How my shocking fantasy football loss reminded me of the power and the glory of seamless integrations
I was ahead by 30 points going into the 4th quarter of the Monday night football game. There was just one caveat. My opponent had Lamar Jackson and Mark Andrews. Five touchdowns later, I had lost by 30 points. I’m not bitter. I’m in awe. This was a seamless integration of the passer / pass catcher stack into a fantasy roster. The efficiency was perfect. No points were lost from the system. In fact, the QB / pass-catcher stack of Lamar Jackson and Mark Andrews put up the highest combination of points by a QB / TE duo since that time Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski combined for 8 TDs on my roster in 2014, according to my very scientific and thoroughly researched first thought that came to mind.
Poor integrations = lost efficiency ... and points
Multiple inefficiencies can afflict fantasy roster construction, be it for a single game or for the whole year. One of the most annoying ways to lose a game is when your QB throws for a mile and five touchdowns to a WR who is gobbling up those points on your opponent’s team. Your gains are effectively nullified at that position, while your opponent typically comes out ahead.A season-long roster construction inefficiency happens by starting multiple players from the same team. They’re all competing for touches, after all. Sometimes you can boom by starting a RB, WR, TE and QB all on the same team if it happens to be the Chiefs or the Bucs, whose offenses are pretty well integrated such that there is productivity at every position. But usually, you’ll get one, maybe two decent outputs and the rest will be duds. Sometimes, of course, you are forced by BYE weeks and injuries and bad matchups to just play your best players even if they don’t integrate well and hope for the best.
A successful QB stack is the fantasy equivalent of a seamless integration of security tools
The past two years have imposed a seismic shift on the way networks and information systems are designed and managed, and how data is secured. The mass move to remote work and cloud computing accelerated by Covid required businesses to completely change the way they stored, processed, and managed data. It changed the way people communicated and worked.Oodles and oodles of new tools had to be adopted on the fly to accommodate the switch. Seemingly just as many security holes opened up for hackers to exploit, particularly via email attack. And the stats confirm that cybercriminals were not afraid to take advantage: last week, Professor Daniel Shoemaker, PhD reminded us that cybercrime costs went up from $500 Billion to $2 trillion annually from 2015 to 2020—and are expected to hit $6 trillion by the end of 2021. The vast majority of that involves the human element.
How do you integrate corporate practices and operations with new tools and systems in the new normal?
Good question. For many companies, the Covid cloud migration has been like transforming a giant cruise ship into a fleet of interconnected yachts while sailing at sea. Only to find ourselves under siege by an armada of undead pirates (and without the aid of Captain Jack Sparrow, CISO).Getting all the new pieces to fit together in this challenging scenario is critical for maintaining operational efficiency. New vendors and new software tools, operating in rapidly evolving cloud environments, besieged by a constantly evolving threat landscape… We aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto. It's vital to make sure that in addition to your technical firewalls, your awareness training and threat response will integrate with your information system.Seamless integration can be the difference between success and failure. At Hoxhunt, we work with partners like Microsoft to make sure that our security awareness training and threat reporting response work seamlessly with systems like Azure and Outlook, AWS and Google. It’s like a QB / pass-catcher stack. You want your information to flow without disruption or friction in the process.
Week 5 Waivers: Great player/offense integrations
Kedarius Toney, WR, Giants: Yes, he was carted off with an ankle injury after his 4th quarter ejection (not thought to be serious as of this writing). And yes, throwing a punch and getting ejected was dumb. But what he did before that—10 catches for 189 yards (!!!)—was awesome. Remember when the highly touted stud playmaker out of Florida went 20th overall in the draft? How about when Jacksonville, heartbroken, then chose Travis Etienne because he most reminded them of Kedarius Toney and what he could do to electrify an offense? This kid is wicked talented. And the NYG have lost their entire WR room. Talent + opportunity = top waiver wire pickup, and potential dynasty league star (If he’s healthy).Kahlil Herbert, RB, Bears: The bears are good at running the ball, with and without David Montgomery (who’s out another four weeks). They want someone to carry the load and Damien Williams is apparently not seen as a lead back. Herbert is just good at running the ball. He was a skilled but overlooked player coming out of college and the draft. He's gotten positive reviews from the coaches. And he just flashed those skills with a surprising 75 yard day as the lead back. Looks like he played his way into a featured role. Pick him up and giddy-up!Darrell Williams, RB, Chiefs: Not flashy, but if he’s available, pick him up immediately. He’s likely not a world beater even in a starting role for the Chiefs, but he can step in to most rosters as a serviceable second RB and get you 8-13 points a week comfortably. Jerrick McKinnon is worth a shot as the likely pass catching back, a la Damien Williams during his stint with the Chiefs, and if he still has juice in his legs he could do a Cordarrelle Patterson imitation.Rashod Bateman, WR, Saints: Many thought that other than the Alabama receivers and Jamaar Chase, Bateman was the most talented WR coming out of the draft. I happened to believe that was Arizona’s electric Rondale Moore, who looks like the next Tyreek Hill (and who also must be picked up if he's available), but Bateman is super talented in his own right. He got rave reviews in the offseason, and he’s about to come off of IR into a revitalized passing attack that could use another WR with Marqise Brown dropping so many passes. This is a savvy speculative pickup if you can afford the roster space. And if you have Lamar Jackson, definitely worth going for it.
Why fantasy football as a cybersecurity metaphor? We're all about engagement!
Cybersecurity isn't the preferred water cooler topic at most companies. So how does it become one with enterprises who use Hoxhunt? We personalize the content and the whole training experience into something interesting and engaging to all sorts of people, at all levels of cybersecurity awareness.Many people think it's too scary, too complicated, and too technical to even begin getting their heads around. But that's where Hoxhunt comes in. Our people know how to talk to your people about cybersecurity. We love doing it in all sorts of ways. Including the occasional sports metaphor.