FanDuel FFFC Week 2: Beginner’s Luck
Week 1 was a really interesting one for the NFL and it wasn’t any different for me. I have played some fantasy football with a league buy-in for season-long fantasy football, but even just a $10 investment for Week 1 had me excited to watch games more than season long has ever had me. Going into Monday night I had a shot to get into the big payouts but the Lion’s defense and Andre Ellington had to have very impressive outings for that. While pretty much all of my players put up good numbers, here are some notable players that helped my team place 716th out of 23,793 (not too bad for my first go at it) and take home $20:
WR: A.J. Green @ Baltimore Ravens — Cost: $8,300 — Points: 22.6
I thought that A.J. Green had put me in a rough spot after spending $8,300 of my cap space on him, until right at the end of the early games on Sunday. Green ended the game with a 77 yard TD catch to close out the Baltimore Ravens. Without that catch Green would have had 54 yards receiving and 0 TDs. I picked a stud playing a suspect defense and he burned them deep, which will work for me.
TE: Julius Thomas vs Indianapolis Colts — Cost: $7,400 — Points: 31.9
Thomas got started early and didn’t get involved much in the second half but didn’t need to. I feel like I need to pick a Bronco player each week, not just because they are my team, but because they broke offensive records last season and should be plenty effective this season. I certainly chose the correct one this time, Thomas caught 3 TDs in the first half and ended up with over 100 yards receiving to go with it.
I am glad that I stuck with the team I picked and wrote about, but the Andre Ellington pick didn’t help me once news hit about his injury. I almost changed it, but I was too attached to my lineup so I rolled the dice despite his questionable status. This is one difference between season long and weekly (DFS), questionable tags are way more ugly due to the salary cap scenario; hopefully that is my only experience with a late in the week questionable tag. The move to keep him on my team could have been boom or complete bust but he played and landed 8.5 points, which was a lot better than 0.
Week 2 Team:
QB: Andrew Luck vs Philadelphia Eagles – Cost: $9,200
Luck comes at a pretty hefty price, but has a pretty awesome match up at home. The Eagles allowed the most passing yards in the 2013 season and they just allowed Chad Henne and the Jaguars to have a pretty solid day. Henne finished the game with 266 passing yards and 2 TDs in Philadelphia, so if they are in an away game against a much better QB the numbers ought to add up to a very solid fantasy start.
RB: Arian Foster @ Oakland Raiders – Cost: $8,300
Foster plays against the Raiders in Oakland, after playing a pretty solid game against the Redskins. The Raiders are a gift that keeps on giving to running backs; the Raiders allowed a league most 212 yards to the Jets this past week. Arian Foster has still got it, until he gets hurt, so hopefully it is not this week while I have spent a solid amount of my salary cap on him to get me big points. Big plus to playing week to week fantasy football is that there is no draft position, so when it is your turn to pick, all the studs are available. I go into the draft hoping to get a specific player that I am a big fan of that year and my draft position takes them away from me. Week to week I can play any stud I want if I think the price is right.
RB: Alfred Morris vs Jacksonville Jaguars – Cost: $7,200
Morris had a solid game coming off a very productive 2013 season, he ran for 91 yards off of just 14 carries against the Texans due to trailing them for most of the game. The Jaguars allowed the Eagles to have a pretty solid week one against them and had a putrid 2013 season in regards to defending against the run. The Jaguars were 29th in the league in rushing yards allowed and 29th place for rushing TDs allowed with 20, just over one a game, I will take those odds.
WR: Golden Tate @ Carolina Panthers – Cost: $5,000
Golden Tate won’t get as much attention as Calvin “Megatron” Johnson but he had a solid game in Week 1. He caught 6 balls for 93 yards, and while the Carolina defense isn’t super forgiving, the insane passing game that the Lions had against the Giants came in a game where they dominated them. I believe that this game will be a lot more competitive and possibly a game where the Lions can be playing catch up. This bodes well for the opportunities for Golden Tate to slip by the defense while they are focused on Megatron.
WR: Kelvin Benjamin vs Detroit Lions – Cost: $6,600
Benjamin had a great first NFL outing against the Buccaneers and I think he will continue to contribute at a pretty high level as the main target for Cam Newton. Benjamin is a perfect red zone target with his size and jump ability; he should be able to add another TD to his total this week at least. Kelvin Benjamin should be a front-runner for rookie of the year; his ability and the lack of talented pass catchers surrounding him are big factors in that. I am taking advantage of the still low price tag before it starts to rise to his talent level.
WR: Demaryius Thomas vs Kansas City Chiefs – Cost: $8,700
I have to pick a Bronco every week, the only time I might have to break it is against the Seahawks, but I probably will go for it anyway. Going with the “fan pick” makes it fun, plus the Broncos offense being the #1 offense in the league makes it easy to justify. Demaryius Thomas was targeted 11 times and was shut down against the Colts; he couldn’t seem to find the running room. I watched the whole game and he is still just as fast, has great hands and the ability to destroy defenses so I imagine that Peyton will give him a confidence boost against the Chiefs and throw him a couple of touchdown passes.
TE: Zach Ertz @ Indianapolis Colts – Cost: $5,600
The Colts allowed Julius Thomas to go off for 3 TDs before the game even made it to halftime. I am a realist and Ertz doesn’t have the same abilities as Julius Thomas, however, he should be able to put up solid numbers against the Colts. The value of Ertz is going to be tied to TDs due to the number of talented mouths to feed in Philadelphia. While his targets may be low, they will most likely include red zone targets. Banking on TDs is always risky but at this low price I figured it was worth the risk to free up the cap room to slide in some more top level talent.
K: Robbie Gould @San Francisco 49ers – Cost: $4,600
Picking which kicker will have a good day is tricky, it seems to be almost completely random, but there is some rhyme and reason to it. The key that I use to finding that kicker to find offenses that are good enough to push down the field, but stingy enough defenses to stop them before they get in the end zone. That is the recipe I see here and that will set up Gould for at least 3 FG attempts and he is one of the more sure-fire candidates to hit almost all of them.
D: Green Bay Packers vs New York Jets – Cost: $4,700
While the Packers got destroyed by the Seahawks in Week 1, they had a long week to prepare for Geno Smith and the Jets’ offense. The reason that the price tag is so low and why this is a risky start is due to the fact that they couldn’t tackle anybody last week. With the extra time to prepare as well as Geno Smith still making some errant throws I figure it adds up to some solid fantasy points.
I left $100 on the board; I don’t think this has any effect on the outcome of my team this week. I think this is the best team that I can come up with so I am going for it.
Try your hand at the $10 FFFC Qualifier
