The 40ft POST: Defense Defense!

"Not a chance." my brother said. "Defenses win championships"

That was his response when I tired sneakily to sell him a middle of the line QB for one of his top line-backers.

Cause he's right. Both in real footsball and the fantasy stuff.

In all fairness though, he started the conversation by trying to pawn off Darren McFadden, and since I've already got Arian Foster (hamstring) Joique Bell (concussion), Mark Igram (broken wrist), and LeSean McCoy (suspect OL) lazing around my team, the last thing I'm gonna need all year is a questionable RB.

What I do need is some serious defense.

Cause Defense wins championships.

and speaking of which:

THE BIG NEWS:
Dennis Allen, considered to have a nearly brilliant defensive mind in his earlier career, has been tossed aside by the Oakland Raiders, cause, well, London.

And, well, everything prior to London.

Now it's possible to make the case that the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad play of the Oakland Raiders has rested squarely on his shoulders, cause that's what leaders do, they shoulder the responsibility, but in all fariness, I think it's been a team effort.

Actually, everyone thinks it's been a team effort.

Someone just had to get fired.

And Matt Shaub was sitting by the pool, rubbing Ben Gay into his elbow and wasn't taking calls.

I suspect Allen will be picked up in less than a fortnight and will be easing himself into an assistant defensive line coach before Halloween.

WHAT TO WATCH:
Now last week I got all gushy about all the new QBs hitting the first team reps. And that . . . um . . . well . . . yeah . . . I mean . . . other than Kirk Cousins . . . they didn't suck . . . totally. But this does confirm that my powers of prediction have a way of making the opposite happen, by an almost criminal margin.

Everytime I hope for a big day: Someone gets seriously hurt.

So this week, lets talk about how awesome the Giants are looking. :)

It's taken a few weeks for everyone to get on the same page, new offense and all, but now,  they all look like they know what they're doing. Eli is spreading the ball around, giving my father's Victor Cruz some major stat lines. Rueben Randles' is a WR again, TE Donnel (whom I loaded up in both leagues) is a perfect target for Manning (and by that I mean he is super big and super slow), and how about that Jennings kid who is number one in line for the "Dodged A Bullet Award" by escaping Oakland in the nick of time.

With a serioulsy tough defensive line and an offense that's "Gellin" thems boys could be making a playoff run just about the same time we were all writing them off. Lets see what happens this week . . . Shall We?

INJURIES AND BAD DECISIONS:
Other than Dennis Allen's 401k, it looks like it was a pretty tame week on the injury front, and there weren't any major losses.

Unless of course you decide to chase a peeing puppy down the stairs at 11:00pm. (Joseph Fauria).

I really like having a week that doesn't involve elevators and corporal punishment Texas style.

Lets keep that up, shal we?

NORCAL NOTES:
Well, we already know what happened to the Raiders, but wasn't it lovely how the Niners decided to take my emails after all and start getting the run game going?

Frank Gore had a whopping day, and I can't think of any Running Back that deserves it more.

I saw an analyst report that claims that Gore's game against the Eagles will be the biggest game he ever has again. Cause he's old, or cause he's never been fast, or cause he's old.

Kay.

I don't want to jinx anything, but I bet that's wrong.

But the Niners are 2-2, just like both my fantasy leagues.

FANTASYLAND:
ForFuns Team (2-2) 4th place
ForReals Team (2-2) 6th place

My ForFuns team was a great match. I had three of my starters in BYE-Week Limbo and had to scramble all last week to find replacements. It's interesting because both my WR's were out and this is a WR heavy league. Two WR spots and Two Flex spots (W/R/T and W/T), plus . . . there is an eight person bench. So, while I being a chump and not thinking that through grabbed RB's all day long, the rest of the guys grabbed up every WR with a least a chance of seeing the field.

Someone actually drafted Santana Moss.

Santana Moss.

So on my roster the Week 4 Byes included a loss of Percy Harvin, Michael Floyd, Sanu, and Giovanni Bernard for good measure, and the most empty waiver-wire list ever seen. Thank goodness for all my other guys, cause Jeremy Kerley was not the week 4 answer I was hoping for.

I lost 157 to 160. Even though I beat my projections by 30 points. I'm still the top scorer in the league.

Whew.

Now for the ForReals Team . . . 

Well . . . 

This was tragic. I started the week off projected 20 points higher than my opponent. Then, by the miracle that is the Giants, Donnel goes off and pushes me even higher. Then . . . well . . . you know . . . stuff happens.

Frank Gore happens.

Defense happens.

And I walk into Monday Night down by 14 and a NE defender left to go.

Now here's the tragedy . . . 

Sitting at the table eating my lunch, I notice that KC Back Justin Houston is available on the waiver wire, and is scheduled to play that night. He wasn't projected higher than my other guy (Chandler Jones) but I had this amazing feeling like I rather go with a KC defender against Brady than a NE defender against Smith (who doesn't throw a lot of picks, nor get sacked much). So I made the trade.

And the trade went through.

But here's the thing.

I guess you can't make any last minute updates to your roster on Monday afternoons for the evening game.

Houston didn't show up on my roster and I had to go with Jones.

Jones scored 5 points, giving me an 8 point loss.

Houston scored 18.5.

Now, I'm not that kinda guy to get all pissy about stuff like that. Rules are rules. And I'm still in a good postiiton and I'm still liking my chances this year.

But still.

I had to tell the world.

That would have been an incredible last minute win.

speaking of incredible . . . 

CRAZY/STUPID PREDICTIONS FROM LAST WEEK:
75 point game for Ealgles/49ers: (Nope. Just 45, but that's not bad)
Raiders Win in London: (Nope)
No Season Ending Injuries (Fauria will be back in a week or two)
Johnny Maziel gets mentioned 10 times (I counted 7)
Brother Beats me by 13.5 points (Actually 7.29) good game bra, good game.

CRAZY/STUPID PREDICTIONS FOR WEEK 5
Houston wins if Foster gets 10+ carries

Gore has a bigger game this week than last week

Eagles Offensive Line has to take a lap everytime McCoy is tackled behind the line of scrimmage.

The Giants have another blowout game

Brady gets a "sore elbow"

Sparano convinces the Raiders' owners that Tebow is the answer to their problems.

Either way, Week 5 gets going in less than thirty hours . . . 

I'd get your defensive guys ready if I were you.



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