About Last Weekend (and the Next One)

The Internet’s favorite fantasy football team found itself running to stand still, and in this case, that’s not necessarily a good thing.

The People’s Pigskin managed to score 108 points this past week in the NFL Fantasy Playoff Challenge. That’s 9 fewer points than we scored in the wild card round, despite having four players eligible for double points. The 225 total points leaves the Pigskin tied for 38,805th overall and tied for 14th in the 9beersfantasysportstavern league. Here is the breakdown.

Drew Brees, QB. The stats: 247 yards passing, 3 touchdowns and 21 fantasy points. Given the pinball numbers the New Orleans Saints compiled against the Arizona Cardinals, one would think Brees’ statistics would be stronger than this.

Ray Rice, RB. The stats: 67 rushing yards, 60 receiving yards, 1 fumble and 24 fantasy points. Because he was in our lineup for the second straight week, Rice received double the points for his efforts. And even if the same had held true for the Baltimore Ravens as a team, it wouldn’t have been enough to get them to the next round.

LaDainian Tomlinson, RB. The stats: 24 rushing yards and 2 fantasy points. There’s plenty of speculation about whether Tomlinson will be with the San Diego Chargers next season. Certainly one place he won’t be is in many starting fantasy lineups.

Miles Austin, WR. The stats: 34 rushing yards, 8 receiving yards and 3 fantasy points. It seems the only people reaping fantasy points from the Dallas Cowboys offensive drives played for the Minnesota Vikings defense.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR. The stats: 77 receiving yards and 14 fantasy points. Another player getting double the points for a team that even more help than that getting to the next round. (Maybe the Arizona Cardinals should have borrowed the Vikings defense.)

Jason Witten, TE. The stats: 98 receiving yards and 18 fantasy points. The point doubling made his stats look decent. Unfortunately, that’s all they did.

Nate Kaeding, K. The stats: 0 for 3 on field goals, 2 for 2 on extra points and 2 fantasy points. In a word, augh. You’d think the San Diego Chargers had signed Lucy Van Pelt to be the holder.

New York Jets, D/ST. The stats: 2 interceptions, 14 points allowed, 344 yards allowed and 24 fantasy points. Unlike the three other players who reaped the benefit of point doubling, the Jets are still playing and still available to us for the conference championships.

Speaking of which, it’s time for you, the Internet, to pick the lineup for Sunday’s games between the Vikings and the Saints and between the Jets and the Colts. Brees is eligible for double the points, and the Jets defense/special teams are eligible for triple the points. Please vote accordingly, and please remember that you’re voting for two running backs and two wide receivers. The lineup polls will close on Sunday.