After Week 10, everyone was all “Vincent Rey this” and “Vincent Rey that,” and “Did you hear that Vincent Rey is the new IDP sheriff Cincinnati with Maualuga hurt?” Well Week 11 showed that you can shoot the sheriff, but you cannot kill the deputy. The deputy in this case is Vontaze Burfict, who had an all-world performance against the Browns with 15 tackles and a forced fumble, which he then recovered and took to the house. Burfict’s big Week 11 pushed him above Kiko Alonso to the top spot among all IDPs this season. There was some thought preseason that Burfict’s 2012 was a fluke, and Cincy’s bizarre fascination with Rey Maualuga would prevent Burfict from putting up true LB1 numbers, but those thoughts have been firmly put to rest.

Alas, Burfict is on a bye this week, but out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind. It might be more difficult now, but if Burfict’s owner needs LB stats this week, and your team has already clinched the playoffs, make an offer on the idle LB and see what happens. If you’re in an especially shallow league and Burfict’s owner dropped him due to the bye, make room on your bench for the man who I recently, like 200 words ago, nicknamed “The Deputy.”

Here are some other IDP happenings as we head into Week 12:

Alas, Burfict is on a bye this week, but out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind. It might be more difficult now, but if Burfict’s owner needs LB stats this week, and your team has already clinched the playoffs, make an offer on the idle LB and see what happens. If you’re in an especially shallow league and Burfict’s owner dropped him due to the bye, make room on your bench for the man who I recently, like 200 words ago, nicknamed “The Deputy.”

As we enter the home stretch of the regular season, there are no more surprises. Any sleeper who is going to break out (Robert Quinn, Kiko Alonso, Barry Church), has already made the leap. Any veteran who is going to lose a step (Justin Smith, London Fletcher, Yeremiah Bell), has already disappointed. At this point in the season there are no surprises, and, barring injury, most players are who they are.

Here are some notable performances or possible one-week wonders from Week 10 that are worth looking at for the final three weeks of the regular season:

Before I get started talking IDPs for this week, it’s time to put you all at ease. I’m sure many of you spent your entire week tirelessly coming up with nicknames for Robert Quinn and Chris Long, as I suggested last week. But it turns out that they beat us to the punch. Though no announcers ever mention it, the two dominant pass-rushers in St. Louis have nicknamed themselves Black Thunder and White Lightning, and together they are Thunderstorm. I love this for too many reasons. First, it sounds like an ice cream flavor, and the Rams should immediately capitalize on that in their concession stands. Second, and most importantly, it pays homage to one of my favorite sports movies, Major League 2. Tell me you don’t get chills when you see this scene. Chuck Sheen and Randy Quaid at their best if you ask me.