Fantasy Football: Divisional Round

Baltimore Ravens vs Tennessee Titans

Ravens:  Okay, stop me if you heard this one before.  The Ravens defense dominates its way to a wildcard, smashes their first round opponent then heads to Tennessee to play the number one seed in the AFC.  For those of you that don't know how that story ended, it ended badly with a Ravens championship.  This week, as always, the Ravens defense is the best fantasy option.

Titans:  The first time these two hooked up it was an ugly 13-10 win that ended with a Kerry Collins TD pass with under 2 minutes left.  I don't expect a much different outcome, at least in terms of points.  Like the Ravens, your best fantasy option is the defense.

Fantasy Factors:  Ravens defense (9), Titans defense (8)

Arizona Cardinals vs Carolina Panthers

Cardinals:  Last week, the Cards showed that they can, in fact, turn on their offense like a switch.  The Cards showed some guts for the first time this season and ran the football with Edgerrin James.  The Panthers weak spot during the second half of the season has been their inability to stop the run.  This could make James a sleeper pick for the week.  The usual suspects like Larry Fitzgerald and Kurt Warner are decent plays, but I don't expect the Cardinals to win this game and in NFL.com's playoff game, you can only make 8 moves after the Wildcard round.

Panthers:  The Cardinals defense looked better last week, but it showed some cracks;  cracks that the Panthers will be able to take full advantage of.  They're not great against the pass and I expect Steve Smith to run wild on them.  With the exception of last week, the Cardinals haven't been great at stopping elite backs and this week they'll be up against the best fantasy RB in football.

Fantasy Factors:   Larry Fitzgerald (8), Steve Smith (9)

Philadelphia Eagles vs New York Giants

Eagles:  It was only a month ago that the Eagles beat the Giants at Giants Stadium.  Brian Westbrook gained over 200 total yards and scored 2 TDs.  I don't expect that to happen again, but the Giants were very bad against the run in the final weeks of the season and until I see evidence that says otherwise, I expect other solid game from B-West.

Giants:  Despite having home field advantage throughout the playoffs and being the defending champs, they Giants do have question marks.  After starting off hot, Eli Manning finished the season ice cold and have the Giants faithful questioning him again.  The Eagles love to blitz and that doesn't bode well for a quarterback that isn't at his best.  Brandon Jacobs is expected to be healthy and carry a full workload and should have success.

Fantasy Factors:  Brian Westbrook (8), Brandon Jacobs (9)

San Diego Chargers vs Pittsburgh Steelers

Chargers:  My preseason Super Bowl pick versus my hometown team.  The Chargers have been coming on strong at the end of the season and despite not having LT, they still have a pretty good running game, maybe even a better running game with Darren Sproles.  If Sproles can get the ball in open field, he'll be very difficult to tackle and could give the number one ranked Steelers defense fits. 

Steelers:  If you had told me back in September that one of these teams would be 8-8 and the other would be 12-4, I would have thought that it would be the Steelers, who had the toughest schedule in the NFL, with the 8-8.  The Chargers had one of the softest schedules, yet if it wasn't for a miracle comeback against the Chiefs, the Chargers wouldn't even be in the playoffs.  No way, no how, should the Steelers lose this game.  I like the Chargers, I like their players, heck I even like their uniforms, but no way.  Feel free to pick Steelers for your NFL.com team because they'll all be active for next week.

Fantasy Factors:  Darren Sproles (7), Hines Ward (9)