Calling our Shots: Week Five

TheFFGhost

Fantasy football can at times be a very funny place to seek help when you need it most. One week, a so called “expert” will tell you to start “Player A” because “Player A” is a “can’t miss” starter who will blow up that week. A week later, that expert will deny giving that advice to their readers or followers but will be more than happy to tell you to start “Player B” this week. It would be almost comical in some instances if it wasn’t so tragic for the people who take the advice of these charlatans.

As a staff member of DLF, I can tell you that everyone affiliated with this site both loathes and detests this behavior. Every staff member on the DLF team constantly tries to learn and better ourselves so we may be of better help to you. Part of that process is being accountable for our successes, as well as our failures. We’re doing that each and every week as we’re offering personalized lineup advice as part of our premium content. We’re answering every question posted in a timely manner and helping out as best we can – those answers are public knowledge and we’ll stand by them every week.

We’ve also decided to roll out this new series entitled, “Calling Our Shots.” The premise of this series is to get some predictions for the upcoming week. Some writer’s predictions are bold, some are solid, while others, well, we wouldn’t place too much money on them in Las Vegas!

When we’re right, we’ll share our successes. When we’re wrong, it should present a great way for our loyal readers to give us a good (and hopefully friendly) ribbing. The point is we don’t hide from the advice we give or the predictions we make.

We also want to give you the same chance.

Our community is an essential part of the success of DLF. This weekly series also asks YOU, the readers, to post your own shots in the comments below. We all have that coach in our league who says, “Yeah, I could have told you not to start that guy” and perhaps that’s even you who thinks that! Well, here’s your chance to make those bold predictions when they count – before the games are played. We invite everyone to blow up the comments section again today and make any player predictions you want for the week – this will give you a perfect opportunity to officially say, “I told you so,” or offer a brutally embarrassing piece of ammunition for your opponent to use against you next week. Either way, this is a great way for the community and the writers to have some good old fashioned fun each and every week!

Every person who is featured in subsequent weeks will be put into a drawing after week 17 for a free yearly membership or their renewal to our premium content and a free DLF T-shirt!

Four weeks into the NFL season and we are now officially a quarter of the way through some team’s seasons, and more importantly, a third of the way through some fantasy league’s seasons.

We have the New Orleans Saints now at 0-4. While some of our readers and writers expected a diminished Saints team this year, I doubt many would have expected a start such this. This week we saw Tony Romo throw more interceptions in one game (five), than Christian Ponder, Robert Griffin III, Blaine Gabbert, Alex Smith and Ben Roethlisberger have all season, combined!  How about Brian Hartline? Raise your hand if you guessed that in one game he was going to catch roughly half the yards that Seattle’s entire offense has caught all season. Yeah, I didn’t raise my hand, either. Oh yeah, welcome back to sanity Chris Johnson owners, we’ve missed you!

Speaking of Chris Johnson, I’m going to take a bow for calling that shot. I had a feeling Houston would focus too much on the pass and that Tennessee was deadly serious about fixing their rushing issues. As for the DLF staff, as a whole we called 17 successful shots and just barely missed on six more. Our Shot Caller this week was a split honor awarded to both Eric Olinger and TheFFGhost who each called five successful shots this week. The games in which the most successful shots were called were the Minnesota vs. Detroit and New Orleans vs. Green Bay, each of which had three successful shots called. Here are the staff’s successful shots:

Eric Olinger – Matt Ryan throws for 300 yards and 3 TDs.

Andy Miley – Highest scoring game of the week.

TheFFGhost – Jerome Simpson reappears and gets at least 4 catches.

Eric Olinger – Adrian Peterson eclipses the 100 yard mark rushing.

Eric Hardter – Mikel Leshoure is held to under 70 total yards.

Eric Olinger – Dwayne Bowe has 5+ catches and 80+ yards with a TD.

TheFFGhost – Total passing yards for both teams combined is held under 450 yards.

TheFFGhost – Against all odds, Chris Johnson goes over 100 total yards.

Eric Hardter – Chris Johnson averages more than two yards per carry on the day.

Eric Hardter – Andy Dalton “only” throws for 240 yards this week.

TheFFGhost – Manning lights up the Oakland defense for over 250 passing yards and two touchdowns.

Eric Olinger – Peyton Manning throws 3 TDs and 250 yards.

Andy Miley – Rodgers and Brees combine for over 550 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Eric Hardter – Marques Colston scores his first TD of the year.

Jaron Foster – Rodgers returns to elite status with 300+ yards passing and 3 TDs.

Eric Olinger – Vincent Jackson has 100 yards receiving.

TheFFGhost – Three players go over 80 yards of receiving in this game.

The six calls we just barely missed were:

Eric Hardter – Both teams eclipse 30 points.

Eric Olinger – Marshawn Lynch destroys the Rams with 125+ yards rushing.

Eric Olinger – Arizona will score at least one D/ST touchdown.

TheFFGhost – Graham gets over six receptions and scores a touchdown.

TheFFGhost – RGIII has over 350+ total yards of offense with at least one passing and one rushing touchdown.

Eric Olinger – Eli throws for 300 yards and 3 TDs.

So, now the part where we announce which DLF reader captured the week four crown. This week the honor goes to “Paul Smythe.” Paul pulled down seven correct shots called and just missed on a few others. Congratulations Paul, you have been entered into our year end drawing for a chance to win a free year of DLF Premium as well as a DLF t-shirt. Good luck!

Paul Smythe called the following shots correctly:

– Cam Newton has more fantasy points than Matt Ryan.

– Dwayne Bowe has over 100 receiving yards.

– Chris Johnson has more rushing yards than Ben Tate.

– Ryan Williams rushes for less than 50 yards.

– Teams combine for 700+ passing yards (New Orleans & Green Bay).

– LeSean McCoy rushes for 100+ yards and scores a TD.

– Brandon Marshall has 100+ yards receiving and a TD.

Let’s dig right in and see what the DLF staff thinks will happen in Week 5:

Miami @ Cincinnati

Jarrett Behar – Reggie Bush 100+ total yards.

TheFFGhost – The entire Bengals team has less rushing yards than Reggie Bush.

Eric Olinger – Green-Ellis rushes for less than 70 yards no TDs.

Andy Miley – Ryan Tannehill throws for 300 yards and 1-2 TDs.

Eric Hardter – Jermaine Gresham tallies 70 yards and a score.

Jaron Foster – Dalton with 3+ TDs.

Green Bay @ Indianapolis

Jarrett Behar – Randall Cobb 6+ receptions.

TheFFGhost – Over 600+ yards of passing in this game, less than 150 rushing yards.

Eric Olinger – Jordy Nelson goes over 100 yards receiving.

Andy Miley – Donald Brown gets 100 combined yards and a TD.

Eric Hardter – Andrew Luck eclipses 320 yards passing in an unexpected shootout.

Baltimore @ Kansas City

Eric Dickens – Bernard Pierce goes for 65+ rushing yards in cleanup time.

Jarrett Behar – Dennis Pitta 50+ rec yards.

TheFFGhost – Cassel throws at least three INTs.

Eric Olinger – Ray Rice totals 150+ total yards.

Eric Hardter – Jamaal Charles is held to under 90 total yards.

Atlanta @ Washington

Jarrett Behar – RG3 2+ INTs.

TheFFGhost – Both Atlanta WRs go over 80 yards of receiving.

Eric Olinger – Tony Gonzalez 5+ catches and a TD.

Andy Miley – Morris cracks 100 rushing yards and a TD.

Eric Hardter – Julio Jones busts out of his slump with 150 yards receiving and two TD’s.

Cleveland @ NY Giants

Jarrett Behar – Eli Manning 300+ yards.

TheFFGhost – Eli dissects an unhinged Browns secondary for 350+ yards.

Eric Olinger – Martellus Bennett scores a TD.

Eric Hardter – Trent Richardson continues his scoring binge with two more TD’s.

Philadelphia @ Pittsburgh

Jarrett Behar – Mendenhall under 50 total yards.

TheFFGhost – Mendy returns and nabs at least 50+ total yards in shared work.

Eric Olinger – Mike Wallace totals 80 yards with a TD.

Eric Hardter – Michael Vick resumes his error-prone ways, accounting for three turnovers.

Jaron Foster – Antonio Brown with 100+ yards and a score.

Seattle @ Carolina

TheFFGhost – Cam rushes for more TDs than Lynch.

Eric Olinger – Cam Newton throws 2+ INTs.

Andy Miley – Greg Olsen has 70+ yards and a score.

Eric Hardter – Marshawn Lynch beast modes his way to 150 yards rushing.

Chicago @ Jacksonville

Eric Dickens – Alshon Jeffery collects 6+ catches on the day.

Jarrett Behar – Rashad Jennings has exactly 17 rushing yards.

TheFFGhost – Three Chicago players get at least five receptions on the day.

Eric Olinger – Brandon Marshall catches 7+ passes for over 80 yds.

Andy Miley – Forte and Mike Bush, both, go over 80 yards and score.

Eric Hardter – Blaine Gabbert’s downward spiral continues, and he’s ultimately pulled for Chad Henne.

Tennessee @ Minnesota

TheFFGhost – Chris Johnson will regress some but still go over 80 total yards.

Eric Olinger – Jerome Simpson and Percy Harvin combine for over 200 yards receiving.

Andy Miley – Rudolph goes over 75 yards and scores.

Eric Hardter – Adrian Peterson puts an exclamation point on his amazing recovery, accounting for 140 total yards and two scores.

Denver @ New England

Eric Dickens – Willis McGahee continues his nice year with over 100 rushing yards.

Jarrett Behar – McGahee 5+ receptions.

TheFFGhost – Welker steps up due to injuries everywhere and grabs at least 10 receptions.

Eric Olinger – Peyton Manning is picked off at least twice.

Eric Hardter – Peyton Manning and Tom Brady accumulate 700 yards passing between them.

Buffalo @ San Francisco

TheFFGhost – Chandler grabs five receptions and a touchdown.

Eric Olinger – Scott Chandler is the only offensive Bills player to find the end zone.

Andy Miley – Gore and Hunter, both, rush for 80+ yards and a touchdown.

Eric Hardter – Colin Kaepernick vultures another rushing TD.

TheFFGhost – Chandler grabs five receptions and a touchdown.

Eric Olinger – Scott Chandler is the only offensive Bills player to find the end zone.

Andy Miley – Gore and Hunter, both, rush for 80+ yards and a touchdown.

Eric Hardter – Colin Kaepernick vultures another rushing TD.

San Diego @ New Orleans

Eric Dickens – Ryan Mathews has 150+ combined yards while laughing about Jackie Battle being listed as the starting RB.

Jarrett Behar – Drew Brees does not throw a TD pass.

TheFFGhost – Colston goes over 100 yards, so does Graham.

Eric Olinger – Antonio Gates gets his head out of his @ss and scores two TDs with 75+ yards receiving.

Andy Miley – Mark Ingram scores, but accounts for less than 40 combined yards.

Eric Hardter – Philip Rivers throws for 300 yards as the Chargers send the Saints to an 0-5 record.

Jaron Foster – Mathews totals 100+ total yards and a score.

Paul Smythe got to throw his name into the content for a full year of DLF Premium and a DLF T-shirt, do you have what it takes to join him? Be like Pat Benatar and hit us with your best shots. As always, entries are judged on difficulty, number of correct shots called and uniqueness of the shots contestants are calling.

Don’t forget, if we select your entry we’ll enter you into a drawing for a full year of DLF premium content and a free DLF t-shirt!