5-2-0
Last season was a remarkable for the Highland LavaRockets (5-2-0) as they finished with their best record in team history (2001-2016) at 9-4-0 and earned a trip to the 2016 NFL.com Fantasy Football playoffs. The LavaRockets won their division for the 2nd time in team history, but came up short of winning their 2nd league championship. The LavaRockets had been struggling for several years and missed the playoffs three years in a row (2013, 2014, 2015) and were worse before that (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
The team has gotten off to a great start, but things didn't look so well heading into week 4 with a 1-2-0 record. They won their first game in week 1 with a 104.20 - 54.30 victory and that's with New York Giants quarterback (QB) Eli Manning securing only 6 points. Manning hasn't had a good season, but the LavaRockets (somehow) continue to win games with him as their starter. Buffalo Bills QB Tyrod Taylor is the backup. Due to Manning having a week 8 bye, Taylor will start.
Houston Texans wide receiver (WR) DeAndre Hopkins, Minnesota Vikings running back (RB) Jerick McKinnon, Philadelphia Eagles RB LeGarrette Blount, and Baltimore Ravens defense helped the team get the W.
The team would lose their next two games. Week 2 saw both McKinnon and tight end (TE) Kyle Rudolph from the Vikings score very little points and the Ravens defense had a -4, which didn't help.
With the LavaRockets 1-2-0, the team finally picked things up in the scoring department and haven't looked back. Weeks 4 & 5 saw Manning increase his numbers, while McKinnon and Rudolph increased theirs as well. Giants WR Odell Beckham, Jr. was back to playing football as he was recovering from his injury. He too put up some decent points. Beckham would later need season ending surgery due to being injured. He was released.
The team tweaked only two positions as they headed into week 6. The team started Los Angeles Rams kicker (K) Greg Zuerlein over Dallas Cowboys K Dan Bailey, who compared to the #1 K in the league (Zuerlein), Baily has struggled. Bailey had started since week 1 and was released after week 7. The LavaRockets picked up New England Patriots WR Danny Amendola (benched) off waivers and the team benched the Ravens defense (struggling) and started the Jacksonville Jaguars defense, who are #1 in the league. The LavaRockets got a week 6 victory, so the tweaking pulled off.
Due to a week 7 bye, Hopkins was benched and Amendola became the starter, but only scored an awful 1.60 points, but thanks to the Jaguars defense, the LavaRockets got the 79.86 - 62 victory to go 5-2-0 with their fourth straight win.
With a few players on bye for week 8, Amendola will get the start again, despite his awful week 7 performance. Hopkins is back in the lineup, so that should help. The LavaRockets picked up K Robbie Gould off waivers from the San Francisco 49'rs due to Zuerlein having a week 8 bye. The Jaguars will also have a bye, thus the Ravens defense will start. Week 8 could be challenging for the LavaRockets.
QB
They say if it's not broke, don't fix it. I guess the same could be said for Manning being the starting QB for the LavaRockets. He hasn't performed well, but the team continues to get victories with him at the helm.
WR
The LavaRockets have WR Hopkins and Amendola as starters, with Tennesse Titans WR Rishard Williams benched due to a week 8 bye. The Team picked up Los Angeles Chargers WR Travis Benjamin (benched) for some extra insurance.
RB
The team has a great core of running backs (RB) who haven't been talked about yet. New Orleans Saints RB Mike Ingram has been terrific thus far. Ingram is in the flex position, which means a WR or RB can fill that spot. The team currently has no backup RB, thus Ingram would fit that position if need be. His spot would be replaced with a WR in the flex position. Philadelphia Eagles RB LeGarratte Blount has performed well, but hit a slump last week, though he tends to do that. The surprise is RB McKinnon from the Vikings. He's had a wonderful year and continues to put fantasy points up on the board. I don't see any changes to those positions.
TE
Vikings TE Rudolph continues to be the starter and has been since week 1. For the first three weeks of the season Washington Redskins TE Vernon Davis was the backup, but was released heading into week 4 due to poor performance, but the past two weeks (weeks 6 & 7) he's picked up some steam. The LavaRockets picked up Los Angeles Rams TE Gerald Everett, who hasn't done any better than Davis.
K
You can't get any better than having K Zuerlein as your starter. The LavaRockets had K Gould on their team as the starter a few years back when he was with Chicago.
DEFENSE
Who would've thought the Jaguars would have the #1 defense? They've proved that with knitting a victory or two for the LavaRockets.
CONCLUSION
The LavaRockets are on the path to taking their division and heading to the 2017 NFL.com Fantasy Football Playoffs. They're currently 2nd in their division, but tied for first place. They're ranked #6 out of 16 teams. Out of those 16 teams, five have a 5-2-0 record, including the LavaRockets. If the playoffs started today the LavaRockets would be in.
No comments:
Post a Comment