Note: The rankings that appear next to the player's name are the total fantasy points ranking for their respective position.

Darth's Spartans (2) v Jammer's Time (3)

Yahoo's Projection - 105.60 v 117.89

QB -
Roethlisberger (5)
v
Brees (8)

Nice matchup here. Jammer has taken a bit of punt replacing Hasselbeck with Brees. Will this move come back to haunt him or prove prophetic?

Ben Roethlisberger has been fairly quiet the past 4 weeks but this week goes up against JACKSONVILLE who are ranked 27th against the pass. Santonio Holmes returned last week from injury and will be a big help to Ben if healthy.

Hasselbeck threw for a season high 4 TD's last week, but that didn't stop Jammer kicking his butt to the kerb. However, Drew Brees did have a nice game himself going for 328 yards and 3 TD's. He goes up against a lame ARIZONA pass defense (24th) this week. Another possible reason for the change at QB.

WR -
Evans (29), Crayton (27), Urban (84)
v
Driver (24), Johnson (34), Holmes (21)

On paper Jammer looks to have the advantage in the receiving department, having 3 consistent WR's who like to rack up yardage. However, it looks like Darth is the TD-vulture specialist and we all know 1 TD = 60 yards.

Lee Evans has had a disappointing season. He has only 4 TD's on the season but 2 of those came last week on only 2 receptions! Also in his favour is a dream matchup against CLEVELAND (30th pass defense) this week.

Patrick Crayton has been a nice waiver pickup for Darth although getting enough catches has been his problem having TO and Witten to contend with. However, having big threats heavily guarded usually means he is open in the end zone, vulturing 7 TD's on only 39 receptions. He goes up
against PHILADELPHIA (18th)

Jerheme Urban came out of nowhere last week, racking up 123 yards and a score. With both Boldin and Fitzgerald dealing with injuries and fellow fill-in Bryant Johnson struggling last week, he really came through. Boldin is again iffy this week, but can he put in a repeat performance?
His matchup is NEW ORLEANS (29th) and with Kurt Warner slinging the ball at anything that moves he has a good chance of snaring another score.


Despite not scoring since Week 3, Donald Driver has been consistent only needing 64 yards this week to push through 1,000 yards on the season. ST LOUIS are only ranked 16th against the pass so a good game is by all means possible.

Andre Johnson is the 34th ranked WR on the season despite only playing in 6 games! He has scored in all but 1 of those games and is averaging a cool 103 yards per game. He takes on 7th ranked
pass defense of DENVER, however he has played 2 top 10 defenses in the past 2 weeks and managed to come away with very nice games.

Santonio Holmes will be a wildcard for Jammer this week. He returned from injury last week but only managed 1 reception. He has a nice matchup this week against JACKSONVILLE (27th) so he won't find a much better chance of having a bounce-back week.


RB -
Westbrook (2), Peterson (3)
v
Tomlinson (1), James (11)

The top 3 RB's on the season are all involved in this matchup which promises to be a beauty. Predicting this outcome will be anyone's guess as all 4 guys have massive game potential.

Brian Westbrook has piled on the yardage this season and recorded 7 rushing TD's. However what seperates him from other RB's is his receiving game. 642 yards and 5 TD's there help him retain his value even when playing top rush defenses. This week has faces a strong rush D in DALLAS (4th), which means he will likely see more receptions as evidenced last time he faced them in week 9, when he had 16 rush attempts and 14 receptions.

Adrian Peterson is coming off his worst week ever, recording only 3 total yards on 14 attempts against a pretty dismal 49ers rush defense. This week he faces another poor rush D in CHICAGO (24th) so one would expect a bounce-back week from the likely rookie of year. Good news for Darth is that in week 6 against the very same team he recording 224 yards and 3 TD's!


Not much really needs to be said about LaDanian Tomlinson. He is still the number 1 RB in the league despite what some would say has been a disappointing season by his lofty standards. LT has been on a roll the past 2 weeks with over 350 total yards and 4 total TD's. He plays DETROIT(16th) this week who we all know have a terrible pass defense but their rush D is not so bad. Still, expect a big week.

Despite reaching nearly 1,000 yards on the season you'd have to say Edgerrin James has been fairly inconsistent. Only 46 rush yards last week and no scores in the past 3 weeks, and facing a quite solid run D in NEW ORLEANS (8th) should all add up to some tempered expectations this week for Jammer.


TE -
Gates (1)
v
Winslow (4)

Matchup between 2 of the best TE's this season.

Antonio Gates has again been the best TE in the league this season, however it has not been by the gap it was last season. We have seen a lot of TE's step up to the plate which means Darth's early selection of him in the draft has been negated somewhat. A dream matchup this week against DETROIT (31st) should see him have an extremely productive day, however he appears to be carrying a hip injury which may be affecting his play of late.

Kellen Winslow comes up against a poor pass D this week in BUFFALO (28th), which should help him bounce back from a couple of quiet weeks the past 2. Derek Anderson has been a nice surprise this season and that has seen Winslow's value take a massive leap. He is about due for another score, and could surpass 1,000 yards on the season this week.


K -
Graham (7)
v
Gostkowski (6)

Two solid kickers face-off in this matchup. While it is almost impossible to predict what a kicker is likely to do in a given week, both have favourable matchups. Shayne Graham lines up against 22nd ranked overall defense in SAN FRANCISCO, while Stephen Gostkowski faces 28th overall defense in NEW YORK JETS. Both their respective teams are likely to score well this week which means even if they don't get the FG opportunities, they will be likely racking up the PAT's. And I don't know how I managed to
write 6 lines about a kicker matchup but I did.


DEF -
Kansas City (19)
v
Tampa Bay (11)

Neither defense has been overly exceptional fantasy-wise this season but both Darth and Jammer will be looking to exploit their respective matchups this week.

When Darth needed a defense to replace his disappointing Bears defense, he looked no further than the waiver wire to find himself an eager Kansas City waiting to bust loose. KC have the 14th ranked overall defense and play the 21st overall offense in TENNESSEE this week. Could be a shrewd move from Darth as the Titans only average 19 points per game. KC average only 13 points themselves so Darth will be hoping for a low-scoring slugfest. And some snow...

Jammer rolls with Tampa Bay who have been very good in reality (3rd overall defense), but not quite as valuable fantasy-wise. One could probably attribute that to a lack of sacks and interceptions. But this week they go up against ATLANTA who are the 24th ranked overall offense. There should be no reason Tampa Bay can't hold the Falcons down to a low score, but Jammer will be praying for a few bonus stats to come his way.


Good luck!

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Great analysis webz! Your breakdown is dead on. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

I'm still not 100% set on a few spots.

I've gone back and forth on Brees vs Hasselbeck. I decided to take Brees at home fighting for their playoff lives against a poor Arizona defense over a banged up Hasselbeck on the road with the division title already clinched.

Holmes was another guy I've debated over. He's coming off an injury that has caused him to miss several games and he didn't look 100% last week in his return. But my only current WR backup, Ginn Jr. is really only a return threat. As of right now, I'm leaning towards Homes' potential over Ginn's return yards.

Edge has been a bit of a disappointment for me this season, but only a slight one. Still, I like him better than Foster or Dayne.

Driver has racked up the yards again this season, but he just doesn't have the TDs to show for it. But there's no way I'm benching him, so I'll just have to hope for the best.

Tampa over Dallas was another match-up decision. The Bucs have an easier opponent and more to play for.

__________________

Darth and Jammer both suck. I hope you both lose. The real battle is for 5th place.

You're a bitter, bitter old man Bill.

Thee was right about you all along.

Fantastic stuff Webz. You sure know a lot more about it than I do.

I may play Boldin if he's available at WR.

You forgot the wildcard though...Darth has NEVER lost a playoff match in ANY fantasy sport. Talk about lady luck...

That being said, I think it will be you & Jammer in the finals. It's been a fun season.

I'm flying to Texas on business for a week starting early next Monday (Idaho has contract beds in Texas, so I'll be doing some parole hearings for prisoners there). Anyhow, I probably won't even know the results between Jammer & I until the 22nd, if it's relatively close, because Peterson plays late Monday. I'm mentioning this because if I lose, I don't want Jammer to think I was sulking and didn't offer congratulations until a week later.

Good luck fellas. Three of the four of us will bring home a trophy...but like Bill said, 5th place is the big one.

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"In whatever you do, it's important to put your all into it, because you never know when or if that time will be your last." - Donovan McNabb

It's not that hard to do a preview. Just look up the players game log and the rankings of the team he is playing and that's about it.

I just heard that there may be snow for the New England game. Not good...

I'm telling you, that Ookie guy catches all the breaks.

Brady has been gold. Without a typical game from him, you will be facing an uphill battle.

I'm thinking I need a HUGE 40 plus performance from Peterson this week (unlikely to happen)or I'll be toast. I think Jammer's Tomlinson will score two to four times against Detroit.

This league is crooked.

I'm not old.

Only the commissioner is crooked. (Or is "crocked" the proper term in this forum?) Maybe both.

Anyhow, Jammer sent everyone pms last month telling us to go easy on you because you were a senior citizen. Well, he actually said "Lambs is an old fart, so he'll probably cry when you kick his butt." I really don't want to add fuel to this fire, but I haven't been sleeping nights knowing that he is calling you "the fossil" behind your back.

If you want to know his address, I can give it to you. I visit there now and then, as you already know, when he is away at the office.

__________________
"In whatever you do, it's important to put your all into it, because you never know when or if that time will be your last." - Donovan McNabb

I looked at my lineup card and most of my players have those notes by their name. It's possible about half of them won't even play this week. Crazy stuff.