Answer Guys: Playoff decisions
My two starting running backs are Brandon Jacobs and Marion Barber. We all know Jacobs has been ruled out for Week 15, but it leaves a huge question mark as to whether I should start Barber or not. I have Tashard Choice on my bench as a precaution, but who do I start in the other slot? I have Kevin Faulk, who did nothing for me last week, but Ricky Williams is out there and I could always grab him. Is Williams worth a flier? This is the playoffs so I need all the help I can get. Thanks. Aaron L.
Dave: I was disappointed in Faulk's performance last week, especially considering the matchup that he had facing the Seahawks and despite the fact that he's still sharing running back duties with Sammy Morris. Most of the touches will go to Morris again this week, but I'm expecting Faulk to bounce back nicely in Week 15. The Raiders present an even easier matchup on the ground, but where Faulk will lose out for his lack of rushing attempts, he'll make up for it with his receiving skills out of the backfield. Have you looked at Faulk's combined rushing and receiving totals so far this season? Take Faulk's 846 total yards from scrimmage and add his four touchdowns, and you've got a pretty good injury replacement.
With last week's disappointment behind him, you should give Faulk the start this week. I know that Ricky Williams is tempting you on the waiver wire, but you need to ignore the urge to scoop him up. Williams is anything but reliable, and it's still very obvious that Ronnie Brown is the favored option in Miami.
I'm the top seed in the playoffs of my league and as such I get to choose my opponent. It's a point-per-reception league where all touchdowns are worth six points. We also get a special bonus of five points for any touchdown more than 50 yards. Here are my choices of opponents and their matchups:
Team A -- Peyton Manning vs. Lions, Reggie Bush @ Bears, LaDainian Tomlinson @ Chiefs, Wes Welker @ Raiders, Lee Evans @ Jets, Davone Bess vs. 49ers, Chris Cooley @ Bengals, Matt Bryant @ Falcons, and TEN D/ST @ Texans.
Team B -- Kurt Warner vs. Vikings, Clinton Portis @ Bengals, Kevin Faulk @ Raiders (or Ronnie Brown vs. 49ers), Larry Fitzgerald vs. Vikings, Roddy White vs. Buccaneers, T.J. Houshmandzadeh vs. Redskins (or Steve Breaston vs. Vikings), Kevin Boss @ Cowboys, Neil Rackers vs. Vikings, TB D/ST @ Falcons.
Team C -- Donovan McNabb vs. Browns, Chris Johnson @ Texans, DeAngelo Williams vs. Broncos, Brandon Marshall vs. Panthers, Steve Smith vs. Broncos, Calvin Johnson @ Colts, Dustin Keller vs. Bills, John Carney @ Cowboys and NYJ D/ST vs. Bills. Kyle Critchfield
Dave: Now that makes for an interesting format. It really makes higher seeding for the playoffs worth fighting for if you're able to choose whom you face in your matchup. It's too bad you can't choose your opponent's lineup as well. An owner can dream, right?
Here's the order of the opponents I would prefer you to face this week:
- Team A
- Team B
- Team C
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All of these teams are excellent, which is why they're in the playoffs, but I think you've got the best chance of succeeding if you play Team A. I expect the Colts to have their way with the Lions via the run, as most teams have in the past this season, and that Manning won't need to have a career day for the Colts to win. With Addai likely out this week, Dominic Rhodes will be given the opportunity to shine. I have no question in my mind that Rhodes will run wild against the worst rushing defense in the league (174 yards per game, along with 23 touchdowns). Team A has good running backs, but besides Welker, his wide receiver situation is iffy with inconsistencies. Team B is too strong at quarterback with Warner at the helm, and he has excellent receivers. Team C is the most solid of the bunch from top to bottom, so I would want to avoid that squad altogether.
I am the commissioner of a keeper league. We have an owner who did not make the playoffs and he is now dropping very good players. He's picking up rookies and other players up off the waiver wire that he feels have potential for next year. Each team is allowed to keep up to four players, with previous year's picks in the first three rounds ineligible to be kept. While I understand what he's doing, he is also potentially killing our leagues playoffs by dumping the likes of Michael Turner, Joseph Addai and Peyton Manning, all who are ineligible for next season but can be picked up in time for matchups this week. If a team picks up any one of these players and rides them to the championship, I think several teams could possibly bail on the league next year. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks. James Donaldson
Dave: If you don't have a rule preventing this type of action from happening, it's going to be extremely difficult to prevent owners from doing this sort of roster dump-and-build for next season. Unfortunately, you'll need to let your league play this season out since you didn't have a rule preventing the owner from dropping players. It's really too bad, though. You would think, out of principle alone, that the owner would've kept all of his players on his roster until the playoffs ended.
Next season, you need to address this issue and get it squared away before the season starts. Adding a simple rule that prevents owners from dropping players once their team has been eliminated from the playoffs should do the trick. You can immediately open the free-agent list to all owners once the season has officially ended. It's too bad that your league has to go through the playoff turmoil it's going through now, but consider this a lesson for future years. You'd be surprised at the number of e-mails The Answer Guys get about playoff tiebreakers' not being determined until the playoffs arrived. So, some situations are worse than yours.
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