No Fair Weather Fans

Last week, I became a fantasy expert. This self-appointed title has inspired me to start granting the Twitter Universe their wishes of fantasy help. Many people throw out a “Who should I start?” question to the corporate fantasy experts and I am there to give them the advice they are seeking, because we all know those corporate dudes don’t have the time to respond. Well, guess what? I do. If you have some questions yourself, you can tweet at me @BenKelleyNFWF with the #FantasyGenie.

Now, with any genie you run the risk of genie granting your wish with a negative consequence. We have all seen Bedazzled (granted Elizabeth Hurley didn’t come out of a lamp, but she still granted wishes). I am more along the lines of Kazaam, coming out of a boombox to save your fantasy week. Don’t get me wrong we can end up down the Aladdin path with a few adventures along the way, but in the end it will be you free from missing the playoffs.

My positive and negative players from Week 1 need to be evaluated. I can’t just talk about the good picks and ignore the misses. Here are the grades:

Positive Players From Last Week:

Buccaneers Defense – They gave up 16 points, had 5 sacks with 2 TO’s. This gives them 10 points in your standard scoring leagues. Pretty good out put for a defense that went largely undrafted and started even less than that. Could have been 13 points, if it weren’t for the terrible penalty at the end of the game. Grade: B.

T.Y. Hilton – Even when the PPR gets thrown in (3.5 points), Hilton crapped the fantasy bed. I do think in the long run he will be a good contributor to your fantasy team. This game was one where I thought he would shine and he didn’t show up in the stat sheet. Grade: D.

Pierre Garcon – I full on stated he would go HAM. He didn’t really put up huge numbers, he did however put up a decent game with a total of 6 in standard and 9.5 in PPR. RG3 really cost him with some bad throws. Either way it wasn’t as big as I was calling for. Grade: C+.

Maurice Jones-Drew – Yikes! Jacksonville played terribly. MJD only had 15 carries for 45 yards with zero receiving yards. He may be back, but the rest of his team didn’t really show up. Blaine Gabbert couldn’t convert any third downs and the offense didn’t stay on the field. Grade: D-.

Negative Players From Last Week:

Arian Foster – It was clear the rust hadn’t been shook. Foster had a few drops and missed some big holes. Sure, he had 90 total yards, but he didn’t come close to sniffing the endzone. He clearly wasn’t himself. Ben Tate even ran the ball better. Sure it was an ok game, but not what you want from a top 10 fantasy pick. Grade: A-.

Colin Kaepernick – This is the one I missed on by the most. I did nail Kaep wouldn’t run all over (7 att for 22 yards). He just threw everywhere (412 yards). The Packers’ defense was shredded for all those yards and three Kaepernick touchdown tosses. Crabtree wasn’t missed at all in this game. I hang my head in shame on this one. Grade: F.

Tavon Austin – The Tavon Show was the missed opening act for the Jared Cook Extravaganza. Austin was mostly a non-factor. He managed just 6 catches for 41 yards with a rushing attempt for -1. The #8 overall pick in this year’s draft wasn’t what most people expected in his first game. Grade: B+.

Baltimore Defense – Pretty much nailed this one. They just gave up a single record tying seven touchdowns. My expectation was them to be pretty bad, but they were horrendous. Peyton ate them alive. Seven new starters will do that to a team. This was by leaps and bounds my best pick. Grade: A+.

Week 1 GPA: 2.25/C+ – Academically eligible. 

Week 2 Picks

Positive Players:

RG3 will be rust free – Last week didn’t start great for the Griffin, but it finished strong. Look back to last season and you will see he only threw 5 INT all season. Against Philly, he threw two in the first half. Don’t expect that to happen again. In the fourth quarter alone, he threw for almost 200 yards. Once Griffin got back into the flow of things, he hit a lot of open receivers. Expect a big game against Green Bay, especially if the Packers are scoring as fast as the Eagles were.

DeAngelo Williams circling the Bills – How is it there is only one running back in Carolina? I know, it’s cray. This is the time to take advantage of him, before Jonathan Stewart comes back to create a two-headed monster. Last week, the Patriots ran all over the Bills. Guess who the Panthers are playing this week? That’s right! New England averaged 4.5 yards per carry. Williams had a 4.8 average against a much better Seattle defense in Week 1.

DeAndre Hopkins getting healthy – Week 1 wasn’t a huge week for Hopkins against San Diego (5 rec for 66 yards), but teams are going to start double teaming Andre Johnson, which will free up Hopkins. He missed the last two preseason games and will only be getting better. Look for him to spring a few quick screens for big yards and get a lot of targets.

Dolphins defense will sink Colts – After seeing the Raiders hold the Colts at home, there is no reason for the Dolphins not to do the same. The Dolphins have better athletes on defense than Oakland and will eliminate the running attack of the Colts. When the Colts are forced to pass, it will play right into Miami’s strengths. Look for the Dolphins to get multiple sacks and cause a couple turnovers.

Negative Players:

Jerome Simpson fluke – Whoa! Take it down a notch on this dude. Sure he went off in Week 1 against the Lions for 7 rec and 140 yards, but he won’t be beating the Bears defense. Simpson won’t be completely shutout, but he won’t be cracking 50 yards. The Bears aren’t a quick strike offense which won’t give the Vikings a ton of offensive plays. Look for the Vikings use a heavy dose of A.P. to manage the clock.

Not getting easier for C.J. Spiller - If there is one thing that can ruin everything, it’s hype. There was no shortage of it when it came to Spiller this off-season. He got shut down by a decent New England defense, but they aren’t great. Fred Jackson also out performed him, as well. Spiller will be facing a defense from seven, in Carolina, that may be one of the best in the NFL. A front seven that just held Marshawn Lynch to 43 yards rushing (52 total yards). 

Big no for Joe Flacco – Things went really bad for the Ravens defense last week, but they weren’t much better for the offense. Jacoby Jones was lost for 4-6 weeks and he wasn’t even a legit #2 receiver. The Browns get back Barkevious Mingo and have Joe Haden in coverage. Torrey Smith will be neutralized by Haden and that will force to step up. How did that go last week?

Fred Davis is a TEBC – The Redskins rotate Jordan Reed in frequently, it seemed like it was 50-50 in Week 1. We have all seen the running back by committee (RBBC), but the TEBC will completely erase the production of a #1 TE. Davis is listed as the starter, but he may still be recovering from the Achilles despite saying his is good to go. He is projected as a Top 15 tight end in most leagues, but he just doesn’t play enough snaps to get production for you squad.

Get on the spot fantasy advice from myself on Twitter @BenKelleyNFWF     #FantasyGenie