The fantasy football playoff season for 2012 is officially in the books and today you are either basking in your win, enjoying your week off because you earned yourself a first round fantasy football bye in your league or wondering where it all went wrong after finding yourself on the losing end of your fantasy football match-up.
Whatever your situation is right now believe me when I say that there are thousands of other people feeling the exact same way as you. If you’re one of the fortunate ones who gets to play another week congratulations! You still got work to do to keep your roster’s momentum going. If you lost and your season is over I’m sorry for your loss and just remember you always have next year! And if you lost because of the Seattle Seahawks defense just know that there was nothing you could do about it.
Below you’ll find some names to check out on the waiver wire of your league that may help you out the next few weeks if you’re still in the hunt for your league’s championship
QUARTERBACK
Nick Foles. I think it’s safe to say that pretty much any quarterback can have a decent fantasy day against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their horrendous pass defense. It’s quite a contrast to their dominant rush defense but that’s just the way they like to do it in Tampa Bay. When you let Nick Foles complete 32 of 51 pass attempts to the tune of 381 passing yards and two passing touchdowns and then also let him run for an additional 27 rushing yards and score on a 10-yard run then you know your pass defense has problems.
Foles isn’t going to light it up like that every week and with a Week 15 match-up versus the Bengals on tap Foles isn’t a recommended start unless you are really desperate for help at the QB position but in Weeks 16 and 17 the Eagles play the Redskins and Giants, respectively. Two teams that have been known to give up a ton of passing yards, which is something to consider if your starting QB gets rested in the final weeks of the fantasy football playoff season.
RUNNING BACK
Shane Vereen. Stevan Ridley has been the workhorse back for the Patriots this season and with good reason. He’s been producing. The only issue with Ridley is that he likes to fumble the ball. Luckily for him and his fantasy owners is that he’s only lost one fumble this season, which has allowed him to stay in coach Bill Belichick’s good graces. Well, on Monday night versus the Texans Ridley fumbled on a goal line carry, which was ultimately recovered by teammate Aaron Hernandez, but that didn’t matter much as Ridley barely saw the field after that and did most of his damage in garbage time. The Patriots are loaded at the running back position and Vereen was actually drafted one round earlier than Ridley. There have been flashes of good play by Vereen here and there and Ridley’s loss might be Vereen’s gain. If you own Ridley then Vereen is a must add right now.
David Wilson. Any Giants fan knows exactly how dangerous Wilson has been for the team on the kick return team. Sunday afternoon was another example of that with Wilson taking one kick return 97 yards to the house for a touchdown and running back three other returns for a total of 227 kick return yards. On top of that Wilson also rushed the ball 13 times for 100 yards and two of those carries went for touchdowns. Not a bad day overall for the rookie and with Ahmad Bradshaw dealing with knee issues Wilson could be in line for more work if Bradshaw misses this week’s game. Monitor Bradshaw’s status to see if he’ll play this week or not.
WIDE RECEIVER
Joseph Morgan. Only two passes were thrown Morgan’s way in the Saints’ blowout loss to the Giants on Sunday but Morgan was able to haul in both of those passes for a total of 106 yards. One catch was for 62 yards and his other reception went for 44. With this season shaping up to be a lost one for the Saints it’s not out of the question for the Saints to see what Morgan has to offer and whether or not they have something special in him. Morgan only has 7 catches on the season but 6 of them went for at least 33 yards.
TIGHT END
Tony Scheffler. The Lions are losing pass catchers at an alarming rate. First Ryan Broyles gets put on season ending IR with an ACL injury, then Titus Young gets put on season ending being stupid IR, and now in this past Sunday night’s match-up versus the Packers Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew left the game with an ankle injury in the first quarter never to return. Whether Scheffler takes over starting tight end duties or not he’s the team’s third best pass catcher at worst and can see some time in the slot. The tight end position in fantasy football has been a wasteland this year and Scheffler could be a sneaky start.
DEFENSE
Detroit Lions. They play the Arizona Cardinals. The same Cardinals offense that gave up 40+ fantasy points to the Seattle Seahawks fantasy defense in Week 14. You’re probably not going to get that many points from the Lions this week but if you stream your fantasy football defense every week then you will be hard-pressed to find a better option than the Lions this week.