Fearless Predictions - Week 6

You don't need to hear Hank Williams to be ready for some football. We at the People's Pigskin are always ready for a good game. We're also always ready to pick a fantasy football matchup or two. So, without further ado, here are the predictions for this weekend's games in the People's League. Last week's picks went 3-2, leaving us with a season record of 12-13.

People's Pigskin vs. Team Brotherton. If things hold true to form, Tony Romo should find more passing lanes against the New England Patriots than Donovan McNabb finds against the Chicago Bears. Romo may not necessarily win his game, but he'll help the Pigskin win its game.

t-bay jacks Young'ry Buccs vs. Hudson Valley Hawks2. There are injuries, and then there are injuries. Missing LeGarrette Blount and Julio Jones will hamstring the Buccs and help the Hawks go to 5-1.

Glen Gardner's Finest vs. Minneapolis Houll. To pull this one off, the Finest will need the New York Jets defense/special teams to stomp on the Miami Dolphins. Fortunately, the Dolphins feature both a backup quarterback and a coach who's about two days away from hearing "Dead Coach Walking" in the hallway. The Finest will get over the hump on Monday night.

Arcadia Roses vs. LA Lockouts. Don't look now, but the top running back in fantasy football is . And he gets to face a banged-up New York Giants defense. He'll be the difference in a Roses victory.

VinSethVaughn Bears vs. Palm Bay, Fl. BearDown85. One of the advantages of loading your fantasy team with players from a single team is that sometimes you'll walk into the Sunday night or Monday night game with enough weapons to erase a major deficit. The Bears have three Chicago Bears in the starting lineup for Sunday night's game against the Minnesota Vikings. That gives the fantasy Bears the ability to come from behind and beat the BearDowns.

Enjoy the games, everybody. We'll be back with some results.

Quick Monday Evening Update (and Polls)

The ESPN pregame crew may be looking ahead to next week's clash between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets, but we at the People's Pigskin certainly are not. We are still focused on this week's fantasy football matchup against the Chicago VinSethBears.

We currently hold a 101-77 lead, but this game isn't over yet. The VinSethBears have Michael Crabtree in Monday night's game against the Arizona Cardinals. If Crabtree scores 25 or more points, the VinSethBears will win. It's so simple, even this guy could figure it out.

In the meantime, it is time to start considering our lineup for next week. There are no Thursday night players on our roster, so these football polls will stay up until Sunday morning. Feel free to vote now, and enjoy tonight's game. And here are the results from our playoff poll.

[polldaddy poll=4161155]

A Pre-Christmas Comeback

It's Monday, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and the People's Pigskin has found the proverbial ray of sunshine.

The Internet's favorite fantasy football team has more than erased its deficit against the Houston Wreckin' Crew. In fact, we're now sporting a 145-111 lead. The Crew has two New York Giants suiting up for Monday night's matchup against the Washington Redskins: Hakeem Nicks and Lawrence Tynes. The Pigskin has one player tonight: Kevin Boss, the emergency acquisition who replaced the injured Jeremy Shockey.

Nicks and Tynes must outscore Boss by 35 points for the Crew to beat the Pigskin. Is that a long shot? Perhaps, but so were the Cowboys and the Buccaneers this weekend.

We'll be back Tuesday with a breakdown.

Monday Update and Waiver Poll

The People's Pigskin walks into the Monday Night tussle at Lambeau Field with a sense of hope, if not exactly unbridled optimism.

The Internet's favorite fantasy football team currently trails the D.C. Destroyers by a score of 74-63. The Destroyers have no players in tonight's game between the Green Bay Packers and the Baltimore Ravens. The Pigskin has one player: Greg Jennings, who must score 11 fantasy points for a tie and 12 points for the win.

While we wait for the frozen cliches of Monday Night Football, it's time to discuss the waiver wire. Jamal Lewis has been placed on injured reserve, so there's no sense in keeping him on the roster. Therefore, we have a new poll asking you, the Internet, who should be picked up to take his spot. Here are the choices.

David Garrard. Currently 16th among quarterbacks with 134 fantasy points.

Jason Campbell. Currnelty 19th among quarterbacks with 126 fantasy points.

Julius Jones. Currently 34th among running backs with 74 fantasy points. (And apparently recovered from his lung injury, since he got 25 touches Sunday.)

Mike Bell. Currently 36th among running backs with 73 fantasy points.

Steve Breaston. Currently 35th among wide receivers with 72 fantasy points. (It's too bad our league doesn't credit him with return yards.)

Lee Evans. Currently 37th among wide receivers with 70 fantasy points.

This poll will close Wednesday night, so that a waiver claim can be processed in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Please vote, and enjoy the festivities from Wisconsin tonight.

A Pre-MNF Update

In fantasy football, there are times when you can do no wrong, and there are times when everything you do will blow up in your face.

A week after a 30-point win over the Houston Wreckin' Crew the People's Pigskin finds itself trailing the Hawaiian Surfriders by a score of 69-36. The Surfriders have Laurence Maroney and John Carney in the Monday night matchup between the New Orleans Saints and the New England Patriots. We have Jeremy Shockey. It's not an entirely lost cause, but it is certainly time for a Hail Mary.

We'll be back tomorrow to review this game and get ready for the next one.

Monday Update and Reading

It's Monday, and the People's Pigskin is alive and well. We currently lead Big Lough O by a score of 84-80. That means that if the Baltimore Ravens defense/special teams can be held to under 4 fantasy points tonight, the Pigskin will record a victory. How hard could that be? After all, it's not as if the Cleveland Browns have a head coach who has ticked off enough players to draw the union's attention, right?

While we wait to learn about our fantasy football team's fate, here are some links for your surfing pleasure.

Better take a knee for this one. There are countless ways to lose a fantasy football game. It's painful, for example, when your running back is tackled on the 1-yard line and his backup scores the touchdown. It has to be even worse when your running back takes a knee at the 1-yard line on purpose, as Maurice Jones-Drew did Sunday, following the orders of his head coach.

The Jacksonville Jaguars wanted to deny the New York Jets a chance to get the ball back (sound familiar?), so they told Jones-Drew to take a knee if he was in a position to get into the end zone. He apologized later to those who had him on his fantasy team. One of those teams: the Big Lough Os. I'm just saying...

Well, that was quick. As I'm typing this list up, ESPN is reporting that the Cincinnati Bengals will sign Larry Johnson to a contract. The Bengals were pushed into the LJ market by Cedric Benson's hip injury Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

What kind of first impression will Johnson make in Cincinnati? Hopefully, it will be better than the last impression he made in Kansas City. (Not that the bar is set particularly high.)

On a more positive note. If you used your first-round fantasy pick to draft LaDainian Tomlinson, you're probably starting him no matter what. Still, wouldn't you have liked to know before the game that LDT would have extra motivation after learning that he was going to be a father? It reminds me of when Brett Favre had a monster game a day after his father died. Emotion has a well-deserved reputation for fueling big performances like Favre's and LDT's.

If you're running an NFL pregame show, would it kill you to squeeze a few more notes like this into your broadcast in between the analysts' efforts to talk over one another and laugh hilariously at the drop of a hat? I'm sure fantasy players would really appreciate actually learning something from your shows every once in a while.

This Bud's for you. Imagine if you're the owner of a National Football League team. Imagine that your team just recorded its third straight victory -- and did so in front of its home crowd, the folks who buy your tickets and merchandise and allow you to live the lifestyle you are currently living. Now imagine that you live in a world where cameras are everywhere, and that every single fan in that stadium, friend or foe, could have a camera-equipped phone in his/her pocket.

Knowing all that, how would you celebrate after your team's hard-earned victory? If you're Bud Adams, the owner of the Houston Oil...er, sorry, the Tennessee Titans, you do this. (Warning: This link shows an unsafe-for-work video.)

Bill Belichick is being called stupid in many circles for what he did Sunday evening, but at least his decision had a chance of working out in his favor. I can't say the same for Adams.

We'll be back tomorrow with an update on our matchup with the Lough Os. Until then, enjoy the Monday night game. (And get comfortable with Jon Gruden's voice. You'll be hearing it for a while.)

Early Results and Monday Preview

It was an ... interesting Sunday for the People's Pigskin. Thanks to a second-half surge by Donald Brown, who was fed the ball as the Indianapolis Colts tried to squeeze the clock, our team currently enjoys a 10-point lead over Tinks Revenge. For those of you who voted for benching Brandon Stokley, the Denver Broncos receiver was held scoreless. But then again, so was Terrell Owens; he was held without a catch for the first time in 185 games. And if I were on his team, I wouldn't be smiling either.

I've always enjoyed fantasy games where the issue wasn't settled until Monday night. So somebody cue Hank Williams Jr. -- we're ready for more football. Tinks Revenge will have DeAngelo Williams of the Carolina Panthers. We will counter with a kicker, Nick Folk of the Dallas Cowboys. If Folk can stay within 9 fantasy points of Williams, the People's Pigskin will emerge victorious.

A more detailed analysis is coming Tuesday. Until then, feel free to comment or answer Sunday's poll question.