So, I stated to think.  Who where the 10 best quarterbacks to win the Super Bowl?  If I could pick one guy to lead my beloved Philadelphia Eagles to glory, who would it be? 

(Insert Donavan McNabb joke here.)

Criteria

To be considered, the QB had to win a Super Bowl.  So, all you Slingin’ Sammy Baugh fans can sit right down.  And I know, Dan Marino didn’t win a Super Bowl so he’s out too.  Great QB, you’ll get no argument from me.  But this is my list and if you didn’t win one, then I’m not picking you to lead my mythical Eagles on their flight to victory.

A quarterback gets points if he’s the biggest reason his team wins the game (Joe Montana 3 MVPs +++) and loses points if they’re a game manager (Bob Griese — and Terry Bradshaw in his first two –)

I also don’t want this to be a pure accounting of Super Bowl rings.  Terry Bradshaw has four but won’t be topping my list (see above).  It’s also not a pure stat comparison.  Trent Dilfer threw for three touchdowns in a single quarter for the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXVIII (35) and Doug Williams lead the Redskins to a rout of the Broncos in Super Bowl XXII (22).

Side Note:  How good a coach was Joe Gibbs?  Here’s the list of his Super Bowl winning quarterbacks: Theismann, Rypien and Williams.  All three guys were far from top flight NFL signal callers.  Theisman was a CFL reject and Williams was on his second tour after the USFL crashed and burned.  Where have you gone Timmy Smith?

Number 1: Joe Montana – Could it be anyone else?  Saint Joe won THREE MVPs in his four Super Bowls and Jerry Rice won the fourth.  Hard to imagine Jerry getting that one without Joe pulling the trigger. 

Montana did it all as a Super Bowl starter.  He won a close game in his first Super Bowl against the Bengals, won on a last-minute drive in his second Super Bowl against the Bengals.  Blew out the Broncos in another Super Bowl and won back-to-back Super Bowls.  That’s what you call a complete resume

No. 2: Tom Brady - Brady has already started FIVE Super Bowls, equaling John Elway and will be the only man to start a sixth in a few weeks.  He has almost everything I’m looking for on this list.  Dude was someting like 15-0 in the PLAYOFFS during the early part of his career!  He’s won close Super Bowls and back-to-back Super Bowls.  He needs a blow out to complete the resume and he just might do that soon.

If Brady gets number four in a few weeks, I think I have to move him to 1a and he’s still got plenty of prime years left in the tank.  It would have been sacrilegious to think anyone could catch St. Joe of Montana just a decade ago.  With Brady’s current credentials and the possibility of adding a fifth Super Bowl in the future,  could he be in the number one slot before the end of this decade????  I think so.

The man has fine taste in women

Side Note No. 2 – If I gave points for wives and girlfriends, it’s Brady in a landslide.

 No. 3: John Elway – The man played in five Super Bowls got incinerated in his first three losing by 19, 32 and 45 points respectively.  After the 49ers took Elway to the woodshed in Super Bowl XXIV (24), I couldn’t have blamed the guy if he’d hung them up. 

 By Super Bowl XXXII (32), Elway was back and looking for his fourth brutal loss to the NFC at the hands of Bret Favre’s Packers and theAFC’s fourteenth straight Super Bowl loss.  YesVirginia, the NFC use to own theAFC.

But a funny thing happened, the Broncos won behind a strong running game (Elway finally wasn’t on his own) and the passing of Elway.  The following year Elway completes his career by becoming only the sixth quarterback to win back-to-back Super Bowls.   What an astounding career comeback.  If Elway hangs ‘em up at the end of the 1997 season, he’s not on this list and probably not in the top 10 all time NFL quarterbacks.  How completely his resume changes with those two wins.  His three previous losses now act as enhancements to his career and not anchors around his neck. 

Let’s face it, he drug a lot of under-talented teams into the big game against some ferocious NFC competition losing to the Giants, Redskins and 49ers all multiple Super Bowl champions in that decade. 

No 4: Terry Bradshaw – Okay, Okay, Okay…….. put the Iron City bottles down my cross-state friends!  I know you’re all screaming that Terry won four and that there’s no way he can be behind Elway or Brady orMontana (for the most delusional Steelers fans).  Lets face it.  Terry was a game manager in Super Bowls IX and X.  Those two championships were more about Franco and Bleier and the Steele Curtain then it was about Bradshaw.

With all that, Bradshaw was still a two-time MVP leading the Steelers to victories in Super Bowls XIII (13) and XIV (14)  and he is the only quarterback two win back-to-back Super Bowls twice!  I’m not calling Bradshaw a sack of potatoes but I have to admit he’d be my fourth choice among a group of the all-time great quarterbacks.

And yes, I am jealous of the Steelers success….I admit it. 

No. 5: Bart Starr – Bart was lighting up score boards when I was two years old so I can’t regale you with in-depth analysis of why I put him here.  But the facts are the facts, Starr was the MVP of the first two Super Bowls and had multiple NFL championships before that.  Good enough for me!

No. 6: Jim Plunkett – Plunkett was the No. 1 pick in the draft by the New England Patriots.  I guess they should have waited until the 6th round to grab a QB that year.  After flaming out inNew England, Plunkett lands in the NFL’s equivalent of Father Flannigan’s Home for Wayward Boys: Oakland.  He goes on to lead the Raiders to two Super Bowl victories and winning the MVP award as the underdog over my beloved Eagles in Super Bowl XV (15).  His play in that game left me sobbing as a thirteen-year-old witness to the carnage.

His victory in Super Bowl XV was also important as it was the first time a wild card team had ever won the Super Bowl (more pain).  Just a few short years later, the Los Angeles Raiders clobbered the Redskins for a second Super Bowl Victory in four years.  Not bad for a guy who’s football career was thought to be over just a few short years before.

No. 7: Roger Stauback- The only major flaw if Stauback’s credentials is the star on his helmet.  Good guy, great quarterback but still a Cowboy.  I am honestly ranking him seventh because I feel that’s where he belongs.  Maybe if he hadn’t attended the Naval Academy and played more years in the NFL he might have won a few more championships and been higher on the list.   But I can’t argue with serving your country, Stauback did the right thing and still had a stellar (there’s that star thing again) NFL career.

Brett Favre was one of my all-time favorite players and should have won more championships but his gun slinging ways hurt his production so he’s out.

Peyton Manning finally got a Super Bowl but his long line of playoff defeats keeps me from putting him in the top ten.  Eli has as much claim as Peyton.

SidePointNo.3: Can we please take away Eli’s MVP award.  What a shame!  It should have gone to Michael Tuck who spent the entire game inNew England’s back field and in Tom Brady’s lap.

Ben Roelisberger already has two championships but I need more.  Let’s do this again in ten years and I think Big Ben will be in the top ten.  Drew Brees also needs more work that I think he’ll get before his career is over and Kurt Warner was too much of a one-time thing.

 That leaves me with Steve Young, Len Dawson and Johnny Unitas.  

No. 9 Steve Young  – He had all the tools and was a former USFL guy (I have a soft spot for them.  I loved the league and worked for the Philadelphia Stars in 1984).  Spent some time in the NFL hell hole know as Tampa Bay until he was sprung by the 49ers only to sit behind Joe Montana for years.  The time he spent inTampa could have destroyed a lot of guys.  Then he replaces a living legend inSan Francisco namedMontana (see No. 1 on the list).  Young got it done by winning a Super Bowl and being the MVP.  Yet, he’s career feels a little light to me for all that talent.  Maybe a victory over the Philadelphia Stars in Summer Bowl II would have done the trick!

 No. 10 Johnny Unitas –  Unitas guided the Baltimore Colts to a Super Bowl victory at the tail end of his career.  I have to give him credit for multiple NFL championships before the Super Bowl era including what many have claimed to be the most important NFL game ever played.  The Colts overtime victory over the New York Giants for the NFL championship which led to the modern era of televised professional football

Winning the Lombardi Trophy is the greatest sports awards in American professional sports.  These ten men have achieved the highest level of professional excellence and deserve all the recognition they have received.

 ESPN is bringing back its popular free daily fantasy game Streak For The Cash for the new year, with Progressive® insurance once again returning as the presenting sponsor for the fourth consecutive year since the game’s inception.  New to 2012 and making its debut this month is a weekly feature in the new weekday show Numbers Never* Lie on ESPN2.  Fantasy games like Streak For The Cash were contributing influences in the creation of the show that features a variety of ESPN analysts, statistical experts and commentators providing the fantasy sports take.

Also new to this latest iteration is the soon to be launched Facebook Friends feature, which will allow fans to compete against each other automatically via the ESPN Facebook application.  Players will be able to rediscover friends and coworkers through Streak For The Cash as well as other ESPN Fantasy products and compete against them each and every day.  Additionally, the game will feature mini challenges surrounding specific sports-related events throughout the year where players can win special prizes.  Lastly, players will have the opportunity to play head-to-head in a group against Progressive’s personality, The Messenger.  A random winner who beats The Messenger based on the most wins accumulative that month will be selected to win $1,000 cash.

Streak For The Cash challenges players to select the outcome of various daily sports-related questions tied to the day’s sports events.  Playing against millions of other sports fans, strategy plays a key role.  If fans do not make a pick each day, however, they give other players the opportunity to make correct picks and build a streak faster.

Questions can range from simply picking a winner in a sports contest, to more complex or specific questions.  Players can track the overall leaderboard, see their longest streak, the longest streak among all players, longest active streak, pick histories, set up private and public groups, join group and matchup conversations, keep up on the latest with the game’s own running blog maintained by the ESPN Fantasy team and more.

The game, which fans can play on ESPN.com and on ESPN mobile platforms, was first launched in August 2008.  Since then, the game has logged more than 450 million picks made.  Earlier this year – after 8 months of not being reached – the Streak for the Cash “stash” was finally won on August 31, earning a 32-year Boston man $450,000 cash. The $450k was the third largest payout in the game’s history and in total over $1.3M in cash prizes were awarded in 2011.

Players must be at least 18 years of age to play.  The official rules can be found at: http://streak.espn.go.com/en/story?pageName=streak\rules_2012.

Play ESPN’s Streak For The Cash at http://streak.espn.go.com/.

About Streak For The Cash

ESPN.com’s Streak For The Cash is a free pick’em game that each day presents fans with a series of sports-related questions tied to the day’s sports events, and asks them to choose from among them. Strategy and sports smarts play a role.  Questions can range from simply picking a winner in a sports contest, to more complex or specific questions, such as:

• College Football (Hawaii vs. Notre Dame): Which team will have the longest touchdown play?
• Basketball (San Antonio Spurs vs. Phoenix Suns): Which team will reach 10 points first?
• Soccer (West Ham United vs. Portsmouth FC): What will be the match result?
• Hockey (Philadelphia Flyers vs. Vancouver Canucks): Who will win the game?

Six companies, including MLB.com and Bloomberg Sports, have signed on as initial Fantasy Platform partners and will have free and/or premium apps available when CBSSports.com’s Fantasy Baseball product, featuring the new “CBSSports.com App Central,” launches on Jan. 31.

The CBSSports.com Fantasy Platform Development Center is now live for developers and companies to visit and see how their products and services can be shared with millions of highly engaged fantasy sports players. The Fantasy Platform offers developers a comprehensive set of APIs providing access to nearly all the data within CBSSports.com Fantasy Games and everything needed in order to build a customized fantasy app. The Fantasy Platform Development Center is located at: developer.cbssports.com

The Fantasy Platform announcement was made by Jason Kint, Senior Vice President and General Manager of CBSSports.com, at the 2012 Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) Winter Business Conference in Las Vegas.

“The way people play fantasy sports has dramatically changed over the last ten years with players using a ton more tools and products produced by a growing number of businesses,” said Kint. “Providing outside developers access to our proprietary service will benefit the entire fantasy industry ecosystem, creating additional value for companies, developers and advertisers while consolidating and enhancing the experience for fantasy players.”

With the Fantasy Platform, the millions of dedicated fantasy sports players at CBSSports.com can integrate products and services from across the industry directly into their fantasy game experience. By using these free and premium apps to access the Fantasy Platform, players will not only have all their tools and resources in one central location, they’ll have these products and services built directly into CBSSports.com’s fantasy sports games–leading to more efficient decision making and enhanced enjoyment.

Details about the initial Fantasy Platform launch partners and the apps they plan to offer are as follows:

Advanced Sports Media: Producer of the award-winning Draft Analyzer software, Advanced Sports Media (ASM) is focused on developing innovative software applications that help customers compete more effectively in their Fantasy Sports leagues. For the Fantasy Platform, ASM will be producing two applications: The Draft Analyzer App provides users with personalized and completely customizable draft pick advice while the Auction Analyzer App provides users with personalized bidding advice for auction leagues and is again, completely customizable with all league settings.

Bloomberg Sports: Established in 2010, Bloomberg Sports has quickly become a worldwide leader in the development of state of the art data analytic tools for both professional sports organizations and fantasy sports enthusiasts.  For the Fantasy Platform, Bloomberg Sports will be developing apps around their consumer products, “Front Office” (baseball) and “Decision Maker” (football), designed for fans interested in improving their fantasy play or for following their favorite players more closely throughout the course of the season.

MLB.com: MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, powers MLB.TV, the Internet’s most prolific live video subscription product. For the Fantasy Platform, MLB.com will be building an app that allows MLB.TV subscribers to watch their fantasy baseball teams live through a customizable experience whereby users automatically will see the live game with the most relevant action to their fantasy teams. Launching in time for the 2012 season, the app will also allow a fantasy user that chooses to watch any live MLB game to be presented with statistical data as to how on-the-field play will impact the user’s fantasy baseball team as it happens.

RotoWire: RotoWire.com is a leading content and technology provider to fantasy sports consumers and major media companies. For the Fantasy Platform, RotoWire will develop a content application around its real-time player news and in-depth player profiles to help fantasy players make the most timely and informed roster decisions possible.

StatSheet: A subsidiary of Automated Insights, Inc., StatSheet automatically transforms sports statistics into compelling narrative content, visual displays and interactive applications. For the Fantasy Platform, StatSheet will be developing “StatSmack”, the ultimate fantasy trash talking application which leverages StatSheet’s next-generation technology to arm managers with fully personalized, statistical data and trash talk that will empirically show why their team is better and why they are the better manager.

Ziguana: Ziguana brings powerful algorithms to the average fantasy manager through a simple user-friendly interface. For the Fantasy Platform, Ziguana will be releasing the “Forecaster” app which calculates a team’s probability of winning weekly matchups and makes day-to-day recommendations customized to specific league settings. For those tired of the tedium of setting their lineup, Ziguana’s “Lineup Auto-Pilot” app automatically optimizes and sets a team’s lineup each day. Ziguana will also be offering a 2012 MLB Projections app.

“CBSSports.com’s Fantasy Platform will allow us to build customizable, live experiences as we continue to develop fun ways for our fans to play fantasy baseball and follow the on-the-field action,” said Kenny Gersh, SVP, Business Development, MLB.com. “These new integrations into MLB.TV will deliver an original and exciting approach for our subscribers to watch their fantasy baseball teams live throughout 2012.”

“We are very pleased to be able to partner with CBSSports.com on this new platform, and bring what we know is the best tool for the casual or die-hard fantasy sports player, ‘Bloomberg Front Office,’ to a much wider audience,” said Bill Squadron, head of Bloomberg Sports.

SportsLine.com, now CBSSports.com, was one of the earliest companies in the fantasy industry, offering innovative fantasy products and services beginning in 1996. Using the Commissioner.com fantasy platform (acquired in 1999), CBSSports.com’s fantasy sports products and games have been some of the most popular in the industry and have won eight of the past ten FSTA awards for best Fantasy Commissioner Product. In 2011, CBSSports.com offered fantasy sports products for pro football, baseball, basketball, college football, hockey, and golf.

With a majority of its fantasy users playing paid fantasy sports, CBSSports.com has one of the most engaged and loyal fantasy sports audiences in the business. Fantasy Football players on CBSSports.com register the highest level of engagement of any major site, with players spending an average of 1 hour, 41 minutes per session and returning 4 times each week to research and optimize their rosters. (Nielsen Net Ratings, September 2010)

Additionally, CBSSports.com reaches the most affluent and educated Fantasy Football audience among all major competitors: six in 10 have a household income of $75K+ and two-thirds are college-educated. (Nielsen Net Ratings, September 2010)

Statistics from the millions of loyal CBSSports.com fantasy sports players:

• Pay to play on CBSSports.com: 60%
• Play fantasy football: 87%
• Average age: 34
• Average income: $82,600
• Played six or more seasons with CBSSports.com: 83%

According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), there are currently 29.6 million fantasy sports players in the United States. Here’s the FSTA breakdown by sport:

• Football (72%) = 21,213,333
• Baseball (37%) = 11,050,666
• Auto Racing (24%) = 7,202,666
• Basketball (20%) = 5,821,333
• Golf (13%) = 3,749,333
• College football (13%) = 3,848,000
• Hockey (12%) = 3,552,000
• Soccer (7%) = 2,072,000

 Jane’s Addiction, The Roots to perform, Pete Wentz to DJ at Rolling Stone’s Volkswagen Rock & Roll Fan Tailgate Party on Sunday, February 5, in Indianapolis

Rolling Stone announced today the all-star music lineup for the Volkswagen Rock & Roll Super Bowl Fan Tailgate Party, as the host on Sunday, February 5, in Indianapolis for football fans going to the game or those wanting to be in downtown Indianapolis to take in the excitement.

Starting at 1 p.m., Jane’s Addiction and The Roots will take the stage and Pete Wentz will DJ at The Crane Bay, a renovated industrial warehouse located just two blocks from Lucas Oil Stadium – walking distance to the big game and with on-site private parking.

“Because this is Volkswagen’s third consecutive year advertising during the Super Bowl, we saw the Fan Tailgate Party as an opportunity to celebrate the big game with our core audience,” said Tim Mahoney, Chief Product and Marketing Officer for Volkswagen. “The success of last year’s spot, ‘The Force,’ has created great momentum for the Volkswagen brand, thanks in large part to our fans, and we plan to continue that momentum in 2012.”

Along with the platinum-selling musical acts, celebrity chef John Besh will be on-hand to cook regional specials and classic tailgate food. Celebrating football fans of both teams and the local residents of Indianapolis, the party will feature a premium bar, interactive entertainment and venue experiences that celebrate the fan in all of us. 

The Super Bowl Fan Tailgate Party kicks off a year-long celebration in which Rolling Stone and Volkswagen have teamed up to offer special access and unique experiences for both Volkswagen and music fans at major music and sporting events throughout the year. The program will run across multiple media channels and will include a large social and digital presence.

1. Aaron Rodgers, enough said. It’s a good bet if you had a average or above average team, with the combinaton of Aaron Rodgers, you went to the playoffs, or finished as league Champion. I did. Aaron Rodgers scored 397 points averaging 24 points per game. You can’t ask for more than that in a fantasy quarterback. His endurance factor proved invaluable too. After his week 8 bye, it would you should have felt comfortable releasing any backup on your roster to fill another need.

2. Drew Brees was phenomenal this year in fantasy leagues. He wasn’t quite the level Aaron Rodgers was from a fantasy standpoin, but he certainly was worth having. Averaging 22 fantasy points per game, with a total of 357 for the year, Drew lead his Saints to a 13-3 record. The Saints were so potent through the air, it would’nt have been a bad idea to fill a WR roster spot with Darren Sproles or one of the Saints’ receivers. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend playing with two players from the same team on one roster, but with the Saints, all bets are off.

3. Tom Brady is always a safe bet in any fantasy league. Despite the Patriots finishing first in the AFC, Tom Brady didn’t quite make the top spot in fantasy leagues. But, finishing the year wth an average of 21 points per game, and 342 overall, he takes the third spot. Of course, with help from TE Gronkowski and WR Welker, combined with Brady’s precicison it’s no surpise. The only reason Tom Brady finds himself at this position, is because Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers threw for a combined 13 more touchdowns. However, Brady only trailed Brees in yardage by about just over 200yds. Additionally, only Aaron Rodgers threw for fewer interceptions.

4. Michael Vick. Surprising rank for Michael Vick at number four. He only played 13 games this year with several injuries from the wrist to concussion. He only totaled 211 fantasy points averaging 13 per game. Statistically, he only threw for 3,303yds., 18 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. Again depending on your league’s scoring, with this touchdown to interception ratio, he may as well have only thrown 14 touchdowns from a fantasy scoring perspective. Additionally, he ranks second in the league with 7 fumbles. The reason Michael Vick makes up for these margins is in rushing, of course. He rushed for 589yds. and 1 touchdown. This was better than conventional running backs like Starks, Green-Ellis, and Felix Jones.

5. Phillip Rivers finished in the last of the top five fantasy quarterback spots from 2011. He finished with 232 points, averaging 14 per game. Rives couldn’t lead the chargers to a playoff birth this year, only finishing 8-8. He did throw for over 4,000 yards and 27 toucdowns. You could really rank he and Vick equally.

These are my top five quarterbacks for 2011. I wold claim it is a safe bet the top thre will be the same next year in some order. However, just barely missing out were players like Tony Romo, and Cam Newton.

Joshua Moses is a blog contributor for Gold Star Games, a leading tailgate gear supplier.

These pools are fully customizable so you can add pictures, logos or messages that all of your Bowl Bash Revelers will see.  They also come with a marker pen and four removable mounting squares.

I plan on using one at this years party so should you.

 Rolling Stone announced the all-star music lineup for its Super Bowl party celebrating the 150^th anniversary of BACARDI.

 LMFAO, Lupe Fiasco, Cobra Starship and Gym Class Heroes will perform on Saturday, February 4, in what is sure to be one of the biggest parties of Super Bowl weekend. The Saturday party kicks off Rolling Stone’s weekend of parties at The Crane Bay, a renovated industrial warehouse located two blocks from Lucas Oil Stadium. The celebration falls on the 150^th anniversary for BACARDI, and will be the culmination of the past century and a half of legendary BACARDI parties. Attendees can expect an all-VIP celebration, high-profile attendees, top-shelf cocktails, and additional surprises at what is sure to be the can’t-miss party of the weekend.

 LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” has topped the charts in 19 countries and been certified multi-platinum in the United States. The Los Angeles-based duo combines hip hop and electric dance on its second album, Sorry for Party Rocking, which also features the hit single “Sexy and I Know It.”

Chicago-native Lupe Fiasco broke into the hip-hop world by performing on Kanye West’s “Touch the Sky,” which led to Jay-Z agreeing to co-executive produce Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor. The debut album was nominated for numerous awards and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Rap Album chart, and his most recent single, “The Show Goes On,” is certified double platinum. Fiasco was nominated for three GRAMMY awards this year, including Best Rap Album for LASERS, his latest release.

Dance-punk band Cobra Starship found commercial success with its 2009 album Hot Mess, which reached number four on the Billboard Hot 200. The band recently headlined tours in the United States and internationally, and its newest album, Night Shades includes the hit single “You Make Me Feel…”

Known for its blend of rock, pop and alternative hip-hop, Gym Class Heroes first broke onto the radio airwaves with their No. 1 hit, “Cupid’s Chokehold/Breakfast In America,” which set the record for holding the top spot on the Top 40 radio charts for the most consecutive weeks by a band. After scoring one of the biggest songs of 2010 with his solo smash “Billionaire (featuring Bruno Mars),” frontman Travie McCoy returned to Gym Class Heroes to release the band’s fourth Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen release, The Papercut Chronicles II, last fall. The band’s multi-platinum lead single, “Stereo Hearts (feat. Adam Levine),” became their second No. 1 hit, with its follow-up, “Ass Back Home (feat. Neon Hitch),” already starting its ascent up the charts.

The party continues on Sunday for the ultimate Rock & Roll Tailgate, where both Super Bowl attendees and local residents will enjoy pregame festivities including music by top-selling musical guests and classic tailgate food.  

Tickets are available now through The Crane Bay by calling (317) 876-3338 or going online to www.rollingstonerockweekend.com.

Every NFL fan knows how hyper-popular fantasy football is during the regular season.  But in recent years, postseason fantasy contests have boomed. 

Some of these leagues require you to submit lineups each week leading up to the Super Bowl.  Others test how well you can project games, allowing you to pick players prior to Wild Card weekend, and roll with them throughout the postseason.  For example, if you pick Houston’s Arian Foster and he loses Saturday against Cincinnati, tough luck. You’ll only get one week’s worth of numbers out of him.

While a monster day from Foster certainly wouldn’t be a shock – he finished 2011 5^th in rushing – the safe way to approach this format is to pick players who you believe will make the deepest postseason run. 

Sounds simple enough, right?

Well, you’ll have to make decisions like this: Should I fall for Foster’s sky-high upside, and risk a one-and-done showing?  Or should I pick up a safer play in, say, Pittsburgh’s Isaac Redman, a guy likely to see 15-20 touches with Rashard Mendenhall out.  Oh, and he’s facing a slumping Broncos team that the Steelers should easily handle, thereby giving him a potential one game edge over Foster. 

Not so simple after all. 

As with any fantasy league, be sure to double and triple check scoring rules and starting requirements. 

With that said, I’ll go through my top plays at each position (QB, RB, WR, TE) for leagues that require you to set a one-time lineup.

Quarterbacks

1. Drew Brees

2. Aaron Rodgers

3. Tom Brady

Nothing fancy here.  Brees playing in the Wild Card round against a terrible Lions secondary secures his position at #1…Rodgers and Brady – both on byes – aren’t far behind. 

Running Backs

1. Ray Rice

2. Arian Foster

3. Isaac Redman

4. Darren Sproles

5. Frank Gore

With back to back 25+ touch outings to end the season, Rice will have plenty of opportunities to produce.  Baltimore is primed for a Super Bowl run, too…Back to the Foster-Redman dilemma.  This one is pretty much a toss up to me, but I’m leaning towards Foster’s big-play ability.  He’ll be busy against the Bengals, and Andre Johnson’s presence will allow for more running room.  Redman has plenty of power, but offers little playmaking talent, and will rely on a red zone TD for fantasy production.  Pittsburgh’s lack of momentum and banged up roster are worrisome.

Wide Recievers

1. Marques Colston

2. Jordy Nelson

3. Victor Cruz

4. Wes Welker

5. Mike Wallace

You could make the case for Nelson at #1, despite the expected return of Greg Jennings (knee).   To me, Jennings will be tough to trust after being out for about a month…I like the Giants at home over Atlanta, which explains why you won’t find Roddy White or Julio Jones cracking the top-5…Cruz is arguably the hottest WR league-wide.

Tight Ends

1. Jimmy Graham

2. Rob Gronkowski

3. Jermichael Finley

Graham is a no-brainer atop the TE ranks…Finley comes into the playoffs cold, but I think he catches fire over the next month as Green Bay makes a Super Bowl push…Hernandez is a tempting option too with 120+ yards in 2 of his last 3 games.

That’s all folks. Good luck in the postseason!

Kevin English is a blog contributor for Gold Star Games, a one-stop-shop for NFL tailgate gear and more.

These boards are fully customizable

There line of Fantasy Football Draft Boards are fully customizable.  You can add your league name, a private message a league logo or photo.

The Fantasy Football Draft Board includes a large 1 piece fantasy football draft board and a complete set of pre-printed player labels (2012 draftees included) color coded by position. When a player is selected, simply peel off his label and stick it on the draft board.

Bye weeks listed on every board at no additional charge.  Some manufacturers charge additional, don’t pay more!

Congrats on getting this far as you have weathered many storms to get to the Super Bowl be it a myriad of injuries,
Inconsistent performances from your stars or just same plain bad luck. Hopefully, many of you have utilized the Waiver Wire
Wisely this season- there are always gems to be found no matter how good your team is. Building depth is a key to a winning
Championship Team both for injury and trade purposes.

At this point, you should go with what got you here. That means starting your “stud” players unless your matchup is prohibitively negative.
For example, I would be extremely leery of using Seahawk’s RB Marshawn Lynch against the Forty Niners’ vaunted rush defense.
The Forty Niners are the first team in the grand history of the NFL not to allow a rushing TD the entire season. The 2nd closet defensive
Team, behind the 49ers, has allowed 6 rushing TD’s on the year- a huge disparity. If you have a better matchup than Lynch this week- thing
Long and hard about using it as Lynch’s streak of consecutive games with rushing TD’s is about to end.

Remember there is a Thurs. night game tonight with Texans vs. Colts and the rest of the games to be played on Christmas Eve with the
Exception of the Bears-Packers tilt on Christmas night and ATL-NO on MNF This will be the final MNF of the season. More about that later …………….

As I mentioned in last week’s Post, there are still some key players, perhaps under the radar, playing at very high levels. Every year during
Championship week there are always players who seemingly come out of nowhere to deliver Super Bowl rings to their owners. Some players
from the past include the following: QB Billy Volek, QB Tyler Thigpen, QB Tim Tebow, RB Jerome Harrison and RB Pierre Thomas. This year I really like the
Broncos’ new #1 WR DeMaryius Thomas whose is on a roll and has had 3 consecutive solid games as Tim Tebow is relying more on the pass and less on the run lately. Don’t forget the amazing Seattle defense which has also been on a tremendous role.

Don’t forget to check out the latest weather reports for the Christmas weekend games. If in doubt, choose a kicker in a dome rather than facing swirling winds in frigid temperatures as the ball might not carry as well.

The MNF game pitting the Saints vs. Falcons looks like an offensive shootout in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Brees keeps rolling and should shatter
Dan Marion’s single season passing mark as Drew just needs 304 passing yards to clip the mark. Start all of your Saints led by Jimmy Graham, Lance Moore and Marques Colston. On the Falcons side- they are explosive, to a lesser degree, but they can hang some points on the board with the best of them as their offense now has a deep vertical threat with rookie sensation Julio Jones. Roddy White is still my favorite player on Atlanta as Michael Turner usually is dependent on a rushing TD to post a decent game since his rushing yards have swooned lately. Of course Matt Ryan is playing exceptionally well and Tony Gonzalez continues to amaze playing so proficiently at his age. I would even start K-Matt Bryant in this game with confidence.

Some players to keep an eye on the injury report: Big Ben is doubtful to play with a high ankle sprain, Felix Jones has been limited so far with a tight hamstring so monitor his status closely going into Saturday’s game and V-Jax (San Diego’s WR Vincent Jackson) was held out of yesterday’s practice with a groin injury. If Vincent Jackson is out this week, which is possible, keep an eye on Malcolm Floyd who has posted two very strong games since coming back into the lineup.

I have a feeling that the Packers are going to put a shellacking on the their rivals and hapless Bears who are spiraling downward very quickly after losing both QB Jay Cutler and RB Matt Forte’. Especially after the Packers embarrassing loss to the Chiefs last week, there is an extra incentive for Green Bay to get back on track and roll over Chicago.

Two other games on the docket that I really like this week are SD @ DET and PHI @ DAL. Both games are in a Dome and these offenses are really starting to percolate. Start all of your key skill players here. As mentioned previously, I would tread with trepidation on starting RB Felix Jones unless he puts in a full and unlimited practice today.

This will be the last Post of the season and I am really appreciative of your loyal following this year. We had a late start in early October after purchasing the rights to the site but I hope we were able to provide valuable insight during the key crunch weeks of the season. We will be expanding our site next season with further player profiles, in-depth analysis and draft strategies as well as player rankings in the pre-season prepping you for all of you numerous drafts.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a safe, prosperous New Year!!
Take care

JS