Today is the end of the regular season. I am not a happy camper. Like all good things, the season went by way too fast, but also like all good things, I will stretch it out and pound it into ground. Join me won’t you!?
For the playoffs there are a lot of fantasy football choices out there, but I’m limiting myself to three this year. The first is over at Sporting News where you can join our playoff league, password Schmohawk; the second is the playoff challenge at NFL.com where you can also join us; lastly you can find me making a bunch of teams over at Snapdraft which seems to have about 20 sites that host it, but whatever.
You’ll have to rip fantasy football from my cold, dead hands!!!
Here are a few thoughts before the games today. Good luck!
Brandon Marshall: Josh McDaniels called his star receiver out for not playing with a hamstring strain. And then to add insult to injury he benched him. This has a load of interesting consequences that don’t really matter for week 17 so we won’t get into them now, but a top 5 start for this week is now on the bench. This hurts Kyle Orton. Knowshon Moreno and Correll Buckhalter will get a lot of work.
Drew Brees: He’s going all out for the completion percentage record by sitting on the bench and texting Harry Conick Jr. Sean Payton said earlier in the week that they would go “all out,” but I guess he meant they would go all out in their benching of starters. This seems to be the final word on the subject so bench your Saints because their scrubs will be playing the Panthers starters.
Ahmad Bradshaw: It’s looking like two broken feet might keep him out the Minnesota game. What a wuss! If I had two broken feet I would easily be able to play running back in a NFL game! Well, if he ends up not playing I don’t see Danny Ware or Gatrell Johnson doing much against a good rush defense.
Donald Brown: Chad Simpson won’t play and Joseph Addai will only play a series or two so it looks like Donald Brown will get the majority of work and the majority of the work against the Bisons means he could rack up some real yardage.
Billy Volek: The Native Americans have much of their defensive backfield in the infirmary and Volek will get a lot of playing time. I may be trying to live in the past with Volek, but I could see him having a good game.
Chris Johnson: Seattle just gave up 6 touchdowns to the Packers and one of those was to the ghost of Ahman Green. The Titans have absolutely nothing to play for except to make Chris Johnson the 6th player ever to accumulate 2,000 yards rushing. He needs 128 to reach 2k and 234 to break Eric Dickerson’s record. He also has 2355 yards from scrimmage and only needs 75 yards to break Marshall Faulk’s record. The no-doubt #1 pick next season should finish the season strong. I’m glad I have NFL Red Zone so I can see some of it!
Jabar Gaffney: He becomes the de facto number one with Eddie Royal and Brandon Marshall out. They will run and then get tackled and then run some more, but Gaffney will see an uptick in targets for sure.
Buffalo Bills: Donald Brown could rack up yardage, but Curtis Painter looks like he just got pulled from the stands. If you are hurting for a defense today you could throw them out there like they threw Painter out there.
Vernon Davis: He currently has 12 receiving touchdowns which is one behind Randy Moss. If he ends up tied or in the lead, he would become the first tight end ever to lead the league in TD receptions. He’s come a long way from being mooned on the sideline by Mike Singletary (I may have got my facts a little mixed up there).
Tony Sheffler: McDaniels also benched Sheffler, but he gets the bottom of the list since he doesn’t do much. If you are hurting for a tight end, or if your tight end is hurting, you could play Daniel Graham. With Marshall and Sheffler out he should get more targets. Sheffler is actually pretty good and McDaniels looks like he’s cleaning house (which you would think would come after they are eliminated from making the playoffs, not before). If Sheffler can land in a better situation next year, he has a shot at being productive.
One last look at who might rest their players today:
Teams almost certain to wave the white flag Caldwell style: Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints.
Teams whose starters will probably be playing craps on the sidelines at some point: Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers.
Team who has multiple personality disorder: Arizona Cardinals; if the Giants win the early game they play all out, if they lose, Warner motors his power chair to the bench.
Team that doesn’t need to win, but has the greatest chance to play their starters the longest: New England Patriots.
