Each week, the Fantasy Island contestants will submit a preview for each of that weekend's games. The best preview from each game will be selected and combined with the others into one comprehensive guide, and points are awarded based on how many individual previews from each writer are selected. Get it? OK. We sorta do, too.
Each week, the Fantasy Island contestants will submit a preview for each of that weekend's games. The best preview from each game will be selected and combined with the others into one comprehensive guide, and points are awarded based on how many individual previews from each writer are selected. Get it? OK. We sorta do, too.
Jaguars at Bills
I’m planting my fantasy playoff dreams on this early kickoff despite the rainy weekend forecast. Too many valuable components in play: Cecil Shorts is an automatic force (291 receiving yards and three touchdowns over the last three weeks); Justin Blackmon is playing like he’s being covered by Big 12 corners again; Steve Johnson has six catches in three straight games; Rashad Jennings faces the 31st-ranked rushing defense in his return to the starting backfield; C.J. Spiller is a top-10 rusher in the league and has gotten there with almost 100 fewer touches than Adrian Peterson (Chan Gailey is finally defining the depth chart with Spiller up top). In short, this is the fantasy game of the week and I can’t wait to be the guy who insists on making others follow its progress at Casa Ramirez on Sunday Ticket.
— Ramon Ramirez
Each week, the Fantasy Island contestants will submit a preview for each of that weekend's games. The best preview from each game will be selected and combined with the others into one comprehensive guide, and points are awarded based on how many individual previews from each writer are selected. Get it? OK. We sorta do, too.
214, 227, 181. Those are the allowed rushing yards for Baltimore over their last three games. Expect a big game from Trent Richardson both running and receiving this week. After a hot start, Joe Flacco has barely been better than Brandon Weeden, and both Dennis Pitta and Torrey Smith have nearly disappeared. Don’t expect much from Smith with Joe Haden blanketing him all game, and expect even less from Pitta. The Browns have only allowed more than six points to a TE once all year.
Each week, the Fantasy Island contestants will submit a preview for each of that weekend's games. The best preview from each game will be selected and combined with the others into one comprehensive guide, and points are awarded based on how many individual previews from each writer are selected. Get it? OK. We sorta do, too.
Player to Start: C.J. Spiller
This is a friendly reminder that C.J. Spiller’s upside makes him an every-week start, regardless of your format. Yeah, he might only get 15 touches, but he’s one of a handful of players who can produce something special out of thin air. He’s like David Blaine, expect he doesn’t stare at you awkwardly for three minutes after he’s finished.
— Jonathan Bales
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Monday.
Each week, the Fantasy Island contestants will submit a preview for each of that weekend's games. The best preview from each game will be selected and combined with the others into one comprehensive guide, where points are awarded based on how many individual previews from each writer are selected. Get it? OK. We sorta do too.
Matt Ryan will have 60 minutes against Carolina to make an early case for MVP. After witnessing the New York passing attack go buck-wild against Carolina, it’s hard to make a case for Carolina magically shutting down Atlanta in the Georgia Dome. Residents of Atlanta are about to witness the sort of insanity typically reserved for Freaknik. White, Jones, and Gonzalez are all safe bets for more than 14 points this week.
Tonight begins Week 1 of the NFL's regular season, and with it, Week 1 of Fantasy Island — Grantland's competition to find our fantasy football writer. The Fantasy Island Draft was last night, and within the first 15 minutes the league was already chastising someone for a celebrity name drop. You'd never think these people were 10 strangers picked to live in an Internet house. And with that, here are your Fantasy Island contestants:
Owner: Shane Morris (Nashville, Tennessee)
Bio: Most of my time is spent around music, so being able to write about fantasy football is a nice reprieve. Like most men in about nine Southern states, I believe I know more about football than anyone.
As Arian Foster's hamstring can attest, Arian Foster occasionally gets injured. So you would think the prospect of being on the accursed cover of Madden '13 might be a little scary for the Texans running back. But then, Arian Foster is made of stronger stuff than most.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Monday.
Disclaimer: This article is part of my series on free agency from the perspective of the agent, where I prepare Scott Boras-esque "books" that detail where each player stands in the marketplace and why he deserves as much of your team's money as possible. Normally, my goal is to use statistics and historical context to present the most accurate depiction of football that I can, but in this series, all I want to do is convince you to spend money on the player in question. As a result, I may include information or suggest comparisons that I don't necessarily agree with, just as an agent might try to play up his clients' strengths. Keep that in mind when you're reading. (For more on this, check out the Monday piece on Mike Wallace that started this series, and the subsequent articles covering Packers quarterback Matt Flynn and Texans pass-rusher Mario Williams.)
There’s nothing more boring than reading about (or listening to) the arcane details of another man’s fantasy football team, so I will cut to the chase: It would be great if Roy Helu was getting Tim Hightower’s reps right now. If the Redskins started using Helu the way they’re currently using Hightower, a lot of my problems would instantly evaporate. I need Helu to touch the ball 15 times a game, at least until October. But it appears that this is not going to happen. So I am left with three options, all of which ran through my mind during the first half of last night's Skins-Cowboys contest:
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Wednesday.
1. Arian Foster, running back, Houston Texans
By all accounts, Arian Foster is something of a new-age goofball. His father actually named him after the Age of Aquarius, he majored in philosophy at Tennessee, he writes poetry, and he named his child Zeniah Egypt, in part because of his high regard for Discovery Channel programming. He is not the prototypical NFL mercenary, and so perhaps we should not have been surprised that Foster tweeted this spiritual observation about a hamstring injury that could keep him from playing in the Houston Texans’ season opener:
4 those sincerely concerned, I'm doing ok & plan 2 B back by opening day. 4 those worried abt your fantasy team, u ppl are sickless than a minute ago via Twittelator 
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Arian Foster
ArianFoster
Now, let me preface this by restating a truism that needs to be posted on billboards and sports blogs in 72-point type, like a surgeon general’s warning:
NO ONE GIVES A DAMN ABOUT YOUR FANTASY TEAM, NO WILL EVER GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR FANTASY TEAM, AND NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR YOUR COMPLAINTS ABOUT YOUR FANTASY TEAM.
Here’s your Tuesday whip-around on the stories dominating the headlines and lingering in the margins of the NFL. No pads needed.
