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Cam Newton named AP Player of the Year

Cam Newton can now add AP Player of the Year to his list of accomplishments in 2010.

From ESPN.com:

The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback led the Tigers into the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game against No. 2 Oregon with a mix of flair and poise and enough highlight-reel plays to widely split the vote among a handful of coaches and teammates asked for their favorite.

Newton received 51 votes from the 60-member AP football poll panel. Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore received three, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck got two, and four ballots went unreturned.

Scandal or no scandal, Cam Newton is one hell of a football player and turned in quite a performance this season. Football is the ultimate team game but if Auburn goes on to win the national championship, it’ll be because of Newton. He’s one of those rare players that can completely take over a game on his own. Watching him battle with Oregon in a couple of weeks will be incredibly fun to watch.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Newton is that he kind of came out of nowhere. Auburn fans knew he was special but he wasn’t really on anyone’s radar in preseason and he certainly wasn’t being considered as a Heisman candidate at the start of the year. Yet he won the prestigious honor running away and then scooped up the AP Player of the Year award in a landslide. Amazing.

Love ‘Em & Leave ‘Em: Week 16

It’s week 16 and if your team is still alive, it’s not time to get cute. I’m a firm believer in starting your studs, so I won’t suggest you bench Aaron Rodgers or Chris Johnson because they have tough matchups – just go ahead and keep them in your lineup. Instead, I’ll focus on the borderline guys – players you’ll only start under the right circumstances.

As usual, I’ll discuss these players within the context of my weekly positional rankings, so remember — everything is relative.

The Seahawks have been brutal against the pass, so I’d expect another good fantasy line from Josh Freeman, who has been very steady this season…Believe it or not, I have Tim Tebow ranked in the top 10 this week. He played pretty well against the Raiders last week and this week he faces a Texans’ pass defense that has given up an average of 275 yards and 2.2 pass TDs per game. I wouldn’t expect that yardage from Tebow, but 200 passing yards plus 2-3 total TDs is well within reach against Houston’s secondary…Need another sleeper? Rex Grossman has a nice matchup with Jacksonville’s 27th-ranked pass defense.

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Ortiz, Nogueira to headline UFC Fight Night 24 in Seattle

Jeremy Botter of HeavyMMA.com writes that a light-heavyweight bout between Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Tito Ortiz will go down at UFC Fight Night 24 now instead of UFC 128 like it was originally scheduled.

The event is expected to take place March 26 in Seattle. The news was first reported on Tuesday by MMA Junkie.

Fight Night 24 will air on Spike TV. It will be the UFC’s first trip to Washington, and will likely take place at the KeyArena.

Ortiz teased the possibility of the fight on Monday night via his official Twitter account. “Big news,” he said. “I’m not fighting in New Jersey. But I am still fighting ‘Lil Nog’ in March.”

Ortiz is winless in his past five fights and has not scored a win in more than four years. Nogueira, meanwhile, is coming off a tough loss to Ryan Bader at UFC 119 in September.

Read more MMA headlines.

Did Coughlin kick Dodge out of locker room following loss to Eagles?

Giants’ punter Matt Dodge had himself a rough day last Sunday. First he had to watch his team blow a 21-point fourth-quarter lead to the Eagles and then he helped them lose the game when he punted the ball right at dangerous returner DeSean Jackson (who returned the gift for a game-winning touchdown).

Following the game, Tom Coughlin saw Dodge crying and told him to get out of the locker room, or so says local Philadelphia sports radio loudmouth Howard Eskin via his Twitter page.

After Eagles game learned that NY coach T. Coughlin saw his punter in tears. Told him get out of locker room. No longer on this team.

If the report is true, hopefully Coughlin kicked his defense out of the locker room, too. After they left, hopefully he proceeded to kick out his punt return team, his offense and all of his assistant coaches as well.

Then when he was the only one left standing in his locker room, here’s hoping Tom Coughlin booted himself out. Because it doesn’t take just one man to blow a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter with only eight minutes remaining in the game. Did Dodge screw up? No doubt. It was a bad mistake and he cost his team dearly. But with the way Coughlin and his coaching staff was handling the game at that point, there’s little doubt that the Eagles would have won in overtime anyway.

Maybe the report isn’t true. After all, it did come from Howard Eskin, who isn’t above Tweeting something like that just to rub the Giants noses in a loss to the Eagles. But again, if it is, Coughlin owes Dodge an apology.

2010 Fantasy Football: Week 16 Rankings

I’m happy to report that I finished #2 in the FantasyPros expert accuracy contest for Week 15, which means I am still #1 on the season (and I expanded my lead over the second-place expert, so that’s good). If you have had success using my advice, please take a moment and give me rating and/or leave feedback at my FantasyPros profile page.

Also, FantasyPros has asked me to participate in their Week 16 FanDuel contest. If you’d like to give it a shot, click here for details. Half the spots are already gone and it’s $5 to play. (There are cash prizes.)

Below you’ll find my first stab at the Week 16 rankings. Be sure to check back as the week goes on because they’ll surely change as the news trickles in.

If you have single-position questions (i.e. you are trying to decide which two RBs to start) please refer to the rankings. You can ask your PPR or flex questions in the comments section below and I’ll do my best to answer them. (It is the holiday season, after all, and I have family in town, so get your questions in early.)

If you’re having trouble seeing the FantasyPros ranking widget, click through at the bottom to a text listing of the rankings. Use common sense when making decisions on Sunday morning because I don’t know if I’ll be able to update these rankings before kickoff.

Off we go…


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