Reggie Wayne Color Rush Jersey , not harder, right?" Fantasy FootballFantasy Football 101New,9commentsStop drafting the hard way. Work smarter, not harder, right?EDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:Fantasy Football 101TwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by Justin Casterline/Getty ImagesI need to apologize to my readers up front. I was supposed to start this project last season and frankly, I was far too mentally stressed in other areas of my life to do what I feel like I was put here to do, to help other people do things I find relatively easy to do. This article, series of articles or whatever it becomes is aimed at all of us. If this is your first time drafting or you’ve been doing it as long as I have (or longer), my goal is have something here for everyone. I will not claim to be a master of this craft. I intend to have a dialogue with my audience so long as you’re not too tied to your opinions. Be malleable. Be coach-able. I will try to keep an open mind as well.First timers, I want you to know that a fantasy football league isn’t nearly as daunting as it looks. There are a handful of important things you need to know going into a league. I am going to provide you with the exact tools you need to make sure you kick butt in your first draft. There is no “right way” to run your team. There is certainly a wrong way. We don’t talk about the wrong way here. As long as you take what I write seriously, I have the highest of expectations for your immediate success. It all starts with your draft. There are a handful of things you need to know up front before you go searching for a draft sheet, and we’ll get to those in just a few minutes.- It would be ideal if you know the people you are drafting with, as knowing their tendencies and being able to manipulate those tendencies is a big key to winning on draft day. Bear in mind that most of the people that play fantasy football are doing it just for fun, have no idea what they’re doing and will lose interest well before mid-season. I don’t know about you, but I don’t do anything “just for fun”. I play to win the game. That said, the data tells us that most of the time, we are drafting against complete strangers, so this advice only applies when you know Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton are going in the top 5 picks in your draft. Gotta love Colts fans and their high hopes, right?- Once you know your enemy, it’s time to find out the details of the draft itself. Let me be very clear when I say that I can not remember a time when someone auto-drafted and also won that league, so it would be an honor if you would join us. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, Dan, but just missing your first couple of picks does not count as auto-drafting. What this means is that you forgot about your draft or were unable to participate in your live draft and let a computer do it for you. Make sure that the draft you schedule doesn’t coincide with other obligations. Pretty easy, right? Make sure the kids are in bed, that your spouse isn’t going to make you get up in the middle of the draft to help fold laundry and that when the time comes https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Rigoberto-Sanchez-Jersey , you’re ready for it. I suggest having your drafts after Week 3 of the preseason and probably after dinner, all things considered. There are going to be exceptions, but if you want to win, you’ve got to be all the way in it.- Now that you’ve nailed down your draft day/time, you need to make sure you know what scoring model your league will use so the draft sheet you seek out matches said model. Keep this in mind, ESPN’s default draft order does not change regardless of the scoring model your league chooses, so once you know the scoring model, then you can start looking at cheat sheets. It didn’t used to be that difficult. When I started playing fantasy football however many years ago, there was only one scoring model. Standard scoring means there are no points given per receptions. Touchdowns are king/queen here. Now, there are point-per-reception, half-point-per-reception, and occasionally some high-minded commissioner will even tinker further with your league’s scoring rules (I see you, Chris). Personally, I am an advocate of half-point PPR and this might be the only time I say this, but I will die on that hill. Frankly, standard scoring is too boom-bust and I’ve had PPR leagues with far too many ties for comfort. I do not recommend touching any other settings and unless you really care about that league, I would recommend vacating a league that changes multiple settings. Sure, you can play IDP, keeper, auction, etc. leagues, but come on already. Keep it simple, stupid.- Now we know when our draft is and what the scoring model is. Here’s where it gets fun. First, you have absolutely zero, and I mean zero need to watch any fantasy football specials (I love you Marlon Mack Jersey , Matthew Berry) until about a week before you draft unless you’re just dying to watch some football talk that will largely be rendered irrelevant due to injuries, holdouts, trades and general chaos. Don’t stress yourself out with article after article and 4-hour long fantasy football specials and expert drafts. Bleh. Take care of yourself. This is not a game that can be beat by reciting Love/Hate data points. No one cares, Jared (this one is aimed at myself. I watch those shows, listen to those podcasts, read those articles and forget most of that stuff come draft day. Haha.)- I will start looking at cheat sheets and maybe knock out a couple mock drafts prior to draft day about a week out nowadays. Most of you should be drafting in the next 2-3 weeks, hence the timing of my article. Mostly, I would pay attention to injury reports prior to draft day. Nothing is more disheartening that thinking you hit the jackpot only to find out such-and-such broke his leg getting out of his DeLorean. Cheat sheets are everywhere. A Google search for “fantasy football cheat sheets” will probably be the most searched topic over the next month. I strongly recommend that you shop around and don’t pay for anything. Here’s the beautiful thing about the Internet. There isn’t a person or website that knows anything we all don’t have at our fingertips. Most of this is presupposition. None of us know what we are doing and all of us are just winging it.- I strongly recommend avoiding drafting based on what your draft client is telling you (or ESPN’s default draft order). If you really have some time to kill, go ahead and find your draft sheet and change the default draft order to fit it (don’t do this right before you draft, though), that way you can draft with your cellphone from the toilet if that’s the only quiet place away from the triplets. No one wants to see you drag a laptop and a binder full of paperwork to a draft, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?- In terms of what I do every year (older/wiser etc. etc.), basically I just go to this website that produces a live draft sheet (seriously, you just click a player when they’re chosen and BAM!). You’re probably wondering where that data comes from and I have that for you as well. This website takes its data from notable fantasy football contributors such as:It also gets data from Fantasy Pros, which is probably second to ESPN in terms of number of drafts completed by actual people. In terms of reliability, the reason I use these two sources is because an aggregate is better than a single source, right? Think about just watching Fox News. You’re probably not the most well-informed person, as opposed to a news aggregate like Yahoo! frontpage, right? The articles posted there come from reliable sources all over the Internet. I don’t even use Yahoo!, but you get what I’m saying. An aggregate is a compilation of data from several sources. I have no clue what I’m doing, but I know some people, right?So that’s it. Know when your draft day is, know the scoring format, and then stop buying stupid magazines in July that will be irrelevant in a month. Stop paying for information. I just gave you the entire game. If you want me to tout my experience Quenton Nelson Color Rush Jersey , last year I commissioned 20 leagues between paid leagues with colleagues and the free leagues I ran with Stampede Blue fans. I won 9 leagues and made the playoffs in 14 of those leagues. 70% to make the playoffs and 45% to win the entire league is not too shabby, kids. We can always get better, though. The first thing we can do is relax and let the Internet help us out.My next article will cover how to actually draft on draft day. I intend to have that article out on Friday of this week. If any of you have drafts between now and then, find me on Twitter and I’ll fill in the unfamiliar. INDIANAPOLIS — Adam Vinatieri is preparing for Sunday’s game just like all the others.He figures if the same, simple routine helped him earn four Super Bowl rings, 226 victories and become the best clutch kicker in NFL history, it should be good enough to help him break the NFL’s career scoring record.The 23-year veteran needs 10 points to break Morten Andersen’s record (2,544) — though you wouldn’t even know it from Vinatieri’s unflappable demeanor. He’s so focused on ending Indy’s four-game losing streak, he hasn’t bothered contemplating a celebration.“I’m not an overly charismatic guy when it comes to certain things like that. I don’t have a dance or a celebration or any of that stuff lined up,” he said. “The crazy thing is it usually happens in the middle of a game and I try to stay super focused in, not wanting to be a distraction to team.”So far, he’s stuck to the plan.When he broke Andersen’s career field goals mark in a Sept. 30 loss to Houston, Vinatieri’s teammates looked more excited than the traditionally stoic kicker.And whenever the next record falls — against Buffalo (2-4) this weekend, next week at Oakland or sometime after Indy’s bye on Nov. 4 — those who know Vinatieri best say he’s earned the right to do his own thing.“We probably don’t appreciate him enough,” quarterback Andrew Luck said. “The most impressive thing is his approach, his humility, how he prepares. He’s great. I certainly feel fortunate to play with him and it’s one of the things I look forward to telling my kids and grandkids about.”The Bills understand just how good Vinatieri has been through the years. For the first nine seasons of Vinatieri’s career, Buffalo faced him twice a season as an AFC East rival. In fact, two of Vinatieri’s 27 game-winning field goals came against the Bills and his postseason prowess helped turn a young soccer player, Stephen Hauschka , into a fan of the Patriots, Vinatieri and kicking.“His picture was in my dorm room, a signed photo of him kicking in the snow game and it’s still in my parent’s house in my old room,” said Haushcka, Buffalo’s kicker.“I wasn’t like one of those crazy fans https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Andrew-Luck-Jersey , but I look up to the guy. I think anybody does and what he’s been able to do. The fact that he’s able to still do it in his mid-40s is really impressive.”Andersen, who played high school football in Indy, has held the record since December 2006 and Vinatieri is the only other player to top the 2,500-point mark. Vinatieri also is the only player in league history to score 1,000 points with two different franchises.But now, with the league’s oldest player at age 43, on the verge of history again, he doesn’t want to make it about himself. He’d just rather help the Colts earn their 300th victory since moving from Baltimore to Indy in 1984.“I just want to stay focused on football,” Vinatieri said. “I don’t want it to be a reason for a lull in momentum. I love the fact that guys are happy and excited, I love to be a part of that, too, I just don’t have a bunch of good dance moves or any crazy stuff.”QUARTERBACK CHANGEJosh Allen’s sprained right elbow is a major setback for Buffalo. Coach Sean McDermott ruled out the rookie quarterback Wednesday and announced 35-year-old Derek Anderson will get the start one week after coming out of retirement.The truth is, McDermott didn’t have many options. Backup Nathan Peterman has thrown four interceptions in less than four full quarters this season, including two in the final two minutes of last week’s loss to Houston.BILLS REUNIONHall of Famers Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas are among a group of former Bills players expected to attend Sunday’s game and they’ll be watching a former teammate, Frank Reich, coach from the opposite sideline.It’s the first time Reich will serve as a head coach against the team he once led to one of the greatest playoff comebacks in league history.“It’s a really close-knit group,” Reich said, before responding to a question about the 32-point rally he engineered against Houston in January 1993. “It’s crazy, it’s so long ago. I know it’s on television every now and then, but it’s not something I talk about very much.”DEFENSIVELY SPEAKINGThe Bills’ defense has improved dramatically since allowing 75 points in the first six quarters of the season.Buffalo has forced two or more takeaways in each of its past four games while picking off five passes and recovering six fumbles. The red-zone defense also has limited opponents to four TDs and four field goals in the past nine drives inside the 20-yard line.WORKING MANLuck is 186 of 288 in six starts this season and leads the league in both categories. His 16 TD passes are second in the NFL and he’s thrown at least one TD pass in 29 consecutive games — one short of tying Dan Marino, Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan for the eighth-longest streak in NFL history.But Luck also shares the league lead in another category, interceptions (eight).