Fantasy Football Failure: Week 14

[Note: I forgot about the Thursday night game, so this post is going up a bit late.]

Nothing like backing into the playoffs. The week started off great with Chris Johnson putting up 24 fantasy points on Thanksgiving Day, but 0's from Laveranues Coles and Vincent Jackson and a whopping -2 from the Jets D lead me to a 57-78 loss to Smouther's Galveston Storm team (it also didn't help that the rest of my team sucked it up as well). But eventhough I've dropped the last two weeks, I still finished in a 4-way tie for second at 9-4, but I'm seeded 5th in the playoffs thanks to my rather low total points scored number.

Round 1 of the playoffs pits me against Team Rekant (Eh!Steve's team) in a rematch of Week 5 (in which I prevailed 71-54). And I've already got one player locked in (who's playing tonight).

QB: Tyler Thigpen vs. Drew Brees
RB: Chris Johnson vs. Clinton Portis
RB: Kevin Faulk vs. Fred Taylor
RB/WR: Laveranues Coles vs. Kevin Smith
WR: Reggie Wayne vs. Braylon Edwards
WR: Dwayne Bowe vs. Davone Bess
TE: Zach Miller vs. Bo Scaife
D/ST: Jets vs. Packers
K: Jason Elam vs. John Kasay

QB: This is pretty simply- Tyler Thigpen is a servicable (at best) NFL quarterback and Drew Brees is on pace to break Dan Marino's single season passing yards record. Thigpen had been on a roll, with 17+ fantasy points in each of the past 5 weeks, but he dropped an 8 point stinker last week. Interestingly enough, the Chiefs won last week when Thigpen played poorly and they had lost the previous 5 weeks when we played well. So here's hoping the Chiefs lose this week and Thigpen can at least hit double digits, because I'm sure Brees will put up good numbers.

RB: Marion Barber is currently listed as "questionable" which is why he's on the bench right now. He's playing the Steelers, which is a touch matchup to begin with, but the report right now is that he'll be a game time decision. If it looks like he's going to play, there's no way I can keep him on the bench, even against Pittsburgh. I'd probably put him in the flex spot and leave Kevin Faulk in there, simply because the Pats are playing the Seahawks. And Chris Johnson should have another great week playing Cleveland. Portis is a stud back, but he's also listed as "questionable." Hopefully, he can't go. Taylor's been surpassed by MJD, so I'm not real worried about him, and Kevin Smith's problem is that he plays for Detroit. I need points from my RB's.

WR/TE: As I write this, Vincent Jackson already has 18 points, and he's on my bench. Great start. And my TE, Zach Miller, has 2 points right now, and all I can hope for is that he finds the end zone tonight. All my receivers (starting and on the bench) totalled a massive 6 points last week- if that happens again, my season's over. My best hope is that Wayne goes off big against my hometown Bengals this week. I expect nothing out of Braylon Edwards because the Browns are on their 8th or 9th quarterback this week. Davone Bess scares me a bit, and hopefully Coles and Bowe will return to form and score some points (any points).

DEF/K: I have no idea what happened to the Jets last week. They've got San Francisco this week, so maybe they'll remember that they're supposed one of the top teams in the AFC and not suck. They should at least be able to match the Pack this week, who have Houston. Elam's had 3 straight weeks of 9 fantasy points, so I need that to continue (which is sad that I need a kicker to produce).

So I've already got 18 points in the bench, which isn't a good sign for the week. I'm not feeling all that confident about moving on in the playoffs, and if I don't, it'll be the second straight year in which Eh!Steve has ended my season. If my WR's show up even a little, I think I've got a chance to win. If not, season's over.