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 Those playing Fantasy Football, you might wsh to consider filing this under, “Don’t try this at home.”
There’s a good reason they call it “fantasy” football. After spending years trying to better understand how the front office functions in professional sports, I have simply dabbled in playing fantasy sports because I always would get tripped up over “reality” vs “fantasy”.
Silly me.
This year, I was approached to play in the Coors Light League, which ties in with the company’s massive ad blitz and promoted through Yardbarker (see Yardbarker And Coors Ready For Some Football for details), of which all the Business of Sports Network sites are a part of, including The Biz of Football. With Fantasy Football taking less energy than Fantasy Baseball to engage in (182 games for baseball, as opposed to up 21 games, when factoring playoffs) the idea of hooking up with fellow Yardbarkers and those at the National Football Post, who are administering the league, sounded fun.
As mentioned, I said, “Don’t try this at home,” because the Draft philosophy was a bit unorthodox.
While running backs are deemed to be the most worthy of first picks, I chose to gamble by looking at the schedule where the Week One Saints/Lions game stood out. The logic? Drew Brees of the Saints against a woeful Lions defense. With the third overall pick, it paid off, at least in Week One, far better than anticipated. Brees went 26-34, with 358 yds passing, a staggering 6 TDs with just 1 INT. His performance landed The Biz of Football team 39 points. The downside? The chances of Brees pulling this off again seem exceptionally thin. Still, Brees ranked 1 or 2 at the QB position in various mock drafts, and might – repeat might – pull enough points to make up for the lack of a high ranking running back.
As for a running back… I was fortunate to have Thomas Jones of the Jets drop through where I selected him with my Round 2 pick, the 22nd overall. Jones racked up 20 carries for 107 yds rushing and 2 TDs, against the Texans, garnering The Biz of Football 37 valuable points.
The other key points gainer was the selection of the Philadelphia Eagles for defense, which were picked up in the 8th round at 94th overall. Against an underperforming Jake Delhomme and the Panthers' offense, the Eagles’ defense posted 2 TDs, 49 tackles, 11 assists, 10 passes defensed, 5.0 sacks, 5 INT, 2 FF, 2 FR, good enough for a solid 37 points.
The other upside for The Biz of Football draft was the selection of Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez, who had 5 catches for 73 yds receiving and 1 TD against the Dolphins. That performance garnered 13 points.
There were downsides. As mentioned, the Panthers underperformed and that hit my selection of WR Steve Smith, who had only 1 carry for 4 yards, 3 catches for 21 yds receiving and in a sign of Delhomme’s abysmal day, 2 tackles. Total take? 2 points. The other bust? Selecting the Browns WR Braylon Edwards in the 3rd round at 75th overall looks like a poor decision. With 1 catch for 12 yards, he garnered only 1 point.
All told, The Biz of Football gathered 136 total points, 24 points ahead of the “LBS” team being run by Larry Brown.
To repeat what I said during the Draft chat to my fellow league members, and will most likely hold true over the course of the season: I expect to slip considerably unless some trades are made. On that front… In the 17th round, the 171st overall, was a selection for The Biz of Football that could pay considerable dividends as a starter or in trade. Who dropped so far down the draft? Mark Sanchez, who in his quarterback debut for the Jets went 18-31 for 272 yds, 1 TD, and 1 INT. Fantasy average? 13 points in Week One.
Look for weekly updates on the Coors Light League throughout the season here on The Biz of Football.
For more details see The Right Brain Fantasy Report sponsored by Coors Light, and running on Yardbarker
Select Read More to see The Coors Light League standings after Week One
| Right Brain League Division |
| |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
PF |
PA |
DIV |
STREAK |
| The Biz of Football |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
136 |
37 |
1 - 0 - 0 |
Won 1 |
| LBS |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
112 |
88 |
1 - 0 - 0 |
Won 1 |
| Stubbs94 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
99 |
82 |
1 - 0 - 0 |
Won 1 |
| Beast Mode |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
97 |
78 |
1 - 0 - 0 |
Won 1 |
| Beer Wolf Stalker |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
97 |
48 |
1 - 0 - 0 |
Won 1 |
| NFP |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
71 |
63 |
1 - 0 - 0 |
Won 1 |
| RealGM |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.000 |
88 |
112 |
0 - 1 - 0 |
Lost 1 |
| Awful Announcing |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.000 |
82 |
99 |
0 - 1 - 0 |
Lost 1 |
| Pete |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.000 |
78 |
97 |
0 - 1 - 0 |
Lost 1 |
| The Infamous BSO |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.000 |
63 |
71 |
0 - 1 - 0 |
Lost 1 |
| Rumors & Rants |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.000 |
48 |
97 |
0 - 1 - 0 |
Lost 1 |
| HHR |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.000 |
37 |
136 |
0 - 1 - 0 |
Lost 1 |
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OTHER NEWS FROM THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK
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 Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
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