QUARTERBACKS
Matt Ryan (206 yards, 2 INT) struggled some against a good Bucs pass defense, but he had a TD pass taken away when Jason Rader fumbled the ball at the goal line…Shaun Hill (233 pass yards) threw the ball 46 times, but failed to throw a TD for the first time since he took over the job midseason…It looked like Phillip Rivers (346 yards, 2 TD, INT) was going to have a bad day, but he bounced back with two late TDs to get the win and finish with a great stat line…Considering the opponent, Ben Roethlisberger (246 yards, TD) posted great stats. It’s not often that a QB moves the ball this well on the Ravens…Matt Cassel (218 yards, 4 TD, INT) has been excellent for much of the year and he took advantage of a Radiers secondary still reeling from last week’s blowout at the hands of the Chargers.
RUNNING BACKS
Warrick Dunn (19 touches, 90 yards) is splitting carries with Cadillac Williams (15 touches, 59 yards), but Dunn caught seven passes so he’s still starter worthy in PPR leagues…Cedric Benson (24 touches, 161 yards) was surprisingly productive against a pretty good Redskins rush defense. I wouldn’t be shocked if Benson is the starting RB for Cincy heading into the 2009-10 season…Clinton Portis (26 touches, 83 yards) go a lot of work but wasn’t all that productive. The Redskins elected to give the ball to Mike Sellers at the goal line instead of giving the ball to Portis…Surprisingly, the Texans contained Chris Johnson (15 touches, 67 yards) while also limiting the Titans pass offense…Ryan Grant (24 touches, 88 yards) didn’t have as good of a game as I expected, but it was nice to see him involved in the passing game (3-32)…Maurice Jones-Drew (16 touches, 70 yards, 2 TD) scored twice, but he was somewhat limited yardage-wise against a sketchy Packer rush defense…Steven Jackson (28 touches, 127 yards, TD) looks like he’s back to his old self…The Bills continue to use Fred Jackson (7-31-1) in the redzone and it cost Marshawn Lynch (24 touches, 140 yards) an even bigger stat line…If you’ve been watching our fantasy Q&A thread, you’d know that I was a big fan of Dominic Rhodes (24 touches, 116 yards, 2 TD) this week and he didn’t make a liar out of me…The worry with Kevin Smith (26 touches, 119 yards, TD) was that the Lions would fall behind and abandon the run, but Detroit stayed close and Smith had a big day…LeRon McClain (23 carries, 87 yards) once again carried the load, but Willis McGahee (8 touches, 33 yards) did play. Since the Ravens face Dallas next week, McClain wouldn’t be a terrible start…Willie Parker got twice as many touches as Mewelde Moore, but he’s still just a so-so start in Week 16 against a pretty solid Titans defense…DeAngelo Williams (12 carries, 88 yards, TD) continued his torrid run, but Jonathan Stewart (16 carries, 52 yards, TD) got most of the work when the Panthers built the lead…Marion Barber (10 touches, 26 yards) was active, but Tashard Choice (13 touches, 143 yards, TD) was the much better play. Keep an eye on this situation this week. The Cowboys might be wise to let Barber heal up for the playoffs, assuming they can gain a berth. Choice has proven that he can carry the load.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Antonio Bryant (8-108-1) owners probably don’t need to worry about Brian Griese filling in for Jeff Garcia. Bryant was every bit the playmaker this week…Chris Henry (4-54-1) is starting to eat into the targets for Chad Johnson (3-33) and T.J. Houshmandzadeh (3-19)…Andre Johnson (11-207-1) picked a great time to have an apeshit game…Isaac Bruce (7-71) continues to defy the space/time continuum…Deion Branch (5-76) caught a long pass late in the game and has now put together three pretty good games in PPR leagues…Jerricho Cotchery (4-34-1) and Laveranues Coles (5-82) bounced back with nice games after playing horribly last week against the 49ers…Marvin Harrison (2-22) has been very good all year at home, but he picked a bad week to disappear…Hines Ward (8-107) bounced back from a horrible Week 14 performance to post big numbers against a great defense…
TIGHT ENDS
It looked early on like Jason Witten was going to be the top tight end this season, but he got injured and Tony Gonzalez (6-62-1) just kept trucking along…Antonio Gates (7-78) busted out of a bad run with a solid game, but he did most of his damage when the Chargers fell behind…Dallas Clark (12-142-1) came up HUGE when fantasy owners needed him most. He singlehandedly knocked a couple of my teams out of the playoffs. (Bastard.)
FREE AGENTS
Brian Griese (269 yards, TD, INT) stepped in for Jeff Garcia and played pretty well…With Matt Jones gone for the rest of the season, David Garrard turned to Dennis Northcutt (5-127-1) who responded with a great game…DeShaun Foster (23 touches, 101 yards) filled in nicely for Frank Gore, even though he failed to score…Dan Orlovsky (233 yards, TD) looked pretty good and was quite productive against a good Colts pass defense…Tarvaris Jackson (163 yards, 4 TD) was tremendous, but before you run out and snag him off the waiver wire, he posted these numbers against the Cardinals’ poor pass defense. He has the Falcons next week and its doubtful that the receivers will be quite as open as they were on Sunday…Who knows what’s going on in Denver. P.J. Pope (10 touches, 75 yards, TD) was the most productive, but Tatum Bell (9 touches, 50 yards) started and Selvin Young (6 carries, 19 yards) also saw some work. Stay away from this next week.
Theus is the sixth NBA coach to be fired before Christmas this season, joining Philadelphia’s Maurice Cheeks, Minnesota’s Randy Wittman, Toronto’s Sam Mitchell, Washington’s Eddie Jordan and Oklahoma City’s P.J. Carlesimo.
