Some Playoff Help

With Week 15 here many of you are starting your league playoffs. Here are some suggestions that might help whether you're seeded first or last.

Start by knowing your league's rules on free agent acquisitions and trades. Some leagues shut down your ability to pick up an FA or do a trade once the playoffs begin while others allow some type of roster moves until the start of the championship game. Why is this important? Three main reasons:

1. As the NFL teams solidify their playoff position, many of the coaches begin to rest their starters. You may find that your QB "work horse" Peyton Manning is only playing the first half or worse yet, the first quarter.
   
2. Player's seasons continue to end (ala Curtis Martin) during the final weeks of the season.
3. Some of the "also rans" want to test their young talent during the last few games of the year.
   

As a result, what once was a solid Fantasy Football championship roster during the regular season may end up as a pathetic mixture of part-time players and patients in the surgical ward at Our Lady of the Fumble.

So what do you do?

Generally most leagues will not allow trades once the playoffs begin. This is to prevent you from getting a star player from your best friend whose team didn't quite make the playoffs. If, however, your league does still allow trades, don't be surprised if the commish or the other owners try to stop any deals you may structure. We're not saying don't try, just don't count on it happening.

As for FA acquisitions, if allowed, do your homework. Look for the following:

1. Which players will likely be rested during the final weeks? Who are their backups? How much will they, the backups, likely be playing? How good are they? What happen last year?
   
2. Which players are suffering nagging injuries that seem to get a little worse each week?
3. Who are the young players that the coaches are indicating they want to give some more work
   

An example of this is the Curtis Martin - Cedrick Houston situation.

• Several weeks ago the Jets coaching staff indicated that they were pretty high on Houston and that they wanted to give him additional reps as the season wound down.
  
• We were also getting updates on the Curtis Martin's injured knee each week. Reports began to circulate on how Martin was "tough" and "plays through the pain".
  
• Then, Coach Herm Edwards gave us another indication of how serious Martin's situation was when he stated that the team was going to do everything possible to make sure Martin reached 1,000 yards to enable him to keep his string of 11 1,000 yards season going.
  
• To us, this was a indication that Houston was prime playoff material. We picked him up of the StatLeader experts league team a couple of weeks ago and recommend you do the same if he is still available.
  

Now, for those of you who can't make any roster changes after this week, try to balance your players so that you have at least one decent backup at each position. For example, We know Peyton Manning is going to be rested. Look at last year. You want to be sure you have a QB that will play and another "to be rested" starter won't be of much help. So who might?

Well, you may want to consider picking up Jim Sorgi (who?) whether you have Manning or not. Sorgi is Manning's backup. Yes, Sorgi completed only 17 passes last year but 16 of them were in Week 17 when Manning was rested. Sorgi's stats for that game? 16 of 25 for 168 yards and 2 TDs. (By the way, if you happened to play Manning in that game you probably remember that he was 1 of 2 for 6 yards.)

Sorgi is only one example, there are others out there. Do your research. Take a chance. As someone once said "To the daring belongs the future", maybe the championship as well.