It Was a Heck of a Run

...but one that came up just short of the goal for the People's Pigskin. We would like to congratulate the Fighting Amish for winning the People's League championship. It was a title that was hard-fought but richly deserved.

The Internet's favorite fantasy football team fell this week by a score of 82-67.

The final overall score for the two-week championship was 171-144.
As promised, here is a look at the individual player results.

Peyton Manning, QB: 27 of 41 passing, 264 yards, 2 touchdowns and 18 fantasy points. Manning did his part both for fantasy football teams and for his Indianapolis Colts, who clinched the AFC South title and the conference's No. 3 playoff seed.
Michael Turner, RB: 17 rushes, 67 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 fumble and 10 fantasy points. The second red-zone fumble in as many games has to raise a red flag for the Atlanta Falcons, who nevertheless wrapped up home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.
Knowshon Moreno, RB: 6 rushes for 41 yards, 1 reception for 2 yards and 4 fantasy points. If the Broncos stick with Tim Tebow next season, his ability to call his own number will hurt the fantasy value of anyone sharing a backfield with him.
Dwayne Bowe, WR: 5 receptions, 68 yards and 6 fantasy points. It didn't help his fantasy cause that Bowe's quarterback was sacked 7 times. Regardless, Bowe ended the season as fantasy football's top receiver.
Kenny Britt, WR: 5 receptions, 85 yards, 1 touchdown and 14 fantasy points. Britt got most of his points on a single throw from Kerry Collins -- before Collins forgot how to take a snap.
Calvin Johnson, Flex: 0 receptions, 0 yards and 0 fantasy points. Yes, Johnson was active for the Detroit Lions, but it seems that just because you're listed as "active" does not mean you will actually ... you know ... take the field. On behalf of fantasy football players everywhere, thanks for resting Megatron for the Pro Bowl, Detroit Lions.
Randy McMichael, TE: 2 receptions, 22 yards and 2 fantasy points. It wasn't a good season to be a top-notch tight end such as Antonio Gates (or Dallas Clark). Will the 2010 injuries shake up the 2011 tight end rankings? We'll find out in a few months.
Washington Redskins, D/ST: 1 interception, 17 points allowed and 3 fantasy points. The Shanahans clearly have a lot of work to do.
Olindo Mare, K: 3 for 3 on field goals, 1 for 1 on extra points and 10 fantasy points. It's safe to say Mare did at least as much as Charlie Whitehurst to get the Seattle Seahawks the NFC West title.
Again, we'd like to thank you, the Internet, for helping us get this far. This season provides strong evidence that the masses know at least as much as the "experts" about how to build a run a fantasy football team.
But don't take this blog off your reading list yet. Fantasy NASCAR will be here before we know it. In the interim, we have the playoffs, the Super Bowl and a season to review. We'll be back.

The People's Choice - Week 17

Championship Sunday is upon us, and once again we at the People's Pigskin must thank you, the Internet, for helping us pick a lineup. Here's who the Internet's favorite fantasy football team will field for the second half of the two-week People's League final against the Fighting Amish.
Quarterback: Peyton Manning has everything to play for today, so he gets the nod for the 16th time this season as he takes on the Tennessee Titans in the late afternoon.
Running back: Two backs split the vote. One was Michael Turner, who will play the Carolina Panthers. The other was Darren McFadden, who won't play anyone because he's inactive. In his place, we are turning to the other running back on our roster, Knowshon Moreno, who's questionable for the late afternoon game against the San Diego Chargers. If he can't go, we've got the next best thing: his backup, Correll Buckhalter, who will take his place in our lineup.
Wide receiver: This poll delivered two winners. Dwayne Bowe plays the Oakland Raiders, and Kenny Britt plays the Indianapolis Colts in the late afternoon.
Flex: For probably the first time all season, neither the running back poll nor the wide receiver one produced a third-place player, so we'll go to the fallback position of projected fantasy points. Calvin Johnson is expected to produce some, so he gets this spot. He plays the Minnesota Vikings.
Tight end: Once again, the winner of this poll was the Antonio Gates/Randy McMichael combo platter. McMichael gets the start in a late afternoon game against the Denver Broncos, since Gates has been put on injured reserve. (We cut Gates to make room for Buckhalter on the Pigskin roster.)
There are no changes at kicker (Olindo Mare, playing Sunday night against the St. Louis Rams) or defense/special teams (the Washington Redskins, who will try to keep the New York Giants out of the playoffs).
Once again, thank you for helping to put us in this position. The poll results appear below, and a ridiculously premature Super Bowl poll is now available for your votes. Enjoy the games. We'll be back with the results.
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Halfway There

Week 16 has (finally) come to a close in the National Football League, and the People's Pigskin will walk into the final week of the season and the second half of its People's League championship with a 89-77 deficit against the Fighting Amish. Here's a quick scoring breakdown.
Peyton Manning, QB: 16 of 30 passing for 179 yards, 3 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 3 rushes for 25 yards and 17 fantasy points. Manning also pulled a Bryan Westbrook on fantasy football players by sliding short of the goal line to help run out the clock. How many playoff games turned on that slide?
Michael Turner, RB: 17 rushes, 48 yards, 1 fumble and 2 fantasy points. Turner picked a heck of a time (a week the Falcons could have wrapped up home-field advantage) and a heck of a place (the goal line) to lose his first fumble of the season.
Darren McFadden, RB: 11 rushes for 45 yards, 4 receptions for 31 yards and 7 fantasy points. Most of McFadden's offense came on a single 26-yard run. Not good news. Neither is the injury he suffered in the third quarter.
Calvin Johnson, WR: 4 receptions, 52 yards and 5 fantasy points. Johnson left his game early in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. The Detroit Lions say they expect him to play, but his health warrants monitoring.
Dwayne Bowe, WR: 6 receptions, 153 yards, 1 touchdown and 21 points. Now there's the long-touchdown-catching Bowe we know and love.
Kenny Britt, Flex: 4 receptions, 89 yards, 1 touchdown and 14 fantasy points. Britt is making Randy Moss a forgotten man in Tennessee.
Randy McMichael, TE: 2 receptions, 13 yards and 1 fantasy point. It was a day to forget for everyone in a San Diego uniform.
Washington Redskins, D/ST: 2 interceptions, 4 sacks, 17 points allowed and 9 fantasy points. All the talk these days may be about the quarterback, but the Redskins defense is showing it shouldn't be ignored.
Olindo Mare, K: 1 for 1 on extra points and 1 fantasy point. How do you score a single fantasy point as a kicker when your offense scores a pair of touchdowns? Well, one day is to have your coach go for 2 on the second touchdown. Oh, well. At least Mare's team will have something at stake in their season finale.
Speaking of season finales, it's time for ours. And it's time for you to vote in our polls to see who will take the field this last week. Thanks.
We'll be back with some more fantasy football thoughts.

The People's Results - Week 16

Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor gift-returning duties could stop you, the Internet, from selecting the People's Pigskin lineup for this week. Here's who the Web's favorite fantasy football team will start in the first week of its two-week People's League championship matchup against the Fighting Amish.
Quarterback: Peyton Manning. Enough said. (OK, we'll say something else; he's playing the Oakland Raiders in a late afternoon game.)
Running back: Only two players got votes this week in this poll. They are Michael Turner (who faces the New Orleans Saints on Monday night) and Darren McFadden (who faces Manning's Indianapolis Colts in the late afternoon).
Wide receiver: Calvin Johnson won this poll handily. He plays the Miami Dolphins. The other votes were split evenly between Dwayne Bowe, who plays the Tennessee Titans, and Kenny Britt, who plays Bowe's Kansas City Chiefs. Bowe gets a receiver spot, and Britt takes the flex spot.
Tight end: Once again, you, the Internet, went with the Randy McMichael/Antonio Gates combo platter. Gates has already been ruled out, so McMichael gets the start against the Cincinnati Bengals in the late afternoon.
Defense/special teams: We have a change here this week. The winning choice in this poll was "Get a free agent," so we did. We got the Washington Redskins, who face the Jacksonville Jaguars today. To get them, we waived Justin Forsett. Try not to shed too many tears.
Unlike the Sunday night game, we have no change at kicker (Olindo Mare, who gets the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a late afternoon game).
Thanks again for voting. The results for the football/holiday drink polls appear below, and a college football poll is available now for voting. Enjoy the games, and stay safe out there.

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Recommended Thursday Night Reading

(First, a quick NASCAR note: Remember the other day, when I wrote that Clint Bowyer was a legitimate contender to dethrone Jimmie Johnson as the Sprint Cup champion, as long as he kept passing inspections? Um ... never mind.)

Here are a few links for you fantasy football fans to peruse while you wait for the weekend to arrive.

Yes, the first one is about kickers. Deal with it. I'm sure somebody out there lost a fantasy football game because of what happened to Graham Gano. He was the Washington Redskins kicker who kicked what should have been the game-winning field goal Sunday against Houston, only Gary Kubiak called timeout, forcing Gano to rekick (and miss).

More than a few people are thinking "There ought to be a rule against that sort of thing." But according to the Wall Street Journal, that might not be necessary. The Journal studied NFL kicks attempted since 2000 in overtime or the last two minutes of regulation, and it found kickers are more likely to make their kicks if the opposing coach uses the old "icing the kicker" trick.

Of course, that's cold comfort for those who lost the game thanks to Gano's miss and/or Neil Rackers' subsequent game-winning kick.

So let me get this straight ... The Oakland Raiders are smart for calling on Bruce Gradkowski to start in Week 3 over a healthy Jason Campbell, but the Philadelphia Eagles are crazy for calling on Michael Vick to start in Week 3 over a now-healthy Kevin Kolb? In the immortal words of Chevy Chase, can I get a ruling on this?

(Here's your ruling: Start Vick if you have him. Wait and see on Gradkowski.)

The dummy factor. As long as it involves NFL players, fantasy football will always have to deal with situations like Braylon Edwards' DWI arrest -- which, before we go on, was despicable, especially given the program that the team offers to its players precisely to prevent things like this from happening.

The courts will have their say on the matter in due time, and Roger Goodell may or may not wait until then to render his verdict. In the meantime, the New York Jets have a game to play Sunday night, and their plans for Edwards remain murky. The team has said he won't start but will play against the Dolphins. That could mean he'll miss the first series but will play the rest of the game. It could mean he could make a token appearance in the fourth quarter. It could mean anything in between.

For fantasy players, it means that, in addition to getting ready for the possibility of a suspension down the road, they have to consider Edwards less of an effective option than he would have been as a starter.

All because he didn't pick up his phone and say, "Can I get a lift?"

Please vote now on the NASCAR polls. They will close in a few hours, so we can set the People's Pitstop lineup in time for Friday's qualifying session. We'll be back with the results.

Last Word? Try Opening Salvo

Everyone circles a certain date on the NFL offseason calendar: the day by which all teams must whittle their lineups to 53 players. "Cut day" is known far and wide as the date when many football dreams die, as well as the day when players learn whether they are "safe," or at least as safe as a player ever can be in this league.

It's also the day when we fantasy players are supposed to have some sort of clarity about who's part of a team's plans and who's not. Matt Leinart wasn't part of the plan for the Arizona Cardinals. Ditto for T.J. Houshmandzadeh and the Seattle Seahawks.

This year, "cut day" was Saturday, September 4. But it was also the day when some NFL teams seemed to start forming their plans for the 2010-11 season.

Since Saturday, there have been plenty of reports about plenty of players. Some of the stories are absolutely useless to the average fantasy players. In one Yahoo fantasy league, I happen to have Tom Brady, whose name had a "breaking news" icon next to it this evening. The news that Yahoo felt fantasy players needed to know? The New England Patriots are reportedly close to signing Brady to an extension. The effect of that potential deal on this year's fantasy teams? None.

There was also news about a certain Heisman trophy winner (this one, not this one) potentially being stripped of that trophy. The effect of that on this year's fantasy teams? None. As we learned on "cut day" when two former winners got the axe, the NFL hasn't taken a player's trophy case into account for a long time.

Now, on to the post-cut developments that will affect fantasy teams. First, Darrelle Revis made a lot of fantasy players happy by deciding not to extend his holdout into the regular season. So, yes, those of you who drafted the New York Jets defense/special teams way too early can breathe easier.

If you spent a late pick on the Washington Redskins defense, it's time to scan the waiver wire. Albert Haynesworth, the $100 million malcontent who has spent the preseason ticking off his coaches, may soon be out the door. Since all he'd probably draw is draft picks, he will leave a hole in the middle. Whether a hole would be better than Haynesworth is up to fantasy players.

Oh, and as far as Houshmandzadeh, Leinart and Troy Smith are concerned, all three have new homes now. Houshmandzadeh will probably get significant playing time Monday night, while the other two are only a play like this away from being relevant in fantasy football again.

It just goes to show that fantasy football is a seven-days-a-week hobby. Plan accordingly.

We'll be back with a look at this week's NASCAR track.

NFL Polls and Notes

Those of you interested in helping the People's Pitstop set its lineup for Sunday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway still have a few hours to vote on those polls. And those fantasy football fans who are interested in helping the People's Pigskin set the top of its draft board have some new polls available under the NASCAR ones.

So far, you, the Internet, have decided that and Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew, Ray Rice and Frank Gore should be the top five players on our draft board. You also decided that Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers should be our top quarterbacks, that Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne and Brandon Marshall should be our top wide receivers, that Dallas Clark should be our top tight end and that the New York Jets should be our top defense/special teams.

You'll have until Sunday evening to vote on the newest football polls. They will close shortly before the People's League draft, which is scheduled for 9 p.m. EDT. By the way, we still need three players to sign up for this league. Any takers? Click here.

In the meantime, here are a few stories fantasy football players should be following as the regular season (mercifully) approaches.

Pittsburgh pitfalls: The good news is that Ben Roethlisberger didn't do anything egregious over the last few months, so he will miss only the first four games of the season. The bad news is that Byron Leftwich may not be so lucky.

Leftwich, the quarterback still best known for getting a lift from his linemen, was expected to fill in for Roethlisberger during his suspension. But that was before Leftwich sprained his knee Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers. That means either Dennis Dixon or Charlie Batch will get the starting spot. For fantasy football fans, it means you might want to downgrade Pittsburgh's receivers (and running backs, since defenses will be less nervous about stuffing the box) until Batch/Dixon proves that they can get the job done.

Denouement in the desert: We knew the Arizona Cardinals would have a hard time filling the dancing shoes of Kurt Warner. What we did not know was that Matt Leinart, the former Heisman Trophy winner who has watched Warner for the last few years and presumably has absorbed Ken Whisenhunt's system, would fail to hold off Cleveland Browns castoff Derek Anderson. By the time you read this post, Leinart could be traded to another team or on the street.

If you have Larry Fitzgerald on your team, it's OK to be nervous. If you have Beanie Wells or Tim Hightower, it's OK to salivate over the handoffs they might be getting next week.

Game 4's not for them: The National Football League is considering switching from a four-game preseason to a two-game one. Those who are probably in favor of that right about now include LenDale White (out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon),Montario Hardesty (out with a torn ACL) and Albert Haynesworth (who played the whole game and probably wishes he were injured Thursday night).

In happier news: Patrick Crayton has a new home, while Vincent Jackson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh may soon get theirs. Stay tuned.

We'll be back later with results from the NASCAR polls.

So About That McNabb Thing

There is still some time for you, the Internet, to vote on the People's Pitstop lineup for Saturday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Phoenix. In the meantime, it's time for another reminder that, yes, Virginia, this is still a fantasy football Web site, too.

Most of the offseason trades, cuts and signings have little or no value for the fantasy football enthusiast. No matter how much you like Jason Taylor, on the football field or on the dance floor, his flirtations with the New York Jets likely are not going to change how you feel about the Jets or Dolphins defense/special teams come draft time.

Donovan McNabb's trade to the Washington Redskins? That's another story.

Of course, the fantasy football player will have to worry about McNabb's own production at his new home. He ranked 10th among quarterbacks in ESPN fantasy points. However, like George in "It's a Wonderful Life," McNabb's production affects so many other people in the National Football League.

DeSean Jackson. The Philadelphia Eagles may have all the confidence in the world in Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick and/or whichever quarterback gets drafted to be the "next Kolb/Vick." But Jackson, who ranked 4th among wide receivers in fantasy points, has to be at least a little nervous.

Washington's receivers. Here the sentiment may be more upbeat. The Redskins wide receiving corps did not exactly set the fantasy world on fire last year.

Chris Cooley. The Redskins tight end was having a decent season until a broken ankle ended it in October. And Brent Celek of the Eagles ranked 4th among tight ends in fantasy points, so you know McNabb enjoys throwing to a healthy tight end.

Jason Campbell. Oh, yeah, the man whose job McNabb is taking. Campbell's agent is exploring trade possibilities, but no matter where he goes, he's facing an uphill hike to fantasy relevance. Campbell ranked 16th among passers in fantasy points, and he's going to a place that either has an established starter (in which Campbell at least starts the season as a backup) or did so poorly last season that it's willing to take a chance on him.

And that's before we even consider the NFL Draft, but that's another topic for another post. In the meantime, remember to vote on our lineup polls. They will close Thursday night, so the lineup can be set in time for Friday's qualifying session. We'll be back with the results.

Quarterbacks, Quarterbacks Everywhere ...

There's still time to vote on the People's Pitstop lineup for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol. While you ponder your votes and your brackets, it's time to ponder something football-related at the People's Pigskin.

First, some basic math. There are 32 teams in the National Football League. Let's take as a given that the typical NFL team has three quarterbacks on its roster: a starter, a backup and an emergency third quarterback. I think the teams that collect quarterbacks the way some people collect stamps (yes, I'm looking at you, Jon Gruden) are balanced out by the teams that use a wide receiver who played quaterback in high school as their third quarterback. That means that, in any given season, there are 96 quarterback slots available in the NFL.

Now let's look at college football. According to the NCAA, 630 teams played college football in one division or another last year. If you add the 111 teams that play NAIA football, then you have 741 college teams in all, each of which has a starting quarterback. I have no idea exactly how many of these teams had a junior, senior or fifth-year senior starting at quarterback this past season, but let's just say, for the purpose of this exercise, that two-thirds of them did. That would mean there are 494 quarterbacks who would be eligible for selection in next month's NFL draft.

Think about that stat for a moment, fantasy football fans. Hundreds of quarterbacks are coming out of college every year, and you would think at least a few of them are coming out with the particular skills that make them NFL-ready. Yet so many of the stories you'll read over the next few months are about quarterbacks who are considered "projects" (even prospective top draft picks) or are being told they need to make "ridiculous" changes in the way they play if they want an NFL job.

Think about these things the next time someone working on the personnel department of an NFL team is called a "genius."

And despite the steady flow of candidates for the QB slots, people still end up recycling such stellar passers as Rex Grossman, and performances like JaMarcus Russell's are tolerated...oh, wait, Russell's tolerated because this guy likes him. Never mind.

Anyway, the polls close Thursday night so we can get a lineup submitted in time for Friday's qualifying session. We'll be back Friday with a new poll.

A Sunday Evening Update

The People's Pigskin had an enjoyable final Sunday of 2009. As we wait for the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins to kick off, the Internet's favorite football team enjoys a 92-81 lead over the Southern Rebels.

There are no Pigskin players in Sunday night's game or Monday night's game. The Rebels have two players in the Sunday night matchup: Quinton Ganther of the Redskins and Jason Witten of the Cowboys. If they score 10 or fewer fantasy points, the Pigskin will hold the lead at the halfway point in our matchup. (Remember that we're combining week 16 and week 17 scores to determine the title of "Best of the Rest.")

We'll be back with a more detailed breakdown. Until then, enjoy the football.

Saturday Afternoon Reading

There's still time to vote in the polls about our lineup, the waiver wire pickup and your favorite type of fantasy football trophy.

In the meantime, there's a very good football game on the schedule: Army vs. Navy in Philadelphia. Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. EST on CBS. There are no Heisman Trophy candidates here, and nobody is going to argue for putting either team in the mix for a national championship. However, there are many reasons to make time in your schedule for this game (other than the "I need a football fix right bleeping now" reason). Here's one: The players on the field and their classmates in the stands take the "going pro in something other than sports" concept to a whole new level.

And while you're waiting for that game to kick off, here are some links to ponder.

Is it too soon for fantasy nostalgia? For those of us who can only fantasize about what it would be like to be a playoff contender right now, the folks at Yahoo's Roto Arcade blog offer some Decembers to Remember: a list of the top "fantasy football playoff runs" from the past decade. Number 1 on the list: Drew Bennett and Billy Volek putting up monster numbers in two December games for the 2004 Tennessee Titans. "They're the patron saints of Scrubs Gone Wild in the fantasy playoffs."

It's a fun list, unless you remember being bumped out of your playoffs by one of these performances. If that's the case, the list may make you want to do this.

That's it -- let the anger out. The People's Pigskin was not the only fantasy football team burned when Steve Slaton was inactivated for the season with a nerve injury. A fellow WordPress blogger, Second String Fullback, offers some not-so-pleasant thoughts on the matter. (And by "not-so-pleasant," I mean "not-so-G-rated.")

I can't believe I picked up Carrie Underwood in the third round. Yes, Virginia, you can set up fantasy leagues for anything. Sony is offering a Fantasy Festival application that lets you set up a league where you and your friends try to assemble the ultimate music festival. The grand prize: "four 'money can't buy' tickets (including VIP accommodation, flights and spending money) to one of Europe's best festivals." (Thanks to Converge Technologies for the assist on this one.)

I guess someone's watching. Remember that TV show "The League" about a group of friends in a fantasy football league? Well, FX must have liked what it saw from this show, because it is getting a second season. And this is in spite of (or perhaps because of) reviews like this one from YourTango that call the show a "moap opera" (short for "men's soap opera") and say it is "a relationship show in macho clothing."

By the way, has anyone out there actually watched the show? If you have, would you mind confirming whether it's about football as opposed to, say, what fantasy owners think of their significant others?

Things that make fans go "Hmmm." Christopher Harris, the top fantasy football expert on ESPN.com, breaks down every NFL game from a fantasy perspective in his essential column "The Breakdown." In this week's version, Harris has something very interesting to say about that Robert Meachem play from last week in which the Washington Redskins intercepted a pass and Meachem stripped the ball from the defender and scored a touchdown.

"Thanks, Mr. Meachem. True, your tying 53-yarder was a thing of beauty (and an unforgivably stupid play by LaRon Landry), but that stripped fumble of a Kareem Moore interception return and subsequent touchdown set off a fantasy firestorm. For the record, Meachem got credited for a fumble-recovery touchdown, and the Saints' defense got credited with a fumble recovery (but not a touchdown). There's no perfect way to score freak plays like that. We felt the way we scored it was the fairest thing we could do."

The most interested word in that passage? "We." Harris probably meant "we" in the "I am part of the ESPN family that made the decision" sense, but it also can be read as if he meant he personally had a hand in scoring that play. (Experts making predictions about games and then deciding how those games are scored? Talk about your conflict of interests.)

Anyway, there's still time to vote on our polls. We'll be back Sunday with a pregame update.

A Quick Thursday Update

First of all, thanks to those of you who voted in the tight end poll. The winner: Jeremy Shockey, who is now a part of our lineup. Now, some quick thoughts on football-related matters.

Here's your sign. By now you've probably heard about the new Washington Redskins policy about banning fan-made signs at FedEx Field. What I did not know (until I spoke last night with someone in the know) was that the Redskins also are barring fan interviews at FedEx Field. Nothing like working overtime to wave your middle finger at the very people you're trying to serve, Mr. Snyder. That should fix what ails your club.

There are plenty of takes on this. Michael Wilbon's is here. But to get true insight into this, you have to go to an older source, Bill Engvall, who loves signs. In fact, he says stupid people should be forced to wear a sign that says "I'm Stupid," so the rest of us will see them coming. (One question: Would Dan Snyder and his lackey be allowed to share a sign?)

A pitch for the TV people. Football fans of a certain age (and yes, I'm admitting to being one of them) will remember a regular feature of Sunday football telecasts: "Alcoa Presents Fantastic Finishes." Basically, toward the end of the game -- often at the two-minute warning -- they would show a fourth-quarter comeback from the annals of football history, like the Immaculate Reception, the Holy Roller, or (in the case of this clip) Roger Staubach's "Hail Mary" pass to Drew Pearson.

I remember always getting a lift from the clip, because it provided concrete proof that NFL teams could (and often did) come back, even on the last play.

Sometime in the distant past, the TV networks stopped showing these clips, even though Alcoa remains a going concern today. I would say it's time for the networks to start airing a slightly updated version: "Alcoa Presents Fantastic Fantasy Finishes." It could show things like a fantasy football player getting 21 points from a defense on Monday night to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

(Sorry, didn't mean to gloat.)

If Alcoa doesn't want to foot the bill for this, try Apple. They've certainly got the money for it.

We'll be back tomorrow with a preview of the Landshark Maniacs matchups. Here are the results from the tight end poll.

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A Quick Monday Update

Unlike Jim Zorn, it seems as if the People's Pigskin has a chance.

After Sunday's games, including a surprising victory for the Arizona Cardinals, our fantasy football team trails the Southern Rebels by a score of 100-80. The Rebels have no one in Monday's contest between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Dead Coaches Walking...er, Redskins. We have Chris Cooley and the Philadelphia Eagles defense/special teams.

We'll be back tomorrow with a detailed breakdown of our game and a look ahead to next week.