For those teams in their head-to-head championship game or fighting two or three other teams for the overall points title,  Week 16 is an amalgam of great apprehension, excitement and anxiety.  Every member of your lineup is looked upon with endless scrutiny, as well as guessing who your opponent will go with.  Throw in all the night games that have proliferated in December as a result of the NFL Network’s moneygrab and this pivotal championship week is full of potential landmines, with many team scores hovering in the seventies after routinely hovering around 110-120 points per week.  Tried and true methods of sticking with your anchor player’s are routinely questioned, especially when bad weather enters into the decision process.  Take a deep breath and exhale before filling out that final lineup, don’t overanalyze, and be confident in the General Manager skills that you exhibited all year to get you to this point and most of all, across the finish line in first place.

Speaking of the anchor player dilemma, I’ve had Carson Palmer as my year-long starter @ home against the Browns this weekend, a tradtional high-octane shootout. Seems like a no-brainer start, barring severe weather conditions, but Palmer has been so lackluster the last month and my backup QB, Kurt Warner, has been playing well the last few weeks.  I’m tempted to switch them up, but then I look at Palmer’s early season performance against Cleveland (41 points in this particuliar league) and, with both team’s currently playing weak defense,  I have a difficult time thinking he can’t get back into that neighborhood-especially with the Browns matching him score for score.

-Typical Dolphins, running after the glamour name, Bill Parcells, to soothe their South Beach constituency, despite witnessing overwhelming evidence compiled in Dallas the last few years that he has little left in the tank when it comes to winning in the current football landscape.  The Dolphins, seemingly stuck in the 70’s and early 80’s, are going for the Parcells sizzle, rather than truly doing the work and finding someone who can build a lasting foundation for the franchise to grow from.  Wayne Huizenga, the beleagured owner whose made few right moves in his tenure overseeing the team,  was rumored to be looking for suitor’s interested in buying the team, is making another big mistake if the hiring of Bill Parcells becomes finalized.  Vice President of Football Operations.  Sounds like a demanding occupation.  Parcells turned 66-year’s old this year.  Sixty six years.  Retirement age.  Forget about the game passing him by, how much energy does he have left? Much like his neon blonde hair highlights, this move is a transparent cover up that most observer’s will see right through. 

Great line from an all-time classic movie….name the movie and the iconic actor who delivered it….

**Just two short years ago, the never-ending chorus of water-cooler quarterbacks to “media experts” shouted from the rooftops about the folly of the Texans selecting Mario Williams instead of Reggie Bush as the No.1 overall pick of the Draft.  Now as the 2007 season winds down, the over-hyped Bush, who increasngly has become the Anna Kournikova of the NFL- all marketing sizzle, but little on-field performance steak, ends his under-performing 2007 campaign likely headed toward the IR with a torn PCL, while Williams just finished racking up 3.5 sacks on the Broncos on Thursday night bringing his season total to 13, making a compelling argument for the Pro Bowl in just his second season.  I guess ex-Texans GM Charlie Casserly knew what he was doing after all.

**Though one part of me can’t blame Bobby Petrino for bolting to what will most assuredly be greener pastures in Arkansas,  I would like to read about him having to give the Falcons back a huge lump sum of money back as a buyout requirement.  Head coaches, especially at the college level, seem to operate in a surreal universe where the rules and accountability that they demand from their players on a daily basis, don’t apply to them.  They sign long term contracts to sell incoming recruits about their committment to the program, only to sneak in a fine print clause that allows them to bolt if a certain school of their choosing comes a calling for their services.  I’d like to see the NCAA put a rule in similiar to what they do to players trying to switch school’s, make coaches that leave an exisitng contract to switch schools, or that return to the college ranks from the NFL sit out a year.  What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.  Let’s take this baby step as way to start chipping away at the iceberg of hypocrisy that exists in the game today.  

Week 15- In this critical week of fantasy football playoffs, the week to determine who will play in the Championship game in week sixteen, how ironic is it that traditional fantasy football stepchildren like Jamal Lewis, Samkon Gado, David Patten, Sage Rosenfels, David Garrard, Aaron Stecker, Justin Fargas, Jerheme Urban, Maurice Morris, Ryan Grant, Derek Anderson and Fred Taylor will likely play a major role in head-to-head matchups throughout this weekend. 

*Carson Palmer has got to snap out of his mini-scoring slump this Saturday night on the road against the struggling 49ers in good weather San Francisco.  Should be bombs away in Frisco, and maybe, just maybe, it forces Frank Gore, in catch-up mode, into the end zone a couple of times against the soft Bengals defense, who should be able to stop Sean Hill and the San Francisco passing attack, which is probably the league’s worst unit right now. 

*Contrary to popular sentiment this week, I think Petrino leaving the Falcons will be a positive for Jerrious Norwood, who Petrino would surprisingly keep on a short leash when it came to touching the football in a game.  Interim coach Emmitt Thomas will hopefully “get it” and exhaust his talented, young back with 25 carries and numerous pass attempts.

*As a Terrell Owens owner in two leagues, I don’t like to read about Terry Glenn’s hard-fought comeback attempt to return before the end of the regular season. Stay down, Terry!  The Cowboys are doing just fine without you.

Week 14 is the week where many of us experience the downturn of not being in the playoffs and the emotional gears begin to shift, it feels a little colder outside, the winter wind has a little more bite, we’re not rushing to the computer as much to find the latest player update, more like meandering over to the keyboard as a result of the prior thirteen weeks of the same routine while we were still in contention.  We manage to get our lineup in on time, but start playing little-used backups or reach players, because none of it matters anymore. No more excuses to not rake the leaves on Sunday, etc..

Well, as bad as that feeling is, it’s still better than being Joe Gibbs last Sunday.  His two timeouts-in-succession gaffe at the end of the Buffalo game, enabling Rian Lindell to move close enough to make the game-winning kick was a downright embarrassment of the Hall of Fame coach, made even more painful by the fact that it came during the Skins first game after the tragic death of Sean Taylor.  That moment was the exclamation point on the widely-held belief that today’s game has passed him by and its time to move back to NASCAR.  Bill Parcells went out with a fizzle last season and now, if Gibbs truly wants to salvage his remaining coaching dignity, he’ll tell Danny Snyder that he’s out the door.

Jerrious Norwood is once again a topic of conversation at fantasy football dinner tables across the nation after his 115 total yards produced from 11 touches last week against the Rams, prompting coach Bobby Petrino to imply Norwood will start the following game.  Now he’ll have a Monday night home match up against the Saints in week fourteen.  Hard to resist for those fantasy owners who have kept Norwood in moth balls on their bench all season hoping for the Falcons to give him a genuine opportunity dotting the eye.

PLAYERS I HATE THIS SEASON:  Lee Evans, Phillip Rivers, Frank Gore, Willie Parker, Alex Smith (QB), Chad Johnson, Randy Moss (because I passed him over to take Lee Evans), Drew Brees, Justin Fargas (because I would never take this guy on principle and now he’s magically turned into a reliable, productive fantasy back), LT, Steve Smith, David Carr (because he ruined Steve Smith the way a grapefruit ruins a fruit salad), Tony Romo (because nobody saw this explosion coming-especially how he ended last year disasterously), the 49ers offensive line and Ronnie Brown (for leaving the season prematurely after almost singlehandedly resurrecting one of my struggling teams).

PLAYERS I LOVE THIS SEASON:  Braylon Edwards (I believed when many others doubted!), Wes Welker (knew he’d be a great fit with Brady), Tony Gonzalez (still killing it in PPR leagues), T.O.-(more than justified his second round selection in two of my fantasy leagues), Jamal Lewis (been much better than people thought he would do), Marshawn Lynch (will be great for years to come), Selvin Young (for about two games), the Minnesota defense, Earnest Graham, Shaun McDonald-until the last few weeks.    

**Regarding Henry…I don’t like Travis Henry returning from injury just in time to muddy up the Broncos backfield situation even further.  Awaiting the results of his appeal of a one-year suspension for alleged violation of the league’s substance abuse policy,  Henry appears healthy enough to play against the Raiders, going so far as to ask for 20 carries since he feels so refreshed from his three week rest.  Selvin Young is now recovered enough from a knee strain suffered a few weeks ago to be the week thirteen starter, but may have to share carries, almost equally with Henry.

**TO will be Pack-Man tonight….With no Charles Woodson, preventing Green Bay from helping Al Harris cover Owens with a safety, and no KGB to rush the passer, got to figure Romo-to Owens will gobble up the Green Bay defense tonight in what should be a pigskin pass-a poolooza type festival.

**I’m playing Kurt Warner instead of Carson Palmer this week.  Palmer’s been my starter all year, but I will defy the age-old fantasy football rule of sticking with your No.1 regardless of the circumstances surrounding that particuliar game.  Look at what I’m facing.  Palmer goes into a possibly rainy, definitely cold Pittsburgh on Sunday night to face the Steelers No.1 rated pass defense, which already played well against him earlier this year versus a scorching hot Kurt Warner fresh off a nearly 5oo-yard passing effort last weekend, playing at home against the high-scoring Browns, who are also at the bootom of the league in defending the pass.  Damn the fantasy gods and their traditions. It looks too good on paper to pass up.

**Watching the Cowboys-Packers game on NFL Network right now,  I could do with out the extra helping of pomp & circumstance with Aikman, Staubach and other ol’time greats huddled at the 50-yard line. It’s not necessary, and football fans have been forced to ingest too much of this type of stuff over the last five years.  And doesn’t it seem like Bryant Gumbel knows, and or cares, very little about football.  It seems awkward having him provide the play-by-play.

**I’ve waited all year for Cedric Benson to remove himself from the picture and now I will finally be able to take the shackles off my 15th round selection of Adrian Peterson- Chicago.  He’s been decent in PPR leagues and now, barring injury, he can make a full-scale impact as a starting RB four the last, crucial part of the season.

**As frustrating as Lee Evans has been this year, when faced with the other week thirteen options of Kevin Curtis and James Jones, I’m tempted to gamble with Evans still-present home run threat ability against an injury-depleted Redskins secondary, now playing with a heavy heart after the tragic death of teammate Sean Taylor.   Grief games are unpredictable.  I’ve seen some teams respond with great ferosity and focus, and others that fell prey to the overwhelming distraction that the death of a teammate can cause.  And this wasn’t just someone dying of natural causes in his sleep.  Sean Taylor was murdered in his home by an intruder, with his wife and infant daughter present.  I would think it will be hard for the Skins to execute their game plan cleanly this Sunday.      

*I missed mentioning this last week and I think it’s important to recognize the wonderful smackdown the Steelers administered on the all-bark, no-bite Baltimore Ravens on Monday night a few weeks ago.  It was a throwback, smash-mouth game that was a great TV watch.  Ed Reed just go his the seat-of-his-pants handed to him all game.  The block that Hines Ward put on him should be in every WR text book in America as the example of how to get it done blocking downfield for your team.  That hit was art.  It was beautiful to look at. Bravo, Hines. 

*Alex Smith-SF- this guy has absolutely killed me this year in two of the leagues I’m in.  I thought I had gotten away with murder when I was able to package him in a three player deal to another team for Ben Roethlisberger a few weeks ago. Brilliant! But, Smith is so bad this year that he managed to kill me even when he is no longer a part of my roster, as my team entered last Monday night’s SF-SEA game with a 14 point lead and Frank Gore yet to play and my opponent having only the Seattle defense.  You guessed it. I just needed the Niners to kick a field goal at any point in that game and it would have given me the margin of victory necessary.  You saw what happened.  Disaster.  I’ve never seen a QB get worse during the garbage time portion of a game, but Smith pulled it off. Sickening.

*Chester Taylor gets the start versus Oakland this week.  I’ve waited 11 weeks to finally have the veteran back pay some dividends and it will happen this weekend.  Good stuff.

*I’m willing to bet that there are Peyton Manning owners who can’t give him away in a trade, thanks to a monumental, team-wide, physical breakdown of the Colts.  The rainy, narrow Sunday night defeat to San Diego was a punch in the gullet to the defending Super Bowl champions, losing Dwight Freeney for the year, and being reduced to a third-string, practice squad guy at the ultra-important left tackle spot.  This team is reeling in all phases, and football’s EvilEmpire up in New England can barely wipe the cat-that-got-the-canary grin off their collective faces.

*As a Terrell Owens owner in two different leagues, it’s nice to see him unshackled this year in Jason Garrett’s offense, free from the stifling Bill Parcells, and his counterproductive, overbearing management style.  Owens has exhibited a choir boy-like demeanor this season, and now free to demoralize opponents with his game-breaking ability, the prototype receiver for the modern age has rewarded Cowboys fans and fantasy owners alike with an abundance of riches.

*Is there any player in the league that takes longer than Todd Heap to recover from an injury?  After what seemed like a month or more in recovery from a hamstring pull, he played just long enough last Sunday against the Bengals that he is now already termed as doubtful for week eleven.

*Every now and then you’ll hear scouts label a draft prospect as “fake tough”…. I’d like to use that description for Denzel Washington’s portrayal of Frank Lucas in the movie “American Gangster”…the opening scene he douses a guy with gas, sets him on fire and shoots the victim in the process, and it didn’t jolt me at all. It’s still a good movie because the story is so interesting, and it’s true.  I just think Denzel was miscast in this role.