The Falcons’ defense roughed up Terrell Owens and scored a bunch of points for me. Nice!

I’ve barely kept up with football this weekend, what with all the holiday travels and family gatherings. However, Sunday brought me some post-Christmas cheers as The Thamesmen have jumped out to an insurmountable lead in the league championship game. My opponent still has Ryan Longwell left in the Monday night game, but I have Adrian Peterson and a 40-plus-point lead. It’ll be the first time I’ve won this league in the five seasons I’ve played in it, which seems long overdue since I almost always put together one of the highest-scoring teams in the league. Actually, this year’s squad was underachieving in the second half of the season, closing the regular season on a three-game skid before pulling it together for the playoffs. Tom Brady (267 yards, 4 TDs) played like the elite quarterback I expected when I drafted him but saw so little of for much of the season. I also got a big 21 points from the Falcons defense, a waiver wire pickup this week that came through with three turnovers and a fumble return for a touchdown, reaffirming my aversion for not drafting a defense until very late in the draft and just playing the matchup game late in the season. Throw in touchdowns from Antonio Gates and Desean Jackson, a good yardage game by Ray Rice (141 rushing yards), and good defensive performances by Julius Peppers and Lamarr Woodley, another waiver-wire pickup this week, and I’ve got one hand on the league trophy (if there was one).

My other team, the Outlaws of the Marsh, didn’t fare so well in the consolation semifinals of its league, getting stomped by 31 points. I got solid games from Philip Rivers (264 yards, 2 TDs), Ray Rice, Antonio Gates, and Patrick Willis, but once again, the team just didn’t score enough touchdowns. The wideouts, after a strong showing last week, let me down again as Derrick Mason (77 yards) and Chris Chambers (34 yards) combined for just five points. Rashard Mendenhall (36 rushing yards) did find the end zone, but that was about all he did. Dallas Clark couldn’t find the end zone after his recent scoring frenzy, thanks in part to the Colts sitting Peyton Manning in the second half. The Outlaws’ season is still not over, however, as they have a seventh-place game next week. Woo hoo!

Week 16 Highs and Lows

• One of the reasons the Outlaws didn’t have enough fire power this week was the absence of DeAngelo Williams, who went down earl in the previous week’s game with a twisted ankle. In his place, Jonathan Stewart (206 rushing yards, TD) has run for 315 yards and scored three TDs in two games — production the Outlaws could’ve used in their league playoffs. Stewart’s performance probably also casts more questions about how the Panthers’ backfield shuffle will look next season, since it makes Williams look a bit more expendable.
• Ok, this is where I apologize for the mean things I said about Jerome Harrison last week. I didn’t think he could have another strong game, but he did — 39 carries, 148 yards, TD — albeit against the Raiders. Now, I bet he can’t do it three weeks in a row.
• Donovan McNabb (322 yards passing, 3 TDs, INT) seems to be heating up at the right time for the Eagles and his fantasy owners. He has thrown six TDs in the last three games and gone over 300 yards in two of those outings. In the one game in which he didn’t throw multiple touchdown passes, he made up for it by running one in.
• My experience with The Thamesmen this season has shown me that you can never have too many wide receivers on your roster. I stockpiled wideouts in the draft and through waiver-wire pickups during the season and needed every one of them. I started the year with Calvin Johnson and Santonio Holmes — the first two WRs I drafted — as my starters. Then, at one point or another, I started: Donald Driver, Mike Sims-Walker, Sydney Rice, Desean Jackson, and Vincent Jackson. It made for lineup headaches every week, but by the end of the season, it was definitely good to have those options as I was able to rotate back to the two hottest guys.
• The Saints are looking like a team running out of gas. It’s one thing to lose to the Cowboys, but now to the Bucs? And the offense has not been sharp, scoring a season-low 17 points in back-to-back games. Even though they have homefield advantage to play for next week, they’ll be facing a resurgent Panthers squad that dismantled the Giants on Sunday, so it could be another rough outing.
• Speaking of resurgent, how about LaDainian Tomlinson’s fantasy value? He has reached the end zone in six of his last seven games, which include three 2-TD outings. On the season, he has 12 TDs, nine of which have come in the last seven weeks. It’s not like he’s having a spectacular second half of the season, though. He has cracked 70 yards rushing only twice in this seven-week span and averaged better than 4 yards a carry in only one game. The Chargers just seem determined to use him more in goal-line situations.