Some Pre-Thanksgiving Reading

Here are some links to peruse while you consider what to do with our lineup for our upcoming matchup against the Hawaiian Surfriders.

Champ, why don't you stop talking for a while? In his always-essential "Monday Morning Quarterback," Peter King alerted football fans to a tweet he got Monday morning from our very own Chad Ochocinco:

"Good morning to all, top of the morning on this awesome football Sunday ALI-HOLMES=OCHO CINCO-NNAMDI'' I damn sure ain't HOLMES either.''

In case you missed yesterday's post, Chad got only 6 fantasy points Sunday and was kept out of the end zone by Nnamdi Asomugha and the rest of the Oakland Raiders.

Maybe Chad knew he was headed for a mediocre fantasy football performance. After all, Larry Holmes beat Muhammad Ali.

Cause for alarm. The New York Jets had to know they would need all the help they could get facing the New England Patriots in Foxboro. What they got instead was dragged out of their hotel rooms early Sunday morning when someone pulled a false fire alarm.

Once again, this is something that one of the pregame television shows could have flagged before fantasy players set their rosters. (And you can't argue that the networks didn't know about this. Players were sending out tweets starting practically the moment it happened.) Seriously, if you had known that the Jets were being pulled out of their beds that late, would you have started any of them?

The only Jet I would have started in those circumstances is Joe Namath, since he would have just been getting back to the hotel at that time, anyway.

Well, there's a switch. Unless you live in Buffalo or Jacksonville or had players from the Bills or Jaguars in your fantasy lineups, you probably did not see Eric Wood of the Buffalo Bills break his leg and end his season. That's because CBS decided that the injury was too gruesome to show in a replay. (If you want to see it for yourself, you can click here.)

It's interesting that CBS made that decision about that injury. Those of us old enough to remember Joe Theismann as something other than a TV personality remember how his playing career ended. When the Washington Redskins were playing the New York Giants on Monday night, Lawrence Taylor sacked Theismann and broke his leg in a way that probably still send chills down Joe's spine when he thinks about it. However, no one felt any qualms about replaying the hit immediately afterward or in the days, months and years that followed.

(You can see Taylor's hit, and a replay of it, by clicking here.)

We'll be back tomorrow with an early edition of the Landshark Maniacs predictions.

Game Time, Baby (and New Poll)

The lineup is set, and you can follow the People's Pigskin's battle against Ravens Fan T Sizzle here.

Before I head to Sofia Restaurant, the unofficial second home of the People's Pigskin, here are a few story lines to follow early this Sunday.

Sigh of relief. The Kansas City Chiefs have confirmed that Matt Cassel will not play today against the Baltimore Ravens. Matt probably looked at this defense and said "Um, Coach, uh...my knee is acting up." Brodie Croyle is the likely starter. Great news if you have the Ravens D. Bad news if your opponent does.

You heard it here last. The Minnesota Vikings take on the Cleveland Browns, where, drumroll please ... Brady Quinn is starting at quarterback! I'm sure fantasy fans around the world are relieved to learn this and are racing to their laptops to get him in their lineup.

Oh, yeah, the other QB. Some guy named Brett is starting for the Vikings in the aforementioned matchup. But the question really isn't how many fantasy points he gets. It's how many points his backfield comrade will get.

Breaking them ... in. A couple of rookie quarterbacks get the starting nod today. Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets takes the field today against the Houston Texans, and Matthew Stafford of the Detroit takes the turf against the New Orleans Saints. Expect them both to take a few lumps, and here's hoping you're not pushed into a situation where you're starting either today.

New poll below. We'll be back later.

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