Steelers & Fantasy Football

[NKySteeler]

OK, while out on the road this week, I picked up a magazine from the news stand for some light reading along the way. Athlon Sports 2008 Pro Football Preview. ... Towards the tail-end, they do a fantasy football listing, covering all positions and rankings, and done by Dan Grogan. ... I actually found some of the rankings disturbing. Apparently, they do not view the Steelers as a team able to put up points (afterall, that is what drives it, isn't it?).

- They have Ben at #9. Behind Brady, Manning, Brees, Romo, Palmer, McNabb, Hasselbeck, and Anderson.

- They have Willie Parker at #17, even though he rolled-up the yardage last season.

- Ward is #18 and Holmes #24.

- Heath Miller is ranked #11 for the TE position.

- They have our defense at #14 behind SD, Chicago, NE, Minn, Dallas, Seattle, Balt, GB, Giants, Phil, Houston, Arizona, and Jacksonville.

- And Jeff Reed, after going 23-25, 44/44 xp, and 113 points at #16.

..... To me, this simply denotes a lack in confidence in the team to produce this coming season... Does anyone have any further insight other than this guy needs some better meds???...

[NorCal-Steeler]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

we're a run 1st team and the old if ben throws more than 30+ a game stat still apllies dropping him.
Parker puts up the yards but doesnt score TD's

Ward although he is clutch he is not a deep threat for Td's like Owens,Smith etc
Holmes is about to turn that corner but the play calling doesnt allow it.

Reed is good but its heinze feild and we tend to score Td's where the high ranking kickers have offenses that cant score in the red zone.

Defense is the only spot i disagree with although we gave up alot later in season due to injuries.

Fantasy football isnt always the best judge of a team, when you have a loseing team you pass more playing from behind and if you have the lead you shut down and run the ball.

[stlrz d]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

THEY BELIEVE we're a run 1st team and the old if ben throws more than 30+ a game stat still apllies dropping him.
Parker puts up the yards but doesnt score TD's

Ward although he is clutch he is not a deep threat for Td's like Owens,Smith etc
Holmes is about to turn that corner but the play calling doesnt allow it.

Reed is good but its heinze feild and we tend to score Td's where the high ranking kickers have offenses that cant score in the red zone.

Defense is the only spot i disagree with although we gave up alot later in season due to injuries.

Fantasy football isnt always the best judge of a team, when you have a loseing team you pass more playing from behind and if you have the lead you shut down and run the ball.

Fixed that for you.

[Ozey74]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

The Def. didn't get alot of picks, scores, or sacks which is how you score with a defense. They did a great job of not allowing points.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

Steven Jackson and Frank Gore will likely be taken early in the 1st round, even though the Rams and Niners will still suck. Wideouts like Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Roy Williams, and Calvin Johnson will be highly ranked as fantasy WR's, but the Cardinals and Lions will still suck. Good fantasy players do not necessarily make good real life teams.

[NKySteeler]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

Thanx for the comments, guys.... It just seems that since the draft, we've been talking about how explosive this team is gonna be, and how well Ben is gonna do. While I'm aware that fantasy is MUCH different than reality in football, it would just seem to dictate that "points scored" (whether it be Ben passing, Parker running, or Holmes and Miller catching) would put them higher on the list...

[Mr Smartmonies]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

Take Matt Schaub at some point. gotta be value on that guy somewhere. if he had a healthy roster last year, he would have had an enormous year. He was on pace for it. But ihate fantasy football so I'm not the best person to chime in here.

[costanza2k1]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

I'm glad the they rank us so low...leaves more Steelers for me on draft day when others read mags like this. Big Ben won my championship for me last year so I know he has value.

[NKySteeler]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

Take Matt Schaub at some point. gotta be value on that guy somewhere. if he had a healthy roster last year, he would have had an enormous year. He was on pace for it. But ihate fantasy football so I'm not the best person to chime in here.

Oh, I don't play FF Msm.... I find too many contradictions in value (rooting for Steelers, players for my FF team, etc...). I gave it up about 4 years ago after I ended up with 3/4 of my team being Steelers... .... Now I have one simple plan with pro ball... "Steeler victories".

[Mr Smartmonies]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

Let me tell you about Athlon Magazine. In that magazine there is an article on the 2004 QB's. The author says that Ben was carried by his running game and defense enroute to a championship in 2005.

The Steelers averaged 2.9 yards per carry in the 2005 playoffs.

The Defense allowed 17.5 pts in 3 playoff games. not bad, but not actually steel curtain like either.

roethlisberger had the 2nd highest passer rating in road playoff history in that stretch.

hence, I will never buy that magazine. I always flip open to the steeler section and if they can't get that right, I can't trust the rest of the stuff.

[NKySteeler]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

Let me tell you about Athlon Magazine. In that magazine their is an article on the 2004 QB's. The author says that Ben was carried by his running game and defense enroute to a championship in 2005.

The Steelers averaged 2.9 yards per carry in the 2005 playoffs.

The Defense allowed 17.5 pts in 3 playoff games. not bad, but not actually steel curtain like either.

roethlisberger had the 2nd highest passer rating in road playoff history in that stretch.

hence, I will never buy that magazine. I always flip open to the steeler section and if they can't get that right, I can't trust the rest of the stuff.

I didn't care for that article either... But I think thier point was that part of Bens' success early in his career (first two seasons) was due to the team around him, and I really don't disagree to that extent... Yes, he's good. But he definitely had help around him when he started in the NFL.

[blacknblue80s]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

I think the addition of Mendenhaul effects both Ben and Willie, although this place has Ben ranked #5. [url="http://www.fftoolbox.com/football/2008/cheatsheets.cfm"]http://www.fftoolbox.com/football/2008/cheatsheets.cfm[/url]

IMO Holmes will be a top fantasy reciever.

I have no idea what they were thinking as far as our defense at #14...

[NorCal-Steeler]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

Holmes and Ward both had duribility issus last year thats a huge part in their rankings i would assume.
The biggest reason why Steelers arn't ranked high is pure balance, we pass and run well.
where teams like the Pats only pass or with rb's guys like LT and Westbrook are 80% of the offense racking up recieving and running yrds.
I had Ward on my teams last year ,he was good for those 5 yrd slants in the red zone for scores but didnt rack up the yrs.

[Ozey74]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

Let me tell you about Athlon Magazine. In that magazine their is an article on the 2004 QB's. The author says that Ben was carried by his running game and defense enroute to a championship in 2005.

The Steelers averaged 2.9 yards per carry in the 2005 playoffs.

The Defense allowed 17.5 pts in 3 playoff games. not bad, but not actually steel curtain like either.

roethlisberger had the 2nd highest passer rating in road playoff history in that stretch.

hence, I will never buy that magazine. I always flip open to the steeler section and if they can't get that right, I can't trust the rest of the stuff.

I didn't care for that article either... But I think thier point was that part of Bens' success early in his career (first two seasons) was due to the team around him

With all due repect, people act like Ben walked into taking over the AFC Pro Bowl squad. The Steelers were 6-10 the year before we drafted him & they were 1-1 before he took over full time. True, the team was unacheiving, but they were hardly well oiled machine when he took the reigns.

[NKySteeler]

Re: Steelers & Fantasy Football

With all due repect, people act like Ben walked into taking over the AFC Pro Bowl squad. The Steelers were 6-10 the year before we drafted him & they were 1-1 before he took over full time. True, the team was unacheiving, but they were hardly well oiled machine when he took the reigns.

Very true. But I just don't think it was a situation as bad as many other teams... What if he had been on the Az Cardinals and Warner went down?... I doubt he would have had that sort of record his rookie year, that's what I was getting at.