Goodbye To Byes

We finally get back to seeing a full slate of NFL games as the Bye weeks have finally run their course. It is helpful for the fantasy football stretch drive and for providing us with a chance at seeing some good games since there are plenty of stinkers every week; see Jax-Hou, Ravens-Jets, Bears-Rams,…from week 12. Oddly, we were 2 minutes from having a second tie game on Sunday but the Patriots caught a break and finished off a huge comeback against the Broncos. I expected a thrilling game but sure as Hell didn’t expect to see two completely different halves.


As shocking as that game was in the way it unfolded, it paled in comparison to the San Diego-Kansas City game. At home, no way did I expect the Chiefs to give up double their point average and lose a game that they really needed to win. Facing Peyton Manning after his poor performance this past week is not the way to get healthy.


Speaking of reeling teams, the Lions don’t have long to dwell on another poor performance; this one at home against Tampa. Unfortunately for them, the traditional Thanksgiving day game for them has proven to be a bit nauseating. They will miss Aaron Rodgers this week but better figure out a way to get their running game going again to help Matthew Stafford control the game.


Safe travels to all who have to hit the road this week. For those of you still battling for your fantasy playoffs, it never hurts to bolster your bench from the waiver wire to give yourself options in case of inclement weather.

QB: Josh McCown (CHI) - McCown gets another start this week as Jay Cutler will be on the bench until the MNF game against Dallas. He draws a dome and a bad Vikings team. Big points.  


RB: Benny Cunningham (STL) - It is unknown if Zac Stacy will be cleared to play in San Fran this week since he suffered a concussion last Sunday. If you have Stacy, adding Cunningham as a handcuff would be a wise idea.  

WR: Nate Burleson (DET) - As long as Burleson is ordering delivery, I can recommend picking him up since Detroit throws the ball so much and needs to have another option on the field for Stafford besides Megatron. He scored in his first game back last weekend and has a nice home matchup versus Green Bay this week.

WR: Rod Streater (OAK) - Streater is another streaming option as Oakland is in Dallas this week and the Raiders will have a hobbled Denarius Moore on the field, increasing the Looks Streater will receive.

And Then There Were None

Not long after many were projecting this to be the first season for two 16-loss teams, the two winless teams jumped up and bit their opponents. The Tampa win wasn't much of a stretch. They were at home, had lost some close games already this season, were facing a geographic rival and their opponent had being dealing with a 10-day news onslaught that cost them two offensive lineman. Jacksonville was a bit more of a stretch since they had been routinely blown out this season. Hats off to them for getting off the schnide. 

Aside from those two upsets, the majority of the NFL continues to battle for positioning. St Louis showed Indy that it cannot continue to rely on big second half comebacks in their bid for the playoffs. Carolina had a HUGE statement game. The NFC East continues to demonstrate its overall mediocrity. The Saints and Seattle forge ahead on a collision course in the NFC Championship. That New England loss may ultimately cost the Saints a Super Bowl berth. The Bears proved that no matter how long a coach coaches in another league, he is still a rookie when it comes to NFL coaching. 

Trying to avoid the obvious pile-on of Coach Tressman, he really proved me wrong in my projection that "the Bears are not dumb enough to start Cutler" in week 10. Sadly, compounding the mistake by not pulling him at half when he was obviously hobbled was a far worse mistake. Every game is huge in the NFL, but against a co-division leader who has beaten you once is criminal. The team deserved much better than what Tressman delivered on Sunday. 

We have finally reach week 11 and have the Broncos-Chiefs game in Mile High to look forward to Sunday night. The Chiefs run of luck continues as this game is after a Bye and has Peyton a bit hobbled going into the game. There are many other crucial games this weekend, but this game should be better than all of the others. It is fantasy playoff stretch time so pull off those trades before the trade deadline and pick up players and cut your dead weight!


QB: Luke McCown (CHI) - ok, THIS week, the Bears are not dumb enough to start another QB. McCown has proven that he can lead the Bears and put up good fantasy numbers. He is a very nice fill-in this week if you have a QB injured or on Bye.

RB: Bobby Rainey (TB) - poor Mike James. He toughed out the toughest part of the remaining schedule after taking over for Doug Martin and was looking good, only to get hurt and lose the rest of his season. Brian Leonard looked sluggish when he initially took over, but Rainey looked much better when given the chance. He is the RB to own out of the two if you are desperate for RB help.

WR: Rishard Matthews (MIA) - it appears Miami management and Ryan Tannehill have all realized that Mike Wallace has checked out for the remainder of the season and decided to try Matthews out. It was a wise decision as Tannehill-to-Matthews clicked nicely on Monday. Miami is still a mess overall, but Matthews could easily be here to stay for the remainder of the season.

TE: John Carlson (TE) - It took about half the season of Minnesota to find the plays missing from the playbook that include tight ends and then they lost Kyle Rudolph for the rest of the season. Fortunately, Carlson is equally as talented. Since the Vikings have absolutely no wide receivers, expect them to continue to feed the tight end.

Bully For You

Week 9 was an odd one, to say the least. If you survived it unscathed and with a victory, well done (a more convention use of the title phrase). There were some monster performances, some crucial victories and loads of injuries to players, coaches and egos. Speaking of the latter, no sense in addressing the situation in Miami as it has been discussed ad nauseam this week. However, the best quote from the situation came from Da Coach; “When this would happen in my time, you take the bully and you kick his butt. I mean you go to ‘fist city’ with this guy.” That is a travel destination that I would have avoided back in The Day.

Where to start with Week 9….well, I have waaaaay too many fantasy football teams. On quite a few of those teams, I needed a QB last week. Fortunately, the waiver wire provided a decent supply of options. I usually start putting in waiver claims early in the week since the week tends to get away from me and I knew it was a week that others would be in the same position as me. So, I did find Nick Foles in a few leagues and was able to grab him. Unfortunately, he was still flagged as Out and there was talk of the doctors not having cleared him to play. So, I stashed him on my IR and never came back to him. 40+ points languishing away in no man’s land. I did opt for Case Keenum, Josh McCown and Terrelle Pryor in those leagues, who all performed admirably. I decided that Alex Smith wasn’t for me, fortunately. I now need to repeat that process this week in the leagues that I own Aaron Rodgers in. The picking ground does not look so fertile.

Other items from Week 9:

• I am wise enough to know that my Bears’ defense is not “back”. Eddie Lacy dominated them and they picked on Seneca Wallace. The Jags’ D could have harassed Wallace into approximately the same output. They need to realize this since the Lions are coming to town off a Bye week. T’is time to truly Bear Down.
• Speaking of defense, I think Andy Reid has changed his second half play-calling to get the offense off the field so the Chiefs can win the game. That D is resembling the great Bears and Ravens units. The O…Tampa is looking comparable right now. This definitely won’t work in Denver.
• How good would Alfred Morris’ numbers be if he got more Red Zone chances? Skins’ fullback, Darrel Young, took over for 3 TDs this past week, which came 2 weeks after Roy Helu Jr scored 3 times for Washington. Mike Shanahan, fantasy killer.
• Chris Johnson just started his annual 2-4 game stretch of big numbers to help his year-end numbers look respectable. He is tough to own outside of a Total Points league.
• As much as I love Adrian Peterson’s game, some people go way overboard with praise. Sunday’s run versus Dallas never would have happened if TE Chase Ford didn’t catch him in mid-air as he was being tackled and get him back on his feet and then provide some assistance into the end zone. Why does the penalty for pushing into the end zone never get called? It has been a rule that has been ignored for years, yet, pushing into the line of scrimmage on a field goal is called?
• The Jets continue to defy reality. Expect them to lay another egg against their next subpar opponent. How do the Saints not know that Rex Ryan would be feeding Chris Ivory the ball constantly in this game? Kudos to those fantasy owners who were smart enough to play Ivory and double kudos if you were in a Rollover league and opted to roll his points into this week as well.
• Darren McFadden. Ugh. Just when he looks like he will deliver a nice run for you, he leaves the game early with another hammy issue. Arian Foster left his game early too with a different injury than what he came in with, but it is your fault if you started him. There had to be a better option available than risking a Sunday night start on a game-time decision.

With the injuries already mentioned as well as injuries to Darren Sproles, Robert Woods, Jeremy Kerley, Kyle Rudolph and others, the waiver wire is an active place again this week.

QB: Josh McCown (CHI) - while there has been talk of Jay Cutler returning, the Bears are not dumb enough to throw him to Suh and re-injure his groin. McCown starts in a very nice high-scoring matchup. Nick Foles would be nice to have, but there are not many leagues where he is available. I love Case Keenum, but not his matchup this week.

QB: Matt Flynn (FA) - pure speculative play. If the Packers are concerned about Rodgers coming back soon, they may pluck Flynn off the scrap heap as Wallace is strictly a practice-time QB.

RB: Rashad Jennings (OAK) - see Darren McFadden’s injury. Jennings put up big garbage-time numbers this past week after DMac hit DBench. I like a repeat against the G-Men in Jersey this Sunday.

RB: Mike James (TB) – he was a must-add after Doug Martin went down, but somehow found his way onto many waiver wires. He had a breakout game in Seattle last week and has a nice matchup at home versus a scrambled Dolphins team.

RB: James Starks (GB) – the Pack has been rotating in Starks recently to spell Eddie Lacy and I expect more of that with Seneca Wallace at the helm. Lacy is a beast, but Green Bay does not want him running the ball 30-40 times every game.

WR: Riley Cooper (PHIL) – Cooper is back in the good graces of the Philly Faithful after a tumultuous pre-season. Vick may not have liked his long locks, but Foles sure does. He is a definite starter with Foles’ QBing…no one but McCoy is worth starting with Matt Barkley QBing.

WR: Doug Baldwin (SEA) – Baldwin is Seattle’s number 2 receiver until Percy gets back onto the field full-time, which is apparently not too soon. He is not flashy, but low double-digit points is not a bad reward for trusting him.

WR: Lance Moore (NO) - ranked high at the beginning of the season and then disposed of after his thumb injury kept him on the bench, now Moore is back. With injuries to Colston and Sproles, look to Moore…Brees often does at home…to help your team out. This week’s game is the perfect time to lace up Lance as Brees should pick apart a bad Cowboys’ secondary.

WR: Mike Brown (JAX) – similar to Doug Baldwin, Brown won’t win you any games on his own, but, if you need WR help, the Jags just lost James Blackmon and you know that they will throw a lot every game.

TE: Tim Wright (TB) – unless Coby Fleener is available in your league, Wright is about the only waiver wire option out there that makes sense. With Vincent Jackson getting double/triple teamed and Mike Williams hurt, Wright does gather his share of Looks.