What is it about the Mannings this season when they play in Cleveland?
In Week 6 at the Browns, Eli Manning threw three interceptions on a 196-yard, one-touchdown night in the Giants' lone loss of the season. Surely big brother could do better against the Browns, right?
Wrong. Peyton Manning did worse, at least in the eyes of Fantasy owners. The older Manning threw for just 125 yards with two interceptions and no scores in Week 13 as the Browns stifled him and his receivers. According to The Associated Press, this was only the 10th time in Manning's career that he failed to produce at least 150 passing yards.
This rotten egg was laid just in time for owners clamoring for spots into the Fantasy postseason.
Manning threw his second zero-touchdown, two-interception game this season, both coming on the road (the other was at Green Bay in Week 7). You would have to go back to 2005 to find a year where Manning endured two zero-score complete games (excluding late-season contests where the Colts already clinched a postseason berth).
What's worse, the Colts offense totaled three points against the Browns, which means that any Fantasy owner hoping for Indy's bright stars to help them get to the next level in their league was let down. Joseph Addai had 57 rush yards and a fumble. Reggie Wayne had four catches for 46 yards, good enough to lead all Indianapolis receivers. By comparison, Baltimore's Mark Clayton had 30 fewer total yards than the Colts. All of them.
You might note that the Colts looked like the Indy offense from the first three weeks of the season. That's because they were missing the leader of their offensive line, center Jeff Saturday. Now you might think it's not a big deal to miss one of five offensive linemen up front, but against one of the best nose tackles in the league, Cleveland's Shaun Rogers, it was noticeable. Manning saw his line collapse at times and Addai couldn't break long runs. The rain also didn't help much.
With any luck, your Fantasy team survived this week in spite of the Colts' poor performance. And if not, you learned a hard lesson about matchups along the line of scrimmage and how they could impact your Fantasy stars.
Finally, if anyone finds Reggie Wayne -- and I'm not talking about the imposter currently wearing No. 87 for the Colts who has totaled 402 yards and one touchdown in his last seven games -- let him know because we miss him.
First down
Before Sunday, there was Thursday. And on Thursday, we saw a couple of four-star four-touchdown performances. Both came from players on the same team in a desperate situation against a tired defense.
The one that surprised us was Brian Westbrook, who seemingly snapped out of his funk with a 130-total-yard performance (5.0 yards per carry, 6.67 yards per catch) and two rushing scores and two receiving scores. Many Fantasy owners were wary of Westbrook not only because of his matchup against the Cardinals, who had previously done well against the run, but because his play resembled Shaun Alexander's (the 2006-08 Alexander, not the 2005 Alexander) over his previous three games. I broke down his night following the game.
But the performance that exceeded our expectations, and they were pretty high to begin with, was Donovan McNabb's. The Eagles quarterback, coming off a negative Fantasy performance that saw him get benched the week before, was under the microscope on Thanksgiving night, but against a pass defense that entered the game allowing 22 touchdowns through the air. With Westbrook expected to struggle (oops), McNabb was expected to throw a bunch and be successful.
Even with Westbrook churning, McNabb did great, throwing for 260 yards and four touchdowns with another 24 yards rushing. It proved to be the best Fantasy performances by a quarterback in Week 13.
Does this make McNabb a safe Fantasy option for the rest of the year? Be careful -- the Eagles play at the Giants in Week 14, vs. the Browns in Week 15, at the Redskins in Week 16 and vs. the Cowboys in Week 17. With the exception of the home game against Cleveland, there's no lock that he'll do even half as well against his divisional foes as he did against a Cardinals defense that was playing on three days rest on the other side of the country.
And if McNabb's forecast isn't so rosy, then what about Westbrook's?
Second down
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DeAngelo Williams racked up four TDs in a Week 13 win in Green Bay.
(US Presswire)
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Speaking of four-touchdown games,
DeAngelo Williams is in the club.
Williams didn't notch 100 rush yards -- the first time in five games -- but, oh boy, did he ever continue his touchdown roll. He not only extended his consecutive games with a score streak to five, but he nearly matched it in the game.
On five occasions, the Panthers had a goal-to-go situation from the Packers 1. With a bruising rookie running back in Jonathan Stewart on the team, along with a pair of big-bodied fullback types, the club put the ball in the hands of Williams four times. And all four times, Williams came through for touchdowns (a fifth score was on a bootleg by Jake Delhomme). A big reason for his effort: Stewart had cramping after a long run and the team wanted him to see as little action as possible. In a pinch, Williams crushed the Packers' playoff hopes.
Williams is 45 yards shy of 1,000 on the ground (he's already over 1,000 total yards). He has 11 rushing touchdowns. We knew at the beginning of the season that he'd have a prominent role in the Panthers offense, but he is flat out winning Fantasy leagues for owners this season.
That might get a little tougher in the coming weeks, though. Carolina hosts the run-tough Buccaneers next week and play at the Giants in a significant Week 16 game. Those contests could provide problems for Williams. But he'll more than make up for it in Week 15 (vs. Denver) and Week 17 (at New Orleans -- assuming the game means something). Still, what choice do Fantasy owners have but to ride him out the rest of the way?
That's what the Panthers will do.
Third down
You win, Jamey Eisenberg.
It's rare when Jamey, my CBSSports.com Fantasy Football colleague, and I disagree on a player's prognosis for a given week, but we went toe-to-toe on Matt Cassel this week. I felt that Cassel would attempt a ton of passes and have no choice but to accumulate stats because of it. Jamey felt that Cassel would suffer the same fate as nearly every other quarterback that faced the Steelers.
Not only did Cassel struggle against the Steelers, but he also might have given the Patriots' playoff chances away. In the rain at Foxboro, Cassel went from back-to-back 400-yard passer to four-turnover goat.
Cassel had no turnovers in the first half as the Pats and Steelers were tied at 10. But after a pair of Pittsburgh touchdowns early in the third quarter -- neither of which helped along by Cassel's mistakes -- the Patriots found themselves down and forced to throw. Cassel fumbled on a pair of sacks on New England's next two possessions, leading the Steelers to two field goal attempts (one made, one missed), and more importantly, a ton of time off the clock. That forced Cassel to throw even more, resulting in two more interceptions.
So Cassel suffers the same fate as nearly every other back-to-back 400-yard passer. They lay a dud the following week. He'll have the chance to rebound at Seattle next week, followed by another West Coast road game at Oakland in Week 15 and Arizona at home in Week 16. It's not that bad, and if Cassel can learn from the mistakes he made in this game when he was forced to throw the ball and really shoulder the offensive load, he'll help Fantasy owners out.
But what do owners do if they own Tony Romo, who plays at Pittsburgh next week? Romo is coming off of a couple of monster efforts and his right pinkie finger should be fine, but the Steelers' mega-defense isn't slowing down by any means. Does this mean the Cowboys are sits for Week 14?
It's something worth talking about in the office, that's for sure. Let us know what you're going to do with Romo, Marion Barber, Terrell Owens and Jason Witten in Week 14 by dropping us an e-mail at dmfantasyfootball@cbs.com.
Fourth down
The Chargers offense is a mess. The primary reason for it? The running game has been stuck in quicksand for much of the year. And you know who is the main runner in the Chargers offense.
Fantasy owners were fortunate to have LaDainian Tomlinson score vs. the Falcons in Week 13, because if he hadn't, it would have meant another week where owners start to question Tomlinson's role in Fantasy.
The truth is, owners should start to question Tomlinson's role in Fantasy even with the touchdown.
Blame it on his offensive line, offensive penalties, the lack of a polished fullback, his sore toe or his advanced age, but plain and simple, Tomlinson isn't producing at the level of what we're used to seeing. His 24 rush yards Sunday were outproduced by 46 other players, including six quarterbacks, eight rookies and even his own fullback (Jacob Hester had one rush for 28 yards). And we can easily look around the NFL and find 12 running backs we'd rather have that Tomlinson, even with his easy late-season schedule.
The ultimate test for Tomlinson's Fantasy owners comes early when the Chargers and their skittish offense plays vs. the Raiders on Thursday night. It's a short week for San Diego to regroup and rebound, but Tomlinson will have the national stage likely for the last time this season.
If he can muster up a stellar effort against a team he's always dominated, then Fantasy owners will be able to say that he isn't ready for the trash heap. But if he struggles like he has for much of the season, then Fantasy owners won't only be uncomfortable trusting L.T. again, but they'll likely be out of their Fantasy postseason.
It's going to be an interesting couple of days.
What are your thoughts from this week? See anything that jumped off the screen? Let us know -- e-mail us at dmfantasyfootball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Four Downs in the subject field. Include your full name, hometown and state.
