Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

If you didn’t have success in your fantasy football season you just need to relax. Websites everywhere are trying to keep fantasy football alive with postseason play. In fact, the Bruno Boys would like to invite you and your friends to join our league on Fantasy Football Playoff Challenge, where you can try knocking off the experts. It’s free and easy to play, so why not keep the magic alive for a few more weeks?

On to the injuries. While a big time player went down on Sunday, there is still animosity as to how teams should handle the final weeks of the season. Play your guys and watch them get hurt? Sit your stars and let them get rusty going into the most important time of the year? For fans, you should always want the starters to play. It makes the games in Week 17 worth watching and it helps those in fantasy football leagues. Those guys are paid to do a job and that is to play football. Having them sit is doing the fans and other teams in the NFL a disservice. When they are up by 28 in the 3rd quarter of a game in Week 6, you don’t take them out. Well why do it in Week 17? The arguments can go on and on without there ever being a right answer. One thing we do know, we still have injuries to deal with going into round one of the playoffs. 

Wes Welker, WR, New England Patriots: Well this is what happens when a team plays its starters despite having their playoff spot secured. Welker went down with a torn ACL and MCL, which means he is done for the playoffs. This injury may slightly downgrade quarterback Tom Brady, but the teammate Welker hurts most by not being in the lineup is wide receiver Randy Moss, as he will now see more double teams than normal. The player to grab up in this situation is Julian Edelman, who excelled when Welker was injured early in the year and had 10 catches in Week 17. He may not score touchdowns, but he should see a lot of looks this weekend.

Chad Ochocinco, WR, Cincinnati Bengals: According to Ochocinco’s latest tweet, he has a swollen knee that he cannot extend. The reports are that he didn’t suffer any structural damage but is set to undergo an MRI. Considering he is banged up, you may want to avoid Ochocinco in the Bengals rematch against the New York Jets. Everyone has heard of the Darrelle Revis effect on wide receivers and if Ochocinco can play (and we expect he will) his stock isn’t great as it is. Avoid him if you can and if the Bengals win, grab him for next week. 

Anquan Boldin, WR, Arizona Cardinals: While the team is said to be pessimistic about Boldin playing this week with his injured left knee and ankle, head coach Ken Whisenhunt is holding out hope. The MRI results have yet to be released and until that happens, Boldin’s status is up in the air. This is an injury worth watching until kickoff but considering this is a playoff game and Boldin has played with worse injuries in the past, he may try toughing it out and playing. The problem is, how much impact will he make? Let’s check on his status this week before we make that decision. 

Laurence Maroney, RB, New England Patriots: Maroney didn’t play in the final week of the season due to a knee injury but was probable all week leading up to the game. The Patriots decided to sit him for precautionary reasons and he should be ready to take on the Baltimore Ravens. While Maroney should be the lead back, there will be other guys touching the football (Kevin Faulk, Sammy Morris, Fred Taylor) and facing a tough Ravens defense, it’s hard to recommend Maroney at this point.

Arizona Cardinals Defense: The team did get some good news yesterday, when they found out that both Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (left knee) and Calais Campbell (left thumb) should be able to play this week against the Green Bay Packers. This is good news for a defense that was a surprisingly strong unit in fantasy football this season, who had the 8th most points in standard leagues. 

Not a lot of injuries to note this week, as we only needed to break down the eight teams playing this weekend. But there are some key players banged up and if you are playing in postseason fantasy football, you will certainly want to check back with the Bruno Boys later in the week for more info on these big name players.

Injury reports come in every Monday from Bruno Boys Greg. He can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Wild Card Round Rankings:  QB  |  RB  |  WR  |  TE  |  K  | DEF  (click to read)

Wild Card Start & Sit:  START ‘EM  |  SIT ‘EM  (click to read)

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