Week 12 Reflections

Howdy Fantasy Lovers, Fantasy Novices, and Fantasy Creatures! Welcome to Fantasy Football 101, where I, Kyle Bazin, will be sharing my opinions, experiences, and advice on Fantasy Football to you all.

What a great week for fantasy for me guys. If you lost, I'm sorry but really not that sorry. Got a win in all three of my leagues, won in all my four FanDuel's, and got the top score in my big money league to get an extra $50! The only thing that could've made this football weekend was a win for my Dolphins, but my expectations are super low for them. I truly just watch them play as a die-hard but don't really care what happens by the end of the game as long as the fantasy players in that game are going my way. Like yea, of course, I want to see them win but I don't expect them to win and, therefore I don't care if they lose. That's my intro to this blog. Take it or leave it. You're leaving it? Well that's actually just an expression, you can only take it but alright let's get into this.

We had a huge week from a few receivers this week... Jarvis Landry, Brandon Marshall, Sammy Watkins, Calvin Johnson, Doug Baldwin, Markus Wheaton. All of them had over 29 points in a league that has .5 per catch... 29!!! That is at least 6 different receivers with that many points. If you had any of them in your lineups, you probably won and I had Jarvis in all of mine. It was a great week for these guys, but it just proves that fantasy is a week to week game. I don't see Doug, Sammy or Jarvis having another game over 25 this year, but it's possible. Calvin, Markus and Marshall are all big-play type receivers so they could.

Also, the only way I see Denver winning out and making a quality run at another Super Bowl is through the running lanes between those big uglies. Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson are going to have to carry this team. Although, Brock Osweiler had a great 4th quarter, C.J. had a huge play for a TD and those big uglies gave those smaller backs running lanes all night long. Since the Peyton injury, the RBs have been averaging 6.3 yards a carry. That is stupid. They also had a combined 3 touchdowns last game and I don't see that slowing down with Brock in the lineup. Yes, Brock made some plays, but he can't do what we all know a healthy Peyton can do and take over a game.

Waiver Wire:

Welp for all of us that have been riding the Gronk train, it looks like we are gonna have to hope to God that we can pick up Scott Chandler (TE, New England) off the waiver wire this week. Gronk should definitely be out at least this week against Philly. I have a weird feeling he will find a way to suit up for the game against the Texans in week 14 because it is such an important game, but I don't think he will be 100%. Look for Chandler to fill the Gronk role very smoothly and put up Gronk type numbers as well.

If you didn't pick up Buck Allen or Spencer Ware last week you screwed up, these two guys probably won't be good for any other games this year (Buck has a tough schedule and Charcandrick should be back to take the Chiefs job.). Running backs had a few good guys on the wire last week but are back to thin. Only one major pickup for RBs this week should be David Johnson (RB, Arizona). Ellington and Chris Johnson got hurt in the same game and Chris is out indefinitely. Not sure about Ellington yet, but David should pick up some carries. I like him as a flex play if you need him. This offense will still be a pass-first offense but when they get down near the goal-line, David always gets those carries.

As always, thanks for reading everyone. Again these are all MY OPINIONS! Do not take them as a Bible scripture and do not use my word as the only word. It is OK to make opinions for yourself! I promise! My next blog will be my 2ND AND FINAL RUNDOWN OF THE 2015 SEASON! DON'T MISS THIS BLOG!

Thanks, Update, Q&A

Howdy Fantasy Lovers, Fantasy Novices, and Fantasy Creatures! Welcome to Fantasy Football 101, where I, Kyle Bazin, will be sharing my opinions, experiences, and advice on Fantasy Football to you all.

Has anyone ever read the title of this besides the 1st blog that they've read? I've purposely put it there to create almost a formal intro for these blogs. Like a podcast intro or video intro if you will. Once the season ends after week 17 I'm not really sure my plans for the blog to be completely honest. I'm just hoping that I will end up convincing myself to continue the blog until the end of the year. As some of you may know, I really enjoy this blog but it is for a class and after a few more weeks I will be done for the semester. Sorry for that weird introductory paragraph. I just wanted to give you an update of what was going on.

So there are few holidays I actually enjoy for what they are worth and their purpose. Christmas to me is a gift-giving holiday to most of the United States so I like it but not for the gifts, for the family that I'm surrounding by. The reason Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday is because at the core it is about being with family. It's the 4 F's: Family, Friends, Food, and most importantly Football. I'm just kidding they're all equally important. Nothing better than all day football that you can watch and enjoy with the most important people in your life, surrounded by some of the greatest food that has graced this Earth (my grandad is a great cook). So if you're reading this the day it goes up, make sure you enjoy this great day and if you go out Black Friday shopping be safe!

Guys, since I really don't know what to write about I'd like to leave this blog open to ANY questions you may have. Especially fantasy football questions but I guess if you have questions about other things than I can try to answer them. Please try not to be vulgar in your questions. As I mentioned this is for a class, so my professor likely will read comments. So there it is, I've gotten one comment all year so let's try to quadruple that at the very least. Have a good Thanksgiving everyone!
As always, thanks for reading everyone. Again these are all MY OPINIONS! Do not take them as a Bible scripture and do not use my word as the only word. It is OK to make opinions for yourself! I promise! My next blog will be about my Week 12 Reflections and looking forward to week 13.

Week 11 Reflections

Howdy Fantasy Lovers, Fantasy Novices, and Fantasy Creatures! Welcome to Fantasy Football 101, where I, Kyle Bazin, will be sharing my opinions, experiences, and advice on Fantasy Football to you all.

I don't mean to frighten anyone but, playoffs are in two weeks. That's right... For some of us we only have two weeks left of this magnificent game for another 8 months... I always commemorate my Sunday's in the spring by looking at a wall for 8 hours because a Sunday without football, isn't a Sunday I want to be a part of. Thankfully for me I should have all of my teams at above the .500 mark (all should be 6-5 pending the MNF game), so I look good to make the playoffs in all my leagues. Truly I just wanna get some money from my big money league... I mean winning the other leagues would be great, but it's my first year in this league and I wanna make a name for myself that I'm not just some 21-year old that joined the league that has no idea what they're doing. I'm one of the big players in this league and you better respect me as one.

Alright enough of me. Hopefully, you all are successful in your fantasy endeavors. You have a couple more weeks until playoffs so I wish you the best. Let's do some reflecting.

Marshawn... What the hell happened to your Skittle diet? Because last time I checked, when you were on it last year you were a stud. This year you have like 19 different injuries a week and you let some undrafted rookie named Thomas Rawls take your job. I believe that the Seahawks are going to cut Lynch after the year and go ahead with Rawls. He is running strong just like Lynch and also has a burst of speed that we haven't seen out of Lynch since the Saints playoff game oh so long ago. Thomas Rawls is a top 15 RB at the worst as long as he gets the start. However, if Lynch gets on the field, Rawls isn't startable and Lynch is barely startable. You still have to trust him, but you should probably be happy with 8 points.

Devonta Freeman, Justin Forsett, Chris Ivory, Alfred Morris, Marshawn Lynch, Carlos Hyde and a few more that I'm forgetting all have 1 thing in common. They either didn't play because of injury in Week 11 or they got hurt in week 11. Devonta got a concussion (really not good sign for the rest of the year), Justin is out with a broken left arm, Ivory came back to the game but wasn't effective because the Jets were losing, Morris is doing bad anyway so don't worry about it, I already mentioned Marshawn, and Carlos Hyde hasn't been productive since week 2. My point is that RBs are really getting banged up. Treasure the healthy ones you have but if your league a rule where you can't pick up during the playoffs, be wary that you will need backups that have upside.

Waiver wire:

Because of injury there a few guys you will want to target either as a handcuff or because you're a jerk and are going to steal them away from the guy who has the hurt player. Tevin Coleman (RB, Atlanta) didn't look amazing in limited time before his injury earlier in the year, but I still believe this guy has the stuff. He won't do what Devonta did earlier in the year, but he can easily produce 10 a game because the Falcons love handing it off down inside the 10. Thomas Rawls (RB, Seattle) already mentioned him above so go read that if you skipped it. Bilal Powell (RB, New York Jets) is a back that has a ton of potential the rest of the year. The Jets have been figured out and have dropped a few games here. They're going to need to throw the ball, and Bilal is a great back catching the ball. He won't likely get the rushes you require for a good back but think of more like a Danny Woodhead for his guy. I expect  top 20 performances if Ivory misses any time. Matt Jones (RB, Washington) was probably on someone's team in your league at some point and should be again. When the Redskins are winning (which isn't often), they love pounding the ball on the ground. Jones is that guy the rest of the year. Javorious Allen (RB, Baltimore), sorry if I spelled your name wrong man its a tough one. He will be replacing Forsett the rest of the year. Forsett was having a mighty fine season and the Ravens are actually winning some games now for some reason. With Flacco out the rest of the year, I expect a big push to run the ball more often. Allen should do great.

As always, thanks for reading everyone. Again these are all MY OPINIONS! Do not take them as a Bible scripture and do not use my word as the only word. It is OK to make opinions for yourself! I promise! My next blog will be up tomorrow!

Fantasy vs Football

Howdy Fantasy Lovers, Fantasy Novices, and Fantasy Creatures! Welcome to Fantasy Football 101, where I, Kyle Bazin, will be sharing my opinions, experiences, and advice on Fantasy Football to you all.

This an immensely important topic because one of the biggest criticisms of fantasy sports is that it takes away from liking your team or whatever. Simply put, fantasy sports is a way to enjoy sports through a new lens. You no longer only care about your singular team/favorite player. You need to know be able to pay attention to a lot of the lesser known players and teams. For some people, it's too much work, and that's why they don't play. Fine. I'm not going to waste my breath on those people because they're too stubborn to listen to me anyways. 

In my opinion, there are two options for people that play fantasy sports that also have a favorite team: don't have any players that are for division rival teams or be a smart/good fantasy player and take your love for your team out of the question. As you all know, I am a HUGE dolphins fan. In one league this year, I have Brady, Gronk, and James White (all Patriots players). I drafted Brady in the 6th round and Gronk in the 2nd. Let me tell you that I am still loving both of those picks. I had a strong feeling that they would do great so I picked them. I'm not trying to be all high and mighty here because I want my dolphins to have a chance this year for the division. I knew they wouldn't get that crown at the beginning of the year and no matter if I picked them or not, they're gonna do what they're gonna do. You picking them has no decision on how well a team does, even though sometimes we think it does...

If you can't separate your love for your team, that's fine. Not all of us can. My dad has hard-pressed to pick Victor Cruz as the only division rival of his Eagles this year (Cruz didn't play a game all year though). Actually, most of the league has a problem with picking against their team and it is kind of funny because most of them are Eagles fans so Giants/Cowboys/Redskins fall farther than they probably should. Regardless, it works for some of them. When it is draft time, no one really knows what is going to happen during the year so it is truly all up to luck. Don't pick a guy if you don't want to. Just don't complain when Odell Beckham does Odell Beckham things against your precious Eagles because I tell the Patriots that if they're going to score it better be through the air. I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but they had four passing touchdowns against the Dolphins in the game they played... Coincidence??

As always, thanks for reading everyone. Again these are all MY OPINIONS! Do not take them as a Bible scripture and do not use my word as the only word. It is OK to make opinions for yourself! I promise! My next blog will be about my Week 11 reflections and looking forward to week 12. THAT WILL COME OUT TOMORROW!

Playing Hooky

Hey guys, I apologize about this, but I am really swamped right now with all of my classes having projects and tests due right before Thanksgiving break. I am going to play hooky for this blog, however, I will be making it up.

Next Weeks Blog Schedule:
Monday: Random topic (afternoon)
Tuesday: Normal reflections (11 am or whenever I wake up)
Wednesday: Random topic (afternoon

So you will not miss any blogs because I will be making today's missed one on Monday. I apologize to any of the avid readers out there (if there are any). Have a good weekend.

Week 10 Reflections

Howdy Fantasy Lovers, Fantasy Novices, and Fantasy Creatures! Welcome to Fantasy Football 101, where I, Kyle Bazin, will be sharing my opinions, experiences, and advice on Fantasy Football to you all.

Sorry, I'm late everyone. I got stuck in an airport yesterday without my laptop, so I couldn't get my blog in on time at 11 am this morning. So I'm an hour or so late. Sue me. Wait don't actually do that. I'm in college and that will cripple me. Well, I continue to be inconsistent in every single league I have. Fantasy is generally inconsistent, but I have three leagues in total. I am 5-5, 5-5, and 6-4. Oh yea look your teams aren't bad! You're right where you're right in contention. Well, where I want to be is 1st place so WRONG SIR! I can't win when I'm not in 1st. In the great words of Ricky Bobby, "if you're not 1st, you're last!"

Reflections:

This week was quite boring... With the exception of one or two teams in most leagues, everyone was under 130 and most under 120. I didn't score 120 in any of my leagues and won in one of my three leagues. So if you played against one of these guys you probably lost this week.

Jeremy Langford.... Well, Matt Forte you can nurse your injury for as long as you like because if Langford can play this way against a pretty good Rams D (they play great at home usually), Forte is not needed. Of course, Forte is a stud, but if I'm Chicago don't suit him up unless you somehow get in contention then trade him because he has value. 

Antonio Brown needs to stop being mentioned in this blog and thankfully this upcoming week he has a bye so he will stop for at least one week. The Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin.... What a guy... Yea no Ben will be out for at least a couple of weeks he says on Monday. Landry Jones is the starter. Oh, Landry you got hurt? OK, Ben go in there and score 37 fantasy points for me, thanks. I wish this was a joke. With Ben on the field, AB is the best WR in football.

Charcandrick West is another guy I told you to pick up a few weeks ago, but you didn't listen now did you? Oh, you did? Well, you're welcome then! He has produced some really good performances after his dud in his first NFL start. No matter he should be super solid the rest of the way although I don't see the Chiefs doing as well as they did against Denver the rest of the year. He probably won't consistently score 20 is all I'm trying to say.

Waiver pickups:

No one exciting this week for waivers. So I really won't give suggestions besides streaming people for defense/kicker/tight end or whatever.

The only guy worth anything is if you're struggling at QB. Tony Romo (QB, Dallas) finally comes back this week and while I'm not sure if he is going to do amazing things right away, he is playing the Dolphins and has supposedly been ready for a few weeks now. Maybe not startable but worth a stash if you need someone.

As always, thanks for reading everyone. Again these are all MY OPINIONS! Do not take them as a Bible scripture and do not use my word as the only word. It is OK to make opinions for yourself! I promise! My next blog will be about my Week 10 reflections and looking forward to week 11.