Happy New Year and Happy Week 17

By Dan Rodgers

OK, the fantasy championships didn't go quite as expected. I came in second in one of them and I just got owned because everyone chose not to perform. I came in second in another one because my opponent got 20 points over his projection, had his kicker (Rob Bironas) get 15 points and Larry Fitzgerald and Matt Stafford both got double their projections. The only thing I could have done to win would have been to play Detroit defense over Tennessee. I figured Tennessee is a decent defense and Jacksonville's offense sucks. Of course the Jags put up 17 points and Detroit gave up 10 and scored a touchdown of their own.

The last league is ESPN.com and their fantasy playoffs are two rounds each. So I'm up 28 points and I'm really not concerned. The Saints have been playing great so I think Cam Newton won't score his usual 25-30 points and the only player on his team I'm worried about is MJD against Indy defense.

Well, now we move on to picks. This is always a tough week because certain teams have clinched everything so they bench their players. Other teams play their guys because they want to stay hot going into the playoffs. Other teams bench their slightly injured players because they have no chance at the playoffs so they don't want to worsen the situation. I have really leveled off from my hot start and have just been flirting with .500 most weeks; however, I did tie for the week this past week.

Was/Phi 9 I think Philly has clearly found their stride and will be determined to finish the season at .500
SF 10.5/Stl The 49ers are playing for a first-round bye and should destroy the most-likely Kellen Clemens-led Rams
Chi/Min 1 Two terrible teams, Minnesota at home is the safe pick
Det 3.5/GB It was just announced that Rodgers isn't active so this spread will probably jump... but Detroit wants to lock up the five seed
Car/NO 9 New Orleans has to pray the Rams win so they can get the two seed, so I think they'll play hard
Ten 1/Hou I know the Texans are locked into the three seed, but I think they'll want to knock Tennessee out of the playoffs
Ind/Jax 3.5 The Colts will play tough and keep it close but won't jeopardize their chance at the No. 1 pick
NYJ/Mia 3 The Jets are underdogs so I can't not take them because they are USUALLY good with their backs against the wall... wouldn't be surprised if this pushed though Jets SU
Buf/NE 10.5 The Pats are playing to lock up the one seed, they'll blow Buffalo out
TB/Atl 10.5 Atlanta will know whether or not they have anything to play for by game time, but Tampa is so terrible and the Falcons will want to correct all of the things that went wrong last week
Bal 1/Cin The Ravens play at the same time as the Pats and Steelers so they are still playing to lock up a bye
Pit 6.5/Cle The Steelers can pray for a Cincy win which would make Pittsburgh the two seed, and I think the Steelers win big here
SD/Oak 3 I'm digging the upet here because the Chargers definitely want to knock Oakland out, and San Diego typically plays well with no pressure SD SU
KC/Den 3.5 I like that extra half point but I actually like the Orton factor and I'm thinking another upset here KC SU
Sea/Ari 3 I think Seattle will keep it close if not win outright...
Dal/NYG 3 The Giants are just the better team at this point, I think they'll cover easy

Week 1: 7-9 ATS 10-6 SU
Week 2: 10-6 ATS 13-3 SU
Week 3: 11-4-1 ATS 10-6 SU
Week 4: 9-7 ATS 13-3 SU
Week 5: 6-7 ATS 7-6 SU
Week 6: 10-3 ATS 10-3 SU
Week 7: 9-3-1 ATS 10-3 SU
Week 8: 7-6 ATS 9-4 SU
Week 9: 8-6 ATS 9-5 SU
Week 10: 9-7 ATS 9-7 SU
Week 11: 6-5-2 ATS 11-2 SU
Week 12: 8-7-1 ATS 12-4 SU
Week 13: 8-8 ATS 10-6 SU
Week 14: 9-6-1 ATS 12-4 SU
Week 15: 7-7-2 ATS 10-6 SU
Week 16: 8-7-1 ATS 12-4 SU
Total: 132-98-9 ATS 167-72 SU

Bold Prediction: Jets make the playoffs? Haha, I can only pray... not impossible though: Tennessee, Cincinnati, and Oakland or Denver have to lose...

My favorite lines are SF -10.5, Philly -9, NE -10.5, Pitt -6.5, SD +3

Rodgers That

Fantasy Football, crazy first week

By Dan Rodgers

So, I never told you how my primary fantasy team did in week one. It was a controversial, yet victorious start for my bunch.

As you probably know, Matt Schaub didn't play too much a factor in the Texans game. He only got me about eight points, however, Texans starting RB Arian Foster racked up over 230 rushing yards and three touchdowns. By the way, that was over 50 points sitting on my bench (I know, shoot me now? just wait...)

Jay Cutler did exactly what I expected by throwing for just over 370 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. My bench quarterback, Josh Freeman, did get 20 points, so I have to feel good about that.

Rashard Mendenhall also had about 20 points because of a 50-yard game-winning touchdown run in overtime, but hey, I'll take whatever I can get. I already told you Foster was on my bench, as was Shonn Green and C.J. Spiller (thank gosh). That means that Reggie Bush was starting. I know what you're thinking, but he was projected to do well, and he is a great receiving threat (whatever).

My receivers played like crap considering Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Devin Hester combined for only 18.8 points. I had Hakeem Nicks on my bench (27.5 points), but it's because I have Cutler starting and I wanted the combo. Cutler threw for a ton of yards like I said, but never threw to Hester.

Tightends, Jason Witten and Greg Olsen, had a combined 7.9 points. Cooley was on the bench because of Olsen, but once again, Cutler didn't throw to him!

Mason Crosby was a huge factor with two FGs over 40 yards and three extra points.

49ers defense was pathetic as they got destroyed by a pedestrian Seahawks offense, and Jets defense is what won it for me (1 INT, 10 points, 2 recoveries, 2 sacks).

The final score was: Me - 120.6 Opponent - 120.2

I snuck away with this one, as he had Jahvid Best and Steve Breaston on his bench. Next week I will have to look deeper into my matchups and take some advice from the "experts". Hopefully, it won't be so close.

Please make any suggestions about my team, players to add/drop, or players to start etc...

Rodgers That

Fantasy Football...is there anything better?

By Dan Rodgers

Besides my birthday, Fantasy Football could be the best time of the year (March Madness is up there also). As the season is only a few days away, most people have their teams drafted, and look to see who has the best match-ups in the first week.

I figured I would post on here my team, well the most important one that I drafted, and you all could either get jealous or tell me how stupid I am. I will put them down as follows, but a few things to remember: this is a PPR league, three player keeper, and I had the seventh of eight picks in the draft.

QB: Matt Schaub - Keeper from last season. He lit it up with Andre the Giant, leading the league in passing yards in 2009.

QB: Jay Cutler - Mid-round pick, has a lot of potential. Mike Martz is his O-Coordinator, so I expect decent stats.

RB: Rashard Mendenhall - First round pick (seventh overall) of draft (remember, kept three guys). Got him more for value than because I really wanted him.

RB: Shonn Greene - Second round pick, has a lot of upside considering the Jets run the ball more than anyone in the NFL (607 times last year).

WR: Andre Johnson - Keeper from last season. Best rated receiver in the league, combo with Schaub, need I say more?

WR: Larry Fitzgerald - Keeper from last season. No one was more pissed off about Kurt Warner retiring than me. Fitz loses some value, but great receivers find the way to get the ball. Hopefully, he'll prove how great he is with Derek Anderson at the helm.

WR: Devin Hester - This is where it gets fishy for me. Hester has the combo with Cutler, and a great matchup against Detroit in week one. My third receiver spot will be a week-to-week thing.

TE: Jason Witten - PPR makes Witten valuable. He is a great redzone target and should definitely have better stats than he did last year.

TE: Greg Olsen - Another combo with Cutler. I'm worried because Martz doesn't typically utilize the tightend in his system, but Olsen is one of the better pass-catchers on the Bears. Second tightend will also be looked at on a week-to-week basis.

K: Mason Crosby - The Packers score a lot. Mason Crosby will get an XP when they score a TD and he's got a hell of a leg to knock down the long FGs.

DEF: NYJ - The best defense in the NFL last year looks much improved (if Revis plays). Plus, it lets me root for my Jets.

DEF: San Fran - This is my "sleeper" defense. While big names were going off the board, I snagged them fairly late and I look for them to have a good year behind defensive-minded Mike Singletary.

BENCH:

QB: Josh Freeman - One of the "Draft Day Hail Mary's" in my fantasy magazine.
QB: Jason Campbell - Some say Oakland was the change he needed...haha.
RB: Arian Foster - Starting back in the Texans high-powered offense.
RB: C.J. Spiller - Electric rookie, worth a chance.
RB: Reggie Bush - See Spiller, take out rookie.
WR: Hakeem Nicks - Great size and strength, could emerge as Eli's #1 target.
TE: Chris Cooley - Still a top TE, McNabb loves to throw to his TE
DEF: Washington - My sleeper defense...

Division Saturday Preview

By Dan Rodgers

House sitting with the girlfriend. I was in Delaware so this preview is going to be a bit late. This is going to be an excellent Saturday full of football. First off, we should have an offensive explosion.

Cardinals (+7) at Saints

The Arizona Cardinals head to the Big Easy to take on the Saints. This should be over a 70 point-plus game. Look for the Saints to shock everyone and put up a ton of points even though many "experts" expected them to be out of sync due to losing their last three games and having the bye week. I look for them to barely reach the 40's while the Cardinals will be close behind in the high 30's. The defenses in this game will once again get embarrassed, but the Saints will get the last laugh because they'll put up more points. Kurt Warner might have played his last playoff game and who knows what that will mean for Fitzgerald and Boldin. Also, look for both rushing attacks to be utilized because of the hype in the passing game.

My prediction: Cardinals (+7) 38 Saints 44

Ravens (+6.5) at Colts

I love, beyond recognition, the Ravens to AT LEAST cover the spread in this game. I will not make any promises but don't act surprised if the Ravens pull this one out. The Colts will probably focus in on stopping Ray Rice so Joe Flacco will probably have to do better than the 35 passing yards he had last week. I expect the Ravens defense to have a similar repeat performance of what they did last time to the Colts when they held them to only 17 points. I expect the Ravens to at least punch it into the end zone once, but if they get down to the goalline and they don't give it to McClain I will go crazy. Look for a couple turnovers but Peyton won't go down without a fight.

Ravens (+6.5) 26 Colts 20

If I were a betting man (laughs), I would take the over in the Saints/Cards game and Baltimore to cover the spread.

See you tomorrow.

Rodgers That

NFL Week 9: The Down and The Dirty

By Dan Rodgers

I am aware that I just wrote back-to-back pieces about the MLB Gold Gloves Awards, but this is my weekly piece and I want it to be down every Wednesday. Well, at least when I started it was still Wednesday.

NFL Week Nine

"The Down"

This award was tough to hand out to one player in the beginning. After analyzing the stats and looking a bit deeper into everything it became clear that Matthew Stafford came out on top (or bottom depending how you look at it). Even though he threw two touchdowns and Orton didn’t throw a single one. Stafford threw for 22 of 42 for 203 and 2 TDs. Oh, not his five, yeah count ‘em FIVE interceptions. Stafford took after last week’s biggest loser, Kurt Warner. The main reason why Stafford had to be chosen over Orton is because at least Orton faced a respectable team in the Steelers. Also, Stafford faced the Seahawks, and jumped out to 17 point lead. Why did he even throw a pass the rest of the game? Oy, who knows…

Honorable Mentions:

QB Kyle Orton (DEN) – 23 of 38 for 221 yards and 3 INTs

QB Joe Flacco (BAL) – 18 of 32 for 195 yards and 2 INTs

RB Ahmad Bradshaw (NYG) – 14 for 39 yards

WR Ted Ginn, Jr. (MIA) – 1 for 7 yards

"The Dirty"

Kurt Warner, last weeks biggest loser, completely dominated the Chicago Bears supposedly respectable defense. Warner only completed 22 of 32 passes for a measly 261 yards. So you might be asking how he won the award this week? Well, his five touchdown passes certainly sealed the deal for me. That’s right, a week after his five interceptions, Warner showed that at 37 years-old he still has some juice left in the tank. I don’t think there is any discrepancy to be had over Warner. I mean Fitz had a crazy good game, but of course that was because of Warner. Randy Moss and Mike Sims-Walker put up impressive stats but they were identical so just one of them couldn’t win it. Lastly, Michael Turner put up over 150 yards for the second consecutive week but was slightly over showed in my book.

Honorable Mentions:

WR Larry Fitzgerald (AZ) – 9 for 123 yards and 2 TDs

WR Randy Moss (NE) – 6 for 147 yards and 1 TD

WR Mike Sims-Walker (JAX) – 6 for 147 yards and 1 TD

RB Michael Turner (ATL) – 18 for 166 yards and 2 TDs

If anyone thinks I missed a player that deserves to be recognized on either list please let me know.

Rodgers That