Post Week Twelve Team Rankings

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1. Seattle Seahawks- Their record indicates they should be ranked number one in football. I’m still hesitant that they’ll be a dominant playoff team.
2. Denver Broncos- A loss on the road in New England is acceptable. The way it happened isn’t. The Broncos should rally from this loss to put away teams at a higher rate.
3. New Orleans- Monday Night’s game against the Seattle Seahawks just became the best prime time game of the season.
4. San Francisco 49ers- They seem to be getting healthy at the right time. Weapons for Kap to throw to is going to be huge for his confidence.
5. New England Patriots- When will their limitations on defense rear its head? It may be in the playoffs.
6. Carolina Panthers- I’m waiting to see the downfall game from Cam Newton. It’s lurking, but he did a fantastic job on leading his team to a comeback win against Miami.
7. Kansas City- A couple of losses in their division have raised some legitimate questions to how prepared this team will be in the playoffs.
8. Cincinnati Bengals- The Bengals are still a team that no one truly knows what they’re capable of. This weekend’s game against the Chargers will be a true test for this team.
9. Dallas Cowboys- I wrote an article a few weeks ago in regards to poor divisions translating to success for the division winner in the playoffs. Dallas may be that team to surprise this season in the postseason. First they have to battle the month of December, which has been their nemesis.
10. Detroit Lions- Detroit is the one team in football that has played beneath their capabilities but is still in position to control their own destiny. There is too much talent on this Lions team to keep them from a division title.
11. Arizona Cardinals
12. Baltimore Ravens
13. Pittsburgh Steelers
14. Philadelphia Eagles
15. Miami Dolphins
16. San Diego Chargers
17. St. Louis Rams
18. Indianapolis Colts
19. Green Bay Packers
20. Tennessee Titans
21. Chicago Bears
22. NY Jets
23. NY Giants
24. Cleveland Browns
25. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
26. Oakland Raiders
27. Washington Redskins
28. Buffalo Bills
29. Minnesota Vikings
30. Jacksonville Jaguars
31. Atlanta Falcons
32. Houston Texans

Follow@cimini It’s turkey day time and with that comes three NFL games. Tinkering with your fantasy starting lineups on Sunday just became that much harder. You have to be ready now with proper automatic starters/don’t do its for week thirteen. Automatics Tony Romo Stats are glaring when it comes to NFL secondary’s. Disguising a scheme for a team that can’t cover is near impossible. Each and every week Oakland’s secondary rears its head as a consistent defense that yields high yardage. Put in Romo on Thanksgiving to give your team a high teen to low twenty quarterback fantasy output. Carson Palmer It looks as if Bruce Arians has translated the second half of the season success he had in Indianapolis to the Arizona Cardinals. One of the brightest offensive minds in football has finally honed in Carson. Over the years with confidence behind him Palmer has shown to be a viable fantasy quarterback. Look for the Cardinals offense to continue to strike with efficiency this week against the Philadelphia Eagles. MJD Jacksonville has two more wins than most would have envisioned at this point of the season. The team has bought into Gus Bradley’s mentality defensively, which has made games much more manageable. Offensively the team has a fighting chance each game with Chad Henne under center. He has done a nice job running the offense with MJD out of the backfield or direct handoffs. Others: EJ Manuel, Ben Tate, Jared Cook, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Anquan Boldin, and Marques Colston Don’t Do Its Russ Wilson Typically personnel moves tend to lead to a public perception that creates an overwhelming incorrect reaction. With this matter involving the Seahawks secondary I believe for once you can side with the turn of events. Seattle has the record of achievement but has not been the dominant team it was a year ago at this time with less wins. Defensively they’ve been a shell of what they were a year ago and that has impacted the offense. Expect New Orleans to develop proper blitzes to attack Russ Wilson and company. Remember this is the same Saints team that suffered a mind boggling playoff exit to the 7-9 Seahawks a few years back. That still burns deep with the players remaining on the Saints roster. Philip Rivers Teams with physical defenses are the ones that the San Diego Chargers struggle against. Not often this year have the Chargers faced a team of the caliber of a Bengals defense. That should disrupt the short passing attack that the Chargers have in place. Philip has been error free for the most part this season but I wouldn’t be surprised to see his highest interception game of the season this week. DeSean Jackson For all the success the Eagles have had as of late, their season is still on the edge of the cliff of faltering. I expect that to happen this Sunday on their home field against the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona doesn’t get any primetime television exposure. Quietly though they boast one of the best defenses in football. They have the secondary and front seven to finally get Nick Foles to turn the football over. Others: Steven Jackson, Pierre Garcon, RG3, Peyton Manning, Antonio Brown, and Frank Gore

Potential Fourth Quarter Killers For Week 13

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Matthew Stafford
The slide Stafford has been on as of late should come to an end on Thanksgiving Day. Green Bay’s roller coaster at quarterback may be the worst in the NFL at the backup position. Praise was given to how Matt Flynn performed last week but needs to be recognized in put into context. He came in to spell Tolzien in relief duty. Starting should be an entirely different ball game. If Christian Ponder can throw the ball around on the Packers so can Staff.

Ryan Fitzpatrick
Not only has the Colts offense hit a wall over the last stretch of games, but the defense has as well. Tennessee knows they let a golden opportunity slip away on Thursday night football just a few weeks ago against the Colts. With a sizeable lead their run game and offense as a whole became stagnant. As I’ve noted before, Fitzpatrick is one of the streakier quarterbacks in football. He should be able to build off his great performance against the Raiders.

Shane Vereen
With Ridley and Blount in the doghouse Vereen and Bolden are going to be the new tandem that the Patriots utilize here on out. Vereen is no stranger to fantasy success, and should be the main focal point out of the backfield for the Pats offense on a week to week basis. He is their best threat out of the backfield and running the football. As we get into December expect the Patriots to gear up their run game for a playoff caliber offense.

Michael Floyd
Nick Foles has the gaudy statistics to showcase that he might possibly be the ring leader to the best current offense in football. Numbers don’t always equate to how things finish on Sundays. Arizona has been a transformed team since their bye week, thanks in large part to a different Carson Palmer. Palmer has avoided costly turnovers and is starting to gel with the offense. Bruce Arians should have some tricks up his sleeve to showcase this Cardinals offense.

Dolphins Defense
Deciding to start Geno Smith one more time is going to prove to be the coup de grace on the Jets season this Sunday. His downward slides in college were notable, but his current state in the NFL is much worse. Miami has stepped up their defensive intensity and been relentless at attacking the quarterback lately. Just like Smith never could back on track in college after horrific games, I don’t think he can recover for a solid outing as a professional athlete.

Others: Josh Gordon, Big Ben, Matt Ryan, Roddy White, Danny Woodhead, and Golden Tate

Best Catches to Targets From Week Twelve

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Knowing who were the main targets on a week to week basis is imperative to position your team and know your opponents strengths. Even at this time of the year you should be paying attention to this crucial category. Here is a look at some best catches to targets from week twelve.

Anquan Boldin
With a healthy Vernon Davis and a better presence on the field at wide receiver in Mario Manningham, Boldin has started to resurge the past two weeks. Maybe Boldin should just get tabbed the Robert Horry of football. He shows up in big moments and is trying to get his team ready for a postseason run.

Pierre Garcon
Even with the Redskins season in peril, Garcon continues to be a weekly fantasy football top wideout. He caught eight of eleven throws from RG3 Monday, which has been a dependable stick stat every week. Though his yardage numbers were a bit low at only 48.

Josh Gordon
Other teams around the NFL have to consider themselves foolish to not have pursued the trade for Josh Gordon before the deadline. Adam Schefter and other NFL insiders had listed Gordon as a possible receiver on the trading blocks. It didn’t happen and throughout having three different quarterbacks Gordon has remained a constant defensive nemesis to stop. He caught fourteen of seventeen targets for over 200 yards receiving.

Brandon Marshall
I’m impressed with Marshall the most out of any receiver in football this year. For one he has kept quiet even during the Bears turn of events from a quarterback and winning standpoint. He plays on every possession and continues to be a monster every week. Sunday he caught ten balls out of twelve targets.

Jared Cook
Cook’s improvement just by signing with the Rams could be seen in the preseason. The Rams made it imperative to take advantage of Cook’s athleticism in their offense. That was something that the Titans hardly did with Cook. He caught four of five targets for eighty yards and a box out touchdown.

Dez Bryant
Antics were left and checked by Bryant against the Giants. He was there for his team and quarterback time and time again. He thrived in the pressure moments the Cowboys usually fail and had nine catches on sixteen targets.

Julian Edelman
The Danny Amendola sightings are becoming as ghost as old Randy Moss tales. Edelman did his best Wes Welker imitation with Welker on the opposing sideline. He hauled in a game high nine catches on eleven targets with two critical touchdowns. The weapons at Brady’s disposal will be key to their playoff run.

Others: Harry Douglas 9 catches/11 targets, Jimmy Graham 5 catches/7 targets, Darius Johnson 6 catches/8 targets, Antonio Brown 6 catches/10 targets, Emmanuel Sanders 6 catches/7 targets, Timothy Wright 8 catches/9 targets, Nate Burelson 7 catches/10 targets, James Jones 7 catches/10 targets, Keenan Allen 9 catches/12 targets, Steve Smith 5 catches/8 targets, Brian Hartline 5 catches/5 targets, Cecil Shorts III 8 catches/11 targets, Michael Floyd 7 catches/7 targets, Jacob Tamme 5 catches/5 targets,

Stretching the Field Post Week Twelve

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Here is a look at players that had great performances to stretch the field for their quarterbacks in week twelve. Based upon their performances you probably had a bitter beer face when checking your live stat tracker on your smart phone application.

Jimmy Graham
I don’t ever think a tight end has been in the running for MVP. It’s sort of a surprise to me that Graham’s name has not been mentioned as a possible candidate. Each and every week he has been an almost lock to have on field success for the Saints, almost near the level of Calvin Johnson. Thursday he caught five passes for one hundred yards and a touchdown.

Josh Gordon
Talk about a steal that fantasy owners probably have patted themselves on the back for. Gordon missed games due to suspension just like Justin Blackmon. Except Gordon kept himself out of trouble since his suspension and has terrorized weekly opponents. Gordon had an exceptional game with over 230 yards receiving against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Donnie Avery
His touchdowns may have receded but Avery has still been a decent WR3 or flex option for fantasy owners. Alex Smith doesn’t stretch the field too often but when he does he is looking Avery’s way. Sunday against the San Diego Chargers the duo connected on four catches for over ninety yards.

Mike Wallace
One week for Wallace’s name to appear on this weekly column just isn’t enough. It’s not entirely his fault that the Dolphins haven’t found a way to involve him more. Miami has been one of the poorer teams at protecting the quarterback which has translated into a shorter passing attack for the Dolphins. But if Miami can have success against Carolina’s front seven with the long ball, they need to figure out a way to continue to do so. Wallace caught five balls for over 120 yards Sunday.

Jacoby Jones
What’s been missing from the Baltimore Ravens offense this season? Once you begin to start the list it will continue past the number ten. One area defenses have hindered the Ravens from having success with is with Jones. Sunday the Jets allowed one big play from Jones and it became the dagger in Sunday’s game.

Kendall Wright and Justin Hunter
The Titans tandem at wide receiver became the latest receivers to torch the Raiders secondary. What was more surprising was to see Ryan Fitzpatrick play a complete game. He seems to be settling in with the talent he has in Tennessee which is a huge upgrade from what he had in Buffalo at receiver. Both had well over one hundred yards receiving.