Fitz's Four-Course Fantasy Feast

Pat Fitzmaurice is addicted to competitive cooking shows ("Top Chef," "Chopped," Hell's Kitchen," etc.), and he also loves to eat. Since he isn't much of a cook, he's channeling his chef obsession into Fitz's Four-Course Fantasy Feast, a regular column featuring an appetizer, salad, entrée and dessert. Bon appétit.

Appetizer: Roasted chestnuts

Let's begin this holiday-themed feast with a Christmas classic: chestnuts roasted on an open fire. And how about some of the late-season chestnuts who were tardy to the party but have become significant factors in the fantasy playoffs?

Hello, Vincent Jackson. Thanks for checking in. Better late than never, amigo. I took a flyer on V-Jax in one of my leagues, hoping for a payoff in the second half of the season. The payoff came later than I was expecting, but it couldn't have been sweeter. I rolled out Jackson for a Week 15 semifinal and got three TDs and a 100-yard game out of him. I won my game by a mere two points.

And a merry Christmas to you, too, sir.

Jackson figures to play a prominent role in Week 16, too, especially if TE Antonio Gates remains out for the Chargers, which seems a certainty.

Also looking good for Week 16 is Mr. Heisman, Tim Tebow, who might be ready to pay big dividends to the owners who kept him stashed away on their rosters all season. As a pure passer he's less refined than Jethro Bodine, but who cares? Tebow is lethal as a runner (he had 78 rushing yards and a TD run against Oakland last week), and this week he'll be facing a terrible Houston defense. Tebow owners playing in championship games this week might feel queasy about using a rookie quarterback with elementary-level passing skills, but if you don't have a premier quarterback, you have to give Tebow strong consideration, don't you? It's probably better than 50-50 that he gets you a rushing TD, and he has an outside (but not unreasonable) shot at multiple rushing TDs and/or 100 rushing yards. Whatever he does as a passer is just icing on the cake.

Donald Brown has been widely regarded as a bust after flopping as a rookie in 2009 and then failing to make an impact this year even after Joseph Addai and Mike Hart went down with injuries. But Brown is coming off the first 100-yard rushing game of his career, and he has a date with the 26th-ranked Oakland run defense on Sunday. Brown looked terrific against Jacksonville last week. Maybe he's finally figured things out.

Jonathan Stewart had been a flop for most of the year but is on a nice late-season run, averaging 115 rushing yards a game over the last four weeks. He has a rough matchup against the Steelers this week, but with Troy Polamalu out for Pittsburgh, Stewart might have a chance to find the endzone.

WRs Kenny Britt and Brandon Marshall had big days last week after each missed significant time due to injury. I have both rated among my top 10 wide receivers for Week 16.

If you have tough lineup calls to make involving any of these guys, forget about what happened — or what didn't happen — earlier in the season. This week is the only one that matters. Don't feel obligated to be loyal to the players who helped get you to this point if they aren't the ones who give you the best chance to win.

 

Salad: Holiday cranberry salad

I mentioned earlier that Vincent Jackson helped me win a semifinal game in one of my leagues last week. In this week's championship game I'll be facing a team quarterbacked by either Shaun Hill or Drew Stanton.

Wow. Shaun Hill or Drew Stanton quarterbacking a team in a championship game? Both of them are banged up, no less — Hill with a lingering finger injury and Stanton with a separation of his non-throwing shoulder. Funny thing is, my opponent is still the favorite in our matchup. The rest of his lineup is lethal: Darren McFadden, Ray Rice, Reggie Wayne, Calvin Johnson, Jason Witten. My opponent obviously did a great job of loading up on running backs and receivers on draft day, and he's just been winging it at the QB position. He drafted the entire Detroit QB stable (we have deep rosters), and the Lions' quarterbacks have been surprisingly decent for him.

But overall, this week's QB salad seems to be woefully short on cranberries. It seems as if a lot of fantasy owners are marching into championship games with less-than-elite starters at quarterback.

I count six elite, must-start quarterbacks for this week: Michael Vick, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers and Aaron Rodgers. Even Rodgers is a little risky, facing a tough matchup against the Giants and coming back from his second concussion of the season. Matt Schaub may not be elite, but an attractive matchup against the Denver defense lifts him into the upper echelon of QBs for this week.

Beyond those seven guys? Dicey.

Ben Roethlisberger hasn't exactly been lighting it up lately. He faces the lowly Panthers this week, which could be good or bad. Maybe the Steelers protect Big Ben and let their running backs do most of the hard work this week. Matt Ryan is usually good at home, and I'm starting him in my championship game, but I'm not overly confident in his prospects for the week. It's possible he'll get into a shootout against Brees, but the Falcons' offense is all about balance, not the vertical passing game. Eli Manning? Tough matchup against the Packers. Joe Flacco? He's been dumping it off a lot lately and not going downfield much. David Garrard? Matt Cassel? Josh Freeman? Jon Kitna? Meh. None of them is particularly exciting as championship-game starters.

But I think I'd take any of them over Shaun Hill or Drew Stanton.

 

Entrée: Beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce

A lot of people's Christmas feasts are anchored by the more traditional ham, but in our family, beef tenderloin is a Christmas staple, and my mom whips a quick but delicious horseradish sauce that suits the beef perfectly.

It's great to be able to tuck into a big slab of beef tenderloin on Christmas, and it's great when you're in the fantasy playoffs and some of your starters get to tuck into an opponent that's already run up the white flag on the season.

We all play matchups during the regular season. But for the first 10 weeks or so of the season, when almost every team still has playoff hopes and even the worst teams are still trying, you never know when a seemingly lousy defense is going to turn stingy for a week. Things change around the holidays. The teams in playoff contention are still fighting hard, and some of the spunky also-rans (e.g., the Bills and Lions) are still giving it a good effort, but some teams have stopped caring, and it's obvious.

Members of the Minnesota Vikings' defense are no more interested in tackling these days than they are in manually repairing the Metrodome roof. The Vikings have turned into purple pussycats; this is exactly the sort of team you want your players matched up against in championship week.

Want to see what happens when lack of talent meets lack of effort? Say hello to the Denver Broncos' defense.

The stench emanating from the Redskins is a foul one, and the Washington defense seems to be phoning it in.

The Texans are perennial underachievers, and this season they're underachieving by their own underachiever standards. Houston's already-bad defense seems to be getting worse.

Let's see who's facing the Vikings this week. ... Uh-oh. It's the Eagles, who own perhaps the most explosive offense in the league. Michael Vick, DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy are facing a bad, unmotivated defense — this could get ugly.

The Redskins visit Jacksonville, where the Jaguars might be looking to take out some frustrations after a costly loss to the Colts last week. Nice timing here if you own Maurice Jones-Drew, David Garrard or even Mike Sims-Walker.

And the Texans and the Broncos square off in a battle of bad defenses. Expect a lot of points in this one. This figures to be a fruitful game for Houston's Matt Schaub, Arian Foster and Andre Johnson. The dynamics of the Denver offense are less clear-cut now that Tim Tebow has replaced Kyle Orton at quarterback, but as mentioned earlier, I like Tebow's prospects. Knowshon Moreno could be a good fantasy play if he's healthy enough to go, and I think Brandon Lloyd could have a good day against the terrible Houston secondary, even though Tebow isn't exactly a lights-out passer. Oh ... and the kickers could have big days in this one, too, barring a major snowstorm in Denver.

 

Dessert: Christmas pudding

A lot of people in the United Kingdom are wild about this traditional holiday dessert. I find it hard to be enthusiastic about a dessert that includes plums and suet, so none for me, thanks.

What could be more disappointing than a dessert course made from plums? How about something else of a purple hue — the Vikings' Adrian Peterson and his disappearing act in Week 15.

Oh, man. I feel for Adrian Peterson owners. Bad enough that he was a late scratch. But on a Monday, with most Peterson owners unable to make any sort of last-minute substitution upon hearing the news ... double ouch. Peterson had been listed as questionable with a knee injury, but after he practiced last Saturday, there seemed to be little doubt that he'd play. The scratch was a shocker, and it was revealed that it was a thigh injury more than the knee injury that kept him out. (Thanks for being so timely and straightforward with the Peterson news, Vikings.)

Just wanted to extend condolences to the Peterson owners who lost playoff games because Purple Jesus wasn't able to suit up. That's a tough way to go out.

And likewise, condolences to the owners of these and other players who provided a less-than-sumptuous dessert course in Week 15:

Knowshon Moreno — Not his fault he got hurt. Unfortunate that it happened in the first quarter.

Arian Foster — Did next to nothing with his 11 carries against the Titans, then left with a minor injury and didn't return.

Terrell Owens — Another early-game injury, on the Bengals' first possession. Not his fault, of course, but it wasn't a good omen when T.O. finally fell off the good-behavior wagon and recently started throwing coaches and teammates under the bus.

Vernon Davis — Four stinkin' yards? I'm looking at you, Alex Smith.

Dan Carpenter — He was money for his fantasy owners for much of the season. Not last week, when he missed four FG attempts. I know of at least one owner who'd be playing for a championship this week if just one of those wayward tries had gone through the uprights.

Tough break, fellas. Here's hoping there are sweeter postseason rewards headed your way in 2011.

 

Source: http://www.profootballweekly.com/2010/12/23/fitzs-four-course-fantasy-feast-19

Lou Groza Dante Lavelli Len Ford Bill Willis Bobby Mitchell Paul Warfield