Fantasy Draft Recap/NFL 2011 Season Preview!

Last week I ranked my top fantasy football players by position. I had two drafts over the weekend...I'm currently preparing for John Canton's ( www.thejohnreport.net ) TJR Draft tonight.

Over the weekend in my Live Yahoo Draft...I selected #2 and in my Live ESPN Draft...I selected #1. I did take Arian Foster and Aaron Rodgers, respectively. The Rodgers one I hated to do, but with 3 other Packer fans in my draft, I absolutely had to. I was invited into another league the other day, I won't be around to draft since I'll be out of town in Outing, Minnesota this weekend, but the predraft pick set me at #2. My current plan is to pre-rank my players...with my 1st pick go with Adrian Peterson or Ray Rice...and then go WR/RB/WR or WR/WR/RB. It's a PPR league with 2 starting RB's and 2 WR's...no FLEX position.

So in four drafts here's how I'm picking:
2nd: Arian Foster
1st: Aaron Rodgers
4th: ???
2nd: AP or Rice

I'm not sure what my strategy will be with this league tonight, it will be a free bragging rights league...no money on the line, so I'll probably jump after players I want and take a few risks. Chances are I'll walk out of the first round with Aaron Rodgers.

Anyway, there was no new Jakey and The Ace show this week. It's my lovely girlfriends birthday week and a bit more of serious news, 1st hour co-host C-Mac's mother had brain surgery on Tuesday...so it just wasn't a good week for the show. Next Week we'll have 4 hours of new Radio! Tuesday night will be the NFL Preview Show and Wednesday night will be the 3rd installment of The John Report Radio.

Let's get to the picks...I may or may not use these picks for my show picks next Tuesday night...only time will tell!

AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE

AFC North
1. Baltimore Ravens 11-5
2. Pittsburgh Steelers 10-6
3. Cleveland Browns 7-9
4. Cincinnati Bengals 2-14

AFC South
1. Houston Texans 11-5
2. Indianapolis Colts 9-7
3. Tennessee Titans 8-8
4. Jacksonville Jaguars 6-10

AFC West
1. San Diego Chargers 10-6
2. Kansas City Chiefs 9-7
3. Oakland Raiders 8-8
4. Denver Broncos 6-10

AFC East
1. New England Patriots 13-3
2. New York Jets 11-5
3. Miami Dolphins 8-8
4. Buffalo Bills 3-13

Seeds
1. New England Patriots
2. Baltimore Ravens
3. Houston Texans
4. San Diego Chargers
5. New York Jets
6. Pittsburgh Steelers

NATIONAL FOOTBALL CONFERENCE

NFC North
1. Green Bay Packers 13-3
2. Detroit Lions 9-7
3. Chicago Bears 8-8
4. Minnesota Vikings 6-10

NFC South
1. Atlanta Falcons 12-4
2. New Orleans Saints 11-5
3. Tampa Bay Bucs 9-7
4. Carolina Panthers 4-12

NFC West
1. St. Louis Rams 10-6
2. Arizona Cardinals 9-7
3. Seattle Seahawks 6-10
4. San Fransisco 49ers 5-11

NFC East
1. Philadelphia Eagles 11-5
2. New York Giants 10-6
3. Dallas Cowboys 7-9
4. Washington Redskins 3-13

Seeds
1. Green Bay Packers
2. Atlanta Falcons
3. Philadelphia Eagles
4. St. Louis Rams
5. New Orleans Saints
6. New York Giants

Yearly Awards
MVP: Aaron Rodgers
OPOTY: Jamaal Charles
DPOTY: Clay Matthews III
OROY: Julio Jones
DROY: Von Miller
Coach of the Year: Gary Kubiak or Jim Schwartz

Playoffs
Wild Card Round
#3 Houston over #6 Pittsburgh
#5 New York Jets over #4 San Diego

#3 Philadelphia over #6 New York Giants
#5 New Orleans over #4 St. Louis

Divisional Round
#1 New England over #5 New York Jets
#2 Baltimore over #3 Houston

#1 Green Bay over #5 New Orleans
#3 Philadelphia over #2 Atlanta

Conference Championships
#1 New England over #2 Baltimore
#1 Green Bay over #3 Philadelphia

SUPER BOWL XLVI
Green Bay Packers- 34
New England Patriots- 27

Final Thoughts-
Call me a biased Packers fan, or whatever you want...I don't care. I honestly don't think there's much in the NFC besides Green Bay. We'll see how New Orleans offense looks against Green Bay's defense in about 7 Days 2 hours from now, and vice versa. Atlanta looks great on paper but they were exposed in the playoffs. Philly is being called 'The Dream Team'...dream teams don't work out, see 2011 Miami Heat.

The AFC is really anyone's conference. New England, New York and Pittsburgh probably have the biggest shots of getting there....could San Diego? Yes! Could Baltimore? YES! Could Cincinnati? NO!!!!! (Paul Allen Voice)

Honestly...I'm happy football is back, I'm happy I can watch my Packers defend their title and I'm happy I can play fantasy football.

Good luck to all the teams...and GO PACK GO!

Fantasy Football: WR's and TE's

This one will be pretty abbreviated, I'll go over the top 12 WR's. For the Tight End position, I will do the same! Here Goes!

Elite WR's:
1. Andre Johnson, Houston Texans.
Where I'd pick him: Late 1st Round

2. Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons
Where I'd pick him: Early 2nd Round

3. Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions
Where I'd pick him: 2nd round

4. Greg Jennings, Green Bay Packers
Where I'd pick him: 2nd Round

5. Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals
Where I'd pick him: 2nd Round

6. Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants
Where I'd pick him: Late 2nd/Early 3rd

7. Vincent Jackson, San Diego Chargers
Where I'd pick him: Early 3rd Round

8. Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis Colts
Where I'd pick him: 3rd Round

9. DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia Eagles
Where I'd pick him: 3rd Round

10. Mike Wallace, Pittsburgh Steelers
Where I'd pick him: Late 3rd Round/Early 4th

11. Miles Austin, Dallas Cowboys
Where I'd pick him: 4th Round

12. Dwayne Bowe, Kansas City Chiefs
Where I'd pick him: 4th Round

The Top 12 Tight Ends
1. Antonio Gates, San Diego Chargers
2. Dallas Clark, Indianapolis Colts
3. Jermichael Finley, Green Bay Packers
4. Jason Witten, Dallas Cowboys
5. Vernon Davis, San Fransisco 49ers
6. Marcedes Lewis, Jacksonville Jaguars
7. Owen Daniels, Houston Texans
8. Greg Olsen, Carolina Panthers
9. Kellen Winslow, Tampa Bay Bucs
10. Zach Miller, Seattle Seahawks
11. Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots
12. Jimmy Graham, New Orleans Saints

There we go! Tomorrow I'll do Kickers and Defenses.

-ACE

Fantasy Football: RB's

Good friend of the show and fantasy expert, Paul Charchian has a method when drafting called 'Do the Opposite'. What that means is do the opposite of what the normal method of drafting is in fantasy football. Instead of using your first two or 3 picks on Running Backs, do the opposite and NOT draft a RB until at least the 4th Round. Last year I went with Charch's method and it worked out well. I took Tom Brady and Randy Moss (BUST) with my first two picks, but I ended up drafting guys like Jamaal Charles, Rashard Mendenhall and Hakeem Nicks to help carry my team. Two years ago at the #12 pick in our draft I took Andre Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald. I'll have four sections to this blog:

Stud Running Back- If he's there when you're on the clock, take him.

Backup Backfield- If you take the #1 RB on the team, make sure to take his backup in later rounds. (Example: Ryan Grant in the 3rd round...take James Starks in the 10th Round)

Do the Opposite- If you took two WR's and a QB, and this guy is still there, take him.
Don't Take This Guy!- Simple, eh?

Here we go!

Stud Running Backs
1. Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings
2. Ray Rice, Baltimore Ravens
3. Arian Foster, Houston Texans
4. LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia Eagles
5. Michael Turner, Atlanta Falcons
6. Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans (If he comes to camp, he'll go down if he doesn't)
7. Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville Jaguars
8. Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh Steelers
9. Peyton Hillis, Cleveland Browns
10. LaGarrette Blount, Tampa Bay Bucs
11. Frank Gore, San Fransisco 49ers
12. Stephen Jackson, St. Louis Rams
13. Ahmad Bradshaw, New York Giants

Backup Backfield
Don't start these guys at the same time, just make sure one is on the bench incase of an injury or a performance replacement.
1. Joseph Addai and Donald Brown, Indianapolis Colts
2. Ryan Grant and James Starks, Green Bay Packers
3. Ryan Matthews and Mike Tolbert, San Diego Chargers
4. Shonne Greene and LaDanian Tomlinson, New York Jets

Do The Opposite
1. Fred Jackson, Buffalo Bills
2. Felix Jones, Dallas Cowboys
3. Brandon Jacobs, New York Giants
4. Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks
5. Matt Forte, Chicago Bears

Don't Take This Guy!
Whatever the case is, I don't like these guys...I won't use a draft pick on them.
1. Darren McFadden, Oakland Raiders. I don't like Raiders.
2. Jahvid Best, Detroit Lions. I think he gets hurt.
3. DeAngelo Williams, Carolina Panthers. I don't think he will have much productivity this year.
4. Cedric Benson, Cincinatti Bengals. I don't think he'll touch the ball much on such a bad team.
5. Thomas, Ingram or Sproles of New Orleans. They could all get equal touches and they have Drew Brees throwing to his 4 usual targets.
6. Brian Westbrook, Not sure if he's on a team, I still hate him, years after ruining my fantasy teams.

That concludes my running back page. Tomorrow I will do a piece on the WR's of the 2011 Season similar to this one today. Friday I will finish it off with Tight Ends, D/ST's and Kickers. I'll probably just do the top 12 at each position and a few that I don't like at each one.

Also, don't forget that Paul Charchian should be our guest on a special Thursday night episode of 'The Jakey and The Ace Show'. 8-10pm/CT. I spoke with him yesterday and he's got a few other obligations, but he should be on sometime after 8pm to talk a little fantasy football!

Check the show out here Jakey and The Ace 8/25/2011 8pm/CT

Thanks for reading!

-ACE

Fantasy Football: QB's

I'll list some QB's I love and I would love to draft, and the earliest I would select them. Here's who I like this season in the Quarterback position this season:

1. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers, Week 8 Bye- Put up great numbers last season, has 4-5 great options at reciever, will probably throw for more TD's and yardage this season.
Where I'd draft him: Mid 1st round or beyond.

2. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints, Week 11 Bye- Sean Payton loves to throw, even with losing Reggie Bush and the addition of Mark Ingram, they still have Brees, and much like Rodgers, he can turn a random 4th positon reciever and make him look like a star.
Where I'd draft him: Late 1st round, early 2nd round

3. Tom Brady, New England Patriots, Week 7 Bye- Brady got his old weapon back last year in Deion Branch. They added Chad Ochocinco who I can see have a season like Randy Moss did in his 1st year with New England, much like these two QB's before Brady, he can turn coal into gold (see: Green-Ellis, Benjarvis), not to mention Brady won me my league last year.
Where I'd draft him: Mid to late 2nd Round

4. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers, Week 6- His team missed the playoffs last year, and he was still remarkable. He's a great fantasy QB, but I'd hate to have him on my real life favorite team...the Chargers need to do more later in the season. Can't go wrong with targets like V-Jack and Gates.
Where I'd draft him: 3rd round

5. Matt Schaub, Houston Texans, Week 11 Bye- If he stays healthy, and Andre Johnson does too, he'll have another great season.
Where I'd draft him: 3rd Round

6. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons, Week 8 Bye- Roddy White and Michael Turner were both great weapons for Ryan, but now add Rookie Julio Jones to the mix and Ryan might be a top 5 QB sooner than later.
Where I'd draft him: 3rd to 4th Round

Question Marks
These guys give me some concern drafting them, I would probably be like the Minnesota Vikings and have the draft timer run up on me if one of these guys were on the board when I'm debating between them.

1. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles, Week 7 Bye- There is a lot of hype going into this season surrounding Michael Vick and the Eagles. I love LeSean McCoy, but you have DeSean Jackson who wants a new contract, Steve Smith who might not be ready to go to start the season and Jeremy MacLin who's had some sort of ailment we no nothing about. Vick could put up some great numbers, but I'm not too sold on him.
Where I'd take him: I would want a solid RB and/or WR before I picked him

2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts, Week 11 Bye- Peyton has been one of the most consistant and top picked QB's in fantasy for the last decade, but he's never came into a season like this. He has some dangerous weapons, but offseason neck surgery and him not even throwing a football worries me a little bit. If I had some fantasy drafts September 3rd-7th, I'd know more about him, but I think Peyton wants to be remembered like Cal Ripkin and not sit out a game. I think if Manning misses the opener, Colts fans should worry.
Where I'd take him: If he falls to the late 2nd round, or early 3rd round, regardless of who I have.

Solid Choices
They won't win your game, but since you didn't draft these guys until later, you're probably stacked anyway.

1. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers, Week 11 Bye
2. Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay Bucs, Week 8 Bye
3. Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys, Week 5 Bye
4. Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens, Week 5 Bye
5. Matt Cassell, Kansas City Chiefs, Week 6 Bye
6. Sam Bradford, St. Louis Rams, Week 5 Bye
7. Colt McCoy, Cleveland Browns, Week 5 Bye
8. Matt Stafford, Detroit Lions, Week 6 Bye
9. Kevin Kolb, Arizona Cardinals, Week 9 Bye

I Wouldn't Touch 'Em
If everyone in my league drafts all the QB's I've already listed, I'd probably draft one of these guys and trade a top pick of mine.

1. Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears (He's terrible)
2. David Garrard, Jacksonville Jaguars (Rookie QB in waiting)
3. Donovon McNabb, Minnesota Vikings (Rookie QB in waiting)
4. Kyle Orton, Denver Broncos (The public probably wants Tebow)
5. Alex Smith, San Fran 49ers (Rookie QB in waiting)
6. Tavaris Jackson, Seattle Seahawks (It's just not happening)
7. Any Oakland Raiders QB, just pick one. I'm sure 4 will play this season.

I know I started a day later, but I'll do the Running Backs tomorrow. I think with the RB's and WR's I'll probably go over the top 15 I'd love to have and the top 10 I'd like to have...and the ones I probably don't want to have.

-ACE

The Sports Abyss

Greetings!

Not sure if you remember me, my name is The Ace. Let me refresh your memory...I do the weekly two hour show on blogtalkradio.com with guys by the name's of C-Mac and Jakey, a monthly show with John Canton of thejohnreport.net and some guy who dresses up like a clown, I'm a diehard Green Bay Packers fan (World Champs represent, yo)....ring a bell?

Okay, glad to be back on here. Now that I have two hours of radio a week...sometimes four hours, I figured the blog would be the best spot for Jakey and I to update our listeners, followers, friends and whomever else follows us on the many different avenues of social networking. Aside from updating our followers, I'm sure we'll use this as a forum for talking about sports, movies, music, WWE and so much more!

Where did we leave off? Well, here's a little more background, the radio show is based in lovely Saint Anthony, Minnesota (a suburb of Minneapolis). Which means, any non-Packerfans living in the area consider Minnesota the Sports Abyss. Let's take a look at what happened to these Minnesota Teams during their most recent season:

Minnesota Twins- Currently 54-68, 4th Place in the AL Central. After winning the Central last season and being swept by the Yankees in the playoffs, the Twins were a favorite to win the Central and move on in the playoffs. Now, they sit just 4 games ahead of last place Kansas City. Injuries and lackadaisical play have put them in this current position. With Carl Pavano, Fransisco Liriano, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel and Jim Thome free agents after this season, the Twins may have peaked last season.

Minnesota Vikings- Finished 6-10, 4th Place NFC North. Where to start? Their star Wide Reciever, Sidney Rice, decided to wait until training camp to have surgery on his hip. A procedure, that if was done early in the offseason, he would have missed no playing time, instead he misses 8+ weeks. Brett Favre a late addition to the team and brought with him a sexting scandal. They aquired WR Randy Moss from the Patriots for a 3rd round pick. An experiement that lasted a month. After being blown out at home by their division rival Packers, coach Brad Childress was fired and a few weeks later, the Metrodome's roof collapses due to the amount of snow that blanketed the Twin Cities. Whew!

Minnesota Wild- Finished 39-35-8, 11th in the Western Conference. Now, I don't follow the NHL scene too much, but from what I remember there were several bad stretches of hockey, lots of blown games and 1 goal games. It makes a huge difference when you have lost games like that and finish 10 points out of a playoff spot. Head coach Todd Richards was fired after the season.

Minnesota Timberwolves- Finished 17-65, Worst Record in the NBA. I think that's all that can be said. 2nd year Head Coach, Kurt Rambis was fired after the season. The only bright spot is that PG Ricky Rubio agreed to terms with the team. The NBA is currently Locked Out.

Minnesota Golden Gophers Football and Basketball- The football team finished 3-9, Firing Coach Tim Brewster after a 1-6 start. Interm Coach Jeff Horton went 2-3, including upsetting Iowa at home to claim the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy. Winning a trophy was something Coach Brewster never did. The Basketball team started off strong with wins against West Virginia, North Carolina and #8 Purdue. They were 16-4 at one point in the season and ranked as high as #14 in the nation. The team lost 10 of 11, finishing 17-14 and missing all postseason tournements.

Has there ever been a state or town where 3 professional sports coaches were fired along with the premier college football coach? It's unreal to think of how bad this market is for sports.

I have two fantasy football drafts next weekend, Monday thru Friday of next week I will go through QB's, RB's, WR's, TE's, and D/ST & K's each day and list who I love and who I do not love.

For now, thanks for reading...follow me on Twitter @TheAce18 or email me with thoughts.

Go Pack Go!

-Ace