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A new year is upon us, sports fans, and 2023 has already been historic. The dawn of the new year saw the Georgia Bulldogs rout the TCU Horned Frogs in the CFP National Championship game at SoFi Stadium to become back-to-back National Champions! The Sports Collectibles GameDay Auctions team was on-site in Los Angeles to witness the excitement. Stetson Bennett and team fought tough through the 2022 NCAA football season against many foes to come out on top. What a way to start the year for the Dawgs!

Let’s look back on some other FAN-tastic sports moments from 2022!

In the National Football League, the Los Angeles Rams started out the year as Super Bowl LVI Champions, beating the Cincinnati Bengals at the first big game played at the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA. However, the ensuing 2022 season did not go as well for Matthew Stafford and the Rams. The Rams lost in the NFL Kickoff Game to Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, who would go on to become season (and fantasy football) darlings in 2022. The 2022 season was noticeably missing some familiar faces that retired after the 2021 season including Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and longtime New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, five-time Pro Bowler Frank Gore and Georgia alum running back Todd Gurley, to name a few. Tom Brady announced his retirement in February of 2022 but then reversed the decision in March to come back to the Bucs to try to win one more ring. The Bucs had their ups and downs (as a Bucs fan I’ll admit, it was not the best season) but weren’t quite the same without Gronk and, despite making it to the top of the NFC South with stars like Mike Evans and Leonard Fournette. They lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round. The 2022 season saw Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs and Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles come out on top with the best records of the regular season. The Eagles have just been crowned NFC Champions and are headed to Super Bowl LVII in Arizona. At the time of publication, the Chiefs are battling Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals for the title of AFC Champions. The Bengals had a wild ride in 2022 with stars like Joe Mixon, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and Ja’Marr Chase. Can they make it to a second Super Bowl in 2 years? Time will tell.

2022 gave the Golden State Warriors their 7th NBA title with a win over the Boston Celtics. Steph Curry continues to dazzle on the court, now in his 14th season in the NBA. In hockey, the two-time defending champions, the Tampa Bay Lighting fought hard to try and win their third Stanley Cup in 2022 but were defeated in Game 6 by the Colorado Avalanche, who became 2022 NHL Champions. Mikko Rantanen and Nathan McKinnon led the Avs to a spectacular season and a hard-fought victory.

The 2022 World Series was a best-of-seven playoff between American League Champion Houston Astros and NL Champ Philadelphia Phillies. The Astros and series MVP Jeremy Peña defeated the Phillies in 6 games to win their second MLB Championship.

Beijing hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics and the Games made for great television during the cold winter month of February in the US. Snowboarder Shaun White made his last Olympics appearance, finishing fourth in the half-pipe before retiring at the age of 35.

Other top moments in sports from last year included the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, with Argentina coming out on top and Lionel Messi winning his first World Cup Trophy. In the golf world, in April, golfer Scottie Scheffler won The Masters Tournament, taking home the coveted Green Jacket. Other golf majors tournament champions included Justin Thomas (PGA Championship), Matt Fitzpatrick (US Open) and Cameron Smith winning the coveted Claret Jug at the 150th Open Championship held at the historic St. Andrews course in Scotland.

With the NFL season winding down now at the end of January 2023, we await a new Super Bowl champion and so many more moments to come in the spectacular arena of professional sports. Stay tuned!

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This post is brought to you by Sports Collectibles Blog Dog Jackson!

– Jackson is a rescue dog born and raised in Florida. He loves watching NFL football with his pop-pop and college football with his GiGi when he visits her in Ohio. He doesn’t love that his mama has to travel often for her job as Director of Marketing for Sports Collectibles but he looooooves to greet her with big smiles and a helicopter tail when she comes home!

In fantasy football it is no secret that your defense won’t win you a league. They simply won’t give you the point production that a mid-round receiver or running back will give your team, making them easy to wait on. Simply, DO NOT WASTE AN EARLY TO MID-ROUND PICK ON A DEFENSE. A defense, along with a kicker, should be your last two picks of the draft. With that, a solid defense is still a great grab in the late rounds. A defense that provides consistency is one less roster spot that all the great fantasy GM warriors must stress about.
Here are our top three defenses for the 2022 fantasy football season.

1) Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills got a new defensive line, and it is scary. The Bills were able to part with players such as Jerry Hughes, Mario Addison, and Harrison Phillips to gain future Hall of Famer Von Miller, long time Denver Broncos star and recent Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl LVI Champ. They also brought back Shaq Lawson who was drafted by Buffalo originally, as well as former Bill Jordan Phillips. The biggest factor for Buffalo being #1 is the comfort that the defense will have with each other. Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier is back at the helm and Buffalo returns nine of their eleven starters. If you are an athlete, you understand the importance of chemistry and knowing the players next to you. Let’s not forget that the last time this defense was on the field was the infamous Kansas City Chiefs matchup with the Buffalo defense crumbling like a good bleu cheese late in the game. The Bills defense will be hungry to prove themselves, they will be hungry to show they are the best side of the ball on that team, and they will be a force to reckon with throughout the season.

2) Dallas Cowboys

The top defense of the 2021 season was the Dallas Cowboys. Much like the continuity Buffalo’s defense will have, Dallas is returning 81% of their defenders that played over 300 snaps for them last year. The biggest factor in Dallas dropping to #2 this year is the QB carousel they will face over the season. Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford, Joe Burrow and Kirk Cousins are all quarterbacks that have been lighting up the boards and have a great offense behind them. I do not expect the Dallas defense to rack up as many takeaways as last year, especially cornerback Trevon Diggs, but with the pass rush of Micah Parsons, Demarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory, Dallas is still a top five fantasy defense.

3) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

We have discussed two teams with prolific get after the QB ability, but what team has potentially one of the best defensive back groups in the NFL? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers corner duo of Sean Murphy-Bunting to Carlton Davis III is one of the best double-threats the NFL has to offer. Murphy-Bunting is coming off of an injury to start the season, but look for blitz-happy Todd Bowles to incorporate Murphy-Bunting in immediately. Davis III is coming off of an extension in the offseason which means that confidence has never been higher. Look for him to continue locking down big-name receivers this fall. Antoine Winfield Jr. has become a well-known name in the Tampa Bay area as he continues to make big plays in big situations- taunting rival wide outs as he plays. The biggest factor for having Tampa Bay at #3 is an odd one – Rookie Zyon McCollum. The 6’2″ corner out of Sam Houston State can fly all over the field and has been generating a lot of buzz in the Buccaneers training camp. We also can’t forget linebacker Shaqil Barrett, voted by fellow players into this year’s Top 100 Players of 2022, averaging 12.5 sacks per season since he joined the Bucs in 2019.

There are countless defenses in the NFL that are going to provide solid points week in and week out this season. Drafting a defense should never be the cause of your draft night anxiety and should never be held at too high of a standard. Don’t overthink. Take a defense with solid players that have the potential to cause turnovers or have an easier strength schedule this year. You got this.

We’ll be wrapping up our 2022-2023 NFL Fantasy Football Pre-Draft Tips later this week with star-studded quarterbacks, so be sure to follow us to have all of the info to take you far this season.

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Today’s Fantasy Football Defense Advice Post was brought to you by Sports Collectibles Blog Dog, LineBARKER Spike!

-Raised a Cleveland Browns fan, Spike decided to forgo a pro career to defend his mama and any cat who tried to come near the house! A hefty little guy, Spike loves walks, CHEESE, snuggly blankets and sitting with all of the humans at the dog park – watching the other dogs like he is reading the opposing team’s offense.