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

Ok – so the relocation committee is going to recommend against the Hansen/Ballmer/Nordstrom (HBN) group moving the Kings upon them purchasing the team?

It’s now time for the good guy to become the bad guy.  If he wants to play the NBA way, I am going to lay out the steps below and possible outcomes from the chain of events.

• Immediately raise purchase price of controlling interest of the Kings another $120 million dollars.
  • There are theories floating out there that while the HBN offer was more than Sacramento’s in terms of straight up dollars for dollars (then accounting for debts held by the Maloofs that needed to be paid back to the city or something to that effect brought the two offers to basically dead even), it’s now time for Steve Ballmer to open the checkbook again and make the offer basically too good for the Maloofs to refuse.  This would immediately make the offers not even in the same territory.  Other owners will see this and basically can’t refuse someone who wants to pay that much for a franchise. (Not even 100% of a franchise, I might add)
• Drop the relocation bid, but keep purchase in play.
  • This sounds counter-intuitive, but it is time for some dirty poker.  Keep the land use permit application going, but change it to a large outdoor mall in the footprint of the purchased land.  Draw up the sketches and put them in the press.  It is going to take time to knock down these buildings anyways to clear room, so “work” can technically start.
• Immediately draw up plans for a $600+ million dollar publicly funded arena in the Railyards location in Sacramento.
  • This is an immediate flash-bang (COD style) right in the middle of Sacramento.  The city is debating the location of the arena in their plan (still) and there are supporters for the downtown Sac site, as well as the railyards which has come up a few times.
  • The dollar amount immediately launches this into the “can’t or won’t” get done territory.  It doesn’t matter, HBN is going through the motions anyways and can recant all of the Sonics arena talk that they have had going so far.  The leaked OKC emails didn’t stop this from happening  so a flagrant website and movement for 2+ years can be easily forgotten in the eyes on the owners.
  • 100% publicly funded – that’s what the owners like, right?
• Appeal to the state of California for this arena funding, and try to get a state tax to pay for the Sacramento arena.
  • This is such an insane non-starter, but it takes a page out of the Bennett playbook, who went to Olympia with Stern and wonder why they got shot down.  Plus, I am sure LA voters and SF voters would love paying for a stadium for an opposing team.  But hey, they are trying, right?
• This plays into the first, but since larger investments were made in team acquisition, no private funds from HBN can be used.
  • HBN is already tied up in several real estate deals in the Pacific Northwest, and with the large purchase price of the team, this is the only way that they can stay competitive in the market is to get a publicly funded stadium only.
• Immediately not honor any progress made by the former competing ownership group with regards to the Sacramento Downtown Arena
  • HBN wants to enter their own agreements, and “explore” other taxable revenue streams that they think are more sustainable than a parking tax.
    • This isn’t true, but it again puts the public at odds with regards to financing and tax revenues to be used.
• Wait

I think the above is tenable for probably a year.  The Kings will be playing a known lame-duck season in Sactown (at least in the eyes of the fans, but HBN is “trying”) in which attendance drops, team support withers which makes all of the above that much harder to get anything done.  Soon, HBN won’t be able to run their franchise the way they would like and relocation will have to be done to save the franchise.

If you haven’t noticed, this blueprint was used in Seattle in 2008.  Is it fair?  No.  Does Sacramento take it in the ass? Yeah.  Does Seattle/HBN do what they said they wouldn’t?  Yes.

Pretty ridiculous, isn’t it?

Stern, if your meddling is going to block this move, approve expansion.  Now.  Your legacy means so much to you, this is how you save it.

Here is the Joe McDermott letter:

Thank you very much for your email.

As you know, in May, Chris Hansen reached a memorandum of understanding with County Executive Constantine and Seattle Mayor McGinn to construct a facility in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood with the ability to host NBA and NHL teams.

I agree that this is an exciting proposition and potentially a great opportunity for the region; and I know that for many fans this proposal is a reason to have great hope that the Sonics will play in Seattle again.

As exciting as this proposal is, many questions remain to be answered. That is why, as Chair of the County’s Budget & Fiscal Management Committee, I have brought together a panel of outside experts that will provide councilmembers with independent analysis of the plan.  The panel is comprised of experts in economics, public finance, public-private partnerships, labor, urban development and transportation who have generously volunteered their time and expertise to help the Council better understand the benefits and risks of the proposal.

On June 5th the Budget Committee had its first briefing on the ordinance. Tuesday the committee met again for a presentation and discussion with Hansen and to give all members their first chance to hear from our panel of experts. Some have suggested putting this proposal up for a public vote; however, we are elected to make just this sort of decision and I believe it is our responsibility as elected representatives to resolve this at the Council level. The Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, and the entire King County Council, are dedicated to fully vetting the all aspects of the proposal andI’m looking forward to a robust discussion and to continuing to work with all the stake holders.

An important part of that discuss is hearing from you directly. To that end, the King County Council and Seattle City Council will be holding a joint public meeting on Thursday, July 19th to hear from the public.  The meeting begins at 5:30pm at Seattle City Hall and all are invited to attend and give in-person testimony. Both Councils will accept written public comments at any time as well. Please find details for that meeting below:

Public hearing on proposed SODO arena legislation

Thursday, July 19th

5:30 p.m. Sign-up begins at 5:00 p.m.

Bertha Knight Landes Room, Seattle City Hall

600 Fourth Ave, First Floor

Again, thank you for your thoughtful input on this subject. I look forward to an ongoing dialogue with you and other members of the community as this process continues to unfold.

Please keep in touch,

-Joe

Here is the letter from James Bush that speaks on behalf of Dow Constantine:

Dear Mr. Kelley:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the proposal from investor Chris Hansen to construct a basketball/hockey arena in the SODO neighborhood and to bring NBA basketball and NHL hockey franchises to Seattle.

On May 16, Executive Constantine and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn released proposed agreements between the City, the County, and ArenaCo (Mr. Hanson’s company) to govern the financing of a new multi-purpose arena.

This proposal represents a unique opportunity for our region. Under the agreement, Mr. Hansen and his co-investors would invest more than $800 million in private capital in the purchase of teams and arena construction, with the City and County issuing public debt totaling $200 million. This proposal represents the largest contribution of private capital ever to a public stadium or arena project. It is important to note that all of the public issued debt will be repaid by the taxes generated from the site and rent paid for by the team owners. No new taxes are proposed as part of this project.

At the start of this process, Executive Constantine and Mayor McGinn established several principles for any agreement reached between the City, County and the private investor. These principles are:

·        A new arena must be self-funding, and not rely on new taxes;

·        Existing City and County funds and services will not be adversely impacted;

·        Private investors would bear risk against revenue shortfalls;

·        Any project cost overruns will be the responsibility of the private investors;

·        Private funding should be provided for a study of ways that Key Arena can be modified to keep it a financially successful part of Seattle Center.

No bonds will be issued for arena construction until Mr. Hansen and his group land an NBA franchise, and the bonds will be repaid by the revenues generated by this facility. Under his proposal, Mr. Hansen and his group will pay for any cost overruns and any shortfall in revenue.

A panel of community leaders and finance experts examined the preliminary proposal and, on April 4, endorsed moving forward, while identifying issues for further study, including the impacts of a new arena on traffic and transportation. The King County Council is now evaluating this proposal.

King County is working with various parties to address any transportation impacts caused by the new proposed arena, as well as the broader transportation needs of the South Downtown (“SoDo”) area of Seattle. Mr. Hanson also recently commissioned a transportation study that shows how arena generated traffic could be accommodated, particularly on days where events might overlap with other stadium traffic.

And, while there are challenges in the SoDo neighborhood, including freight mobility issues, we must remember that it is the largest transportation hub in our region—with service from Link light rail, a Sounder commuter train line, three bus rapid transit lines, 21 Metro bus lines, nine Sound Transit express bus lines, four ferry routes, two interstate freeways, and a future deep bore tunnel. There is no other site in the region so well served by major transportation assets.

King County Council and the Seattle City Council are now in the process of review the arena proposal. Executive Constantine looks forward to working with these legislative bodies as their members consider this unique opportunity.

James Bush

Communications Specialist

for King County Executive Dow Constantine

Here is the letter from Larry Phillips:

Dear Mr. Dobbs,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the proposal to build a new professional sports arena in SoDo. This is an important issue with high stakes for our community, so I especially appreciate hearing your thoughts on the matter.

My family and I have been long time fans of our local sports teams, and especially the Seattle Supersonics. I appreciate the economic and cultural benefits of having professional sports teams—including basketball and hockey — play here and represent tour region to the nation at–large, and have closely followed proposals in recent years from private, local investors to bring a basketball team and accompanying stadium improvements back to Seattle.

Most importantly, as an elected official responsible for fiscal stewardship of county taxpayer resources, I am keenly aware of the need to safeguard our public funds from financial risk. These funds must pay for basic public services including public health and safety, roads and transit, and our justice system as local government’s top priorities. This is the lens through which I am viewing the new arena proposal.

As you may know, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and Christopher Hansen, a private investor who proposes to bring NBA basketball and NHL hockey franchises to Seattle, have reached agreement on a financing proposal for the new arena. This agreement will now be reviewed by the Seattle City Council and King County Council, respectively, for possible approval in upcoming months. Because this issue is now under active consideration by the King County Council, I appreciate knowing your views on this matter.

Knowing the potential for future King County Council involvement, earlier this year I submitted a several rounds of rigorous questions to the Arena Review Panel and Mayor McGinn, respectively, for review and response. I continue to have concerns about existing obligations for other stadium debt, overall existing debt load for City and County government, the viability of this arena proposal given other established stadiums and professional sports teams in our region, the financial soundness of the facility proposal and its private investors, neighborhood transportation infrastructure, and public involvement in this decision. I will continue to ask tough questions about this proposal as this process moves forward, with a focus on protecting our taxpayers and limited taxpayer funds.

Thank you again for contacting me with your input on this exciting proposal for our community. I will have your input in mind as we move forward.

Sincerely,

Larry Phillips, Councilmember

Metropolitan King County Council, District Four

King County Courthouse

516 Third Avenue, Room 1200

Seattle, WA 98104-3272

206.296.1004

[email protected]

Playoff Teams

#1 SEED

New England Patriots (East) (Ben)                               Green Bay Packers (North) (Ben)

New England Patriots (East) (Brad)                             Green Bay Packers (North)(Brad)

New York Jets (East) (Ryan)                                           Atlanta Falcons (South) (Ryan)

Baltimore Ravens (North) (Xtina)                                Green Bay Packers (North) (Xtina)

#2 SEED

Baltimore Ravens (North) (Ben)                                   Philadelphia Eagles (East) (Ben)

Pittsburgh Steelers (North) (Brad)                              New Orleans Saints (South) (Brad)

Pittsbrugh Steelers (North)(Ryan)                              Green Bay Packers (North) (Ryan)

New England Patriots (East ) (Xtina)                          Atlanta Falcons (South) (Xtina)

#3 SEED

San Diego Chargers (West) (Ben)                                  Atlanta Falcons (South) (Ben)

San Diego Chargers (West) (Brad)                                Philadelphia Eagles (East) (Brad)

San Diego Chargers (West) (Ryan)                               Philadelphia Eagles (East) (Ryan)

Indianapolis Colts (Wild Card) (Xtina)                       Philadelphia Eagles (East) (Xtina)

#4 SEED

Indianapolis Colts (South) (Ben)                                  St. Louis Rams (West) (Ben)

Houston Texans (South) (Brad)                                    Seattle Seahawks (West) (Brad)

Houston Texans (South) (Ryan)                                   Seattle Seahawks (West) (Ryan)

Kansas City Chiefs (South) (Xtina)                               Seattle Seahawks (West) (Xtina)

Wild Card Teams

#5 SEED

New York Jets (Wild Card) (Ben)                                  Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Wild Card) (Ben)

Indianapolis Colts (Wild Card) (Brad)                        Dallas Cowboys (Wild Card) (Brad)

New England Patriots (Wild Card) (Ryan)                 New Orleans Saints (Wild Card) (Ryan)

New York Jets (Wild Card) (Xtina)                               New Orleans Saints (Wild Card) (Xtina)

#6 SEED

Pittsburgh Steelers (Wild Card)   (Ben)                       Dallas Cowboys (Wild Card) (Ben)

Baltimore Ravens (Wild Card) (Brad)                          New York Giants (Wild Card) (Brad)

Baltimore Ravens (Wild Card) (Ryan)                         Dallas Cowboys (Wild Card) (Ryan)

Pittsburgh Steelers (Wild Card) (Xtina)                      New York Giants (Wild Card) (Xtina)

Most Passing Yards

Drew Brees - New Orleans Saints (Ben)

Phillip Rivers – San Diego (Brad)

Aaron Rogers – Green Bay (Xtina)

Matt Schaub – Houston Texans (Ryan)

Most Rushing Yards

Adrian Peters0n – Minnesota Vikings (Ben)

Chris Johnson - Tennessee Titans (Brad)

Chris Johnson – Tennessee Titans (Xtina)

Chris Johnson – Tennessee Titans (Ryan)

Most Receiving Yards

Andre Johnson – Houston Texans (Ben)

Calvin Johnson – Detroit Lions (Brad)

Larry Fitzgerald – Arizona Cardinals (Xtina)

Dez Bryant – Dallas Cowboys (Ryan)

Most Tackles

Patrick Willis – San Fransisco 49ers (Ben)

Lofa Tatupu - UFA (Brad)

Derek Johnson – Kansas City Chiefs (Xtina)

Chad Greenway – Minnesota Vikings (Ryan)

Most Interceptions

Joe Haden – Cleveland Browns (Ben)

Earl Thomas – Seattle Seahawks (Brad)

Ed Reed – Baltimore Ravens (Xtina)

DeAngelo Hall – Washington Redskins (Ryan)

Most Sacks

Von Miller – Denver Broncos (Ben)

Ndamukong Suh – Detroit Lions (Brad)

AJ Hawk – Green Bay Packers (Xtina)

Clay Matthews – Green Bay Packers (Ryan)

Super Bowl

Atlanta Falcons - 24 vs New York Jets - 16 (Ben)

San Diego Chargers 31 vs Philadelphia Eagles 7 (Brad)

Baltimore Ravens 21 vs Philadelphia Eagles 17 (Xtina)

Pittsburgh Steelers 27 vs Atlanta Falcons 23 (Ryan)

Bold Prediction

Both Terrell Owens and Randy Moss with have playoff receptions. (Ben)

Vick goes down for cockfighting ring in Philippines (Brad)

Matt Forte and Plaxico Burress both will have career years after being released from prison. (Xtina)

Pete Carroll gets suspended for 4 games by Goodell after he found evidence proving Carroll forced Mike Williams to gain 150 lbs. a few years ago, then get back in shape and become the Seahawks’ leading receiver. (Ryan)