Usually this post smacks your computer screen in the face on Friday. But we’re rolling ahead with this bad boy a day earlier this week for a few reasons you don’t care about: because I feel like it, because it’s fantasy playoff time in most leagues and you need all your Week 14 hot takes now now now (rankings? we got ‘em), and because the Texans defense might actually stuff Jacksonville in a locker tonight.

More on that fun...

After finishing in the Top 10 in FantasyPros’ 2012 Expert Accuracy Competition, theScore’s Justin Boone is back in the Top 10 this season. Here are his rankings for Week 14.

Quarterbacks

Rank Player Matchup 1 Peyton Manning – Den vs. Ten 2 Matthew Stafford – Det at Phi 3 Nick Foles – Phi vs. Det 4 Drew Brees – NO vs. Car 5 Tom Brady – NE vs. Cle 6 Josh McCown – Chi vs. Dal 7 Cam Newton...

It’s tough to be recognized as a good player on a bad team. A year ago, Johnathan Joseph was viewed as one of the best cornerbacks in the league, and now he is rarely mentioned. He’s still playing well, however, attacking the football with his usual prowess and sticking on receivers like glue. The Jaguars’ receivers know this and are going to have their hands full tonight like they did a couple of weeks ago with Joseph. In that game,...

No really, that’s a serious headline. And yes, the mere thought of doing such a thing gives me the heebiest jeebies I’ve ever had.

For most of you, when the Jaguars-Texans game kicks off tonight in what will become the greatest test of your ability to waste three hours of life, the first round of the fantasy playoffs will begin. That means the importance of every lineup decision you make is amplified and blah blah yada yada.

You don’t need...

The signs were there. He played in the weak MAC conference. He was one dimensional. He was callow. He had stretches of production-less play. Worst of all, he was prone to the trainer’s table. But the Chargers still selected Larry English with their 16th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft, thinking they’d just acquired a top-flight pass-rusher that they could team with Shawne Merriman and Shaun Phillips.

At Northern Illinois, English was the best defensive player in the conference. He’d...

Time and youth. They will either get us, or replace us all. This is a fact of our feeble and fleeting existence on this Earth (good morning!).

Right now, though, we’ll save the broader life lessons for another time and ponder how both age and a youth uprising could affect the future of one Larry Fitzgerald in Arizona. We’re through three quarters of the season, and for many of you another noble fantasy run has ended. But choke down that...

The triumphs, the tragedies, and the triumphs and the tragedies. It all starts now, friends, fantasy football playoff time. Breathe it in and drink it up.

The ever-escalating intensity of your weekly decision-making process begins tonight, when needs are addressed for a nominal fee on the waiver wire. Need a solid running back to flex? There’s a Donald Brown for that. Need (another) Aaron Rodgers replacement? Welp…

Quarterbacks

1. Carson Palmer: So somehow you’ve managed to climb your way...

Playing football as the visiting team in Seattle this year isn’t something I would wish on any team. It’s either raining or misty, and I’m not sure which is worse, and when that’s combined with the late-season cold, well, the suck runs deep.

Oh, and it’s loud. The sort of loud that’s not meant for humans.

137.6 is a new @gwrnews record. #LOUDER pic.twitter.com/uAcTQj6WEF

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) December 3, 2013

This is in part why the Saints were thoroughly...

A Bills fan is defined by a common feeling regardless of his/her country of origin, or current geographical location. It’s the fear that something will always unravel, and damage your psyche in a new and creative way. It’s the fear that even when all is well and promise is percolating, that’s only an illusion. Reality says that doom awaits.

All that is true this year as it relates to wins, losses, and playoff hopes after the Bills hit the quarter...

Josh Gordon has had every opportunity to fail this year, and every reason to be sluggish, or sputter, or to just generally do little.

He missed the first two games due to a drug suspension. Had he started slow or just done nothing at all, we would have pointed to that absence, and assumed it stunted the growth of a sophomore wide receiver, at least briefly. But then he posted 146 yards in his season debut, and had at least...

You probably already were worried about Matt Ryan. In fact, you probably already despise Matt Ryan with every fiber of your being after you spent on average a third-round pick to acquire his services in August, and he enters December — and the last week of the fantasy football regular season — as the 12th-ranked fantasy quarterback, well behind a number of others who occupied far cheaper draft real estate (Alex Smith, Ben Roethlisberger, and Tony Romo, to name a...

Week 13 of the NFL is here and I’ll be breaking down all of Sunday’s games from a betting perspective. I turned in a positive week last week, going 3-2 ATS on The Nickel Package podcast and adding one more winner to go 4-2 ATS with my Recommended Wagers. My overall season record is still well above .500 so hopefully I can continue the run this week.

The Nickel Package Record: 34-24-2 ATS (58%)

As always, you can check...

So this is it. You have one more week to make the playoffs, and one more week to ensure that cousin Bobby won’t torment you throughout the entire offseason, and remind you of that time apple juice squirted out your nose somehow. Indeed, the stakes go far beyond monetary means.

Every fantasy decision is always crucial, but this week that’s far more true and painful. Each starting lineup call that’s even remotely questionable could be the difference between a taste...

When I was probably about 10 years old playing youth baseball, every game would have a mercy rule, which dictated that once a team was up by a certain margin the game was over regardless of the inning. This is not unique or different, and it’s surely still done throughout the summer on baseball diamonds dotted with pint-sized sluggers. The purpose is two-fold: to prevent undue embarrassment for the losing team, and more quietly, to shorten an already lengthy evening...

It’s been a tough three years for the Ravens’ Jimmy Smith. The plus-sized cornerback has seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. He’s made back-to-back big plays in a goal-line stand to propel his team to a Super Bowl and been beaten like a drum to prevent his team from winning a game. But now more than halfway through his third season, Smith is starting to become the player the team envisioned him to be when they...

After finishing in the Top 10 in FantasyPros’ 2012 Expert Accuracy Competition, theScore’s Justin Boone is back in the Top 10 this season. Here are his rankings for Week 13.

Quarterbacks

Rank Player Matchup 1 Peyton Manning – Den at KC 2 Matthew Stafford – Det vs. GB 3 Cam Newton – Car vs. TB 4 Tom Brady – NE at Hou 5 Tony Romo – Dal vs. Oak 6 Josh McCown – Chi at Min 7 Drew Brees...

Thanksgiving Day football is special. Toss in the gluttonous gorging with the profanity directed at a glowing box and uncle Jimmy’s tales of his illegal Cuban cigar operation, and nothing says togetherness like nine hours of football. If you can think of anything more American than eating animals and watching football, dammit, you ain’t no ‘Merican (note: I too am not an American, but I know some and they’re nice people).

Even if the results are sometimes less than entertaining...

Turkey, pumpkin pie, and pilgrims for all. Oh what a glorious day.

Yes, it has come. The day when you, my fine American friends, gather ’round the television to embrace the warmth of family and spread good cheer, while we here in the great nation of Canada do the same. Together, we’ll celebrate the Thanksgiving gift of football.

But what of the fantasy gifts of the season? Are there any bargains to be had in the hours before kickoff today?...

It was the winter of 2009 when Scott Pioli was given the keys to the Kansas City Chiefs’ storied franchise. It had endured a tumultuous 2-14 season and like any other bad team, it had a myriad of issues. One of those issues was a struggling defense.

It had given up nearly 28 points per game, good for 29th in the NFL, and needed a new direction. Pioli, previously a longtime New England Patriots VP of player personnel, knew what a good...

Not now. No, right now Michael Vick is busy being a fine soldier, and an image of all that is good with the world of backup quarterbacking.

He’s embraced and accepted that role in Philadelphia following Nick Foles’ sudden rise to hero status. Foles has now famously thrown 16 touchdown passes and zero interceptions over his eight game appearances and five starts, and during his last three games he’s averaged at least 11.0 yards per pass attempt. He’s damn good,...

In Week 13 and beyond, the dynamic of the waiver wire changes. Bye weeks are over, which means you’re not desperately searching for a key replacement, and in deep leagues you’re not praying to our fantasy overlords for…something, just anything or anyone at all. Instead, you can now be selective, and pluck favorable matchups. That applies universally unless you own a running back who just broke.

More forthcoming on that in a minute. First, let’s stream some quarterbacks.

Quarterbacks

1. ...

Progress isn’t perfect, and it’s not always a steadily rising curve. Often, with any learning process which requires progress (which is, well, all of them), we also need patience. And a great deal of it.

This is difficult, especially as it relates to the quarterback position in football. Fans see brilliance, and a booming arm along with the ability to make throws on the run, and they want it all the time, consistently. That’s not realistic, and at various points...

If Nick Foles can maintain his current pace throughout the remainder of the regular season — or even something close to it — we may be seeing one of the more significant victories for the growing “why the hell are you drafting that quarterback so early?” crowd.

First, let’s define exactly what that pace is, and how Foles has arrived at his current perch. Let’s also readily acknowledge of the top that the sample size we have to use while...

At about four-ish in the afternoon Sunday, these three things happened within five minutes of each other, and all in the final minutes of their respective games: Cam Newton winning a game on a touchdown pass to Greg Olsen, Philip Rivers doing the same on a 26-yarder to someone named Seyi Ajirotutu, and Matt Flynn — Matt Flynn — leading a drive that forced overtime. That last one ended in a tie, and sisters were kissed everywhere.

The Newton deal...

Mercifully, it’s almost over. These dreary fantasy days of having a crucial player subtracted from your roster because they need “rest” and “rehabilition” or “a week away from football” are ending for another year after this week. Yes, friends, we have but just one more day of bye week horribleness, and during this particular day there’s a unique brand of suck.

Many of you have been riding Nick Foles over the past few weeks, and what a sweet ride that’s...