Fantasy football season is coming to an end and I know that all of you are bummed out. Besides entering a playoff fantasy league, there is going to be little fantasy football talk for the next six months…unless of course you are in a Keeper League and are deciding who to keep and who to drop on your 2009 roster. Most Keeper Leagues let you keep around three players from one year to next, and I have made a list of those players you should keep and those players on the fence who you should let go. Once again Brandon Schrey is here to give you his opinion so open your ears.

KEEP

QB Matt Ryan (best young QB in the game)
QB Jay Cutler (strongest arm in the game)
RB Matt Forte (freshest legs in the NFL)
RB Adrian Peterson (best athlete in the NFL)
RB Chris Johnson (young runner on run-first team)
WR Brandon Marshall (tall, fast, strong and great QB)
WR Roddy White (fast, plays on turf and QB is great)
WR Calvin Johnson (stats jump in every blow-out loss)
TE Tony Gonzalez (never drop him until he retires)

LET GO
QB Donovan McNabb (probably traded in the off season)
QB Kurt Warner (gets hurt every year, almost 50 years old)
RB Reggie Bush (will never be healthy in the NFL)
RB Frank Gore (has broken every bone in his body)
RB Clinton Portis (bad coach, bad system, bad QB)
WR Terrell Owens (attitude problem and legit head case)
WR Steve Smith (attitude problem and punches teammates)
WR Randy Moss (his QB (Brady) will never be the same)
TE Antonio Gates (starting to block first, catch TD’s later)

This article was originally written by Brandon Schrey of the Brandon Schrey Report.

Week 14 is when the playoff picture starts to get real interesting and we are able to see which teams are the cream of the crop.  Below is the Playoff picture for the NFC and AFC and below that will be our predictions for playoff teams, NFC and AFC champions, and the Superbowl winner.

NFC

Division Leaders

1. GIANTS 11-1
2. BUCCANEERS 9-3
3. VIKINGS 7-5
4. CARDINALS 7-5

Wildcard

5. PANTHERS 9-3
6. FALCONS8-4

Still In it

7. COWBOYS 8-4
8. REDSKINS 7-5
9. EAGLES 6-5-1
10. BEARS 6-6

AFC

Division Leaders

1. TITANS 11-1
2. STEELERS 9-3
3. JETS 8-4
4. BRONCOS 7-5

Wild-card teams

5. COLTS 8-4
6. RAVENS 8-4

Still Alive

7. PATRIOTS 7-5
8. DOLPHINS 7-5
9. BILLS6-6

Predictions:

NFC Playoff Teams: Giants, Bucs, Vikings (Probably will tie the Bears but will have better conf record for tiebraker), Cardinals, Cowboys, Panthers

AFC Playoff Teams: Titans, Steelers, Jets (Will probably win because of tiebreaker for conference record), Broncos, Colts, Ravens

NFC Champ: Giants

AFC Champ: Colts

Superbowl: Giants over Colts by 10

Looks like we have the Manning Superbowl this year.  I think the Titans are a bit overrated and believe the Colts and/or Steelers can beat them on the road.  Kerry Collins just isn’t enough.  The Colts already proved they could beat the Steelers at home and I believe they could do it again.  As long as Bob Sanders is healthy during the playoffs they should be able to win on the road as all they have done lately is win games.  I don’t really have to say anything about the Giants.  Their one loss was a complete fluke and it probably did a great job of humbling them.  Dominating Washington on the road without Plaxico proved they don’t need him.

Even though John Madden no longer announces Thanksgiving games, I thought it would be appropriate to provide some images of him and and his Turkeys.

San Francisco @ Dallas (-10)

Joker: You’d think being 4 points off the line would deter me.  Well it won’t, like I said, Dallas gets an old fashion blow out here.  This game should be over by halftime.  I wouldn’t be surprised if SF gets some back in the second half keeps it respectable, but I can’t expect that to happen.  Dallas has a chip on their shoulder and they start coming together this week after squeaking one out last week.  Then again, the Niners are a much better team with Sean Hill running the show, but I still can’t buy it.

Cowboys -10

OZ: Agreed. I was a little closer with my 7.5 and I still think ten might be too much, but the Cowboys should be a lot better than the 49ers. The 49ers get a lot of their wins from the division, which isn’t saying much. It’s like someone saying, “I get laid all the time” and the other person responding, “yea, but with slam pigs.”

Cowboys -10

Tampa Bay @ Detroit (+8.5)

Joker: I keep finding myself behind all the favorites and sucking every week, but seriously, how is Tampa only giving 8.5?  I guess the Lions have kept it close…wow, I was expecting to find last week to be the only close loss, but they have lost by less then 9 5 of their last 6 games.  Granted they got blown out in one of the two Culpepper games, and I wouldn’t trust him to hold my ipod, but maybe we are on to something here.  They don’t win, but do they lose by less then 9?  The Bucs biggest road win of the year was by 6.  Lets go for it.

Lions +8.5

OZ: That line is amazing. Culpepper did keep the game close last week against the Panthers, but can the Lions count on him two weeks in a row? We’re talking about the Lions here. I do feel like this is a little bit of a trap game. We say “wow only 8.5, I’m taking the Bucs and collecting.” I gotta go with the idea that the oddsmakers know more than I do.

Lions +8.5

Buffalo @ Kansas City (+3)

Joker: Gotta love the 3 point lines.  KC could win, but I said that last week too.  The Bills just can’t win any more and the guy that ripped me for doubting the bills at the beginning of the season suddenly feels less sure of himself.  The problem I have with this is that all the Bills have to do is hand off the ball and Lynch should win the game with a little help from the defense, but that didn’t seem to work at home last week.  The KC offense actually looks ok this days too.  I think the Bills win the time of possession battle here, but the way they are going its hard to predict a win.  KC is improving, and Buffalo is regressing, but I think they are the better team.  Lynch is the difference here, they aren’t going to lose the rest of their games, and this is one they SHOULD win.

Bills -3

OZ: Should win is the operative term here. I’ve been betting (and mostly losing) on Kansas City, but they keep the games and gambling interesting. The Bills haven’t impressed me yet this year because they don’t beat anyone good. Edwards is overrated, Lynch may be the ugliest player in the league, and their only good defender is Pozluzny. I’m taking the points.

Kansas City +3

Chicago @ St Louis (+8.5)

Joker: Orton played last week, so I will assume he plays again this week.  Does it matter?  Shouldn’t Forte run free all game?  Can the St Louis offense that looks like crap doing anything against the Bears.  They won’t be able to run.  I now that Bulger is capable and he has capable receivers, but nothing you would expect to be good about the Rams ever seems to be good.  I don’t know, considering I thought the line would be 4.5 points higher, I have to go with it.  I’m still not sure about the Bears, but the Rams continue to prove me wrong when I think they should be better.

Bears -8.5

OZ: After the Rams hung around with the Patriots, I thought they’d be competitive, but I was wrong. They went into New York and got beat by 86 points. The Bears haven’t really been particularly impressive. Here’s my question: if Devin Hester was so good at returning punts and he kinda sucks at receiver, why not have him line up 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage and throw a pop up to him and have him work his magic?

Bears -8.5

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (-10.5)

Joker: It is convenient that tonight’s game was ranked last so that it was sitting here at the top.  What a crappy Thur night game.  This is a good line, because I like the Steelers to win by two scores, but 10 would be a lot easier.  Pitt has been dominating this series winning the last 4 and something like 13 of 15.  They are at home in a good stadium, and they are too physical for this team.  The offense has been a bit stagnant lately, they put up a ton of yards last week vs SD, but who doesn’t, and they couldn’t get into the endzone, scoring a total of 9 points with their offense.  If the defense could shut down the Chargers, though, I don’t think they will have any trouble with Cincy.  The point is, Cincy covered their last two at home and that is skewing our mind.  Before that they got blown out on the road at Houston by 28 and the week before that, Pitt beat them by 28.  All the talk is about revenge on Hines Ward, who is one of the best all around players in the NFL.  Worry about revenge and you will get burned.  Pitt rolls here.

Steelers -10.5

Good call on the worst game of the week. At the beginning of this year, it looked as if this would be competitive. It’s not. Pittsburgh is clearly better and the Bengals are one of the worst five teams in the league.

I don’t think we’ve talked about how good of an interception Troy Polomalu had last weekend. Probably one of the best I’ve ever seen. And it was an interception. Don’t try to talk me out of it. Great play. This defense is awesome. Make no doubt about it. There are probably four teams that could win the Super Bowl and the Steelers are one of them.

Steelers -10.5

Unbelievable…

Hat tip to The Critical Fanatic

1.   Chicago @ Green Bay (-3 that is a guess, no line yet)

OZ: I told you that I got really drunk watching the game last night. When I asked you for advice, you suggested I just start to drink again. I really like your attitude, Clay. Have I ever told you that? Now, per your advice, I’m having a Bud and my headache is quickly disappearing. God bless this country. I wouldn’t be able to do this in Iraq. Speaking of which, since we have a socialist president now, do I have to give away my beer too? I mean, I know I have to share, ooops, redistribute, my money. What about my beer? How does this work?

Chicago +3

Joker: That depends on how much beer you have.  If you have over 200 beers then you will have to share, otherwise you are good.

I think the line actually came out at 3.5, but we will stick with this because I like it more.  I don’t know if Orton is playing or not, if Rex is playing the Pack should dominate, and I will change them to my starting defense instead of the Giants, maybe I should anyway?  I don’t know, I still like the Packsers and I still don’t like the Bears.  The Bears have something like the 30th ranked pass defense in the league.  Don’t you think the Packers will take advantage of that?  Can Forte beat the Packers?  Maybe.  Personally, I am probably staying away from this one unless Rex is starting.  If he is in there I would take the Pack -9.

Packers -3

Each week the Joker and Oz will be providing a breakdown, conversation, and some comedy regarding each NFL game for us at the Union. You can find Joker blogging every once in a while at Downtown Padres and OZ at The Matthew Osgood. Records after week 10, Joker is 69-69-2 and OZ is 66-71-2.