I can't speak for everyone else out there, but the poor play of numerous fantasy stars (i.e. Antonio Gates) combined with the unexpected play of a few others (Anthony Gonzalez, Aaron Stecker, etc) has knocked me out of both of my semi-final games this past weekend. The best I can hope for now is a couple of third place finishes...not quite what I was hoping for going into the season, but the great part about fantasy football is that there's always next year.

Anyways, enough of that depressing talk, as I'm sure there are a number of you who survived this past weekend's battle and are on to the champion ship game this week. Before I go into this weeks suggestions though, I just wanted to give a quick warning to owners who may have players playing in wintry conditions...don't start any kicker in the snow (Rian Lindell), and think twice before starting a border line receiver in freezing conditions (Jabar Gaffney)! For those of you whom it still matters, here are your waiver wire suggestions for week 16...most likely the last game of the fantasy football season...

Domanic Rhodes (RB-OAK): Did you get to the champion ship game in part due to riding the coattails of your week 9 waiver pickup Justin Fargas? If so, you're probably searching frantically to patch up that hole in your lineup, as Fargas is expected to miss a game or so due to a knee injury. It appears that Rhodes was the guy they went to in Fargas' absence this weekend, and he should get the start this weekend. I'm sure the team wants to see what they have in Rhodes before deciding what to do with their running back situation in the off-season, so he should get the majority of the carries over LaMont Jordan. Keep in mind though that Rhodes has a pretty tough matchup against Jacksonville this weekend.

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...and the big question is, do the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrate? Or do they sink further into depression as the only winless team in NFL history? In other news, the Patriots won again (although not in the blow-out fashion that all the analysts expected) to move to 14-0. Only two more wins to reach that undefeated mark (fingers crossed)!

In fantasy world though, the weekend was actually pretty slow in terms of stats. Consider this...in one of my league's scoring formats, some of the players that made the top 10 list in fantasy points for their position include Cleo Lemon, Shaun Hill, Greg Camarillo, Roydell Williams, Aaron Stecker and Darren Sproles! Besides Stecker and maybe Williams, I challenge anyone to admit to starting any of those players at any point in the season. On the other hand, Tom Brady, Tony Romo, Antonio Gates and Terrel Owens had very poor games, which probably didn't help anyone's playoff hopes (unless they were playing against them). Anyways, let's get to the top fantasy scores of the week...

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...that make you tear your hair out. I'm in a second-round playoff matchup, and I've been dwelling over my WR3 spot for the last half an hour. OK... probably more like an hour. Reading everything I can find about the two guys I'm thinking about filling it with. Pounding coffee to fend off the hangover from the three large glasses of Jack I had to drink last night in order to restore my sanity after seven unbearable hours of Christmas shopping. Knowing that no matter what I do, the guy I bench will score at least two touchdowns. It's just been one of those seasons for me.

I've already had to stomach Rudi Johnson lighting up my flex spot with a whopping two points. I hate him with all my soul.

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As the fantasy football season is quickly drawing to a close, I just wanted to say a quick thank-you to our readers who have made our first season of blogging a whole lot of fun. When we started this blog, we didn't know if anyone would care about what we had to say, and we definitely had no idea that we'd wind up with thousands of readers every week. Your participation and feedback in the comments and the Ask the Geeks columns have made this a whole lot of fun.

If you like the blog, are into betting on sports, and are feeling in the holiday spirit, we'd be really pumped if you signed up with one of our new sports betting affiliates. They've got some nice bonuses for new clients, and they give us an affiliate fee if you sign up after clicking on one of the offers below. So if you're thinking about betting on the Super Bowl or something anyway, it would be awesome if you helped support our blog along the way. We've also got one for poker thrown in there for good measure.

If you're still live in your playoffs, best of luck. If not - well... happy holidays! Thanks again for visiting. We'll be posting throughout the rest of the fantasy playoffs, and we're planning on posting regularly with news and updates during the offseason as well.

The offers:

After watching David Patten go off and validate my decision to declare him a potential shocker for week 14, I'm going with the theory that three really is a lucky number. Or maybe I'm just lazy and only feel like giving you three shocker picks instead of five, since a good portion of our audience is probably out of contention at this point (we take no responsibility for this. If you win, though, we strongly feel that we deserve at least some of the credit, and a portion of your winnings).

As always, here's a brief explanation of my definition of a fantasy "shocker": A player who comes out of relatively nowhere, has a gigantic, multi-touchdown game, becomes the hottest waiver commodity the following week, and then soon sinks back into the relative obscurity from whence he came. Like I've said before, these are long-shot picks and I don't expect to hit on most of them.

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Week 15 begins tonight, as the Denver Broncos go to Houston to take on the Texans, so let's get started with a few early questions from our readers...

Brandon's take: Hey Chris, that's a tough one you have there with your receivers. It's hard for me to tell you to start Engram over Evans, when Evans made my "Studs" list this week. However, since it is the playoffs, you might go with the more reliable Engram in this case. Evans is a home run threat, especially against the Brownies defense, but Engram is pretty good for 8-15 points a week or so. Engram has been producing all season long and actually has more touchdowns than Evans.

In terms of your defenses, I would go with San Diego this week. The Lions have been terrible lately, losing 5 straight, while averaging under 20 points a game and I see the Chargers defense going big in this one at home.

Matt's take: If you're ever going to start Evans, this is the week. He tends to run hot and cold, and since he just had a nice game, he might be ready for a hot streak. He and Edwards should connect at least a five times against Cleveland, and he's always a threat for the long touchdown catch.

Keep an eye on the St. Louis QB situation this week, and if Brock Berlin is starting again, use the Green Bay defense. If not, San Diego's a decent choice.

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Did you survive the first round of the playoffs? Are you still in contention for some consolation prize? Before I get into this weekend's picks, let's take a look back at how last week went. As hard as a few players tried, I still ended up with a pretty solid record. The Buffalo running game, plus my boy Ryan Grant, turned in very solid performances, while the Tony Romo to Jason Witten connection was in full force, even if T.O. was left out of the action. Kevin Jones came out of no where to log multiple touchdowns, while the Buffalo and Houston passing games went huge in the touchdown department...which was NOT expected though. This weekend I'm looking to make perfect recommendations (no misses!), but we'll just have to wait and see how that works out. So without further ado, here are your suggestions that should hopefully propel your team to the next (and possibly final) round of your playoffs...

Studs

Adrian Peterson (MIN): I'm going to go out on a limb and say that last weeks performance by Peterson was a complete anomaly. How else can you explain how the San Francisco 49er's (!!!) held A.Pete to 3 freakin' yards on 14 carries? This week Peterson plays against a soft, inter-conference Chicago run defense, so he'll be looking to re-establish himself as the top back in the NFL.

Joseph Addai (IND): Even with low yardage last week, Addai found his way into the endzone three times. This week, he faces the worst run defense in the NFL in allowing teams into the endzone with the Raiders (21 rushing touchdowns allowed!) Addai should have a field day.

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So I survived the first round of the playoffs in the two leagues I made the playoffs in, in large part due to the performance of Brandon Marshall, Jay Cutler and Ryan Grant...not to mention the Buffalo defense. Hopefully most of our readers can say the same thing and have survived long enough so that this list even matters to them at this point! I didn't want to go off on any tangents about how the Patriots or still undefeated after stomping the Steelers or anything like that, so let's get right to this weeks waiver wire suggestions...

Baltimore (DEF): Just as I expected, the Buffalo defense was one of the top defenses last week against the Miami Dolphins. Their next opponent? The Baltimore Ravens. While the Ravens defense has been decent this season, it hasn't been as good as the previous few years, leading to them being free agents in many leagues. I just snatched them up this morning in one of my leagues and you should do the same.

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On a day when the Patriots crushed the Steelers to move to 13-0 (can we take anything Anthony Smith says seriously now?), one of my proudest (and luckiest) moments was seeing my pre-season sleeper pick, Brandon Marshall, step up and go huge in the first round of my fantasy playoffs.

Brandon Marshall (WR-DEN): 10 receptions, 115 receiving yards, 2 TD, 10 rushing yards

Complementing those stats was the fact that in one of my leagues, I had also started Jay Cutler...so that worked out pretty well. Hopefully our readers had similar luck if everyone drafted Marshall like I recommended! Anyways, Sunday seemed to mark a return to great fantasy stats for most of the regulars, such as Brady, Manning, LT, Moss, and Trent Edwards. Hah...well maybe Edwards didn't return to greatness, but he did have a great game. I guess that's one things the Dolphins are good at...making the opposing quarterback look like Dan Marino. So that's enough rambling, let's get to the top performers of the weekend...

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If you're in a keeper league and your team is out of the playoffs (but your league still allows you to make roster moves), it's time to start thinking about next year. Unlike re-draft leagues, you can't sit back and forget that your fantasy team even exists at this point...because there is always next year, so you need to be prepared. Similar to my concept of a Post-draft Draft that I explained before the season began, I figured I'd draft up a list of players that are poised to break-out (or at least make some kind of fantasy impact) next season, and could be picked up now in preparation...

Quarterbacks

Kellen Clemens (QB-NYJ): Of the quarterbacks on this list, Clemens has had the most experience and hasn't performed all that badly. Even though his team is 3-9, Clemens has kept the team close in a few of the losses and his defense can be blamed for a few others. Clemens should only get better next season with a year of experience under his belt and better chemistry with the skill players.

JaMarcus Russell (QB-OAK): With the least experience of all the quarterbacks on this list so far, Russell could also have the most potential. In his first real experience, Russell played fairly well, going 4-of-7 for 56 yards, but throwing 0 TD and 0 INT. Depending on your league's rules, you may be able to watch Russell play a few more games before making an ultimate decision, but Russell has a chance to be a pretty solid quarterback in the NFL. If you don't scoop him up now, make sure to keep an eye on him in next season's draft.

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