Don't miss your chance for football betting at BetUS.com. As America's #1 sportsbook, BetUS offers the most up-to-date betting lines & odds for all your betting needs.
Week Thirteen: Fantasy Playoffs and Rookies Break Out!
Authored by Andrew Perna - 5th December, 2006 - 8:37 pm
While there isn't a real marquee matchup, Ravens vs. Colts, Panthers vs. Bucs, Bears vs. Falcons, and Chargers vs. Patriots are all pivotal games in the standings.
With John Herrera standing to his right dressed in black and appearing not unlike an undertaker, Lane Kiffin sat down at the podium for Sunday's postgame news conference.
Baltimore wants Flacco to be their QB of the future. But the Ravens feel they have no choice but to start him now because Boller and Smith are unavailable. Wrong!
RealGM Search
Week thirteen in the NFL was one of many surprises. The Colts fell to the Titans, Jay Cutler had a so-so professional debut, and Reggie Bush broke out for the Saints with a four-touchdown performance. Many elite teams, including the Patriots and Chargers, just barely defeated their meager opponents on Sunday.
With four weeks left the National Football League is just hitting it’s stride, while fantasy leagues around the world are gearing up for the start of the postseason this week. In addition to refreshing you on the highs and lows of the week that was in football, I’ll also keep you abreast of all my fantasy successes, or rather disappointments.
Weekly Highs Bengals Remain in Contention In a game that not too many people realize took place, it was the NFL Network’s second Thursday night broadcast; the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Baltimore Ravens 13-7 to keep pace in the competitive AFC North. The win kept Cincinnati within two games of Baltimore and in the thick of the Wild Card hunt. The most impressive part of the victory was the incredible defense the Bengals played.
Dillon It In For a good part of the season most of the running back talk out of New England came regarding rookie Laurence Maroney, but on Sunday all of Massachusetts was abuzz over Corey Dillon. Dillon carried the ball just nine times for twenty yards, but scored three touchdowns in the Pats 28-21 victory over the hapless Lions. Dillon helped keep his team two games ahead of the surging Jets, who demolished the Packers 38-10.
Vince Does it Again Tennessee Quarterback Vince Young did it again, leading the Titans to a 20-17 win over the Super Bowl favorite Indianapolis Colts. Young threw for 163 yards and two scores, to go along with 78 yards on the ground. Kicker Rob Bironas won the game for Tennessee on a 60-yarder as time ticked away. The win was the Titans’ third in a row.
Weekly Lows Cleveland Spoils The Kansas City Chiefs, with elite running back Larry Johnson and a healthy Trent Green, shouldn’t have had a problem putting away the Cleveland Browns, right? Instead the Browns played spoiler beating the Chiefs in overtime 31-28 on Sunday. Kansas City let a fourteen-point lead slip away in the fourth quarter, and is now losing their grip on an AFC Wild Card spot.
Rams Get Bounced St. Louis, also in need of a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, was crushed by the 2-9 Cardinals this weekend, at home. Arizona won 34-20 on the back of runner Marcel Shipp who scored three touchdowns on seven carries. Rams QB Marc Bulger threw for over 300 yards and two scores, but his effort was offset by three interceptions. St. Louis, who has lost six of their last seven, is now all but out of playoff contention.
Coughlin & The Boys Despite rampant finger-pointing in recent weeks the Giants nearly pulled off a win over NFC East leader Dallas on Sunday night. The loss, 23-20, dropped New York to 6-6, two games behind the Cowboys. The Giant defense held Tony Romo in check, while Eli had a good day, but they couldn’t prevent Marion Barber from scoring in the red zone as Dallas improved to 8-4.
Andrew’s Believe it or Not Saints’ running back Reggie Bush had three times the number of rushing touchdowns Sunday (3) than he had in his previous eleven games (1).
In his fourth game of the season Kansas City quarterback Trent Green scored his first touchdown of the season against Cleveland, in fact he threw for four.
LaDainian Tomlinson is now just two touchdowns away from tying Shaun Alexander’s single season record of twenty-eight. He has four games to do it, my money is on LT.
Jet’s running back Cedric Houston doubled his season touchdown total with two scores against Green Bay yesterday.
More Reggie news, he has 200 more receiving yards than rushing yards this season.
Your Week Thirteen Viewing Guide Browns-Steelers, Thursday 8:00 PM EST The game might not have any playoff implications, but it’s still football on a Thursday night. If you don’t have NFL Network, get it. If your cable service doesn’t provide the channel, hit up your local bar and enjoy the game.
Giants-Panthers, Sunday 1:00 PM EST This match-up could end up being for an NFC Wild Card spot. If the Panthers beat New York this Sunday they’ll have a spot firmly in their grasp. However, if the Giants can pull off a victory, they might finally stop bickering. Either way, this is a might see NFC battle.
Broncos-Chargers, Sunday 4:15 PM EST This game has big-time AFC playoff implications. If L.T. runs rampant all over the Broncos again it could end Denver’s playoff hopes. Plus, we could see history as Tomlinson needs just three rushing touchdowns to break the single-season record of twenty-eight.
Saints-Cowboys, Sunday 8:15 PM EST This is a battle of the NFC’s 8-4 teams. Both teams have been relative surprises with the Saints homeless last season, and the Cowboys turning to Tony Romo over a month ago. In my opinion, these are the two best teams in the NFC, sorry Chicago.
My Fantasy Diary… Heading into week fourteen of the fantasy football season, I’ve been blessed with the chance to begin anew in five of my nine leagues. That’s right, despite totaling a pitiful 4-5 record in week thirteen and posting a combined losing record this season (56-61), I qualified for the playoffs in more than half of my leagues.
Two of my leagues, the East Coast Pigskin League (CBS) and the RealGM Challenge League, will finish up their regular season this week, while my season is over in the Hometown Heroes and Serious NFL leagues. My futility in the East Coast Pigskin League and Hometown Heroes League, where I have a combined 7-19 record, has spoiled my superb performances in the Indy Fans (10-3) and FOX Sports Public League (8-5).
This weekend I’ll battle for five separate league titles. I’ll be content to come away with one championship, or at least advance to the finals so the remaining fantasy weeks are worth following. My five playoff squads posted a combined 38-27 record.
The three leagues I’m focusing my attention on are the Nichols College, Orlovsky Charity, and RealGM Writers League. In the Nichols College league my Italian Stallions will face off against Soviet Union Communist. Communist posted a 9-4 record in the regular season, compared to my meager 6-7 effort. My squad of Tony Romo, Shaun Alexander, and Anquan Boldin will have to overcome the likes of Drew Brees, Larry Johnson, and Torry Holt. The odds are not in my favor.
In the Dan Orlovsky Charity League my team, Cut That Meat will do battle with Panic at the Gridiron. In week thirteen Panic beat my team in a close battle, but I think I still have the advantage. My boys – Peyton Manning, Steve Smith, Kevin Jones, and Travis Henry will match-up against Panic’s Drew Brees, Larry Johnson, and Joseph Addai. I have a very vested interest in the fantasy demise of Brees and Johnson!
Speaking of Larry Johnson…in the RealGM Writers League my team, The Cunning Linguist, will face off against NFL writer Jeff Risdon’s IC as in vICtory. I feel I have the edge in this battle with Marc Bulger, Terrell Owens, Larry Johnson, and Corey Dillon going to battle for me against Jon Kitna, Plaxico Burress, Rudi Johnson, and Frank Gore.
