New York Giants-San Francisco 49ers 5 P’s: Preview, Point Spread, Pick, Prediction, and Poll

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In this afternoon’s second conference championship game, the red hot New York Giants travel to San Francisco to take on the consistent, physical 49ers.

The Giants had to execute another December surge just to make the playoffs, but they did just that and have been flying high ever seen. New York spanked Atlanta and then vanquished the 15-1 Packers in Green Bay. They also appear on a collision course with the Patriots, which would be a rematch of the classic Super Bowl from a few years ago.

San Francisco, however, has other ideas. The 49ers went 13-3 this season and beat the Giants in Candlestick when the two teams met up earlier this season. After their thrilling win over New Orlenas, confidence will not be a problem for Jim Harbaugh’s team.

Here is all the basic info you need to know, what MSF’s writers have said about the game this week, and a poll so you can take your pick.

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NFC Championship Game: New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers Preview and Prediction

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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.

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9 Things We Learned This Weekend

Photo from Getty Images.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Here are 9 of the many things we learned this holiday weekend:

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In Today’s Era of Football, 49ers-Saints Was The Perfect Game

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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.

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A List of the NFL Single-Season Passing and Receiving Records Broken This Year

Drew Brees shattered records this year with the help of his sentient Muppet football.

If you paid any attention to professional football in December you know that 2011 was a historic year for quarterback productivity.

Here is a list of the many passing and receiving records that were broken or tied during the 2011 NFL season:

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Fantasy Football Week 15 Start Em, Sit Em Advice, Player Projections, and Roster Q&A

tim-tebow-denver-fantasy-football-week-15-start-em-sit-em-projections

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.

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Fantasy Football Week 14 Start em, Sit em Advice, Projections, and Lineup Q&A

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Week 14 is here.

For some of you, that means you have a team (or hopefully teams) on bye this week. If so, major kudos to you.

For others of you, Week 14 means that it’s the first week of the playoffs. If so, good luck, and hopefully the advice in this post will help you move on.

For others, Week 14 is the last week of your regular season. Maybe you’ve clinched a playoff spot or maybe you’re still scratching and clawing for one. Regardless, hopefully we can do you and your lineup some good with our picks in this week’s start em, sit em.

And for some of you this may be your first week without fantasy football – if your playoffs start this week and you did not make it; but if that’s the case, why would you be reading this?

Alas, if you’re here, you are looking for help in Week 14. And you’re in luck, because that is exactly what you’re about to get.

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Fantasy Football Week 13 Start em, Sit em Lineup Advice, Projections, and Roster Q&A

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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.

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Fantasy Football Thanksgiving Day Start Em, Sit Em Lineup Advice, Projections, and Roster Q&A

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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.
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Fantasy Football Week 11 Start Em, Sit Em Lineup Advice, Projections, and Roster Q&A

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Sooooo…yeah….

That’s probably how a lot of you felt after last week’s fantasy results. If you had a bad week, join the crowd.

It appears that certain defenses (the Cowboys, Titans, and others) may have finally caught up with certain offenses (Bills, Panthers, and others) after the long offseason, which led to some surprising and disappointing performances in Week 10.

But not for Aaron Rodgers owners. Never for Aaron Rodgers owners.

No worries.  If you have a bad week, it’s not your fault; it was just one of those weeks.  Good grief, the Chicago Bears’ DEFENSE was the number one fantasy player last week.  Let’s just write it off as an off week and get back on the horse, ready for Week 11.

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Fantasy Football Week 9 Start Em, Sit Em Advice & Projections

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Before we get to the Week 9 fantasy football start/sit advice, I want to add a couple more thoughts on my Tebow article from yesterday. (And don’t worry; I’ll analyze his fantasy prospects for Week 9 too.)

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Fantasy Football Week 8 Start Em, Sit Em Lineup Advice, Projections, and Roster Q&A

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I’mmm baaaaaaccccckkkkk!

Did you miss me?

Jon has himself a busy schedule this week, so he texted me this morning and asked if I’d be up for reprising my role as the author of our weekly Start/Sit column here at MSF. I have to admit, as soon as I saw his text I was pretty pumped.

Doing these posts every week, week after week, can admittedly be a bit of a grind, as I learned over the last couple of years; so I was happy to let Jon take it over this year and focus my efforts in other areas. But I’ve missed the weekly challenge of poring over matchups and stats and trends to figure out which players to recommend to you as starts and sits.

So it’s good to be back in the saddle.

Anyway, It’s not like I’ve been totally absent. I still offer commentary on Jon’s posts, answer questions in the comment sections, and monitor the @FantasyMSF Twitter account. So I haven’t really given you a chance to miss me even if you wanted to. Now though, for the first time all year, I have to go on record with start and sit picks.

I’m ready. Let’s roll.

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Fantasy Football Week 5 Start Em, Sit Em: Start/Sit Picks, Player Projections, and Week 5 Lineup Advice

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Injuries!

Andre Johnson is gone.  Ben Roethlisberger is banged up.  Miles Austin is on the mend.  Marques Colston is back, but when will he get on track?

With the bye weeks now here, the time has come when fantasy leagues are truly won and lost.  If you drafted well, and got a little lucky, you should be near the top of the standings.  But nobody can ever completely escape the injury bug.  Managing your lineup properly when byes and injuries attack is what separates the good owners from the great ones.

So let’s look at the Week Five games and decide who to start and who to sit this week.

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Fantasy Football Week 4 Start Em, Sit Em Picks, Player Projections, and Lineup Advice

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Week Three is over, and you are probably wondering one thing: How is a guy that’s giving such great advice 0-3 in his own fantasy league?

I wish I knew…injuries have just killed me…and I’ve lost each week by an average of 1.2 points. Just heartbreaking.

Some of you are probably in the same boat as me. Even if you aren’t, it’s the time in the fantasy football season when leagues are won and lost. Now is when we have to start making the tough calls.

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Fantasy Football Week 1 Start Em, Sit Em Lineup Advice, Player Projections, and Roster Q&A

fantasy football week 1 start em sit em lineup advice player projections roster q&a

Week One is finally here. You have done all the research (you know, the usual: waiver wire picksinjury updatescomparing QBs to Michael Jackson songs…), you have gone through your draft, and most importantly, you have started talking smack to everyone in your league.

You only have one job left to do: start the right guys.

Nothing could be worse than having an awesome team…on your bench.

Each and every one of us has a fantasy sob story or two, and it’s almost a guarantee that one of them revolves around sitting the wrong guy.

So who are you going to start this week?

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