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.

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.

The People's Choice - Week 10

We at the People's Pigskin don't want to be late like DeSean Jackson, so we're going to have to make this quick. Here are the players who will represent the Internet's favorite fantasy football team this week against the Minneapolis Fantastic Houll.

Quarterback: You must have liked what you saw last week from Eli Manning, because he's starting again this week in a late afternoon game against the San Francisco 49ers.

Running back: We used one of the two starting spots on Michael Bush (with wonderful results) on Thursday night. This poll produced a two-way tie. Using the projected points tiebreaker, we award the second starting spot to Ray Rice. He faces the Seattle Seahawks in a late afternoon game.

Wide receiver: This poll produced the dreaded three-way tie. (Leave the jokes alone, please.) Again, we look to the projections to help us out. The starting spots go to Larry Fitzgerald (visiting the Philadelphia Eagles) and Plaxico Burress (who has a Sunday night date with the New England Patriots).

Flex: This week's flex battle pits a pair of Patriots against each other. With points projections, Wes Welker edges out Danny Woodhead for this starting spot against the New York Jets on Sunday night.

There were no changes at tight end (Jason Witten, hosting the Buffalo Bills), defense/special teams (the Pittsburgh Steelers, facing the Cincinnati Bengals) or kicker (John Kasay, matching up against the Atlanta Falcons).

We'll be back later with the People's League predictions.

An Early Taste of Victory

The streak is over for the People's Pigskin.

The Internet's favorite fantasy football team beat the Arcadia Roses by a score of 105-66. Our season record has been raised to 3-6, and even if we did ruin our chances to draft Andrew Luck, we'll take it.

Here is the most pleasant scoring breakdown we've run in six weeks.

Eli Manning, QB: 20 of 39 passing for 250 yards, 3 rushes for 11 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception and 17 fantasy points. No, he doesn't get extra fantasy points for leading a last-minute comeback victory, but those last-minute points count just the same.

Ray Rice, RB: 18 rushes for 43 yards, 5 receptions for 43 yards, 1 touchdown and 14 fantasy points. Considering that he got those statistics against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, you have to call them impressive. And they'd be even more impressive had it not been for a certain holding call.

Michael Bush, RB: 19 rushes for 96 yards, 2 receptions for 33 yards, 1 touchdown and 18 fantasy points. Bush has been the big beneficiary of both Darren McFadden's injury and Carson Palmer's misadventures.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR: 4 receptions, 43 yards, 1 touchdown and 10 fantasy points. Who would have guessed the way to get Fitzgerald his first touchdown in a month was to get John Skelton under center?

Plaxico Burress, WR: 5 receptions, 79 yards and 7 fantasy points. There had been questions about Burress' back, but there are no questions about his hands.

Wes Welker, Flex: 1 rush for 13 yards, 9 receptions for 136 yards and 14 fantasy points. All that was missing was a touchdown.

Jason Witten, TE: 4 receptions, 71 yards, 1 touchdown and 13 fantasy points. Weeks like this are the reason Witten keeps showing up on "under-appreciated weapons" lists.

Pittsburgh Steelers, D/ST: 1 fumble recovery, 3 sacks, 23 points allowed and 4 fantasy points. Those last two figures were more impressive until Joe Flacco put that last drive together.

John Kasay, K: 2 for 3 on field goals, 3 for 3 on extra points and 8 fantasy points. Kasay is not the top fantasy kicker anymore, but he remains serviceable.

Bench: We would have been all right with Tony Romo, after all. He scored 20 fantasy points. Damian Williams scored 9, and Danny Woodhead scored 5.

Now, we have to deal with a new fantasy football wrinkle: Thursday Night Football on NFL Network (the same network that told us the greatest touchdown celebration of all time was by Barry Sanders). We have one player involved in this Thursday's match between the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers. That would be Michael Bush. And the decision on whether to play him won't wait until Saturday. So we have a special poll set up for him now. That poll will close Thursday evening before kickoff. Please vote now.

We'll be back shortly with the fantasy racing results.

Fearless Predictions - Week 9

Now here's something we didn't anticipate. The People's League has something you don't see in hockey or college football anymore: a tie.

But even that result couldn't save these fantasy football picks from a dismal outing. They went 1-3-1 last week, dropping our season record to 16-23-1. Like the New Orleans Saints, we need to make a quick comeback, and here's how we're going to do it.

People's Pigskin vs. Arcadia Roses: We've got Eli Manning reliving his finest hour. That should get the Pigskin an elusive win.

Hudson Valley Hawks2 vs. VinSethVaughn Bears: This one really could go either way. The Bears have a bunch of Monday night players, so a late comeback is always possible. However, Philip Rivers is the type of player who follows up a rotten performance with a great one. He should lift the Hawks to a winning record.

Team Brotherton vs. Minneapolis Fantastic Houll: The Brothertons are on a roll, having won three straight. And the Baltimore Ravens defense/special teams should be much stiffer against Ben Roethlisberger than the Patriots were last week. Make it four straight for the Brothertons.

Glen Gardner's Finest vs. t-bay jacks Youngry Buccs: Expecting Josh Freeman & Company to beat the New Orleans Saints twice this season may be asking a little too much of a team that's still up and coming. Look for the Finest to prevail here.

Palm Bay, Fl. BearDown85 vs. LA Lockouts: Cedric Benson is back from his suspension, and he'd like to remind the NFL that it was supposed to miss him last week. He'll run over the Tennessee Titans and life the BearDowns to the upset here.

Thanks again for reading, and enjoy the games. We'll be back with some results.

The People's Choice - Week 9

Daylight Savings Time is in our rear view mirror, and Thursday night football is just around the corner. (We'll discuss that further on Monday.) In between those two events, you, the Internet, have selected a lineup for the People's Pigskin. The Internet's favorite fantasy football team may be 2-6, but we're putting on a brave face and, with your help, fielding this lineup against the Arcadia Roses.

Quarterback: It's unanimous. You, the Internet, want to see Eli Manning take on the New England Patriots for the first time since this game. Well, you've got it. Eli takes the field late Sunday afternoon.

Running back: There were two clear winners in this poll to select two starters. They are Ray Rice (facing the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night) and Michael Bush (hosting the Denver Broncos in a late afternoon game).

Wide receiver/Flex: Three wide receivers dominated the voting, so all three are going to get starts over the third-place running back (Danny Woodhead). Your winning receivers are Larry Fitzgerald (in a late afternoon game against the St. Louis Rams), Plaxico Burress (visiting the Buffalo Bills) and Wes Welker (in a late afternoon game against the New York Giants.

Yes, the people who run this blog have noticed the "Q"s next to Burress and Welker. All indications are that both players should play today. However, if they can't, we have backups available to plug in, and we'll let you know if we're forced to use them.

There were no changes at tight end (Jason Witten, taking on the Seattle Seahawks), defense/special teams (the Pittsburgh Steelers, who play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night) or kicker (John Kasay, looking to bounce back against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

Thanks again for your contributions. We'll be back with the People's League predictions.

OK, This One Hurt

If you play fantasy football for any length of time, eventually you will suffer a beatdown like the one the People's Pigskin experienced.

The Internet's favorite fantasy football team lost to the Arcadia Roses by a score of 122-86. This lowered our season record to 2-3.

Here are the scoring details, which are almost as gory as some of the signs from the Wall Street protests.

Eli Manning, QB: 24 of 39 passing for 420 yards, 3 rushes for 5 yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, 1 fumble lost and 20 fantasy points. This season, the People's Pigskin seems to be collecting quarterbacks with a propensity for late turnovers.

DeAngelo Williams, RB: 9 rushes, 1115 yards, 1 touchdown and 17 fantasy points. As so often happens in fantasy football, most of Williams' points came from a single play. But we'll take it all the same.

Joseph Addai, RB: 6 rushes for 19 yards, 1 reception for 6 yards and 1 fantasy point. Addai left the game in the first quarter with a hamstring injury. That's something we'll have to monitor throughout the week.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR: 4 receptions, 66 yards and 6 fantasy points. Fitzgerald's fantasy points dropped for the third straight week.

Wes Welker, WR: 5 receptions, 124 yards and 12 fantasy points. That point total would be much higher if Darrelle Revis hadn't stopped him from scoring on his 73-yard catch.

Percy Harvin, Flex: 1 rush for 12 yards, 1 reception for 11 yards and 2 fantasy points. Someone on the Minnesota Vikings must have remembered that they had Adrian Peterson on the active roster.

Brandon Pettigrew, TE: 4 receptions, 39 yards, 1 touchdown and 9 fantasy points. That touchdown helped the Detroit Lions reach 5-0 for the first time since this man was president.

Pittsburgh Steelers, D/ST: 1 interception, 3 sacks, 17 points allowed and 6 fantasy points. No one will confuse this year's Steelers with the Steel Curtain, but as long as they keep winning, no one in Pittsburgh will mind.

John Kasay, K: 3 for 3 on field goals, 3 for 3 on extra points and 13 fantasy points. Don't look now, but the 41-year-old Kasay is now the third-highest fantasy scorer among kickers. We may have a debate about what to do with him when his bye week comes up.

Bench: This report will be short but not sweet. Plaxico Burress scored 4 fantasy points. Everyone else was on a bye week, injured or ignored by his team.

This week, we get several of those bye-week players back, including Jason Witten, Tony Romo and Ray Rice. But we send Fitzgerald to the bench for this week's matchup against Team Brotherton. And we certainly need your help filling out our roster. Therefore, the lineup polls are now open (below the NASCAR polls on the right side of this page) and will close Saturday night. Please do your part to help us turn this ship around. Thanks.

The People's Choice - Week 5

It's Sunday morning again. And if you're reading this blog, chances are your morning routine includes setting your fantasy football lineup. The People's Pigskin is able to set its roster thanks to you, the Internet. You overcame the many questions that arise during bye weeks and picked this lineup for this week's People's League matchup against the Arcadia Roses.
Quarterback: Tony Romo's much-needed week off helped make this selection easy. You chose to start Eli Manning instead of taking a chance on the waiver wire. Manning hosts the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday.
Running back: There were two clear-cut winners of this poll. Fortunately, there are two clear-cut spots for running backs in the starting lineup. They go to Joseph Addai (who takes on the Kansas City Chiefs) and DeAngelo Williams (who faces the New Orleans Saints).
Wide receiver: As should be expected by now, the winner of this poll was Larry Fitzgerald, who visits the Minnesota Vikings this week. In second place, we have a tie between Wes Welker and Percy Harvin. Turning to the points projections as a tiebreaker, Welker (19) easily beats out Harvin (13) for the starting spot. He'll play in a late afternoon game against the New York Jets.
Flex: This battle between the third-place running back (Michael Bush) and the third-place wide receiver (Percy Harvin) goes to Harvin by virtue of the points projections (13-9). He gets the Arizona Cardinals today.
Tight end: It's always fun to have a fantasy player take the field in prime time to help you cement a win or erase an afternoon deficit. This week, thanks to Jason Witten's bye week, that role falls to Brandon Pettigrew, who will entertain the Chicago Bears on Monday night.
There were no changes at defense/special teams (the Pittsburgh Steelers, who face the Tennessee Titans) or at kicker (John Kasay, who visits the Carolina Panthers).
Thanks again for your votes. We'll be back later this morning with the People's League predictions.

Sometimes It Just Comes Together

It's too early to soak ourselves in champagne, but winning like this does feel good.

The People's Pigskin recorded a resounding 133-77 victory over the VinSethVaughn Bears. The Internet's favorite fantasy football team now sports a 2-1 record.

Let's dissect the results.

Eli Manning, QB: 16 of 23 passing for 254 yards, 3 rushes for minus-3 yards, 4 touchdowns and 26 fantasy points. It certainly helped that Victor Cruz picked this week to announce himself to fantasy players.

Ray Rice, RB: 9 rushes for 81 yards, 5 receptions for 83 yards and 16 fantasy points. Rice didn't score any touchdowns, but the Baltimore Ravens didn't need him to.

Joseph Addai, RB: 17 rushes for 86 yards, 1 reception for 2 yards, 1 touchdown and 14 fantasy points. The only possible silver lining to the quarterback problems in Indianapolis is that Addai (who scored the Colts' only offensive touchdown Sunday night) may get more of the workload.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR: 5 receptions for 64 yards, 1 touchdown and 12 fantasy points. Yet another Pigskin player scored the only touchdown for his team's offense.

Percy Harvin, WR: 2 rushes for 41 yards, 3 receptions for 47 yards and 8 fantasy points. This score certainly would have been higher if Harvin didn't lose his pregame meal late in the game.

Wes Welker, Flex: 1 rush for 19 yards, 16 receptions for 217 yards, 2 touchdowns and 34 fantasy points. With his career outing, Welker gave the New England Patriots everything except a win.

Jason Witten, TE: 6 receptions, 60 yards and 6 fantasy points. Witten made the most of an evening where Tony Romo's biggest problem may have been his center instead of his ribs.

Pittsburgh Steelers, D/ST: 1 touchdown scored, 1 fumble recovery, 1 sack, 20 points allowed and 11 fantasy points. That defensive touchdown alone would have made this a successful fantasy outing.

John Kasay, K: 1 for 1 on field goals, 3 for 3 on extra points and 6 fantasy points. Kasay was one of the beneficiaries of a fourth-quarter scoring bonanza in New Orleans.

Bench: Some weeks, having three bench players score 11 points each (Michael Bush, Plaxico Burress and Brandon Pettigrew) would be a problem. And then there are weeks like this one.

Now, it's time to put that game in the rear mirror and turn our attention to this week's matchup against the t-bay jacks Young'ry Buccs. The polls are now open and will remain open through Saturday night. So please get those votes in, so we can keep this winning streak going.

The People's Choice - Week 3

On this first Sunday of autumn, we are pleased to report that you, the Internet, came through again. You registered your votes (and, by extension, your concerns) 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 as they take on the VinSethVaughn Bears.
Quarterback: You had enough concerns about Tony Romo's midsection to turn his "questionable" status into a "let some other fantasy team take the chance" status. As a result, you decided to start Eli Manning instead. He'll face the Philadelphia Eagles and hope he doesn't face a Miracle of the Meadowlands, Part 3. (Yes, I know the game is in Philadelphia. Work with me here.)
Running back: It's no surprise that the top vote-getter in this poll was Ray Rice. He suits up in the late afternoon against the St. Louis Rams. What might surprise is that the runner-up was Joseph Addai. He gets a few extra hours to prepare for the Sunday night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Wide receiver: This week's receiver poll resulted in a three-way tie involving Larry Fitzgerald, Wes Welker and Percy Harvin. Since there are two spots labeled "wide receiver," we'll use ESPN's week 3 projections to break the tie. Fitzgerald (19), who visits the Seattle Seahawks in the late afternoon, and Harvin (15), who plays the Detroit Lions, edge out Welker (14). However...
Flex: Since Wes Welker got more votes than the third-place running back (Michael Bush), he gets this spot for his matchup against the Buffalo Bills.
There were no changes at tight end (Jason Witten, who has a Monday night date against the Washington Redskins), defense/special teams (the Pittsburgh Steelers, playing the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night) or kicker (ageless wonder John Kasay, facing the Houston Texans).
Thanks for your votes, everybody. We'll be back with the People's League predictions.