In the Trenches: Wk. 17- Studs vs. Duds

Posted by Ray Flowers on 12/30/2012 | 1 Comments

Tags: Lance Ball, Knowshon Moreno, Vick Ballard, Ahmad Bradshaw, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Antonio Brown, Kenny Britt, Dallas Clark, Marques Colston, Michael Crabtree, Owen Daniels, Erick Decker, Ed Dickson, Dennis Pitta, Matt Forte, Josh Freeman, A.J. Green, Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson, Stevie Johnson, Jimmy Graham, Jermaine Gresham, Rob Gronkowski, Montario Hardesty, Mark Ingram, Marcedes Lewis, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Hakeem Nicks, Montell Owens, Keith Toston, Adrian Peterson, Brady Quinn, Ray Rice, Bernard Pierce, Ruben Randle, Stevan Ridley, Matt Ryan, Jacquizz Rodgers, Jordan Shipley, C.J. Spiller, Darren Sproles, Mike Tolbert, Ben Watson, DeAngelo Williams, Mike Williams, Russell Wilson, Kendall Wright

 
It's over. By “it” I mean the 2012 fantasy football regular season (you can still participate in playoff leagues of course, and if you haven't tried that “game” yet it's well worth investigating). Most people have their fantasy finals in Week 16, but some of you out there were still hanging on every play during the final week of the regular season. So with that brief intro, here are some of the more notable efforts from Week 17 and how those efforts impacted a players overall value for the 2012 regular season.

Lance Ball, not Ronnie Hillman, was the backup to own with the Broncos. Hillman fumbled the ball in the first half so Ball came on to rush for 66 yards an a score on 15 carries in Week 17. Bell hadn't carried carried the ball even seven times in a game this season. Knowshon Moreno, the lead dog, carried the rock 15 times for 44 yards an a score.

Vick Ballard gave it his all in Week 17 against a stout Texans' defense. He ran for 78 yards an a score though it took him 27 carries to get there.

Jackie Battle carried the ball 19 times for the Chargers. He gained 37 yards. This is why no team, in the real world or fantasy, should trust Battle.

Ahmad Bradshaw always seems to get it done when he's on the field. He ran for 107 yards an a score for the G-Men. His value is on the wain as the injuries pile up, but he's still a hell of a football player.

Tom Brady, ho hum, threw for 284 yards and two scores. He finishes the year with 34 passing scores versus only eight interceptions.

Drew Brees was my #1 QB coming into the year. NO ONE agreed with. No one. In the end Brees will emerge as the #1 QB in fantasy football. Brees threw for 396 yards and four scores in Week 17. In the end he threw for 43 touchdowns to become the first QB to ever have back-to-back seasons of 40 scores. In the end he also threw for 5,177 yards to become the first QB to ever have back-to-back seasons of 5,000 yards. In the end he also became the first QB to ever have back-to-back-to back seasons of more than 420 completions. Nuff said.

Antonio Brown caught only two balls for 22 yards for the Steelers as Big Ben threw for all of 134 yards. The good news for Brown owners is that he scored for a fourth straight game.

The 2012 season couldn't end soon enough for Kenny Britt who caught only two passes for 21 yards in Week 17. He'll have the offseason to get healthy.

Dallas Clark predictably finished the year with a thud. He didn't catch a single ball in Week 17 and ends his season with 47 catches and just 435 yards.

Marques Colston caught five balls for 52 yards. Two of the receptions went for scores as he finished the year with 83 grabs, 1,154 yards and 10 touchdowns. With Drew Brees under center he just keeps getting it done.

Michael Crabtree – have a day kid. In the best performance of his somewhat blah career (based on expectations), Crabtree caught eight balls for 172 yards... and two touchdowns. He ends the year with 85 receptions and over 1,100 yards.

Owen Daniels caught three balls for 27 yards in Week 17. That means her caught 11 balls in his last four games, not once reaching 45 yards.

Eric Decker is blazing hot right now as he caught seven more balls for 76 yards and two scores. He finished the year with 85 receptions and 13 scores in the breakout season everyone expected would come with Mr. Manning under center.

Ed Dickson led the Ravens with six catches for 64 yards. Dennis Pitta failed to haul in either of his two targets as the Ravens basically folded in Week 17. Ugly.

Matt Forte came through for the Bears in Week 17 as he played through his ankle injury to run for 103 yards an a score. He also caught two balls for 21 yards.

Arian Foster played through his minor heart condition to run for 96 yards an a score. He ended the year with more than 1,400 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns.

Josh Freeman threw for 222 yards an a score in Week 17 to becomes the first QB in Bucs' history to throw for 4,000 yards. He limped to the finish though throwing just two scores against nine interceptions over his last three games.

A.J. Green played less than anyone expected as he caught only two balls for 26 yards. He finished the year three receptions short of 100.

Andre Johnson may not be the best receiver in football, but boy is he still damn good. Andre caught 12 balls for 141 yards in Week 17 as he became the second receiver to have three seasons of 1,500 yards and 100 receptions. The other is Marvin Harrison.

Calvin Johnson ended the year with 1,964 receiving yards, the most in NFL history. He caught five balls for 72 yards in Week 17.

Stevie Johnson caught six balls for 111 yards to push his season total over 1,000 for a third straight year. He scored six times on the year.

Jimmy Graham may have struggled with a wrist injury for a good portion of the year, but he came through in the end. Graham caught nine balls for 115 yards an a TD. All told he caught 85 balls for 982 yards and nine scores, hardly the type of production that was predicted when most every league saw him drafted in the top-25 overall.

Jermaine Gresham you broke many peoples hearts as you failed to haul in your lone target in Week 17. He will end the year with 64 grabs and 737 yards, solid but unremarkable totals.

Rob Gronkowski, in his first game back from his broken left forearm, caught two balls for 42 yards. Of course he also scored.

You didn't trust Montario Hardesty, starting in place of injured Trent Richardson, did you? Hardesty carried the ball for 37 yards on 14 totes. He's nothing more than a mid-level talent.

Mark Ingram let everyone down in Week 17. He carried the ball 10 times for a mere 39 yards. He needs to get out of that offense. The Saints are simply wasting his talent.

Hey, Marcedes Lewis came to play in Week 17 catching seven balls for 103 yards. This was his first game over 90 yards in his career.

Eli Manning only threw for 208 yards but there isn't one person in the world who cared since he tossed five touchdown passes. Eli fell 52 yards short of 4,000 but he did toss 26 scores, a fourth straight year with at least that many.

Peyton Manning threw for three scores, his 73rd such career game to pass Brett Favre for the all-time record. He also threw only six incomplete passes as he tossed the pigskin for 304 yards.

Just end it already --- that's what Hakeem Nicks owners were thinking. On a day when Eli Manning threw for five scores Nick's wasn't even targeted one time as his broken down body just wouldn't allow him to do anything on the field. He was a complete failure in 2012 but shapes up as one of the best values at the wide receiver spot in 2013.

Montell Owens was a surprise scratch when he injured his knee in warmups. It was thought that Richard Murphy would start the game but the Jags ended up going with Keith Toston, their fifth starting RB of the season. He performed well rushing 17 times for 74 yards. Keith also caught three balls for 41 yards if you were crazy enough to start him.

Adrian Peterson fell nine yards short of the NFL's single season rushing mark of 2,105 yards but he carried the ball a career-high 34 times on his way to 199 yards an a score (he also caught a two yard TD pass). He also led the team down the field to put them in position to kick a field goal as the clock expired to allow the Vikes to make the playoffs (which they did). Kudos to the man who is arguably the best player in football. He was so good that his rushing total the last 10 games of the year, 1,598 yards, would have led the NFL.

Brady Quinn threw for 49 yards.

Bernard Pierce was a surprise contributor in Week 17 as he carried the ball 22 times for 89 yards. Ray Rice started the game, but as was announced about an hour before kickoff, he barely saw the field as Pierce handled the bulk of the workload.

Ruben Randle was a receiving star for the Giants in Week 17 with four catches for 58 yards and two touchdowns in one of those out of nowhere type performances.

It seemed like every week that Stevan Ridley owner's contemplated sitting him. In the end he nearly ran for 1,300 yards while scoring 12 times on the ground. He went for 74 yards and two scores in Week 17.

Jacquizz Rodgers was never able to break through this year, but he was solid in the final week of the season. He may have only 28 yards on five carries but he caught eight balls for 50 yards. He caught 53 balls on the year as a solid flex option in deep PPR leagues.

No one thought Matt Ryan would play four quarters. He did. No one thought he would struggle if he played that much. He did. Ryan threw for just 238 yards and one score. He set a franchise record with 32 passing scores and 4,719 yards so don’t be too hard on the guy.
 
Jordan Shipley stepped up big time for those that were desperate enough to play him. Shipley caught seven balls for 51 yards, and the cherry on top was a touchdown.

C.J. Spiller went for a score and 131 yards from scrimmage in Week 17. He ends the year with 1,244 rushing yards, more than 450 receiving, 43 caches and eight scores ---  despite sharing the ball with Fred Jackson for a large portion of the year.
 
Darren Sproles you are a failure as a runner (three carries, one yard). Mr. Sproles you are one dynamic receiver. The little fella caught eight balls for 79 yards and a TD in Week 17.

I hate Mike Tolbert. OK, I really don't hate him,how could anyone hate him? Well you might hate him if someone you were facing in Week 17 had him active. Tolbert only ran for 25 yards but he scored three flipping touchdowns. He didn't do much of anything in Carolina, failing to run for even 200 yards on the year, but he did score seven times.

Look at Ben Watson go. The Browns' tight end caught seven balls for 64 yards to finish the year with 49 receptions.

DeAngelo Williams sent everyone in Carolina off with a smile on their face as he ran buck wild all over the Saints. Williams carried the ball 21 times for a career best 210 yards. He also scored twice in what could have been his last game in a Panthers uniform. That was his first 100 yard effort of the season.

Mike Williams fell four yards short of a thousand on the year but he finished strong with six catches for 65 yards an a TD, his ninth of the season.

Russell Wilson threw for 250 yards an a touchdown. He ran for 58 yards an another score. Oh yeah, he also tied Peyton Manning's NFL rookie record with his 26th touchdown pass.

Kendall Wright had a solid rookie season finishing with 64 receptions. Unfortunately only two of those came in Week 17 (they went for 40 yards).

 Ray Flowers can be heard daily on Sirius/XM Radio on The Fantasy Drive on Sirius 210 and XM 87, Monday through Thursday at 7 PM EDT and Friday's at 9p-12a EDT. For more of Ray's analysis you can check out BaseballGuys.com or the BaseballGuys' Twitter account where he tirelessly answer everyone's questions.