Bleacher Report - Articles by Matt Fleck

Fantasy Players You Need For Playoffs

Matt Fleck — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:24:03 -0500

Every year in fantasy football, there comes a time when everything comes down to a single matchup for the season: playoffs. We all try our best to get there, and try to make it out with a championship. The following guide will provide clues about who to trade for, trade away, or pick up off of waivers to strengthen your team for that final playoff push.

Having the best players during the regular season doesn't necessarily translate into winning in playoffs. Teams often rest their stud players for NFL playoffs, with disastrous consequences to your fantasy squad.

Last year, I had Randy Moss and Tom Brady, who both had record setting seasons and lost in the playoffs. I was shell-shocked. Appalled. Afterward I suffered from PTSD (post-traumatic second-place disorder).

This year I will go into playoffs more wary of stud players on stud teams, and look for players with great matchups throughout the playoffs. You too can reap the benefits of my hard work.

After hours of research on matchups against defenses during fantasy playoffs (weeks 14-17 for ESPN standard leagues) I have compiled a few lists of players worth picking up or dropping for the playoff fracas.

Each list is derived from examining the rankings of run or pass defenses (whichever is relevant to each position) and singling out teams that play all of their last four games against teams in the bottom half or top half of the league in defense ranking.

QB & WR

Pick 'em up

Chad Pennington, Camarilla, Ginn Jr. MIA

Brett Favre, Coles, Cotchery NYJ

Marc Bulger, Avery, Holt STL

These three QBs all face poor pass defenses and should put up lots of points. The receivers are ones that should also benefit.

Ditch 'Em

Tony Romo, Terrell Owens DAL

Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson, Braylon Edwards CLE

Cleveland and Dallas both face four tough defenses for the last four games of the season. Sell 'em high now.

Pick 'Em Up

Matt Forte, CHI. He's good and he is facing four poor run defenses during playoffs.

Others with favorable matchups in Weeks 14 & 15:

Tomlinson, SD faces OAK & KC

Rhodes and Addai, IND face CIN & DET

Ryan Grant, GB faces HOU & JAX

Whoever is playing for Denver faces KC & CAR

Drop 'Em

Thomas Jones, NYJ

Marion Barber, DAL both of these guys face 4 top 16 run defenses.

Marshawn Lynch plays two tough defenses in MIA and NYJ in the first round of playoffs.

Pick 'Em Up

It looks as though tight ends could be critical for playoffs. Lots of them are playing against four teams that give up lots of fantasy points to TE's including:

Greg Olsen, CHI

Donald Lee, GB

Owen Daniels, HOU

Billy Miller, Jeremy Shockey NO

Alex Smith, TB

Also, Tony Gonzalez plays against the two worst TE-defenders in the first round in DEN & SD (two teams he has already scorched this season)

Drop 'Em

Dustin Keller, NYJ. Toughest schedule of any TE in the league during playoffs.

These are not intended to be surefire predictions, just statistical analysis that you can use at your own discretion. Hopefully my analysis will prove fruitful and will help you win your fantasy league!

5 Ways to Improve MLS

Matt Fleck — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:20:18 -0500

In terms of quality of play, MLS, the top American professional soccer league, has come a long way since it's inception in 1996.

Today there is still a long way to go until teams from our league can compete with the best from England, Spain, Italy, or heck even Portugal. Below are some ways that the league can attract more fans, earn more money, and ultimately become the NBA of soccer.

1. Invest in young talent

Right now the MLS relies on a draft of college players to invigorate the league with fresh faces. This isn't really the best way to find young players. Most college seniors are 21 or 22. "Rookies" in the best leagues of Europe are routinely brought into the first team at 17 or 18, a difference of four valuable, formative years. NCAA regulations limit practice time, and thus growth of college players.

Instead of drafting players from college, MLS should develop a youth team system. Give a youth team to every current team and train them with the best high school (or even college) coaches from around the country.

By picking up talented youngsters (think 15-18), MLS teams will bring out fans to see the new talent play. Freddy Adu anyone?

2. Re-invent or ditch the playoff system

The current system takes the top three teams from each conference and then two other teams (eight total) to the playoffs where they play a first round home-and-home series after being seeded.

The second round pits the two remaining teams in an elimination game hosted by the higher seeded team for the conference championship. The MLS Cup is then played at a predetermined site (which may end up being a home game for one team) for the championship.

Today's playoff system has a few faults, including the bizarre possibility of a Western conference team winning the Eastern conference. To fix these problems, I propose a single table for the regular season.

Divisions don't work. Anyone remember why the Civil War started? Divisions. Having a single table will simplify seeding for playoffs, and it also makes the league seem like it has more teams than it has. (Who remembers a few years ago when the standings of the league were two pitiful lists of six?)

Stick the home-and-home series all the way until the championship game. This gives each team a chance to win in front of their home fans, and adds drama to the second game of the playoff match-up.

Give the team with the best record in the regular season the MLS Cup game at home, even if they don't make it that far. Having the MLS Cup at home is a good reward for a first place finish in the regular season, as well as a good consolation for the fans if the team happens to lose in the playoffs.

3. Hit the road!

If it works for rock bands, why not soccer teams? If every team in the league gave up one home game to play at a nearby soccer-less city, the league would expose fourteen cities to some great cleated entertainment. San Jose could play in Sacramento, L.A. could play in Vegas, etc. The teams wouldn't lose any advantage as it would still be a quasi-home game and every team has to do it.

An additional bonus to the league is that these tour games could serve as an audition for possible expansion cities.

4. Improve TV coverage

MLS already has a contract with ESPN to show a prime-time game on Thursday, but other than Spanish network television (any chance we could get these guys to speak Spanglish?) there isn't much more to see.

NBA TV, NFL Network, even the Yankees have their own stations. If MLS could start its own TV network and (in the beginning) sell some games to national TV stations, it would well be on it's way to becoming a top league in the USA.

MLSnet.com used to offer free streaming and archived video of all the matches, but it now charges $9.95 for a season, which isn't outrageous, but isn't free either.

5. Get every team their own stadium

It's really unsightly and embarrassing to see soccer played with football lines on the field. The league should pay for each team to have their own home. It doesn't have to be fancy, but fans should be able to see the whole field from the seats (Spartan Stadium).

If the MLS follows these guidelines, there is no reason why it can't rival the best leagues in Europe within the next 15 years.

How To Solve The BCS Dilemma

Matt Fleck — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:08:48 -0500

Let me just start by saying I love college football. I watch it much more than NFL.

Here's an analogy: Every fall, college football is like the feeling i had when i was 16 and just got my first car. NFL is like seeing my car still where I left it.

The annual problem with college football is that every year there seems to be controversy over who should be champion. Right now there is a system in place which uses computers and polls to put two teams into a championship game.

It works, sort of.

I want to see a six team playoff, with the top two ranked teams having a bye the first week. The 3 & 6 and 4 & 5 teams will battle it out the first week. Two wonderful games with three huge games to follow.

Giving the top two BCS rated teams a bye in the first weeks rewards them for a great season. As of right now the games would be #3 Texas vs. #6 USC (SWEET!) and #4 Florida vs. #5 Oklahoma.

Lets say Texas wins and Florida wins. The next week we would have #1 Alabama v #4 Florida (oh look, two SEC teams) and #2 Texas Tech vs #3 Texas (two Big 12 teams). These possible match ups lead perfectly into my next argument:

Throw out the conference championship games. Not even every BCS conference has them currently. Why punish good teams with an extra game, especially if we are going to add possibly 2 extra games to their schedule with a playoff system?

Also the conference championship games often involve rematches of teams that have already played (which is cool, but why not have those rematches in the title playoff instead?)

Add to this the remote possibility of two teams actually playing each other three times (if they split the regular season match up and the conference title game) and then meet each other in a national title playoff game.

(For example, Alabama beats Florida in the regular season, Florida beats Alabama in the SEC title game. Both teams now have one loss and could feasibly make it into the top 6, where above it shows they could be matched up.) I don't think people want to possibly see teams play each other three times, so just throw out the conference title games.

There may be some people who worry about potential professional players having more risk of injury with a playoff system and losing out on huge signing bonuses. A 6 team playoff wouldn't make the season 2 weeks longer. Well not technically.

The four teams in the semifinals of the title playoff would have an extra game, the teams in the final would have 2 extra games. But if they come from conferences that currently have title games it's really only like having one extra game.

In two extra (clear weather) games, how many potential pros could possibly get injured? Even if one did, then he probably wasn't worth the draft pick in the first place.

This year's bowl season starts December 20th and ends with the national championship on January 8th. 3 weeks! i don't know about you, but I'm not especially psyched for the Poinsettia Bowl or the Sheraton Hawaii bowl.

I'd much rather see Texas-USC and Florida-Oklahoma. Same goes for week two of bowl week.

As far as venues go, we do what we do now. Rotate the 3-6 5-4, the two 2nd round matches, and the granddaddy of them all around the traditional "BCS bowl sites". This system would add much more excitement to not only the BCS bowls, which are right now merely good match-ups (save the title game) but to the entire bowl season.

From the jump, we would have great games to watch every week.

I'm all for a playoff system, just with 6 instead of 8. It'd be harder to get into than 8 teams, which doesn't completely compromise the regular season, but yet is not so CBS-football-coverage simple as just taking the top 4 into a playoff.

Also six allows the Boise State's and Utah's of the college world a fair chance to make their way to title (Utah was #6 in 2004), while leaving out BCS bowl under-performers *cough*Hawaii*cough* who were #10 in 2007.