NBD - Week 13 Review A & Power Rankings 2.1

Well, here we are. The 2009 NBD regular season has reached its conclusion, and for some of you the long slumber of eight months of fantasy hibernation begins. But you know I wouldn't leave you with only the bitter anguish of your disappointing seasons to tide you over. As my parting gift to those of you out of the playoffs, I'm starting this week's game reviews off with a 2010 Keeper Power Rankings list. The remaining teams will be profiled later this week in my 2009 Playoff Power Rankings. Enjoy
Consolation Bracket 2010 Keeper Power Rankings
6) Sexy Cheeseburger (D Haller)
Likely Keeper Options: Beanie Wells (5), Jerricho Cotchery (6), Ryan Moats (15), Kyle Orton (15), Larry Johnson (15)
Beanie Wells showed a few flashes of fantasy usefulness this year. Enough to completely displace Tim Hightower? No. Enough to make himself a top running back option next year? No. Enough to be worthy of a 5th-round keeper? Probably. In the fifth round this year, we were drafting guys like Willie Parker and Jamal Lewis. Wells is probably worthy of that company, but he's not something I'd want to bank on, nor is he a steal in terms of value there. Did the Bengals sign LJ beyond this season? I don't think so, which means he could end up a starter somewhere else, giving him some value. But then again, he was a starter for most of this season and didn't have any value. Frankly, there just isn't much to be excited about here.

5) Deuceburger (K Manning)
Likely Keeper Options: Matt Schaub (5), Darren Sproles (7), Brett Favre (11), Darren McFadden (15)
Sproles will probably be a lead back next season, either in San Diego or somewhere else. That alone will probably make him valuable, but he's not a dependable enough guy that I'd want him in my line-up every week. The real gem here is Brett Favre in the eleventh. Favre is sixth among fantasy QBs this season (right behind teammate Matt Schaub), and with as awesome as the Vikings have been I doubt he'll put us through the usual retirement torment. Even if he does, though, the 'Burger should be set at quarterback thanks to (an admittedly pricier) Schaub.

4) Vag Secretion Parfait (S Papkin)
Likely Keeper Options: Ben Roethlisberger (8), Mike Bell (15), Vernon Davis (15), Hakeem Nicks (15), Heath Miller (15), Pierre Garcon (15)
Papkin's keeper options are lacking in starpower, but they do feature plenty of value thanks to his free agent pick-ups over the course of the season. Any one of those 15th-round selections would be a value, and Sam has the rest of this year and all off-season to decide which ones are most valuable. He'll still need to build a solid foundation through the draft next year, but he'll have some nice complementary players on the cheap.

3) Woody's Warriors (E Sherwood)
Likely Keeper Options: Knowshon Moreno (3), Brandon Marshall (4), Steve Breaston (8), Michael Crabtree (15)
Knowshon Moreno has been pretty good, if not spectacular, this season. Still, he's probably a guy who'd get drafted in or around the third round anyway, so he's probably worth keeping if only for the security of knowing you've got a RB2/3 already on your roster. This'll be the third off-season in a row where we'll hear about Anquan Boldin wanting to go elsewhere, but if he finally does, Breaston should step right into his role, giving him immediate value. And then of course there's Crabtree, who's an easy call to be kept that late on potential alone.

2) Matt Ryan Loves Dogs (J Koehler)
Likely Keeper Options: Cedric Benson (4), Joe Flacco (11), James Davis (12), Johnny Knox (15)
This ranking is pretty much all about one guy: Benson. Ced is 10th among RBs in average scoring, and thus a legit RB1 and great RB2. Considering that he's still relatively young and has had years of light usage, there's no reason to think he'll go downhill next season. James Davis is also an intriguing option here, as Jamal Lewis has already announced his retirement. Davis has been injured for much of this season, so we don't really know what he can do or whether he'll really be ready to take over the Browns backfield next season, but it'll probably be worth a 12th-rounder to find out.

1) Goin' Rogue Y'all (M Haller)
Likely Keeper Options: LeSean McCoy (8), Chester Taylor (9), Sidney Rice (15), Jerious Norwood (15), Glen Coffee (15)
I don't have the faith in Chester Taylor that Haller does, but I do think he's got a great crop of keepers besides. We've probably seen the last of Brian Westbrook as the primary back in Philly, and McCoy looks poised to pick up where he left off. Sidney Rice has been great this year, and is a steal in the fifteenth. Norwood is (I think) going to be a free agent this summer, and should get the starting opportunity to show the talent that has tantalized from the Atlanta bench for years now.

And now, on to the Week 13 re-caps. Since we've been focusing on the out-of-contention teams, I'll start with their games.

Vag Secretion Parfait (82) defeats Matt Ryan Loves Dogs (74)
The (admittedly boring) story of Papkin's 2009 season features two predominant themes: his reliance on the Pittsburgh passing game and the mid-season trade that brought him Vernon Davis in exchange for virtually nothing (at my expense). So it's appropriate that Ben Roethlisberger (19), Davis (17), and Hines Ward (14) were his high scorers in this, his final victory of the season. That outing by VD, by the way, solidifies his ranking as the top TE in fantasy football this year. Also contributing was Pierre Garcon (14), and as noted above, Davis and Garcon make for some great late-round keeper options for next season, bringing a silver lining to the cloud of Papkin's season finale. Koehler has a good keeper option as well in Cedric Benson, and he also led his team in scoring this week (13), though not into victory. Steven Jackson (12) and the Green Bay defense (12) were also decent, but all in all this was a forgettable effort in an MRLD season that will probably (and hopefully) also soon be forgotten. There's a lesson to be learned there: don't try to have a baby while you're managing a fantasy football team, or if you do, make sure you've got your priorities straight and focus on NBD.

Goin' Rogue Y'all (106) defeats Sexy Cheeseburger (100)
Well where the hell was this all season? Sexy Cheeseburger broke the century mark (just barely) for the first time this season here in Week 13, but was defeated by Goin' Rogue, who broke it for just the third time. Had either team put up this kind of performance on a regular basis, they would not be watching the rest of the season from the sidelines. Such is Fantasy, however, and each team can take some solace in having ended on a high note. Derek was led by the same trio of high draft picks that let him down for most of the season, though I doubt these performances will erase the bitter emotions associated with them. Tony Romo (28) really did look like a 2nd round-worthy quarterback out there against the Giants, even if he did finish the season ranked eighth at the position. LaDainian Tomlinson (15) scored the 150th touchdown of his career, and did so in record time, though Derek must have anticipated he'd do it by about Week 5 when he drafted him third overall. And remember back to that first Thursday night game that kicked off the season, when Santonio Holmes, taken in the fourth round, crashed out of the gates with a 19-point night? Well he finally surpassed that this week, scoring 21. It's a shame he sucked for most of the weeks in between. These three superstars, however, were not enough to claim victory in this one. That feat was achieved by a quintet of Rogue-Goers, most notably Philip Rivers (23). Calvin Johnson (18) and Jason Witten (16), like Derek's guys, performed to our pre-season expectations despite not reaching that level for most of the season. And the real kicker that put Matt over the top was, well, his kicker and defense: Cincinnati (17) and, replacing John Carney in the Saints points machine, Garrett Hartley (15).