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Week 12 has come and gone and the Docs will take their weekly look back at the bench / start predictions.   Michael Vick was a solid Thanksgiving Day start call and Trent Green was a solid start call for his second 300+ yard passing game of the season.   We hope that you were able to take advantage of these calls and pull off a fantasy win or two.   As always, we own up to our calls in the weekly bench / start wrap up.   Sit back in your chair and enjoy this look back at week 12.

Nostradamus (a.k.a. psychic)
Start:
Michael Vick – Vick had a great fantasy game on Thanksgiving. We know that more than a few fantasy teams out there got a win because of Vick’s outstanding play.   He is starting to be a fantasy factor once again.   146 yards passing, 57 yards rushing, and two passing TDs gave Vick a great day.   He only had one interception, so Vick was a quality start week 12.

Domanick Davis – Davis turned in his best fantasy game of the season week 12.   Hopefully you were able to cash in on it.   Davis managed a score and 120 yards of total offense.

Trent Green – Green posted just his second 300+ yard game of the season and he had no interceptions and 1 TD.   Things are looking up for Green owners.   Green is an intriguing player who picked up his play last season when Holmes went down.   It looks like history may be repeating itself.

Steven Jackson – 110 yards on the ground and a TD.   That is more than enough to qualify Mr. Jackson as a very solid start week 12.   Stick with Jackson the rest of the season and he should treat your team very nicely.

Roy Williams – It looked like Williams was going to have a terrible day and then the strangest thing happened … he almost had a ball intercepted in front of him, but he somehow managed to catch the ball for a TD.   We would say this is a fluke, but those are the types of plays that Williams is supposed to make and they are the types of plays that we hope he continues to make. Williams finished Thanksgiving Day with 55 yards and a TD.

Chris Brown – Brown had 135 yards of total offense and a long TD catch.   There weren’t too many RBs that were better than Brown week 12.   Brown has been amazingly consistent this season, so we hope he continues that trend for your fantasy playoffs.   However, you never know when an injury can strike, so you have better own Travis Henry if you are counting on Brown down the stretch.

Tony Gonzalez – Trent Green is back and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Gonzalez owners.   The playoffs are getting ready to start in many fantasy leagues and Gonzalez continues to post solid games.   Week 12 Gonzalez had 4 receptions for very good yardage.

Bench:
Chris Simms – Simms was a great call for your bench this week.   He had no TDs, only 202 yards passing, and he had negative yards rushing AND receiving.   Add his fumble and you have a very ugly game.

Marion Barber – 28 yards rushing and -2 yards receiving is the kind of fire you are playing with if you try to start Barber while Julius Jones is still healthy.   Barber was a great bench call week 12.

Michael Clayton – Clayton was thrown to only 1 time last week and he didn’t even catch that one.   Clayton would have gotten you a big fat goose egg.   He was a fantastic bench call.

Kyle Orton – Orton was another good bench call week 12.   He only had 134 yards passing and 1 TD.   He did have 19 yards rushing, but those were cancelled out by his interception.   From a fantasy perspective, Orton was a bench player last week.

Dallas Clark – Clark had a huge game week 11, but we told you to bench him week 12.   We were correct.   Clark only had 19 yards receiving week 12.


Farmer's Almanac (a.k.a. not so bad/not so good)
Start:
Cincinnati Bengals D – The Bengals had a nuclear game going, but they eased up on the Ravens and let them score too many trash points.   The result was a so-so fantasy start from the Bengals.   The Bengals D is for real, and you could do worse than riding them as long as you can.

Ben Troupe – Troupe was a so-so start in point per reception leagues.   Troupe had a very solid number of receptions for a TE.   However, his yardage wasn’t enough to classify him as a good start call.   Troupe did get a ball thrown his way in the endzone, but he didn't pull it in.  To make matters worse, Kinney stole the TD that we had hoped was going to Troupe.

Bench:
Mike Alstott – Alstott only had 8 yards rushing on the ground, but he scored again.   We aren’t going to comment on Alstott anymore.   If you want to start him, you will probably get a TD and about 20 yards.


Weather Forecast (a.k.a. oops better luck next time)
Start:
Kevin Jones – 8 yards per carry is very good, but we needed KJ to play the whole game, so that everyone who started him could get a solid performance.   Jones was a bust week 12.

Matt Jones – The good news is that if anything were to happen to David Garrard, Jones could be the team’s QB.   That would certainly cause chaos in most fantasy leagues.   The bad news is that Garrad did not look to Jones like Byron Leftwich did.   As a result, Jones had a down game and should have been on your bench.

Antowain Smith – We had higher hopes than 12 carries for 45 yards.   Smith is never a great start, but we have to admit that we were expecting a decent start from the A-twain.

Byron Leftwich – David Garrad had a nice day in relief of Leftwich, but Leftwich got injured early in the game and had to leave, which crushed his fantasy potential.

Stephen Davis – Davis finally had a decent day, as far as yards per carry go, but he didn’t manage to score and his total carries were way down from his season average.   The team was definitely getting Foster plenty of looks and things could get hairy for the Davis owners out there.   Davis was a busted call week 12.

New Orleans Saints D – We recommended the Saints as a hard times option, but they didn’t do much to help the situation.   The Saints let one of the worst QBs in the game have a solid effort. Shame on the ‘Aints.

Bench:
Kurt Warner – Who’s our daddy?   Kurt Warner is our daddy.   We have put Warner on the start list this coming week, but we owe him an apology for our week 12 bench call.   We didn’t think he could pull it off against the Jaguars, but he did.   This week he plays the 49ers, so you had better get him in the lineup.

Donte Stallworth – Stallworth only managed 48 yards receiving, but he did score.   This will place him in the decent starts of the week.

Kyle Boller – Boller was having a terrible game until the Bengals eased up because they were beating the tar out of the Ravens.   On basically a meaningless 4th down play, the Ravens went for it and scored.   As a result the Ravens got a spark that they never should have had and Boller got two more TDs that he really shouldn’t have been allowed to have.   As a result, Boller was a so-so start week 12.   He did have 3 fumbles and one of those was lost to the Bengals.   He also had 2 interceptions.   Boller’s numbers looked more impressive than he was.   Don’t even think about him for a future start.