Demaryius Thomas did most of the heavy lifting for Denver on Sunday.
It wasn’t surprising that Denver was able to get to overtime at home on Sunday. It wasn’t even that surprising that Tim Tebow connected with Demaryius Thomas to end it within ten seconds. What was surprising, was how Denver did it. It was Tim Tebow who outplayed Ben Roethlisberger for fifty minutes. It was the Steelers who attempted to “Tebow” the Broncs, capitalizing on a fumble by Willis McGahee and marching down the field twice against Denver’s prevent to tie the game in regulation.
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Broncos-Steelers
Now, I picked the Broncos in this game to fade the Steelers, rather than because I believed in Tim Tebow, but Tebow did have the first good game of his 2011 season. Of course, this doesn’t retroactively change what happened in the regular season. Those who pretended that he was playing well are not vindicated, as he was still the worst quarterback in the league for much of the season. And to be fair, he missed a lot of throws against Pittsburgh. Some of his short throws were embarrassingly off the mark. He still completed less than half of his passes. The throws he did make were suspiciously similar.
But I’ll give credit where it’s warranted, and Tebow made a handful of good, deep throws, hitting his targets in stride. The single coverage Pittsburgh played on Demaryius Thomas allowed the young receiver to make plays after the catch, turning big gains into huge plays, the biggest of which was the 80-yard bomb in overtime. Infree fantasy football, however, we can’t just appreciate: we have to analyze what is repeatable. And one playoff game, though it is more memorable and visible, does not carry as much weight as a complete season. In the 2012 fantasy football rankings, I’m not raising him one notch. Someone will remember this playoff game, and take Tim Tebow too soon in August. It’s not going to be me.
Don't count on Tim Tebow to repeat his success in a week's time.
Similarly, many will jump and pick up Tebow in playoff fantasy football contests. While, he does have a nice matchup against the beatable Patriot defense, it would be foolish to do this. Next week, you will have the option of using Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Eli Manning. If those four do not all outscore Tebow by a healthy margin, than I will be truly surprised. If your playoff fantasy football challenge, uses a salary cap, I still don’t care much for Tebow’s prospects. Bill Belichick will learn from Pittsburgh’s mistakes and force Tebow to make the types of throws that he just can’t make. They will not stack the box against Willis McGahee like Pittsburgh did.
That said, I have no problem with using McGahee next week, against a Patriot defense that will be playing a bit deeper than is typical for them. Of course the play of that game might be Demaryius Thomas, who lit up New England for 116 when they faced off in the regular season.
For all the talk, you would never realize that Tebow only had the ball for half of the game. For much of the game Denver’s defense was on the field, against a quarterback that lost the game as much as Tebow own it. Ben Roethlisberger was awful this week, as he has been since he was injured several weeks ago. He completed roughly half of his passes and threw one interception to balance out his one touchdown, but that doesn’t come close to telling the story. Big Ben threw one pick that was called back for encroachment, several that bounced off the hands of Denver defenders and an ill-advised lateral that was saved by a refereeing miscue. For Steeler fans, it could have been worse.
Fading the Steelers in playoff fantasy football games generated extremely positive results in 2011. I’m anticipating that fading the Steelers in 2012 will produce still more benefit for the wise fantasy player. The poster-boy for that strategy will be Mike Wallace. The pro-bowler caught 26 yards worth of passes this week, the latest of a series of games in which Antonio Brown surpassed Wallace as the top target in Pittsburgh. Wallace’s prospects for free fantasy footballin 2012 should be downgraded and in the next 2012 fantasy football rankings, I will be sliding him down quite a bit.
Brandon Jacobs was a monster on Wildcard Sunday
Giants-Falcons
The first game on Sunday had a lot less to tell us. Blowouts are like that. Eli Manning threw for 277 and three scores. But you already considering starting him in a playoff fantasy football competition, because of what he did last time he faced Green Bay. Hakeem Nicks scored twice and hit the century-mark while Victor Cruz busted, but this doesn’t mean much. We knew coming in that either of these guys could get stopped in one game, but what happened this week doesn’t mean it’s more likely that Cruz is blanked next week. Mario Manningham blew up in an audition for teams that need a number two receiver, racking up 68 yards and scoring.
The bigger success for the Giants was on the ground, as Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw went for 92 and 63 yards respectively. But you can’t believe that this will continue in Green Bay, as Eli Manning will have to pass and pass all day to keep up with Rodgers and the Packers.
For the Falcons, you can’t take much from this game. Considering how well the Giants were playing in defense, you give them a pass for the general lack of production and going into 2012, you treat them much as you would have a week ago: with a healthy skepticism surrounding everyone besides Roddy White.
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