Having Your Cake and Eating it Too… Part 2

Baltimore Ravens Fantasy Football: Schedule Analysis

(ESPN Standard Scoring)Fantasy Pts Allowed Against RB

(ESPN Standard Scoring)Fantasy Pts Allowed Against WR

(ESPN Standard Scoring)Week 1@ New York Jets6.0 pts/G (1^st)13.7 pts/G (6^th)10.7 pts/G (1^st)Week 2@ Cincinnati Bengals11.8 pts/G (8^th)14.9 pts/G (8^th)15.9 pts/G (5^th)Week 3Cleveland Browns15.3 pts/G (26^th)21.8 pts/G (28^th)16.3 pts/G (6^th)Week 4@ Pittsburgh Steelers13.4 pts/G (19^th)12.1 pts/G (4^th)20.9 pts/G (26^th)Week 5Denver Broncos9.3 pts/G (4^th)17.8 pts/G (21^st)15.2 pts/G (4^th)Week 6@ New England Patriots12.8 pts/G (16^th)14.9 pts/G (7^th)19.8 pts/G (23^rd)Week 7Buffalo Bills7.6 pts/G (2^nd)22.8 pts/G (30^th)14.3 pts/G (3^rd)Week 8BYEBYEBYEBYEWeek 9Miami Dolphins15.9 pts/G (30^th)16.1 pts/G (13^th)20.9 pts/G (27^th)Week 10@ Atlanta Falcons15.3 pts/G (27^th)16.8 pts/G (14^th)17.9 pts/G (13^th)Week 11@ Carolina Panthers8.8 pts/G (8^th)19.3 pts/G (24^th)13.1 pts/G (2^nd)Week 12Tampa Bay Buccaneers13.6 pts/G (20^th)20.8 (26^th)19.8 pts/G (22^nd)Week 13Pittsburgh Steelers13.4 pts/G (19^th)12.1 pts/G (4^th)20.9 pts/G (26^th)Week 14Houston Texans12.3 pts/G (10^th)17.1 pts/G (15^th)17.4 pts/G (10^th)Week 15New Orleans Saints9.9 pts/G (5^th)19.2 pts/G (23^rd)20.1 pts/G (25^th)Week 16@ Cleveland Browns15.3 pts/G (26th)21.8 pts/G (28^th)15.9 pts/G (5^th)Week 17Cincinnati Bengals11.8 pts/G (8^th)14.9 pts/G (8^th)16.3 pts/G (6^th)

Click “Continue Reading” in order to get your mind analytically blasted…

The chart kind of explains itself, but just in case, here I am to explain it for you.  One of the most important things in building a lineup for a particular week in the Fantasy Football season is to see who is playing who. In the chart that I assembled above you will see that the Ravens’ schedule is on the left, and next to each team at each week, are lots of numbers. These are very important numbers. So, I advise that you grab a piece of paper, and write down these valuable notes that I am about to give you. Or just copy and paste them somewhere, I mean, after all this is 2010. Once, you have copied and pasted these notes, keep them to yourselves, and do not share them with anyone else, because very soon that person could be your week 1 adversary in your fantasy football league.

A DEFINITE START
1. Start Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, and the rest of the Baltimore Ravens. If you have pretty much anyone on the Baltimore Ravens on your fantasy team, start that player in week 3. Why? Well, for one very obvious reason, you are playing the Cleveland Browns. Another reason is, after two tough games to begin the season (@ Jets and @Bengals), the Ravens will be looking to smash a team by three touchdowns or more. The Browns are inept on defense, well, on the football field, so at all costs, start some Baltimore Ravens that week please.

2. Start Ray Rice in week 7 against the Buffalo Bills. The Bills have one of, if not the, best pass defenses in the league. Their run defense? Not so good. Ranked 30th in yardage allowed last year, Ray Rice will be able to shred every Bill D-lineman into a Bison Burger. Cam Cameron will go to the run early in this game, attempting to keep the ball out of the air and away from Jairus Byrd, and that will work. The Ravens will definitively run the ball down Buffalo’s throat, and help every Ray Rice owner coast to a fantasy football victory.

3. Start Joe Flacco and the Ravens receiving corps in week 10 when the Ravens go down to Hotlanta to square off against last year’s 28th ranked pass defense. But, Casey! The Falcons added Dunta Robinson. Well, kids, let me tell you a little something about Dunta Robinson. Can you spell “O-V-E-R-R-A-T-E-D”? His YPA has been around 8.0 for the past few years, and that’s not very good. That means that, on average, every time that he makes a play on the ball or is responsible for a targeted receiver, that receiver picks up 8 yards. Darrelle Revis’ YPA was 3.6. Dunta Robinson’s 34.8% success rate was also ranked 7th worst in the NFL last year. Anyways, this is week 10. The season is in full swing, and Flacco will have built a rapport with his new receiving weapons.  Start Mr. Flacco, and yes I am going there. Where? Corny Joke-Land.  After this fantasy start, you are sure to be Wacco for Flacco.

Sir, Please Take a Seat
1. Sit Joe Flacco and Ravens receivers whenever we play the Jets or Bengals. Both of these teams have great cornerbacks and coaches that enjoy blitzing the figurative and occasionally literal crap out of opposing quarterbacks. Those two things don’t go well with productive fantasy weeks for the receivers.

2. Never. Sit. Ray Rice. Playing against supposed run stopping defenses last year, Ray Rice managed to become a statistical outlier for many run defenses last year. Against the Steelers in week 16 last year Rice rushed for 141 yards. Against the Vikings, he posted two touchdowns and over 180 total yards. What is the lesson to be learned from Ray Rice’s fable of a year? START HIM EVERY SINGLE WEEK.

Here are some “Waiver-Wire Wonders” that you should look out for. As the season progresses, and many of our preseason questions are answered, then questionable players become viable fantasy options, while others simply shrink into a relevancy about the size of Bill Belichick’s heart. All you have to do is look in your league’s bargain bin and pick out the shiniest one.

• Dennis Pitta or Ed Dickson
• Donte Stallworth
• Le’Ron McClain
• For IDP players– Sergio Kindle

Well, that is all for me. I am going to ramble on a little bit more, that way I can reach 1,000 words on this post. That would be nice. OH! I almost forgot, the Ebony Bird team is currently brainstorming about some sort of mock fantasy draft either within ourselves or with other FanSided blogs. We will be creating new page headers soon to replace the NFL Draft related ones, so look out for that…

I hear the beaches are really nice this time of year…

Isaiah Mustafa is awesome. Don’t know who he is? Youtube that shizz.

1001 words, thank you very much.