FSH NOTEBOOK: DAVID'S DAILY DIGEST

Friday Late Night Edition
October 18th 2019

Week 7 Fantasy Fixx

Week 7 Fantasy Football

Start
QB-Daniel Jones, NYG; The Giants rookie quarterback has shown flashes this season and on sunday facing the Cardinals he could shine even more. The Cardinals defense is ranked 30th against opposing quarterbacks, allowing 296 yards passing per game and 16 passing touchdowns. Jones will have his starting tailback and tight end back this week, so he should be all systems go; start him.

Sit
QB-Teddy Bridgewater, NO; While the Saints back-up quarterback has been great in the win-loss column since taking over for the injured Drew Brees, Bridgewater will have some tough sledding ahead of him this Sunday against a stout Bears defense. The Bears’ defense ranks 5th against opposing quarterbacks, having allowed just four passing touchdowns (3rd fewest). Bridgewater is a tough start, look for better options.

Start
RB-Tevin Coleman, SF; The Niners have been flexing their ground game muscle all season, ranked 2nd in the league averaging nearly 180 yards per contest with 8 rushing touchdowns this season. Coleman should see his fare share of work this week and could get some goal line opportunities against a 28th ranked Redskins run defense. Coleman’s a safe play this week, start him.

Sit
RB-Adrian Peterson, WAS; After recording his first 100-yard rushing game of the season last week with 118 yards on the ground against the Dolphins, Peterson could struggle to find yards this week against the Niners. The Redskins offense ranks 28th overall and the Niners defense ranks 2nd; the numbers suggest a long day for Peterson and the Washington offense. Avoid Peterson and start

Start
WR-John Brown, Buf; The Bills leading receiver has been steady this season, but far from great. This week with Phins in town with their 26th ranked pass defense, Brown has a chance to reach paydirt and shine. The Dolphins have allowed 9 receiving touchdowns to opposing receivers this season; Brown is a safe play, insert him in your lineup.

That’s My Take
~David G. Ortega

FSH NOTEBOOK: DAVID'S DAILY DIGEST

Saturday Late Night Edition

October 13th, 2018

Week 6: Lineup Starts & Sits

In my season long leagues, I have several line-up conundrums I am facing this week with players like RB-Adrian Peterson, RB-Isaiah Crowell, and TE-Greg Olsen.

These are some of my Week Starts;

QB-Kirk Cousins, Min: The Vikings signal caller is back home this week coming off a big win over the Eagles in week 5. In his last four starts Cousin has passed for no fewer than 296 yards (over 400 yards twice) and completed over 30 passes. With the running game stuck in neutral, the Vikings have leaned on Cousins arm and Sunday should be more of the same.

RB-Tevin Coleman, Atl: With Devonta Freeman OUT in this one, Coleman should see enough opportunity to take advantage of a poor Buccaneers defense ranked 8th in most fantasy points allowed to opposing runners.

RB-TJ Yeldon, Jax: With Leonard Fournette still sidelined, I like Yeldon’s workload. In his last two games Yeldon is averaging 19.5 touches, including 10 targets in week 5. He’s also scored 3 times in the last two weeks.

WR-Calvin Ridley, Atl: I’m riding with Calvin for another week. He’s coming off a let down in week 5, but this matchup against the Buccaneers is a can’t pass up. Ridley has six touchdowns this season and on Sunday he’ll be looking for number seven.

TE-Greg Olsen, Car: The Panthers don’t have any reliable passing receiving options outside of running back Christian McCaffrey, so with tight end Greg Olsen returning, he should step into a situation where he’ll likely be heavily involved. He’s a risk playing with the foot injury, but if he’s on the field, he’s in my lineup.

Here are some of my Sits;

RB-Adrian Peterson, Was: The Redskins offense as a whole was atrocious in week 5, and with Peterson banged up, his week 6 outlook is not very promising. I’ll sit Peterson and avoid this situation.

RB-Nyheim Hines, Ind: With the return of RB-Marlon Mack (expected to start Sunday) and rookie running back Jordan Wilkins seeming to have earned himself some playing time, this is another situation I am going to avoid.

QB-Alex Smith, Was & Redskins receivers: In week 5 on Monday night against the Saints, Smith looked horrible; poor throws, throws in the dirt, inaccurate passes. His performance was enough to have me worried whether he can be trusted. I need to see a strong performance going forward before I trust anyone in the Redskins passing game.

That’s my Take

~David Ortega

FSH NOTEBOOK: DAVID'S DAILY DIGEST

Saturday Night Edition

September 15th, 2018

The Fantasy Football 

Season is Underway!

Well my Fantasy Football Week one was brutal. In my season long leagues, I went a disappointing 0-4; disappointing yes, but not all bad.

In two of my leagues, I lost to the weekly high, so what can you do. In the other two leagues, performances were not up to expectations, but not all was bad. Before I look at the what, let’s take a look at the “how I got there.”

Leading up to the new fantasy football season, based on my draft positions there were a couple of pre-draft targets I had my sights on; WR-DeAndre Hopkins, RB-Royce Freeman, QB-Kirk Cousins, and TE-Trey Burton to name a few players.

There were some disappointing performances from all in week one, but plenty of signs to not panic. Although Hopkins did not put up huge numbers he still had 11 targets (nearly 33 percent of passes thrown by Deshaun Watson). And while Freeman did not blow up in week one, he averaged over 4.5 yards per carry and led the Broncos backfield in snaps. There will be better days.

Digging a little deeper into my drafts and players I was looking for; it looks like WR-John Brown (2 touchdowns in 2 games) and TE-Jared Cook (180 receiving yards in week 1) could be huge surprises this season. It’s still early, but if you took late fliers on these two, you have to be happy with what you are seeing.

The season is just getting started with week 2 already underway. Here are 8 players I like for 2018;

QB-Philip Rivers

Waited too long to take him in my drafts, too bad cause he’s going to be top-8

QB-Alex Smith,

I drafted him late, but I think he’ll play well under Jay Gruden.

RB-Tevin Coleman,

He’s going to get some extra duty early this season with Freeman out.

RB-Dion Lewis,

Watched him a little in preseason, I like what I saw.

WR-Stefon Diggs,

Gets a big contract, will have a big season.

WR-Geronimo Allison,

He showed some flash last season. Should be enough targets for him to shine.

TE-Trey Burton,

Drafted him as my No.1 in a couple of leagues; he’ll finish strong this season.

TE-Vernon Davis,

Definitely a dart throw that could play big late in the season.

That’s my first take for 2019.

~David G Ortega

FSH NOTEBOOK: DAVID'S DAILY DIGEST

January 11th, 2017
Wednesday Night Edition

Divisional Round DFS

Another week of fantasy football and life is good. With the Divisional matchups set, there are plenty of plays this week that I like, so let’s take a look at the core plays I will be building my (Fan Duel) DFS lineups around this week.

Let’s start with defense. Although the Texans may have a number of coaches that have been cycled through the Patriot’s coaching carousel including Bill O’Brien, at home the Patriots defense ($5,100 salary) is still going to be very tough to crack. Even as the highest salaried defense, the Patriots are a safe play this week against an offense that ranks in the bottom 10 for giving fantasy points to opposing defense. The Patriots defense has also scored in double digits in two of their last three homes games; that’s trending in the right direction.

Another trend that I like as a bargain play this week is the other Atlanta running back Tevin Coleman ($4,500 salary). Starter running back Devonta Freeman ($7,600 salary) is going to be a popular play this week, but at his current salary and 11 touchdowns this season Coleman could be a nice contrarian play.

The Cowboys defense is ranked 31st versus opposing tight ends and over the last four weeks of the season they allowed the most. This sets up Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers ($8,800 salary) and his tight end Jared Cook ($5,400 salary) as possibly a nice tandem play for this weekend. Rodgers has had the hot hand of late to say the least; in his last 8 games 22 touchdowns and zero interceptions. Cook missed the first matchup versus the Cowboys, but you can bet he’ll be heavily involved with the likelihood of no Jordy Nelson.

Rounding out the line-up, a low play at place kicker Nick Novak ($4,500 salary) and a nice value, but a little risky play with Seahawks wide receiver Paul Richardson ($4,700 salary) opens the door for sliding in a couple of big guns like Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones, Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, and Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott.
On paper these might sound and look good, but that’s why they play the games. Good luck this weekend if you play.

That’s My Take

~David G. Ortega

FSH NOTEBOOK: DAVID'S DAILY DIGEST

November 13th, 2016
Sunday Morning Edition

Sunday Morning Gametime

The Bears quarterback Jay Cutler is back in the saddle and after an impressive Monday night updset of the Vikings in week 8, he's looking at prime match up this Sunday. Cutler will square off with the Buccaneers today and facing a secondary that allows the 5th most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks, including 18 passing touchdowns (4th most allowed) he's looking at a big day. Upgrade wide receiver Alshon Jeffrey and tight end Zach Miller; must starts today.

The Broncos offense and running game has been less than Super this season, but with the team traveling to New Orleans it could get healthy in a hurry. Rookie running back Devontae Booker and back up Kapri Bibbs could find some room today facing the Saints defense that allows the 2nd most fantasy points to opposing running backs, along with the third most receiving yards. It will be a committee effort, but I would have to lean with Bibbs in PPR.

A couple of injury notes and their impact...

No cornerback Aqib Talib once again for Denver, expect Saints quarterback Drew Brees to attack the Broncos secondary. Upgrade wide receivers Michael Thomas and Brandin Cooks, even Willie Snead slides in as a low risk flex.

The Falcons will be without running back Tevin Coleman, so it will be a lot of Devontae Freeman out of the backfield today.

Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick will not start, Bryce Petty gets the nod. Downgrade wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Quincy Enunwa.

That's my take.

~David G. Ortega