Fantasy Football Failure: Week 13

Stupid Randy Moss.

Randy Moss is an elite receiver, everyone knows this. I don't care who's throwing to him (unless its an Oakland QB), if he's a part of the offense, there's always a chance for him to have a big day. But 125 yards and 3 touchdowns? You never expect a day THAT big. You never expect it and you can't count on it, you just have to accept it and move on.

Moss's stupid 30 fantasy point week helped Belgiumland Waffles pull the upset and end my winning streak at 7. So I go from sole possession of 1st place to a 3-way tie for 1st at 9-3 (with me in 3rd based on points scored). And it doesn't get any easier this week going up against Smouther's Galveston Storm team, who's 8-4and second in the league in points scored.

QB: Tyler Thigpen vs. Jay Cutler
RB: Marion Barber vs. Joseph Addai
RB: Chris Johnson vs. Michael Turner
RB/WR: Laveraneus Coles vs. Andre Johnson
WR: Reggie Wayne vs. Lee Evans
WR: Dwayne Bowe vs. Kevin Walter
TE: Kevin Boss vs. Dustin Keller
D/ST: Jets vs. Raiders
K: Jason Elam vs. Matt Bryant

QB: Despite the Chiefs not getting any wins when he starts, Tyler Thigpen continues to put up good fantasy numbers. And if he'd stop throwing the late game interception (after the game's outcome has been decided), he'd have even better numbers. He's playing Oakland which should hopefully boost his numbers this week. Although, Oakland just shut down Devner and gave Jay Cutler his lowest point total of the year. Devner's offense is completely 1-dimensional, so while that means defenses can just pin their ears back and play the pass, it also means that Cutler's throwing the ball 40+ times a game and has lots of chances to score points.

RB: Chris Johnson's been terrible lately, but both him and Marion Barber have favorable matchups this week (Johnson vs. Detroit and Barber vs. Seattle). If you can't get healthy against the winless Lions on Thanksgiving day, coming off your first lose of the year, you've got issues. Barber's also going on Thanksgiving, so I'm expecting big games from these guys to set the tone for the rest of the weekend. Both Addai and Turner are more than solid backs, with Turner coming off a 4 touchdown game (take that, Randy Moss!). That's not happening again this week, though he and Addai will surely both find the endzone. I'm hoping the more favorable matchups will give my guys the edge here.

WR/TE: I just need Brett Favre to find Laveraneous Coles in the red zone, that's it. Its clear that he's not getting as many of balls his way as the Jets move down the field; those yards are going to Cotchery and Keller (more on him later) and Thomas Jones on the ground. And that's fine, as long as he gets the TD at the end. The Browns are terrible, so I expect Peyton Manning will have a big day, which usually means that Reggie Wayne will also have a big day. And as for Dwayne Bowe, I'm a little worried about him. While Oakland sucks, they've got this cat in their secondary, Nnamdi Asomugha, that's the very definition of "shut down corner." Teams don't even throw to his side of the field, and there's no doubt that he'll be on Bowe all game. This doesn't bode well for me, but I can't bench Bowe; he's too good of a player, and there's still a chance he gets an opening in the red zone and vultures a TD. Smother's relying on the Texans combo of Johnson and Walter, which isn't that bad of a play. Their problem is that they've got Sage Rosenfels throwing them the ball, which isn't doing them any favors. Same goes for Lee Evans; he's only doing as well as Trent Edwards is doing, which usually isn't very good. But Dustin Keller scares me a bit. I've gone back to Kevin Boss in the hopes of vulturing some TD's, but Favre is looking for Keller every time he drops back. While he hasn't been getting the TD's, he is getting the yards, which, for at TE in fantasy, can sometimes be just as good.

DEF/K: Not much to say here other than my D is playing his QB, and his D is playing my QB. Funny how that works out. And Elam should get more chances to score than Bryant this week. And if not, they're still just kickers.

So, this could be another loss. I've got the edge at RB, but he's got me at QB, WR (only slightly), and TE. This is the final week of the regular season and I'm going to make the playoffs (top 6 advance), but I don't want to limp into the post season. Going from 1st to 6th in two weeks wouldn't be good. But Smouther's got a strong team and getting a win will be tough. I think I take the close loss and drop and finish the regular season 9-4. Sucks, but as the Patsys (and my own fantasy team) taught us last year, the regular season means nothing. Its all the post season. Bring it on.