We're Talkin' Bout Playoffs

There were some monster performances this past weekend who helped those needing a win to make the playoffs get in. Of course, for those facing those players, y’all may have suffered your worst defeat of the season, especially if you were counting on a normal outing from Drew Brees. Running backs delivered on Thanksgiving as Reggie Bush and Joique Bell, DeMarco Murray, and Le’Veon Bell all put up big numbers. Those were then dwarfed by a trio of wide receivers on Sunday with Alshon Jeffrey, Josh Gordon and Eric Decker all going off for big 36+ point totals. Of course, kudos to anyone who started Ben Tate on Sunday. Knowshon Moreno showed that you could easily run on the Pats, but no way did the writing on the wall spell out that a banged up Tate would come close to what he did.

I am not sure if Marc Tressman decided to kick the FG since he cannot disguise a running play in an obvious running situation…or has a play-action pass to a TE in his playbook…but a 47-yard field goal on second down was foolhardy. His week 10 reluctance to pull Jay Cutler out when he was in more pain than Vernon Davis on this play played a much bigger role in the loss to Detroit than his gamble on Gould did on Sunday, but he has to shoulder much more of the blame for them falling out of playoff contention than he has been willing to do thus far.

So much for the nostalgic feeling in Green Bay from Matt Flynn’s initial turn at the helm. He was brutal on Thursday and showed why he didn’t catch on anywhere. If Aaron Rodgers isn’t cleared for Sunday, Green Bay may just shut him down for the rest of the year. Not a good end to the year if you are a Packers fan or Rodgers owner. While the Packers and Bears are slowly drifting off the next season, the Jets have definitely crashed and burned. After heading into their Bye with wins over the Patriots and Saints (sandwiched around a azz-whupping at the hands of the Bengals), the vibe was definitely positive. That is long gone after getting destroyed in the three games since coming back…and looking much worse as each game has passed. The Jets had 38 yards of offense in the first half against Miami and didn’t sniff two hundo for the game. I am not sure how they can do much worse, but it actually does seem possible.

For those still looking for replacements for this week, and possibly beyond, there are a few new players on the waiver wire to consider.

QB: Ryan Fitzpatrick (TENN) – thanks to 11 points on the ground, Fitzpatrick had a serviceable day last Sunday. Since they will be undoubtedly trailing in Denver this weekend, Fitzpatrick could put up similar numbers to Alex Smith last weekend (22) and help you out immensely if you are in dire straits.

RB: Willis McGahee (CLE) – desperation, thy name is McGahee. After failing to do much of anything all season, he surprised with 13 points out of nowhere last weekend. Normally, this would be written off as an anomaly, but McGahee faces the Patriots, fresh off of getting run over for big points by the aforementioned Moreno and Tate.
WR: Andre Holmes (OAK) – loads of people were Googling Holmes during the Dallas game as he lit them up for 7 catches for 136 yards. Since the Raiders have seemed to have found their next starting QB, maybe Holmes will be more than a one-week wonder with Denarius Moore out.

TE: Ladarius Green (SD) – it is time to move past Antonio Gates on the Chargers. San Diego loves to throw the ball and have been banged up at WR and Gates so they have worked Green into the gameplan a bit more as the season has gone on and is now a primary weapon. He has totaled 9/206/2 over the past 3 games and has good matchups during your playoff run.