Here’s a few standard preface notes:
^ Notwithstanding the claims of any website to be your “home for Sunday morning injury report news,” nothing beats Google News – nothing. Entering a player name into this search engine trumps any other means of gathering information because it culls the data from an unbelievably wide variety of sources.
^ Especially earlier in the season, it’s always good to refer to a strong baseline of where players should have been drafted – and nothing beats FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009.
^ Unless there are any injury questions, we never discuss “gimme” players. Such core players should be started week in and week out unless there is any question surrounding their playing status. Winning teams only need to worry about “playing the matchups” with one, two or (at the most, during bye weeks) three spots in the lineup. Some websites promise you a crystal ball for how to manage high-risk, high-reward juggling during the season. We don’t. We play the percentages. That approach may be boring, but it’s highly effective and much more intellectually honest in what we promise you.
^ By the way, here are your core players who should not be benched if healthy
QB: Brady, Brees, P Manning, McNabb, Rivers, Rodgers, Romo, Warner
RB: M Barber, R Brown, Forte, Gore, Grant, S Jackson, Jacobs, C Johnson, Jones-Drew, Peterson, Portis, Slaton, Tomlinson, Turner, Westbrook, D Williams
WR: Boldin, Bowe, Colston, Fitzgerald, Jennings, A Johnson, C Johnson, Houshmandzadeh, V Jackson, Marshall, Moss, Ochocinco, S Smith (Carolina), Wayne, R White
TE: Clark, Gates, Gonzalez, Witten
^ Here are the players added to that list since the start of the year:
RB: Benson
WR: Burleson, Driver, S Smith (NY Giants)
TE: H Miller, V Davis
^ And here are the players who were on our list, but have been removed from it:
RB: Lynch
WR: Owens, R Williams
^ Links for each game take you to the CBS Sports home page for each game, with stats, analysis and even video previews.
^ All times listed are EDT.
^ Of the non-gimme players we like this week, the stronger plays are the ones in all caps.
With so many games tainted by the usual “Week 17” issues this year, we sincerely hope that your championship was already secured last week and that your chances are not held hostage to so many events out of the control of any fantasy football owner.
Week 17
Sunday, Jan. 3
Indianapolis at Buffalo, 1 p.m. All-out on marginal starters on both teams
New Orleans at Carolina, 1 p.m. WR Meachem, all-out on marginal Panther starters
Jacksonville at Cleveland, 1 p.m. QB Garrard, WR Sims-Walker, RB Harrison
Chicago at Detroit, 1 p.m. QB Cutler, TE OLSEN, all-out on marginal Lion starters
New England at Houston, 1 p.m. All-out on marginal Patriot starters, QB SCHAUB
Pittsburgh at Miami, 1 p.m. QB Roethlisberger, WR Holmes, WR Ward, QB Henne
N.Y. Giants at Minnesota, 1 p.m. QB Manning, QB FAVRE
San Francisco at St. Louis, 1 p.m. WR CRABTREE, WR Morgan, all-out on marginal Rams
Atlanta at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m. All-out on marginal Falcons, TE Winslow
Philadelphia at Dallas, 4:15 p.m. WR Jackson, RB Jones, WR Austin
Green Bay at Arizona, 4:15 p.m. TE Lee, WR Breaston
Kansas City at Denver, 4:15 p.m. RB Charles, RB MORENO
Baltimore at Oakland, 4:15 p.m. QB Flacco, RB RICE, all-out on marginal Raiders
Washington at San Diego, 4:15 p.m. WR MOSS, all-out on margial Chargers
Tennessee at Seattle, 4:15 p.m. All-out on marginal Titans, QB Hasselbeck, TE Carlson
Cincinnati at N.Y. Jets, 8:15 p.m. All-out on marginal Bengals, QB Jones, WR Edwards, TE Keller
Fantasy Drafthelp: Week 17 NFL Fantasy Advice
