2012 fantasy recap -- week 12

 

With so much terrible football news over the weekend, I couldn't pick my least favorite moment. So, you decide:

** The best Thanksgiving game (Houston vs. Detroit) was decided on a blown coach's challenge, and featured an overtime with two turnovers and two missed field goals.

** The Jets gave up 21 points to the Patriots in a 52 second span during the second quarter on Thanksgiving night. That included a fumble recovery touchdown where QB Mark Sanchez lost the ball while sliding headfirst into his own lineman's butt.

** The Steelers, who had 12 turnovers going into Sunday, added eight more in their loss to the Browns. They had more turnovers than punts (6).

** Arizona QB Ryan Lindley, in his first start, threw for 317 yards and threw two TD passes ... to St. Louis CB Janoris Jenkins. He threw two other INTs as well, and the Cardinals lost 31-17.

** The Chargers on Sunday allowed the Ravens to convert a 4th and 29 in overtime, leading to Baltimore's game-winning FG. That was the Ravens' only lead of the game.

** The Eagles played the Panthers, in a nationally televised game.

Yes, I did write that last one before the game happened. Turns out it lived up to the anti-hype.

QB: Tom Brady, 37.42 pts -- started by Ant
WR: Dez Bryant, 28.27 pts -- started by Heidi
RB: Bryce Brown, 31.30 pts -- on the wire
TE: Charles Clay, 18.10 pts -- on the wire
K: Rob Bironas, 14.00 pts -- on the wire
DEF: New England, 27.00 pts -- on Heidi's bench
D: Janoris Jenkins, 18.00 pts -- on the wire

Third week in a row that Heidi has left a top performer on her bench. Must be nice to be that rich.


"Players you kinda know from something" edition

3rd place: Ted Ginn Jr., -1.24 pts -- on the wire
2nd place: Rashard Mendenhall, -1.40 pts -- on Heidi's bench
1st place: Green Bay, -5.00 pts -- on Jim's bench

That Green Bay line came courtesy the New Jersey Giants, who are getting hot again late in the season. Great. Somebody pass me the alcohol or the turpentine. Honestly, I don't care which one anymore.

While driving near Philly this weekend, I heard this exchange on local sports radio:

Caller: "Hey, I just wanted to correct that last guy who was on the radio. He said there isn't a single Eagles player worth cheering for anymore, and that he wouldn't wear any of their jerseys."
Host: "You disagree?"
Caller: "Yeah! I think Shady McCoy is a great player. He's a hard worker, he seems to say the right things, seems like a real class act. I'm excited to watch him play. I'd be proud to have my kid wear his jersey."
Host: "I agree with you."
Caller: "Yeah, so I don't think that guy was right. There's one player worth cheering for on this team. But only one."
Host: (laughing) "Well, I guess that's something."

During the Notre Dame game on Saturday night, the good folks at ABC did a run-through of the top college football stories of the day. That included Penn State's overtime win against Wisconsin, leaving the team at 8-4 for the year. Brent Musburger noted that the eight wins is a record for a first-year coach at Penn State, an impressive achievement for PSU's Bill O'Brien.

Except, it's not. Penn State hasn't had a rookie head coach since LBJ was president. The team only played 10-game seasons back then. O'Brien is the first rookie head coach at Penn State in more than 45 years to do anything. He's the first PSU rookie coach to lose four games in four decades. He's the first PSU rookie coach to lose against Ohio State in four decades. He's the first PSU rookie coach to pick his nose in four decades.

He's also the first PSU rookie coach to set a rookie head coach record since Joe Paterno. Think about that for a while and see if your brain eats itself.

Sorting through some old magazines this weekend, I came across Sport Illustrated's picks for the preseason top 25 in college football. Their pigskin experts were as accurate as you'd expect:

Here's the last set of AP rankings:
1 -- Notre Dame (SI = Not ranked)
2 -- Alabama (SI = 1)
3 -- Georgia (SI = 9)
4 -- Ohio State (SI = 22)
5 -- Florida (SI = Not ranked)
6 -- Oregon (SI = 4)
7 -- Kansas State (SI = 16)
8 -- Stanford (SI =17)
9 -- LSU (SI = 3)
10 -- Texas A&M (SI = Not ranked)

And here's SI's top 10 before the season started:
SI 1 = Alabama (2)
SI 2 = USC (Not ranked)
SI 3 = LSU (9)
SI 4 = Oregon (6)
SI 5 = Oklahoma (12)
SI 6 = Wisconsin (Not ranked)
SI 7 = South Carolina (11)
SI 8 = Michigan State (Not ranked)
SI 9 = Georgia (3)
SI 10 = West Virginia (Not ranked)

That Alabama pick could still turn out to be right, but to have four of your top 10 picks not be ranked at all, and to miss on three other top 10 teams by not even ranking them at the start of the season, shows a level of incompetence that makes you wonder why we have pre-season rankings at all. SI also wrote features on the seven most likely Heisman trophy candidates ... but didn't include the two consensus front runners (KSU's Colin Klein and ND's Manti Te'o).

For the record, SI picked the Packers to beat the Broncos in the Super Bowl and the Heat to beat the Lakers in the NBA finals. So, you know, stay away from those picks.

A few weeks back, Dallas signed free agent Charlie Peprah to help fill out their secondary. It's no surprise that Peprah is known for frequent cheap shots (probably, I didn't bother to look it up) when you look closer at the letters in his name:

Cowboys safety Charlie Peprah
** Cheater oaf way -- He cripples boys.

OK, but maybe that's just because he's new to the team, right? He hasn't always been that way, I'm sure. Let's look at his college years:

Alabama starting strong safety Charlie Peprah
** Angst birth afar -- so angry! AAAA! Let's cripple them.

OK ... Maybe it's just football that brings out the worst in him?

Charlie Peprah
** Aha! Cripple her!

This dude has serious, serious problems.

Week 12 standings

Dammit, Sam is in the lead again, thanks to a ridiculous 182.91-pt performance this week (second highest weekly total this year). Joel is also making a surprising late-season push, sneaking back within striking distance of the top three. And last year's Awesome Cup Champion, Anthony? He's battling for the final four spots in the standings. Maybe the Giants will follow his lead...

** Dad and I split our picks this week, I'm still six games back. So, ..... yeah.

** Ohio State finished the season undefeated, but won't play in any significant bowl game because of former coach Jim Tressel's NCAA violations. Naturally, he was invited on field pregame and applauded by the crowd, because they're idiots.

** If you're forcing me to watch the Eagles and Panther play late on a Monday night, the least you could do is muzzle Chris Berman. It's the only humane thing to do.

** At least I know now whether to start WR DeSean Jackson and DE Jason Babin for the rest of the season...

** The Sixers just beat the Dallas Mavericks. There's your one bit of good Philly sports news this week.