Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

The week that’s arguably called the best week for the NFL playoffs saw three blowouts and one upset. The New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts quieted the critics who said they would pay for benching their stars in the final two weeks. It’s shaping up to be a tremendous conference title weekend next week. Hoepfully you’re still in the thick of it in your playoff fantasy leagues, and hopefully you didn’t play any of the Dallas Cowboys. Let’s a take a look at the fantasy recap from the divisional round.

New Orleans Saints 45 vs. Arizona Cardinals 14
This game was projected to be a offensive shootout, and it was…for one team. Drew Brees put together another tremendous game on Saturday, but the Saints didn’t need him to do it all through the air. Reggie Bush rushed for a score and also returned a punt for another TD. It’s hard to predict when Bush is going to go off or do absolutely nothing. He’s become a pretty big boom-or-bust fantasy option. Bush finished with 108 total yards with his two scores. Brees threw for three touchdowns with 247 yards passing. The three TDs went to three different receivers - Marques Colston, Devery Henderson and Jeremy Shockey. Colston also led all receivers with 83 yards. Even in the playoffs, Brees continues to spread the wealth around to all of his receivers. Colston is your best bet for any WR production in the final two rounds over the rest of his teammates in the receiving core. Pierre Thomas led the Saints in carries, but only had 52 yards on the ground. It’s hard to say whether you should go with Thomas or Bush for the final two games. Any injury updates on Thomas may help answer that question this week. Kurt Warner may have played his final football game, and didn’t throw a single touchdown in his possible finale. Warner threw for 205 yards, 77 of which went to Larry Fitzgerald. Obviously Warner’s poor performance takes out Fitzgerald from any success. Really, the best performer for the Arizona Cardinals in this game was Tim Hightower of all people, who totaled 87 yards with a score.

Indianapolis Colts 20 vs. Baltimore Ravens 3
The Baltimore Ravens’ defense did the best they could to hold off the Colts, which means their offensive studs weren’t able to go off for your fantasy team. Still, Peyton Manning threw for two touchdowns with 246 yards passing. Reggie Wayne also put up a solid 63 yards receiving with a touchdown. Dallas Clark racked up 59 yards, but couldn’t find the endzone in this game. Austin Collie hauled in Manning’s other TD. Collie could be a nice sleeper in the final two games if you’re behind and need to take a bold move to try to get back into it. Joseph Addai couldn’t do anything in the ground game, finishing with just 11 carries for 23 yards. With only a few options left, Addai is a decent choice for the final two games. After exploding last week, Ray Rice was pretty quiet against the Colts. While they didn’t have one of the best rush defense in the regular season, the Colts’ D came to play on Saturday, holding Rice to just 67 yards rushing. Rice also posted 60 receiving yards to help give him more respectable numbers, but if you had him on your team, you had to be disappointed he didn’t score. Derrick Mason led all receivers with 64 yards. Joe Flacco ends his short and ugly playoff run with just 189 yards passing in this game with two interceptions. He sure cooled off a lot from his hot start back in the regular season.

Minnesota Vikings 34 vs. Dallas Cowboys 3
This game was so lopsided you could almost call it an upset since a lot of people thought the Dallas Cowboys were going to win this game. Dallas forgot that the Minnesota Vikings found a stud receiver this season in Sidney Rice. Rice totaled 141 yards with three touchdowns to have a monster day. You pretty much needed to have Rice in your lineup this week or you took a hit in the standings behind everybody else who did play him. The ageless Brett Favre had four touchdowns with the other one going to Visanthe Shiancoe. Favre had 234 yards passing and could have another quality game against the Saints’ shaky pass defense next week. Adrian Peterson sure has quieted down a lot in the last month. Peterson once again failed to reach 100 yards rushing, ending the game with just 63 yards. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I would think twice about playing him next week, especially if you’re behind and need to make up points quickly. As for the Cowboys, only Jason Witten had a respectable fantasy day. Witten led Dallas in receiving with 98 yards. Tony Romo remembered his true playoff self and threw for under 200 yards with an interception. His awful game also means that Miles Austin had no chance of helping your fantasy squad. Austin had just 34 yards, but he has cemented himself as a WR1 next year. Felix Jones had 69 yards rushing to lead his team, but Dallas didn’t have much of a chance to run the ball against Minnesota’s stout rush defense.

New York Jets 17 @ San Diego Chargers 14
Finally, we come to this week’s upset special. The New York Jets stayed alive for another week with a tremendous defensive effort against the San Diego Chargers. The biggest fantasy star in this game was the emerging Shonn Greene. Racking up 128 yards rushing, Greene put the game away with his 53-yard touchdown run. Thomas Jones, the guy who most of you probably played, only had 41 yards rushing. Mark Sanchez, who should not be in your fantasy lineup by any means, had just 100 yards passing with a touchdown to Dustin Keller. Braylon Edwards led the team in receiving with 41 yards. The Jets are winning with defense. They aren’t blowing up the scoreboards. If you have to play anybody on the Jets in the final two weeks, it had better be Jay Feely or the defense. Even Jones isn’t a safe bet anymore because of how good Greene has been. Still, Jones is the veteran and could easily get the bulk of the carries next week, so it’s hard to put all your hopes on Greene. Despite suffering defeat, Philip Rivers just missed 300 yards passing and had one touchdown. Although he was guarded heavily by Darrelle Revis, Vincent Jackson posted a game-high 111 yards receiving. VJAX is a legitimate WR1 next year. Antonio Gates also had 93 yards in the losing effort. Too bad you can’t play these guys anymore. I hope you enjoyed watching LaDainian Tomlinson in this game because you’ll probably never see him in a Charger jersey again.

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

Championship Round Start & Sit:  START ‘EM  |  SIT ‘EM  (click to read)

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