The fantasy football season isn't quite over, but as of this week, the Fantasy Island competition is. After 16 weeks and a very tight race, we're pleased to announce that Matt Borcas has won a spot as our fantasy football writer. This week is Matt's soft open of sorts, and when it comes time for rankings and previews next summer, everyone will get a full introduction as we start ramping up to the season. Thanks again to everyone who participated in this year's competition, and to those who've read.
One hundred years after the sinking of the Titanic, another overblown, too-big-to-fail enterprise — the Philadelphia Eagles — is crashing and burning, and Andy Reid insists on bringing fantasy owners down with him. Case in point: On Wednesday, Reid announced that despite LeSean McCoy’s return to the starting lineup, he would employ the dreaded three-way split between McCoy, Bryce Brown, and Dion Lewis.
It didn’t have to end this way for the Eagles. Their skill position players were meant to carry fantasy teams to championships, not to the first overall pick in next year’s draft. But as Reid spends his final days in Philadelphia brooding like Captain Edward John Smith, owners of McCoy and Brown are left to fend for themselves.
In celebration of the NFL's release of the all-22 and end zone film for the 2012 season, each week we'll be bringing you the best in offensive- and defensive-line play. For the winners of last week's Trenchies, click here.
The Bob Lilly Award for Run Stuffing
J.J. Watt, Houston Texans
Before last week’s games began, both J.J. Watt and Von Miller ranked among the top three in the entire league in two telling statistical categories. The first has been one of the more talked-about stats races of this near-finished season. Along with fellow 2011 first-round pick Aldon Smith, Watt and Miller stand as the three men vying for this year’s sack title. The other stat, conversely, hasn’t been talked about at all, and it probably won’t be found on any website, either. But as much as or more than the sacks, it’s the telling figure about just how dominant both Watt and Miller have been. Coming into Week 13, among eligible players (at least 20 tackles), both ranked in the top three in yards allowed per tackle on a rushing play. Ranked first was Miller, who on his 27 tackles in the run game allowed an average of -.3 yards per play. In other words, Miller was averaging a tackle for loss. Third, at .3 yards per rush, was Watt, whose 38 tackles were three more than Brian Urlacher’s total in the same category. Brian Urlacher is a middle linebacker.
Each week, the Fantasy Island contestants will submit a preview for each of that weekend's games. The best preview from each game will be selected and combined with the others into one comprehensive guide, and points are awarded based on how many individual previews from each writer are selected. Get it? OK. We sorta do, too.
Jaguars at Bills
I’m planting my fantasy playoff dreams on this early kickoff despite the rainy weekend forecast. Too many valuable components in play: Cecil Shorts is an automatic force (291 receiving yards and three touchdowns over the last three weeks); Justin Blackmon is playing like he’s being covered by Big 12 corners again; Steve Johnson has six catches in three straight games; Rashad Jennings faces the 31st-ranked rushing defense in his return to the starting backfield; C.J. Spiller is a top-10 rusher in the league and has gotten there with almost 100 fewer touches than Adrian Peterson (Chan Gailey is finally defining the depth chart with Spiller up top). In short, this is the fantasy game of the week and I can’t wait to be the guy who insists on making others follow its progress at Casa Ramirez on Sunday Ticket.
Each week, the Fantasy Island contestants will submit a preview for each of that weekend's games. The best preview from each game will be selected and combined with the others into one comprehensive guide, where points are awarded based on how many individual previews from each writer are selected. Get it? OK. We sorta do too.
Buccaneers at Cowboys
The Bucs are legit. They fell victim to a little Eli magic this Sunday, but I think we all know Tony Romo is about as magical as David Blaine. (Sorry, buddy. Standing in an ice cave for two days isn't magic.) The 'Boys haven't been able to stop anyone, so I like Doug Martin a lot this week; I think he finishes as a top-10 RB. Vinnie Jackson is always a boom-or-bust play, but an interesting sleeper in this game is Dallas Clark. America's Team of 1992 has given up TDs to TEs (that's a weird phrase) in two straight weeks, and Clark is better than either Martellus Bennett or Anthony McCoy (my apologies to the McCoy family, who may be the only people who knew who Anthony was before this week).
I have an open wager to anyone on Grantland Fantasy Island: If you start Blaine Gabbert against me and beat me, I’ll tattoo "I <3 Gabbert" on my chest. I’ll wait to make my Tim Tebow wager until after Mark Sanchez implodes.
Since I’m writing this on Monday afternoon, I’ll just assume I won two weeks in a row in the Fantasy Island league. (Eric Decker needs a 2010 Michael Vick performance to beat me.) It’s also safe to assume I outscored everyone in the league for the second week. (Barring something insane from Tony Gonzalez or Julio Jones.)
Why am I such an unequivocal success in this league? Unlike everyone else, I have a mullet, and with it, I gain Samson-like powers. When I’m sitting by the pool, drinking PBR and reviewing fantasy stats through my cracked-screen phone, my mullet keeps my neck cool under pressure. That’s why my waiver wire pickups are guaranteed to be winners — like every team playing the Jaguars in 2012.
Each week, the Fantasy Island contestants will submit a preview for each of that weekend's games. The best preview from each game will be selected and combined with the others into one comprehensive guide, where points are awarded based on how many individual previews from each writer are selected. Get it? OK. We sorta do too.
Bears at Packers
[Ed. note: The deadline for submissions was prior to last night's Lambeau Massacre]
I’m a Bears fan. This week, I desperately fear the Packers defense. I fear they’ve prepared with the white-hot intensity of 1,000 ninja warriors. I fear they’ll strafe the field at Lambeau with thunderous hellfire, spitting shrapnel and leaving nothing but Bear parts where the Bears once stood. I fear their emotion. I fear their will to win. I fear Clay Matthews will eat me while I’m waiting to board an airplane. I am just plain sceeeered.
Brandon Marshall and the Bears D all looked extremely solid last week, but I’m not sure I would start either of them if I had James Jones (who is my call for Aaron Rodgers's boyfriend receiver this year), Randall Cobb, or the Packers D. Matt Forte is probably not a bad bet, but I’m just so scared of those Packers! I hope I’m wrong.
As the long, hot summer drags on, we here at the Triangle figured we’d provide a steady stream of NFL goodness as a reminder of the light at the end of the baseball-lined tunnel.
Finally, our long regional nightmare is over. After a contract dispute that began as he was lighting up his 2011 lame-duck season, Matt Forte finally got his long-term deal from the Bears. As Bill Simmons said on Friday about Drew Brees’s situation in New Orleans, the most frustrating part of the Forte saga for Bears fans was just how silly it all seemed.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Wednesday.
Jacoby Ellsbury's sixth-inning home run helped the Red Sox even up their series against the Yankees with a 9-5 win. Ellsbury's opposite-field shot went over the Green Monster, which marks the 34,245th straight day where the supposed "monster" just sat there and did nothing while people hit things at it.
