Mulligan’s Fantasy Football Forecast, Week 17
The tricky thing about playing your fantasy football season through Weeks 16 and 17 was illustrated in last week’s Colts-Jets game. The Colts, feeling they had nothing left to play for (other than a perfect season of course, which is another topic entirely) pulled their star players with a little over five minutes to play in the third quarter. Anyone owning and relying on players like Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, etc. was out of luck. Manning’s benching contributed to his worst fantasy game of the season, which in turn affected the fantasy value of Wayne and Clark and frustrated fantasy owners everywhere.
Meanwhile Mercury Morris and the ’72 Dolphins are out there somewhere drinking bubbly, not caring at all about the fantasy implications of the game.
Good Match ups
Santonio Holmes vs. Dolphins defense: Pittsburgh needs a win and some help to make the playoffs so they’ll be giving it their all this week against Miami. The Dolphins own one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL, giving up over 236 yards per game and are prone to giving up big plays. Look for Big Ben and Holmes to have good games.
Ray Rice vs. Raiders defense: The Ravens are another team fighting for a playoff spot in the crazy AFC wildcard picture. The Raiders, on the other hand, are giving up big yards to running backs including 148 to Cleveland’s Jerome Harrison last week. Look for Baltimore to pound the rock against Oakland this week.
Not so good match ups
Chad Ochocinco vs. Jets defense: The Bengals really don’t have much to play for here with their division title locked up, which means they could rest star players like Ochocinco. I think that even if Ochocinco plays the entire game, it’s still a match up to stay away from since he’ll be shadowed by Darrelle Revis.
Ricky Williams vs. Steelers defense: As mentioned before, the Steelers are playing for their playoff lives this week (not that Miami isn’t, but they need a lot of help to get in even if they beat Pittsburgh). That sense of urgency makes one of the NFL’s best run defenses even more dangerous. Ray Rice’s performance against them last week was more of an aberration and I expect the Pittsburgh run defense to return to its stingy form this week.
Waiver wire pick ups
Matt Moore, QB, Panthers: Moore has been very impressive in the past few weeks in Jake Delhomme’s absence and he gets a pretty good match up this week against the New Orleans Saints. For as good as the Saints defense has been perceived to be, they still give up over 241 yards per game through the air, ranking 25th in the NFL. Steve Smith breaking his arm against the Giants last week does hurt Moore so he’ll need Muhsin Muhammad to step it up in order to have another effective game.
(ITALICS) Kyle Mulligan is a contributing sports writer for the Observer. He welcomes your feedback and can be reached at kjmulli@gmail.com.