Week 9 Recaps - Timing

It’s better to be a too year early than a year too late.” - Matthew Berry

“Timing is Everything” - Country Strong (don't care what you say, this movie is awesome)

“A quarter of an inch this way and it would have gone in. A quarter of an inch, Charlie.”

“Yeah, but a quarter in the other way and you would have missed completely.” - Charlie Conway, Mighty Ducks

“Because in either game - life, or football, the margin for error is so small. I mean…. One half a step too late or too early, you don’t quite make it. One half second too slow, or too fast and you don’t quite make it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game. Every minute. Every second. - Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday

(TOP 10 MOVIE SPEECH OF ALL TIME)

Fantasy football, like life, is all about timing. We all know it is, it isn’t rocket science. It’s happened to all of us. If you had played any team but team X, you would have won. If player Y had matched his total points from last week, you would have won. If player Z caught that one 2 yard pass, you would have won. And on and on it goes. Timing is everything, timing is paramount.

Before we get too deep, I’ll get to the point. This week I’m going to look at a few different variations of timing when it comes to fantasy football. In some cases it can be a player that sucked last year, but is good this year. It can also be the opposite. A player that was good last year who sucks this year. To get even more granular, it could be a week to week thing. Jeremy Hill scored 2 points in week 2, but 25 points in week 3. Things like that. I’m going to pick out 2 things from each team that illustrate how timing is so key, good or bad. A lot of these will concern players you drafted, but some will be different. As always, feel free to correct me on anything I got wrong, or add in anything I missed.

WellJustTellUr MotherWeAteItAll (6-3):

Whack A Mole:

This one is really under the radar, but I have to mention it here. I picked up Mike Gillislee before my week 7 matchup and started him. LeSean McCoy was supposed to be out and I figured I had a starting RB. Well, McCoy ended up playing and Gillislee didn’t do shit – ended with 3 points. The next week I decided not to start him. He was playing the Pats and I had better options. He went off for 19.3 points. I proceeded to drop him after that, mainly out of frustration. Also because LeSean McCoy was back. Touchdown Mike scored 12.2 points this past week. Whack A Mole.  

Good and Bad:

Let me take you back to draft day. It’s September 1st and 6:30 PM Central Time. It’s 100 degrees out. I’m on caramels and I’m wearing a full suit. Frader is blackout, Ken doesn’t have sleeves and Guy is wearing neon green shorts. The 6th round of our draft had started and I needed an RB.

Jeremy Langford and Melvin Gordon were on the board. I was the 4th pick in the round, so figured I had a shot at one of them. Lamone took Langford at #52, so he was out. In hindsight, I got lucky there. Langford has been a bust - GOOD. Moving on. Kev then took Melvin Gordon at #53………….. BAD. If I had Melvin Gordon on my team I could be in first place. Instead, I got Donte Monqueef, who has only played in 3 games this year. Good and Bad.

Pure Taige (7-2):

On and Off:

DeMarco Murray was the NFL's leading rusher in 2014. He rushed for 1,800 yards and 13 touchdowns. He was going to be the #1 pick in the 2015 fantasy draft, right? Wrong. Unfortunately the Cowboys let him walk in free agency and he joined the Eagles. The Eagles also signed Ryan Mathews and had Darren Sproles. Yikes. This caused him to slide to #10 in the 2015 fantasy draft. He would finish the year as RB17, but it was ugly. He had 10 weeks with 8 or fewer points and was unstartable by the end of the year. This year? He’s the #2 RB in fantasy and an absolute beast. Tieg took him at #39 this year in what could possibly be the steal of the draft. Who took him at #10 last year? None other than your Commissioner.

Play the Lottery:

The last two weeks, Tieg has had unbelievable luck. Pure Taige, if you will. He’s just had the most random players go off and/or have their best weeks of the season. It’s been ridiculous. In week 8, he started Mohamed Sanu and Chris Hogan. Chris Hogan scored 17.1 points, his highest output of the year. The TD he scored was his first since week 1. SMDH. Mohamed Sanu was better, scoring 18.9 points. His highest of the year, of course.

Fastforward to week 9, when Tieg started Kenny Britt, the Chargers D and Antonio Gates. Kenny Britt scored a TD and has 12.9 points. This was only his second highest total of the year through 9 weeks and just his third TD of the year. The game before he put up 5.8 points. (Lamone started him that week). Nexxxt. In Pure Taige fashion, Antonio Gates scored his highest total of the year – 75 yards a TD and 16 points. Last but certainly not least, the Chargers D. They didn’t have a fantastic matchup, but they put up 14 points. If you guessed that this was their highest output of the season, you win nothing. Nothing except Pure Taige. Play the lottery.