24 Hours 'Til Sunday — Andy Richardson

Still playing this week? Yeah, neither am I; it's definitely a year where not playing in week 17 makes more sense than ever before, because a whole bunch of teams won't be. Still, some people are, and there are at least some meaningful games, so off we go....

Curtis Painter at Bills: Obviously the Colts didn't pull their starters against the Jets at home to throw them out on the field at Buffalo. I don't even think Austin Collie and Donald Brown can be used; it will be Painter handing it off to Mike Hart and maybe Chad Simpson, with the occasional pass to Hank Baskett and some guy off the practice squad. Ugly. For the Bills, Ryan Fitzpatrick will return, and he'll hand the ball off to Fred Jackson. A lot. Bills players can be used, Colts can't, unless you want to gamble on Hart or Baskett.

Saints at Panthers: The Saints want to win, and Sean Payton initially said the team will go all out, but recent indications are that "all out" now includes dusting off Mark Brunell to play. Brunell lining up with Julius Peppers across the way is a scary scenario. Pierre Thomas is banged up and out, and Reggie Bush basically entered the league that way. Jeremy Shockey and David Thomas are both hurting. And it's a bad matchup, with Carolina's defense playing extremely well right now. Basically the Saints should be in clock killing mode from the opening snap. For Carolina, no Steve Smith and probably no DeAngelo Williams. I'd use Muhsin Muhammad, if I had to.

Jaguars at Browns: Maurice Jones-Drew and Jerome Harrison have some interest here, as I suspect both teams will kind of be going through the motions, get off the field, get to the offseason. Running the ball. Both teams are also pretty bad against the pass, so I suppose the quarterbacks and receivers are also viable. (Except Torry Holt, who's already been ruled out with an injury. Marcedes Lewis, too.) I just don't see a lot of intensity from either team in this one. Is there anyone reason for anyone to watch this thing? Can't think of one, and I've watched plenty of bad football games between bad teams this year.

Patriots at Texans: Here's a game to watch. The Patriots say they'll play starters, and probably can be trusted in this case -- they want to lock up that No. 3 seed, I think. The Texans are in the hunt, barely, for a playoff spot, and will certainly use everyone. The only real problem with the Patriots is the running backs, because they'll all play. Otherwise, should be fun. I wonder if the Patriots will try to get Wes Welker enough catches to break the single-season record; I think he needs 22 or something. Probably not, but you never know.

Giants at Vikings: I'm still smarting over that Vikings-Bears game. Twice the Vikings scored and gave up long kick returns to set up Bears touchdowns; that just shouldn't happen. Twice pass plays that could have won me a title were stopped short of the goal line, leading to rushing touchdowns that lost me one. Bitter feeling losing a league to Adrian Peterson after a game in which he really didn't play that great. Anyway, this should be a great game -- very important for the Vikings, not so important for the Giants, but they would like to rebound from that embarrassing home loss to the Panthers anyway. No Brandon Jacobs, which would be good news for Ahmad Bradshaw, but Bradshaw didn't practice all week, either. Might be Gartrell Johnson and Danny Ware. Neither defense is playing well these days, so whoever runs the ball for New York has some value. I didn't sleep well after that Monday game. I realize no one else cares. It's just when you have a dramatic comeback like the vintage-Favre-led one in that one, you figure you'll win the game. And instead, that OT fumble cost them the game, and me a fantasy title. Did I mention I'm still bummed about it? Sorry. Oh, Visanthe Shiancoe is the dreaded gametime decision.

49ers at Rams: Isaac Bruce might play a little in probably his last NFL game. Steven Jackson should play, after forcing me to use Quinton Ganther in a 1-point Super Bowl loss last week. Aw, I still love you anyway, SJax. The Rams will use some bad quarterback. The 49ers will use Frank Gore a lot and probably have a good offensive game.

Steelers at Dolphins: Big game, since one of these teams may somehow make the playoffs. I like the reverse psychology employed by a couple of Steelers, saying the Bengals and Patriots would lay down in their games because they fear the Steelers making the playoffs. Clever. Probably true, but whining Steelers don't really generate much sympathy; they just won a Super Bowl and have no one but themselves to blame for needing help to get into the playoffs. Hines Ward is hurting, but he'll probably play. Same situation for the Dolphins; Ricky Williams should play. Probably one of the day's better games; neither defense is what it was early in the season, and there are no weather concerns.

Falcons at Bucs: Yawn. Bucs have played better defense lately. Sounds as if Michael Turner and Tony Gonzalez could/should miss the game; Turner especially. Derrick Ward isn't fully healthy. Go ahead and use Cadillac, Matt Ryan (but make sure he's active), Jason Snelling, etc. Another who cares kind of game, but at least the weather should be nice.

Eagles at Cowboys: Boom! Huge game. One team could get a first-round bye, the other could be on the road in next week's playoffs. If you think you know how this game will go, you're probably wrong -- either team is talented enough to win big, flawed enough to lose big. No injuries of note; everyone should be out there playing. I'm thinking thrilling nail-biter, myself.

Packers at Cardinals: Exhibition type of game, UNLESS the Vikings lose to the Giants, in which case Arizona's starters should beat the heck out of Green Bay's second stringers. So if you want to use any Cardinals, make sure the Giants won in Minnesota. I can't imagine wanting to watch or use anyone in this game, but I suppose guys like Brandon Jackson, Matt Flynn, and Early Doucet might have some value. Again, unless the Vikings lose, and that's certainly possible.

Kansas City at Broncos: Brandon Marshall injured a hamstring in practice this week and won't play; call it Playoff Choke Leg or something. There's some kind of personal issue between Marshall and the coaching staff, as well, something to keep in mind if you've got him in a dynasty league or the team manages to sneak into the playoffs. Tony Scheffler won't play. Eddie Royal is questionable. Those absences make Jabar Gaffney and Brandon Stokley intriguing options in a game Denver should win easily, then spend the offseason lamenting how they blew a 6-0 start. AND knocked me out of my suicide pool by blowing a home game to the Raiders, thanks jerks. Denver's offense, even without Marshall, should be good. Kansas City's trainwreck of a team should be bad. Jamaal Charles, at least, should be OK.

Ravens at Raiders: Derrick Mason is banged-up, but I'm guessing he plays; check Sunday a.m. to make sure. Ravens should run, they'll run so far away, they'll run all night and day-ay-ay, they couldn't get away. Raiders shouldn't do much, but an upset isn't unthinkable because Oakland has done it once or three times already this year. No Justin Fargas.

Washington at Chargers: Chargers should field a team of backups, with guys like Mike Tolbert carrying the ball and Billy Volek pitching it. Washington should be watching the clock during the game, waiting for their dismal season to come to an end. I suppose you can use Jason Campbell, Quinton Ganther (grrrrr.....), Santana Moss. Devin Thomas looks like he'll miss the game with an ankle injury. Just another awful week 17 game.

Bears at Lions: Speaking of. At least there's some fantasy value here, because both defenses are godawful. Go ahead and use starters from both teams, just don't expect it to be pretty out there. Devin Hester is going to play, no doubt alarmed by how much better Devin Aromashodu did on Monday than Hester could dream of on his best day. Gotta figure it's Earl Bennett, or Hester, who suffers, rather than the emerging Aromashodu. Gesundheit.

Chris Johnson at Seattle: It will be interesting to see how many plays the Titans run that DON'T involve Chris Johnson either running it or catching it. My guess is not many. Julius Jones, unfortunately, practiced Friday and is expected to play, which is a drag for Justin Forsett.

Bengals at Jets: I was offered tickets to this game, no doubt for one of two reasons. One, it's going to be really, really cold. Two, the Jets have announced they're not going to sell alcohol at the game. No, really! But they are going to sell tiny flasks with the Jets logo on them. No, kidding about that one. Anyway, I thought long and hard about it, but decided I'd stick to my living room with the heat and the warm glow of the TV screen on instead. Bengals offense can't be used, only Marvin Lewis knows how long they'll play, and everyone knows they probably won't do much against one of the league's best defenses. Jets should run a lot and pass a little, and probably win and clinch a playoff spot -- but this being the Jets, you never know.

New Year's Resolution to start this week: Avoid the really bad games, even if you've got players going; life is too short to watch Rams-49ers just to see Frank Gore help you in your total points league, and to miss things like a 4th-down touchdown in a meaningful game in Miami. And oh yeah: have the clicker handy in case it looks like Chris Johnson will make a run at Eric Dickerson's record, because that's one that if it happens, will probably hold up for a while...well, until they go to an 18-game season, anyway.

Enjoy the games.

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