Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

This is the time of year when I start thinking about turkey and mashed potatoes, Thursday Night Football, holiday travel plans, and, of course, the fantasy playoffs. While I love a good league championship, I’ve never had more to play for than I do this year with my Buffalo Wild Wings All-Star Blogger League – I so want to win that trip to Miami during the Super Bowl. So, I’ve been taking a good hard look at my team to see which guys have an easy path ahead during the fantasy playoffs – and which do not. Since my team is hardly going to interest all of you, I thought I’d expand a bit and look at players from all the offensive skill positions that have a sweet stretch of match-ups for Weeks 14-16. Remember, this is a ranking for the playoffs only and you should always have your own lineup in mind when you read these names!

First up, quarterbacks. Let’s take a look at 4 guys in pretty good shape from Weeks 14-16. (Note: The opposing team’s current pass defense ranking is listed in parentheses.)
 
 

Well, that’s great and all, but considering most of those guys are top 10 QBs (only Warner is not a top 10 QB as he ranks 14th using FFToday’s statistics), what are the chances that you’ll get your paws on one of them? If you’ve got a mediocre quarterback with a weak playoffs schedule, and your chances are already looking good to make it to the playoffs, it couldn’t hurt to try and bolster your squad with one of the players listed above. But, if your league isn’t big on trades – or at least trades including marquee players – then maybe you need to expand your horizons. So, what about guys ranked in the 10-20 range, guys who are on the start/sit bubble; which of them has a solid playoffs schedule?

What about the rest of the positions? Which bubble players have decent matchups in the playoffs? For RBs and WRs I looked at guys ranked in the 25-50ish range and for TEs I looked at players in the 10-20ish range.

Wow, loving Maroney’s playoffs schedule – granted this is New England we’re talking about, so the backfield time splits are going to be less defined, but I’d certainly feel good about plugging Maroney (and possibly other NE running backs) into my lineup during the fantasy playoffs.

I went with Jamaal Charles rather than Larry Johnson here since I’m convinced Johnson’s carries and playing time will be quite limited. But hey, if Johnson proves to still have an impact for the Chiefs, then you could certainly take advantage of that Week 14-15 punch against the two worst rush defenses in the league with either Charles or Johnson.

As for the WRs I focused on, I think Dwayne Bowe has nowhere to go but up in the WR rankings and Steve Breaston will likely take advantage of Anquan Boldin’s injury status moving forward. And how about Floyd? He’s the latest in my series of fantasy crushes – with teams focusing on Vincent Jackson, Floyd is bound to take advantage of his single coverage and sweet, sweet playoff schedule.

Meanwhile, with Chris Cooley and Owen Daniels suffering injuries, the TE position has been in the spotlight a lot more than usual. If you need a replacement TE and are wondering which guys you could get for cheap, cheap, cheap or just off the waiver wire, maybe roll the dice on Pettigrew or Fells. Their playoff schedules are pretty decent, and both guys are facing relatively lax pass defenses from here on out. They probably won’t be the reason your team wins, but they won’t hurt your squad either. Sometimes that’s really all you need.

To see other articles written by the Fantasy Football Librarian click here…. A Librarian’s Touch Archives

The Bruno Boys are pleased to once again welcome guest columnist, Sara Holladay, back for her feature,A Librarian’s Touch, for the 2009 season. The woman behind the web-site, Fantasy Football Librarian, Holladay is someone all fantasy owners should be well familiar with if they want to win their league’s title as she provides some of the best fantasy football insight and resources found around the web!