The Daily Show

Week 16 had a lot of big scorers come from odd names: Brandon Jackson, Jabar Gaffney, Darren Sproles, and not Curtis Painter. Hopefully you sat your Colts except for Austin Collie and started only players who scored lots of points!

I know not everybody’s league is over, including the RCL leagues, so we’ll be going into as much detail about injuries and matchups for week 17 as we have for the whole season.

Our fantasy contest will be decided tonight and it looks like Guy and Asdrubal Bastardo will be vying for the prize. If Purple Jesus can score 23 or more points Mr. Bastardo can win at the wire.  Good luck to you both!

Here are my thoughts on Sunday’s games:

Jonathan Stewart and the Carolina Panthers punched the Giants in the mouth and then teabagged them after they were knocked out on the ground. If Stewart didn’t have D Willy to contend with he would be a top 10 back.  Williams and Stewart are only the sixth running back duo to go for a thousand yards a piece in the same year.  I’m guessing John Fox is kicking himself for sticking with Delhomme for so long, or at least he should be.

Peyton Manning: He kept his helmet on and sang “Put me in coach, I’m ready to play!” while Caldwell ignored him and put in Curtis Painter to prove that our old timey surnames should determine our careers.

Jerome Harrison: He carried the ball 39 times which set a Browns’ record and had a touchdown and 148 yards. He will have some competition from James Davis next year, but he is every down material.  We’ll have to see how things play out in Cleveland, but he will be high in a lot of rankings this off season. Including ours.

Brandon Jackson: Jebus! What happened up in Green Bay? The Seahawks are making a run for worst team in the NFL. As I was needing Aaron Rodgers to throw for a few touchdowns instead he was handing off to Grant and Jackson. Oh fantasy football Gods, why are you so fickle?

Brandon Jacobs: He has gone from a bull to a steer (they have their junk snipped).  Ahmad Bradshaw is the better of the two and should be the one you want next year.

Laurence Maroney: This is why you don’t own Patriot running backs.  Maroney fumbles on the goal line and he’s done. Sammy Morris became the fantasy back for the rest of the game.  Another situation to just stay away from unless Belichick takes a leave of absence.

Mike Sims-Walker: He was only targeted three times.  Hrm?  He wasn’t on the injury report and the Jags needed to throw, so it doesn’t make much sense.  Maybe today was just a bad day for hyphenated fantasy players.

Wes Welker: He was hurt early in the season and missed 2 games and has 122 receptions, breaking his franchise record.  I think that’s an average of 36.5 receptions a game.  You may want to check my math.  The guy is a ppr monster.

Cedric Benson: His injury slowed down a huge fantasy season, but he helped a lot of teams this year and his 140 yards against the Chiefs wasn’t too bade. He should be good to go once again next season.  Bernard Scott will push him, but he should keep the starting job.  All this next year talk is making me sad.

Jamaal Charles: He had a tough matchup against a good Bengals’ defense and still totaled 124 yards. We were confident he could do it against weaker teams, but this game makes it easier to see him as an every week starter next season.  As my mom used to say, “he’s a keeper!”  She always loved my brother more!  Next week he should run over Denver.

Steve Smith: Eli Manning was horrid just like the rest of his team, but Smith was one of the few bright spots for the Giants. He will be high on many waiver wire pickups of the year lists.

Arian Foster: One week too late! Foster had 97 yards and a touchdown the week after being benched in the first quarter after fumbling. I don’t want to get into how stupid Kubiak is.  When you argue with fools, well, you know.  The Texans running backs are a mess going into the off season.

Justin Forsett: Once again he looked better than Julius Jones.  It’s too late for him this year, but he should pass Jones as the #1 back next year.  Now, if  Matt Hasselbeck can suck less.

Matt Hasselbeck: Yes, he’s thrown 4 interceptions, but that was against the Packers in the frozen tundra and what not; cut him some slack!  Wait, what’s that? He also threw 4 last week at home? Against the Bucs!? Oh, what’s up with that?

Ryan Grant: I haven’t been a Ryan Grant believer this season, but he went and showed me! His 97 yards and 2 touchdowns could have been much better if Brandon Jackson hadn’t vultured 3 TD’s!  I’m never going to think he is an elite back, but he gets the job done.  I’ll still be wary of him next year, but you can call me an idiot if you want.

Robert Meachem: Another waiver wire success this year.  He got into the end zone once again. He gets a TD every 4.75 catches. How he gets three quarters of a catch is a mystery, but Meachem is a TD magician.

Roddy White: He came on strong for the fantasy championship game with 139 yards and 2 touchdowns.  The Falcons will be back next year and White and Ryan will be had at good value.

Cadillac Williams: He ran for 148 total yards against a pitiful Saints run defense.  He still can play, but there is no clear winner in the Bucs backfield.  Josh Freeman has a chance to be a decent QB and could help Ward or Williams to some decent numbers next year, but both are such injury risks it will be impossible to recommend either.

Thomas Jones: He continues to put up numbers even with Shonn Greene cutting into his carries. The Jets offensive line should get a lot of credit for how well the 31 year old Jones has played this year, but Jones continues to stay healthy.  Greene had a nice game as well and it will be interesting to see how long Jones holds him off.

Quinton Ganther: He’s not very good.  If he even makes a starting roster next year I would be surprised.

Pierre Thomas: It finally looked like he might have a decent game, well, for him, he did, but he was injured and didn’t play in the second half. Sean Payton, Bill Belichick and Gary Kubiak are fantasy RB coolers.