Posts Tagged ‘Russell Wilson’

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 9, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports, Uncategorized
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The NFL season is hallway over as Week 9 just went into the books. Schaumburg Stu and Dan the Man tied for the lead in our picks going 9-4 for the week. Mr. Fantasy and I also tied, but we where a game behind at 8-5. Overall Schaumburg Stu is in the lead at 74-46. Dan the Man is in 2nd pace with a record of 70-50. Mr. Fantasy and I are even toed overall at 64-56. Here’s hoping things go well in Week 10 starting tomorrow night when the Baltimore Ravens host the Cleveland Browns.

Since we are at the halfway point of the NFL season let’s look and see who’s been a fantasy find and who’s been a bust for your team. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was ranked 122nd at draft time. Ryan is the highest scoring quarterback in my league and would’ve been a steal for whoever got him. On the other side Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks was the 36th ranked player at draft time. Wilson has been banged up most of the season and it’s shown in his drop to 115th overall in the current fantasy rankings. Melvin Gordon of the San Diego Chargers was ranked a #60 going into the draft. Gordon is the top running back heading into week 10. Another running back who’s back at the top of the board is DeMarco Murray of the Tennessee Titans. Murray was ranked 44th coming into the draft and he’s just 11 fantasy points behind Gordon for the top running back spot. I don’t ever hold injuries against players; so it took me a while to find an under performing running back. I finally came across Ryan Matthews of the Philadelphia Eagles. Matthews was ranked 59th overall going into the draft. Going into Week 10 Matthews is ranked 102nd. A couple of wide receivers who’ve played well are Terrelle Pryor Sr. of the Cleveland Browns. Pryor Sr. was ranked at #95 going into the draft. Heading into Week 10 Pryor Sr. is 8th ranked wide receiver and 39th overall. Rookie Michael Thomas of the New Orleans Saints was at #119 going into the draft. Thomas is now ranked 48th overall and 11th among wide receivers. Wide Receiver has turned into the marquee position in fantasy football and a lot of owners took DeAndre Hopkins of the Houston Texans in the 1st round. It’s understandable because Hopkins was ranked 7th overall heading into the draft. Hopkins is now ranked 106th overall and 34th among wide receivers. At tight end let’s give a little love to Jimmy Graham of the Seattle Seahawks. It seems to have taken a season for Graham to find his role in the Seahawks offense. That showed in Graham’s pre-draft ranking as he was #135. Going into Week 10 Graham is 90th overall, but is the 2nd highest scoring tight end behind only Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers. Jack Doyle of the Indianapolis Colts would’ve been quite a find for a fantasy owner at tight end. Doyle was ranked down at #213 overall going into the draft. Doyle took advantage of the injury to Dwayne Allen and has moved up to #116 overall and is the 4th highest scoring tight end this season. I own Zach Ertz of the Philadelphia Eagles in one of my leagues and let me tell you he’s a bust. Ertz was ranked #88 overall and was the 7th ranked tight end. Ertz is now ranked overall at #467 and is the 29th highest scoring tight end this season. It’s tough to draft a Defense/Special Teams because you just never know how things will go. The Carolina Panthers where projected as the 3rd best Defense/Special teams unit coming into the draft. Going into Week 10 the Panthers Defense/Special Teams unit is the 10th highest scoring this season. The Minnesota Vikings Defense/Special Teams unit was the one to have. The Vikings Defense/Special Teams unit was projected to be #8 going into the draft. As we head into Week 10 the Vikings Defense/Special Teams unit is the top scoring one in fantasy football. Kickers fall into that hit or miss category as well and I never understand why someone jumps up to take a Kicker. Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts was ranked #4 going into the draft, but is the top scoring fantasy Kicker this season. Matt Bryant of the Atlanta Falcons was ranked #3 going into the draft and is just 1 point behind Vinatieri. Roberto Aguayo was the lowest ranked Kicker coming into the draft and he’s stayed there this season. The only Kickers Aguayo has outscored are Robbie Gould; who’s only played two games with the New York Giants and Patrick Murray who was cut by the Cleveland Browns early in the season.

Major League Baseball announced there nominees for the various post season awards, Here’s who was nominated for what award.

NL MVP: Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs, Daniel Murphy of the Washington Nationals and Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

AL MVP: Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros and Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox.

NL Cy Young: Kyle Hendricks of the Chicago, Jon Lester of the Chicago Cubs and Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals.

AL Cy Young: Rick Porcello of the Boston Red Sox, Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians and Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers.

NL Rookie of the Year: Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kenta Maeda of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Trea Turner of the Washington Nationals.

AL Rookie of the Year: Gary Sanchez of the New York Yankees, Tyler Naquin of the Cleveland Indians and Michael Fulmer of the Detroit Tigers.

NL Manager of the Year: Dusty Baker of the Washington Nationals, Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers and joe Maddon of the Chicago Cubs.

AL Manager of the Year: Jeff Bannister of the Texas Rangers, Buck Showalter of the Baltimore Orioles and Terry Francona of the Cleveland Indians.

I’m sure there where names you expected to be on this list as I did that didn’t make it. It doesn’t appear they looked very hard in the National League as there are 4 Cubs, 4 Dodgers and 4 Nationals nominated. At least the American League nominees are a little spread out. There are 3 Indians, 2 Tigers, 2 Red Sox and 1 nominees each from the Astros, Orioles, Rangers, Yankees and Angels. Feel free to put your winners in the comments and we’ll see how you do against who they pick.

I have Bryant as NL MVP, Betts as AL MVP, Lester as NL Cy Young, Porcello as AL Cy Young, Seager as NL Rookie, Sanchez as AL Rookie, Roberts as NL Manager and Francona as AL manager.

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You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

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How was your Week?

Posted: August 1, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, football, NASCAR, sports
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Right before their first training camp practice the Seattle Seahawks announced they had signed quarterback Russell Wilson to a 4 year, $87.5 million dollar contract. Wilson was entering the final year of his four-year, $3 million rookie contract. Wilson’s rookie contract did not include a fifth-year option because he wasn’t a first-round pick. Because of that, Seattle would have had to use the franchise tag on him in 2016 currently projected at more than $25 million; if no extension had been signed by then. $31 million in Wilson’s new deal s a signing bonus and $60 million is guaranteed. In 2014, Wilson completed 285 of 452 passes (63.1 percent) for 3,475 yards with 20 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. He also rushed for 849 yards and six more touchdowns. The Seahawks have a 36-12 record through three seasons with Wilson at the helm, no quarterback in NFL history has helped his team win more games. Wilson’s career numbers match up very well with the best quarterbacks in the NFL over the last three years. He’s one of six quarterbacks with at least 9,000 passing yards, 60 touchdowns and 500 rushing yards during that time frame. Now that Wilson is signing and being paid well; the Seahawks may have to deal with the issues of trying to pay all their other key players enough to keep the team a championship contender. In some cases these issues may have already started on the defensive side of the football of the Seahawks. Kam Chancellor was a no show for the opening of camp. Chancellor’s holdout is due to him being unhappy with the compensation in his contract signed before the 2013 season that will pay him $4.5 million in 2015. There was some reports that 2 other Seattle defensive players might skip the start of training camp, but both defensive lineman Michael Bennett and linebacker Bobby Wagner were there for the opening of camp. Bennett has been the most vocal about his contract. Bennett is hoping his versatility along the defensive line will merit a pay raise from the Seahawks. Bennett has lined up at both defensive end positions and defensive tackle at various times during his two seasons with the Seahawks. It looks like both Chancellor and Bennett will have to wait until Wagner is signed to a new deal before they can get one. All reports seem to point to Wagner being the next in line. He was an All-Pro last season despite missing five games with a painful toe injury and has been Seattle’s starting middle linebacker since being a second-round pick in 2012. After back to back Super Bowl appearances it looks like it’s time for Seattle’s top players to get paid.

With NFL training camps open it’s time to start looking forward to your fantasy football draft. Now last season all the experts had 2014 pegged as the year of the running back, but that didn’t really came to pass. What will this season be called? Now there are still top running backs out there, but will it be suggested that you need to grab one in the 1st round to be competitive in our league. How many running backs will be considered elite heading into your draft? 6, 7 or maybe 8 at the most. There are your Jamaal Charles (Chiefs). LeShon McCoy (Bills) Matt Forte (Bears), Eddie Lacy (Packers) and even though he’ll be suspended to start the season I think you have to count Le’Von Bell (Steelers) and I can’t forget Marshawn Lynch (Seahawks). After that you’ll have to make some choices. Will DeMarco Murray repeat his success with Philadelphia? Does Arian Foster have another good fantasy season in him with Houston? Of course the biggest running back question may be; what will Adrian Peterson give you after missing almost the entire 2014 season? Now there may be some new running backs moving up that you’ll be able to find a little later in your draft. Players like Carlos Hyde (49ers), will C.J. Anderson (Broncos) take over the #1 role in Denver. Todd Gurley (Rams) and Melvin Gordon (Chargers) were both 1st round picks and are expected to take lead backfield roles for their teams. Latavius Murray (Raiders) showed some potential last season and it looks like Mark Ingram (Saints) is the lead running back; finally. One of the bigger surprises a fantasy owner may get this season if he can actually find a way to stay healthy is  Darren McFadden (Cowboys). McFadden looks like he’ll get to line up behind the best offensive line in the NFL, but that big if will him has always been can he play 16 games. Fantasy owners should have a little over a month to figure this out before the season gets rolling along. Of course will have the pre-season to look at guys and try to find sleepers, but what I want to know is are you taking a running back in the 1st round this season?

I’ve been trying to stay away from discussing the Tom Brady suspension, but I do have some questions that I’m guessing will never be answered. How does deflating footballs get you suspended for more games than getting arrested for smoking pot? Brady got 4 games and Le’Von Bell had his suspension reduce to 2 games for his arrest. I think the biggest oddity is the fact that Greg Hardy was convicted; appealed that conviction and was found innocent when the victim couldn’t be found to testify and reports came out that her and Hardy reached a monetary settlement. Sadly I’m drawing a blank on what the original conviction was, but I believe it was a pretty violent encounter. Hardy was on the exempt list for all but 1 game last season and he was then suspended for 10 games this coming season. After his appeal; was by the NFL that suspension was reduce to 2 games. After reading all of that remember that Brady got 4 games for deflating footballs.

I want to remind everyone that tomorrow (Sunday) on Sports Time Radio Chris Olmstead from BeyondtheFlag.com will join me on the podcast to preview the Windows 10 400 at Pocono Speedway. Brad Keselowski had the fastest practice time yesterday, but will that be enough for Chris to pick him as one of his three drivers who might end up in victory lane?

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