops. He has a lot of upside and he can certainly help in a fantasy championship run. This is good news for owners of Pierre Garcon, but it is Austin Collie that seems to be getting most of Gonzalez’s looks in recent weeks. That run should continue.
Miles Austin usurps Patrick Crayton as starting WR2. Now it’s time to get excited about Austin, who has gone from potential one-week wonder to bona fide fantasy starter. Austin is the one Dallas WR who has made the most of his opportunities, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if he’s more productive than Roy Williams over the remainder of the season.
James Jones is the new Packers’ WR3. He was splitting snaps with Jordy Nelson, but Nelson is fighting a knee injury and Jones had a nice game against the Lions. Jones is worth rostering in deep (or three-WR) leagues, but will have to battle with Jermichael Finley for targets. Jones’ value would really skyrocket if Greg Jennings or Donald Driver were to go down, so he’s a nice handcuff for either.
Crabtree to replace Morgan as starter? Wow. Morgan was seemingly turning the corner, averaging 3.3-54-0.3 over the last three weeks. That’s a healthy 53-864-5 pace over a 16-game season. It’s not shocking that Crabtree would eventually take over, but that the move would happen so quickly. The rookie is suddenly fantasy viable. He’s not starter-worthy, but he is roster-worthy in 12-team leagues.
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