“This is it, don’t get scared now.”
– Kevin McCallister
Ahhhhh the holiday season means catching up on classic holiday movies. Being a blonde headed kid named Kevin always brings me back to one of my childhood wheelhouse movies, Home Alone, and all the kids who would slap their faces and scream at me for no apparent reason. The act has fortunately worn off slightly as I’ve gotten older but I still get an occasional fantasy football fan doing something similar. But the popular quote reigns true for our circumstances today as we have reached week 13, the all important week before the playoffs. Hopefully most of you who have followed us throughout the year find yourself safely secured into a nice seed but sometimes even the best of us have occasional misfortunes. This could be THE week that defines your season. I’m sure there are plenty of people who are in the infamous, “win and you’re in” situation and we need to do everything we can as an FFBLife team to get them from the precipice of disaster to the pinnacle of success.
“You guys give up, or ya thirsty for more??”
Let’s get to week 13.
START
QB:
Tony Romo vs PHI: For the most part this season, Tony Romo has been utterly underwhelming. Currently, he is coming off of his best performance of the season against the Washington Redskins. Romo has topped 300 yards passing in 4 of his last 5 games, 2 of which he topped 400 yards and he is taking on an Eagles team that have packed it in. They haven’t been good on D all season, including the portion when they gave effort. Where we sit today, the Eagles currently have given up the most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. Lastly, Romo has the benefit of one Dez Bryant turning into the Dez Braynt we all, me especially, have been waiting for. I expect Romo to light up the Eagles like a Chevy Chase Christmas light decoration.
Peyton Manning vs TB: He’s great, at home, and Tampa Bay stinks at stopping the passing game.
Matt Ryan vs NO: It’s the New Orleans D. These Thursday night games have disappointed throughout the season but this one has shootout written all over it. I had the feeling when I heard Matt Ryan talking about the game and a fake Santa told him, “You’ll shoot your eye out kid.” From that moment on, I knew.
Ryan Fitzpatrick vs JAC: Put Chad Henne in your lineup and become an offensive juggernaut huh? That’s the recipe apparently, considering 61 points scored in the previous two weeks when it took them the 4 weeks combined before that to reach the similar total. The defense however is still a sieve against the pass. Currently the Jags rank as the 4th worse against defending the quarterback in the NFL so expect Ryan Fitzpatrick to take advantage in a week in which his coach backed him as the potential future QB, again.
Other QBs worthy of a start: Eli Manning at WAS, Brandon Weeden at OAK, Jake Locker vs HOU
RB:
Bryce Brown at DAL: The match up isn’t anything uber special I just think the kid is. Ever since the preseason Bryce Brown has excited me with his talent. The former number 1 overall recruit in the nation took an odd path to his NFL future, but his talent level is immense. With Shady McCoy expected to miss this week again, expect Bryce Brown not to be laying down as he plays for his future. I love what this kid brings, evidenced by what he did to Carolina last week. The Cowboys are not Carolina on D, but the Eagles need to run through Bryce Brown and see what they’ve got. Oh, and hold on to the football bud.