The Fantasy Football Fanatic: What to Consider in Week 16

By Dan “Snake” Watson

Hello again fellow Fantasy Football Friends and welcome to Week 16 in the NFL. For those of you who have made it this far into the playoffs, I congratulate you. Wish I could be there with you but I got bounced this past weekend. Hey! I’ve never claimed to be the Fantasy Guru. I have been known to play the wrong person at the wrong time. I benched the NY Giants this week in favor of Green Bay (gave up 503 yards to Pittsburgh). Who knew?

Anyway, for all of you owners that are still in it and may be looking for a little help, here’s what my crack research team (me) has come up with that should be considered..

First of all, let me mention here that there is an early game on Christmas evening when San Diego is visiting Tennessee. Make sure if you have Rivers, Gates, Chris Johnson, Bironas, that you have these folks in your lineup. Christmas is always hectic. Try to get this done the day before Christmas so you don’t think about it when you’re on the road to Aunt Martha’s for Christmas dinner.

The other thing to consider is who needs what in the way of making the playoffs. Naturally every team wants to win but this is a strange week where you could see some players being rested especially in Indianapolis and New Orleans.

QUARTERBACK

Eli Manning needs a win at home v Carolina if his Giants are going to make

the playoffs, they’re right on the heels of Dallas and Philadelphia and both of these teams are playing later that the Giants. Eagles are hosting Broncos at 4:15pm and Dallas visits Washington at 8:20pm. Without knowing what happens in either game, the Giants will be fighting for their playoff lives.

Ordinarily I would not rely on brother Payton this week. There’s nothing more that Indy can gain by a win here so I’d predict that the starters (Manning, Addai, Wayne, Clark) would go maybe a half and have a seat. With that said, this game is against the NY Jets. Unless there is a huge deficit at the half, the starters could play later that the half.

Phillip Rivers and San Diego have gone as far as they can go in gaining any advantage. They cannot catch Indianapolis. However, no other team in the AFC can catch them. I’m only looking at Rivers for the first half. I would consider benching him early against Tennessee. For those of you who own Rivers, you may want to get that backup into your lineup.

Donovan McNabb needs to step things up against Denver this week because that game in Dallas could be huge if Philly loses this week, especially if Dallas wins this week which would give them equal records. I’m predicting wins for this entire division except Washington.

RUNNING BACK

Philadelphia is getting Brian Westbrook back this week. I believe that BWest hitting the field is a big mistake. I fear for his health. Philly has been doing a good job without him and I think they should and could continue to have good games. They clinched the playoffs last week. I’m having a hard time with the greed involved here. Give him the couple of more weeks off until you hit the playoffs then revisit the situation. This kid has given everything he has been able to give over the years and rushing him back is just a bad idea. OK I’m done

Ahmad Bradshaw may not carry the rock as much and as strong as Brandon Jacobs but he does do the scoring for the Giants and as I mentioned earlier, they need this game.

In keeping with the early game prediction, Tennessee needs this game much more that San Diego does so expect to see a healthy does of Chris Johnson who needs 270 yards to crack 2000 yards for the year. I think they feed him the entire game and he gets 30 plus carries

Steven Jackson only needs 140 yards in the last two games to crack the 1500 yard barrier. St. Louis doesn’t have much going for them right now and the least the team could do is make sure Jackson reaches this milestone. The same argument could be made for Jones-Drew who needs 260 yards in two games.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Darrell Revis has covered many of the top wide receivers in the business this year and is outstanding as a defensive back. In weeks past he has effectively covered Andre Johnson, Roddy White, and Randy Moss. This week he’ll take on Reggie Wayne of the Colts. Wayne has a sore foot and could be slowed anyway. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t see any Colt on the field for the entire game. However, with a sore foot and some depth at WR, I could also see Wayne not being very effective here.

Arizona is looking to beat somebody up after the last two games they’ve played. They should have crushed both Detroit and San Francisco and they lost to San Fran and almost lost to Detroit. Coach Wisenhurst has stated that all his starters will be trying to gain momentum going into the playoffs. Enter St Louis. The timing could be just right for Fitzgerald, Bouldin and even Breston.

I like the idea of Smith v Smith in the Giants at Panthers game this week. Maybe we can actually prove who is now “the other” Steve Smith. I think they both have good games but New York Smith has the better game.

TIGHT END

Vernon Davis will be taking on Detroit and should have a better game than he did last week against Philadelphia. Keep in mind though that this is the second straight road game and travel can take its toll on a player. Gates and Clark may end up doing very little for San Diego and Indy.

Kevin Boss is in a nice situation here with the Giants as they have to win this game to keep their playoff hopes alive. The same could be said for Bo Scaife of Tennessee although this could turn into the Chris Johnson show. Ben Watson of New England usually does better at home, this week facing the Jaguars. With Brady hurting a bit, he just may go to Watson if the situation warrants it.

PLACE KICKER

In a week where the weather can play a bigger factor, the best bet is to try to get a good kicker that is either playing in a dome (Hartley – New Orleans) or in good weather (Carpenter – MIA or K. Brown – HOU). Arizona is home playing St. Louis and as good as Josh Brown is, his team has been having problems getting in field goal range. Mike Nugent has replaced Neil Rackers in Arizona and he could have a decent week.

DEFENSE

I like Denver at Philly this week if only for Brian Dawkins. He’ll be looking to prove that Philly made a mistake in cutting him. The Saints should handle Tampa Bay this weekend and they’re going to be upset that their pursuit of perfection ended last week against the Cowboys. As bad as Green Bay was last weekend against Pittsburgh (They gave up 500 yards) they should bounce back against Seattle.

Good luck to everyone still in the playoffs. I hope I’m helping everyone out with the information that I’ve been providing.

I try to answer any and all comments, questions, criticisms left on Clearysnotebook.com I’m enjoying writing this column very much.

Until next week, thanks for reading this column in Cleary's Notebook.

PS. I’m still making my plans for the classes in the spring. I’ll keep everyone posted as we get nearer and I have more information on length of classes, locations etc. I’m hoping for a lot of positive response on this as I think it will be fun to get more people involved in our obsession.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Holiday season. Please be careful on the roads.

Dan “Snake” Watson

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