#DWC Entry #3 - Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson

“10:09 AM Eastern Standard Time here at Apex Fantasy Football Radio. It’s Curtis Lennox and it’s time to interview another Apex Rookie League #7 competitor as we continue to review Week 3 in a little segment we like to call “The Week That Was.” Quickly for all you first time listeners out there: 12 individuals were selected from around the country to compete in this generally high-stakes fantasy football league and we’re going to get inside their heads a little bit. This is the portion of the week in which we interview each of the 12 franchise owners, get their thoughts on how they did, why they made certain decisions, and get some ideas of how they operate and what they’re looking to do to take home that prized fantasy championship. These interviews are designed for the listener to get inside the minds of 12 unique fantasy football owners, each with their own take on how to effectively play the game, and see how they approach the real-life fantasy situations that they face. Who knows, maybe we’ll all get some halfway decent advice along the way. Per the usual, we’re going in order of the current standings which means that our fifth guest of the morning, the individual who currently resides in eighth place, is none other than the man who received the first pick in the draft. Without further ado, since we’ve agreed not to reveal these players’ true identities, the man simply known as Arthur “Two Sheds” Jackson. Arthur, how are you doing on this fine September morning?”

Arthur “Two Sheds” Jackson: “Not bad at all Curtis. It’s wonderful to be here on the program and to hear your sexy, British voice. It puts a smile on my face in spite of my 2-4 record.”

Curtis Lennox: “Oh geez, you’re makin me blush over here. But I’m glad you enjoy the soothing sounds of my sexy voice. As long as you’re happy Two Sheds, that’s all that matters to me.”

A2SJ: “Good to know.”

CL: “Right. Well, now that we got that not-at-all-awkward moment out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about your week. You entered Week 3 at with a 1-3 record in need of a big head-to-head win which you got over The Z-Machine by the final score of 106.52 to 80.90. As a result, you flip flopped places in the overall standings as you now reside in eighth place while Z-Machine is in ninth. Now, for the unfamiliar, each franchise faces two matchups each week as opposed to one. They face whoever they’re scheduled against in their head to head encounter, but their score also goes up against the league average score of every team for that week. Thus, if you lose your head to head matchup with the second highest score of the week, you go 1-1 since you will obviously have beaten the league average score. On the other hand, if you win with the second or third lowest weekly score, you also go 1-1 being that you will not have exceeded the league average. Two Sheds, does it concern you at all that you’ve now failed to meet the league average for the third straight week?”

A2SJ: “A little bit, but I only missed it by about four points in Week 1 and by a little over 13 this past week so I’m not overly worried. Of course going 0-2 in Week 2 didn’t help my cause but I feel like, all things considered, I have a team that can turn it around and contend down the stretch. It’s still early and there’s a lot of football left to be played.”

CL: “All right. Let’s look inside the matchup a little bit. Starting with the quarterback battle, you got 14.12 points out of Alex Smith, which beats the 13.60 that Sam Bradford got for the Z-Machine. You played Smith over Ben Roethlisberger who wound up with 20.94 points on your bench. You’ve started Alex Smith the last two weeks after he outscored Big Ben in Week 1 from your bench. Any regrets on using that 13th round selection on the Steelers signal caller?”

A2SJ: “No. Like I said, it’s still really early in the season. And despite a few turnovers, Benjamin finally had a decent game statistically. And he did it against an elite defense. Granted, he did it in garbage time, but he still did it. To me, Smith was the play even though he was on a short week. It would seem silly and counter-productive to play Ben against an elite Bears defense, which wound up with two touchdowns, over Alex Smith who was going against the near dead-last ranked defense of the Eagles. And since I drafted both of these guys after Round 12, I don’t necessarily feel handcuffed to one as my every week starter.”

CL: “Two Sheds, were you surprised that your opponent benched Andrew Luck against you?”

A2SJ: “A little bit. It didn’t matter in the long run because they only wound up being separated by a little over a point, but I personally probably would’ve went with Luck only because I would’ve had to draft him at a spot where I would be handcuffed to him as an every week starter. If I’m not mistaken, I believe Luck was drafted in Round 4 and I would only bench a fourth round pick under certain circumstances. And I’d be much less likely to bench a quarterback if I drafted him that early.”

CL: “Moving on to the running backs, you got 12.80 from Doug Martin and 12.70 from Pierre Thomas. Unfortunately, between benching Roethlisberger and Ahmad Bradshaw, you left a 2-0 week on your bench. Bradshaw wound up with 20.10 points as he received the majority of the carries against a surprisingly soft 49er’s run defense. Danny Woodhead’s 14.60 was also a higher score than that of both of the runners you started. But with Mark Ingram and Steven Jackson on the shelf, you didn’t have many options. This is the third time in as many weeks that you’ve left a win, whether against your head to head opponent or against the league average, on your bench. How do you feel about the fact that those decisions are the difference between you being 5-1, with a spot much higher up the standings than you find yourself currently, and 2-4?”

A2SJ: “Well firstly, thanks for not making me feel like a dick about that. I appreciate it.”

CL: “Anytime. I aim to please.”

A2SJ: “Hah. Right on. There are definitely worse problems to have than all of that. Especially this early in the season. I don’t feel bad about benching Bradshaw because I was going to bench him against the 49ers anyway, regardless of the Trent Richardson trade. When you consider the fact that Mark Ingram was out and that Dan Williams would be missing that game due to a death in his family, leaving a gaping hole in the Arizona front seven, I figured I’d get a better game out of Pierre than I did. The majority of his points came on his six catches for 39 yards. In comparison, Woodhead finished with one more reception that Pierre for 16 more yards. He also had 31 rushing yards as opposed to 28 for Pierre so they were basically even in my estimation. But these things usually even themselves out in the end. This is a pretty deep league with 18 roster spots and 12 teams, so at least I know I have either decent trade ammunition or decent depth for when everybody’s injuries start to pile up. And if I can use this depth to shore up some positions of weakness somehow, then I like my chances of rebounding over the next few weeks even more.”

CL: “Now, full disclosure, how much of your $500 Free Agent Acquisition Budget did you place on Willis McGahee?”

A2SJ: “$28.”

CL: “And your opponent, The Z-Machine, outbid you for the rights to his services by a measly five dollars. That being said, are you surprised he left Willis on his bench against you?”

A2SJ: “A little bit when you consider that, going into Sunday, Willis probably had the best chance of any of Z-Machine’s running backs to lead his team in carries. I think the fact that Z played Robert Turbin against me, likely expecting him to get a lot of playing time in a potential blowout, is ballsy. But I also realize that he wasn’t left with a lot of options after losing Ray Rice to injury.”

CL: “Yeah that seemed to leave him a little flat footed as he had to go with the high upside play in Turbin, which only netted him a half a point. Willis only recorded nine tenths of a point so it’s not like he fared much better. Z at least got 12.70 points out of DeAngelo Williams. I guess he didn’t want to start two Carolina running backs against the Giants even though Tolbert would record the most points of any of the running backs that were on his bench with 7.80. But who knew the Giants would play like such crap?”

A2SJ: “Thanks. That’s just my favorite team there. No bigs.”

CL: “Anytime chum. Let’s move on to the receiving core, shall we?”

A2SJ: “I suppose.”

CL: “Splendid. Since you both started two running backs, you had the choice of either using a fourth wide receiver or a second tight end in your flex spot. Z went with a fourth receiver while you went with a second tight end. And though your receiving core outscored his by a score of 51.9 to 46.1, do you have any regrets about how you went about choosing your flex player?”

A2SJ: “I don’t. Even though, in hindsight, almost anybody on my bench would’ve been a better play in my flex spot than Tyler Eifert. I feel like I had the right idea with Eifert because that game projected as a shootout and he’s been used a lot in the passing game over the first two weeks. I felt comfortable with him over Bradshaw or Woodhead. And even if I had stopped to consider that Trent Richardson might not have too many carries with this week being his first game in Indy after getting traded, or the fact that the 49ers just let up a huge fantasy day to Marshawn Lynch in Week 2 without Russel Okung in Seattle’s lineup for a good portion of that game, I still likely would’ve went with Eifert because of the matchup. Again, these are good problems to be having this early on while some teams may be struggling with injuries or depth. I’d rather be going through this now than later on in the year with potential playoff berths on the line.”

CL: “Fair enough. For those keeping score at home, Two Sheds went with Tyler Eifert and Julius Thomas at tight end. Eifert only put up 1.7 points but Julius, who is looking like a potential steal of the draft, scored his fourth touchdown in three weeks to wind up with 12.70 points. Two Sheds also got 1.60 from Lance Moore, 8.60 from Andre Johnson, and he finally got a good game out of Eric Decker who recorded 27.30 points. His bench options included Ryan Broyles with 6.40, Michael Floyd with 8.90, and Mike Williams with 11.50, all of whom put up more points than Tyler Eifert. How seriously did you consider playing any of these guys?”

A2SJ: “Well I drafted Mike Williams in Round 6 as my de facto third receiver. But with all the disarray going on in Tampa, and a tough matchup against Alfonzo Dennard on paper, I went with Lance Moore as my third receiver thinking that Arizona would at least try to contain Jimmy Graham just a little bit. But no such luck there.”

CL: “Yeah, what did Moore have in that game as it relates to targets? It couldn’t have been much more than four or five.”

A2SJ: “Three actually.”

CL: “Woof.”

A2SJ: “Yeah, you’re telling me. But I don’t feel too bad about that considering Jimmy Graham had 15.”

CL: “Well that explains it.”

A2SJ: “Maybe a little. But Lancelot seemed like the best play in that situation.”

CL: “Right. Now, in the minutes leading up to the 1:00 kickoffs, it looked like Z-Machine was going to take a huge risk as the lineup he submitted at 12:53 saw him benching Larry Fitzgerald for Rod Streater. He wound up changing it back a minute later and played Fitzy. What was your take on that?”

A2SJ: “I definitely was surprised to see that he considered benching Fitz for Streater considering how highly Fitz was drafted. Again, Fitz only outscored Streater by a few points so it didn’t matter in the long run. But both teams were predicted to be playing catch up during their respective games, one guy had a bad hamstring, and the other had a raw, inexperienced quarterback throwing him the ball. So that’s a tough call to make. I still personally would’ve went with Fitz too unless the injury caused him to sit. That’s just how I approach the game. I understand every owner operates differently and that certain situations call for you to take risks. And it’s easy to say in hindsight that it really didn’t matter who Z-Machine went with. But if it was a situation where he would’ve played Streater and lost by a point, the context of this conversation would be completely different. That’s just the way these things work.”

CL: “Right you are, Two Sheds. This game can be a fickle mistress at times. For the sake of continuity, Z-Machine got 11.40 points from Larry Fitz, a disappointing 3.30 from T.Y. Hilton, 12.00 from DeAndre Hopkins, 19.40 from Demaryius Thomas, and a big fat zero from the concussed Jermichael Finley.”

A2SJ: “I had Finley going in another league. I feel Z’s pain in that respect.”

CL: “Them’s the breaks, kid. Rod Streater, Bryce Brown, Knile Davis, and Kyle Rudolph rounded out Z’s bench and flex player options. If we can look at the all-important positions of defense and kicker real quick, Z-Machine got one point from Phil Dawson and seven from the defense of the Detroit Lions. You got 11 points out of Robbie Gould and only four from your Sunday morning pickup of the Miami Dolphins defense. I’m sure you won’t want to be reminded of the fact that you dropped the Saints defense for Miami’s and lost out on six points as a result but, since it’s my job, I’m reminding you anyway. What was the rationale behind that move?”

A2SJ: “I thought about this one a lot and am happy to hear that I only lost out on six points. I initially feared I lost out on a lot more. The Saints defense has been solid, and I knew that I would potentially be missing out on a few sacks and/or forced turnovers, but I figured Arizona would give New Orleans a little more of a fight than they did. Meanwhile, Sam Baker was out of the lineup for Atlanta and I was hoping for Cameron Wake to take advantage. Unfortunately you can’t predict injuries and Wake went down during that game. So much for that idea. But I also noticed that Vegas had set the point total for the Falcons-Dolphins game at 44 while the total for the Saints-Cardinals game was set at 48.5. Not a huge difference, but one that was indicative of what Vegas thought about the matchup. And that’s something you can’t take as gospel but that you also can’t overlook. The Saints and Cardinals only wound up with 38 combined points but, had Arizona scored a few garbage time touchdowns, that number would’ve been higher. The Falcons and Dolphins hit 50. Everything I looked at in relation to Week 3 told me that the Dolphins defense was the right play. Even if it wasn’t the correct one.”

CL: “Got it. No, those are all great points you bring up there and makes me understand your decision even more now. Looking ahead to the coming week, do you plan on spending any of your FAAB to attempt to make any waiver moves?” 

A2SJ: “I haven’t really gotten the chance to look at who’s available yet, but I will spend some money eventually. I’m in a number of leagues and have noticed that there really hasn’t been anybody who has emerged as a must-have pick-up this year in the mold of a Cam Newton, Miles Austin, Alfred Morris, etc. But when the time is right, I have $500 to work with. Five of us have yet to spend any money, including the first and second place teams, while one team has spent only $10 and two have already spent over $150. So if and when that prized free agent acquisition makes himself known to the world, it’ll be very interesting to see what happens.”

CL: “Do you at all regret taking Doug Martin over Adrian Peterson with the first pick of the draft?”

A2SJ: “No. Because, doing the math, I would only be 3-3 instead of 2-4 if I had taken AP. The only thing that would’ve changed is that I would’ve beaten the league average in Week 1. Doug Martin actually outscored Peterson in Week 2 and I went 0-2 so nothing changes there. And I still would’ve missed the league average this past week but by closer to three points instead of 13. I still would’ve went 1-1. I felt very strongly about Martin heading into the season and am sticking to my guns.”

CL: “All that despite the fact that Martin is currently listed at #1 on the league home page’s list of Top 10 Busts?”

A2SJ: “Yes, because I feel that’s mostly based on the fact that I drafted him with the first pick. If you look at that Top 10 list, the only players on it that have scored more points than Martin are Dez Bryant and Marshawn Lynch and I wouldn’t consider either of them busts after three weeks.”

CL: “Yeah, it’s probably more because of their current overall rank than anything else. Martin is currently the 78th overall ranked fantasy player per the league settings while Dez clocks in at #51 and Lynch at #53. But again, you bring up great points to support your argument.”

A2SJ: “Why thank you, Curtis.”

CL: “I figured, since I’ve been bashing you and your Giants a bit, It’s about time I said something nice about ya.”

A2SJ: “Damn skippy, bitch.”

CL: “HaHa. Looking ahead to your matchup with the 11th place Pup N’ Suds, is there anyone on his team that you’re worried about going up against this week?”

A2SJ: “Julio Jones. He’s been on absolute fire to start the year and this is the first of his three years in the NFL that I don’t own him in any leagues. So I’m definitely worried although he’s going up against a coach in Bill Belichick that knows how to shut down a team’s #1 option. Now, what’s interesting about this game is the fact that this is the guy who ruined my draft strategy and caused me to have to think on my feet a little bit. At the turn of Round 8 and Round 9, I saw that Nibs and I were the only two teams without a quarterback. I decided to pass on both Russel Wilson and RG3 in Round 9, hoping for one to make it back to me. I figured I’d take whoever Nibs didn’t.”

CL: “Sure.”

A2SJ: “Pup N’ Suds, who had just drafted Colin Kaepernick in Round 6, took Russel Wilson as his backup quarterback in Round 9. Nibs, of course, took RG3 and left me with nothing.”

CL: “Holy crap, that’s rough.”

A2SJ: “Little bit. But I accounted for the possibility of that happening and had alternate plans. I valued Russ and RG3 about the same so it didn’t necessarily matter to me which one, if any, that I got. Unfortunately, I didn’t get either of them. Again hindsight will show that, at this point in the season, Alex Smith only has 2.20 more points than Russel Wilson. And Alex is only 6.04 points behind Griffin and the Washington Garbage Timers. So it’s way too early to tell whether waiting just that little bit too long was the wrong move or not. I will be kind of worried if I see that Z goes with Russel Wilson though because I own him in one of my leagues where I’m 3-0 and am starting him over EJ Manuel. I can hope that he starts Kaep on a short week against a Rams team that befuddled him last year, but everyone in this league is on their game and I can’t expect to get that lucky.”

CL: “Indeed, this has been a very competitive league to date and it’s sure to only get better and more competitive as the season goes along. Arthur, I want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us here today on Apex Fantasy Radio and I wish you the best of luck in getting your squad back up to .500 this week in what should be a great battle of two teams that need to at least go 1-1 if not 2-0 this week.”

A2SJ: “Thanks, limey.”

CL: “Oh wow, that was uncalled for.”

A2SJ: “I think we’re even now.”

CL: “Fine, but I won’t be using my sexy, British accent this time next week when we talk about how you did.”

A2SJ: “Rats.”

CL: “Haha. We’ll be back to interview The Smashers, the first of our 3-3 teams, after these promotional considerations. Enjoy.”
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