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Studs

Peyton Hillis, RB, CLE – What more is there to say about this guy? He is lighting the NFL on fire with his performance this season.  With Gore out for the year, Adrian Peterson is the ONLY back I would rather own than Hillis.  Not bad for a free agent acquisition.  Hillis racked up 131 yards rushing and scored three times, he was also able to add 68 receiving yards.  Hillis is the key to the success of the Browns offense and there is just no way that his workload diminishes.  You can’t ask for a better guy to take into the playoffs.

Dwayne Bowe, WR, KC - Speaking of players performing at an elite level… Dwayne Bowe went from a HUGE early-season disappointment, to a fantasy owners dream.  Just in time for the playoffs too!  You can’t afford to sit this guy on your bench… no matter who you have on your team.  Bowe currently leads the NFL with 14 receiving TDs, exactly one more than any player had last year over the course of all 16 games.  Bowe has 13 of his 14 scores in the last 7 weeks… talk about a hot streak!

Brian Westbrook, RB, SF – Before this week Westbrook had just 5 carries and 9 yards.  After Frank Gore’s fantasy-season ended early in week 12, Brian saw 23 carries and tallied 123 yards and a rushing TD.  Westbrook used to be a fantasy-stud and since we only need him for a few weeks… I am not scared of his age at all.  I didn’t get to include him in my pickups article this week since this all happened on Monday, but make sure you pick up Westbrook and keep him from the Gore owner who just got screwed over for the playoffs!

Michael Vick, QB, PHI - What more can you ask for a QB that no one drafted? I know that I personally have yet to lose with Vick in my lineup this fantasy-season and despite losing this week, Vick’s performance was excellent.  Look for another HUGE game from Vick in Week 13 as he faces the league’s worst secondary on Thursday night in prime time.

Wes Welker, WR, NE – Well, two good games in a row for a guy like Welker would usually mean a significant increase in the rankings… but as he is by far the top wide receiver on the Patriots, we can expect him to see a lot of snaps across from Darrelle Revis and that typically leads to a pretty terrible fantasy-performance.

Fred Jackson, RB, BUF - I don’t have any specific numbers to back this up, so feel free to correct me in the comments, but Fred Jackson had what is sure to be the best fantasy performance that ANY RB has had against the Steelers all season.  And as I said last week when I put Jackson on my Hate list (sorry about that)… his only chance was in the passing game.  I really think that Jackson is a must-start RB2 regardless of match up the rest of the season.

Mike Goodson, RB, CAR – While I am surprised to see so much work go to Jonathan Stewart after how productive Goodson was the past couple weeks, the tandem approach led to the Panther’s most dominant rushing performance of the year.  It was a winning approach if Kasay can make that field goal too… Look for more of the same, with Goodson having the most fantasy value due to his value in the passing game.  Goodson is a flex-play here and Stewart is more of a bench player/injury fill-in.

Rashard Mendenhall, RB, PIT - Like I said last week, you start your running backs against the Buffalo Bills.  We don’t learn anything new from this big-performance by Mendenhall, who will remain a low-end top 10 RB the rest of the season.

Mike Tolbert, RB, SD – Norv Turner isn’t one to play games with his running backs like Shanahan and Todd Haley do… so even when Ryan Mathews comes back from injury, expect Tolbert to carry the load as the Charger’s lead back.  You can bank on him being a flex-play the rest of the season and many Frank Gore owners will likely be using him as an RB 2 to salvage any playoff hopes they may have.

Duds

Chris Johnson, RB, TEN - Zero points is not acceptable from a number 1 overall draft pick.  Johnson has had some disappointing performances… and with this one he validates the decision that some people made to take AP over him with the first overall pick this year.  Truly great players are able to perform and be a positive for their team when they are struggling.  Rusty Smith or not, this should not have happened.  With Kerry Collins likely to return, you need to weather the storm and the offense should stabilize when Collins does return.

Terrell Owens, WR, CIN - Have you met Darelle Revis? I won’t likely include someone who is on Revis Island again in my Duds list, but with how dominant Owens has been all year… this is an announcement that the Revis-effect is back.

Anquan Boldin, WR, BAL - He didn’t used to have so many bad games while in Arizona… but he also didn’t have the upside that he has on this Ravens offense.  I am very low on Boldin this week going against the Steelers, but after that is Houston… so there is a light at the end of this tunnel.  Hopefully you drafted well enough to consider him a flex-option or WR3, which is where I will be ranking him from here on out.

Dez Bryant, WR, DAL - It is time to come back down to earth when ranking Bryant.  It was such a successful strategy for the Saints, who where able to make the rookie visibly upset.  It affected his play and you should expect to see the Colts employ a very similar strategy.

Jahvid Best, RB, DET – Both of his feet have turf toe now, saw no work last week on thanksgiving and I can’t rank him as someone you should consider starting any longer.

Mike Williams, WR, TB - He wasn’t able to rack up many yards or find the endzone… but the Ravens are still a very good defense and the Buccaneers struggle against quality opponents.  Luckily, there are no good secondaries left on the Buccs schedule until week 17.

Mike Wallace, WR, PIT - I have spent some time trying to convince people that the Bills are not a good opponent for WRs and QBs this season.  Now that the offense is playing well, it is even more apparent. Wallace is fine going forward, the Steelers are still an elite team in the AFC.

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