If we learned two things in week 6, it’s the following: (1) Jim Schwartz prefers light handshakes and (2) Despite the early season Tecmo Bowl numbers, there is still hope for NFL defenses to slow down opposing offenses. The latter seemed to get lost in the shuffle of the Schwartz/Harbaugh headlines. However, consider this stat as one example of how week 6 offenses were stymied: Only 9 players cracked the 20 point fantasy plateau (STD scoring). That’s just the second time in the past 2+ seasons there weren’t double digit 20 point players. So, if nothing else, Jim Schwartz wasn’t the only one who was a little defensive on Sunday.
How did the strong defensive performances impact this week’s accuracy scores? We’ll break down the top 10 experts (out of 65) to see who made the best picks. You can also check out our updated YTD standings to see which experts are on top for the season.
Week 6 Leaderboard
| Overall Week 6 Accuracy Scores* | ||
| Rank | Expert | PAY™ |
| 1. | Site Rankings – FantasyFootballNerd | 70.4% |
| 2. | Mike Krueger – FFToday | 69.1% |
| 3. | John Paulsen – The Fantasy Shrink | 68.0% |
| 4. | David Dodds – FootballGuys | 67.9% |
| 5. | Staff Rankings – Fantasy Football Freaks | 67.8% |
| 6. | Sigmund Bloom – FootballGuys | 67.8% |
| 7. | Jeff Ratcliffe – Pro Football Focus | 67.6% |
| 8. | Jason Sarney – Fantasy Phenoms | 67.4% |
| 9. | Mike Clay – Pro Football Focus | 66.9% |
| 10. | Josh Moore – 4for4.com | 66.6% |
*See how all 65 experts ranked for the week
Notes:
- Kudos to FantasyFootballNerd for producing the most accurate rankings in week 6. For those unfamiliar, FFNerd uses a “wisdom of the crowd” approach by aggregating rankings from many of the industry’s top fantasy sites. So far, the crowd has proven to be accurate as they helped the Nerd finish 5th overall in our competition last season. This past week, most of FFNerd’s best picks came at RB & WR, where they ended up rated #2 & #6, respectively. As we frequently say, it always helps to peg the impact players and FFNerd accomplished that in week 6. For instance, they were 1 of only 4 experts to rate Ahmad Bradshaw as the week’s top RB and he finished in exactly that spot following a 3 TD performance. FFNerd also had a good read on Earnest Graham’s (RB #15) breakthrough game as they slotted him higher than all but 6 of the 65 experts we tracked. And at the WR position, they were a believer in several top players including Marques Colston (WR #17), Mike Wallace (WR #3) and Jacoby Jones (WR #39). The combined result was a well-deserved first place performance.
- Mike Krueger (FFToday) earned his best finish of the season as this week’s runner-up. Krueger took a risk by ranking a struggling Josh Freeman (QB #8) inside his top 10 QBs. It paid off for him, however, as Freeman righted the ship in a big way vs. the Saints. Only 2 other experts were willing to make that same gamble. Given his faith in Freeman, it should come as no surprise that Krueger was also high on one of Tampa Bay’s emerging WRs, Arrelious Benn (WR #29). Benn ended up as a key sleeper and no one benefited more from that than Krueger as he had Benn rated higher than every other expert.
- A familiar name to accuracy success is back near the top of this week’s leaderboard: John Paulsen (The Fantasy Shrink). Paulsen, of course, was last season’s accuracy champ and he’s off to a great start in 2011 (3rd overall). In week 6, he made his mark as the most accurate QB pundit by running away from the competition with an impressive PAY™ north of 75%. Besides hitting on the big guns like Aaron Rodgers (QB #1) and Tom Brady (QB #3), Paulsen also displayed a knack for pegging several of the week’s unheralded performers. Specifically, he was one of just a handful of experts to rate Colt McCoy as a viable starting option (top 12 ranking) and he was also higher than the field on Mark Sanchez (QB #13). All told, Paulsen ranked 8 out the top 10 fantasy QBs better than the Expert Consensus. Outperforming the consensus is typically a surefire way to achieve a strong accuracy rating because the consensus usually rates well in its own right.
- Another expert who is no stranger to performing well in our accuracy competitions is David Dodds (FootballGuys). Dodds finished in the top 5 with late pushes in both 2009 & 2010 and he’s already creeping up the leaderboard this season. Similar to Paulsen, several of his top week 6 predictions came as a result of spotting underrated QB options: Matt Ryan (QB #8) & Mark Sanchez (QB #11). He had both deemed as solid starters and each player rewarded his faith by finishing among the QB leaders for the week. Dodds also did a nice job at the TE position (#3 rank). Perhaps most impressively, he went against the grain by favoring Aaron Hernandez (TE #4) over Rob Gronkowski (TE #7). While both were fixtures all day long in the Pats’ arsenal, it was Hernandez who ultimately delivered the game-winning TD. Couple this with a strong backing of additional studs – Jimmy Graham (TE #1), Jason Witten (TE #2), Brandon Pettigrew (TE #6) – and Dodds earned his spot as one of the top experts for the week.
That wraps up this week’s accuracy report. To see how the entire field ranked in week 6, head over to the accuracy section of our site. You can view the results by position and we also have a YTD leaderboard that displays the overall standings.
If you’d like to get involved with your own predictions, be sure to check out this week’s Beat the Expert contest (Scott Pianowski – Yahoo!). The contest is completely free with a $1,000 prize pool (courtesy of our sponsor, FanDuel). Good luck!
