Fantasy Football Report: Week 17

By Pete Rampino in Fantasy, Featured ⋅ December 31, 2008 at 6:12am ⋅ Post a comment

The season has come to an end. Was it as good for you as it was for me? Hopefully a lot of you are celebrating fantasy championships and are currently rubbing it in the faces of co-workers and/or schoolmates. If you were lucky enough to nab DeAngelo Williams off of waivers then good for you. If you drafted Joseph Addai, then I feel your pain. Those who took a chance on Michael Turner were rewarded. Those who drafted Matt Leinart instead of Kurt Warner missed another amazing season. The best part about any regrettable choice is that we can all take comfort in an old saying: there is always next year.

Ben Roethlisberger Injured

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger lay motionless on the field on Sunday against Cleveland after taking a vicious hit. Reports said he felt numbness in his hands but he gave the crowd a thumbs up on his way off the field.

Brees Misses Passing Record

Saints QB Drew Brees fell 16 yards short of breaking Dan Marino’s single season passing record of 5,084 yards. With only one second left in the game against Carolina and one play left to break the record, Brees threw an incomplete pass down the middle and ended the season with 5,069 yards and the honor of being only the 2nd QB in NFL history to pass for at least 5,000 yards in a season.

Pennington Gets His Revenge

After being booed out of New York and replaced with an aging Brett Favre, the Dolphins QB marched back into the Meadowlands and got his revenge when he defeated the Jets and won the AFC for Miami. After being shunned by Jets fans for being a “terrible” QB, all Pennington did was set a career high for passing yds (3,653 yards) and help complete the best turnaround in the NFL by leading Miami to a 11-5 season just one year after they finished 1-15.

Week 17 Top Performers

Steven Jackson (RB), St. Louis Rams: With the Rams’ season already lost, Jackson played for pride and gained 215 total yds and scored 2 TD.

2009 Outlook: I am still not sold on Jackson. His O-Line is atrocious and he has failed to live up to his incredible 2006 which was the only time he rushed for more than 1,046 yds. Pass on him until St. Louis gets their offense straightened out.

Andre Johnson (WR), Houston Texans: Johnson had 10 catches for 148 yds and 2 TD. Johnson scored 4 TD in the final 4 weeks of the season.

2009 Outlook: Johnson set a career highs with 115 catches and 1,575 yds, both of which led the NFL this season. He is one of the best WR out there and with a healthy Matt Schaub at QB, will be dominant again next season.

Drew Brees (QB), New Orleans Saints: Here is some more love for Brees. Against Carolina, he threw for 386 yds and 4 TD.

2009 Outlook: Brees might just be the best QB in fantasy football. He has thrown for at least 4,400 yds and 26 TD in each of his last three seasons in New Orleans and as long as Sean Payton makes the calls, expect New Orleans to just keep throwing it.

Week 17 Duds

Thomas Jones (RB), New York Jets: Jones was stopped all day by Miami and ran for only 23 yds. With Brett Favre playing horrible down the stretch, Jones had no passing game to set up his rushing and failed to reach 100 yds in each of the last four games.

2009 Outlook: When Favre was good, Jones was good. So, it seems like Jones needs a solid pass game to take the heat off of him. With Brett Favre questionable to return next season, it appears as if Jones will not have a decent passing offense to support him in the near future.

Tony Romo (QB), Dallas Cowboys: Romo and the Cowboys were embarrassed in their blowout loss to the Eagles and Romo didn’t help with 183 pass yds, 1 INT, and 2 lost fumbles.

2009 Outlook: Despite the collapse, battling injuries, and missing games, Romo still put together a good season with 3,448 yds and 26 TD. Romo still plays well even when the rest of the team doesn’t so, draft with confidence next year.

Randy Moss (WR), New England Patriots: With the winds hitting up to 70 mph in Buffalo, hardly anybody threw the ball and Moss only accumulated 13 yds.

2009 Outlook: Moss didn’t catch 23 TD passes again this season but, he did have 11 TD and another 1,000 yd season (1,008). You could blame it on the chemistry with Matt Cassel. IF Brady returns next season, then that problem is solved. If Cassel is back then it will be fine because now Moss and Cassel have one year of getting to know each other under their belts.

Unexpected Stars

Michael Bush (RB), Oakland Raiders: With injuries to both Darren McFadden and Justin Fargas, Bush stepped in and ran for 177 yds and 2 TD.

2009 Outook: Bush is a backup RB and nothing more. With the Raiders wanting to build the future around McFadden, don’t expect another game like this from Bush.

Darren Sproles (RB), San Diego Chargers: Sproles and everybody on the ground against the Broncos came up big with Sproles rushing for 115 yds and a TD with a receiving TD for good measure.

2009 Outlook: LaDainian Tomlinson is finally showing sings of wear and tear. LT missed time this season with injuries and Sproles proved he could carry the load every time he was called upon. Sproles is primarily a backup and a kick returner. However, if LT goes down again and for an extended period of time, Sproles is good to go.

Tatum Bell (RB), Denver Broncos: In the merry-go-round that is the Denver backfield, Bell got the call this week. He responded with 86 rush yds and 2 TD.

2009 Outlook: Never trust the Denver running game. At several points this season, the Broncos featured Tatum Bell, Michael Pittman, Selvin Young, and most successfully Peyton Hillis. Don’t ask me who to draft next season because frankly, nobody knows.

Sports of Boston Friends and Family League

In a nail biter, our friend Dev won the SoB championship over SoB’s KC by a score of 142.74-138.30.
Not that it matters but, I finished 4th overall. Yay me.
The SoB Crew: KC (2nd), Dan (3rd), Myself (4th), Chris (6th), Mike (9th), Geoff (10th), Jeff (12th).
As you may notice, our Patriots writer and football expert Jeff finished dead last. I guess real life knowledge doesn’t project to fantasy knowledge. Hey, that’s why Dev won.
After much deliberation, the SoB league will stay head-to-head next season. However, I have some minor changes in mind.
See you next season. Don’t draft LT!

Tags: Andre Johnson, Ben Roethlisberger, Chad Pennington, Drew Brees, Fantasy, Fantasy Football Report, Randy Moss, Steven Jackson, Thomas Jones, Tony Romo