Fearless Predictions - Week 12

While some people are figuring out how to use those last bites of Thanksgiving dinner, fantasy football players are trying to position themselves for the playoffs. And we at the People's Pigskin are trying to lift our People's League predictions up to the .500 mark. We made some progress last week by going 3-2, lifting our season record to 25-29-1. Let's see if we can keep that momentum going.
People's Pigskin vs. VinSethVaughn Bears: The Bears took a 24-11 lead on Thursday, but the Pigskin has the weapons (including Eli Manning on Monday night) to overcome that deficit and extend its winning streak to four games.
Palm Bay, Fl. BearDown85 vs. Glen Gardner's Finest: As of this writing, the Finest sport a 22-3 lead. As of this writing, the Finest has not chosen a starting quarterback (with Mark Sanchez available on the bench). The BearDowns have Cedric Benson, LeSean McCoy and Vincent Jackson with tasty matchups, not to mention a five-game winning streak. That streak should extend to six, even with Tim Tebow in the starting lineup.
t-bay jacks Young'ry Buccs vs. Arcadia Roses: The Roses lead 19-5. The Roses have the better record, the better fantasy quarterback (Cam Newton), the better fantasy running back (Arian Foster) and better fantasy receivers (Steve Smith and Roddy White). The Roses get the pick.
Team Brotherton vs. LA Lockouts: These two teams are tied at the top of their division. The Brothertons have a 46-26 lead. Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham may make things interesting on Monday night, but Rashard Mendenhall should have a strong enough Sunday night to preserve the win for the Brothertons.
Hudson Valley Hawks2 vs. Minneapolis Fantastic Houll: The Hawks lead this matchup by a score of 24-20. And this matchup might boil down to how you feel about Chris Johnson. He has already wrapped up that Fantasy Bust of the Year award, but this week's matchup against Tampa Bay might be the thing he needs to remind us why the Titans gave him that titanic contract in the first place. Look for Johnson to make the difference in a Hawks victory.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the games. We'll be back with some fresh polls.

The People's Choice - Week 12

We'd like to thank those of you who were able to tear yourselves away from the joy of shopping long enough to vote on the People's Pigskin lineup for this week. Here are the players who will take the field for the Internet's favorite fantasy football team against the VinSethVaughn Bears.
Quarterback: With Tony Romo voted down on Thursday, you went unanimously with Eli Manning, who will take the field Monday night against the New Orleans Saints.
Running back: After starting Ray Rice on Thanksgiving night, we had only one running back spot left to bestow. Fortunately, you wanted only one running back out there: Michael Bush (hosting the Chicago Bears in the late afternoon).
Wide receiver: The two leading vote-getters this week are the ones who have been getting votes (and points) all season long. Larry Fitzgerald has an early matchup against the St. Louis Rams, and Wes Welker has a late afternoon game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Flex: The third-place finisher in the wide receiver poll handily beat the second-place finisher in the running back poll. Therefore, Plaxico Burress starts for us this afternoon against the Buffalo Bills.
The voters turned back to our usual starters at defense/special teams (the Pittsburgh Steelers, facing the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night) and kicker (John Kasay, hosting the New York Giants on Monday night). And longtime readers of the blog will recall that Jason Witten started for us Thursday at tight end.
Thanks for voting. We'll be back later with the People's League picks.

A People's Pigskin Thanksgiving (with Polls)

As this post hits the Web, some of you are watching balloons make their way down Manhattan. Others are preparing your turkeys (hopefully with better results than this). Some are hoping their travel plans don't turn into a Steve Martin movie. And we at the People's Pigskin are preparing for a fantasy football feast. We asked you, the Internet, to help us make some early decisions about this week's matchup against the VinSethVaughn Bears. And here are your piping-hot results.
Quarterback: You treated Tony Romo the way many people treat that canned cranberry jelly that makes its way to so many tables. The majority of you passed on him, so we'll have to go another direction at that position.
Running back: On the other hand, you unanimously reached for Ray Rice the way most of us reach for the pumpkin pie. He'll start for us this evening against the San Francisco 49ers.
Tight end: Since both of the tight ends on our roster have games today, we pretty much knew one would be starting for the Internet's favorite fantasy football team. And the winner is Jason Witten, who hosts the Miami Dolphins in the late afternoon.
As for the rest of our lineup, we still have a lot of decisions to make. So we have whipped up a fresh batch of lineup polls from scratch. They will stay open through Saturday night, so you can vote on them today while waiting for dinner, or you can come back to them later after the crowds have dispersed. Either way, we would appreciate it if you cast your vote and helped this experiment in fantasy sports democracy continue.
Enjoy the games, everybody. And remember your reason to be thankful. If you're having trouble coming up with your own, here's a hint.

Thankful for Another Win

As you dig in to your turkey tomorrow, the People's Pigskin will be celebrating its third straight win and starting work on a fourth.
The Internet's favorite fantasy football team defeated Glen Gardner's Finest by a score of 92-62. Our season record has improved to 5-6, and we now sit two games behind the division leader in the People's League.
Here is a quick scoring breakdown.
Eli Manning, QB: 18 of 35 passing for 264 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, 1 fumble lost and 10 fantasy points. Unfortunately, Manning is making a habit of giving up late turnovers that cost his NFL team even more than they cost his fantasy teams.
Ray Rice, RB: 20 rushes for 104 yards, 5 receptions for 43 yards, 2 touchdowns and 26 fantasy points. The Baltimore Ravens have figured out that they are more likely to win when they find ways to get Rice the ball.
Michael Bush, RB: 30 rushes for 109 yards, 2 receptions for 20 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 fumble lost and 16 fantasy points. The only thing that might slow Bush down at this point is a recovery by Darren McFadden.
Larry Fitzgerald, WR: 3 receptions, 41 yards, 1 touchdown and 10 fantasy points. It's a good thing Fitzgerald found the end zone. Otherwise, these numbers would be ugly.
Plaxico Burress, WR: 4 receptions, 64 yards and 6 fantasy points. Thursday night was a bad night to be a New York Jet.
Wes Welker, Flex: 2 receptions, 22 yards and 2 fantasy points. Both of Welker's catches came late in the fourth quarter of a game that was decided the moment the Kansas City Chiefs allowed Rob Gronkowski to run free.
Jason Witten, TE: 3 receptions, 85 yards, 1 touchdown and 14 fantasy points. Witten's yardage was his highest in a month and a half.
Buffalo Bills, D/ST: 1 sack, 1 safety, 35 points allowed and 2 fantasy points. It's safe to say this waiver wire pickup didn't pan out.
Mike Nugent, K: 1 for 1 on field goals, 3 for 3 on extra points and 6 fantasy points. Nugent scored 6 fantasy points for the third straight week.
Bench: Tony Romo racked up 23 points on our sidelines. Percy Harvin added 15, and DeAngelo Williams (remember him?) scored 10.
Now, let's talk about Thursday. The National Football League is gracing us with three games, all of which have fantasy relevance. (Even NPR has noticed.) And we need your help setting our lineup. We have four players taking the field on Thanksgiving: Rice, Romo, Witten and Brandon Pettigrew. Our polls are still open and will stay open through Wednesday night. If you'd like to help out, get your votes in now, and encourage your friends/relatives/random holiday visitors to do the same.
We'll be back with the results.

Wrapping Up a NASCAR Season

Thanks for your patience over the past few days as the people who bring you this fine fantasy sports blog have been on the road. We are back home, and another auto racing season is in the books. The People's Pitstop is proud of its performance over the past 10 months, concluding with a 280-point outing on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Our season total of 9,550 dropped us one spot to 5th place in the 9beersfantasysportstavern league. Congratulations to Dale Jr Amp National Guard 88 for winning the league.
And here are the final results of 2011 for the Internet's favorite fantasy NASCAR team.
Carl Edwards: Started 1st, finished 2nd, 119 laps led and 118 fantasy points. Edwards did everything except what he needed to do to get his first Sprint Cup: win. However, longtime readers will recall that we anticipated that.
Brad Keselowski: Started 5th, finished 20th (1 lap behind the leaders), 11 laps led and 62 fantasy points. Keselowski is certainly someone to watch for 2012. As long as no one asks him about fuel injection.
A.J. Allmendinger: Started 12th, finished 15th and 62 fantasy points. As it turns out, 15 was the number to describe Allmendinger's weekend. With his 15th place finish in Homestead, he secured 15th place in the final NASCAR standings.
Bobby Labonte: Started 35th, finished 27th (1 lap behind the leaders) and 38 fantasy points.
Thanks to all of you for helping the People's Pitstop achieve all it achieved this season. And remember that the People's Pigskin still has some meat left on its season. A fresh set of polls are now open for voting through Wednesday night.
We'll be back with the football results.

Fearless Predictions - Week 11

Without further adue, here are this week's predictions for the People's League. Last week's version of the picks went 2-3, leaving us with a season record of 22-27-1.
People's Pigskin vs. Glen Gardner's Finest: The Pigskin holds a slight lead after Thursday night and should maintain that lead the rest of the weekend.
Hudson Valley Hawks2 vs. Team Brotherton: The Hawks got only a single point from Shonn Greene before he left Thursday's game. The Brothertons should take that break and run with it to a victory.
LA Lockouts vs. t-bay jacks Young'ry Buccs: The Buccs got only 3 points from Santonio Holmes on Thursday. DeMarco Murray has a chance to cement his spot in the Dallas Cowboys starting lineup. That should get the Lockouts another win.
Minneapolis Fantastic Houll vs. Palm Bay, Fl. BearDown85: If this one comes down to Monday night, Aaron Hernandez is a far better bet to score than BenJarvus Green-Ellis. And the BearDowns are a much safer pick as a result.
Arcadia Roses vs. VinSethVaughn Bears: That donut the Bears got from Eric Decker probably isn't very tasty. Neither is A.J. Green's doubtful status for Sunday. The Roses should roll into the winner's circle here.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the games -- as well as the race. We'll be back when we can with the results.

The People's Choice - Week 11

Thanks to everyone who voted in this week's polls. Here are the players who will represent the People's Pigskin this week against Glen Gardner's Finest.
Quarterback: Eli Manning edged out Tony Romo. He'll take the field Sunday night against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Running Back: Two players dominated this poll. They were Ray Rice (facing the Cincinnati Bengals) and Michael Bush (visiting the Minnesota Vikings).
Wide Receiver/Flex: Two players topped this poll and beat DeAngelo Williams for the flex spot. As you might expect, they were Wes Welker (facing the Kansas City Chiefs Monday night) and Larry Fitzgerald (playing the San Francisco 49ers in the late afternoon).
There were no changes at tight end (Jason Witten against the Washington Redskins). Earlier in the week, you chose Mike Nugent (facing the Baltimore Ravens) and the Buffalo Bills defense/special teams (playing the Miami Dolphins).
We'll be back with the People's League predictions.

The People's Choice - Homestead (and the Final Prediction)

We at the People's Pitstop would like to thank all of those who have supported us throughout this NASCAR season. The drivers have arrived at their final destination: Homestead-Miami Speedway. And here are the drivers who will represent us there.
A List: Carl Edwards earned the pole (and 10 bonus points for us).
B List: Brad Keselowski (5th) and A.J. Allmendinger (12th) earned starting spots over Jeff Burton and Marcos Ambrose.
C List: Bobby Labonte (35th) earned the final starting spot over David Gilliland.
And, instead of giving you the usual top 10 predictions, we'll end this racing season with the only prediction that matters.
Tony Stewart wins his third Sprint Cup.
We'll be back with the football poll results.

Say Hello to Our New Friends

This week, we threw a Justin Verlander-level curveball at you, the Internet. We asked you to pick a new defense/special teams and a new kicker for the People's Pigskin to fill in for our regular starters, the Pittsburgh Steelers and John Kasay. You voted, we submitted the waiver wire requests -- and came up as empty as this guy.
So, instead of getting our first choice, the Cincinnati Bengals defense/special teams, we ended up with the Buffalo Bills defense/special teams. They will start for us this week against the Miami Dolphins. Joseph Addai was released to make room for the Bengals.
On the kicker side, we couldn't get Neil Rackers (who has a bye week, anyway), so we went with plan B: Mike Nugent of the Cincinnati Bengals. He'll start for us against the suddenly vulnerable Baltimore Ravens. Danny Woodhead was released to give Nugent a roster spot.
Thanks for your input on those polls. And feel free to vote on the others. The one about Plaxico Burress will close Thursday evening (before his New York Jets kick off against the Denver Broncos). The ones about our NASCAR lineup will close Friday evening. And new football polls will go up as soon as we know whether Burress is starting for the Internet's favorite fantasy football team.

We Have Another Winning Streak!

It only took until the middle of November, but the People's Pigskin has its second two-game winning streak of the 2011 season.

The Internet's favorite fantasy football team beat the Minneapolis Fantastic Houll by a score of 122-74. The win lifted our season record to 4-6, and given the tight standings in the People's League, a playoff berth remains a distinct possibility.

Here are all the juicy details.

Eli Manning, QB: 26 of 40 passing for 311 yards, 2 rushes for 4 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and 16 fantasy points. Once again, our quarterback had a strong day -- right up until the end.

Ray Rice, RB: 1 for 1 passing for 1 yard, 5 rushes for 27 yards, 8 receptions for 54 yards, 1 touchdown and 11 fantasy points. It's a good thing Rice got a chance to throw for a score. The Baltimore Ravens seemed bound and determined to give this game to the Seattle Seahawks by keeping the ball away from Rice.

Michael Bush, RB: 30 rushes for 157 yards, 3 receptions for 85 yards, 1 touchdown and 29 fantasy points. You never want to celebrate a player's injury, but Bush is making the most of his opportunity.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR: 7 receptions, 146 yards, 2 touchdowns and 26 fantasy points. Who would have thought all Fitzgerald needed to light up the scoreboard was a new quarterback?

Plaxico Burress, WR: 3 receptions, 39 yards, 1 touchdown and 9 fantasy points. Burress made the most of Mark Sanchez's limited (and possibly hesitant) production Sunday night.

Wes Welker, Flex: 6 receptions, 46 yards and 4 fantasy points. The New York Jets defensive plan seemed to be "Use Darrelle Revis to stop Welker and let the New England tight ends run roughshod over us."

Jason Witten, TE: 5 receptions, 37 yards and 3 fantasy points. We don't get fantasy points for having our tight end pass Ozzie Newsome on the all-time reception list. Too bad.

Pittsburgh Steelers, D/ST: 2 interceptions, 17 points allowed and 7 fantasy points. The Steelers clearly are not the fantasy force they once were, though they are doing enough to beat their opponent most Sundays.

John Kasay, K: 4 for 5 on field goals, 2 for 2 on extra points and 17 fantasy points. Kasay is used to taking advantage of opportunities, even when they are presented to him by the opposing coach.

Bench: Not that we needed it, but Tony Romo did score 22 points on Sunday. Damian Williams scored 16, and Percy Harvin put up 6 points Monday night.

This week is going to be a busy one poll-wise. Our opponent this week is Glen Gardner's Finest. And, in addition to the bye week holes covered in a previous post, we have a Thursday night player on our roster. Burress and his New York Jets take on the Denver Broncos this week. So we have a poll up on whether Burress should take one of the receiver spots. That poll will close Thursday evening and can be found right below the defense/special teams and kicker polls, which will close today. So please get your votes in now.

We'll be back with the results from those waiver wire polls.