Fantasy Football Book: Beware of Guys in Commercials

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Hey everyone. I was watching some TV recently and noticed a stunning amount of commercials with products endorsed by NFL players. Not exactly something out of the norm, but then I started to look a little closer at what these players have done this year on the field.

OK, so we can take Peyton Manning out of the conversation. He is an extreme exception, as he is in almost any conversation when you are talking about NFL players and particularly QB's. But let's explore a few of the guys I'm talking about.

Sounds good, 2 million free pizzas.

Troy Polamalu---Head and Shoulders

I admit, I thought these were funny when I originally saw them. That was when Troy was a perennial defensive player of the year candidate. With just 4 games played this year with little impact, they don't seem as funny.

Greg Jennings---Old Spice

Greg Jennings was certainly one of the biggest disappointments this year in the world of fantasy football. He has missed a lot of time due to injury and has under performed in the games he has played. For a potent offense that has just been waiting for 1 solid constant #1 to emerge, Greg has really not done much to secure that role.

On the bright side, he has high smelf-confidence. And thank goodness. If his body stunk as bad as his fantasy output this year, he would be in some serious trouble.

Ray Lewis---Madden 13'

We've all heard of the dreaded Madden curse. With Calvin Johnson taking aim on the receiving yards all time record, I hear a lot of people saying "The curse is broken!!!".....That's incorrect. While Johnson escaped the inescapable curse (because he's a freak), it still took someone people thought was invincible.....Uncle Ray Ray (Ray Lewis). I see these commercials everyday, and I can't help but think if this is coincidence or more proof to this theory of guys who do a lot of commercial work in the offseason.

As always, thanks to ESPN for the stats and player info

Fantasy Football Book: Playoff Season

Welcome back to the blog for the fantasy football book, The Official Fantasy Football Bible. December is upon us and along with cold weather and loud relatives comes our favorite tradition, the fantasy football playoffs.

If you are reading this blog there is a strong chance that you are involved in your leagues fantasy playoffs. Usually when people are knocked out, they instantly stop reading any fantasy info and pretend like they never cared about it at all. So if you've made it, congrats!

Thursday night marked the start of week 14 in the NFL featuring a divisional match-up between the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders. While not the most glamorous game, it was filled with plenty of fantasy implications that will sure effect teams.

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Peyton Manning has been an incredible comeback story. Not only has he returned from injury without reoccurrence, he has played at an MVP level all season. Peyton's fantasy owners have a high percentage of playoff appearances. This is due to his great play, and his doubters in the preseason leading to low projected value before the season.

Manning slowed up on Thursday night, tying his second worst fantasy output of the season. While the Broncos won handily, Peyton only threw for one touchdown. While he should be allowed one of these mediocre/pretty good performances, this is a tricky week for him to pick.

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There was also some interesting running back implications as well. Darren McFadden returned to fantasy relevance with a score and 52 yards last night, while it may have been a little too late for this high draft pick. Knowshon Moreno had a huge night with 32 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown while adding 48 receiving yards. While Knowshon was expected to see a nice workload, not a whole lot of people could have projected such a big game.

This Thursday's game proved why so many people love fantasy football. A lackluster game draws major fantasy implications for the first round of the playoffs. Good luck to everyone who's still in this week as you try to move on to next week. Thanks again to ESPN.com/fantasy for our stats.