Weekly Review and High Performance Grinders

by Kevin Cearnal (kcearnal) Last Updated 2011-03-23 21:16:45

Weekly Review and High Performance Grinders

About the Writer: Kevin “kcearnal” Cearnal lives and works in the most dangerous city in the country: St. Louis, MO. He has obtained the nickname ‘KC’ throughout the daily fantasy community due to the confusing nature of his aforementioned screen name and his overall ‘hoodness’. He has no sport of expertise and has the distinction of being the most recognizable loser in the industry. ‘KC’ works as Comm. Coordinator for a not-for-profit foundation and the sports teams which he most enjoys include the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Cheese & Whine Edition

We’re callin’ this week’s edition the ‘Cheese and Whine’ Edition (note the spelling). These two things dominated the weekend of NFL and also happened to be some of my favorite holiday foods. Let me explain:

Cheese (Meaning #1) – The Green Bay Packers. How impressive was the performance of Aaron Rodgers and company this week? They absolutely thrashed a Giants team that is one of the better teams in the NFC. Yes, they were at home. Yes, the Giants are a tad nicked up. But all excuses aside (again with the whine) this was an eye-opening performance. As we count down to the end of the ever-popular ex-Packers QB, can we take a second to recognize the new one? Remember how this guy plummeted down the draft board on draft day, eventually dropping to the Green Bay Packers, and immediately hearing questions about living in Favre’s shadow? And when his time came he stepped up and since then he has done nothing but impress. Especially in this 2010 campaign, where he lost his running back in Week 1 and has been carrying the load and thriving despite all obstacles. They are gonna be a Wildcard team, making the playoffs all the more difficult for the ‘Cheese’ Team to do any real damage, but Rodgers has surpassed every other expectation, and I expect nothing less moving forward.

Cheese (Meaning #2) – A slang term for Money. Which our very own Cal “Braskey” Spears won lots and lots of this week. He absolutely dominated the FanDuel large tourneys this weekend. He won both the Elite and Bomb competitions while finishing a respectable 5th in the Blitz. These large tourney wins alone account for more than $2500 in winnings. His pockets will now be lined with ‘cheese’ and he no doubt will consider this NFL season to be a successful one from a daily fantasy perspective. The Patriots D as well as the aforementioned Aaron Rodgers were the keys to his big field victories. This stellar performance makes up for his lackluster trip to Vegas. When asked what he would do with the money Cal said he would “get him and Cam a couples day at the Spa and buy a very expensive man purse.” All kidding aside, this was a fantastic week for Cal, and he deserves all the praise that will undoubtedly be showered down upon him from his numerous butt-buddies.

Whine (Meaning #1) – Frankly, this is something I just wanted to do. It’s about 11 people who managed to make my all-time most hated list after Week 16. That’s right, in one week, the San Diego Chargers Defense pissed me of so royally that they have been shunned for a time period that is yet to be determined. Lets review: No TO. No Ochocinco. The Number 1 pass defense in the league. Playing to keep their playoff hopes alive. And they put up a zero. A zero. Jerome Simpson might as well change his name to Jerry Rice. Carson Palmer looked like ol’ Boomer Esiason, throwing TD passes all day long. No one could have predicted this. No one. I’m crushed inside. Crushed. The full amount of money they have cost me is still being determined, but I can say confidently that Tony Montana would have had a smile on his face and a cigar in his teeth as money rolled through his counting machine, if he had stolen this type of money from someone. “Say hello to my new worst enemies.”

Whine (Meaning #2) – The topic of the week? The postponement of the Eagles/Vikings game. Let me just begin by saying that I, in pure disgust, was forced to leave the FanDuel chatroom numerous times over the past few days, for fear that I would break my own computer. People would not stop whining about this. It was absolutely unbelievable to me. I know that I am in the chatroom a lot. And some people have begun to consider me a ‘friend’. But good lord people I do not wanna hear about how bad you took in the ass because Vick’s stats didn’t count… Or about how your wife is gonna leave you cuz you took a goose egg from VJax for the week. Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah. GET OVER IT. SHIT HAPPENS. This is the one and only piece of advice and wisdom (of which I have vast amounts) that I’m going to offer on the topic. If you can’t afford to lose the amount of money you are putting in play, than you shouldn’t be fuckin’ playing. Geez people… the last time I’ve seen this much whine it was Franzia Formal Thursday Night at the Alpha Chi house at Southeast Missouri State. Only difference was, everyone was a winner that night.

WEEK 16 AWARDS (for NFL players)

Ryan Leaf Award

(You spent a high draft pick or large amount of money on this player. They amounted to absolutely nothing. Kinda like Cal’s trip to Vegas (which he made up for this week).

Chris Johnson [14 carries, 58 yds, 0 TDs]

“According to Greek mythology, the Titans were greater even than the gods. They ruled their universe with absolute power! Well that football field out there tonight, that’s our universe. Let’s rule it like Titans!” –Coach Boone [Denzel in Remember the Titans]
Chris Johnson’s hypothetical response, “Nah dawg, I’m good.”
He’s been really, really mediocre this season. It’s a toss up trying to find a good week to play him. The Gods have apparently overtaken the Titans. And so have the Chiefs, Colts and Jaguars. Look elsewhere in the final week of the season.

• Honorable Mention – Larry Fitzgerald, Wes Welker

Tom Brady Award

(6th Round. 199th Overall. An afterthought at the time, but it turns out this player was a steal. This player just happened to fit into the salary cap at a price you could handle or you took in a late round without thinking much about it. You were hoping for an average performance but got a spectacular one. It’s this kind of performer that puts money in your wallet.)

Josh Freeman [21-26, 237 yds, 5 TDs]

This guy has been stellar. Coming out of the draft he seemed to be a questionable 1st round pick. But he has emerged into a consistent QB for a team stacked with young talent. He won’t put up 5 TDs every week. But he will give you a good number on a weekly basis. We definitely need to keep our eyes on this kid as his kid progresses. He has the big arm and athleticism necessary to propel him into the upper-echelon of NFL quarterbacks. But for now, we’ll keep it to some kudos for the kid on his strong week.

• Honorable Mention – Johnny Knox, Shonn Greene

Kurt Warner Award

Pretty much self-explanatory. The person who gets this award rises from fantasy obscurity to thrive as top scorer of the week. No one could come as far as Warner himself who was a bag boy at a small Iowa grocer before getting his shot. But this award winner certainly performed their best to live up to his legacy.

Corell Buckhalter [11 carries, 42 yds, 1 TD, 3 catches, 50 yards, 1 TD]

His strong performance was a bit overshadowed by Tebow’s coming out party. Put keep an eye on this 10-year Vet for Week 17. The Broncos may shut Knowshon down for the year and this would leave a ton of opportunity at a cheap price for the grizzled Buckhalter. It was good to see the old steed put up a good performance one more time.

• Honorable Mention – Jerome Simpson, Andre Roberts

Bob Sanders Award

The player who is talented but got hurt when you needed him most. This player cost you big $$ this week. He made you want to pull your hair out and break your TV. The most frustrating of all the award winners.

Jon Kitna [12-20, 115 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT]

He’s old. He got hurt. This game was disappointing all around. But, had he not gotten injured Kitna had a chance to put up monster numbers in the 2nd half when the Cowboys fell behind. He was a good cheap option for Week 16 and I’m sure some of us got burned. “But not nearly as bad as we did for the MIN/PHI game. Blah blah blah”

• Honorable Mention – Chad Ochocinco, Andre Johnson

Randy Moss Award

Quick Question… In his prime what did Randy Moss do? He caught 3 or 4 balls a game, for huge yardage and a couple scores. So this award is in memory of this. This player had very few touches, but made them count. Quality over quantity.

John Kuhn [6 carries, 22 yds, 2 TDs, 2 catches, 7 yds, 1 TD]

The Packers win with the shoulder of Aaron Rodgers. Rarely do they hit the 25 carry mark in a football game. But did this stop the bulldozer known as John Kuhn? I don’t think so. If you’re going to consider a back for GB he is definitely the guy. He gets all the RedZone touches and he has a knack for finding the endzone in close. He made the most of his talents this week with a 3-touchdown performance. I wouldn’t put too much stock into it and count on him for the final week, but in the words of the little black kid in Angels in the Outfield “Hey, it could happen.”

• Honorable Mention – Mike Williams (TB), Rob Gronkowski

Here are the results of some of the Large Field NFL Tourneys that took place this weekend (Grinders are in bold):

SportsGeek $11 Challenge

SportsGeek $55 Challenge

SportsGeek $109 Challenge (grinders are bold)

FanDuel Sunday NFL $5K Blitz

FanDuel Sunday NFL $2500 Elite

FanDuel Sunday NFL $6K Bomb

Commentary:

No VegasMike sitings this week. Tons of Braskey sitings this week. As a group the Grinders absolutely owned the Elite challenge. Unfortunately only the top 5 paid and Braskey laid claim to 3 of them. The key this week was dodging the bullets. Which unfortunately takes away the advantage that the experienced daily fantasy player has. No amount of research can determine blizzards. Days of research couldn’t have predicted some of the flops that took place this week. Let’s bounce back next week strong. It’s the final week. It’s a new year. It’s our final chance to put our stamp on the Daily NFL landscape. Best of luck to all of you!

On the Horizon…

By this point you guys have a general idea of what’s going on… so I won’t bore you. But I have taken some of my Sportsgeek winnings and put together a smaller Week 17 freeroll for RotoGrinders only. Please spend some time in the coming days recruiting through chat and any other means you have. With football ending, new traffic is sure to die down. Let’s get some more guys to the site to help build the RG Army. Head on over to the FORUMS and visit the stickied threads at the top for more details!

If you would like to submit a player for consideration for next week’s awards. Hell, if you would like to create an award or category, or have some sort of suggestion for a section for me to cover, please let me know. I will be trying to expand my coverage of tourneys to additional sites as time progresses. I also plan to add awards for Grinders in upcoming articles. Anyways, I can be reached on RotoGrinders through the private message function or you can beep me at 867-5309. My screen name on every site is kcearnal or some variation of cincoocho58. I know I got a big win this week… but my motto remains the same. “I don’t give advice, because I don’t know much. I am much more interested in your horror stories than I am in your successes.” Thank you and Merry Christmas!