The Fantasy Six-Pack

  I know Fantasy Football Season may be over, but the five postseason playoff competitions I’ve entered are telling me different.

• It appears the Texans are retaining head coach Gary Kubiak and that’s good news for the fantasy stock of Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson, but the same can’t be said of the RB corps. Kubiak, a former understudy of Mike Shanahan, was as fickle as they come when it came to his distribution of rushing attempts. His “One Fumble & Done” philosophy has been a nightmare for fantasy owners this year.

• Well, it looks like Brandon Marshall has played his last game as a Denver Bronco and is likely to sign a contract with another team. Don’t be surprised to see the Baltimore Ravens make a strong move to get the physical wide receiver paired up with cool Joe Flacco for the next few years.

• Why do I keep hearing: “The Patriots can’t win without Wes Welker.“ Please! Tom Brady has been a winner since he put that Patriots helmet on and he’s won plenty of Super Bowls without Wes Welker...three to be exact. I know that Welker is a special player who brings a lot of different things to the table, but I’m not counting out Brady, Belicheat, or Bundchen for that matter.

• MVP is about to be decided and as much as I want to vote for Peyton Manning and the offensive machine he runs in Indianapolis, I’d honestly vote for Brett Favre and the season that the Vikings have had. It’s still a feel-good story for me the way Favre has transformed that offense and turned two young WRs (Rice & Harvin) into pro-bowlers. None of this would have happened for the Vikings if “The Silver Fox” didn’t un-retire and bring his magic to the team.

• Funny stuff in the rumor mill: I'm hearing that agents might be setting up a race between Chris Johnson and Usain Bolt   in a 40-yard dash for a charity. I love Chris Johnson just as much as the next guy and I think he does deserve a lot more attention than he gets because this is too much of a QB league, but Bolt would torch CJ. It wouldn’t even be close, as Bolt's projected 40-yard time would be 3.7 seconds and if you clocked the last 40-yards of his record setting 100-meter dash, he ran a 40 of 2.97 seconds (I’d still pay to see it).

• Finally, give us a shout-out Wednesday night 9:00PM EST over at The Fantasy Exchange Podcast. Live Advice, News/Notes, Playoff Talk, and Matchup Previews. We’ll even tell you who the next Raiders Coach will be…WTF !

Alright, I figured throwing out a few start ‘ems for these playoff games this week might be of some help if you’re in as many playoff pools/contests as I’m in. You can either get some advice or experience on how dead wrong I am. . .

QB Aaron Rodgers —Green Bay Packers @ Arizona

This one is the can’t-miss pick, as the Cardinals have been prone to being beaten through the air and their top cornerback, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, has been hampered by a nagging knee injury that’s been slowing him down all week. Aaron Rodgers has been on fire to close out the season and I could see him score two TDs minimum in this game. I expect a high scoring game here and while it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick Kurt Warner, I’d rather go up against the Cardinals' secondary as opposed to the Packers'.

RB Ray Rice —Baltimore Ravens @ New England

I know that nobody likes the match-up here but I’m just looking at the simplicity of things, especially if you’re in a PPR format. Ray Rice will be targeted early and often in the passing game, while getting the majority of carries. I’m not sure that the Ravens will win this game outright but I think this would be the week to use a RB that will rack up pts in PPR systems.

WR Julian Edelman - New England Patriots vs. Baltimore

This goes right along with my theory that the Patriots won’t be done without Welker. I don’t think that Julian Edelman is the next Wes Welker, but he’s got a very similar skill set and he should have a terrific matchup against a suspect Ravens secondary that will be focusing a lot of attention on No. 1 WR Randy Moss. Once again, I expect a lot of short range targets and over the middle routes that might pay off in the right scoring system.

WR Donald Driver —Green Bay Packers @ Arizona

I really like this matchup going in with the injury concerns going for the Cardinals defense here. The Packers have a lot of weapons but Donald Driver has been getting steadily targeted six times in the last five games. Rodgers will pick apart the Cardinals' secondary when the Packers are on offense and Driver will be a big part of that, is my thinking.

TE Jason Witten —Dallas Cowboys vs Philadelphia

I know, the Philly defense is a good pass defense, which is true, but they still give up a lot of points to tight ends. Their lack of talent at linebacker is starting to catch up to them and Jason Witten should be in store for another great game against the Iggles. You don’t need to look much further than last week to get a preview of what’s going to happen. Witten may have had a bad regular season but that won't stop him from having a mosnter post-season.

PK Jay Feely —New York Jets @ Cincinnati

Gotta get a kicker? Thought so. I’m not a big fan of this guy but he has banged in 30 of 36 field goals on the season and I expect this game to be close. The Jets' running game should be able to move the ball, but I don’t see the Jets blowing the Bungles out of the water either. He should be in store for a good amount of opportunities this weekend.

Thanks for reading folks and if you’ve got any comments, questions, or complaints please bang them out below and you can also send ‘em my way to [e-mail]