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Basketball AP Top 25 – Week 14

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New England Patriots Report Card: Super Bowl XLVI

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Fantasy Football Report: Week 16

One more week to go. In reality, most of the NFL’s playoff spots have been determined and now those teams will be resting players. It is important not to get screwed over by coaches *cough, Andy Reid, cough* who choose to sit their star players. On the opposite side of the spectrum we also have teams who are clinging to their last hopes of making the postseason and will be going 100% balls to the wall in Week 17. Those are the teams you should be scouting and seeing which minor players could have a major impact.

Jeremy Shockey Injured Once Again

What a surprise. Saints TE Jeremy Shockey left Sunday’s game against Detroit after spraining his ankle making a catch. Coach Sean Payton hopes Shockey can play in the season finale.

Kurt Warner Out, Matt Leinart In

After being annihilated in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Patriots, the Cardinals benched QB Kurt Warner and sent in former first round pick Matt Leinart for the 2nd half. Odds are this will happen again this Sunday since the Cardinals have already clinched their division so, add Leinart if you are a Warner owner.

Marvin Harrison Out For Week 17

Colts WR Marvin Harrison, who missed last Thursday’s game against Jacksonville, will now also miss the season finale against Tennessee. This is a good move by Tony Dungy because the Colts don’t need to risk injuring him further before the playoffs.

Week 16 Top Performers

DeAngelo Williams (RB), Carolina Panthers: Williams continued his dominating rush attack with 108 yds and 4 TD. He has scored 11 rushing TD in the last 4 weeks.

• Week 17 Outlook: With Carolina playing for a #2 seed and a division title, they will be going full throttle against a New Orleans defense that allows over 110 rush yds per game.

Visanthe Shiancoe (TE), Minnesota Vikings: Shiancoe is the benefactor of QB Tavaris Jackson’s hot streak and he had 136 yds and 2 TD.

• Week 17 Outlook: Even though the Vikings face a good Giants defense (less than 290 total yds allowed per game), I don’t think the Giants will be putting their best squad out there since they have clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Jay Cutler (QB), Denver Broncos: Cutler’s 359 pass yds were great. His 0 TD and one INT were bad. However, he made up for it by rushing for 30 yds and 2 TD.

• Week 17 Outlook: In what will be the game of the week, the Broncos and Chargers square off with the winner claiming the AFC West Division Title. Both sides have mediocre defenses and explosive offenses. Expect a shootout.

Week 16 Duds

Brett Favre (QB), New York Jets: Even against Seattle, Favre couldn’t have a good game. He threw for 187 yds and 2 INT.

• Week 17 Outlook: The Jets are playing an absolute must win game against the Dolphins. Miami’s pass defense is decent (226 pass yds per game) but, they did allow Kansas City to score 31 points last Sunday.

Roddy White (WR), Atlanta Falcons: One of the NFC’s best WR sure didn’t look good with just 24 yds receiving.

• Week 17 Outlook: Oh boy, a big game is in store for Atlanta. The Falcons face one of the worst defenses in the form of the Rams. St. Louis gives up over 360 total yds per game. Atlanta can get the #2 seed in the NFC with a win and a Carolina loss so, they will be playing hard.

Andre Johnson (WR), Houston Texans: After over 200 yds last week, Johnson could only muster 19 yds on Sunday.

• Week 17 Outlook: The Texans host the Bears this Sunday and Chicago is vulnerable to the pass with over 230 pass yds allowed per game. Plus, with the Bears allowing less than 100 rush yds per game this season, don’t expect Houston to be anxious to run the ball.

Unexpected Stars

Owen Daniels (TE), Houston Texans: Daniels had a great game receiving with 7 catches for 111 yds.

• Week 17 Outlook: As I said before, the Texans will look to attack Chicago’s pass defense but, Daniels only has 2 TD on the season so, the red zone looks may not be there.

Cedric Benson (RB), Cincinnati Bengals: Out of the blue, Benson had the best game of his NFL career with 171 rush yds.

• Week 17 Outlook: Benson could be another sleeper pick in Week 17 when he faces a horrendous Kansas City rush defense responsible for allowing over 155 rush yds per game.

Derrick Ward (RB), New York Giants: Ward also had the best game of his career on Sunday when he plowed through Carolina’s defense for 215 rush yds.

• Week 17 Outlook: Ward could see more carries if the Giants choose to rest Jacobs for the playoffs. Plus, Ward has the incentive to play for personal reasons since he only needs 52 rush yds to reach 1,000 rush yds for the season. This would make him and Jacobs the 5th pair of teammates to accomplish the feat. They would join Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris of the 1972 Dolphins, Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier of the 1976 Steelers, Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack of the 1985 Browns and last but not least, Warrick Dunn and Michael Vick of the 2006 Atlanta Falcons.

Sports of Boston Friends and Family League

• My season has tragically come to an end with a loss to SoB’s KC. I got obliterated 148.90-75.48. I could blame players but, I’ll just say I was outplayed.
• Our friend Dev beat SoB’s Dan by a score of 151.42-128.26. KC and Dev meet in the Championship. May the best man win.
• OK, I will blame Kurt Warner for not trying, T.J. Houshmandzadeh for not catching one pass, Joseph Addai for not playing when he said he was going to, and finally I blame Jeremy Shockey for spraining his ankle on a 4-yd catch.
• Recent pickups include: Cedric Benson, Jim Sorgi, Anthony Fasano, Dennis Northcutt, Seneca Wallace, and San Diego (DEF).

Here’s a glance at the match-up in the Finals of the SoB Friends and Family League:

SoB – KC vs. Shrink Dev Off

Tags: Andre Johnson, Brett Favre, DeAngelo Williams, Fantasy, Fantasy Football Report, Jay Cutler, Roddy White, Visanthe Shiancoe

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