Steal Your League

In this post-Christmas edition of the podcast, Childs and JD recap the Chargers domination of the Titans, Childs doesn't met JD live down his stupid T.O. bet from last week, and the guys try to navagate the mine field that is predicting which teams might rest their starters in this, the Championship week. Good luck everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone! Childs and I are mailing it in today - we're hoping to get it together to do our Week 16/Championship Edition of the podcast tomorrow or Saturday - but we did want to give our listeners some advice on the game tonight between the Chargers and Titans.

For the Titans, Chris Johnson's and obvious no-brainer start every week, and the matchup suggests that he'll have another crazy evening. The Chargers are 22nd in the league against the run (giving up almost 117 yards/game to opposing RBs), but have been better in the last two games (53 yards to Cederic Benson last week and under 100 rushing yards to Felix Jones and Marion Barber combined two weeks ago). We can't imagine that trend continuing in this game though - we wouldn't be surprised if Johnson has over 150 yards rushing and a few scores.

We both also like Kenny Britt here, who I think should bounce back after last week's sub-par performance. He's still Vince Young's favorite target and the Chargers might pay more attention to Justin Gage and Nate Washington after last weeks scores. JD's going out on a limb here - he thinks Bo Scaife might be a decent play this week for people who have bad TE matchups (like say, Heath Miller v. Baltimore or the banged up Jeremy Shockey). Neither one of us trust Gage or Washington - you absolutely have better options in other games this weekend.

For the Chargers, Childs and I both think LT is a good play here against the Titans (no Keith Bullock and LT's been a TD machine recently) and Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates and Vincent Jackson are good plays, of course - the Titans have been just awful against the pass all year. Along those same lines, Malcom Floyd and Darren Sproles could be ok in much deeper leagues, especially if Sproles gets more than his usual 3 or 4 targets out of the backfield.

Good luck tonight for everyone in their Championship games - sit back, relax, have some eggnog and enjoy some football!

Childs and JD recap all the games for this week and make a wager on T.O. - JD taking the over on 10 fantasy points for T.O. this week and Childs taking the under. The best advice - don't get cute in the fantasy playoff and start say, Arian Foster or Chris Jennings over your normal starters with sub-par matchups (like say, Ryan Grant). But, with the east coast blizzard and some big name defenses having non-optimal matchups, you can improve your team by picking up a defense with a great matchup (Houston and Seattle come to mind) or a kicker that doesn't have to kick in a snowstorm. Good luck!

Childs and JD could only scrounge a few mintutes today to preview the Colts v. Jags game tonight. Quick rundown: We're both not worried about the Colts sitting their players, we both think Wayne is the most likely to sit after a half and you might have better options, and be both don't trust Mike Sims-Walker, who's been banged up and hasn't done much for 4 straight weeks. Also, MJD is a MUST start, but won't get crazy numbers, so you might want to roll the dice with a bigger upside guy (Jammal Charles, Knoshawn Moreno...) for your second RB if you need the points. It's playoff time baby!

JD (broadcasting from Amman, Jordan) and Childs (good ol' H-town) break down all the games this week and give you a few names to keep in mind. JD says not to get cute in the playoffs, but if you're hurting, Jerome Harrison might not be a bad option (even this week). In the same game, Childs calls out deep sleeper Limas Sweed as a name you might want to pay attention to if Hines Wards sits tonight. JD's not so sure.

Childs wins the Romo v. Alex Smith board bet (but it was close at least), then hates on Romo going up against the Giants, while JD loves Big Ben this week coming off his concussion and bets Childs that Addai won't ahve 50 yards rushing this week. That might have been a bit too strong, but JD's sticking by it.