Love

Knowshon Moreno, RB, DEN – Moreno is averaging 20 fantasy points per game over the past two weeks against pretty good match-ups.  Speaking of good match-ups… The Broncos play against the Browns and the Chiefs to close out the season.  Cleveland this week and considering Joe Haden can actually cause some problems for opponents, I look for Denver to give the Browns a heavy helping of the run game.  He has a pretty good chance for 100 yards and a score here but he is only listed as an RB2 in my rankings because we haven’t seen enough tape for me to be too confident yet.

Wes Welker, WR, NE - The Patriots aren’t playing for a whole lot this week but come on… Brady vs the Jags? That’s a pretty great match-up for your Super Bowl week!  Welker is going to be free to roam around the line of scrimmage all game and Brady is going to use him to pick the defense apart.  I like Lloyd a lot too as a really good flex option but Welker is a must-start in almost any imaginable circumstance.

Tony Romo, QB, DAL – I hate to say it but for fantasy purposes, Romo has actually been decent.  If you were able to get two serviceable Quarterbacks and did a good job of deciding which to play, you could easily be in the Super Bowl right now.  If Romo is one of those guys, he is your choice this weekend against a soft Saints defense.  Hopefully Dez Bryant isn’t affected as severely by his finger injury but he was still a quality play for fantasy owners even with visible signs of pain.  The Cowboys are also benefiting from the work of DeMarco Murray once again and Romo is most effective in the play-action passing situations.

Alfred Morris, RB, WAS – Morris is a beast.  Last week, with Kirk Cousins at QB and the defense knowing that he was going to be a huge factor, he still got it done with 20 fantasy points.  RG3 is going to play this week and Philly, who is already weak to the run, will not even be able to bring an 8th man into the box very often.  Bottom line is that, in the Playoffs, you NEED consistency at every position and Morris is as close to a sure-thing as it gets for 100 yards rushing for players not named Arian Foster or Adrian Peterson.

Randall Cobb, WR, GB – James Jones may lead the NFL in receiving touchdowns but he isn’t even close to the lead in targets or receptions on his own team.  Scores are fluky and not easy to do with consistency.  Cobb is a FAR safer option this week and Jones is more of a flex-option.

Hate

Chris Johnson, RB, TEN – There can’t be many of you left in the Super Bowl if you own this guy but maybe you capitalized on Alfred Morris and didn’t use CJ much until late in the season.  Either way, if you’ve got him, you may have to start him but try not to.  His value is almost entirely in the one big play he has been getting more often than not.  If he doesn’t get that play, he won’t have more than 5 points and you can’t take that chance.  Not with as bad as his o-line is, especially.

Ahmad Bradshaw, RB, NYG – It’s a shame that the team is in disarray right now because this should be a really nice match-up.  Now it’s a complete crap-shoot because given how poor the entire team played last week, Coughlin could potentially do anything with his running backs this week.

Josh Freeman, QB, TB – Steer clear of Freeman this week against the Rams.  They are no slouch on defense and after the entire team imploded last week, if your still alive, you wan’t to stay away from them.

Hakeem Nicks, WR, NYG – I have no choice but to play him in a Super Bowl match-up this week and I am really nervous about it.  Like I just said, this team is a mess and while they have a really good chance of rebounding VERY strong and blowing up the scoreboard, it’s a gamble and as I’ve said a thousand times so far this post-season… this is not the time for a gamble.

Anotonio Brown, WR, PIT – I loved seeing him rebound last week too but you CAN NOT forget how bad he was for the entire rest of the season, before his injury.  WAY too risky.

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Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105 yards rushing in a single season was set in 1984.

This record was believed by many to be unbreakable in the modern era of pass-first offense.

Adrian Peterson is just 294 yards away from that record with two games left to play.

The Vikings are still in the Playoff hunt.

They face Houston and Green Bay in these next two games and must win both.

Peterson is averaging over 160 rushing yards per game since week 7.

Eli Manning was drafted as a QB that was just outside the elite tier of guys at his position.

Many believed that he was going to take a step forward this season and join that elite class.

Eli is the 19th best QB in the NFL as far as fantasy points scored on the season.

In 4 of the last 7 games, Eli has 5 of fewer fantasy points.

Eli has only had THREE 300+ yard passing games on the season.

If you are still alive in the playoffs and Eli is your QB, you are incredibly lucky.

Eli is UNSTARTABLE the rest of the season.

Demaryius Thomas now has 5 straight games under 100 yards receiving.

He has not scored a TD in 2 straight games.

The Broncos offense has been just fine in these games.

Thomas will remain a top 10 fantasy WR on my rankings.

I hate Tony Romo.  He is an AWFUL NFL QB.

He makes incredibly stupid decisions at seemingly random times and I would not trust him to run my offense if I was an NFL head coach.

Tony Romo is a top 10 fantasy QB.

I surprised myself saying that, as I have been very critical of Romo all season long.

Tony has had double digit fantasy points every week since week 4.

Romo plays two BAD secondaries in his final two games. (New Orleans and Washington)

I would start Romo in the Super Bowl over Roethlisberger, Dalton, Stafford, Eli Manning, Freeman, Flacco and Schaub.

The NFL leader in touchdown receptions is James Jones.

Jones has just half the catches of Calvin Johnson, Brandon Marshall and Wes Welker.

Jones has a measly 622 receiving yards.

James Jones will not be my top ranked Packers wide receiver.

I wish you all the best of luck in your super bowl match-ups this weekend.

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Love

Frank Gore, RB, SF – Not many teams have as strong of a commitment to the run as the 49ers do.  Colin Kaepernick didn’t have his best game passing the ball against the Rams this past week and in order to get back on track, I anticipate a heavy dose of Gore.  Don’t sweat the match-up either because the Dolphins are not the stout run defense that they were in the first half of the season. I blame the offensive for this as their inability to convert on third downs has led to a tired defense late in games and they simply get over run. Expect more of the same this week when the east coast team travels west.

Victor Cruz, WR, NYG – I expect both Cruz and Nicks to do very well in this game. Let’s be honest about their opponent… Brees is NOT going to lay another egg like last week and the Saints defense is NOT going to be able to stop this Giants offense that really turned a corner last week on offense. Manning certainly played better than before the bye week but the timing was just a shade off against the Skins and I expect the throws to be right on time the rest of the way.  New York always finishes the season strong and because of that, I love their players during the fantasy playoffs.

Matthew Stafford, QB, DET –There are a lot of negatives surrounding the Lions right now.  They dropped too many winnable games early in the season to be fighting for a playoff spot and injuries have decimated the receiving corps but Calvin Johnson remains healthy and that is enough for me.  The Packers secondary is their weak spot and with Clay Matthews looking to miss this game as well, Stafford will have plenty of time to let Megatron get open before he dumps it off to Pettigrew and Mike Thomas.  If somehow Stafford DIDN’T cost you your playoff spot, you can confidently start him this week.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis, RB, CIN – The Bengals lost an offensive weapon (Mohammed Sanu) to IR this week and while it won’t have a big impact on the game plan, it could lead to a few extra run plays.  Given that the Law Firm has been playing by and far his best football of the season over the past three games, I am able to start him with as much confidence as I’ve ever been able to all year.  Dallas isn’t a good match-up but after what Bryce Brown did to them last week, I am far from scared of playing a quality running back against them.

Browns, D/ST, CLE – It takes a lot for me to step up and stake a claim to a defensive unit for my love list but here it is.  And it’s the Browns of all teams.  Everyone has been so surprised by the production of Trent Richardson, Josh Gordon and Brandon Weeden that they don’t notice that it is the defense keeping them a competitive ball club. The wins haven’t come but they also haven’t played any games against Brady Quinn yet.  Jamaal Charles will be productive but the Browns have as much value this week as they ever will and at 6 in my rankings, they are the defense that I am looking to on free agency this week.

Pierre Garcon, WR, WAS – A TON of owners bailed on this guy after a few too many weeks on the inactive list.  I scooped him up in a few leagues and I have to say, he’s a great addition so late in the year.  This is the unquestioned top threat for RGIII, who is going to make plays regardless of who is on the field. Given the elite level of play that Griffen has been displaying on a weekly basis, it’s hard to imagine there being very many under-whelming games for Garcon.  He didn’t crack my top 20 quite yet but if he can find the end zone again this week, he’ll be there for sure for week 15.

Hate

Tony Romo, QB, DAL – Throw away all the stats about what month it is because they are irrelevant, albeit fun to talk about.  Tony Romo has been awful all year.  The team sits at .500 and yet it’s been in spite of the play of Romo.  He is making poor decisions and turning the ball over far more consistently in years past and I can’t trust him to be a starter in anything but the deepest of leagues.

Josh Gordon, WR, CLE – I had written some positive things about Gordon leading up to my rankings and then, quite frankly, I wussed out.  I just can’t list a Cleveland Browns receiver inside my top 20 inside the playoffs. He fell to 28 in my ranks because I am not supremely confident that I can expect him to score a TD, even if it IS against the Chiefs.  There is even a decent chance that Richardson runs away with the game and the Browns aren’t focused on the vertical passing game.

Stevan Ridley, RB, NE – I am fully aware of how good he has been for you thus far but a lot of owners would be wise to sit him down this week against the Texans.  Houston can move the ball on offense however they chose, especially against such a weak defense.  This leads me to believe that they game plan will be heavy on Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels and a little lighter for Arian Foster.  The Patriots on the other hand, won’t have free reign on offense as they play host to one of the best defenses in the AFC.  Brady will need to be slinging the ball around and Ridley’s value will be too dependent on goal line work for me to call him a must-start, which I think most people would do.

Antonio Brown, WR, PIT – This is more so a cautionary warning for Brown owners with a bad memory.  He was AWFUL so far this season prior to the injury and when you add in the fact that Big Ben’s performance will likely be less than 100%, there isn’t a lot of faith that starting Brown won’t mean my season is over.

Michael Turner, RB, ATL – I saw his game last week and I still can’t get myself to want to start this aging running back.  He even has a decent match-up against Carolina who I expect to lose by a fair margin, which would usually mean a fair amount of work to run clock and put the game on ice.  I am just too worried about the prospect of a 13 carry 45 yard performance with Rodgers and Snelling seeing a little bit more work to ensure the healthy of Turner in the post season.

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Love

Stevan Ridley, RB, NE – There are a lot of people out there that are under the assumption that the Patriots are a pass-first offense. New England has attempted 276 rushing plays and 323 passing plays.  A surprisingly even split when the perception is that they almost never run.  Ridley is the lead back on the NFL’s 4^th best rushing offense and he is playing against the NFL’s 31^st ranked rushing defense.

Matthew Stafford, QB, DET – Stafford didn’t knock his fantasy owners’ socks off last week with points.  He did however play pretty well and the team was running the ball with an effectiveness that we have really never seen before.  This ability to run the ball opened up Calvin Johnson in the passing game.  Stafford should bounce back well in the second half of the season.

Stevie Johnson, WR, BUF – Johnson has been a fairly large disappointment in the past few weeks.  The Bills passing offense has fallen apart and they are leaning heavily on their running game.  But, I’ve got news for fantasy owners… New England’s secondary is awful.  Aqib Talib is not eligible to play for the Patriots yet as he finished out his suspension and it is reasonable to look for 100 yards and a score from Johnson this week.

Rashad Jennings, RB, JAC – It may be hard to get excited about a back up running back on the worst team in the NFL.  Sorry Jaguars fans, I don’t mean to offend, but they really are that bad. I am excited because this is a winnable game for Jacksonville.  They are playing at home against the 5-3 Indianapolis Colts, who have a terrible run defense.  They have been gashed by a variety of backs this season and Jennings will have more room to run in this game than any Jaguar back has all season.  Get this guy in your lineup unless your team is stacked.

Brandon Meyers, TE, OAK – The only thing that I am nervous about with Meyers is that he is on a west coast team that is traveling to the east, to play at 1pm.  Carson Palmer is playing pretty well as of late and Oakland is starting to improve.  Darren McFadden is banged up and even if he gets out there, which I doubt, he will have a limited role.  This means that Oakland will be opening up the passing game even more this week and Meyers has been a VERY sure-handed and reliable threat for Palmer all season.  He’s close to being a top 10 guy until further notice.

Brian Hartline, WR, MIA – If after last week, you still require more proof to believe me when I say that Tennessee is a bad team, your insane.  The offense was turning the ball over like crazy and the secondary couldn’t contain Brandon Marshall, who was the primary AND secondary receiver on every pass that Jay Cutler threw.  Hartline is no Brandon Marshall but he is a reliable weapon for Tannehill and could be in-line for his second best game of the season.

Hate

Shonn Greene, RB, NYJ – The Jets offense has struggled, to say the least, at times this season and while Greene has been able to put up some very good statistical performances, he has yet to WOW me when I watch the game film.  Seattle has one of this season’s best defenses and when they are at home, they can shut down ANYONE. This is not a good week to risk your fate on Greene or any New York Jet.

Mike Williams, WR, TB – A LOT of fantasy analysts have listed Mike Williams as a top 20 guy this week and honestly, I think that this is absurd. He has not had a 100-yard game in 3 weeks and while he has 3 TD’s in 4 games, I am not sure that there is any real certainty that he will be continuing this trend.  Don’t get me wrong, his value is on the rise and he is a viable flex option but a WR #2? Get real… not yet.

Tony Romo, QB, DAL – IF you still love this guy, you haven’t seen his games.  You should have been in the market for a new QB already and Josh Freeman, Carson Palmer and Andrew Luck all found their way above Freeman in my rankings. Sit Romo down or you are asking to lose.

Chris Johnson, RB, TEN – I was really upset when Johnson pulled the fluke 80 yard TD run out of thin air as the Titans were DOMINATED by the Bears last week.  If you take away that ONE play, Johnson would have gotten you just two fantasy points.  He is not a top 20 guy and just a flex-option because it is possible that he pulls another big play out of nowhere.

Jeremy Maclin, WR, PHI – Dallas’s defense has been incredibly improved from last year.  That goes double for the secondary, which was simply awful last season.  Between that and how poor Vick has been playing lately, there is not much chance of quality production from Maclin.  DeSean Jackson gets ranked higher this week because he is far more likely to take a short pass the distance but even he is just a flex-play in a week where big-plays are not very likely.  If your desperate, you can use Maclin because NFC East games tend to be tough to analyze… anything can happen.

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Love

Vincent Jackson, WR, TB – Making a claim about VJax’s production is always playing with fire.  He takes plays off and looks slow and tired some games but coming off of a long rest following their Thursday night game, Jackson seems poised for a big game.  Josh Freeman has been playing great for 3 weeks in a row now and Jackson had all that time for his legs to get fresh.  Oakland is a soft match up for receivers too. REALLY like him this week, only bench him if you have three top 10 guys who are very consistent.

Cam Newton, QB, CAR – Yes, he’s been bad lately. Wildly inconsistent and not even close to what you were hoping for when you drafted him.  He still has a lot of big-play ability and his upside is still pretty high up there. He plays against a Redskins secondary that can’t stop anyone and can’t rush the quarterback.  This has the potential to be his biggest game of the season, even though his 37 points against Atlanta will be tough to top.  You would be foolish to bench him now.

Trent Richardson, RB, CLE – I was in the “don’t draft this guy” camp during the preseason. Mostly because people were so crazy in love with him that they were taking him in the first two rounds… Which I still think was insane and stupid.  But i’m becoming less and less confident about it with each passing week.  Clearly health isnt an issue after his big game last week and the Ravens defense has been being run on like crazy in recent weeks. He’s a top 10 guy with this match-up.

Jeremy Maclin, WR, PHI – Its weird for me to have this guy outside my top 15 and classify him as a love… but the Eagles offense has struggled a lot recently, losing three straight games. The Saints as an opponent is nice though as their defense has been bad and their offense has still been effective.  Look for a high scoring game and look for Maclin to have a big game.

Jonathan Dwyer, RB, PIT – This guy has been playing like exactly the type of back that Steeler fans love to see. He’s quick to the hole and physical with the ball in his hands.  Ive heard some lofty comparisons to Bettis and while I won’t go there yet, I believe he is the new starting RB for the Steelers and in-line for 60% of the work, even after Mendenhall returns.  The Giants aren’t a great match-up here but in order to slow their pass rush, the Steelers will have to run the ball a good amount.

Hate

Larry Fitzgerald, WR, ARI – On talent alone, you HAVE to put him as a top 5 WR in the NFL.  Situation matters and the Cardinals are awful.  I still don’t know how they started 4-0 with no running game, no offensive line and just a slightly better than good defense.  This isn’t an 8 win ball-club even with the start and unless teams stop being successful at taking Fitz out of the game, I can’t even list him as a top 20 guy.  Sad to say but bench him.

Chris Johnson, RB, TEN – You may look at his recent performances and think he’s back.  I look at them and see a guy that can be productive against GREAT match ups, which is, with one exception, the only time he’s even been DECENT this year.  Guess what? Chicago is not a good match-up and Johnson is not a good play this week.  If he does well in this game, I will stand up and take notice and it WILL reflect in my rankings but I was actually disappointed with his performance last week so I am not going to reward him for being decent.

Daniel Thomas, RB, MIA – I love their match-up and I like Thomas but he’s only gotten a fair-share of the work ONCE while Bush has been around and I’m not sold that he’s going to repeat that number of carries again.  Bush is a better back and especially for this match-up but Thomas is an OK fill-in or flex play as a goal line back if you need one pretty bad.

Tony Romo, QB, DAL – If you’ve got Romo, you NEED other options.  Romo is like Jay Cutler without the good games this year.  He simply isn’t a starting caliber fantasy QB any longer.

Mike Williams, WR, TB – Listen, I know he’s been good and I know that I wrote a section above this about the nice match-up, etc… But the WR talent pool is as deep as it’s been in my lifetime and Williams has not PROVEN to be a consistent threat. With bye weeks, he’s an acceptable plug in but he’s at 35 in my rankings… you can find better.

Michael Bush, RB, CHI – Did you think I was kidding in my one-liners post? Nope. HE is outside my top 30 and SHOULD be benched if at all possible.

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