Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

It’s championship week and I hope Santa brought you all a championship this season. Santa wasn’t good to the Indianapolis Colts this week, as their perfect season came to an end out of their control. Hopefully you weren’t counting on the Colts in your run for a title. With one week left in the regular season, it’s time to start gearing up for the NFL playoffs, and start taking a sneak peak and who you’d like in the 2010 fantasy draft. Let’s take a look at this week’s fantasy recap.

San Diego Chargers 42 @ Tennessee Titans 17
The San Diego Chargers have really gone back to the running game in the second half of this season. Both LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles went off for two rushing scores each in this game. LT only had 52 yards rushing, but as has been the case all season, his fantasy value rides on how many times he can score. Sproles had even bigger game, as he was on the receiving end of a touchdown pass from Philip Rivers. Antonio Gates hauled in the other Rivers’ touchdown pass. Rivers ended the game with 264 yards passing, and Gates had 74 receiving yards. The only disappointing act of the night came from Vincent Jackson. While he had 70 receiving yards, when the Chargers score 42 points, you’d figure he got at least one of those scores. Still, he and Gates were both studs all season. Chris Johnson was fantastic as he usually was, going off for 142 rushing yards and a score. That’s been the norm for this season’s fantasy MVP, in my opinion. As for the Tennessee Titans’ passing game, it was pretty nonexistent. Vince Young was picked off twice and only had 89 yards passing.

Atlanta Falcons 31 vs. Buffalo Bills 3
It’s too bad the Atlanta Falcons didn’t have Matt Ryan all season because he was clicking again today. Ryan threw for three scores and 250 yards passing. Unfortunately, you may not have had him in your lineup if you found a better substitute when he was hurt. He found Roddy White often today. White, who had fallen off the fantasy map, caught two touchdowns with 139 passing yards. The Falcons’ running game was surprisingly quiet considering the weak rush defense they were up against, but Jason Snelling had 68 yards rushing. As for the Buffalo Bills, Lee Evans had the team’s best fantasy performance with 43 receiving yards. Fred Jackson added 39 rushing yards.

Cincinnati Bengals:17 vs. Kansas City Chiefs 10
Chad Ochocinco scored once again this week. A lot of people went both ways on how his season would be this year, but he has been a huge fantasy stud all season. Although he only had 31 yards receiving today, that TD makes it all worth it. Carson Palmer only threw for 139 yards with an interception, but he had two touchdown passes. The Kansas City Chiefs came to play today on defense, despite giving up 133 rushing yards to Cedric Benson. Jamaal Charles went over the century mark once again, but he was held out of the endzone this week. Facing a tough rush defense, you could have done worse with Charles. Dwayne Bowe led the Chiefs in receiving with 61 yards, and Matt Cassel threw for 180 yards with a touchdowns and two interceptions. This game was quite the defensive struggle.

Cleveland Browns 23 vs. Oakland Raiders 9
Jerome Harrison was no one-week fluke. After last week’s record-setting performance, Harrison rushed for 148 yards with a touchdown. There was some worry if the Cleveland Browns would get Chris Jennings back in the mix, but I don’t think that’s an issue going forward. Derek Anderson threw for just 121 yards with a touchdown, but I doubt he was in anyone’s fantasy lineup. A big boom-or-bust wide receiver, Mohamed Massaquoi had 61 yards receiving with a touchdown. Charlie Frye threw for an impressive 333 yards passing, with 110 of them going to Zach Miller, but no touchdowns. Darren McFadden had 78 total yards, but besides Miller, nobody probably had any Raiders in their lineup I’m guessing.

Green Bay Packers 48 vs. Seattle Seahawks 10
This outcome was pretty expected - the Seattle Seahawks are just awful. Aaron Rodgers didn’t have to do much in this game, only throwing for 237 yards and a touchdown. That performance I’m sure hurt a lot of championship-contending fantasy teams. Greg Jennings racked up 111 yards receiving, as he’s made his way back on the fantasy scene in recent weeks. Better late than never, right? Ryan Grant told somebody he wanted the ball more after last week. Grant rushed for 97 yards and two scores. Grant’s no fantasy stud, but he’s a solid RB2. The Green Bay Packers had a total of five rushing TDs today. Could there be a possible RBBC brewing here? Matt Hasselbeck threw another touchdown pass to John Carlson, but he was also picked off four times. Justin Forsett rushed for 70 yards, as he may become a fantasy contender as an RB3 next season. Deion Branch had 53 yards receiving, but the entire Seattle Seahawks’ passing attack has been pretty poor this season.

Pittsburgh Steelers 23 vs. Baltimore Ravens 20
How many exciting games are we going to get from the Pittsburgh Steelers? The fantasy stud of this game, for the first time in a long time, is Santonio Holmes. Holmes had a game-high 86 yards with a touchdown. It was Big Ben’s lone touchdown pass with his 259 yards through the air. Rashard Mendenhall only had 36 yards rushing, but he hit paydirt once. Mike Wallace had 83 yards receiving, as he is really coming on as a potential nice fantasy WR3 or 4 next season. Hines Wardonly had 37 yards receiving, but he’s been battling a sore hamstring the past couple weeks. Derrick Mason had 77 yards receiving, but it could have been better. Mason dropped a sure touchdown in the endzone. Todd Heap didn’t drop anything in the endzone, as he caught two touchdown passes. Joe Flacco only threw for 166 yards, but he had those two TDs to Heap to save his fantasy day. Ray Rice didn’t score, but as usual, he gobbled up a ton of yards, 141 rushing yards.

Houston Texans 27 @ Miami Dolphins 20
Who would have guessed that Chad Henne would finish with more passing yards than Matt Schaub today? Henne had 322 to Schaub’s 286, but Schaub threw for two scores, to Henne’s one. Andre Johnson found the endzone once again to go with his 71 receiving yards. Seems like a quiet day for him. Jacoby Jones was the Houston Texans’ leading receiver with 79 yards and a touchdown. Arian Foster gave Houston something positive on the ground for the first time in a long time, going for 97 yards and a TD. Lex Hillard caught Henne’s touchdown pass, but Ted Ginn led the Miami Dolphins in receiving with 82. He had another touchdown catch erased from a penalty. I still don’t like Ginn at all heading into next season. Ricky Williams got hurt in this game, and only had 35 yards rushing.