By Zack Cimini

notjustagame23@gmail.com

All the trash talking amongst your buddies and you’ve made it. Distinguished and separated yourself from the majority of your buddies to reach the playoffs. You don’t want the praise of yourself to end just there. If you win it all you can rant and rave until next August or September’s fantasy draft. Heck, if there is a lockout you could extend it over a year. Nobody wins a fantasy title the easy conventional way. You have to go outside the box and take risks. Who are some contrarian players you can utilize for the final stretch?

Quarterbacks

Chad Henne- It sounds insane to think about plugging in Henne, but a quarterback with his strengths figures it out that last month of December. You see it almost every year where a promising quarterback starts to produce without hiccups and gives their team hope going into the off-season. Currently, Miami is a .500 team because they’ve been inconsistent. That’s exactly what Henne’s problem has been. With Miami basically eliminated, look for Henne to play with free reign and perform better.

Shaun Hill/Drew Stanton- We’ve never been too high on the Detroit Lions but Jim Schwartz has things turning around up there. This team is fighting hard each week, and they’ve fared well with three different quarterbacks. Stanton doesn’t make poor decisions and being a former running back in high school, has the ability to scramble. The timetable for Hill’s return is in the air, but he is a better option with his arm. One plus to either or is Jahvid Best’s health. His role has still been diminished the past few weeks, but he is showing that early season explosion in the open field. That should open things up big time for the Lions to hit Megatron deep.

Ryan Fitzpatrick- Fitz had his poorest outing of the year this past weekend against Minnesota. It was a surprise considering how well he has done against top tier defenses, which the Vikings have not been. The problem in that game was critical turnovers, that just got the offense in a funk they couldn’t get out of. Other than that game though, Fitz has been reliable. He runs the Bills offense extremely well and is going to make a big play or two every game.

Running Backs

Knowshown Moreno- Virtually non existent due to injuries and poor offensive philosophy by the Broncos, Moreno broke out this past week. With the firing of Josh McDaniels you’d expect the play calling to shift to more of a balanced attack. Orton’s hot start has faded fast as teams are applying pressure and shutting off the quick dink and dump outlet throws. Players may want to plan their vacations now, but with an interim coach he’ll make these last four games feel like September.

James Starks- We profiled Starks with Legarrette Blount as our second half of the season sleeper running backs. Starks took a bit longer than Blount but got the bulk of the carries this past week. He wasn’t stellar but seems to be the new favorite back in Green Bay. With the potency of Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, Starks should be Rodgers-fed from a fantasy standpoint. Capitalizing off their quick drives and red zone possessions.

Rashad Jennings- Jacksonville’s starting to figure out they have a duel threat backfield. Jones-Drew and Jennings have been a combined tear as of late. If Jacksonville wants to hold off the rest of their divisional rivals then they’re going to need to continue to run the ball. Jennings is becoming a factor notching eleven fantasy points the past two weeks.

Wide Receivers

Davone Bess- At this point Miami doesn’t know if Brandon Marshall’s lingering injury will prevent him from stepping back onto the field. Even if he does, Marshall and Henne have not necessarily been the best of connections. Who has been is Davone Bess. Bess runs the short routes that Henne is comfortable in delivering. They seem to be on the same page every week. Bess is an extreme deep play but his upside comes in the department that you know he is going to catch six to eight passes as week.

Justin Gage- Tennessee can’t even get the ball to Randy Moss. Quietly that story has not surfaced as a headliner. Kerry Collins was rushed back due to how poor the rookie Rusty Smith performed. With Collins he has always been able to deliver the ball to Gage and Britt. Britt is out, so that makes Gage his top target. Hopefully Collins can get back in rhythm, as they face a Colts team that’s been giving up a ton of points.

Blair White- Peyton has had to deal with a plethora of mounting criticism since Sunday. How will he respond? We don’t doubt him, and we think he’ll deliver a fabulous finish to the season. Injuries have killed him but in the past he has found a go to guy to replace that area. White’s done it a few different weeks. As their third receiver, we think he’ll resurface as a monster December receiver for stats.