Posts Tagged ‘kansas city chiefs’

The playoffs kickoff this afternoon in the NFL as it’s Wild Card weekend. We have continued your picking of the games and I’ll let you know who we’re going with today at the end of the blog. What I thought I’d try to do is look at both of today’s games from a fantasy perspective. I’ll use the FanDuel system since that’s what Mr. Fantasy and I use on the Sunday podcast of Sports Time Radio when we put line ups in. Mr. Fantasy and I will be here tomorrow (Sunday) from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. to review today’s games, preview tomorrows games, let you know who we think will win and like I mentioned find the best FanDuel plays for your money.

The first game today has the Kansas City Chiefs (11-5) at the Houston Texans (9-7). Houston is the home team because they won the AFC South while Kansas City got into the playoffs as the top wild card team.

Let’s start with the quarterbacks. This may not be the game you want to play a quarterback from as the Texans average giving up just 210.4 yards a game through and the Chiefs give up an average of 231.1 passing yards a game. Of course you only have $60,000 to spend and Alex Smith (Kansas City) at $7100 or Brian Hoyer (Houston) at $6900 might be what you can afford. Smith hasn’t broken the 20 point mark on FanDuel in 5 weeks, but he got close last week at 18.34 points. Hoyer returned to the Texans line up since leaving their Week 14 game with a concussion. Hoyer out up 12.96 points last week on FanDuel. Smith averages a few more fantasy points a week 17.4 to Hoyer’s 15.8. If you’re at the point where you have to go with one of these two quarterbacks; I’d lean towards Smith. With Smith’s running ability he should rack up some rushing yards for you and might end up with a rushing touchdown.

Maybe you’ll find a better play at running back, but both defenses are solid against the run as well. Kansas City averaged giving up 98.2 yards rushing while Houston was just a little behind them giving up 99.8 rushing yards per game. Charcandrick West is the Chiefs main running back, but in the last two weeks he has failed to score more than 7 points on FanDuel. West has actually managed to score over 15 points in the last 6 weeks. West may look like a good value at $6400, but with his performance as of late and this match up you might want to look elsewhere. Alfred Blue is #1 on the Texans depth chart at running back. Blue has been dealing with a calf injury and is listed as probably for the game. Blue scored 10.9 FanDuel points last week; it was his first time over 10 points in 5 weeks. Blue will cost you $5700 while his back up Chris Polk is at $4700, but remember Polk only got 3 carries in last weeks game because of a knee injury. None of these backs are featured in the passing game; so you won’t find any extra point there. It would be a tough choice here, but West is the only running back coming into the game without a nagging injury; so maybe he’d be the choice, but it’s a toss up.

Kansas City’s Jeremy Maclin ($7200) has had 3 solid weeks to close out the season, but hasn’t scored over 20 FanDuel points in 5 weeks. Albert Wilson ($4900) has played his way into the #2 wide receiver spot for the Chiefs. Even though Wilson has found his way into the starting line up has hasn’t scored more than 7 FanDuel points in 4 weeks and has managed to score over 15 points just once this season. Houston’s DeAndre Hopkins has established himself as not only one of the top wide receivers in football, but a top weekly fantasy pick. Hopkins is one of those fantasy players who seems to get his catches every week no matter what the match up. Hopkins got his catches last week (7), but didn’t find his way into the end zone; so his FanDuel scoring was 12.4 points. Of course there’s a price with this production. Hopkins is the 2nd most expensive wide receiver on FanDuel for today at $8800, but he might be worth it to you. It’s difficult to pick a 2nd Houston wide receiver between Nate Washington, Cecil Shorts who’s returning from injury and rookie Jalen Strong. Shorts could be a under the radar pick if the Texans use him in the wildcat formation, but they’ve never used that formation when Hoyer has been at quarterback. Shorts will cost you $5200 and that gamble might not pay off with Hoyer under center. Maclin and Hopkins are players you can use today, but after them it’s tough to find a reason to get any other wide out from this game in your line up.

Tight end Travis Kelce normally is a major weapon in the passing game for Kansas City, but as of late has been up and down FanDuel wise. Last week Kelce scored just 1.5 points and at $6200 that could end your fantasy day. Of course the 2 weeks before that Kelce scored 13.3 and 10.3 points; so which tight end are you going to get? Kelce has had some groin issues, but practiced all week and should be full strength. I think the best advice I can give you about playing a Texans tight end is DON’T. Ryan Griffin ($4800) averages the most points for Houston’s tight ends at 5.2 points per game while C.J. Fiedorowicz ($4500)averages just 2.2 points per game. Kelce might turn out to be a good play today even against a tough Houston defense as he’ll be a good red zone weapon for the Chiefs if they can get there.  

At kicker Kansas City’s Cairo Santos ($4800) averages 9.7 points per game this season while Houston’s kicker Nick Novak ($4600) averages 7 FanDuel points per game on the season. If you think this might turn into a field goal game since it does feature 2 good defenses one of these guys might be a solid choice. The question you’d have t ask yourself is how many field goal attempts do you think they’ll get?

You would probably be alright using either team defense in this game. Kansas City is the most expensive defense on FanDuel today at $5100 while Houston is the 2nd most expensive defense at $4600. You wouldn’t think this will be a high scoring game; so go with the defense of the team you think will win the game.

Let’s move along to tonight’s game. It’s an AFC South match up as the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6) take on the Cincinnati Bengals (12-4) in Cincinnati. The Bengals won the AFC South while Pittburgh picked up the last AFC wild card spot.

This looks like the game where you’ll find your quarterback. The Steelers Ben Rothlisberger appears to be the top quarterback on FanDuel for Saturday and at $8400 he’s the highest priced. The Bengals do give up an average of 248.5 passing yards per game. So while it appears that Rothlisberger is the best quarterback start could A.J. McCarron be the sleeper FanDuel quarterback of the day. At $6400 McCarron is the lowest priced of the 4 starting Saturday quarterbacks, but does he have the best match up. Pittsburgh was the worst team in the AFC giving up an average of 271.9 passing yards per game. I always jump in on thee type of match ups and they haven’t really worked out for me, but if you go with McCarron as your FanDuel quarterback you should have some extra money to spend at the other positions.

Like I said with Houston’s tight ends’ I’d stay away from any Steelers running back. DeAngelo Williams has been ruled out for the game. That means that Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman will be the Steelers rushing attack. As you’d expect they both are very good values with both Toussaint and Todman costing $5700. Pittsburgh hasn’t really said this, but you’d think Toussaint would get the majority of the carries since Todman hasn’t played in a game since pre-season (9/3) when he was a member of the Carolina Panthers. Oddly that game was against the Steelers. Pittsburgh’s defense is only giving up an average of 91,2 yards per game, but you have to wonder if that number is low because teams are having so much success throwing the football against them. The Bengals feature that 2-back attack. Jeremy Hill ($6700) normally gets most of the rushing attempts, but is effective in the passing game as well. Hill is paired up with Giovani Bernard ($5600) in the backfield. The tough part is picking between the Bengals running backs as Hill averages 10.2 points per game on FanDuel while Bernard’s average is 9.8 point per game on the season. Hopefully you’ll make the right choice if you go with a Bengals running back.

Since this is expected to be a high scoring game wide receiver might be the place to spend your FanDuel money. It’s no surprise that Antonio Brown is the most expensive player listed for Saturday at $9500. Even though teams know Brown is the Steelers top receiving target he still gets his catches and puts up numbers. While it’s a lot of money for one player Brown has proven he’s worth it. Martavis Bryant has had some issues with his neck and has caught 1 pass in each of the last 2 games. I’m sure you heard that Pirrsburgh”s quarterback “Big” Ben challenged Bryant, but will it have an affect on his play. Will you go wit Bryant at $6900 or save the money and take a shot with Markus Wheaton at $5900? Wheaton is the Steelers wide receiver who benefits the most if Bryant struggles. Wheaton has also found his way into the end zone in 4 of the last 6 weeks. It’s an interesting choice, but saving that extra $1000 on Wheaton could mean an upgrade somewhere else. At $8300 is A.J. Green the best wide receiver play on the FanDuel board today?  Remember Green is going up against the worst pass defense in the AFC. Green has scored touchdowns in his last 2 games and remember the last time he went up against the Steelers pass defense he scored 22.2 FanDuel points. Marvin Jones is the Bengals #2 wide receiver and at $5500 could turn out to be a great value against the Pittsburgh defense, but there are a lot of good receiver choices and you might not get down to Jones. If this game goes as it’s expected to this may be the position that helps you win.

Tight end is another position that should really pay off today. Heath Miller is a solid tight end for the Steelers that every now and then can have a big game. Miller has averaged 6.5 points per game this season, but against Cincinnati he should go over his scoring average and at $5600 he could turn out to be a good deal. Tyler Eifert is the highest price tight end playing Saturday at $6400. This is the type of season people have been waiting for Eifert to have, but he has missed 3 games this season because of concussions. Eifert has a reasonable price on him and should be a very good play for whoever pays for him.

Again; if this game goes as expected either kicker would be a good choice for your FanDuel line up. Pittburgh’s Chris Boswell will cost you $4900 while Cincinnati’s Mike Nugent is at $4800. On the season Boswell averages 10.5 points per game while Nugent scores 8.2 points per game on the season. It comes down to which team do you think will give the kicker more field goal attempts or you might need the extra $100 to upgrade another position. It looks like both kickers from this game should be good choices.

Defense in this game is a whole other story. The Steelers defense will cost you $4500 while the Bengals defense comes in at $4400. I’d have to lie t you to give you a good reason to play either one of these defenses. Would you use the Steelers defense hoping since it’s McCarron’s first playoff start he’ll have issues or could you possible give Cincinnati’s defense a play hoping that that with a depleted running game Rothlisberger will have to throw the football so many times that he’s bound to have some turnovers.

As we go into the playoffs with a clean slate here are our picks for today’s game. All of us Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu, Mr. Fantasy and I all like Kansas City to win the first game. Now we’re split on the second game as Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu like Pittsburgh to won and Mr, Fantasy and I have Cincinnati winning.

Don’t forget tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Mr. Fantasy and I host the 2-hour Sunday edition of Sports Time Radio a BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

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Our Week 2 picks in the NFL didn’t get off to a good start for Dan the Man Mr. Fantasy and I as we all took the Kansas City Chiefs to win the first Thursday night football game of the NFL season on CBS. Schaumburg Stu was the only one of us smart enough to take the Denver Broncos to win which they did 31-24 on one of the odder plays to end an NFL game that will probably see this season. Maybe picking the Thursday night game wrong will be better for me this week. I picked last week’s game right and then went on to have a sub .500 week.

Back to that odd ending. Kansas City had the football with about :30 seconds to go in the game and the score tied at 24. Instead of taking a knee Kansas City decided to run a play and they handed the football off to Jamaal Charles. Charles is one of the better running backs in the NFL and a lot of people rate him as the best duel threat back in the league with his ability to catch the football out of the backfield. Charles is also thought to be one of those type of players that can score any time he has the football in his hands. So it makes some sense to get the ball into Charles hands and see if he can gain enough yards to allow the Chiefs to win the game in regulation. Alex Smith hands the football off to Charles and while he’s on his way to the ground he’s hit by a Broncos defender and the football pops out. Bradley Roby of the Broncos was right there when the ball came out and was able to pick it up and return it 21 yards for a touchdown and a Denver win. This is where it all starts. I’m sure before both teams got off the field there where people questioning Chiefs head coach Andy Reid’s decision t run a play and not just kneel down and tale the game into overtime. One of the first things I heard was people comparing it t a play that happened in a game quite a few years ago between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. The big difference there was the Giants where down on their own goal line when they ran there play. So right away Reid is taking all the blame for this loss and as a head coach he accepts it for his team, but is it really his fault? While Reid did call the play he wasn’t the one who put the football on the ground. I think that Charles has to take the majority of the blame for this loss, but it doesn’t seem to be going that way. People point to the fact that Charles had fumbled earlier in the game as reason for the Chiefs to just kneel down and head into overtime. In 2013 Charles led the NFL in fumbles with 19 and last season (2014) he fumbled 14 times. Charles averaged a fumble every 17 touches last season. Now think of how people would’ve reacted had Charles broken the run off and it help Kansas City get into field goal range and win the game. They’d be touting Reid as the greatest coach in the NFL today and it would’ve been a great play call. I’d also like to see a little bit of blame given to Smith as well. Smith was the last Chiefs player with a chance to stop Roby from scoring and he had a clean shot at him. Now I know that teams don’t like their starting quarterbacks to even try to make tackles and earlier in the game Peyton Manning just watched as Marcus Peters picked off one of his passes and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown, but this situation is a little different. Now even if Smith makes the tackle there’s a better than average chance that Denver just kicks a field goal to win the game, but there’s also a chance they miss that field goal and the game goes into over time. I’m not even sure if Smith touched Roby and after he got past Smith there was nothing between him and winning the game.

It’s a tough loss for the Chiefs who jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the game only to watch Denver come back and tie it up. After the teams traded field goals it looked like Knile Davis’ 8 yard touchdown run to give the Chiefs a 24-17 lead might be the game winner. Manning responded by taking the Broncos on a 10 play 80 yard drive capped off by a 19 yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders to tie the game at 24 which led to the Charles fumble and the game winning return.

Fantasy wise Manning threw for 3 touchdowns and 256 yards in the game, but did throw 1 interception. Smith wasn’t much help for your fantasy team as he threw for 191 yards, but was picked off 2 times in the game. He did add 15 yards rushing for you. Denver’s running backs won’t end up being much help to you this week. Ronnie Hillman was their leading rusher with 34 yards on 9 carries and they didn’t have a rushing touchdown. Despite the fumble Charles had 21 carries for 125 yards and a touchdown. Sanders and Demaryius Thomas each had 8 catches for Denver and while Thomas had more yards (116) Sanders caught 2 touchdown passes to go with 87 yards. Travis Kelce and Jeremy Maclin each had 4 catches to lead the Chiefs. Kelce had 1 more yard  receiving than Maclin 58 to 57. Don’t forget that both teams defenses scored in this game.

It looked like Dallas Keuchel was going to have a chance to establish himself as the top candidate for the AL Cy Young if he had a good outing against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday. Keuchel’s team the Houston Astros had just fallen out of 1st place in the AL West by losing the first two games of there series against the Rangers, but a win would put them right back in 1st place. Keuchel lasted 4 2/3rd innings giving up 9 runs on 11 hits; 3 of which where home runs. It was Keuchel’s shortest outing of the season and it couldn’t of come at a worse time for him or his team. If the door is open for someone else to join the Cy Young race who would it be. David Price may  be that next pitcher in line. Price is 16-5 and leads the AL in ERA at 2.42. Price is also 4th in the AL in strikeouts with 212. Keuchel of course may still be the front runner as he is tied for the AL lead in wins with 17 and is 2nd behind Price in ERA at 2.56. Is it a 2 man race or are there any other contenders. Sonny Gray is tied for 2nd in ERA with Keuchel and is 13-7 on the season, but his team isn’t contending and voters seem to lean towards players on winning teams. Felix Hernandez is tied with Keuchel with 17 wins, but he’s also on a non-contending team. Colby Lewis is 16-8 for the 1st place Rangers, but he has an ERA of 4.41. Chris Archer has had a solid year 12-12 with an ERA of 2.95 and is 2nd in the AL in strikeouts with 243, but with Tampa bay fading in the wild card race he may be over looked. Let’s look some place Cy Young voters  never seem to look; the bullpen. How about Andrew Miller. The Yankees closer has saved 34 of 35 games this season. He has an ERA of 1.80 covering 55 innings in 54 games. Miller has a WHIP of 0.800 and a strikeouts per 9 innings rate of 14.6. It seems difficult for Cy Young voters to vote for a reliever, but with no starting pitcher running away with the award this might be the year to look that way.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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I’m sure you’ve heard your favorite teams coach or general manager say it takes five years to actually evaluate the draft they just had. Since the 2013 NFL draft just ended I thought let’s go back, check and see how the players turned out. You’ll be the one to decide how your teams 1st round pick turned out.

#1 Miami Dolphins took Jake Long. Long signed with the St. Louis Rams as a free agent this off-season. While with the Dolphins he started 74 out of the 74 games he played their. He was limited to 12 games last season because of injuries. Long made 4 pro bowls in his five seasons in Miami.

#2 St. Louis Rams took Chris Long.Long has 42 career sacks for the Rams, but has come on in the last two seasons going over double digits in sack totals. Long has played in all 80 games since being drafted starting 68 of them. Also Jake and Chris went #1 and #2, but they’re nor related.

#3 Atlanta Falcons took Matt Ryan. Atlanta was looking for a franchise quarterback in this draft and they seemed to have found one. Ryan has started 78 out of a possible 80 games since being drafted. He missed two games to injury in his second season. Ryan has thrown for 18,957 yards and 127 touchdowns.

#4 Oakland Raiders took Darren McFadden. McFadden has been injury a lot playing in a total of 57 games. McFadden started 44 of those games. He’s rushed for 3,334 yards and 18 touchdowns in his career. He’s has also added 158 catches and 5 touchdowns in his career.

#5 Kansas City Chiefs took Glen Dorsey. Dorsey signed with the San Francisco 49ers this off-season as a free agent. Dorsey played in 66 games for the Chiefs starting all but 1 of them in five years. He only played in 4 games last season due to injuries. He has career totals of 159 tackles and 4 sacks.

#6 New York Jets took Vernon Gholston. Gholston was with the Jets for three season. He played in 45 games for them; starting 5 games, but never recording a sack.

#7 New Orleans Saints took Sedrick Ellis. Ellis has played in 70 games for the Saints starting all of the games he’s played in. He has 100 career tackles and 12.5 sacks.

#8 Jacksonville Jaguars took Derrick Harvey. Harvey player 3 seasons in Jacksonville and 1 in Denver. 8 career sacks, 72 career tackles and 1 interception are the numbers he put up..

#9 Cincinnati took Keith Rivers. Rivers was in Cincinnati for 4 seasons and was with the New York Giants in 2012. Rivers has been in 46 games registering 149 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 interceptions in his career.

#10 New England Patriots took Jerrod Mayo. Mayo was the AP defensive Rookie of the Year for 2008 and has made 2 Pro Bowls (2010, 2012). He’s played in 75 games starting 73 of them. He has 225 tackles, 7.5 sacks and 3 interceptions in his career.

#11 Buffalo Bills took Leodis McKelvin. McKelvin has played in 64 games starting 32 of them. He has 6 career interceptions and has 1 returned for a touchdown. He also has been used as a kick and punt returner. He has returned 3 punts for touchdowns and has 1 kickoff return for a touchdown in his career.

#12 Denver Broncos took Ryan Clady. Clady is a three-time pro bowler, 2009, 2011 and 2012. He has played in and started all 80 games since being drafted by Denver. He has also been named to an All Pro team every year he has played.

#13 Carolina Panthers took Jonathan Stewart. Stewart has shared carries in the Panthers backfield since being drafted, but did break the 1000 yard barrier in 2009 with 1133 yards. He has 3836 career rushing yards and 27 touchdowns. He has also caught 98 passes in his career with 4 of them going for touchdowns.

#14 Chicago Bears took Chris Williams. Williams started 38 games for the Bears in the time he was with them. He was released last season and finished the year with the Rams, but was just a back up for them.

#15 Kansas City Chiefs took Branden Albert. Albert played in 73 games for the Chiefs in his career and started 71 of them. He was their franchise player this off-season and the Chiefs have been trying to trade him.

#16 Arizona Cardinals took Dominique Rodgers – Cromartie. Rodgers – Cromartie played 3 seasons in Arizona before going to Philadelphia for the last two. He had 13 interceptions while in Arizona and 4 of them were returned for touchdowns. He’s added 3 more interceptions with Philadelphia and 1 sack as well.

#17 Detroit Lions took Gosder Cherilus. Cherilus has played in 75 games for the Lions starting 70 of those games.

#18 Baltimore Ravens took Joe Flacco. The Ravens where looking for their quarterback of the future in this draft and they picked Flacco. Seems to have worked out well for them. Flacco has started all 80 games since being drafted. He’s put up 17,633 yards and 102 touchdowns in his career. The Ravens won the Super Bowl last season and Flacco was the M.V.P.

#19 Carolina Panthers took Jeff Otah. Otah started 25 games combined for the Panthers in 2008 and 2009 before missing the 2010 season. He came back to start 4 games in the 2011 season, but that was it.

#20 Tampa bay Buccaneers took Aqib Talib. Talib played 4 plus seasons with the Buccaneers before being traded to the Patriots last year. He had 18 interceptions for Tampa Bay while playing for them and took 3 of them back for touchdowns. Talib had some off field issues and has been suspended for them.

#21 Atlanta Falcons took Sam Baker. After picking Matt Ryan earlier in the draft the Falcons wanted someone to help protect him. Baker played in 65 games for the Falcons starting 56 of them. He started 15 games for them last season.

#22 Dallas Cowboys took Felix Jones. Jones has had some injury issues in his pro career, but he broke out as a kick returner his rookie season. He’s played in 64 out of a possible 80 games; starting 23 of them. He has a total of 2728 yards rushing for his career with 11 touchdowns. He has returned 1 kickoff for a touchdown; in his rookie season.

#23 Pittsburgh Steelers took Rashard Mendenhall. Mendenhall was the second of three running backs to go in a row and he’s another one that has had some injury problems. He’s played in 57 games starting 48 of them. He has also broken the 1000 marker twice in his career. He has totaled 3549 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns for his career. Due to injuries Mendenhall was only able to play in 6 games last season.

#24 Tennessee Titans took Chris Johnson. Johnson has topped a 1000 yards every year since being drafted and in 2009 went over the 2000 yard mark by 6 yards. He’s only missed 1 game in his career and has made 77 starts for the Titans. He has rushed for 6888 yards and 44 touchdowns in his career. He has carried the ball 1463 times and averages 4.7 yards a carry for his career.

#25 Dallas Cowboys took Mike Jenkins. Jenkins has played in 71 games since being drafted and has started 48 of them. He has 8 career interceptions and has 1 interception return for a touchdown. Jenkins was also made the Pro Bowl in 2009.

#26 Houston Texans took Duane Brown. Brown has played in 75 games in his career and has started every one of them. He missed 4 games in 2010 with an injury and 1 game last season. Brown was a pro bowler for the 2012 season and a 1st team all pro.

#27 San Diego Chargers took Antoine Cason. Cason has played in all 80 games since being drafted and has started 49 of those games. He has 12 career interceptions and 1 interception return for a touchdown. Cason has also returned punts for the Chargers; mostly in the 2010 season.

#28 Seattle Seahawks took Lawrence Jackson. Jackson only played two seasons with the Seahawks. He played in 32 games and started 24 of them. He also totaled 6.5 sacks while in a Seahawks uniform. Jackson has played the last three seasons with the Detroit Lions.

#29 San Francisco 49ers took Kentwan Balmer. Balmer played in 27 games for the 49ers. He didn’t start any of them. He recorded 11 tackles in 2 seasons, but no sacks. In 2010 he played for Seattle and the last two seasons he has been with the Washington Redskins.

#30 New York Jets took Dustin Keller. Keller has played in 72 games for the Jets starting 49 of them. He has 241 career receptions for 2876 yards and 17 touchdowns. Keller was injured for a lot of the 2012 season playing in 8 games and starting 5. Signed with the Miami Dolphins this off-season.

#31 New York Giants took Kenny Phillips. This was the last pick of the 1st round. New England had their pick taken away as a penalty for the Spygate mess. Phillips has had some injury issues in his career. He has played in 56 games for the Giants starting 41 of them. He only played in 2 games in 2009 because of injuries and last season he appeared in 7 games. He has 8 career interceptions with 4 of them being picked off in 2011.

There’s the 2008 1st round. How did your team do? Good, bad or just middle of the road with their guys. Feel free to let me know; you can comment right here or e-mail our show Sportstimeradio@hotmail.com or just find me on Twitter @burketime.

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