Fantasy Football Draft Helper

With all due respect to San Francisco Forty-Niner quarterback Alex Smith and Baltimore Raven signal caller Joe Flacco, the two best remaining quarterbacks in this year’s playoffs are the New York Giants’ Eli Manning and New England’s Tom Brady.

And I’m talking both in fantasy and in reality.

In terms of Super Bowl jewelry, Manning (1) and Brady (3) combine for four Super Bowl rings while Smith (0) and Flacco (0) both tote bagels.

And according to ESPN’s final 2011 fantasy football rankings, here is how they stack up: Brady (#3); Manning (#6); Smith (#14) and Flacco (#15). It’s funny, Smith and Flacco ranked higher than I would have thought, but the storyline this weekend centers around whether Brady and Peyton’s younger brother will meet in a rematch of Super Bowl XLII.

At least I think that’s the major storyline, unless you prefer to see a rematch of this season’s Harbaugh Bowl.

As I have mentioned before, I play in a keeper league in which each team is able to retain one player from the season just finished. The cost of retaining that player is an additional $1, which counts against the team’s $75 salary cap. For example, if Aaron Rodgers’ salary was $6 in 2011, he’d cost you $7 in 2012 if you chose to keep him.

Got it? Good.

For 2012, it boils down to two potential franchise players for Ether: Houston Texan running back Arian Foster (238 fantasy points; 18.1 weekly average) or “do everything” Baltimore Raven running back Ray Rice (285 points; 17.8 weekly average)?

This is like a bachelor having to choose between going on a date with Beyoncé or Kim Kardashian. Neither choice would be questioned.

That pop culture-influenced analogy aside, I am leaning towards Foster.

His playoff performance (24 carries, 153 yards, 2 TD) against the solid Cincinnati Bengal defense this past Saturday in the AFC Wild Card game did nothing to sway my leaning.

Like Rice, Foster is a dual-threat running back, with the ability to dominate the game on the ground or through the air via receiving yards. Unlike Rice, a nice portion of his touches get usurped by his highly-capable running mate, Ben Tate.

However, I believe that Arian Foster will get the nod when it’s time for me to make my franchise player designation. He plays in a better offense, has less mileage on his tires (659 career carries to Rice’s 959), and is a “cheap” $4 based on my league’s salary structure-providing me with substantial salary cap space.

And you just gotta love the haircut.

Last week I told you that my fantasy football season came to its end. Well, if you believe in Vince Lombardi’s mantra that, “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing,” then what I said was true.

But if you believe that success can also be achieved by coming in second or third place, then what I said was untrue.

Taking a “Lombardian” view, which I tend to lean towards in fantasy football, I ultimately did not achieve my goal (championship) this season.

But if I take a more balanced view, which I tend to lean towards in real life, my season was fairly successful.

Ether finished the season as the league’s second-highest scoring team, was one of four playoff entrants in my highly-competitive, 12-team league, and won the consolation game this past week (16).

I hope you all had a happy holiday and a successful fantasy football season. And I wish you a happy new year in real life as well as in fantasy in 2012!

The score: Wolverines 102.30, Ether 98.49. Yes, I actually lost my first round playoff game by a “whopping” 3.81 points this past weekend.

In some ways, I wish I had simply been blown out because I wouldn’t be still second-guessing my week 15 lineup decisions today.

Sure, I was handicapped by the fact that I had just lost wide receiving stud Greg Jennings to a regular season-ending knee injury just a week ago. But that’s no excuse, injuries are a part of the game.

But I am kicking myself about the decision to start Kellen Winslow (vs. Dallas) over the Eagles’ Brent Celek, who set a franchise tight end receiving record with his 156 yards (and a touchdown) against the enigmatic Jets.

Even with that, I entered the Sunday night matchup between the Ravens and the Chargers with Ray Rice and Vincent Jackson still left to play, trailing by only two fantasy points. My opponent had Ryan Mathews left.

You’d think I would’ve won with that setup? Wrong, I got nipped by the aforementioned score.

But that’s fantasy football. There are no excuses nor any crying. I’ll leave the crying to the Dallas Cowboys (see post image).

Just in case you were wondering, I am a Washington Redskins fan (insert smile).

Alas, my fantasy football regular season came to an end last week (14). Through a combination of luck and skill, Ether has survived until the playoff round starting this week (15).

A few posts ago I told you who would comprise my starting lineup should I make the playoffs. Now that I have made the playoffs, I’m here to tell you that my starting lineup is pretty much the same, except for the removal of Green Bay’s best receiver Greg Jennings due to injury.

For better or for worse, I have inserted Pierre Garcon (vs. Tennessee) into his starting spot alongside the mercurial Vincent Jackson (vs. Baltimore). I also swapped tight end Brent Celek for Kellen Winslow (vs. Dallas), for this week at least.

My biggest dilemma is at the flex position. Should I start Ben Tate who’s at home against the porous Carolina Panther run defense or Mario Manningham against the Washington Redskins’ solid, yet unspectacular pass defense?

The case for the Texans’ Tate is that he’s facing the 9th worst run defense in the NFL and he’s likely to dominate the garbage time carries should the Texans garner a big league heading into the fourth quarter. The case against Tate is that his production, and most recently, his lack of production is a function of teammate Arian Foster’s domination of the total carries.

The case for Mario Manningham is that he’s scored a touchdown in four of his last five starts and will likely see single coverage most of the game because his teammates Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks will draw the bulk of the defense’s attention. The case against Manningham is mainly that those same aforementioned teammates can stifle his production based on their own prowess.

Decision, decisions, decisions…but it could be worse. I could be “home” for the playoffs.

Wish me luck ladies and gentlemen.