The National Football League wrapped up it’s schedule for Thursday night football; so we won’t have to hear all the complaining about those games until next season. With as much as everyone cries about these games you have to think that when the players union and the owners meet to discuss a new Collective Bargaining Agreement the union would want to do away with these Thursday night games.
Anyway the Thursday night schedule wrapped up with two teams having disappointing seasons. The Denver Broncos improved their record to 5-9 as they beat the Indianapolis Colts 25-13. With the loss the Colts record dropped to 3-11.
With neither of these teams anywhere close to being in the playoff race the one thing people where looking forward to where stats for their fantasy leagues. Most if not all leagues are in the playoffs now and there’s nothing wrong with outing up some big numbers on a Thursday to start your week. Sadly there wasn’t much fantasy help in this game either.
Here’s hoping that you didn’t have to use any of the quarterbacks that played in this game. While Trevor Siemian started the game for the Broncos he left the game with an injury after going 5 of 9 for 67 yards with an interception. Brock Osweiler took Siemian’s spot and put up solid numbers. Osweiler went 12 of 17 for 194 yards and threw 2 touchdowns. Osweiler also ran the football 3 times for 17 yards and added a rushing touchdown. Jacoby Brissett had a rough night for Indianapolis. He went 17 for 30 for just 158 yards. Now Brissett did run the football 5 times for 18 yards and had a rushing touchdown.
If you’re a C.J. Anderson owner hopefully you stuck with him this week. Anderson carried the football 30 times for 158 yards, but sadly didn’t find his way into the end zone. Devontae Booker also had 11 carries for 39 yards and 1 receptions for 10 yards. Frank Gore had a huge week in the snow against the Buffalo Bills in Week 14, but on Thursday night he had just 10 carries for 31 yards. Gore actually had more receiving yards as he caught 3 passes for 37 yards. Marlon Mack also carried the football 6 times, but went for just 14 yards.
Demaryius Thomas had 5 catches for 69 yards while Emmanuel Sanders added 7 catches for 68 yards. The Broncos receiving touchdowns went to Cody Latimer who had 3 catches and 60 yards to go along with his touchdown. Jeff Heuerman had 1 reception for 54 yards and the other Broncos receiving touchdown. Jack Doyle had 7 receptions for 47 yards to lead the way for the Colts while T.Y. Hilton add 5 receptions for 41 yards. If you happened to play Ross Travis, he had 2 receptions for 33 yards.
The Colts defense did have 3 sacks and an interception, but had no return yardage. Denver’s defense had just 1 sack and 23 return yards in the game.
I’m not sure if you got much help out of this game for your fantasy playoffs except for maybe Anderson. Of course with 3 touchdowns there’s a chance that Osweiler could be of some help to you.
It’s now the time of year where the NFL adds Saturday games to the schedule. There are two games on the schedule for today. First it’s the Detroit Lions (7-6) hosting the Chicago Bears (4-9). This is pretty much a must won for the Lions if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive. Detroit is currently onw game out of a wild card spot.
The second game of the day is pretty much an elimination game for the AFC West title as the Kansas City Chiefs (7-6) host the Los Angeles Chargers (7-6). The winner of this game takes control of the division and their road into the playoffs and while the loser would still have a shot at a wild card spot they’d have some work to do. The Chiefs appear to have righted the ship last week with a 26-15 win over the Oakland Raiders after losing four games before that. The Chargers started off the season 0-4, but have worked their way back into the division and playoff races and are currently on a 4-game winning streak. These two teams met back in Week 3 with Kansas City getting a 24-10 win in Los Angeles.
Baseball’s winter meetings wrapped up for the week and while there where a lot of signings and a few trades with the exception of Carlos Santana the big name free agents still remain unsigned.
Now it had become obvious that there would be very little movement until Giancarlo Stanton was traded and Shohei Otani picked a team. Once those moves where finally made with Stanton going to the New York Yankees and Otani deciding to sign with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim there where some signings. Then the news came out that the Baltimore Orioles might be looking to trade 3rd baseman Manny Machado and just about everything ground to a halt.
Apparently the Orioles decided that it would be in their best interest to see who would be interested in acquiring Machado and what they would be willing to give up to get him. Machado is in his last year of arbitration and is projected to make a little over $17 million dollars for the 2018 season. As Machado heads into free agency the Orioles have a fear that they won’t be able to resign him so they started to look what they could get for him in a trade.
I’m not sure how close Baltimore actually got to moving Machado in a deal, but their asking price was two major league ready young pitching prospects. That would be a lot for a team to give up for a player that they wouldn’t be sure if they could resign after the 2018 season.
Machado has also said that he’d like to move to shortstop which was his position before he broke into the major leagues and the Orioles needed him to play 3rd base.
There are a long, long list of teams that could use a player like Machado, but probably won’t give up what the Orioles are asking for right now. Do you see Baltimore’s asking price coming down and Machado being dealt?
Pending a physical Carlos Santana will be a member of the Philadelphia Phillies for the next three seasons. Santana and the Phillies agreed to a 3-year $60 million dollar deal with an option for a 4th season.
Santana had spent his entire career with the Cleveland Indians and most experts thought that he was a sure bet to resign with them. Santana spent 8 years with the Indians and was a career .249 hitter.
Santana has played multiple positions throughout his career, but the Phillies plan on using him as their full time 1st baseman. That means that Rhys Hoskins will be moved to the outfield and with Odubel Herrera as the everyday centerfielder there’s a possibility that Aaron Altherr or Nick Williams could be traded.
The Phillies name has continue to come up with every big name either free agent or trade candidate as they work on their rebuilding franchise. Do you see the Phillies adding another big name or two to their roster?
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