NFL Football - Football

It is playoff time for Fantasy Football Nation and this week either marked the start of your league’s playoffs or it was the final week of your regular season.  It is now or never time for your team and if you were still relevant or lucky enough to be starting a lineup this week hopefully victory is within your grasp. The Denver Broncos and Tim Tebow came back for another overtime thriller, The Green Bay Packers are still undefeated and the Houston Texans clinched a playoff berth for the first time in franchise history. There was plenty of Good, always some bad and of course some Ugly.

Good

Maurice Jones-Drew- He has had a solid season and he had his mojo going today when he shredded the Bucs for 4 TD’s..you read that correct, 4 TD’s. If you are a MoJo owner he picked the perfect time of the season to run wild for your fantasy squad and put your team on his shoulders. Jones-Drew finished the day with 136 total yards, 6 receptions and 4 TD’s for 43 points and the Fantasy high score of the day.

Patriots Offense- The game was a close one in reality for the Pats as they were able to hold on for the 7 point road victory. For fantasy play the New England stud players were exactly that, studs! Tom Brady led the attack to the tune of 357 yards, 3 TD’s and 30 fantasy points.  The main benefactor in the passing game was the machine known as The Gronk. Rob Gronkowski has become a regular in the weekly GBU and today wasn’t any different. He broke the single season Touchdown record for TE’s with his first of the day, for giggles he padded his stats with a second TD. Gronk finished his day with his usual 6 catches, 160 yards, 2 TD’s and 34 fantasy points. Wes Welker was feeling left out of this fantasy bonanza so he picked up his game in the 2^nd half and finished his afternoon with 7 catches, 86 yards, 1 TD and 21 fantasy points.

Marques Colston- It took Drew Brees and his boys until the 3^rd quarter to finally get things rolling and like death and taxes, Brees throws touchdowns. Colston had a huge second half catching 2 big Touchdowns for the Saints. He finished with 7 catches, 105 yards and the 2 TD’s for 29 fantasy points.

Mark Sanchez & Shonn Greene- The Jets offensive combo were both on fire today and racked up 5 touchdowns between them. Sanchez threw for 180 yards with 2 passing TD’s and also scampered for 2 more on the ground. He rewarded his brave owners who had the stones to start him with 31 fantasy points. Greene totaled 187 yards from scrimmage today with 3 receptions, 1 TD and 26 fantasy points.

Matt Ryan- Matty Ice was red hot for the Falcons in their come from behind victory against the Panthers in the early games. Ryan was sharp completing 22 of his 38 passes for 320 yards and 4 TD passes. Ryan finished the day with 36 fantasy points and was an absolute monster for his owners today.

Bad

Calvin Johnson-  The man they call Megatron has been quiet over the last few weeks and today’s performance was not worthy of a nic name. Johnson was held to 3 grabs for 29 yards and 11 yards rushing. PPR guys were able to lock down 6 points but standard leaguers only scored 3 points from the NFL’s best wide receiver.

Ryan Fitzpatrick- The Bills were bad today, especially their signal caller. Fitzpatrick only completed 13 of his 34 passes, 176 pass yards and 2 Interceptions. Fitzy finished his day to forget with 5 fantasy points, without his 20 plus yards on the ground he would have finished in the ‘Ugly’.

Willis McGahee- I am not sure what Willis was talking about but he was left off the stat sheet in Denver’s come from behind victory against the Bears. McGahee was quiet and when Tebow turned on the magic they were in comeback throw the ball mode. He ran the rock 17 times for only 34 yards and a disappointing 3 fantasy points. McGahee was just a shepherd today watching his sheep while Tim Tebow continued to do God’s work on the football field.

Greg Jennings- Jennings was held to  2 grabs for 20 yards and to make matters worse he was injured and did not return. This was not the week for Jennings owners and it is possible that he may have cost you your season by laying down a lousy 4 fantasy points.

Carson Palmer- The Raiders are on a slide and Palmer’s performance was brutal today. He scored a late garbage time TD that padded his stats enough to keep him from the ugly list but let’s be honest here, 4 INT’s is a pretty ugly stat in its self.  Palmer finished with 245 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT’s for 7 fantasy points.

Ugly

Matt Hasselbeck- The seasoned veteran can’t stay healthy and once again he left the game with an injury, this time it was a calf injury and he is headed for a MRI.  Hasselbeck was 5 of 7 for 44 yards and 1 fantasy point before he took to the sidelines.

Benjarvus Green Ellis- The Law Firm was more like a public defender’s office today and his performance reflected a cheap moniker.  BGE only carried the rock 5 times and managed 19 yards for 1 fantasy point. The Patriots offense is a pass happy and the New England back field can’t be trusted for fantasy production.

Daniel Thomas- The Dolphins came back to earth today and they were man handled by the Eagles in their own stadium. Reggie Bush managed to produce again but Daniel Thomas wasn’t as lucky, he was more of an Ugly girl at the dance type player today. He was invisible and only managed 4 yards on the ground with his 7 carries.  He caught 2 balls for 9 yards and scored 2 points in the PPR leagues but put up the big bagel in standard leagues, that is 0 points for those who need it to be spelled out.

Jermichael Finley- He was only targeted once today and the Packers had control of the game by halftime so they were in clock killing mode starting in the 3^rd quarter. There doesn’t appear to be an injury here and Finley finished the day with zero fantasy points. He has been healthy this year but Aaron Rodgers has been spreading the ball everywhere on the field, today he hooked up with 10 different receivers.

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