Week 13 Pickups

By: Gabriel Harber

Howdy folks and welcome to the last week we’ll share together.  Sad, I know.  I’ll be traveling for most of December which means I’ll be unable to catch the weekend action in a timely fashion.  I’ll have to rough it like my grandpappy did before the interwebs and all that jazz.  Oh well, I’m sure I’ll be replaced by someone far more talented but much less good looking.  Happy trails and see you in the championship.

Pick Ups

Dan Orlovsky:  Out of nowhere came Orlovsky on Sunday, painting us a picture that made us completely forget Curtis.  Yes it was the Patriots, and yes the playoff schedule is brutal, but if you’ve had injury problems or are in a 2 QB league, any starting quarterback sitting on the wire this late in the season is a godsend.  There’s enough talent surrounding him that he should be able to piece together some reasonable stats in the upcoming weeks.

TJ Yates:  Anyone who watched Sunday’s contest knows that the end result for Yates was much more impressive than the final stats indicated.  The athletic talent from North Carolina was asked to manage the game and allow Arian Foster and the defense to win it.  He looked extremely poised and one can only imagine that as he becomes more acclimated to his role that Gary Kubiak will open up the offense for him a bit.  Keep an eye on Andre Johnson’s hamstring aggravation as it could go a long way towards determining Yates’ value.

Donald Brown:  As predicted, Brown has secured the leading backfield role in an offense that suddenly has a little life to it.  The more the Colts receivers continue to improve upon their hot streak, the more value Brown will hold during the stretch run.

Marion Barber:  In my opinion the must add of the week is Barber.  A reeling Bears team has revealed itself to be less than capable of chucking it through the air and suddenly finds itself without its best offensive weapon, and the facilitator of over 50 percent of its total offense, Matt Forte.  I would grab Barber and hope we see a renaissance over the last four games reminiscent of his time in Dallas that earned him the nickname “Barbarian.”

CJ Spiller/Toby Gerhart/Roy Helu:  These three should already be owned in every league, regardless of format.  I’m simply listing them as a reminder so that if one happened to slip through the cracks you can pounce.  I rate them Helu, Gerhart, and Spiller.  Spiller would be second but there are rumors coming out of Minnesota that the Vikings may shut down Adrian Peterson for the season in order to protect their investment.

Demaryius Thomas:  I had a strong feeling that Thomas would step into prominence this weekend, and stopped myself just short of adding him to last week’s pick ups article and my FanDuel article on another site.  I wish I had pulled the trigger as I would have looked like a genius, but now I just look like another idiot.  Regardless of how you view it, it breaks down like this; Thomas is the Broncos purest talent at wideout and is an impressive physical specimen.  Decker, while providing an excellent safety valve for an emerging Tim Tebow, will fall into a natural WR2 role in Denver as Thomas is simply too good to stay silent for much longer.

Reggie Wayne/Pierre Garcon/Jacob Tamme/Dallas Clark:  You may find that over the course of the season some very impatient owners dropped one of these guys (I dropped Garcon after week 10 myself.)  It really says something about how bad a quarterback is when he can take talent like this and render it waiver wire fodder, but that’s exactly what the Curtis Painter era accomplished in Indy.  Now that Dandy Dan Orlovsky is firing rockets (I kid) the Colts offense resembles a living entity once again.  There’s no guarantees here as the playoff schedule is as rough as anyone’s, but there is certainly some sky-high upside should you choose to take the risk.

Visante Shiancoe:  Shiancoe has been mostly quiet this year, but a few factors have me convinced that he’ll be relevant for the last few weeks of the season.  One, Adrian Peterson may be out for the remainder of the season which means a definite uptick in looks for the other offensive players, and two, his schedule.  Once you get past a Lions defense that hasn’t really been intimidating anyone lately, you have one of the softer set of matchups for any tight end in the league over the last four weeks.

Thanks for reading this year folks and have a great holiday!

Be sure to give me a follow here.

Injury Report for November 29th

By Christian Hardy


Quarterbacks
- Vince Young looks like he is on track to start again. Michael Vick, battling a rib injury, did not practice for his second straight day. Since they (the Eagles) have a short week, it is almost certain that Vick will not start on Thursday.
- Dan Orlovsky,  a member of the 2008 Lions team that went 0-16, has replaced Curtis Painter as the starter of the Indianapolis Colts (0-11). This is a sorry franchise right now, and I can guarantee you that we will see Painter on the field again. A couple other notes: Orlovsky will be the third starting quarterback for the Colts this year, none of which were named Peyton Manning. Certainly no fantasy value on this entire Colts team, unless there is an amazing matchup.
- Matt Leinart was officially placed on IR by the Houston Texans to make space on the roster for 36-year-old Jake Delhomme. Delhomme and Kellen Clemens will serve as the backup to rookie quarterback TJ Yates.
- Josh Freeman suffered a cut on the outside of his right thumb at a local shooting range on Halloween day. He got five stitches on the outside of his right thumb (throwing hand). The Buccaneers say that it has not affected his grip on the ball.


Running Backs
- Kevin Smith (ankle) did not practice today.


Wide Receivers
- Jeremy Maclin missed practice again on Tuesday. Much like Michael Vick, since it is a short week, Maclin will most likely not play. Look for Riley Cooper, and Jason Avant to get the majority of targets on Thursday. Andy Reid did say that DeSean Jackson will return to his starting role on Sunday. Hopefully this time, he can catch the ball.
- Another short week situation: Seahawks head coach Pete Carrol ruled out Sidney Rice with a concussion.
He is not officially out yet, but he is very unlikely to play.
- Broncos wide receiver Eddie Royal was in a boot on Monday after suffering a leg injury against the Chargers. We should know more about the injury and Royal's status on Wednesday.
- Vikings WR Michael Jenkins was placed on injured reserve.
- Cowboys WR Miles Austin is expected to return this week, according to Jerry Jones. Austin will be a huge game changer for the Cowboys, but will decrease the value (very little, in my opinion) Laurent Robinson and possibly increase the value of Dez Bryant. It really is a guess as to how the Cowboys' passing attack will work with Austin back, but that is just my guess, as a Cowboys fan.


Defense/Others
- Ndamukong Suh was suspended two game without pay on Tuesday for stomping on Packer OL Evan Dietrich-Smith. Suh was ejected in Thursday's game, but he also got this two game suspension from the NFL. However, after Roger Goodell and the NFLPA suggested that he appeal the ruling, he did appeal. If the appeal is rejected by the NFL, he will not be able to be with the team until December 12th. The NFL did say that they will get a ruling on the appeal before Sunday's game at New Orleans.
- Browns LB Scott Fujita was officially placed on injured reserve with a hand injury today. 2011 is his second season that he has been with the Browns.
- The Patriots released CB Phillip Rivers who played mainly in the slot in nickel and dime packages. More on NESN.com.
- DE Osi Umenyiora will miss significant time with an ankle injury that forced him to leave Monday night's game against the Saints. It is more serious that initially thought. When the injury first happened, his rutrn was probable, but just a quarter later he was ruled out of the game. Bad sign for the Giants, who need everyone healthy right now to have a chance at the playoffs.

- In other news, not related to injuries or depth charts; Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio was fired early this morning and was replaced by defensive coordinator Mel Tucker. Tucker will serve as an interim head coach until other candidates come into the picture. Then, the Jaguars general manager  Gene Smith was given a three-year contract extension. He has been with the Jaguars since 1994. Finally, but most importantly, the Jaguars were sold for $760 Million. Wayne Weaver, former owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, sold the team (pending NFL's approval) to Shahid Khan. Khan tried making a bid on the Rams in 2010 but failed to purchase the team. Khan is a Pakistan-born entrepreneur from Illinois who is the head of Flex-N-Gate Corporation. According to Forbes, the Jaguars are the cheapest team in the NFL at the $760 Million that they were purchased for. The team is expected to stay in Jacksonville, and Khan has full intent of keeping them in Florida.