It’s week 13 and there’s only 5 weeks left till Playoff time. At this point the elite teams have made their presence known and the not so elite can’t wait to put their helmets away for the season. Will the Colts win a game this season; will the Packers lose a game? Can Tebow do what everyone is saying is the impossible and lead his team to the playoffs, or will Palmer help maintain Oakland’s spot at the top. All great questions and with so little time left and so much football left to play anything can happen.
Rex Grossman; QB Washington Redskins, Hot: There were a number of QBs that threw for more yards and more touchdowns than Grossman in Week 12. I can’t help but give him props this week though considering all it took to get here. Grossman was the starter for the Redskins for the first snap of the season but couldn’t manage to keep the job for the long haul. After the failed experiment that was John Beck, the skins went back to Grossman and it finally payed off. Rex threw for 314 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the Skins to a late 4th quarter comeback. Let’s not get too excited just yet about what Rex can do, but it’s a good start to a team that until Sunday was spiraling out of control.
Tyler Palko; QB Kansas City Chiefs, Not: Palko has had a rough go of it since he took over for the injured Matt Cassel. The only thing he’s managed to do is throw interception after interception including 3 on Sunday against the Steelers. The Chiefs are so concerned about Palko’s production, or lack thereof, that Kyle Orton was claimed off of waivers last week. If Palko continues to be the starter he will go up against a Bears defense that shows very little mercy on inexperienced and underperforming quarterbacks.
Beanie Wells; RB Arizona Cardinals, Hot: Wells was absolutely unstoppable on Sunday against the Rams with 228 yards and a touchdown. It helped that the Rams run defense is pretty non-existent. Wells had 27 carries on the day and helped to push the cardinals over the hump for a 23-20 victory. The Cardinals will play Dallas in week 13 and even though the Cowboys run defense is on a different level than the Rams, Wells has an opportunity to keep his team in the game and potentially cue up another win.
Frank Gore; RB San Francisco 49ers, Not: The Baltimore Ravens defense can stop a running back dead in his tracks and they proved it once again on Sunday. Gore carried the ball 14 times and only managed to gain 39 yards against a hard core Ravens D. His performance this season has been pretty good until last Sunday so even though he’s ended up on the “not” list, he should rebound this week against a Rams team that is pretty horrible against the pass and the run.
Victor Cruz; WR New York Giants, Hot: Just when I thought that I had no chance of beating my fantasy opponent who was armed with Drew Brees, I managed to squeak out a 6 point win due all in part to Victor Cruz. He was a monster on Monday night with 9 receptions, 157 yards, and 2 touchdowns. I always like the receivers who earn their yards over the course of a game instead of in just one catch. One catch can be a fluke, 9 catches is a good day at the office. The running game hasn’t done much for the Giants so they have to pass which makes Cruz a good option any Sunday he’s in the lineup. The Giants play the Packers this week and Eli is going to have to pass the ball a lot to keep up with Rodgers, so let’s hope Cruz has a day that tops his performance last Sunday.
Vincent Brown; WR San Diego Chargers, Not: You can only lead a horse to water you can’t make him drink it. Philip Rivers targeted Brown 10 times in last week’s game against the Broncos but Brown only managed to catch 3 of those for 50 yards. He’s been mediocre at best as a fill-in for Floyd and now that Floyd may be back in the lineup as early as next Sunday Brown has only one more game to prove himself as a play maker. I wouldn’t get to excited about that though, in his last two games he’s racked up 58 yards and no touchdowns so mediocre is all he might ever be.
Pittsburgh Steelers DST; Hot: The Steelers came to play against a Kansas City team that really is just bad. They intercepted Palko 3 times on the night and only allowed the Chiefs to pick up 252 total yards of offense. They managed a sack, a fumble, and only allowed Kansas City to put up 9 points on the board. Next up the Steelers have Cedric Benson and the Bengals. The Steelers play hard and aggressive but so do the Bengals so plan on a great matchup of two teams looking to get on top of the AFC North.
New York Giants DST; Not: The Saints are a good team, a really good team, so it’s not really fair to judge a Defense against a team that scores at will. But we will anyway. The Giants D allowed 577 yards of total offense, in a single game. Most teams do that over the course of 3 or 4 games. Drew Brees seemed to score every time his team had the ball and the Giants had no answer. There were no sacks and no turnovers, but a lot of Saints touchdowns. The offense for the Giants tried to pick the defense up with 24 points of their own, but if you’re defense can’t stop the opponent from scoring eventually nothing your offense can do can save you.
