Sunday Six Pack: Week Fifteen

Ken Kelly Posted On December 16, 2012

We’re with you every Sunday to provide the Sunday Six Pack, an article featuring six of the biggest story lines heading into each and every week of the season. Keeping tabs on these events will keep you prepared and informed throughout the season – just don’t drive within six hours of reading this.

Can #1) Kissin’ Cousins

Robert Griffin III has been nothing short of amazing this year and is actually the overall QB1 in many formats. Unfortunately, owners are going to be missing him for one of the most important weeks of the year as many of his owners find themselves right in the thick of a playoff matchup. The Redskins are likely doing the wise thing if they do, indeed, hold him out this week with his knee injury and hand the reigns of the offense to fellow rookie Kirk Cousins.

The Redskins were ridiculed for taking Cousins in the draft (especially after trading so many future picks for Griffin), but they could look like geniuses if Cousins can get the job done against Cleveland and keep them in the playoff hunt. In addition, dynasty owners are going to get a really good look at Cousins, who could find himself being a very valuable future commodity for the Redskins if they want to get some draft picks back in the future (the hope would be to compare his situation to those in the past like Matt Schaub or even Matt Flynn as a highly coveted backup) – his performance today will be of great interest. Hopefully you won’t need to play Cousins and have a more capable QB2 on your roster or you have to hope you’ll be kissin’ Cousins at the end of the day.

Can #2) Purple Haze

How good is Adrian Peterson? To think he’s actually in position to go for 2,000 rushing yards this year is amazing, especially when some people thought 1,000 yards and half a season would have been a successful return from ACL surgery. Peterson will face the Rams today and even though the defense of St. Louis is improved, they stand little chance of stopping him. With Christian Ponder looking awful and Percy Harvin on the shelf, the Vikings will have little choice but to give Peterson as much work as he can possibly handle. The big question will be where he’ll end up at the end of the day. Will he hit 1, 700 yards? How about 1,750? More?

Editors Note: For more information on some running backs returning much better than anticipated from ACL injuries, check out our premium post from yesterday.

Can #3) Press Your Luck

Much has been made about Andrew Luck’s fantastic rookie season and he’ll arguably face his biggest test to date as he takes his 9-4 Colts into Houston to face the 11-2 Texans. Houston has to be ready to get back on the field after last week’s embarrassing loss to the Patriots on Monday Night Football. Houston has yet to clinch the division and they face these Colts in two of the next three weeks, so this game is big for both teams. Luck has been able to do some jaw-dropping things this year, but going into Houston and leaving with a win would rank right up there with his best achievements of the year. There’s one thing we’ve learned this year, though – don’t count him out.

Can #4) For Mothers and Fantasy Owners Only

For all the great games we have today, there are some real dogs this week, too. Jacksonville at Miami, Detroit at Arizona, Carolina at San Diego, Kansas City at Oakland and the Jets facing Tennessee aren’t exactly marquee matchups. This is the beauty of dynasty leagues and fantasy football in general – while some may think these games are only watchable by family members of those suiting up, there are countless leagues whose titles are going to be decided by players like Calvin Johnson, Cam Newton, Danario Alexander, Jamaal Charles, Chris Johnson and a host of others. You just have to love it!

Can #5) The Unstoppable Force meets the Immovable Object

We mentioned the not-so-great matchups this week, but there are some super ones, too. The Sunday night game between San Francisco and New England is going to decide the season for many dynasty teams out there. For the Niners, it’s going to be very interesting to see what kind of performance they get from Colin Kaepernick against a Bill Belichick defense that isn’t his most talented, but seems to be opportunistic when they need to be. One thing has become pretty certain, though – until we see another good game from Vernon Davis, he’s not playable. On the Patriots side, it’s just going to be too tough to sit Tom Brady, Wes Welker or even Aaron Hernandez, even against a good defense. If there was a second rule in dynasty leagues after never benching your studs, it would be never bench your studs in the playoffs.

Can #6) Superdome Shootout

The last time Tampa Bay and New Orleans played, they scored a combined 63 points. In addition, Drew Brees and Josh Freeman combined for a total of 797 passing yards, seven touchdowns and just one interception. This game could be a key one for owners of Brees, Freeman, Doug Martin, Jimmy Graham, Lance Moore, Vincent Jackson, Darren Sproles and a host of others. If this contest turns out to be another high scoring affair like their last one, it could be a fantasy owner’s dream, especially in this important week.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

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Ken Kelly

Co-Founder at DynastyLeagueFootball

Ken is a corporate trainer by day an a tireless editor of dynasty content by night. His passion for the World Champion Seattle Seahawks is second only to his love of fantasy football and the dynasty format.

Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK