Alexa is the fantasy football assistant you’ve been waiting for – CNET

Temperatures are starting to cool down, which means it’s time to dust off your cornhole boards, grab your koozies and break out your favorite flannel. It’s football season.

Alexa was there to help during the 2018 Winter Olympics and FIFA World Cup. But now it’s time for some good ol’ American football. Alexa can also help you stay on top of your fantasy team by providing fantasy score updates mid-game, give advice on who to start or trade, tell you about injuries and more. 

Here’s how to turn your Alexa speaker into the ultimate football assistant.

Add teams to your Sports Update

Out of the box, you can ask Alexa things about sports games, such as “Alexa, when is the Panthers game?” or “Alexa, who do the Saints play next?” But if you want to hear information about your favorite teams (of any sport), you’ll want to add them to your Sports Update.

To do this, go to alexa.amazon.com from any browser or open the Amazon Alexa iOS or Android app. Go to Settings > Sports Update and begin typing the name of your favorite team in the search bar. Tap the team name to add it to your list. Teams for most major baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer leagues can be found and added to your Sports Update.

When you ask for your Sports Update, similar to your Flash Briefing, Alexa will give you a briefing on any recent scores and tell you when the next game is for each team on your Sports Update. Just say “Alexa, what’s my Sports Update?”

Listen to sports radio

In addition to the Sports Update, you can add other feeds to your Flash Briefing, such as ESPN. Go to Settings > Flash Briefing at alexa.amazon.com or in the Alexa app for Android or iOS. Tap Get more Flash Briefing content and search for the ESPN Radio skill.

Alternatively, you can listen to ESPN directly through TuneIn Radio. Just say, “Alexa, play ESPN Radio on TuneIn.” The live radio feed will begin to play.

Other Flash Briefing skills you can add for football news are:

In addition to your Flash Briefing, you can listen to your favorite sports podcasts. Just say, “Alexa, play the [podcast name] podcast.” If Alexa has trouble finding the podcast you’re looking for, the best workaround is to use the AnyPod skill.

Get game odds

Want to know which team is predicted to win? Just ask Alexa. Say, “Alexa, what are the odds in tonight’s Seahawks game?” It will then tell you which team is the favorite to win, followed by when and where the game is set to take place.

Sports knowledge and scores

Alexa can also tell you all sorts of facts and stats about players. You can ask who the starting quarterback is for a specific team, how many passing yards they had in a past game (or totals for the season) and if they have any injuries.

Given that, you can ask for just about anything, including current season standings, results from a completed game or historical data about a player or team. Sometimes the wording can get a bit complicated, so you might have to try asking Alexa a few different ways to get the information you’re after.

If there’s something you run into that Alexa can’t answer, try the StatMuse skill.

Now playing: Watch this: Alexa, shall we play a game?

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Football trivia and games

The Alexa skills catalog is absolutely loaded with different football trivia and other games. One that stands out is Football Mania, an audio-only strategy game of football.

Another standout game to play with your Alexa speaker between games or while tailgating is Sports Jeopardy!

Track fantasy football

For fantasy football, Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football just launched a skill for Amazon Alexa last week.

To add Yahoo Fantasy Football, say “Alexa, enable the Yahoo Fantasy Football skill” or search for Yahoo Fantasy Football in the skills catalog in the Alexa app. Next, link your Amazon account with your Yahoo account and agree to the terms and conditions.

After the skill is enabled, you can say things like:

  • “Alexa, open Yahoo Fantasy Football.”
  • “Alexa, ask Yahoo Fantasy Football for a score update.”
  • “Alexa, ask Yahoo Fantasy Football if I have any injuries on my roster.”
  • “Alexa, ask Yahoo Fantasy Football about my matchup.”

For advice on your fantasy football league, you can enable the Fantasy Football Nerd skill. With this skill, you can ask things such as:

  • “Alexa, ask Fantasy Football Nerd if I should start Eli Manning or Aaron Rodgers.”
  • “Alexa, ask Fantasy Football Nerd if I should trade Eli Manning for Tom Brady.”
  • “Alexa, ask Fantasy Football Nerd for the latest news.”

And the FantasyMatrix skill allows you to ask for specific metrics on players’ fantasy standings since 2014. You can ask how many rushing touchdowns a player had in a specific week in 2015 or how many fantasy points a player had in 2014.

If DraftKings is more your speed, there’s a skill for that, too.

Here’s everything you need to know about watching football without cable.

Also, try these other unusual skills to try with your Alexa speaker.