Fantasy to Football

Fifty Yard Line. Photo by Go Daddy.

Thursday Night

Thursday night, not exactly what I thought it would be for the game we saw. NFL has all the highlights of the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders. The game had to be a big disappointment for the new head coach of the Raiders, John Gruden. Both offense and defense of the Raiders was lacking. It was tough for the Raiders to even keep up with the most basic of reads and schemes. On the other side of the field the 49ers decided to start their 2nd year rookie QB, Nick Mullens. Mullens seemed to not be able to do anything wrong, going 16/22 and 263 yards with 3 TD’s. Great night for the first time starting rookie. On a bad note for the 49ers they lost their RB, Raheem Mostert for several games with a broken arm that was seen on TV. I wish him a speedy recovery. The 49ers won the night by a score of 3-34.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Sunday brings us 11 total games between the early and late games. ESPN starts with Chicago vs the Buffalo Bills in NY. Their players to watch are the Bears QB, M. Trubisky and both RB’s Howard and Cohen. The Kansas City Chiefs take on the Browns in OH, where the players to watch are QB and the RB’s from the Chiefs, P. Mahomes, Hunt and Hill.

Another early game is the Jets and the Miami Dolphins. Players to watch for this game are the QB of the Jets S. Darnold and RB of the Jets I. Crowell. The Lions take on their division rival the Minnesota Vikings in MN. The players to watch are the Vikings QB K. Cousins, RB of the Lions K. Johnson and WR of the Vikings A. Thielen, who is looking for a record breaking 9 games in a row of 100+ yards receiving straight.

The Falcons face off against the Redskins in Landover, MD. The players to watch during this game are the Falcons QB M. Ryan, RB of the Redskins A. Peterson and the WR of the Falcons J. Jones. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers face off with the Panthers in NC. The players to watch are the QB and RB of Carolina C. Newton and C. McCaffery also the WR from the Bucs M. Evans.

The last of the early games is another divisional rivalry, the Steelers vs the Ravens. The players to watch are all Steelers, QB B. Roethlisberger, RB J. Conner and WR J. Smith-Schuster.

The first late game is the red hot Texans at the Denver Broncos in CO. Players to watch are Texans QB, D. Watson, the Broncos RB, P Lindsey and the WR of the Texans, D. Hopkins. The second of the three late games puts the Chargers against the Seahawks in WA. The players to watch are QB, P. Rivers of the Chargers,  RB M. Gordon and WR K. Allen also of the Chargers. Last of the afternoon games is the Rams against the Saints. This could be a real shoot out between two high power offenses. Players to watch are Rams QB, J. Goff and the Saints QB D. Brees, along with RB T. Gurley II and WR, R. Woods both from the Rams.

Now for the Sunday Night game of the week. We will see the Green Bay Packers against the New England Patriots in a must see match. This puts two of the greatest QB’s to ever play the game against each other. Rodgers vs Brady in only their second meeting in their illustrious careers. Players to watch are the usual suspects, QB’s Brady and Rodgers, RB S. Michele of the Pats and WR D. Adams form the Packers. I expect this to go all the way to the wire with the last team to possess the ball being the winner.

Monday is the last game of the week and it puts the Titans against the Cowboys in Arlington TX. Both teams are 3-4 and the players to watch are the QB from Dallas, D. Prescott and RB, E. Elliot also from the Cowboys, along with the WR from the Titans C. Davis.

Bold Predictions

This week’s bold predictions are going to be some of the most outlandish of the year. I will start off with the game between the Bears and the Bills. I believe the Bills will pull a rabbit out of the hat at home and beat the #1 team in the NFC North Bears 21-24.

This is a big one, with a new offensive and head coach, the Browns, I believe will pull out the upset of the year and stun the Chiefs 42-35.

Third is the game between the Lions and the Vikings. The Lions will pull the upset and beat the Vikings 27-14. Stafford and team will dominate both sides of the ball and this will be RB, K. Johnson’s breakout game of the year.

Prediction number four is the game between the Bucs and the Panthers. FitzMagic will show its face in this game and the Bucs will upset the Panthers 31-24 and solidify Fitzpatrick as the starter for the rest of the year in Tampa Bay.

The last prediction for the week is the game between the Rams and the Saints. I believe the Saints will upset the Rams in bold fashion stepping into the spotlight as the team to beat this year. The Saints will beat the Rams 34-20 and move to the number one position in the power rankings.

Fantasy

Well, the season is half over and by now you should know where you stand. If you truly have a shot at the playoffs this year you should have a standing of 5-3 or better. Most leagues only use week’s 15 and 16 as the playoffs and the Super Bowl. Most 10 team leagues only use the top 4 positions or the top two in each division to advance to the playoff rounds. Now you want to look at weeks 15 and 16 and see who your players are against. Check the match-ups between each player as well as who your DEF is playing, all the way down to the kicker. Position yourself so that you optimize your lineup. I have said it before I am not a fan of trades unless they benefit you, now is the time to make sure they benefit your Super Bowl hopes.

Make moves and trades to optimize your potential. Check out the competition, see who they have and who they may potentially play in their lineup. What are their match-ups, who do they have and on what team are they on. Remember NFL teams have a potential to rest players at the end of a season to prepare for the playoffs. Teams like the Chiefs, Rams and Saints may pull players during the mid point of games that don’t mean anything. Don’t get caught with a player that is pulled early, limiting his points potential.

 

About the opinions in this article…

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