A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
The NFC Championship game was supposed to feature the high-powered offenses of the Packers and the Saints, but the Giants and 49ers thought otherwise.
The Giants embarrassed the Packers in Green Bay last week in a 37-20 win, and the 49ers beat the Saints, 36-32, in one of the greatest playoff games in recent memory.
Both teams feature tough defenses, but the offenses have come alive in the past few weeks for both teams.
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Here are 9 of the many things we learned this holiday weekend:
This past weekend featured two highly anticipated quarterback matchups – Brady v Tebow and Manning v Rodgers – and a third that unexpectedly ended up being the most thrilling of the weekend – Brees v Smith. And as quarterbacks are wont to do after competing on the field of football battle, these duos all met at midfield after the game for quick makeout sessions in front of the leering press.
Wait…what?
The 15-1 Green Bay Packers (who peaked in September-November) have indeed been exited from the NFL Playoffs by the New York Giants (who are peaking now), and Hakeem Nicks was indeed wide open on an end-of-half Hail Mary.
So much for the Green Bay dynasty; as former GM Ron Wolf would say, the 2011 Packers proved to be just a fart in the wind.
Deal with it.
It doesn’t get any better than what we just witnessed from the San Francisco 49ers and the New Orleans Saints.
How could it?
In an absolute instant classic thriller, the 49ers defeated the favored Saints 36-32, dealing the deciding blow on a 14-yard, 3rd down touchdown pass from Alex Smith to Vernon Davis with 0:09 left on the clock.
It was the perfect way for the perfect football game to end.
Defense versus Offense is the quintessential argument in sports. Saturday, another chapter will be written on this polarizing subject as the second-ranked 49ers defense will be faced with the task of shutting down the high-powered offense that may seem to be on the heels of another dominant victory.
Despite Tebow 3:16, this is, without question, the most interesting playoff game for me this weekend. So let’s set the stage…
In one of the most promising, if not the best, Monday Night Football match-ups of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3) head west to take on the San Francisco 49ers (10-3).
Unlike last week’s less-than-stellar showing from the Rams and Seahawks, this game features two teams each near the top of their conference, both fighting for playoff seeding and the hope of a first-round bye.
The game will kick off a crazy holiday week for the NFL, with games on five of the next eight days. This one has the potential to be a slugfest and will definitely be worth watching Monday night.
I am skipping an introduction this week because I’m too mad at fantasy football.
In my league of 14 teams, I finished right in the middle of the pack in terms of points…but because I had the third most points scored on me, I missed the playoffs…by a lot.
I finished second to last.
Lame.
Sometimes, fantasy football goes that way. I will spare you my three heart-breaking losses of the year because, quite frankly, we all have them…and nobody else cares.
I know what you’re thinking…
“I love the NFL, and I need my start/sit advice for Week 13, but I’m just SO pumped for the Big Ten Championship game this weekend that I can’t even think about it!”
You’re in luck!
Click here (or here for a work-friendly page) and comment, “I want tickets!!!!” in order to win FOUR free tickets to the Big game this weekend between Michigan St. and Wisconsin, courtesy of our friends at Verizon.
Seriously…that’s all you have to do. What have you got to lose? We’re even going to save you time by helping you out with your start em, sit em questions in this post and in the comment section!
Now on to week 13.
Jon will have the overall Week 12 start/sit post ready to go for tomorrow morning, but with three games on Thanksgiving Thursday I thought it might be helpful to do a special start/sit column for those games.
So in this post I’ll do just that, providing analysis and recommendations for the key players you need to decide on before Turkey Day.
[Read more...]
With bye weeks now a thing of the past, fantasy owners have one less thing to worry about as the playoff push begins. However, it’s also a great time to start looking ahead to identify guys who can help you during the fantasy playoffs and to pick them up while you can.
This week we’ll look at not only guys who can help in the short-term but also those who may pay dividends when it matters most.
I’m one of those old schoolers who does not like to jinx.
Kind of like a Cubs game where Ryan Dempster makes it to the sixth inning only allowing a pair of walks. On WGN, Pat Hughes goes to painstaking measures to explain what is happening to his audience, ‘The Cubs have six hits, that’s six more hits than the Pirates…’
Meanwhile I scream into my car radio, ‘RYAN DEMPSTER IS PITCHING A NO-HITTER!!!!
This leads me to the Green Bay Packers and their possible historic path.
Now this is what football season is about!
Denver found a way to beat the Jets last night, and New York can now pretty much kiss the playoffs goodbye. Important division games in Baltimore and New York will have a hand in deciding the future for all of the teams involved.
But let’s get to the fantasy world.
Asante Samuel thinks the front office in Philly is playing fantasy football; maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, but those guys do know how to put up numbers…and there is a new face from that squad who we would like you to give a chance to come Sunday night. From rookies to vets, we have it all in this week’s Stock Report.
How many teams would trade their current QB, right now, for Cam Newton?
This is a question I’ve been thinking about a lot over the past several weeks, as I continue to be more and more impressed (and surprised) by how well Cam Newton is transitioning to the NFL in his first season.
Yesterday was a brutal Sunday in the NFL, both in terms of injuries and the quality of play. With so many prominent fantasy players banged up and six more teams on bye in Week Eight (Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, New York Jets, Oakland, and Tampa Bay), the waiver wire will once again be a popular destination.
