Play against The Fantasy Alarm Team by going to Head2Head.com and clicking on the Salary Cap Challenge.  Search leagues for “Fantasy Alarm” and the password is the WINNER of this league, “Wolfman”.

It is crazy to think that there are only two more weekends before we are engulfed by the NFL.  Every year I play in the Head2Head.com games and this year I convinced the team to play against me.  I have won or been second in my league each of the last four years.  I take it really seriously.  So today I wanted to announce this to you all as you can play against us.  I set up a league and called it Fantasy Alarm Challenge and Mans, The Oracle and The First Lady of Fantasy Sports have agreed to compete against the “Challengers”.  However, like in Rocky IV, Adrian says to Rocky: “You Can’t Win.”  Well, you can’t. 

So to get psyched up for this challenge, I haven’t shaved in a week, listened to Van Morrison and Credence Clearwater Revival and watched American Werewolf in London twice.  Why, you ask?  Well here are my not so well thought out reasons for picking that movie:

  • It has a Mans (David played by David Naughton) as the leading man.  He is strong, sensitive and a little bit nutty.
  • It has Mans’ BFF (Jack, played by Griffin Dunne) who never waivers from his best friend and even though he thinks it is a bad idea, he goes through the woods.  He is serious but sometimes funnier than his BFF.
  • It has a Wolfman attacking the Mans and forever changing him.  Wolfman hides in the woods and only attacks those who don’t stick to the moors.
  • It has the First Lady.  She is a caretaker and a confidant who deeply loves all her patients (fantasy football players at Head2Head.com).

Check out the 210 pages of the 2014 Fantasy Football Draft Guide with 600+ player rankings, 30 in-depth strategies, system & offensive line breakdowns, daily fantasy football strategies & MUCH MORE!! CLICK HERE to Dominate Your League in 2014.

“The wolf's bloodline must be severed; the last remaining werewolf must be destroyed. It's you, David.”

So it is a little bit early for me to make a lineup that sticks, so let’s talk about the strategy for success in the Head2Head.com Salary Cap Game.

There are two critical rules in this game and in all Head2Head games that make them both more fun & a bit more challenging. 

  1. All QBs get 6 points per passing TD
  2. The rosters are very different.  1 QB, 3 RB, 3 WR, K, DT and a SUPER FLEX position (RB, WR, TE or QB). 

Because of these two things, the salaries are bigger for quarterbacks, but in more than half the weeks I find a QB who scores a lot for that Super Flex spot.  So here is how I go about creating my winning roster.

“Arrest me.  Queen Elizabeth is a man! Prince Charles is a faggot! Winston Churchill was full of s#!t! Shakespeare's French!”

Examine the Matchups

Take a look at each matchup and the players in each matchup to determine who might be a good pick from those matchups.  The Oracle will have an article each week and Fantasy Alarm will have matchup pages in our Gameday section starting in Week 2.  Use this information to write down all the players by position that could exceed their value by the most. Find the QBs with the best matchups and the lowest price.  Look at the secondary of each NFL team compared to the quarterbacks they play against.  Make a list of all the players that you are willing to have.

“Have you tried talking to a corpse? It’s boring.”

Dig Into The Numbers

I review the rankings and projections carefully.  Then I look at the defenses that the teams are playing against.  As the season goes on there is more information to make informed decisions, but in week 1, I look at the secondary when figuring out quarterback, wide receiver and tight end play.  Look at linebackers to determine what to expect from running backs.  I need to find WR3s that will perform; RB1s that will be great; and at least one super bargain at running back and one at wide receiver.

Alex: “Benjamin, have you ever been severely beaten about the face and neck?”

Creating a Winning Lineup

The first thing you need to do is to identify the extreme bargains.  Examine the list of salaries that are made in late July to find out where there may be bargains and pull those out for use when you need to save money.  You may not need them, but they may help to make your team better.  This is especially true for quarterbacks and running backs.    You need to find a couple of players that are a bargain and use them to create value for your stars (usually at running back).

Sample Lineup

Like I said, it is early, but I wanted to create a lineup for you to see what the makeup should be.  See below:

Player

Pos

Team

Opp

Salary

Brady, Tom

Q

NE

@Mia

$16.50

McCoy, LeSean

R

Phi

Jax

$16.00

Gore, Frank

R

SF

@Dal

$11.30

Archer, Dri

R

Pit

Cle

$4.90

Hunter, Justin

W

Ten

@KC

$6.40

Streater, Rod

W

Oak

@NYJ

$5.90

Thompkins, Kenbrell

W

NE

@Mia

$4.50

Zuerlein, Greg

K

StL

Min

$6.00

Philadelphia

D

Phi

Jax

$11.80

Foles, Nick

Flex

Phi

Jax

$16.70

    

$100.00

David: “Don’t I need a silver bullet or something?”

Jack (rolling his half eaten eyes): “Don’t be ridiculous.”

You don’t need a silver bullet.  You need to not salivate at high priced wide receivers.  All you need to do is get one of the wide receivers right out of three.  Your quarterbacks will perform at least to a level that allows you to compete each week.  The top running backs against bad defenses always succeed.  A defense versus a bad team and any kicker whose team will score at least some points is fine.  So beware of the moon.  Stick to the moors. You don’t want to be eaten, lose all your clothes and hear…

“Mommy, a naked American man stole my balloons.”