Author Archives: TWF Dan

Great Start To The Season… Except For Our Fantasy Team!

12 Wednesday Sep 2018

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Ok, it’s Tuesday which means it’s Blogging time for me! I’m just back from watching a boring England side in ‘the Other Football’ beat Switzerland in a boring friendly… such a comedown from a great weekend of NFL!

Where to start? Well, the Dolphins I suppose! Good win for the fins this week against a battered and bruised Tennessee Titans – this despite two weather related game breaks meaning the game which started at 6pm over here in England went on to finish just after 1:20am on Monday morning! It’s a good job my boss knows why I’m always knackered on Mondays during the season. On a serious note, I was impressed by Miami – we looked renewed which was nice, and special mentions have to go to Frank Gore and Kenyan Drake (who I can see running through some dirty great holes in defences this year), a debuting Minkah Fitzpatrick (who made some critical defensive stops) and Ryan Tannehill who looked fresh returning from Injury.

Speaking of which, there were a few QBs coming back this week. I got to see some of Deshaun Watson for the Texans and Andrew Luck for the Colts. It won’t be long before Watson is back to his best, but Andrew Luck is going to struggle if his line let him get hit as much as he did by the Bengals in the coming weeks.

Image Credit – nypost.com

Honourable QB mentions should also go to Aaron Rodgers, who lead his team to an incredible comeback victory even with an injured leg, after being down by more than 20 points, and Ryan Fitzpatrick who threw over 400 yards and got himself a couple of touchdowns in the process – hands up who had him in their fantasy team? …anyone?? If he carries on like that, Jamies Winston will struggle to get back in when his suspension is up.

The Browns did the most Brownsy thing they possibly could and when attempting a medium range kick to win their game with the Steelers in overtime, managed to get it blocked and come away with a tie. It means they definitely won’t go 0-16 this year but it would have been nice of them to get one in the W column in a divisional game week one. Le’veon Bell will have been a keen spectator of that game, having not travelled with Pittsburgh for this one due to his ongoing contractual hold-out. I can’t see him leaving the Steelers, but some of their key players will be knocking on management’s door this week trying to get a deal done and get him back in yellow and black.

Image Credit – CBS Sports

And my early pick for the Super Bowl, the Rams, managed a good win on Monday too. Not managed to watch that game yet but I’ll pick that up in the next few days. So, “how’s the odds chart looking Dan?” I hear you cry! Well, like this, I reply:

Odds are down to 10-1 after week one actually making them third favourites – level with the Eagles and behind only the Vikings and the Patriots. Not bad after one game!

The Wrong Football fantasy team didn’t manage to get off to a winning start unfortunately, beaten by 192.5 to 183.4. This disappoints me having gone unbeaten with the ‘Suh Tang Clan’ 2 years ago (I might have mentioned it once or twice on the pod…!!). I’ll be wheeling and dealing in the market this week as I was too late to pick up a good Running back off waivers and Lynch is questionable. The full team looks something like this:

Feedback welcomed, but I can’t promise to listen!!

Anyway, before I go this week, quick shout to Darren Butler (@darrenbutler87) who gave me a great little bit of trivia this week which I wanted to share with you…

“For three years between 1983 and 1986 the Heisman Trophy Winner was not drafted by an NFL Franchise, with all three opting to join the USFL spring series instead.”

Lovely little stat that! In the spirit of our trivia competition, if you’ve got a good bit of NFL trivia to share (useless or otherwise – the more ‘pub knowledge’ the better!) drop me a tweet @TWFDan and you may get a mention here next week!

That’s all for now. Until next time…

@TWFDan

The NFL can be brutal!

03 Monday Sep 2018

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I mean, the NFL really can be brutal! This time of year, we’re looking forward to the fresh start that comes with a new season, however on Saturday, just 5 days before the first ball is kicked, teams were busy shattering dreams while slimming down to a 53-man roster. And while all of the players know that’s what’s going to happen, I can’t imagine it makes it any easier for either side come cut-down day.

Hard Knocks has been around for a few years now, and off the back of that comes an increased level of understanding of what exactly goes down during the off-season, and a major part of its focus is on who makes the team and who doesn’t. Appreciating that there wouldn’t be much left to the series if they didn’t go so in depth on this element, the final episode of each season is still a tough watch. I’m not quite sure I’d like to find my career (and potentially financial well-being) forming part of a soap opera.

Clearly there’s two sides to this. People like Eric Kush (Bears Centre) who was picked up by Chicago after being cut publicly cut by the Rams on Hard Knocks, will argue that it doesn’t do your chances any harm to catch someone’s eye when the eyes of the media have spent a month and a half following you around.

Image Credit – USA Today

But this year (**Spoiler Alert, People!!**), people like the extremely likeable Devon Cajuste will be hoping to pick up a team quickly. And even though I couldn’t stand how fourth string QB Brogan Roback came across, it’s not going to be a nice watch when this week’s Hard Knocks lands. Seemingly, not many are safe either – not even 2016 first round draft pick QB Paxton Lynch could escape the cut from Denver. 2016 was a tough year to go into the league as a QB as there was a strong draft class that year (Goff, Wentz, Prescott… Hackenberg?!) but for a first rounder who Denver put a lot of hope on at the time to be gone already seems harsh to me, especially when the likes of Wentz and Goff were given a year or so to ‘bed in’.

Even for the lucky ones though, the average career in the NFL is just 3.3 years (according to Statista.com) – I don’t know about you, but if I’d dreamed of doing something as a career my whole life and invested that much time, effort, blood, sweat and tears into making it happen, I’d really hope it lasted a bit longer than 3.3 years when I finally got there… perhaps that’s why I buy Office Supplies for a living and don’t play professional sport [I’m not sure that’s the only reason – Ed.]. I guess that’s why it’s so important for those who do get there to be the best they can on every down… and keep saving their money for retirement!

This may be my last blog before the season starts so I should probably cover off a few things while I’m here! Firstly, here’s a look at the Rams ‘odds to cash out’ chart as it stands:

The Wrong Football are also taking part in a charity fantasy football league in aid of 4Louis, a charity whose amazing work provides memory boxes to hospitals in the U.K. in aid of bereaved parents who have lost a child through stillbirth or neonatal death. It’s a great charity and while I’ll share more about the team when the draft (currently moving at the speed of global warming) is complete, but in the meantime, go to 4Louis.co.uk for more information, and if you would like to donate, head over to https://www.justgiving.com/4louis – a donation of just £30 allows them to provide a family with one of their memory boxes.

Happy Week One everyone!!

@TWFDan

Who is your money on this year?

23 Thursday Aug 2018

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Just a couple of weeks away from the start of the regular season, it’s the time that some people decide to start looking at betting odds for the year, and making a decision who to put their money on in the slim hope of making some money off the sport that they love.

Not me.

I placed my bet on the LA Rams to win the Super Bowl back in March! Before the Draft, and only just after they’d finished brushing up the green and black ticker tape in the US Bank Stadium. Look – I can prove it!

I can almost hear you through the medium of my computer screen asking why on Earth I would do that. Well, I’ll tell you…

There’s a number of reasons really. Firstly, I was impressed with their turnaround last year. Having gone from a 4-12 team with a lot of struggles in the 2016 season to winning the NFC West fairly comfortably with an 11-5 record last season was something I would think a lot of teams would like to emulate this year. If they can carry that momentum over into the new year, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

They’ve also done a lot of further strengthening in the off-season. Ndamukong Suh is someone I feel I know quite a lot about from his time in Miami and I think if Aaron Donald’s holdout is resolved (his second in as many years), I can’t see many rushing yards being gained against the Rams [He’s not signed as of post scheduling – Ed.]. QBs aren’t exactly going to relish coming up against that pairing either!

Image credit – ESPN.com

What didn’t help them in the off-season was getting no draft picks until late on in the third round – the unfortunate cost of trading up last year to land Jarred Goff. But honestly, I don’t think that will hurt them this season. It may do in years to come, but some clever trades will get them back into a good position in coming seasons.

Oh, and part of it (quite a large part as it happens) as with any bet I make is gut feel. I just feel they’re going to have a big year this year.

So, while Gee tracks this year’s safety count (#TWFSafeties – get on board, people!!) I’ll be tracking how my bet goes through the season. When I put my hard earned £5.00 on the Rams, I got odds of 16/1 from Bet365. Fast forward 5 months, and they’re at 11/1 as of today. I’m going to track this, as well as my ‘cash out’ figure through the season – I think it will make for some interesting reading by the end of the year.

But who is your money on? And how do you think the Rams will do this year? Drop us a line on Twitter and let’s have a chat!

Until next time…

@TWFDan

2018 Season Expectations: Miami Dolphins

31 Tuesday Jul 2018

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We’re just over a month away from the season getting underway and like any good fan of the NFL, it’s around this time I start forming some early expectation of my team – namely the Miami Dolphins.

Image credit: sportingnews.com

It’s a strange time to be a Dol-fan. In the space of 18 months we’ve gone from thinking we could make our first SuperBowl in over 25 years to just hoping we don’t embarrass ourselves too much in the coming season. And that’s not a strange feeling to be honest – any follower of the Dolphins will tell you that it’s a hell of a rollercoaster ride… albeit one that never quite hits the heights you’d like it to.

Roster-wise, it’s certainly a mixed bag. This was made all the more obvious when we launched our new uniforms a couple of months ago, only to really struggle to roll out any ‘big names’ to help the team to sell it. Ryan Tannehill is back after a year and a bit out (it seems a long long time since 2016 Week 13 when we last saw him!). I think this is the third time I’ve personally declared this as his last chance to shine and show he has what it takes. Believe it or not, he’s now 30, and entering his 6th season (7th if you count last season which he sat out), so this really is time to show us what he can do.

Image credit: sportsinjurypredictor.com (irony unintended!)

He’s lost his main tool in Jarvis Landry this off season, replaced with Danny Amendola, who is someone who has always impressed me. He has a real knack of performing in big games and brings some winning experience to a roster which so badly lacks it.

Speaking of Landry, I’m really looking forward to seeing how he’s settling in in Cleveland on this year’s hard knocks (which starts next week by the way, if you have NFL Gamepass). If you believe even half of what is being written in the media, to say he was not a happy-chappy in Miami would be an understatement. And I can understand it if I’m honest. He was never really given a chance to provide his QB with a long ball target while with us. Looking at the stats, almost 45% of his catches last year were within 3 yards of the Line of Scrimmage, with nearly a further 20% being either at or behind the line. It’s no wonder he was frustrated, knowing what he was capable of when he went down field.

Image credit: Cleveland.com

Defensively, we’re much the same as last year… which doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.

Whatever happens, we’re less than 2 weeks away from the first pre-season game, and less than 40 days until the season kicks off properly. Whoever you’re supporting, I’d be really interested to hear how you’re feeling at this stage, and on a selfish note, how you think the Dolphins will do this year – drop me a line on Twitter and let me know.

Strap yourselves in. It’s going to be a bumpy ride…!

@TWFDan

As One Door Closes…

25 Wednesday Jul 2018

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So, I’ve been thinking for a while about how to do this and I’m going to get straight to the point (but stick with me – it’s not all bad news!).

Firstly, it’s with real sadness that Gee and I would like to announce that the Wrong Football Podcast won’t be returning on a regular basis for the 2018 season. I know that will come as a surprise for both of our regular listeners (sorry, that’s an in joke) but while we’ve loved producing the pod and the opportunity for Gee and I to get together (well, virtually at least) and chew the fat offered up to us by the NFL on a weekly basis, regular life and ‘the day job’ getting in the way meant that it was becoming harder and harder for us to stick to a schedule and put together the quality content that we wanted to deliver.

Personally, I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve done with the pod. When we think that we were both absolute novices when we started, I’d like to think that we got pretty good at it by the end and were giving listeners some real good insight, analysis and opinion on the game we love. Not to mention that it allowed us to speak with some real passionate NFL fans at Wembley and interview a Superbowl Champion (Shaun Gayle) and NFL journeyman (Nick Ferguson), which absolutely blew us away and we can’t thank Nick, Shaun or NFL UK enough for allowing us the chance to do that.

While I’m thanking people, I should probably thank our long suffering other halves. Jenny and Rachael have put up with a lot to give us time to put the pod together each week, so thank you both.

The aim of every podcaster is to make it sound easy – almost effortless. The reality is something a little different. Putting together the pod has always been much more than just the hour long recording session each week. There’s games to watch, news to study, analysis to be done, scripts to write – not to mention the editing process which can take about two or three times as long as the recording itself. No matter how much you love the sport, and nattering with your friends about it, this grind takes its toll after almost 3 years, and fitting it around the rest of life’s ‘goings on’ becomes more difficult, which has ultimately lead to us taking this decision at this stage.

And while it’s ‘adios’ to a regular podcast, I wouldn’t say by any means that it’s over. We’ll still put together some specials (although we’ve not quite decided on what format they’ll take yet) so keep those subscriptions active wherever you procure your podcasts to make sure you don’t miss any of these. And of course The Wrong Football blog itself is going nowhere! If anything it’ll ramp up as alongside Gee’s regular posts he has kindly agreed to let me vent my footballing spleen as a guest blogger throughout the season. This is something I’m really looking forward to and I hope I can put together something half as entertaining as Gee’s insights! Oh, and my Dad is intent on continuing to challenge us on our footballing knowledge with his now famous ‘extra point’ so we’ll find some way to incorporate that too!!

So for now, that’s all we’ve got time for on The Wrong Football Podcast. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you again… soon!

I’ll let you insert your own ‘Gee Noise’ here!

@TWFDan