Given what we now know about the severity of Tony Romo's injury, the Cowboys' fourth-quarter comeback he led was especially heroic. No one despises the Cowboys more than I do, but Romo is a borderline Hall of Famer in my opinion, wasting his career with Jerry Jones and various sub-standard coaches as his employers.
Among running backs only Jamaal Charles has more points than DeMarco Murray over the last four weeks. Murray's gone 75 for 439 (5.9 YPC) and five TDs with 14 catches for 82 yards and another score. He's an underrated factor in some fantasy titles this year. After Charles, Murray and LeSean McCoy, the rest of the running backs are tightly bunched over the last four weeks.
It's too bad the Cardinals are unlikely to make the playoffs because they're better than any team in the NFC East, NFC North and AFC South. They're arguably better than any team in the AFC North and AFC East, too. That said, the Eagles have a puncher's chance against anyone with their unique offense and improving defense.
It's amazing how poorly most of the top QBs did in the fantasy playoffs. Over the last two weeks, the top-10 QBs were: Nick Foles, Peyton Manning, Andy Dalton, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Drew Brees, Alex Smith, Colin Kaepernick, Matt Flynn, Matt Cassel and Geno Smith. Tony Romo was 12th, Matt Ryan 15th, Tom Brady 16th, Andrew Luck 18th, Cam Newton 20th, Russell Wilson 21st, Philip Rivers 24th and Matt Stafford 27th.
The two most heavily-targeted receivers the last two weeks were Julian Edelman and A.J. Green with 30 apiece. Pierre Garcon was the most valuable one.
Tight ends were a negligible factor in the fantasy playoffs. The top two were Tony Gonzalez (14-125-2) and Marcedes Lewis (8-104-2). No other tight end had two scores, and only two more (Julius Thomas and Timothy Wright) had 100-plus yards and one score.
I love Yahoo!'s playoff scenario generator. The Saints can go from the second seed if they win while the Panthers lose, to out of the playoffs if they lose and the Cardinals win. If the Dolphins and Ravens both win, the AFC's sixth seed is decided by who wins the Chargers-Chiefs game. If the Chargers (10-point favorites) win, the Dolphins get in. If the Chiefs win, the Ravens get in.
What a great play at the end of the Raiders game by Matt McGloin under pressure on 4th and goal to throw the ball up in the air where someone (Marcel Reece) could catch it. He didn't, and the Raiders failed to cover in what was a bad beat. But so many other QBs either take the sack there, or throw the ball away, not realizing there's nothing to lose. Of course, McGloin's reward is losing his job as Terrelle Pryor is taking over.
Using Occam's Razor, I think I found an explanation for Trent Richardson's inexplicably bad season. Someone implanted a magnet in him that attracts defensive players.
With Von Miller out for the year, the Broncos are like the 1984 Dolphins - a great offensive team that might run the table in the AFC. But I don't think they'll win the Super Bowl against a more balanced squad, especially given the cold-weather (and possibly windy) venue.
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