T R U

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 27, 2014 -> 01:03 PM) IGN is the worst. "After the letdown of Madden 25 last year, Madden 15 feels like a mostly fresh start for the series. The increased emphasis on defensive play, a great new play-calling system, and the return of long-time favorites makes this year's Madden one of the best in recent memory, even if it could still use work in regards to its stale commentary and longstanding bugs. As a lifelong Madden and football fan, I'm impressed. This year's game is both exciting and reassuring that EA Sports isn't wasting opportunities to improve the series." Their rating for Madden 15? 8.7 Their rating for Madden 25? 8.5 Yet last year was a letdown (true), but this year is supposedly amazing? The same person didnt review both games for what its worth. Personally, I think Madden 15 blows away last years game, its absolutely beautiful and the gameplay feels real good. I dont have the computer making 360 back flip interceptions on me all game like last year.

I was still able to pick up Carlos Hyde in one league and Jeremy Hill in another for dropping Gordon, pretty nice switches there

Its a damn shame such a great fantasy asset is wasted like that, oh well

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 27, 2014 -> 07:58 AM) If anything, it would be RBBC if/when SJax goes down. Good team but I'd definitely see if any other true handcuffs/backups are available and drop Quiz. (West, Polk, Davis, Starks etc...) Yes, the idea of a handcuff is to have a guy who will assume the full workload of the guy who got hurt, not someone that's going to be in a committee.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 04:45 PM) I just like how much we're talking about Freddy Jackson I think its ridiculous we wasted so much time arguing the merits of 2012 Fred Jackson, its time to get back to fantasy talk for THIS year

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 04:11 PM) When he played, he was useful. Fantasy football is a weekly game, after all. So he was absolutely useful. And no, you aren't finding 1,000+ yard, 6 td guys on the waiver wire frequently. In the end, Jackson ended up being very useful last year, and some people thought he'd be useful based on usage in 2012. It wasn't sheer luck some people drafted or rostered him. He was the perfect 3/4 RB before drafting pure lottery tickets. I agree he was absolutely useful last year.. and no, it wasn't luck that people drafted and rostered him, it was luck that Spiller crapped his pants and gave Jackson that opportunity to do what he did. He was a waiver wire add in a lot of my leagues though, and while not frequently those guys ARE there depending on how much you work the wire.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 04:03 PM) Tell that to the coaches of the team, then, because they don't seem to be on board with Davonta this year. In fact: "With Steven Jackson (hamstring) still sidelined, Rodgers started and handled the vast majority of first-team work. Antone Smith mixed in sparingly and Devonta Freeman got just one series to himself. It's clear that Quizz, now in his fourth year with the Falcons, has the faith of the coaching staff even though they are aware of his talent limitations. He'd lead a committee approach if Jackson misses any time early in the season." Welp, guess you'll see when Steven Jackson eventually goes down. I can get blurbs from ESPN too "Steven Jackson is the starter. He turns 31 next month and probably has one good season left in him -- but if he is slowed by nagging injuries, the Falcons will turn to someone else. They drafted Devonta Freeman in the fourth round with thoughts of grooming him as the three-down back of the future. If he looks as good in pads as he did in shorts, Jackson might have a battle on his hands. Even the battle for the third running back will be interesting with Jacquizz Rodgers and Antone Smith in the mix. (ESPN)"

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 03:38 PM) 14 teamer QB Cam Newton WR Alshon Jeffery WR Roddy White RB Eddie Lacy RB Arian Foster TE Zach Ertz FLEX Emmanuel Sanders K who cares DEF who cares, i'll play matchups BENCH Steven Jackson Terrance Williams Bryce Brown Eli Manning Jacquizz Rodgers (handcuff) Jonathan Grimes (handcuff) Quizz is not the handcuff there

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 03:25 PM) ...he only played 10 games. That's over 1,000 in a full season. Those guys aren't on the waiver wire. He had useful numbers, especially in PPR. I just gave you his PPR numbers from 2012, him only playing in 10 games goes to the point that he wasn't that useful that year If your goal is to find guys who can offer 600-1000 TOTAL yards and 4-5 TDs, you can absolutely find a guy like that on the waiver wire.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 02:42 PM) He still had usable, bench numbers when he played in 2012, he wasn't just a handcuff who never saw the field. Spiller was obviously the guy to own, but Jackson would have been one of those backup RBs you'd take knowing he'd play and contribute something in any given week. Matthew Berry 2013 love/hate: "Fred Jackson, RB, Bills (13th, 10th): He's not dead; he's just in Buffalo. There is too a difference. As much as I love Spiller, Jackson is going to get some work, too, including the goal-line stuff. They want to run in Buffalo. Apparently until people start losing their lunches." Were just going to have to agree to disagree on that one. His 2012 numbers were about 600 total yards and 4 TDs, you can find those guys on the waiver wire. Im not looking to draft them.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 02:19 PM) 100% disagree there. Yes, you clarified. I like upside guys but a bench full of only them isn't going to do much. When s*** hits the fan and it's 5 weeks in and you have injuries and byes, those are the first guys getting dropped unless you have a ton of bench spots. How can you disagree? CJ Spiller exploded in 2012 and finished 6th in PPR leagues, Fred Jackson finished 35th. Buffalo even came out and said before last season they were going to feed Spiller the ball until he threw up. There wasn't much value in Fred Jackson BEFORE the season considering he had only played in 20 games the previous 2 seasons and they had a budding superstar in CJ Spiller to carry the load now. Obviously we can use hindsight, but there wasn't much good about Fred Jackson heading into 2013.

QUOTE (The 815 @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 11:32 AM) All right, rip apart my team. PPR and I was the 11th pick out of 12 teams QB: Matt Ryan RB: Joique Bell RB: Shane Vereen WR: Dez Bryant WR: Demaryius Thomas TE: Kyle Rudolph WR/RB Flex: bench rotation Bench RBs: Toby Gerhert, Carlos Hyde Bench WRs: Terrance Williams, Justin Hunter, Josh Gordon (picked right before Mr.Irrelevant) Bench TE: Charles Clay K: Vinatieri D/ST: Rams, Texans Hoping Gordon decision comes sooner rather than later so I know if I can drop him or someone else when it's time to get a replacement kicker or QB. Only regret may have been taking Bell before Ryan Mathews was off the board, and not taking a backup QB over Hunter or Williams, and not getting a better defense... My kind of draft

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 10:52 AM) Depends on scoring, we had Johnson 9th and Bell 14th, separated by a mere 22 points. Ivory is going to get carries for NYJ as well. Do we know Johnson is going to get goal line work? And it's the NYJ. And Johnson is another year older: "But Johnson finished 45th out of 47 qualified running backs in average yards after contact and lost much of his decisiveness at the line." They just invested a ton in Bell over the offseason, he gets catches and will also get the goal line work. ***** Except we knew Fred Jackson has value going into last year based on 2012, he wasn't the lottery ticket we're referring to, waiting for injury. Fred Jackson was the value guy from the get go, not the waiting for opportunity guy. Shonn Greene probably gets the first carry of the year for the Titans. He's going to be pretty useful if Sankey continues to disappoint and you need someone to get points early on in the season, compared to a Hyde or Freeman who could put up next to nothing. That's the point. You can't have ALL "predict the next superstar" guys. You want some lottery tickets, but you need some usefulness early as well. With RBs, you can't just look at late bye weeks, they miss more games here and there than any other position. Ok well Chris Johnson was still a top 10 RB last year in PPR leagues and is consistent in terms of production. You cant say hes a year older and Ivory is going to get carries too and not apply the same to Bell. If the Jets were sold on Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell they wouldn't have brought in Chris Johnson. I don't see any worries there, plus he has gotten some goalline work in the preseason which is also a good sign. Bell still has Reggie Bush to split with, and as long as Bush stays healthy Bell has limited upside in terms of ousting Chris Johnson who now has moved to one of the better rushing teams in the league from last season. This is all personal opinion though, if you like Bell more that's your call. Based on 2012, there was no reason for anyone to draft Fred Jackson when you look at what CJ Spiller did. That was the case in most of my leagues where people were picking him off the waiver wire. The only person who needed to draft Fred Jackson was the CJ Spiller owner and even that wasnt a must have handcuff. Fred Jackson was not a value guy last year, but he turned into a huge bonus for anyone who did draft him late or picked him up off waivers. Plus, im pretty sure I clarified my stance on the upside/flier guys with my RB example a few posts above. The bolded part is important, because that's the whole point of getting the Hydes, Freemans, Hills of the draft. In the case of Hyde and Freeman, they are going to be playing behind older/injury prone backs and will have a high chance of seeing significant playing time this year. Even looking at Hill, yes hes behind Gio but check out BJGE workload from last year. It was something like 800 yards and 7 Tds, and that's what Hill is more than likely going to be inheriting. Nevermind he has more talent than BJGE, but I also question Gio's ability to be a workhorse guy which is prolly why they took a talented back like Hill fairly early in the draft. As far as Shonn Green goes, by the time you need to start looking at fill in backs Sankey is already going to be the back to own there. I see no value in having Shonn Green on your team unless Sankey blows out his knee in this last preseason game. Its all personal opinion

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Aug 21, 2014 -> 10:38 AM) Bringing up 1971 is only important in the context of people saying "this only became an issue in the last year!" Clearly, certain segments of the Native American population have been offended by the word for, at a minimum, 40+ years. That's not me thumbing my nose at someone, that's relating historical facts surrounding the argument... I'm arguing as to why the name should change. If Native American groups decided, "you know what, not offended any more" then I would probably change my stance... but that hasn't happened. But there are indians that either were never offended by it, or are no longer offended by it. Obviously this has been a pretty big issue, but I wouldn't count on the name changing any time soon. You would think they would have just forced him to change it by now if they could.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 09:21 AM) Yeah I'm worried about my QBs as well. I wouldn't be, if Cutler can stay healthy hes an easy top 7 QB this year with all of those weapons. I think Tannehill breaks out this season as well and is in the 30 TDs range.

And just to expand a little more, here is my RB situation in my work league RB1: Montee Ball RB2: Rashad Jennings BN: Danny Woodhead BN: Jeremy Hill BN: Devonta Freeman I did grab a solid play guy in Woodhead along with the upside guys so all is not lost if one of them doesn't pan out.

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 07:34 AM) Is that normal to be able to play a QB at the flex? My league just does RB/WR/TE. I just fought to have that removed from our work league. Its the worst, we had a super flex (QB/RB/WR/TE) and there was no reason not to start your draft off with QB-QB. QBs dominate the league, its not very fun IMO

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 25, 2014 -> 09:45 PM) Play Joique Bell over Chris Johnson, especially in PPR. You can't have all upside on your bench and wait for injuries, you also need some usefulness. Right now Greene should get some points if you have an injury/bye week etc. In that situation, you are playing Green over a Freeman or a Hyde at this moment. You need some safety guys to actually contribute. Hyde may not do anything unless an injury. You need a balance. Every team needs some Fred Jackson's etc. to contribute in spots to go along with some lottery picks. Also depends how big your bench is. If you have 4 bench spots, you really don't have room for lottery tickets unless they are handcuffs. I don't think every legit league has 4 weeks of playoffs. In a ten team league, we put 4 in. 15 and 16. That's legit enough, 6 teams shouldn't be making the playoffs in a 10 team league. If you have 12 teams I'm unsure of your set up to have 4 weeks worth of playoffs. Are you really putting in 8 teams? Also leagues should pay out for regular season as well, not just the more luck-driven playoffs at the end. Chris Johnson was 8th in PPR scoring last year, Bell was 15th. Not sure id go with Bell over Johnson especially since Bush is a bigger threat than anything the Jets have in terms of cutting into production. You just proved my point for me with the Fred Jackson comment. Upside on your bench doesn't mean all no name guys, it means guys with opportunity. Fred Jackson wasn't drafted very high last year, but was a guy with the right situation could become fantasy relevant. The goal is to "predict" the Fred Jackson this year, I believe that's going to be Jeremy Hill. Shonn Green cant stay healthy and the Titans invested a 2nd round pick in a back. Hes going to be pretty useless in terms of fantasy pretty quick. Also consider bye weeks as a factor as well. If your starting RBs don't go on by until weeks 7 or later, the longer you have to roster the guys who will most likely be at the head of the depth chart come those bye weeks. Maybe something was missed on the playoff thing, 3 weeks not 4 is what I was talking about. Fantasy season runs through week 13 and the playoffs are 14,15,16.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 25, 2014 -> 07:14 PM) I think it's going to happen. This is there way of making him vulnerable and having him over come the odds and what not. Not only would Summerslam be a waste but Taker's streak would have been basically used to elevate Cena even more. It'll be pretty sad if it happens. Heres what I hope: Its night of champions so Lesnar has to be on the card, there's no time to just randomly throw someone into the title picture so a Cena rematch makes the most sense and then Lesnar can skip Hell in a Cell and make an appearance at Survivor Series. Cena puts up a better fight but ultimately falls short again, sending his story in a different direction and giving more time to get future opponents ready. Heres what I think: Cena defies all odds and defeats Lesnar at Night of Champions to become 16 time World Champion and then I get an email from wwe network with a picture of Vince McMahon in sunglasses that says "U Mad Bro?"

Ugh, if John Cena wins at Night of Champions Summer Slam will have been a COMPLETE waste

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 25, 2014 -> 05:01 PM) I'm targeting round 9/10. I have the 12th pick in my PPR league (AGAIN, 2 years in a row now). Frankly, at that point, you are drafting WR/RB3's who have upside, so drafting a guy who could give you that type of total point output (meaning a WR3 output) over 8 games is quite a steal. And I mean, who are you going to keep over him, Jeremy Kerley (or whatever)? Yeah, if he's done for the season, I lose him, whoop dee doo. I bought into the Steven Jackson and David Wilson hype last year and got absolutely torhced for that, and I drafted them like 12/13. Yup nailed it. I have taken him in round 9 every time I got him. We will know whats going on with him before the season starts, so if he is out for the year big deal I can drop him and pick up another upside guy no problem. I am facing another problem though, I have Demaryius Thomas, Dez Bryant, and Randall Cobb. If Gordon comes back, I only can play 3 of them so I will be put in a tough spot in terms of playing or trading.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 25, 2014 -> 05:13 PM) out of curiosity, when do most fantasy leagues end in here? Our playoffs begin Week 13 (3 playoff games, superbowl week 16), so 8 games suspension would be pretty brutal if I'm out of it by then. 8 games means hes back week 10 (They have a bye week 4) which means you would have him for 7 weeks if you go all the way to the title game. If you can make the roster spot work its definitely worth it. Ill edit it my leagues are the same as you stated, and I would think any legit league would be set up the same.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 25, 2014 -> 04:33 PM) I got Gordon late last year and plan on doing so again this year. If the guy put up 1600 yards in 14 games with Weeden, Hoyer, and Campbell, throwing to him, imagine what he does when he has a guy like Manziel chucking bombs to him all the time. If he doesn't get suspended for the full year - hopefully he won't, because he shouldn't - he could easily win some leagues for guys. My gut feeling is this has taken way too long for him to be suspended for the season. I would guess 8 games, which means he is eligible to return for week 10. Quite the boost for the run to the fantasy playoffs. Ive been able to land him in all leagues but 1 so far.

And this should pretty much go without saying, if Josh Gordon wasnt drafted in your league go pick him up immediately.. Also, draft him if you haven't drafted yet.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 25, 2014 -> 02:50 PM) Don't like this very much. Andre Johnson is a shaky WR2 and CJ1K is a very questionable RB2. You have zero depth at WR and the Chiefs defense is not going to be as good this year since their schedule is really, really difficult. I'm also not a big fan of QB/RB combos since more often than not they cannibalize each other. Andre Johnson is a pretty solid #2 PPR WR, I would feel comfortable with that. Chris Johnson as a RB2 is also a pretty solid get, he finished 8th in PPR scoring last season and is generally a top 10-15 guy which is borderline RB1 territory. Definitely agree on the Chiefs, but don't agree on the Rodgers/Lacy downgrade. I think that's a good pairing for that situation.