Fantasy Football Feature – Wk. 14

It's back! After a three week hiatus, just in time for those last-ditch efforts to make the fantasy playoffs. Welcome to Week 14 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have.

Working the Wire - Playoff Push Edition:

As the season goes on into the later weeks, the waiver wire gems tend to taper off. But now were just one week away from most leagues' fantasy playoffs. A lot of teams should be looking for the last second move that might just save their hopes for a fantasy post season. Keep in mind, owners vary in every league so some of these guys are going to be harder to grab than others. The UDBNFL waiver wire, for example, is less fierce than it was a few weeks ago, but still rather rough. (*The ownership percentage is going up on these guys every minute, so they are not exact.)

1. Seattle (DEF-104.00) - Owned in 19% of Yahoo! Leagues - MUST - This Seattle defense has been up and down all season, but they are taking on St. Louis, a team that gives up the fantasy most points to opposing defenses in the league. If the playoffs are on the line, swing for the fences.
2. Marion Barber (Chi-RB-59.90) - Owned in 36% of Yahoo! Leagues - DEEP - Chicago has some less than ideal matchups coming up, but with Forte and Cutler out, I've got to think there's going to be a ton more of Barber who's hasn't been too shabby anyway.
3. Malcom Floyd (SD-WR-62.90) - Owned in 40% of Yahoo! Leagues - DEEP - This guy has been a terribly inconsistent fantasy option, but so have a ton of other WRs this season. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that's the kind of situation that calls for playing Floyd.

Fool’s Gold:

1. Demaryius Thomas (Den-WR-42.70) - Owned in 5% of Yahoo! Leagues - DEEP - Despite having a huge unexpected 26 point performance last week, I don't think I can buy high into any Denver WR, especially one that isn't even the first target (see Decker, Eric). Lastly, Do you trust Tebow?
2. Santana Moss (Was-WR-49.20) - Owned in 59% of Yahoo! Leagues - DEEP - I get that a lot of people want to play the matchup here, as Washington is about to take on New England, who gives up the most fantasy points to WRs in the league. I just think that offense is going through Helu.

Injury Concerns:

Unofficial DBN Fan League Standings:

Unofficial DBN Fan League Pre-Playoffs Storylines:

It's essentially the playoffs before the the playoffs, here in the Unofficial league. Currently, I'm the only one to have mathematically cliched a playoff spot, though, it's reasonable to assume that RandallPFloyd QB (bross) has as well, barring any single week 350+ point performance. That said, there are still 5 teams competing for the final 2 spots in the playoffs. That last of which is 110lbs Of Kosar (Brownie's Year), who after a very rough 2-5 start, has come on strong. He'll have to win his matchup with with last season's runner-up, WV Brownies (Kimble_79), outscoring him by at least 77.06 and hope that both Y-Town Dawgs (Joey_D) and Brownie the Elf (emily522) lose this week. It's a very long shot, but not impossible. Meanwhile, Colt's Cowboys (brownsboy14) is a lock to get in if he can win this week vs. TXChainsaw Massaquoi (Browns town). Brownie the Elf needs Cowboys, as well as WV to both lose to land a spot. Y-Town can sneak in with a seemingly easy victory and just one of them takes a loss.

There's still a lot of ways the chips can fall. After the smoke settles early next week, I'll have a playoff preview.

Good luck in Week 14! Don't forget to set your line ups before kick-off on Thursday!

*Scores mentioned in the article are based on the Yahoo! Sports default settings, utilized by the Unofficial DBN Fan League.

FINAL NOTE: Unless I'm forgetting, I still don't think we have an established plan for the final showdown between the three leagues, UDBNFL, Official, and Rebel 3rd. Ideas are still welcome. Hopefully we can get something set in stone before it's too late.