Improving the league...

A commissioner's job is never done. In my case, I'm often thinking about how we can improve the league as well as make it more fun for the league owners.

I've been polling my large league over the last week or so to get some ideas about how we can improve the overall experience (and so that everyone gets their money's worth).  

Below are a few ideas on how we can change rules or setup.

1. Do a league realignment - split the league into two and recruit more players from the company.
2. Ask for two to four league owners to resign / quit the league (drop down to a 14 or 12 team league).
   
3. Change the weekly starting lineup rules. Require that the 16 teams have to start one running back, three wide receivers and a tight end.
4. Enforce roster limits and allow league owners to only have a certain number of running backs on their team.

I'll probably have the league owners vote on some of these suggestions at the end of the season...mostly so that everything is fresh in their minds and that we have time (if needed) in order to recruit new members.

It makes one wonder if the current state of injuries and change of strategy in the NFL will cause more fantasy owners grief in the long run.  To be consistent with the pro game, however, we need to adapt our leagues to fit the current trends and patterns that impact the fantasy game.

Where did the season go wrong?

In a league that is perhaps the most challenging I've ever done (partly because of the 15 other teams I compete against), I barely missed the playoffs this week. The team's destiny was in it's own hands and it completely fell apart...landing an overall record at 6-7. Which in itself was completely miraculous considering the total points scored by my team is currently the 5th lowest in the league.

Two other leagues that I participate in (not including this one we're reviewing) I'm safely at least the #2 seed going into the playoff week 14.

I thought it would be useful for next year to do a small recap about where things went wrong....starting with the draft.

Note that this is a PPR league - so top receivers CAN do as well as a top running back.


KEPT PLAYERS (from 2006 team)

We're allowed to keep 3 players. So here were my choices from last season's team.

Laurence Maroney - Consensus top 10 pick going into the season by many fantasy experts. Stuck in a pass happy offense, hurt for a number of games, and now losing touches to the "other Faulk". Heath Evans likes to get the touchdown glory.

Cedric Benson - High NFL draft pick with great college pedigree. Thomas Jones traded in the offseason - he had no competition. He underachieves all year, especially against horrible run defenses. Cedric's offensive line didn't help matters. He starts to pick it up (just in time for the playoffs) and then gets hurt.

Antonio Gates - has a good overall season, but throws up a stinker last
week thanks to Philip Rivers.


Short Draft Recap


1) Marques Colston - does nothing for the first weeks of the season
(mainly why I lost a couple two point games early), but overall turns out
okay. Throws out a stinker last week too.

Two draft picks in round 2

2a) Matt Leinart - supposed to be break out year. With two great
receivers, does nothing, then goes into time share with Kurt Warner. Then gets hurt.

2b) Reggie Brown - third year receiver - does not break out. McNabb's
injury killed his potential...and then Kevin Curtis becomes the go to
guy.

Braylon Edwards was picked three picks later.

4)LenDale White - underachieves for the first few games. I traded him in
week 5 for Javon Walker. We know how that turned out. White goes on a hot streak, and Walker stays injured.

5) Todd Heap - hurt all year. Nuff said. (Chris Cooley picked round 6).

8) Patrick Crayton - he was streaky - but turned out to be a good value pick.

9) Sammy Morris - wonderful backup to Maroney and really worked out well (while he was healthy). Matt Schaub was also picked this round.

10) Jason Campbell. My starting QB for most of the year. Had some really big games, but still learning and inconsistent. Dwayne Bowe was also picked this round.

Rounds 11 / 12 were mostly DEF and Special Teams picks.


FREE AGENT PICKUPS


I'm normally pretty active in the waiver wire. These may seem as reaches, but with 15 other teams bidding for players...here's what I was able to pickup. Note that these are only players that I STARTED any given week for my team.

Chris Henry (CIN) - Had a big game for me, hasn't done much since...filling in for Javon Walker

Priest Holmes (KCC) - Sounded promising, I sang his praises through a number of weeks...reinjures his neck and retires.

Kolby Smith (KCC) - Still playing! Put a decent number of points up for me last week.

Rex Grossman (CHI) - Started him once - didn't do well for me.

Brian Griese (CHI) - Started him a couple of times - with mixed results.

Fred Jackson (BUF) - Good game last week - got 14 points.

Adimchinobe Echemandu (HOU) - weeks ago was the hot waiver pickup. The next week, hardly plays...and scores less than a point for me.


SUMMARY


So where did this all go wrong? Mainly it was a lack of a "fantasy playmaker" for me. Someone that would consistently score a few points a week - with no major drop offs. All these guys have been mostly boom or bust - with my scores fluctuating wildly week to week. It may not be that a RB is the position that will do this for you anymore (meaning not just the top 10, but rather the top 20 used to be a safe play). It may come down to a good QB carrying your team - as long as he can stay healthy.

Busted Tees...

Check out this fantasy football t-shirt from Busted Tees.

Nice.

Denver RB Roulette!

Are there any running backs left in Denver? Paging Terrell Davis?

So we're down Travis Henry, Selvin Young, and now Andre Hall. RB Killer Shanahan might have to turn to....Mike Bell? I don't think so. Bell is back in the doghouse after the fumble on the first carry.

Even Dan Dierdorf got that. (He drew a doghouse around Mike Bell after he fumbled).



Further to the point - the reason why Cecil Sapp got the rest of the carries for the game. Cecil Sapp? The starting fullback? Huh?

Back earlier in November, the Broncos worked out Wali Lundy. Could it be possible that we see Wali suit up this weekend?

According to this report, more than likely we'll see Cecil Sapp play at RB. Although you should note, that Shanahan in his typical "lets-tick-off-the-fantasy-owners" did say that Hall could come back from the high ankle sprain this week - he's seen other guys do it before.

The only thing that is problematic with Sapp starting is that who will be used at fullback? In this this report (look further down) Kyle Johnson was being seen worked on after the game with a calf injury (and their other FB was out too).

With the matchup this week against Oakland - who ever runs in Denver should be good for a bunch of yards. Should be an interesting week in Denver - we'll know more today.

Lynch out for a while

According to this report, Dick Jauron indicated that Lynch has a more than average ankle sprain. Looks like the emergence of the A-Train will happen against the Pats.

I wouldn't get too excited about Thomas, but if you're really desperate (or a Lynch owner) he's worth a pickup.

This report makes a case for picking up Dwayne Wright - and after reading it, I was more convinced he might do well over Thomas.

If you have an extra bench spot, you may also want to look at Ricky Williams. This report thinks that Ricky will get a shot to play for the Fins this year. I also saw a report from ESPN's John Clayton that agrees with that assumption. With the Dolphins at 0-9, starting a rookie quaterback, and with Ricky Williams in for free agency next year...the Fins might want to take a look.

It's been more than a week...

Sorry for the layoff blog readers - I've been knee deep in puppies for the last week and have little time to blog. Here's some quick hitting headlines.

Cedric Benson - he's living up to that 1st round 4th pick status isn't he? 2.6 yds / carry against the Raiders? What? This defense has been torched all year by running backs...and then Lovie Smith doesn't seem to have any ringing endorsements for the running game.

'We're not pleased with where our running game is right now.''

Ouch.

In other Bears news, it looks like Grossman will take over for Griese after his performance last weekend saved the game for the Bears. This report from the Sun Times goes into more depth.

Someone I would play if I had the chance this week - Chester Taylor. With that Minnesota line against the previously mentioned Oakland defense - sounds like a good matchup.

If you are hurting for a quaterback this week, I would play Kyle Boller. I have a feeling that against Cleveland he'll play pretty well (although Brian Billick's status as an offensive genius is seriously in doubt - his play calling has been horrid this season).

Priest Holmes showed some good moves against the Denver defense last week. Although he didn't put up monster TD numbers or have a 100 yard game - the important thing of note is that he dominated the carries. While LJ is out, I think we see little of Kolby Smith (he who remained the third RB for a man that came directly off the PUP to 2nd string). Long term Kolby might be OK - but not now.

This game recap from Fox Sports says that Priest was ineffective. I highly disagree - if we take off that one run that went for a loss at the 5 yard line and instead turn that into a score, you're talking about one rushing TD and over 80 yards rushing. That would have been quite the different performance indicator for Holmes. Don't count him out yet - I think we see one good game before LJ is back.

Confess to the Priest...

Well, it's official...my favorite story of the last month is getting his chance to shine this week.

Priest Holmes will likely be starting against the Broncos this week (you mean those same Broncos that gave all those yards up to Ryan Grant?) - with Kolby Smith stealing some touches here and there.

The latest word from ESPN is that Johnson has a foot sprain, but there is a report from a station in Denver that LJ is out for the season with a broken right foot.

If you are a LJ owner and were fortunate to pickup Priest when I mentioned him a couple of weeks ago...I would also hedge your bets with Kolby Smith - he might turn out to be OK if Priest can't handle the workload.

The injuries this year are unbelievable! The only team that I have that has bounced back from all of these is in a 10 team league - where it's not hard to find someone to pickup.

Chris Henry (TEN)

I haven't put my finger on this exactly, but this guy really bothers me. Here are some random thoughts about Chris Henry, TEN Titans RB. I will admit that I had picked him up bunch of weeks ago when I heard that Chris Brown was hurt (this was in a 16 team league, so it wasn't much of a reach at the time).

I had him on my team for a few hours before I started to do some serious research on the guy.

Things to know about Chris Henry -

1) Career numbers at Arizona - 269 rushes for 892 yards. That's 28.8 yards per game and only had 9 TDs.

2) His best year at Arizona in 2006 - 165 carries for 581 yards and 7 TDs. But he only produced 3.5 yards / carry.

3) At the combine, he ran impressive 4.4 and 4.41 times with 26 reps in the lifting and a 36-inch vertical.

His workout blew people away, but his college stats don't impress. Does this sound like a second round pick to you?

Now in the NFL...look at the defenses he played - Houston and Oakland. Oakland is likely the worst YPC defense in the league. No surprise he did well there in limited action...

And of course the most importance piece of this whole thing right now...he's likely to be suspended for 4 games...but he took a substance that was banned a year ago. Working off an old list perhaps?

You should pick up the (other) Chris Henry.

Players I like this week (week 9)

Here are some players that might be flying under the radar in week 9...and I think might exceed their average numbers per game.

Marshawn Lynch RB, BUF
Marshawn has been running hard all year - and I think he might be able to break off a run or two against an uninspiring front of the Bengals defense. Don't worry, those ribs are fine. Look for him to maybe get a TD and / or his first 100 yd game.

Heath Miller TE, PIT
Heath always seems to preform better for the Steelers on Monday night. The Baltimore defense has the reputation, but they have not been playing as well as in years past. Look for Miller to get open on some quick underneath routes, and he might even take one pass deep. Finally, with Hines Ward back and Sanantonio Holmes playing well, Miller should get open for a few passes...and probably a score.

Carson Palmer QB, CIN
It's pretty obvious Carson has struggled without a solid third wideout to throw to. (I think he gets much better when Chris Henry plays next week). The Buffalo defense has been playing better, but I think we have the makings of an offensive shootout.

DJ Hackett WR, SEA
This pick is coming out of nowhere, but the Hawks are playing the Cleveland D. Hasselbeck has one of his favorite receivers back...might be the week you get Hackett in the lineup.
I don't think Alexander will carry this team anymore - they're pass first now.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We'll use this crazy Vikings fan to spice up the post today.

Joe Echemandu is being hyped by a lot of fantasy football guys right now. He's hurt...but an interesting fact pops out of this report. Echemandu said he hurt his hamstring on the first play, but kept playing. Now there's a guy I want on my fantasy team! Check his injury status later in the week, but he might have a nice matchup against the Raiders who are struggling against the run.

In other news, is it just me or do the ESPN football guys seem to be filing incorrect reports lately? All the beat writers for the Bills believe it's a money thing with Losman / Edwards. John Clayton recently reported that Losman has a chance to win the job back. Wha happend?

Herm Edwards said recently that Priest Holmes can expect to get 10-12 touches a game. Doesn't sound as good as I thought - but we might take it...another game or two will tell.

News from around the league...

This report quoting Chiefs President Carl Peterson makes it sound like Priest Holmes has a lot left to bring to the field.

Chris Henry (CIN WR) is going to be back on the field soon. Ted Carlson reminds us why we should pick him up.

Joe Echemandu is a name you might want to look out for as well, as long as he can stay healthy. This game recap points to the fact that Ahman Green's knee doesn't seem to be getting better - someone has to carry the ball in Houston. Ron Dayne is glacially slooooooowwww.

Ryan Grant is going to be on a lot of people's radar this week - for these reasons. DeShawn Wynn can't stay healthy and his shoulder injury doesn't sound good. According to one report his shoulder went numb.

Players I like this week (week 8)

Here are some players that might be flying under the radar in week 8...and I think might exceed their average numbers per game. (Hopefully I do better than last week).

Steven Jackson RB, STL
S-Jax is back! The guy wrote an article for ESPN Fantasy this week. His QB is hurt. The Rams are playing Cleveland. The guy is hun-gry! (He needs some Chunky Soup). What about this game says don't start Steven Jackson to you? (I hope you did not drop him. There's no way that you can be in a league THAT deep).

Tony Scheffler TE, DEN
Big Tony got targeted 6 times last week - and ended up with 5 catches and a TD. He's playing a little injured, but was able to practice fully this week so far. It's his 2nd year and even though he's sharing time with Daniel Graham, I like his chances going forward (and starting this week).

Drew Brees QB, NOS
Brees is back. He's playing pretty well, his offensive line has only given up 4 sacks on the year (but I'm not counting the number of times he was hurried). Did you see the SF game against the Giants last week?

Lee Evans WR, BUF
Lee put up 40 points in one game for my fantasy team last year. I thought Lee would start out slow this year. He's definitely exceeded those expectations. It takes some time to develop a chemistry with a new QB, and I think we saw that beginning to happen last week with Trent Edwards. Get him in this week against the Jets.

AND the one player I'm NOT starting this week LenDale White RB, TEN.
The Titans have two other RBs other than White. Chris Brown and Chris Henry (no, the other one). Everything I've read is that Henry is a physical / workout warrior. This guy has the physical gifts. If you look at his college stats, he did not a whole lot from a small football school (Arizona). The Titans are going to give him a shot (since he was drafted in the 2nd round).
Chris Brown - who knows when he'll come back from the ankle problem - but at one point a couple of weeks ago, they had LenDale at full back (since he catches the ball so well and is a good blocker) and Brown at tailback. This is not a player that is impressing me right now - even with his big fantasy stats. Not all teams are Houston.

More Pierre Thomas...

Coach Payton said this about Pierre Thomas recently...

He's a guy I trust a lot with the football. He's smart. I thought it was a really good play he had on his touchdown. We'll continue to get him some more touches.

This report from the Press Register has Thomas giving a lot of credit to the Offensive Line.

Another report from the Times-Picayune indicates that Thomas is just the spark that the Saints need.

You can see highlights of the Saints / Falcons game here.

What do we know?

At this point in the season, you'd think we'd have some good ideas about how our players will perform (at least in a general sense).

1) Laurence Maroney - a top ten pick in many formats this year...finally comes back from his injury...against a horrible run defense...and the Pats are so good that they'll pound the ball for a while. Maroney will get a lot of carries. Um...no. He barely passed 30 rushing yards and didn't play in the 2nd half.

2) Ronnie Brown - leading the fantasy RB world in total points. Who would have thunk it? Now he's out for the year with a torn ACL (and might not be his old self again until late next year).

3) Steven Jackson - still out. Hopefully he's back soon.

4) Larry Johnson - got a TD, got a 100 yards...but looked underwhelming. I expect Priest to be involved later in the year - maybe not much more than a third down back...but get ready.

5) Ernest Graham - supposedly supplanted by Michael Bennett...puts up a monster fantasy day.

6) Kenny Watson - Kenny frakkin' Watson! He had three TDs!

7) Chad Pennington throws 3 TDs and is going to be benched.

8) Rob Bironas had EIGHT field goals! (Somebody in your league will pick him up this week).

9) My favorite deep sleeper - Pierre Thomas takes one of his two carries for a 24 yard run which resulted in a TD. Reggie Bush only gets one TD on the day.

If you can predict this stuff...well....I must bow down to you....you are a fantasy god.

Just another Sunday...proving that most of us just roll with the punches. And we can't predict crap.

Players I like this week (week 7)

Since I had a fun time with this last week - thought I'd try it again. Here are some players that might be flying under the radar in week 7...and I think might exceed their average numbers per game.

Cedric Benson RB, CHI
Cedric actually looked pretty good against the Minnesota defense last week. Even though the Philly defense is ranked 9th on the season on rush defense the numbers have been a bit misleading. They've played the Packers (and we know how their run game has been) and an underwhelming performance from the Washington run game. Last week they allowed 130 yards to Thomas Jones and 80 yards to Derrick Ward the week before. We know that Benson is going to get the carries. This might end up being a big game for him.

Chris Cooley TE, WAS
This is sort of a no-brainer. Cooley got 10 targets from Campbell last week. Partly because the Washington WRs dropped about 6 balls. Arizona is 17th against the pass. Washington has a lot of their OL injured. I don't think Campbell will have time to throw it deep - and a lot of short drops mean a bunch of quick out patterns to Cooley.

Jeff Garcia QB, TB
Garcia is playing the Detriot defense and hasn't thrown a pick on the year. Do we really need any more details?

Lance Moore WR, NOS
Lance beat out Devery Henderson for the starting spot - partly based on a recommendation of Drew Brees. Patten caught a lot of balls last week - but do you expect that continue? Patten couldn't stay healthy in Washington...and more people will likely target him in this weeks free agent pickup. How can you go wrong with a guy that Brees says he likes his ability to catch the football?

Wednesday updates...

Well folks, if you're like me and were pretty happy with Sammy Morris and his efforts filling in for Laurence Maroney...this report from ESPN says he'll likely be out a month. I like the chances that Maroney comes back this week.

There is also news that the Patriots worked out Kevin Barlow on Monday...just when you thought Maroney might be in for all the goal line carries...

The Raiders defense is allowing the most yards per carry to opposing backs. This report from Inside Bay Area has some good analysis about the Raiders defense. Might be good news for those Larry Johnson (and maybe Priest Holmes) owners out there. Also note that the Raiders are on pace to give up 2300 yards for the year. Ouch.

The Saints looked pretty good on Sunday night. Pierre Thomas scored on a fumble recovery - but on special teams duty. Aaron Stecker's injury might open for the door for Pierre to get some more carries in relief of Reggie Bush.

A number of people, like this guy...believed Adrian Peterson would be a great player this year. You don't have to sell me, I was on the bandwagon in the preseason.

Reasons why we'll see Priest suit up...

I'm back from my trip for a friends wedding in Martha's Vineyard to post a few reasons why I think Priest Holmes might be a factor this year (BUT maybe not until playoff time)...

1) Larry Johnson ran for 119 yards on 31 carries this past Sunday. But wait you say, Larry IS BACK! He went over 100 yards in a game! Surely he's gotten this thing figured out. Ah - not so much. Larry ran for 106 yards on 16 carries in the first half. He then ran for 13 yards on 15 carries in the second half. Numerous mistakes, indecision and other things clouded Larry's performance this weekend. Do we need anymore reasons to give Mr. Diapers a slice of humble pie?

2) According to numerous reports, the Chiefs have traded Larry's backup Michael Bennett to Tampa Bay.

3) Herm Edwards has a lot of good things to say about Priest, and according to SI, he's been in almost daily contact with his Priest.

4) Coach Edwards said "You've got to find a way to get him in the game."

5) Because I told you about it last week.

We won't know for sure if Priest will play this week against Oakland until after he practices on Wednesday and Thursday.

Put a waiver request in...if you have someone expendable on your fantasy bench.

Pierre Thomas update of the week...

My current fave deep sleeper is making news yet again.

Sean Payton thought that Reggie Bush did a good job against the Panthers last week in his first action as the featured back. However, in his Monday press conference Coach Payton did mention that he wants to get some other backs in the mix.

"I said yesterday that I thought Reggie handled the running back duties fairly well. I thought that with (Aaron) Stecker and Pierre (Thomas), maybe I can be a little more balanced in regards to getting them some more touches."

Does this mean that we'll see Pierre on the field some more? I have to think so - the week before they played New Orleans, Tampa Bay ran all over the Panthers defense to the tune of a total 180+ yds.

Gregg Rosenthal has a good blog entry about the "death nell" that is having fifty offensive snaps or under. What is important to keep track of here though, is that the Panthers only had 47 snaps to the 75 of the Saints. How did the Saints not win the game? Was it simply offensive turnovers and you can't make the Saints defense try to stop anybody?

The Saints need to get back to pounding the football with the run game. I think we proved that Bush, while a great talent, is not going to get it done unless he changes his style (or his OL plays better).

When Payton was asked how Pierre Thomas fared in his first NFL game, he said...

"I think that Pierre played well on special teams. He played in a limited role as a runner, there's a place to increase his touches I think as we move on here, but he did a real good job here for his first time out covering kicks, blocking, returning kicks, so that was encouraging. We had a couple young guys that stood out."

Is the Pierre Thomas era about to begin?

Players I like this week...

Short list - but here are a few players that I think might have a big week this week.

Jason Wright RB, CLE
Jamal Lewis is reported out this week (wearing a boot a practice seems like a sign). The Dolphins are giving up over 170+ yds on the ground. Sounds like a gimme to me. He might not get the TDs, but I would think he'll have a big yardage day.

Greg Olsen TE, CHI
Griese targeted Olsen 7 times last week compared to Desmond Clark's 4 targets, and the Vikings are giving up 75 yards receiving to the TE position.

Jason Campbell QB, WAS
The Packers 23rd ranked pass defense goes against a guy that was without his top two WRs last week and still had a great game. Call it a feeling, but I think it's only a matter of time before Gibbs lets him loose. Anyone that can make Keenan McCardell look good (isn't this guy 60 years old or something?), is doing well.

Reggie Brown WR, PHI
Many people have written him off as dead, but against the Jets and after a bye week, I think this is the week Brown puts up a good performance. If you're struggling with byes, this might be the only week that Brown does well all year! Take a risk and plug him in.

Is your fantasy football team hurting? Do you need a priest?

Priest Holmes recently said that he is 90% and ready to go.

Not sure if many of you saw Hard Knocks on HBO this past summer...but there was one piece with Dick Vermeil talking with Herman Edwards that sticks out for me. Dick was saying to Herm that when Priest says "I'm at this percent" he believes him. Dick went on to say that Priest knows his body better than anyone he ever coached.

This report from the Kansas City Star goes into more detail about Holmes' current situation.

Larry Johnson isn't exactly blowing things up right now. Maybe....exactly why we might not have seen the last of Priest Holmes. Yeah, he turns 34 this month. Sure, he wasn't drafted. He's gotten older and slower. But that stuff just motivates Priest. It's hard to forget 66 touchdowns in three years.

Keep an eye on him, and stash him on your IR if it's available. After week six when he comes off the PUP, the Chiefs have three weeks to evaluate him to see if he's ready to play.