The Official FieldGulls Fantasy Football Thread. Week 13 Edition.

The first rule of Fantasy Football, you do NOT root for players against the Seahawks.

The second rule of Fantasy Football, you do NOT root for players against the Seahawks.

.

Marshawn Lynch, Fantasy BEAST MODE.

In most fantasy football scoring modes, Marshawn Lynch is now a top 10 running back. In my keeper league, he’s 7^th overall at the position, although that’s including week 13 numbers, and only LeSean McCoy (1^st overall) also with week 13 numbers. It’s remarkable to me what we’ve seen out of Lynch the last 5 weeks. In my yahoo league, clicking on "Last 4 weeks" you see him at 1^st overall at the position, ahead of even the incredible McCoy. 591 yards, 5 td’s, 87 receiving with 1 td. That’s 103.8 points, to McCoy’s 81.90.

Raise your right hand to the sky if you saw that happening at the start of the year.

Now look above you. Do you have a hand raised? Now raise left other hand if you’re completely full of excrement. The way you can tell is this: you’ll see your right hand raised above your hand already.

Marshawn Lynch is why it’s fun to be a Seahawk fan. And why it’s maddening to be a fantasy football fan/owner. Pre-Season, Lynch was projected as the 26^th running back. He got 573 in 12 games for us last year, for a team that hasn’t ran the ball effectively since, well, since HoFer Walter Jones was blowing holes for Shaun Alexander.

Right now, a Marshawn Lynch owner is grinning ear from ear. But should he be? Will this continue on? How confident should a Lynch owner be? He just lost yet another starting offensive lineman (Russell Okung to the IR, sigh.) That means he’ll be running behind only 2 of the original 5 starters on the OL. Does that inspire confidence? I say why not? Apparently the combination of Tom Cable and whatever else is going on with offense is working. There appears in my eyes to be a true mindset, a belief in the run game, and talent enough to make it work. Maybe Tavaris Jackson will never be a great QB, but he appears to be a good enough QB to make this offense move the ball somewhat effectively, and he utilizes the pass well when the run is there to set it up.

But the real question at this point for a Marshawn Lynch owner isn’t about whether you will start him the rest of the year or not—that should be a given. The real question is this—does he merit keeper status in keeper leagues? As a Seahawk fan I’m nervous about a multiyear contract. Will he can keep up this torrid pace while staying healthy? Will he let up after he gets the big bucks? But I see his age (only 25) and the joy with which he plays football, and I just don’t see a big problem with a 3-5 year contract rewarding him for what he is bringing to this team. I hope we give it to him, to be honest. I’d rather reward our own than some other team’s player, and Marshawn Lynch has certainly "become a Seahawk" in the past year and a half.

But would you freeze Lynch in a limited freeze league? That’s another question entirely, and I suppose one that is way too early to be asking yourself right now. But don’t pretend that owners who are out of the playoff hunt (and some that are still in it) don’t have one eye to the future already.

Fantasy Picks

RB – LeGarrette Blount – Blount had 20 carries for 103 and 56 yards receiving last week. He’s a full time back facing the Carolina Panthers, who are leading fantasy football in rushing points against. Look for another 100 yard game and a TD.

WR—Roddy White is BACK. The last two weeks he’s received 27 looks and turned that into 17 receptions for 267 yards and a TD. According to Roddy, that’s in part due to the fact that they are moving him around more to find better matchups. In addition, the Texans have been stout against WR scoring this year, but that was before the loss of anyone remotely resembling an NFL QB on the roster. While I still anticipate the Texans backing into the playoffs, even at home Roddy and the Falcons are just not a good matchup for them right now.

QB—Matthew Stafford. After a couple very up and down weeks, the Lions will be playing a road game against NO. The down side is they face NO’s offense. The upside is they’re a dome team playing in a dome. There are a ton of interesting QB matchups out there this week. Look for Matt Ryan (vs. Houston) to have maybe his best week of the season. Tony Romo is facing Arizona, and I would be salivating if I was a Romo owner. And of course, Tom Brady is playing Indy, and we all know how likely it is Belichick sits Brady once the Pats get a lead. But Stafford is likely getting the gloves off as his finger is apparently nearing to being healed. His problems this year have been tied to that finger, and he’s thrown only 7td’s to 9 int’s the last three weeks. More comfort with is hand will likely mean numbers closer to the beginning of the year. I like Stafford to have a big game in a game that is nearing "must win" status for the Lions.

Defense—I’m a waiver wire defense guy. In one league, I found and started Seattle. Vince Young was a hell of a quarterback. At Texas. In the NFL he encourages you to start opposing defenses, despite lining up with perhaps the best RB in the NFL right now, LeSean McCoy. Other good D matchups this week include Oakland (@ Miami), Dallas @ Ari, and Denver @ Minnesota. I’m going to push you toward Denver. They’re in an intriguing push toward playoff possibility right now, Von Miller and Elvis Dumerville have 10 sacks between them the last 4 weeks and that defense is looking increasingly good. They could have a field day terrorizing

Christian Ponder, and perhaps one of those sacks turns into a fumble recovery TD or their constant harassment leads to a Champ Bailey pick 6. Regardless, I like the upside of their D vs. Minnesota’s struggling offense.