Does Jamaal Charles play fantasy football? If so, he hopes he was on his own team, and not facing him. Maybe somewhere there's someone who lost with Charles on his team and won while facing him, but not in my leagues -- clean sweep for those with Charles. And why I firmly believe that making the fantasy playoffs has at least something to do with skill, and winning in them has a lot to do with luck. If you lost to Charles yesterday, what can you do? Wish you'd been in position to draft him back in August, that's about it.
Washington at Atlanta: I take back some of the unkind things I've said about Mike Shanahan, since at least his team, after scoring a touchdown in the final minute when down 7, went for 2 and the win. Of course they lost, but kudos for avoiding overtime in a season that can't end soon enough for both teams. ... Early, easy scores for Steven Jackson and Tony Gonzalez. At that point, it looked like Atlanta would win easily. Four early turnovers for Washington, huh, almost like their focus wasn't completely there. But, they came back, with touchdowns for Fred Davis (huh?) and nearly Logan Paulsen, and a long score for Pierre Garcon. Alfred Morris fumbled twice, taking away from an otherwise nice rushing game. ... Steven Jackson scored 2 TDs and could easily have scored 3 or 4. Washington's run defense is that bad around the end zone.
Chicago at Cleveland: Wow, what has happened to the Browns defense? Awfully good for much of the year, and through halftime at New England last week. Awful since. ... Bad red zone pick by Jay Cutler. Another that was tipped by receiver, but throw was high, and returned for a touchdown. Marc Trestman preparing postgame defense for benching Josh McCown. But, Cutler settled down, throwing touchdowns to Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery (a ridiculous leaping score that should have been picked. When you're hot, you're hot), Earl Bennett. ... Jason Campbell throws a pick 6. Trying too hard against his former team? Or just the real Campbell emerging. Late in the game, hits Josh Gordon for a long touchdown, to the great relief of everyone who started Gordon and watched him do nothing for 50 some odd minutes of game time. ... An Edwin Baker rushing touchdown. Guess it's finally safe to cut Fozzy Whittaker in my dynasty league, right? Chris Ogbonnaya only helped you in PPR -- 5 for 7 rushing, 5 for 39 receiving. Browns called 14 runs against the league's worst run defense. Go figure.
Houston at Indianapolis: Early on this looked like a big game for Andrew Luck. He threw a touchdown to Griff Whalen, and then a shovel pass touchdown to Trent Richardson, of all people, with Donald Brown leaving early due to injury. Will I actually be able to start Richardson in Week 16? Hmm. Still averaged just 3.4 yards per carry despite having lead back duties against a hangdog team. Anyway, Houston wasn't competitive -- Case Keenum is busy making Matt Schaub look like Houston's best quarterback -- and Luck didn't have to do much after that. Did OK if you started him, but early on it looked like it would be much better. ... OK numbers for Ben Tate. Nothing special though, plus no touchdowns of course.
Buffalo at Jacksonville: We were all in on Jordan Todman, and though he didn't win any fantasy playoff games because he didn't score, it's tough to get too upset about a 100-yard day. The guy can play; I remember liking him coming out of college and being surprised he didn't get more interest at the time. Three teams later, he's finally doing getting a chance and doing OK. ... Cecil Shorts replacement Kerry Taylor dropped an early ball thrown his way like it was on fire. Passing game didn't do much without Shorts, although there's Marcedes Lewis scoring three weeks in a row now. ... Denard Robinson had a touchdown run, but fumbled at goal line for a touchback. Offensive, weapon. Just hasn't been able to cash in on his opportunities. ... Bills rushed for almost 200 yards in this game but didn't really help fantasy teams. Fullback scores, yardage split between Jackson and Spiller, who didn't.
New England at Miami: Gotta hand it to Miami, they played a pretty strong game here. Game ended similar to last week's Cleveland win for New England, only this time they didn't get a pass interference call in the end zone, and they didn't get the win. ... Josh Boyce put up modest numbers. Early on he got an end zone target out of the slot, dropped, appeared to be held though. Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, in contrast, were both huge, especially in PPR. Patriots game ending drive was really pretty impressive. Near TD to Amendola, perfect throw, he had it in both hands but defender managed to knock it out. Two plays later, perfect throw to fill-in tight end Michael Hoomanawanui. I think most tight ends would catch that ball for a game-winning touchdown, not just Gronk. Next play, desperation, Brady picked throwing it for Edelman. Tough loss, I guess evening things out from last week's fortunate win.
Philadelphia at Minnesota: Didn't see this one coming. I knew Minnesota's defense was bad, but them lighting up the Eagles like a Christmas tree? Kind of a humorous stat line from Matt Asiata, who carried 30 times for 51 yards...and 3 TDs. I actually picked him up and started him in my dynasty league -- in a playoff game against the guy who had Peterson and Gerhart. Amusing. Uh, not to him I guess. ... Impressive bomb from Matt Cassel to Greg Jennings. Near TD to Jerome Simpson, and then a perfectly thrown downfield bomb to Jarius Wright. Wow. Cassel is playing to be Minnesota's starter next year. It's not like the competition is that daunting. .. Nick Foles is awfully impressive. Bad defense, granted, but barring a snowstorm, he's doing it every week.
Seattle at N.Y. Giants: The less said about this game the better. Apologies to anyone who started Andre Brown, we made the mistake of thinking the Giants would show up. Warned you away from the Giants passing game, but didn't really conceive their troubles would also kill the ground game. When the Giants turn out the lights on their season, they really turn them out. ... Typical awesome touchdown run by Marshawn Lynch. Quiet numbers for Seattle passing game, though inches from being bigger. Russell Wilson and Golden Tate lost a touchdown when Tate carelessly stepped on the sideline. Wilson barely overthrew an open Zach Miller, who made a spectacular one-handed catch in the back of the end zone, but couldn't get both feet in. Oh well. Major upset if anyone but Seattle represents the NFC in the Super Bowl.
San Francisco at Tampa Bay: Final score doesn't show it, but this game was pretty close. Bucs tried a reverse on a kickoff late after San Fran kicked a field goal to go up 23-14, San Francisco scored a touchdown off a mishandled exchange. Don't get me wrong, San Francisco played a strong game and is better, but the Bucs have been a pretty tough team for almost half a season now. ... Big game for Kaepernick, kind of unexpectedly. Touchdown bomb to Vernon Davis, and it was just a little bit after he'd barely missed Davis on a similar kind of play. Nice scrambling touchdown to Michael Crabtree. When Kaep is good, he's very good. ... Vincent Jackson touchdown, saving those who started him. Nothing out of Bobby Rainey, which isn't surprising. He'll be better against St. Louis next week.
N.Y. Jets at Carolina: Jets competitive, for a while, but there wasn't much mystery how this was going to end, right down to the Geno Smith pick 6 to salt things away for Carolina. Not much to say. ... A quieter game than expected for Carolina's passing offense. One big play reception by DeAngelo Williams, their only passing score, was enough. Greg Olsen, Cam Newton and the Panthers defense were the only clear starts here, so let's just move on.
Kansas City at Oakland: Talked about Jamaal Charles earlier. Pretty amazing. And he didn't leave much for anyone else, except I guess Alex Smith, who benefited from throwing all those touchdowns. Kansas City defense is back, too. I know they failed twice in the last month, but I actually believe this team can beat Denver. ... Oakland's got a nice group of wide receivers right now. Not much else, but that's something. They've really been a better team for much of the year than expected. They ever get that quarterback and offensive line thing all fixed and they'll be OK.
Green Bay at Dallas: File this under "I don't believe what I just saw." How the Cowboys managed to lose this one after leading 26-3, at home, against the Matt Flynn led Packers. Just bizarre. Their defense is godawful and their offense from Tony Romo on down through Cole Beasley (stopping his route on the game-ending pick) screws up at the worst possible time. If the Cowboys miss the postseason, I imagine this will be the loss that gets Jason Garrett fired. ... Awesome touchdown run by Eddie Lacy (looked healthy), incredible catches by Jordy Nelson, Dez Bryant, Jason Witten...lot of highlights and big fantasy performances in this game. Unless you were rooting for Dallas, you probably aren't complaining too much.
New Orleans at St. Louis: Boom. Saints can handle a pass rush, it's not just Seattle that can make them look very ordinary. Tough to go far in the playoffs or, shockingly, help fantasy teams if you can't protect your quarterback. Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham got a lot of teams into the playoffs, but they probably got a bunch knocked out this week.
Arizona at Tennessee: It's not often you see a team almost win after recovering an onside kick -- oh wait, New England did it just last week. Hard to take Arizona seriously as a playoff team with their defense getting lit up by the Titans like they did today, but let's call it a blip on the radar; they're better than that. ... Great numbers from Kendall Wright. A couple of TDs from Mike Preston (no I don't know who he is either, just the beneficiary from Justin Hunter being inactive), and productive games for Chris Johnson (as a receiver) and Delanie Walker. Andre Ellington too, shame the Cardinals haven't seemed to want to use him. Late concussion for Larry Fitzgerald while fielding an onside kick, that's a concern.
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh: This one was over early, and a fine week for those of us who started LeVeon Bell (a gift touchdown after what appeared to be a safety was instead ruled to be Pittsburgh's ball at the goal line) and Antonio Brown (2 TDs, including one on a punt return). Worked out OK for A.J. Green and Giovani Bernard, too, with some meaningless production. I assume the Bengals are still going to win the AFC North, but just when you think it's safe to give it to them, they lose. Which brings us to....
Monday, Monday: It's not often you get a Week 15 Monday night game with so much impact on the playoff chases in both conferences. Players from a lot of different teams will have a lot of interest in this one. Fantasy-wise there's plenty of appeal, too, with both passing games having potential. It sounds like Reggie Bush will be out there, though probably a lot of people already made their decisions to start or bench him. I think we've seen the Ravens be a little better at winning these close games than Detroit, so I'm going to go Ravens 24, Lions 20 and have fun watching one of the last primetime games of the season.