The Fantasy Factor

During baseball season, I always try to convince people that all a fan can reasonably hope for is a division title. If you cheer for the Cubs, White Sox, Yankees, whoever, and you go into every season with a "World Series-or-bust" mentality, then you'll never - or, very rarely - be happy.

The fact of the matter is that baseball is an extremely random sport. You build baseball teams to excel over the course of a 162-game season, not over the course of a best-of-seven playoff series. To win in the playoffs, you need skill, but you also need a ton of luck. As a fan, a division title is all you can realistically expect.

Fantasy football is similar. If you made the playoffs, awesome. You did your job. Now that we're here, it's pretty much just a coin flip.

That doesn't mean I haven't been scouring the Web looking for the best sit-and-start advice. Let's get to it, after the jump...

1) Brandon Jacobs - Giants
Vs. Cowboys

It's hard to classify Jacobs as anything other than a disappointment this season. He was spectacular in 2008, scoring 15 touchdowns. But much like his team, Jacobs has seen his performance dip this season. Going into Sunday's game against Dallas, he had just three touchdowns this year.

It's rare that a running back earns a spot here when rushing for under 40 yards, but Jacobs did just that with his performance against the Cowboys. He got in the end zone twice (one rushing, one 74-yard reception), and in a down week for top individuals, that's all it took.

If you needed a push to get into the playoffs, Jacobs' breakthrough couldn't have come at a better time. If you're on the outside looking in at the playoff picture, perhaps Jacobs' effort was too little too late.

We're approaching the last week of the fantasy regular season, and, as such, now seems like a good time to deem the fantasy football's most valuable player.

As always, there are lots of good candidates.

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was the concensus number one overall draft pick, and he has performed about as well as everyone expected. He's averaging over 98 yards per game on the ground, has 12 rushing touchdowns, and has already set a new career high for receptions with five games remaining. He's still fumbles too much, but the man deemed Purple Jesus has put together an all-around fine year.

Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jaguars has been great as well. The Mighty MJD was a top five pick in most leagues, and he performed like it. Jones-Drew is currently fifth in the NFL in rushing yards, and tops in touchdowns with 13. Unlike Peterson, he never fumbles - he's coughed it up just once this season. Jones-Drew has been great in the passing game as well, notching 41 receptions so far. He will be a top three pick without question next season.

But there is only one guy we can give MVP to. This shouldn't be a surprise. Titans' running back Chris Johnson has been the most dynamic player in football all season.

Instead of listing his mind-boggling stats, let's watch some videos. Follow along, after the jump...

1) Brett Favre - Vikings
Vs. Bears

Ugh. I'd add more, but I think I pretty much covered everything at the Full Court Press blog. Go over there and check it out. You know, I really love these Vikings.

1. QB Ben Roethlisberger - Steelers
Vs. Baltimore

Fantasy owners have been monitoring Roethlisberger's post-concussion status all week, and the last few days has given us nothing but conflicting reports. Yesterday, Roethlisberger's Yahoo! player page said he was expected to start. Today, Fox Sports' Jay Glazer is saying Big Ben will be out, and former Oregon signal caller Dennis Dixon will be taking over the Steelers' offense.

You'll have to watch this one up until game-time on Sunday, but, assuming you have a halfway competent backup (ie: not Bruce Gradkowski), it's probably for the best that you sit Roethlisberger this week. Head injuries are nothing to mess around with (for Ben's sake, I hope the Steelers realize this as well), and playing the Ravens is always tough, even when fully healthy.

1) Brett Favre - Vikings
Vs. Seahawks

Favre only played three quarters on Sunday, but no matter: he didn't need the fourth quarter to score more points than anyone else on Sunday. Favre finished with 213 yards and four touchdowns. He hasn't thrown an interception since Week 7.

Love him or hate him (and, yes, I hate him), Favre is really have a phenomenal season. He's leading the league in QB Rating, he's second in touchdown passes, he's 11th in yards. Favre is, without question, one of the steals of this fantasy football season.

I expect a big game from him next week, as well. The Bears don't stand a chance.

I hate to use this as a vehicle for saying something stupid like "Now fantasy football has finally arrived!" because, let's be honest, fantasy football is probably more popular than real hockey at this point. But you have to admit, this story is pretty cool.

Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew was lauded for making a heads up play on Sunday by taking a dive to let the clock run out instead of scoring a meaningless touchdown. Teammates, coaches, announcers...they were all singing Jones-Drew's praises. But what about fantasy owners? Shades of Brian Westbrook, eh? I can only imagine MJD owners who lost by a few points this week can't be happy.

Jones-Drew, of course, foresaw all of this this. So after the game, he issued an apology to his fantasy owners.

"Sorry to my fantasy owners," Jones-Drew deadpanned. "I apologize. I had myself today. It was a tough call, but whatever it takes to get the victory, that's what counts."

What a fantastic quote. I have MJD in my biggest league, and I couldn't be happier with him. I did win by double-digits this week, though. Maybe I wouldn't be so kind if he screwed me over.