Joe's Diary of a Fantasy Football Junkie: Experts League Week Two

The Diaries of a Fantasy Junkie follows Rotoballer Fantasy Expert Joe Berger (Roto-Buckeye) through his Rotoballer Expert League fantasy team from week-to-week. It’s basically the thought process that goes through one of our expert’s head and how he makes moves and uses strategies throughout a season. You can follow him on Twitter @jbergerv for some time to time fantasy advice.

Dear Fantasy Football Fanatics,

I’ll give you a breakdown of my team (Roto-Buckeye) in the RotoBaller Expert League. My roster and Week 2 result goes as follows:

QB – Russell Wilson (QB, SEA)                      13.98 Pts.

RB – Adrian Peterson (RB, MIN)                    9.70 Pts.

RB – Eddie Lacy (RB, GB)                              1.00 Pts.

WR – Hakeem Nicks (WR, NYG)                   12.30 Pts.

WR – Kenbrell Thompkins (WR, NE)       6.70 Pts.

TE – Jordan Cameron (TE, CLE)                     14.50 Pts.

W/R/T – Darren Sproles (RB, NO)                  12.20 Pts.

W/R/T – Nate Burleson (WR, DET)                 10.70 Pts.

K – Mike Nugent (K, CIN)                              9.00 Pts.

DEF – New England Patriots                            16.00 Pts.

BCH – Antonio Gates (TE, SD), Ben Roethlisberger (QB, PIT), Aaron Dobson (WR, NE), Montee Ball (RB, DEN)

Current Record: 0-2 (Lost 106.08 to 133.54)

Current Standings: 13^th out 14 teams

Week 2 Overview

What can I say really??? Maybe I’m in over my head in this experts league, maybe I just have bad luck, or maybe…just maybe, the Fantasy Gods hate me. It’s one thing to start out 0-1 because Week 1 is usually an anomaly when it comes to the fantasy season, but starting 0-2 is just like the NFL. Fantasy managers barely ever make the playoffs after a disgruntled start of 0-2.

Unlike last week, I pretty much knew I was going to lose on Sunday night. It’s kind of heartbreaking when the Sunday night game or Monday night game doesn’t mean anything for your investments (luckily, I have other leagues). Unless Mike Nugent was going to kick eleven field goals, I didn’t stand much of a chance.

The funny thing is I still love my roster for a 14-team league. I do not have a glaring weakness in my own opinion, just underperforming a little bit and hoping I’m playing the better teams in the league. I have scored the 2^nd-worst total amount of points in the league, so perhaps I do need to take a hint to something. On a positive note, benching Montee Ball was the right thing to do as Nate Burleson put up a solid 10.70 points in my 2^nd flex position with 7 receptions for 45 yards.

How I Lost

It does not take a rocket scientist to know that a touchdown in fantasy equals six glorious points. Well, my entire team for week 2 had exactly one touchdown. Even the great Adrian Peterson failed to find the endzone for my team. My sole score was a passing touchdown from Russell Wilson. It’s hard to overcome disappointing performances if no one reaches the endzone at all.

Another thorn in my side was Eddie Lacy going down early to a concussion. Those 14 projected points became a single point when he left the game. Running backs get the most touches and I basically lost a roster spot to his injury. Not going to lie to myself either, Lacy wouldn’t have won the week for me, but that circumstance joined by the lack of touchdown dances really hindered my week 2 performance.

My Bench

Three players on my bench ended up out-scoring some of my starters. Once again, not a huge issue as even if I started those three I would have still narrowly lost this past week. Ben Roethlisberger outscored Russell Wilson, Antonio Gates out-scored everyone he could of filled in for (and looked like the old Pro-Bowler Gates as well), and finally Aaron Dobson in his first week of action out-scored Kenbrell Thompkins and Nate Burleson because of his TD score. I have a solid bench apparently, but how do you start any of those guys over my starters at that stage? Nobody knew Antonio Gates was going to catch eight balls for 124 yards…nobody…

Week 3 Outlook and Strategy

Simply stated, I need a win. In fact, I need a couple of them. Problem is I’m projected to lose by six to a team rolling out Calvin Johnson and Julio Jones at WR. A win in Week 3 would be huge, because the real fantasy strategies and movements come into play week 4 and on with the bye weeks.

I did get a couple of trade offers for both my TEs this week, Jordan Cameron and Antonio Gates. The person of interest kept offering Greg Jennings for Cameron or DeAndre Hopkins for Gates. I couldn’t find it in my will to even rebuttal seeing as both my tight ends are receiving just as much love from their quarterbacks as those wide receivers. Plus, I don’t like to panic even though I lost. I said it before and I’ll say it again…I like my team and hopefully I can manage a win streak and out-manage some of these other teams through the bye weeks. If I go down 0-3 and I need to wheel and deal…then it’s super panic time.

With Eddie Lacy out with the concussion, Darren Sproles moves to my RB2 slot and Antonio Gates has earned his place in one of my flex positions. I must say, I’ll be glued this weekend to my team…being 0-2 is nerve-racking. I like some of my match-ups like Adrian Peterson against Cleveland, Darren Sproles against Arizona, and Hakeem Nicks against Carolina. Unfortunately, I don’t expect a Kenbrell Thompkins coming out party since he’ll most likely be lined up opposite Darrelle Revis. If by chance I’m 0-3 on Tuesday morning, this league will be receiving some serious trade offers and there will be more on that next week if that’s the case. I know one place where I can improve and probably need to if I want to make a run, but like I said, more on that next week. Sorry, I can’t give a strategy away for the league to read about before I even do it. Tune in next week…hopefully I have better news!

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Don’t forget to check back at RotoBaller.com this for up-to-date waiver wire pickups and fantasy football analysis. Good luck with your decisions in Week Three!