Fantasy Football Tonight 7/16
THE FANTASY FOOTBALL RULE TO LIVE BY
I was reading ESPN The Magazine today, why I have no idea but wanted to see what they had put together for their big "Fantasy Football Special" section this month. It took all of about 4 minutes for me to crumple it up and throw it violently across my office, slamming against the wall and falling to the ground. I will eventually get into why ESPN and CBS are horrible places to get your fantasy information in future blog entries. But tonight I wanted to let you guys in on the biggest, most important rule of winning at fantasy football:
There were 47 coaching changes between last year and this year including head coaches, offensive and defensive coordinators. Systems have changed. Schemes have changed. Players have changed. No matter what anybody tells you, just because DeAngelo Williams ended the season on fire doesn't mean he'll pick up right where he left off. Heck, he may not even be the starter come game 1 of the regular season. The Broncos have gone from a team that can run at will do to the best cut blocking scheme in the league. To a pass happy, spread offense type system that will be run by a career backup QB. Drafting a Denver RB high in any format would be a tragedy this season. The same as expecting Matt Cassel to produce the type of numbers he did while with the Patriots last year. Ridiculous.
If you want to really learn what it takes to be great at fantasy football or any fantasy sport you have to first understand why things happen the way the do. You must consider a player's skill set and how that fits in with his teams system. Then acknowledge what his opportunities will be in the days, weeks and months ahead in terms of playing time, competition and scoring chances. Make your decisions on how you feel things will play out not how they have done so in the past. So much changes from year to year in the NFL that it should take even the most dedicated observer at least a few weeks through training camp to accurately predict any sort of possible outcome for the upcoming season.
Lastly, ex-athletes make the very worst fantasy sports analysts. I am not totally sure on why this is but it has been proven a fact over the past few years. Maybe it is because they see the game from more of a win/loss scenario than from a individual performance aspect. The best experts at anything are the ones who first understand what they are doing and most importantly why they are doing it. You don't get that with any of the ESPN fantasy sports guys at all. All you get there is a bunch of random cliched, worn out, guesses about what you could do to try and win your fantasy league. I don't know about the rest of you guys but this just doesn't cut it for me. I want deep analysis. Fresh approaches to the draft or starting lineups. I would appreciate whoever is giving me advice can actually explain to me why indeed he or she is giving said advice and in a way that makes sense to me. Instead, we get crappy trends that make no sense like third year WR's and RB's hitting the wall at 30.
If you want real good fantasy football advice, sign up for our Draft Kit. I know that sounds like a selfless promotion but I really mean it. Our Draft Kit will not just shout out random stats from last year at you in order to defend our rankings. We teach you what to look for in teams and players. We educate you on how the offensive line blocking scheme effects runningback styles. I guarantee that after reading through our Draft Kit, you will understand fantasy football better. I want the readers of this blog and all of Fantasy Football Search to be able to see past the haze of pomp and circumstance that ESPN and other big named networks try to lure you in with. Demand more from your sports writers and columnists. You deserve it.
Got a tip or a question for me? Email me at thefantasyscout@gmail.com
Sign up TODAY for the Fantasy Football Search Season Pass
Follow me on Twitter: fftonight
I was reading ESPN The Magazine today, why I have no idea but wanted to see what they had put together for their big "Fantasy Football Special" section this month. It took all of about 4 minutes for me to crumple it up and throw it violently across my office, slamming against the wall and falling to the ground. I will eventually get into why ESPN and CBS are horrible places to get your fantasy information in future blog entries. But tonight I wanted to let you guys in on the biggest, most important rule of winning at fantasy football:
Forget last season, it doesn't mean anything anymore.I can't believe that it is 2009 and I am still reading articles in supposed major magazines, written by former athletes and professional journalists wearing fancy suits that base everything on what the final stats were in the previous season. Does it really matter that Matt Cassel threw for 21 TD's last year? Or that MeWelde Moore scored 6 times last year? No, it doesn't. Why? Because last year is over. You can't get points for anything any player did last year. Fantasy sports are built upon trying to predict what will happen this season. We already know what has happened, now all we want to know is what will happen?
There were 47 coaching changes between last year and this year including head coaches, offensive and defensive coordinators. Systems have changed. Schemes have changed. Players have changed. No matter what anybody tells you, just because DeAngelo Williams ended the season on fire doesn't mean he'll pick up right where he left off. Heck, he may not even be the starter come game 1 of the regular season. The Broncos have gone from a team that can run at will do to the best cut blocking scheme in the league. To a pass happy, spread offense type system that will be run by a career backup QB. Drafting a Denver RB high in any format would be a tragedy this season. The same as expecting Matt Cassel to produce the type of numbers he did while with the Patriots last year. Ridiculous.
If you want to really learn what it takes to be great at fantasy football or any fantasy sport you have to first understand why things happen the way the do. You must consider a player's skill set and how that fits in with his teams system. Then acknowledge what his opportunities will be in the days, weeks and months ahead in terms of playing time, competition and scoring chances. Make your decisions on how you feel things will play out not how they have done so in the past. So much changes from year to year in the NFL that it should take even the most dedicated observer at least a few weeks through training camp to accurately predict any sort of possible outcome for the upcoming season.
Lastly, ex-athletes make the very worst fantasy sports analysts. I am not totally sure on why this is but it has been proven a fact over the past few years. Maybe it is because they see the game from more of a win/loss scenario than from a individual performance aspect. The best experts at anything are the ones who first understand what they are doing and most importantly why they are doing it. You don't get that with any of the ESPN fantasy sports guys at all. All you get there is a bunch of random cliched, worn out, guesses about what you could do to try and win your fantasy league. I don't know about the rest of you guys but this just doesn't cut it for me. I want deep analysis. Fresh approaches to the draft or starting lineups. I would appreciate whoever is giving me advice can actually explain to me why indeed he or she is giving said advice and in a way that makes sense to me. Instead, we get crappy trends that make no sense like third year WR's and RB's hitting the wall at 30.
If you want real good fantasy football advice, sign up for our Draft Kit. I know that sounds like a selfless promotion but I really mean it. Our Draft Kit will not just shout out random stats from last year at you in order to defend our rankings. We teach you what to look for in teams and players. We educate you on how the offensive line blocking scheme effects runningback styles. I guarantee that after reading through our Draft Kit, you will understand fantasy football better. I want the readers of this blog and all of Fantasy Football Search to be able to see past the haze of pomp and circumstance that ESPN and other big named networks try to lure you in with. Demand more from your sports writers and columnists. You deserve it.
Got a tip or a question for me? Email me at thefantasyscout@gmail.com
Sign up TODAY for the Fantasy Football Search Season Pass
Follow me on Twitter: fftonight
posted by Jeff Mans at
8:55 PM
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