Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In this edition. How to reconfigure a playoff redrafter list for a contest that does not include the Super Bowl. Handcuff running backs to pick up in dynasty leagues. Obscure 1980 trivia. And a handful of gift suggestions to keep in mind for 2014.
Question 1
The redrafter for the playoffs is due out Monday. Our league doesn't count the Super Bowl, just the playoff games leading up to it. My understanding is that the redrafter DOES count the Super Bowl. How should I adjust your rankings to account for that? Thanks for any help.
Dave (MOJO) Smith (WALLS, MS)
I hope this isn’t too late. I’m just seeing this now. To reconfigure for your league, the expected number of games for each team needs to be adjusted. (And some stat figures as well.) In general, Broncos-Patriots-Seahawks-Panthers need to go down. Those teams have home-field advantage, but they also have the (maybe) disadvantage of sitting idle for a week. In the last eight years, over half of the No. 1 seeds (9 of 16) have gone one-and-done. Anyway, revised quarterbacks would look something like this …
Top Quarterbacks – No Super Bowl
1 DEN Peyton Manning
2 NE Tom Brady
3 PHI Nick Foles
4 CAR Cam Newton
5 SF Colin Kaepernick
6 CIN Andy Dalton
7 SEA Russell Wilson
8 IND Andrew Luck
9 GB Aaron Rodgers
10 KC Alex Smith
11 NO Drew Brees
12 SD Philip Rivers
And revised other positions (RB-WR-TE) if you just forget about however many you’re starting at each position, would look something like this …
Top 70 RB-WR-TE
1 RB PHI LeSean McCoy
2 RB KC Jamaal Charles
3 RB SEA Marshawn Lynch
4 RB DEN Knowshon Moreno
5 RB CIN Giovani Bernard
6 RB SF Frank Gore
7 WR CIN A.J. Green
8 WR NE Julian Edelman
9 WR DEN Demaryius Thomas
10 RB NE Shane Vereen
11 WR DEN Eric Decker
12 RB NE LeGarrette Blount
13 RB GB Eddie Lacy
14 TE NO Jimmy Graham
15 RB DEN Montee Ball
16 WR SF Anquan Boldin
17 WR PHI DeSean Jackson
18 WR GB Jordy Nelson
19 TE SF Vernon Davis
20 RB CIN BenJarvus Green-Ellis
21 RB SD Ryan Mathews
22 WR DEN Wes Welker
23 TE DEN Julius Thomas
24 WR GB Randall Cobb
25 WR SF Michael Crabtree
26 WR NO Marques Colston
27 RB CAR DeAngelo Williams
28 TE CAR Greg Olsen
29 WR CAR Steve Smith
30 WR SD Keenan Allen
31 RB IND Donald Brown
32 WR CIN Marvin Jones
33 RB IND Trent Richardson
34 WR SEA Golden Tate
35 WR NE Danny Amendola
36 WR GB James Jones
37 WR IND T.Y. Hilton
38 WR KC Dwayne Bowe
39 RB SD Danny Woodhead
40 WR SEA Doug Baldwin
41 RB NO Pierre Thomas
42 WR PHI Riley Cooper
43 TE PHI Brent Celek
44 WR CAR Brandon LaFell
45 WR NE Kenbrell Thompkins
46 RB CAR Mike Tolbert
47 TE IND Coby Fleener
48 WR KC Donnie Avery
49 WR SEA Percy Harvin
50 WR KC Dexter McCluster
51 TE PHI Zach Ertz
52 RB NE Stevan Ridley
53 RB NO Darren Sproles
54 TE CIN Jermaine Gresham
55 WR IND Griff Whalen
56 WR IND DaRick Rogers
57 TE SEA Zach Miller
58 WR SD Eddie Royal
59 RB GB James Starks
60 TE SD Antonio Gates
61 WR CAR Ted Ginn
62 TE GB Andrew Quarless
63 TE KC Anthony Fasano
64 WR GB Jarrett Boykin
65 WR NO Kenny Stills
66 WR PHI Jason Avant
67 TE CIN Tyler Eifert
68 WR NO Lance Moore
69 RB CAR Jonathan Stewart
70 TE NE Michael Hoomanawanui
Question 2
Not a question, but I know you dig this stuff. Wish I'd written you last week, to use as a timely trivia. Guess you still could. This matchup struck a memory. The Jets played, and won, at Miami in the last game of the year for both teams. That was also the case in 1979 and 1980. The Jets won both of those too. <b>Question:</b> What made the 1980 game unique, in which the Jets won 24-17? <b>Answer:</b> It was a game broadcast without the "benefit" of announcers on NBC (it was as if you were in the stands watching the game).
JOHN MACHO (ELKO NEW MRKT, MN)
That is a good question. I will make a note of it and try to work it in next year. Ideally, it would be used one of the two weeks leading into a Jets-Dolphins game. It’s a very difficult question, so to give more readers a chance at maybe coming up the answer, the wording needs to be made friendlier. Maybe: “When the Jets played at Miami in 1980, they won 24-17. Who did NBC use on its broadcast team in that game?”
Question 3
Thanks for the great advice all season and Happy Holidays to you and yours. I hope you will be letting us know if there really was something extra in your stocking as promised by one of your readers (I don't think I have to name names) if you helped deliver a Championship.
PETER DEBIASE (HAVERTOWN, PA)
I hope you had a nice holiday, and best wishes for 2014. Rest assured, there were plenty of very thoughtful gifts exchanged at the Allan House. Santa left a two-person tent that my wife and I will use during a week-long hike in late June. I got a leather wallet that’s just like the one Samuel L. Jackson’s character uses in Pulp Fiction. My brother-in-law gave my teenagers a potato gun (more like a potato bazooka). My twin sister got the game “Who, What Where”, which is essentially a better version of Pictionary; I recommend it. My niece gave us a really cool set of custom-made coasters; that’s an idea I may steal in a future year. I gave my wife two tickets to see Seinfeld in February; we’re looking forward to that. A nephew made a very cool bird feeder; he made the pot himself (out of clay) and cleverly glued it to a bamboo pole. Another nephew put together some of his home-made sausages, which are always very good. And my son surprised me with a Steelers jacket. It’s very similar to the Steelers jacket I got when I was a kid in the mid-70s – in the days before Seattle got a team. Now, with the Seahawks pushing for a Super Bowl berth, I’m a little bit nervous about wearing this Steelers coat too prominently in public – everyone around here is very excited about Seattle potentially winning its first championship since the Sonics in 1979.
Question 4
A weekly updated dynasty cheat sheet, especially now with an eye to next season, would be popular, and put you ahead of competitors. Worth it? Up to you. Just picked up Crabtree a couple weeks ago, and am thinking about Knile Davis (have Charles) or Justin Blackmon, instead of Stevan Ridley Can't keep everybody, but trades next preseason carry value. Think about it as a product offering.
JOHN MACHO (ELKO NEW MRKT, MN)
Davis and Blackmon; those are nice pickups. With a couple of solid games late, it’s clear that Davis is in that top tier of handcuff running backs. I think that list includes (and help me out if I forget one): Bernard Pierce, Montee Ball, Toby Gerhart, David Wilson (injury), Doug Martin (injury), James Starks, Shonn Greene, Robert Turbin and Christine Michael. Lynch will be 28 in April, takes a lot of punishment, and has had some off-field issues (including a pending drunk driving charge). Lynch won’t last forever, and the end could come much quicker than most realize – I don’t think they’ll want to invest big money in him. There are a couple of committee-type backfields where neither guy (I think) is enough of a backup to mention. Arizona, Carolina, Buffalo, New England, Detroit, New Orleans, Indianapolis. Maybe should have also mentioned Jordan Todman and Rashad Jennings.