Week 3 Breakdown

Week 3: 

The defending Super Bowl Champion Saints go down in dramatic fashion in an overtime thriller to Matt Ryan and the up and coming Falcons. While the Cowboys and Vikings both earned their first victories of the season, avoiding a dreadful 0-3 record and keeping their playoff hopes high. This week pumped plenty of live into Vick supporters as he laid a beat-down on Jacksonville throwing for 290 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air, and running for 30 yards and a TD as Vick is now 2-0 as the Eagles starting QB. The Chiefs move to 3-0....??? YES the Kansas City Chiefs, led by former USC QB Matt Cassel who threw for 250 yards and 3 TD's, blew-out the 49rs in Kansas City and proving themselves to be a dangerous home team. The Rams upset the overrated Redskins with a convincing 30-16 victory in   St. Luis.  Lets get down to fantasy!

Top 3

Running Backs:

For the first time this season Projected Fantasy Superstar Adrian Peterson makes the top 3 cut, with a breakout game against the Lions posting 150 yards and 2 TD's earning the leagues best running back performance in week 3. Most managers with the number 1 pick are feeling confident as Chris Johnson has finished top 3 for the second time in three weeks posting 125 yards and 2 TD's as Tennessee routed the Giants in New York. While the first two top performers come to no surprise, this running back was projected to be 120th in ranking and went undrafted in most leagues, yet he sits at number 7 in overall points produced, and with the second best performance of the week, Cleveland Browns RB Peyton Hills rushed the ball for 140 yards 1 TD and 35 yards receiving. (Pending the results of his waiver, Peyton Hills will be the newest edition to team Nostradamus)

Look Out: 

Next week the saints will blow out the panthers and look out for Pierre Thomas to breakout for over 100 yards and 2 TD's

Wide Receivers:

Out with the old in with the new for Peyton Manning as he has swapped Reggie Wayne with Austin Collie as his #1 target. Twice in three weeks Collie posted numbers worthy of the top 3 WR's in the league, as he posted a league best 12 receptions for 171 yards and 2 TD's in a win over the Broncos. As a new addition to the team Anquan Boldin is making his presence felt ad he hooked up with Flacco 8 times for 143 yards and a league best 3 TD's as the Ravens escaped a close one against the Browns. Boldin is the perfect match for Flacco and the Ravens as he matches their high intensity hard nose style football as he remains atop the toughest receivers in the league. It is extremely uncommon and unlikely for one of the top 3 performances to come against the tenacious defense of the Jets, but with the absence of cornerback Derelle Revis, Brandon Marshall abused the Jets secondary for 10 catches 166 yards and a touchdown in a loosing effort as Miami was given their first loss of the season. 

Look Out: Ochocinco and Terrell Owens will have monster performances next week against a terrible secondary in Cleveland. One if not both will catch multiple touchdowns look for a blowout next week in Cleveland.  

Quarterbacks:

In a terrible loss and possibly the worst special teams performance I have ever seen, Chargers QB Phillip Rivers threw for 455 yards and 2 TD's as his 4th quarter rally proved to be for nothing. After scoring late in the 4th and converting the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 20, the Seahawks returned the ensuing kickoff for a TD securing a 27-20 upset over the Chargers. Drew Brees was the next best QB of week 3 throwing for 365 yards and 3 TD's in a devastating overtime loss to the Falcons. With such a high-octane offense, look for Brees to be a regular amongst the top 3 fantasy QB's. This top performer is likely a one-time visitor of the elite top 3 performers as Kyle Orton threw for a league high 476 yards but just 1 TD in a loss to the Colts. This is a rare occasion in which all 3 top QB's contributed in a loosing effort, showing the significance of defense and special teams to be successful in the NFL.

Look Out:

Next week Drew Brees will throw for over 400 yards and at least 3 TD's in a blowout victory over the Panthers.

Trio

Hello World:

If you are reading this blog, chances are you are getting ready for another exciting year in the NFL, and preparing yourself for your fantasy football draft, arguably the most exciting aspect of the imminent NFL season. Be sure to follow along for what is sure to be another incredible year. As a fantasy football mogul over the past decade I have been awarded 9 first place trophies, only falling once in week 16 of the 2004 season.  If you have ever completely dominated a fantasy season only to lose in the championship weekend then you understand the frustration walking away without the trophy or the money.  As the famous NASCAR champion Ricky Bobby once said, "If you aint first you're last", which surely holds true for the fantasy sports world.  Follow along weekly for vital information to elevate your fantasy team to the upper echelon of your league!
 


This season I have decided to share my knowledge of the game with my loyal readers of The Fantasy Nostradamus Report.  Whether you participate in an office, school, childhood friend league or all of the above, keep up weekly with The Fantasy Nostradamus report as I will help you manage your squad to the promised land in order to enjoy a years worth of bragging rights along with any other prize at stake.


With the regular season kickoff less than two weeks away, anxiously awaiting the day where something other than baseball is featured on SportsCenter's Top Ten, your journey to victory begins with The Draft. A day that many of us spend scrambling through Fantasy Magazines and ESPN player rankings attempting to interpret hundreds of stats while playing catch up reading the latest news in order to compile a list of your potential roster fillers and predict this years sleeper (a player who you feel you may grab in the late rounds in hopes he may have a breakout statistical season). A large key to my past success has been my ability to anticipate the success of incoming rookies.  For example, wide receiver for the Geen Bay Packer's Greg Jennings as well as Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones Drew . I was able to draft these players in the later rounds of the draft as the other fantasy managers simply did not do their research or were unwilling to risk a draft pick on an unproven rookie. This is where I had the edge, having done my research I felt it was not a high risk, but a steal (when a player of value goes undrafted in the first few rounds and you can pick him up in the later rounds), and sure enough they proved to become two of the most productive offensive players on their respective rosters. Doing research and locating these sleepers is the key to having a successful year in your fantasy league.

Profile:

Every year millions of Americans grow excited as September nears for another competitive trash-talking season of Fantasy Football. Some play for fun while others play for money but everyone universally plays for bragging rights.  With dignity on the line and a possible cash flow, no one wants to loose, everyone wants to be crowned champion at the end of the season in order to maintain the bragging edge until next season. Whether playing in a league against friends, coworkers or family, we all strive to find insider information that we believe will be the key to a successful season. This is where Fantasy Football blogs can useful, but today there are hundreds if not thousands of Fantasy Football Blogs who all claim to provide the best advice. How do you choose which one to follow when you know poor advice will prove to be detrimental to you team? In order to create a reliable blog source, I read through approximately 30 Fantasy Football Blogs and researched their track record by looking at the tips they provided over the last few seasons and compared them with each seasons? results. With an abundance of fantasy football bloggers on the web, it is as if picking a needle out of a haystack, but I finally stumbled across a blogger who has established enough credibility as a successful fantasy player and fantasy football insider.
An anonymous blogger created The “The Hazean” and he posts daily reports with weekly summaries, which I believe to be awfully accurate. The Hazean provides reliable, useful information, while engaging the reader by asking questions and exuding confidence without arrogance. I will continue to follow this blog and strive to attain such qualities in my own blog.

Voice:

In creating a blog the author has the power to hide behind their computer and create a pseudo-identity in order to express his thoughts on the issue. This is an interesting concept as it difficult and almost impossible to validate any sort of writer credibility as the reader can only understand the author through his/her pseudo-identity, using a variety of fonts, tones and punctuations to engage their followers-- which in my opinion, is the essence of blogging.
In searching for other blogs on Fantasy Football to analyze the writers voice, the tone was so competitive that, immersed in the trash-talk, I felt I was actually competing in their leagues. Along with trash-talk, most of the blogs I read attempted to give their advice, which they deem expert analysis on the basis of absolutely nothing! But when giving advice on team management in a competitive game every blogger must exude an extremely high level of confidence in their writing, because without confidence, the reader most likely will not think much of the advice provided. In fantasy football blogs especially, this notion of buoyancy is vital each week because the author advises his readers which players should get the starting nod as opposed to those deserving of a spot on the bench, which ultimately determines the outcome of your upcoming fantasy match up!

In analyzing the voice projected in the blog Fantasy Football 101, I came across a number of aggressive and pressing phrases, as it is more an informative than competitive blog.   For example when referencing who to start? and who to bench? the writer will often refer to a player as a "must start" followed by "there will be no such troubles illustrating a large amount of confidence behind his pick". Almost never will you find "I think" or "it might be a good idea", as dubious phrases are unlikely to generate confident followers.  The writer began the season feeling like a prophet as he claimed ProFootball101 would provide three guaranteed locks each week expressing to his followers that he truly knows the outcome of at least 3 games every week- now if this were true I would be in Vegas making millions - but instead I am blogging about the amount of confidence fantasy football bloggers must boast in order to gain devoted followers.

Once the writer has established some form of credibility based on their picks and guarantees, all other advice is put to the test when the season begins.  Anyone can go online and create a blog giving their two-cent on the topic but in order to be successful in gathering followers you must prove your worth. I like this term because it's my measuring device when deciding on whether or not I would follow someone's blog. Before the football season began it was easy to make plenty of predictions and feel ever so confident but once the results are in it becomes clear who truly knows enough to discuss and who is full of Sh**.

This is where the trash-talk between the blogger and his followers comes into play. This happens at the end of every week as the bloggers picks may have guided their followers to victory or led them to their demise in their respective leagues.  In week one, the San Francisco 49rs were one of the three guaranteed locks each week but after being blown out by the Seahawks one follower had this to say: "Thanks a lot, 49ers got blown out.  Any more bright ideas???"

At the end of the day no one can predict the future especially in sports, once again otherwise I would be a millionaire right now.  On a serious note, the most important aspect of an interactive blogging site is to gain and maintain followers.  More specifically, as a Fantasy Football Blogger, the goal is to maintain confidence and steer your readers in the right direction so they may become repeat readers.

The Voice Of Competition

In creating a blog the author has the power to hide behind their computer and create a “pseudo-identity” in order to express his thoughts on the issue. This is an interesting concept as it difficult and almost impossible to validate any sort of writer credibility as the reader can only understand the author through his/her pseudo-identity. Bloggers engage their followers using a variety of fonts, tones and punctuations … which is in my opinion, the essence of blogging.   

In searching for other blogs on Fantasy Football to analyze the writer’s ”voice”, the tone was so competitive that I often times was so immersed in the trash talk that I felt I was actually competing in their leagues. Along with the trash talk most of the blogs I read attempted to give their advice, which they love to deem “expert analysis” on the basis of absolutely nothing! But when giving advice on team management in a competitive game every blogger must exude an extremely high level of confidence in their writing, without such confidence the reader will likely be unwilling to think highly of the advice given. In fantasy football blogs especially this notion of confidence is vital each week the author advises his readers who from their roster should start vs. who should play the bench which ultimately will determine the outcome of your upcoming fantasy matchup!

In analyzing the “voice” projected in the blog Fantasy Football 101 I came across a number of aggressive and pressing phrases as it is more an informative than competitive blog.   For example when referring to “who to start and who to bench” the writer will often refer to a player as an “always a must start” followed by “There will be no such troubles “illustrating a large amount of confidence behind his pick. Almost never will you find phrases such as “I think” or “it might be a good idea” as such unsure gestures are unlikely to generate confident followers.  The writer began the season feeling like a prophet as he posted “ProFootball101 will provide three guaranteed locks each week” expressing to his followers that he truly knows the outcome of at least 3 games every week- now if this were true I would be in Vegas making millions - but instead I am blogging about the amount of confidence that fantasy football bloggers must convey to their followers. 

Once the writer has establishes some form of credibility through their display of confidence their picks, guarantees and all other advice is put to the test when the season starts.  Anyone can go online and create a blog giving their two cent on the topic but in order to be successful in gathering followers you must prove your “worthiness”. I like this term because it’s my measuring device when deciding on whether or not I would follow someone’s blog. Before the football season began it was easy to make plenty of predictions and feel ever so confident but one the results are it becomes clear who truly knows enough to discuss and who is full of Sh**.

This is where the trash talk between the blogger and his followers comes into play. This happens at the end of every week as the bloggers picks may have guided their followers to victory in their respective leagues or led them to their demise.  In week one, the San Francisco 49rs were one of the “three guaranteed locks each week” but after being blown out by the Seahawks one follower had this to say “thanks a lot 49ers got blown out any more bright ideas”.

At the End of the day no one can predict the future especially in sports, once again otherwise I would be a millionaire right now, but on a serious note the most important aspect to gain and maintain followers  as a Fantasy Football Blogger is to maintain confidence and to be correct more times than not.

The Competition's Profile

Every year millions of Americans grow excited as September nears for another fulfilled, trash talking season of Fantasy Football. Some play for fun, and some play for money but everyone plays for bragging rights.  With dignity on the line and possibly money, no one wants to loose, everyone wants to be crowned champion at the end of the season and gain a year’s worth of bragging rights. Whether playing in a league against friends, colleagues or family we are all in search of insider information that we believe will be our keys to success throughout the season. This is where Fantasy Football blogs can useful, but today there are hundreds if not thousands of Fantasy Football Blogs who all claim to provide the best advice. How do you choose which one to follow? As taking poor advice will prove to be detrimental to you team. What I did was searched through approximately 30 Fantasy Football Blogs and did some research on their track record looking at the tips they have given over the past couple of seasons and comparing them with each season’s results. With so many blogs available for anyone to write it’s similar to picking a needle out of a haystack but I finally stumbled across a blogger who has established enough credibility as successful fantasy player.  

An anonymous blogger created “The Hazean” at http://thehazean.com/, posts daily reports and weekly summaries which I have found to be fairly accurate. As a passionate fan of the game “The Hazean” provides reliable, useful information, while engaging the reader by asking questions and exuding confidence without arrogance. I will continue to follow this blog and strive to attain such qualities in my blog.  

NFL's Nostradamus: Week 1 Breakdown

NFL's Nostradamus: Week 1 Breakdown

Week 1 Breakdown

Week 1 Breakdown

Week 1 in the NFL has been loaded with big plays, top ten highlight and a very controversial call that cost the Lions what would have been their first road victory in 3 seasons! but lets leave that for the analysts at ESPN to discuss endlessly for a week and lets talk fantasy! At the end of each week i will post a brief summary of the week followed by in-depth analysis on the top 3 fantasy perdormers at the Running Back, Wide Reciever and Quarterback position and to finish i will post my sleeper of the week!

Since my draft was the day after my first post, check out my winning squad that put together with the 5th pick of a 10 team, 14 round draft.. Team Nostradamus. Hopefully all if not most of you are pretty confident with your draft selections as my first post was pre-draft.

Week 1 so far has been interesting as some first round picks exceeded expectations while others flopped!

Running Backs (RB's):
While first rounder and fantasy superstar Chris Johnson ran for over 140 yards and 2 touchdowns, other managers may have found a steal in Houston Texan's RB Arian Foster, who outprefrormed all running backs, rushing for 231 yards and 3 TD's!! Even though Johnson is expected to produce similar numbers throughout the season, he faced an extremely week defence in the the Raiders who's depleted defence was eminent on Sunday as the Titan's rolled through week 1 with a 38-13 victory! Foster on the other hand was not expected to do so well as the Texans have given themselves the reputation of having a pass oriented offense since quarterback Matt Schaub took over as starting QB in 2007. Another surprise performance at RB came from Chicago's Matt Forte who seems to have found a strong connection with QB Jay Cutler and is looking to make up for last year, after he was a complete bust as a first round pick. Although its only week 1 in a long and grueling 16 week season, look out for these three running backs as they are all on pace for record seasons!

Look Out for Frank Gore to have a breakout game in week 2 against the Saint's after a disappointing week 1 in Seattle.

Wide Recievers (WR's): 
The always exciting Chad OChocinco did not disappoint in week 1, despite his Bengals being routed by Tom Brady and the Patriots, Ochocinco put together the best numbers amongst WR's catching 12 passes for 159 yards and a TD. This is a sign of great things to come for Chad and the Bengals as the addition of wide receiver Terrel Owens has proven to take some of the pressure of of Ochocinco and will likely allow him to face more single coverage than he grown accustomed to. Another top reciever Miles Austin of the Cowboys proved himself worthy of his high draft position, recording 10 catches for 146 yards in a tough 13-7 loss to the rejuvenated Redskins who recorder their first win under their new coach Mike Shanahan and recently acquired QB Donavan Mcnabb. The last top performance was certainly an unexpected surprise as Hakeem Nicks recorded 4 completions for 74 yards and a league leading 3 TDS!! in the giants dominating 31-18 performance over the Carolina Panthers.

Look Out for Hakeem Nicks because Eli Manning seems to have found his new #1 receiver!

Quarterback (QB):
It is to no ones surprise that future hall of famer and Superbowl champion Peyton Manning sits on top of the QB leader board, throwing for a league best 433 yards and 3 TD's in what was the Colts first season opening loss in 7 years. In a sloppy performance by the Bears, QB Jay Cutler managed to throw for 370 yards and 2 touchdowns. Despite being sacked 4 times and losing a fumble, Jay is 2nd on the QB leader board. Lastly we have Carson Palmer who got off to a slow start against the Patriots, he found his rhythm in the second half connecting with Ochocinco and Terell owens and threw for 345 yards and 2 TD's, Palmer could be a great pickup if he is still available in your league because of the threat of both Ochocinco and Terell Owens.

Look Out for Drew Brees next week against a week secondary in San Fransisco, hell be looking to make up for a lackluster performance in the season opener.

Hello World

If you are reading this blog, chances are you are getting ready for another exciting year in the NFL, and are preparing yourself for the most exciting event other than the Game itself, the Fantasy Draft. Follow along for what is sure to be another amazing NFL season. As a fantasy standout over the past decade I have taken home 9 first place trophies, only falling once in week sixteen of the 2004 regular season. Have you ever lost in the Championship match-up in week 16? If you have you would know the feeling of hopes being crushed and all your hard work during the season come to an end without a Championship! Like the great American Athlete and Nascar Champion Ricky Bobby once said “if you ain’t first you’re last!” Follow along weekly and ill share the vital information that will elevate your fantasy team to the number 1 spot in your league!


This season I decided to get with the times and share my knowledge of the game and post my wisdom weekly through this blog entitled The Fantasy Nostradamus Report (if you’ve never heard of Nostradamus, look it up!). Weather you participate in your firm’s office league, or a league you’ve been part of one since childhood or both, keep up weekly with The Fantasy Nostradamus report as I will help you manage your fantasy squad to the promised land where you shall enjoy a years worth of bragging rights along with any other prizes that may have been at stake.

With the regular season kickoff less than two weeks away and you cant wait until something other than baseball is featured on “Sports Center’s top ten” your journey to victory begins with The Draft. A day that many of us spend scrambling through Fantasy Magazines and ESPN trying to interpret hundreds of stats, catching up on the latest news and stats trying to put together a list of your potential roster and predict this year’s sleeper (a player who did not perform well in the past and is usually drafted in the late rounds in hope that such a player will have a breakout season statistically). A large key to my success has been my ability to anticipate the success of incoming rookies for example Greg Jennings, Green Bay Packer’s Wide Receiver, and Jacksonville Jaguar running back Maurice Jones Drew. I was able to draft these players in the later rounds of the draft as the other fantasy managers simply did not know enough and were not willing to risk a draft pick on an unproven rookie. This is where I had the edge, having done my research I felt it was not a risk at all but a “steal” (when a player of value goes undrafted in the first few rounds and you can pick him up in the later rounds), and sure enough they proved to become two of the most productive offensive players on their respective rosters. Doing research and locating these “sleepers” is the key to having a successful year in your fantasy league.