Danny Amendola- PPR Only?

Yes, Danny Amendola had one hell of a game Sunday against the Skins going for 15 receptions with 160 yards and a score. Amendola only played in one game last year but in 2010 his 85 receptions were a delight to PPR owners everywhere.

Analysis: It’s a given that Danny Amendola is a PPR stud but in standard leagues it’s not so black and white. He did amass 85 receptions in 2010 but he did so for only 689 yards with an 8.1 yards per catch average and only three touchdowns. So he may be a pass catching machine but his touchdown totals are suspect. He’s played in 33 games now as a pro and only has five touchdowns to show for it on 153 receptions. That’s not a good ratio for a lower tier tight end let alone a wide out.

Amendola does have 25 targets through two games and a solid 230 receiving yards but you need to know what to expect going forward. You are going to see a lot of eight reception, 67 yard games without a touchdown from Amendola this season. The touchdowns just aren’t going to be there for you. Even Wes Welker doesn’t even have a 10 touchdown year despite his talent and four 100 plus reception seasons. Know what you’re getting yourself into when you pick Amendola up in standard leagues.

Under The Radar- Brandon LaFell

Brandon LaFell caught six balls on eight targets for 90 yards Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. This 90 yard receiving day was only the third of his career and hopefully a sign of things to come for fantasy owners.

Analysis: Brandon LaFell has amassed 155 receiving yards and a touchdown thus far in his first two games this year. His thirteen targets through two games in just two shy of Carolina’s number one offensive threat Steve Smith. Carolina did run the ball heavily in week two but make no mistake, this is one balanced football team.

Brandon LaFell may be a post hype sleeper at this point in his three year career but his emergence this season is legit. To what extent we don’t quite know but he has the size and leaping ability to be one of Cam Newton’s favorite targets in and out of the red zone. LaFell is only owned in a quarter of leagues out there and he just may be ready for WR3 type numbers sooner than later. The New York Giants are up next for the Panthers, so expect a shootout and plenty of targets for the twenty-five year old Brandon LaFell.

More NFL Fantasy Assistant Enhancements

Today marks two major additions to the Fantasy Assistant. The first additional feature is on the player news front.  As you know, FantasySP collects and sorts news from hundreds of top sources.  The goal is to give you the most thorough player news possible to help you make informed decisions.  This is great, but the Fantasy Assistant only let you read the latest article.  No more!  You are now able to flip through dozens of news articles while doing research on your players right inside the Fantasy Assistant or Trade Analyzer.  Click on their “News” link or tab and browse around to view more articles.  Then simply click on the source link to view the article in its entirety.

Viewing Vincent Jackson’s news. Note the Prev | Next links.

The second major feature addition involves Flex Options.  These are positions that let you start a RB or WR, TE or WR, etc on your team.  Now the Fantasy Assistant will suggest waiver wire pickups for these flex positions.

New Flex Options!

Streaming Defenses- Week 2

The Cincinnati Bengal defense is the best play this week if you love to stream your fantasy defenses.

Analysis: We won’t even go into the Cincinnati performance or lack thereof Monday night. What we will do is take a deeper look into the Cleveland-Philly week one matchup. The Eagles turned the ball over five times, FIVE times and the Browns still only managed to score sixteen points. Brandon Weeden threw four picks and was sacked twice in his NFL debut all while picking up a 5.1 passer rating in the process. Weeden only completed 34% of his passes and he did fumble two times. Key stat- the Browns only made it into the red zone twice at home against Philly who turned the ball over five times.

Say what you will about the Bengal D but the Browns are just plain awful. Trent Richardson can’t do much on the ground if his quarterback is sporting a 5.1 passer rating. The Cincinnati D is available in ninety percent of leagues so you’re going to have to act fast in order to capitalize on such a great matchup.

Football Fantasy Assistant Updates

A major new release (version 5.x) to the Fantasy Assistant has just gone live. This update applies to both FantasSP users and CBSSports App Users.  It includes loads of goodies, but here are the main features/changes:

  • DST Support Added – Defense / Special Teams now have stats and waiver wire suggestions.  There are a lot of useful and unique stats that are collected and analyzed.  I encourage all users to dive into their breakdowns.
  • High Risk Waiver Wire Suggestions Enabled – High Risk suggestions have been a work in progress for some time and have finally been turned on.  Low Risk suggestions will be released next week.
  • 2012 Stats – All stats are now using the 2012 season.  However, it also will look back at the 2011 season for analysis.
  • iPad /Safari Fix – A major issue affecting iPad/Safari and some Internet Explorer users has been fixed.  This fixes the “Please refresh your browser” error affecting CBSSports App users.  Thanks to everyone who has been so patient until I could fix this.
  • Yearly Comparison Changes – All players now have yearly comparisons easily visible alongside their player stats.  Yearly comparisons work by comparing the current point in the season to the same time last season.  So right now you can compare how a player has done in week 1 this season vs week 1 last season.  This gets updated on a weekly basis.

I have even more features planned for the Fantasy Assistant.  Stay tuned in the coming weeks as these are gradually rolled out.