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Week 13 of the NFL season, for some of you fantasy football players, is the final week of your regular season. For others, you may have one to two more weeks left in your season.
This week, you cannot afford to suffer a loss.
It’s why you have to start a player like Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch.
Lynch has been one of the best running backs in the NFL over the last five weeks. In those five games, he has five touchdowns and 467 yards. That has put Lynch as a Top 10 running back in fantasy football, and someone that is a must-start every single week.
This week against a struggling Philadelphia Eagles defense, Lynch will have another huge day where he rushes for over 100 yards with a touchdown.
On the year, the Eagles are giving up 110 yards per game to running backs. Against the Patriots last week, the Eagles gave up two rushing touchdowns to BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Before that game, Green-Ellis had zero touchdowns in his four previous games.
Start Lynch, as you can expect a huge day.
Carolina Panthers, DeAngelo Williams
Williams has struggled this year, but against a terrible rush defense from the Indianapolis Colts, Williams went off for 69 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
This week, Williams faces an even more terrible rush defense in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay ranks 30th in the NFL in rushing defense, giving up 140 yards per game. Meanwhile, the Panthers are one of the better teams running the ball, averaging 135 yards per game.
Against the Colts last week, the Panthers rushed for 201 total yards with their three touchdowns coming from the run. Williams did have two of those scores to improve his total to three on the season.
Williams is a must-start this week against the Buccaneers and their bad run defense.
Miami Dolphins, Reggie Bush
It’s amazing, but Bush has been a must-start on fantasy rosters during the last five weeks.
Over his last five games, Bush has four touchdowns and 475 combined yards. He has been a double-digit fantasy performer in each those five games.
Bush has crept up into the Top 20 of fantasy running backs during this five-game stretch.
This week against the Oakland Raiders, he will go off for another big game. The Raiders come in with a defense that ranks 27th against the run, giving up 135 yards per game. What makes Bush an even bigger threat is his ability to be a factor in the passing game.
Bush will have a game where he rushes for 80-100 yards and has another five catches for 45-60 yards.
Tennessee Titans, Chris Johnson
Welcome back to fantasy football relevance, Mr. Johnson.
Before last week’s breakout game, Johnson was having an awful year. With his 23-carry, 190-yard performance, it has shot Johnson back into a must-start player on your roster.
This week, against a bad rushing defense in Buffalo, Johnson will continue his comeback as a relevant fantasy player.
The Bills have the 21st-ranked rushing defense, as they are giving up on average 124 yards per game to running backs. Last week, they were ripped apart by a struggling Jets offense for 138 total rushing yards. The week before that, Buffalo was torn apart by Miami’s running attack for 95 yards.
This week, you have to start CJ, as he will have another game of more than 120 rushing yards with a touchdown.
San Francisco 49ers, Frank Gore
Why should you start Gore this week? Two words, one team—St. Louis Rams.
The 49ers face the worst rushing defense in the Rams this week. This Rams team is so bad, they are giving up 159 yards per game to opposing running backs.
They were shredded by Dallas’ DeMarco Murray for 258 yards in Week 7. Last week, they gave up a huge day to the Arizona Cardinals’ Beanie Wells. Wells rushed 228 yards with a touchdown last week.
Gore has been a disappointment over the last couple of weeks. However, this game against the Rams will be a rebound game for the 49ers running back.
These running backs will carry you to a playoff-clinching victory this week. Start all five of these players, because they will rush for 100-plus yards with a touchdown or two.
Let’s continue our tour around the NFL by looking at the top 50 wide receivers for the coming week. How will Miles Austin’s impending return change our outlook of the Dallas Cowboys? Has Mike Williams become a good play once again? How should we value Andre Johnson? Let’s look at these questions and all the rest:
Thoughts
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Make sure to check out all of our Week 13 articles:
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The Oakland Raiders are in a wonderful and unfamiliar position—first place in the AFC West.
They have not sniffed the top of the division in the month of December for quite some time—2002.
Oakland controls its own destiny. To remain the leaders of the West, the Raiders (7-4) will have to stave off the infectious Denver Broncos (6-5), who currently reside one game out of first place.
But Oakland’s schedule appears favorable during the NFL’s crunch time of December. Of their remaining five games, two have winning records—Green Bay (Week 14) and Detroit (Week 15).
On the flip side, the other three opponents have 11 wins combined (Miami, Kansas City, San Diego.)
One thing the Raiders should not be doing this week is overlooking their matchup on the road against Miami. It might be easy to look past the patsy Dolphins (3-8) and chomp at the bit to face the Packers the following weekend, but the Raiders need to concentrate on what and who is in front of them.
While the ‘Fins have been drowning in the AFC East, they have shown as of late that they are a competitive team not to be taken lightly. Miami was not so sunny when it lost starting quarterback Chad Henne in Week 4. But the Dolphins have shown tremendous improvement and competitiveness with Matt Moore filling in.
In their past six games, they have gone 3-3, with their three losses coming by a combined seven points. During their three-game win streak (stopped by Dallas on Thanksgiving Day), Miami throttled both the Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills at home.
Obviously those teams are not the upstanding representatives of the league but it does suggest the difficulty in playing on the road in Miami, despite a less-than-captivated crowd. And with the nothing-to-lose mentality, the Dolphins are certainly a threat to make the Raiders stumble, if Oakland is not careful.
What should the Raiders be wary of exactly?
During the past six games, Miami has been stingy against the run, holding opponents to an average of 66.0 yards per game. Setting up more third-and-long situations, the Dolphins have steadily held down the fort, allowing only a 31.4 percent conversion rate on third down during that time.
The Raiders will have to find a way to utilize the passing game early to set up the run. In an effort to neutralize Miami’s front line, quarterback Carson Palmer will have to use a lot of play-action passes.
Hopefully this will provide running back Michael Bush—or Darren McFadden, if he’s healthy—with gaping holes midway through the game. Nevertheless, the Oakland receiving corps better be ready to step up this weekend.
Defensively, the Raiders should not ignore Moore at quarterback. Obviously the rigors of stepping in to the quarterback position are difficult. But Moore has progressed and has a decent 87.8 quarterback rating for the season. His last game against Dallas saw him complete 19 of 32 passes for 288 yards.
If the Raiders play their game they should be able to beat the Dolphins handily. But in order to do so, they must not look behind them, over their shoulders, at the oncoming Denver Broncos. And they must not look ahead at facing a potentially undefeated Green Bay squad.
Instead, Oakland has to pay attention and focus on what’s right in front of them.
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The Houston Cougars' lack of respect in the BCS proves that the system is totally flawed and a playoff system is badly needed.
Only in college football can a team go undefeated and not have the right to play for the championship. For this reason is it important that the sport finally consider using a playoff system to decide the national champion.
Houston is 11-0 this season and has dominated Conference USA. The Cougars' two best wins are a conference victory against a talented Southern Miss team and UCLA, who will play Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game this weekend.
Currently at No. 6 in the BCS standings, it is unlikely they will move any further up the rankings unless Virginia Tech loses to Clemson in the ACC championship game Saturday, which is unlikely.
Only LSU and Houston are the only undefeated teams, and while the Tigers will earn a spot to compete for the BCS title in January, the Cougars will not get that opportunity.
There are some people who think Houston is not even deserving of a BCS bowl berth, let alone a title shot, and that is insane.
The Big East conference gets an automatic bid into a BCS bowl game, and no team from that pathetic conference deserves anything close to a BCS bowl berth. Houston would obliterate any team from the Big East.
Houston destroyed a good Tulsa team last week and dominated an SMU team that beat TCU earlier this season. Every time a good team tries to knock Houston off its perch, the Cougars have responded. They have clearly proven they can handle the pressure of being undefeated.
How is Houston supposed to prove it can beat the nation's top teams from the best conferences if it cannot play them?
This is why a playoff system is badly needed.
You can't ask the Cougars or any other non-BCS school to schedule the best BCS teams because that is not possible for many reasons.
A playoff system would allow the non-BCS schools to play the best teams and actually prove if they are real title contenders.
TCU beat Wisconsin last year in the Rose Bowl and finished 13-0, and there's no question in my mind that their incredible defense of a year ago would have created massive problems for either Auburn or Oregon, the two teams who played for the BCS title.
The Cougars have the best offense in college football. Not only do they have the nation's best passing offense led by quarterback Case Keenum, they are averaging 163.6 rushing yards per game. They are a balanced team capable of beating anyone.
I would love to see LSU's or Alabama's vaunted defense go up against the Houston offense that scores 52.7 points per game, but we will never see it.
It is absurd that you can go undefeated and still not even be considered for a national championship appearance, but thus is the state of college football right now.
Something has to change, because the status quo is completely unfair.
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Right now, 166 days after they lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Boston Bruins, the Vancouver Canucks and Head Coach Alain Vigneault are playing the hot hand because they need to.
Schneider, much like Detroit Red Wings netminder Jimmy Howard, plied his trade in the AHL for several years waiting for an opportunity with the big club. He hasn't been given the job outright like Howard in Detroit, but Schneider has made the most of his time in the Canucks' net. In 47 games play (38 starts), Schneider is 24-13-3 with a 2.32 goals-against average and .922 save-percentage. The bulk of his workload in four seasons of games in the NHL came last year when he posted a 16-4-2 record with 22 starts.
The question around Schneider for a long time was usually what could GM Mike Gillis flip his value for in a deal. As Schneider's stock continues to grow while Luongo's slowly diminishes (not like someone would trade for Lui's contract, right? Right?), his value is too important to the Canucks to move him right now. Vancouver is in "Stanley Cup or Bust" mode and the window is slowly closing as it typically does for teams built like the Canucks.
Luongo's slow start -- 7-5-1, 2.97, .896 -- is nothing new, as he's tended to sputter at the starts of seasons, but instead of letting him work through his issues on the ice in games, Vigneault has started Schneider in Vancouver's last four games, including a three-game road trip. Schneider won all four starts, including back-to-back shutouts against Colorado and Phoenix. Given his past, you might expect pouting or bad body language from Luongo in response to not having started since Nov. 13 and dealing with an upper-body injury, but he's grinned and beared it, all while supporting the head coach's decision as the team has succeeded.
From Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun:
Now, they're suddenly a formidable team again, dominating opponents and playing with sharp intensity and confidence. Schneider is a paramount part of this. Even Luongo knows that. No matter what your opinion of the $64-million goalie ? and apparently there are some divergent views around town ? Luongo is genuinely supportive of Schneider and his right to play.
"He has been busting his butt for the last two years and he has always been behind me 100 per cent," Luongo said. "He's playing unreal right now and we needed that as a team. Three big wins on this road trip. I'm 100 per cent behind him. We're a team. It's not about Roberto Luongo or Cory Schneider; it's about the Vancouver Canucks."
Even as teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets, who might be interested once Curtis Sanford comes back to Earth, or the Dallas Stars, who might be interested is Kari Lehtonen isn't himself when he returns from his groin injury, possibly look outside their organizations for goaltending help, the return for Schneider might be too big of a price, mostly because he's too valuable to the Canucks.
And when Luongo gets his shot back in the net again, the presence -- and increasing importance -- of Schneider could be the factor that pushes him to turn his game around. We've seen it many times where teams have a 1A and 1B in net, and currently, that's what the Canucks have.
Contracts aren't dictating goalie play anymore for Vancouver. They can't afford to.
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No. 1 Star: Cory Schneider, Vancouver Canucks
The "backup" goalie for the Canucks won his fourth straight start, stopping 43 San Jose Sharks shots in a 3-2 victory. He was the difference in the game: Making 19 saves in the second period as Henrik Sedin and Andrew Alberts gave the Canucks a 2-goal lead. Manny Malhotra had the other goal. According to Jeff Paterson of Team 1040: "Schneider has stopped 117 of 120 shots on four game win streak - 97.5 percent."
No. 2 Star: Valtteri Filppula, Detroit Red Wings
Filppula had a point on each of the Red Wings' first three goals, leading Detroit to a 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators, its fifth straight win. Both goals resulted from good work in front: Scoring on the backhand after a Pekka Rinne rebound in the first, and then tipping home a Jiri Hudler shot in the second. Sandwiched between them was an assist on Henrik Zetterberg's goal. Danny Cleary had the other tally for the Wings.
No. 3 Star: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
The King posted his 37th career shutout, 2-0, over the Philadelphia Flyers in front of HBO cameras at MSG. He stopped 29 shots, allowing goals by Brad Richards and rookie Carl Hagelin stand up. The Rangers are now 6-1-1 at home.
Honorable mention: Mike Smith stopped 26 shots for his second shutout of the season, as a smothering Phoenix Coyotes defense defeated the Dallas Stars, 3-0. Mikkel Boedker, Ray Whitney and Taylor Pyatt had the goals. ? Chris Kelly scored twice in the second period to give him nine goals on the season and the Boston Bruins the lead, as they defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 4-2. Tim Thomas made 40 saves. Evander Kane and Dustin Byfuglien (2 points) had the Jets goals. ? Michael Grabner's unassisted shorthanded goal, off an Ilya Kovalchuk turnover, was the difference for the New York Islanders in their 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. Al Montoya stepped up in the third, making 24 saves for the game. ? The Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens had an epic battle at Bell Centre, with the Penguins tying the game on a Jordan Staal goal at 15:30 of the third and then winning the game, 4-3, on this controversial Kris Letang goal ? after Max Pacioretty broke his nose on a hit at the end of the third. Full marks to James Neal for digging the puck out of Carey Price's glove*:
The Colorado Avalanche rallied in the third period with four goals, topping the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2, in a critical game. Shane O'Brien scored his first of the season to tie the game. Stefan Elliott broke up a 2-on-1 break for the Oilers and then scored his first NHL goal on the next shift. Jan Hejda and Paul Stastny had the other goals in the third. Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves. Landislav Smid and Jay McClement Ryan Jones had the goals for Edmonton. ? Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist, as the Tampa Bay Lightning swept the Florida Panthers this weekend, beating them 5-1. Mathieu Garon (24 saves) won both games. ? The Buffalo Sabres were shorthanded, but ran into a mess of a Washington Capitals team to win 5-1. Luke Adam scored two goals, and Zack Kassian notched his first NHL goal. Jhonas Enorth made 26 saves. Jason Chimera's penalty shot was the lone goal for the Caps. ? Corey Crawford made 26 saves, including one on Anze Kopitar with seconds left, as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1. Jonathan Toews broke a 1-1 tie in the second. Duncan Keith had two assists. Jarret Stoll ended a 17-game goal drought. ? Finally, this Brandon Prust vs. Zac Rinaldo fight four seconds into the game was a suitable trailer for HBO 24/7:
Did you know? This was the 27th time Chicago has played back-to-back road games against Kings and Ducks, and only the fourth time the Blackhawks have won both. (AP)
Dishonorable mention: Zach Parise disagreed, but we think the War Room got this one right in calling back his near-game-tying goal vs. the Islanders with one second left:
The Oilers lost Taylor Hall to a left shoulder injury, following a check by Ryan Wilson and a cross-check by Kyle Quincey. ? Bad times for the Stars: Starting goalie Kari Lehtonen was lost to a lower-body injury, Trevor Daley to an upper-body and Vernon Fiddler to a lower-body injury. Scary scene in Detroit, as Patrick Eaves took a slap shot to the head and was stretchered off. He's being treated at a local hospital. ? Will this Max Pacioretty hit on Letang earn a Shannaban? ? After giving up 11 goals in two games and looking listless against the Sabres, are we seeing the last days of Bruce Boudreau with the Capitals? Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin were both minus-4 in the loss. ? Along with his turnover on Grabner's goal, Kovalchuk also took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in the third for complaining about a non-call. ? Dmitry Kulikov was a minus-3. ? ? *Price was rightfully upset about the officials not blowing the puck dead in OT when he had it covered. (Video sadly misses the F-bomb Price dropped at the start of this media chat.)
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Matt Ryan @ Texans
It’s unfortunate that Matt Schaub nor Matt Leinart will be on the field for the Texans, because this matchup had the makings for a shootout. That said, Ryan has been on a hot streak of late as he’s thrown for no less few than 262 yards in each of his past three games and at least 32 passing attempts in each game as well.
I still knock the Falcons for not taking more shots down the field, but with Ryan having so much success, it’s hard not to recommend him as a start-worthy quarterback. Roddy White has clearly stepped his game up, as has Harry Douglas in the slot. With Julio Jones coming back last week, Ryan now has his full complement of pass catchers, and Jones should get more opportunities down the field as he continues to work his way back from a troublesome hamstring injury.
The Texans do a good job against the run, so look for the Falcons to use Michael Turner to keep the defense honest. But they'll really lean on Ryan to win the game, like last week against the Vikings.
Matthew Stafford @ Saints
The Lions just aren’t the same when defenses aren’t forced to respect anyone out of the backfield, as they take away the vertical passing game and wait for opportunities to jump on predictable short routes. Toss in Matthew Stafford's struggles with accuracy at times, due to a fractured finger on his throwing hand, and it’s easy to see why the Lions are in danger of missing the playoffs.
Still, Detroit will be throwing the football to win, the rest of the way, and Stafford is worth using this week in what should be a shootout against the Saints. This could be a game where we see Stafford throw over 50 attempts, so expect him to surpass 300 yards and a few touchdowns in this contest.
| 1 | Aaron Rodgers | @ Giants |
| 2 | Drew Brees | Lions |
| 3 | Eli Manning | Packers |
| 4 | Tom Brady | Colts |
| 5 | Cam Newton | @ Buccaneers |
| 6 | Tony Romo | @ Cardinals |
| 7 | Matthew Stafford (I) | @ Saints |
| 8 | Matt Ryan | @ Texans |
| 9 | Ben Roethlisberger (I) | Bengals |
| 10 | Tim Tebow | @ Vikings |
| 11 | Josh Freeman | Panthers |
| 12 | Philip Rivers | @ Jaguars |
| 13 | Vince Young | @ Seahawks |
| 14 | Joe Flacco | @ Browns |
| 15 | Carson Palmer | @ Dolphins |
| 16 | Alex Smith | Rams |
| 17 | Christian Ponder | Broncos |
| 18 | Andy Dalton | @ Steelers |
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Sidney Crosby's four-point night in his return to NHL action was the stuff of hockey fables, which is code for "an event easily drenched in shrill, saccharine clich� that makes the climax of a Disney children's sports film look cynical by comparison."
So in a way, Pierre McGuire was both the most appropriate and the most unfortunate announcer to serve as a color commentator for Crosby's big night; standing between the benches for VERSUS, serving up his usual platter of mistimed trivia and verbal fellation of star players.
McGuire has fawned over the Pittsburgh Penguins captain before, so one anticipated it would happen again if Crosby managed to accomplish anything of significance during his return against the New York Islanders. But a four-point night transformed McGuire into a close-talking hybrid of Paula Abdul and Jeff Craig of "Sixty Second Preview."
Here are 11 of Pierre McGuire's ickiest/weirdest/oddest actual lines about Sidney Crosby's comeback on VERSUS Monday night, taken out of context and best read in his distinctive voice:
11. "How about that strength down low? Wow."
10. "When he played for Team Canada at World Juniors as a 16 year old in Helsinki Finland where it's dark 23 out of 24 hours, he was carrying the stick bag and it was minus 40 degrees."
9. "The only thing he's havin' a tough time doin'? Growin' a mustache."
8. "Everybody in the League better shake their head! This guy's for real and this team's for real!"
7. "He does it sooo many different ways."
6. "I think if you were to go on a pro-rated basis, he's on pace for 240 points."
5. "He's Peter Forsberg, for those who remember the great Peter Forsberg, Sidney Crosby's Peter Forsberg with more pure finishing ability than Peter Forsberg had."
4. "You talk about the all-around superstar that Sidney Crosby is, it's been a Crosby-palooza tonight."
3. "The pictures don't lie. So just digest the pictures and the artistry."
2. "Don't lose the smile keep havin' fun Sid."
And the No. 1 ickiest Pierre McGuire line about Sidney Crosby's comeback with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night ?
1. "They wanna see a little 87 magic. They got a little taste, they want a little more."
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Virginia was making its 31st consecutive appearance in the NCAA men?s soccer tournament. Delaware hadn?t participated in 41 years and was a heavy underdog visiting Charlottesville in the first round Thursday. The outcome? Delaware 1, Virginia 0 in extra time. The Blue Hens are coached by Ian Hennessey, who played for MLS?s MetroStars in 1996.
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Virginia was making its 31st consecutive appearance in the NCAA men?s soccer tournament. Delaware hadn?t participated in 41 years and was a heavy underdog visiting Charlottesville in the first round Thursday. The outcome? Delaware 1, Virginia 0 in extra time. The Blue Hens are coached by Ian Hennessey, who played for MLS?s MetroStars in 1996.
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