Oct 9, 2014 | Mantasy Crush |
Injuries are continuing to pile up throughout the league. That means many of you will have to decide whether a player is worth keeping on your bench while they recover or getting rid of said player and trying your luck on the waiver wire. Luckily, there is still quite a bit of talent out there just waiting to start for your team. And an injury (coupled with ineffectiveness) led to this week’s Mantasy Crush. Mantasy Crush – Branden Oliver Donald Brown wasn’t getting it done filling in for Ryan Mathews and Danny Woodhead. 50 carries over the past three weeks didn’t equate to many points for Brown. His concussion forced the hand of the Chargers by leaning on Branden Oliver in Week 5. So how did Oliver respond? By dropping 30.2 fantasy points on the stout run defense of the New York Jets. 114 yards rushing, 68 yards receiving and a pair of touchdowns made Oliver an instant fantasy football Mantasy Crush. Now we have to consider if we should enter into a long-term relationship with the undrafted rookie out of Buffalo. If for some insane reason Branden Oliver is available in your league, get him right now. Don’t wait. Don’t over think it. The Fantasy Scapegoat believes that Oliver will be, at worst, an RB3 the rest of the way this season. While Ryan Mathews will be the starter when he gets back from injury, there will still be a role for Oliver to fill in the offense. That role belonged to the now injured Danny Woodhead. Woodhead finished the 2013 fantasy season with nearly 150 fantasy points....
Oct 1, 2014 | Waiver Savior |
Bye weeks are in full force and many fantasy teams are struggling with injuries and uncertainty in their top performers. Week 5 is a week that you have to win in fantasy football, especially if you are 1-3 or winless. That said, Waiver Savior looks further down the road with an emphasis on players that are not waiver wire darlings just yet. The Scapegoat’s best advice is to focus on the obvious waiver wire pickups and if you have the luxury of an extra bench spot or you play in a 12-14 person league, these guys should pop up on your radar and be considered before everybody else is putting in a claim. Week 5 Waiver Savior – Odell Beckham The New York Giants were looking like the worst offensive team in football two weeks ago. They had shown nothing through the preseason or the first two games to indicate that they would be able to score enough points to have two fantasy-relevant players on a weekly basis. Then something happened. We aren’t sure what it was, but the lights came on and the Giants have turned into a scoring machine over the last two weeks, dropping 30 and an incredible 45 points on the Texans and Washington. Eli Manning looks considerably less terrible in his new West Coast Offense and the running game is coming along. Without sounding overly optimistic, the Giants offense may have found its groove, just in time for some easier matchups. That’s where Odell Beckham comes into play. He may not even play this week in a dream matchup against the struggling Atlanta Falcons’...
Sep 30, 2014 | Mantasy Crush |
The Goat had a bye week last week and is back and ready to make more wildly inaccurate statements. Week 4 was full of surprises, including some insane fantasy performances from incredibly surprising places. One of those places was Minnesota, where the Atlanta Falcons made fantasy superstars out of a number of players. Let’s look at one of those players right now. Mantasy Crush – Teddy Bridgewater 23.4 fantasy points for Teddy this week was better than all but seven QBs. And that was accomplished without a single passing touchdown. We don’t think anyone would consider Teddy a true QB1, but with injuries and bye weeks, there may be situations where you want to plug in a QB off waivers and Bridgewater should be there. The question then becomes, “Should I use Bridgewater as a week-to-week streamer play?” The honest answer is a resounding, “Probably not.” Atlanta’s defense isn’t off to a good start. Through four weeks, Atlanta has allowed the fourth-most points (113) and the second-most yards allowed (429.8). Atlanta made Matt Asiata, Jerrick McKinnon and Jarius Wright look like legitimate fantasy starters. Now if you had predicted those three guys would total over 50 fantasy points between them, that’s incredible. The Goat was most surprised by Wright and his 132 yards on ten targets and eight receptions. There aren’t going to be too many weeks where the Vikings play against a defense that is worse than the Falcons have been so far. They do play Tampa Bay in Week 8, which is one of those plug and play weeks for Vikings players. But aside from a favorable...
Sep 20, 2014 | Predictions |
Injuries and suspensions dominated the headlines of Week 2, leaving a lot of teams in terrible situations early in the fantasy season. We hope that you avoided those injuries and suspensions and have improved to 2-0 this season. The Scapegoat also hopes to improve on predictions. Let’s see how we did for Week 2. Week 2 Recap Mild Prediction – Ahmad Bradshaw leads the Colts in rushing yards and proves to be a valuable flex option. Bradshaw scores double digit fantasy points in Week 2. We had another near miss. Bradshaw did not lead the team in rushing, as Trent Richardson managed 79 yards to Bradshaw’s 70 on eight more carries. Bradshaw did score more than ten fantasy points, though. Medium Prediction – Marqise Lee goes for 80 yards and a TD. Jags lose. Jags lost. Lee didn’t do much. At least we were half right again. Hot Prediction – Matt Ryan lays an egg and doesn’t get 15 points this week. Matt Ryan didn’t get 15 fantasy points in Week 2. Those three INTs made sure of that. Volcano Prediction – Travis Kelce breaks out this week and scores two TDs for the Kansas City Chiefs. Kelce didn’t find the end zone, but he did put up a healthy 8.1 points. He’s worth a look as an ascending TE2. By the end of the season, he may be an every week starter. Final Score: 1 out of 4 Here’s the Week 3 predictions, that may or may not happen. Mild Prediction – Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley each get double digit fantasy points against the Raiders. It’s...
Sep 16, 2014 | Waiver Savior |
Week 2’s Waiver Savior is looking like a giant swing-and-a-miss. Jarrett Boykin may be falling behind Davante Adams on the depth chart. Adams was able to haul in five receptions for 50 yards. Boykin manages six yards on one reception. That means that Adams may be guy you want to get. The Scapegoat isn’t too proud to admit to making a mistake. So let’s look at Week 3’s Waiver Savior and hope we pick the right guy. Week 3 Waiver Savior – Alfred Blue Here’s a sticky situation. On one hand, Arian Foster looks like he’s back to form and ready to amass 400 carries this season. That will certainly lead to a breakdown and require someone to take over. On the other hand, you have two guys that may be Foster’s handcuff if he does get hurt. If Week 2 is any indication, Alfred Blue is your man and Jonathan Grimes is the third man up. It seriously could go either way, but if you’re in a deep league and you want to stash one guy or the other, our guess is Blue. Here’s why. Garbage time can be telling. And after the Houston Texans began to decimate the Oakland Raiders, Alfred Blue came in and got eleven touches. Grimes managed to get three. Neither Blue nor Grimes looked that much better than the other, but it appears that Blue is second on the depth chart. That alone is not enough to justify using a bench spot on Blue, unless you own Foster and have a bench spot available. But let’s say you are in a deeper league...
Sep 15, 2014 | Mantasy Crush |
Unsurprisingly, Allen Hurns did not repeat his incredible Week 1 performance, getting a measly 1.3 points in Week 2. Despite what the Scapegoat thought, Marqise Lee also wasn’t a great performer. Now, Lee is injured and the Jaguars don’t look like they will score many points until Blake Bortles is unleashed. Also, Doug Martin didn’t even play, so the jury is still out on him. The Bucs also don’t look so hot, but they don’t have a rookie with enormous upside on their bench. So let’s get to Week 2’s Mantasy Crush and Break Up Candidate. Mantasy Crush – Antonio Gates If anybody saw a three TD performance coming from Gates, no one told the Goat. Antonio Gates torched the defending Super Bowl Champs in the red zone, reminding us of Gates circa ’04, when he put up 13 TDs that season. It’s easy to get excited and decide to start Gates going forward, especially if you don’t have one of the big three or you had either injured Jordan (Reed or Cameron). So is Antonio Gates a must-start? Well, if you have Gates, you can probably safely put him in your lineup and expect 4-8 catches with an occasional TD throughout the season. Gates finished ninth last year at the tight end position, which means he would’ve been start-worthy in ten-team leagues. We think it’s reasonable to assume Gates probably won’t have too many multiple-TD games going forward, but he has been dependable and has great chemistry with Philip Rivers. Your Mantasy Crush will likely turn into stable relationship without a lot of excitement but some decent dependability....
Sep 10, 2014 | Predictions |
We hope everyone is 1-0 entering Week 2 of the Fantasy Football season. If not, don’t despair and work the waiver wire to improve your team. So how did the Fantasy Scapegoat do with the Week 1 Fantasy Predictions? Let’s do a quick review. Week 1 Recap Mild Prediction – Carson Palmer scores 20 points and remains unloved. We got this one right. Palmer scored 21.1 points in ESPN standard scoring with a strong performance. In fact, he did better than all but four QBs. And he’s still likely available in more leagues than he should be. We aren’t saying Palmer is a season-long solution to your QB situation, but he may be a perfect backup or spot play throughout the season. Medium Prediction – Fantasy Scapegoat darling Carlos Hyde gets ten carries and a TD. Okay, so the Scapegoat missed this one. Hyde finished with just seven carries and a TD. Seven carries won’t be enough to make him a viable fantasy starter, but he’s worth owning in every league. Gore looked good, Hyde looked great. And the Goat wasn’t that far off on this one. Hot Prediction – Marcus Wheaton goes for 100+ and a TD, creating a waiver wire stampede. Again, the Goat missed.Wheaton only got 97 yards receiving and no TD. But the point is that Wheaton should also be owned because the chemistry between him and Ben Roethlisberger will only get better as the season progresses. A Week 1 touchdown would’ve sent everyone scrambling to add Wheaton. The Goat was so close yet again. Volcano Prediction – Rob Gronkowski leads all non-QB scorers with...
Sep 9, 2014 | Waiver Savior |
We hope you didn’t rush out last week and pick up Denard Robinson. Again, that’s not the point of this article. This article’s purpose is to highlight a player that may have real value later down the road. Highlighting the player now should mean that you add the player to your “Watch List” and just keep them in mind if a bench spot clears up. Stashing these guys could lead to you looking like a fantasy genius. With that said, let’s look at Week 2’s Waiver Savior. Week 2 Waiver Savior – Jarrett Boykin Before you say that we are way off on this one, hear us out. Despite not getting a single target in Week 1, Boykin still plays for the Green Bay Packers. The Packers still have a high-powered offense with Aaron Rodgers leading it. And Jarrett Boykin will not be covered by Richard Sherman again this season. So does that add up to a fantasy stud? Probably not, but we think Boykin is worth a bench spot soon. To put things into perspective, James Jones is no longer with the Packers. Over the last two seasons, Jones was targeted over 90 times, so that invalidates the argument that Randall Cobb’s injury forced Rodgers to go to Jones more often. Jones also had 17 touchdowns in those two seasons, though 14 came in 2012. Another name missing from the Green Bay roster is Jermichael Finley. Green Bay really didn’t go out of their way to replace Finley with a productive, pass-catching tight end, either. Putting it all together, this means that 100 or more targets are going...
Sep 8, 2014 | Mantasy Crush |
It’s easy to develop a man crush on a player that puts up huge numbers for the week. But we have to decide if the man crush will last all season, or if it’s just a passing fancy. So let’s take a look at this week’s Mantasy Crush. And we will also examine the player that let you down and how to best proceed with that situation. Mantasy Crush – Allen Hurns With the Sunday games in the books, the leading WR for 2014 is the Jacksonville Jaguars star, Allen Hurns. Oh, you haven’t heard of Allen Hurns? Don’t feel bad, because Hurns is an rookie that went undrafted out of Miami. Hurns torched the Eagles, putting up 23 fantasy points by making four catches for 110 yards and a pair of TDs. And as you probably know, TDs are best in pairs. So let’s see if the Mantasy Crush on Mr. Hurns will last. First, the good news. Allen Hurns is available in practically every league, so adding him to your team may come down to your priority order on the waiver wire. Another bit of good news is that Hurns was targeted a whopping nine times in the game. The final bit of good news is that Jacksonville isn’t a great team and will trail early and often, resulting in plenty of passing opportunities throughout the season. Now, the bad news and a dose of reality. Using your waiver wire pick on Hurns may not be the best use of it. Here’s the bad news. The Eagles just didn’t have it together in the first half when...
Sep 3, 2014 | Waiver Savior |
There are plenty of articles that focus on every player you should pick up off the waiver wire on a weekly basis. Waiver Savior is not that article. If you want that article, go here. This article is focused on just one or two players that could be the difference between hoisting the trophy and hanging your head in shame. Week 1 Waiver Savior – Denard Robinson Let’s come right out and say it: Toby Gerhart isn’t a sexy fantasy player. He may very well put up some great numbers and be a must-start RB2 the entire season. We have our doubts, but it’s possible. That’s why it’s never too early to see who is behind Gerhart on the depth chart. And guess who just moved in front of equally unsexy Jordan Todman? That’s right, Denard Robinson. Robinson is owned in 0.5% of standard ESPN leagues at the moment. Let’s throw out some numbers to justify our decision to name Robinson this week’s Waiver Savior. Through the first three preseason games, Robinson ran the ball 14 times for 82 yards and a touchdown. An average of 5.85 yards per carry is exciting compared to Gerhart’s average of 3.19 yards per carry in the same games. To be fair, Robinson only ran for 12 yards on 7 carries in the final preseason game, which would tank his average and make him far less exciting. But because Gerhart and Robinson are stylistically different runners, the Jaguars could find some plays that may work better with Robinson in the game. Now let’s throw out a situation that may occur before the end...
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