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If you needed a big fantasy performance week 14, the Docs hooked you up.   The week 14 bench / start was nearly a psychic performance.   Players like Sam Gado, Matt Hasselbeck, Tom Brady, and the Redskins D highlighted some of the best start calls.   We might have also saved a couple of fantasy teams by putting Joe Horn and Matt Jones on the bench.   FootballDocs’ Bench / Start wasn’t the only weekly feature that was on fire week 14.   The “Ask the Docs” was also on the money.

Nostradamus (a.k.a. psychic)
Start:
Sam Gado – We don’t want to too our own horn, but when you tell people to get on board the Gado train (in the Bench / Start and in “Ask the Docs”) and he breaks the Packers single game rushing record for a rookie … you are forced to do a little tooting.   Gado had 171 yards on the ground and one reception for 9 yards.   The big 64 yard TD run was a big boost to teams in big play leagues.   We sure hope that you followed our advice on this one.   Gado was the man!

Matt Hasselbeck – Hasselbeck had a game week 14 that far surpassed all of his previous games in 2005.   He threw 4 (count ‘em 4) TD passed and only threw one interception.   He had 9 yards rushing and 226 passing.   Basically it was a great day to start Hasselbeck.   We hope that you were able to do just that.

Joe Jurevicius – We picked Jurevicius to have a solid game in the wake of our Hasselbeck prediction.   Jurevicius did just that with 4 receptions for 63 yards and TD.   That isn’t a bad day of work for any NFL WR.

Clinton Portis – The Portis train has been unleashed just in time for a playoff run.   We told you to get Portis and his TD mojo in your week 14 starting lineup.   If you did you got the benefit of 105 yards rushing, 3 receptions for 16 yards, and a TD.   Starting Portis was the right call week 14.

Domanick Davis – Davis has started to make a habit of ripping it up late in the season.   We told you to ride this streaking running back.   He didn’t disappoint with 139 yards on the ground and a whopping 7 receptions for 50 yards.   Davis finished off this stellar game with a receiving TD.   Davis is a good player to have late in the season.   We expect Davis to continue to run hard thanks to Reggie Bush looming in the future.

LaMont Jordon – we recommended Jordan as a solid start when we thought that Kerry Collins was going to be the starter.   We told you that Jordan’s ceiling would be much lower if Collins was benched.   Collins was benched and Jordan had an OK day.   We are going to put this in the correct calls of the week because we laid out a plan of action for your fantasy squad.   Jordan had 4 receptions (nice to have in a point per reception league) and 79 total yards.

Tom Brady – Brady has been a very solid fantasy QB all season.   It is amazing what losing half of your defense to injury will do for your stats.   Brady had one of his best games of the season week 14.   He threw for 329 yards (great for those of you in leagues that give bonuses for breaking 300 yards).   He did throw 2 interceptions, but he also threw 2 TDs.   The icing on this great fantasy game was Brady’s rushing TD and 17 yards rushing.   Brady was a scoring machine.   For the sake of Brady owners, we hope he can keep this up.

Lee Evans – While this start wasn’t out of the world, it was a very solid effort in points per reception.   Evans didn’t score but he did enough to help some fantasy teams win.

Washington Redskins D – The Skins went off for 1 interception, 2 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, a kick return for a TD, and they only allowed 13 points.   It doesn’t get much better than that for fantasy defenses.   If you started the Redskins, you were very pleased.

Chris Brown – Brown wasn’t one of the top scorers of week 14, but he did break 100 total yards and he had 3 receptions.   That is enough to put him in the good start calls of the week.

Denver Broncos D – The Broncos were another D that made for a solid start week 14.   Denver had 4 turnovers and 1 sack.   They only allowed 10 points.   In most scoring systems, the Broncos fantasy effort was well above average week 14.   We hope that you were able to cash in on them.

Warrick Dunn – Dunn broke 100 total yards and he had 2 receptions.   We wish that the Falcons wouldn’t yank him when they get close to goal line, but that is what you are going to get until TJ Duckett gets hurt.   Dunn was a decent start week 14.

New York Giants D – We told you that the Giants defensive ends would help make sure that the Eagles’ QB was dropped for several sacks.   That is exactly what happened.   The Giants racked up 6 sacks and a fumble recovery.   We hope you were able to collect on this big play day from the Giants.

Bench:
Joe Horn – We told you that the Falcons have been shutting down opposing #1 WRs, and Joe Horn was no exception.   He had 5 receptions for 54 yards, but he also fumbled the ball.   Horn was a great bench call week 14.   He fumble was a strip and it really put his team behind the eight ball.   We hope you did start this former fantasy star.

Matt Jones – Jones was the flavor of the month back when Byron Leftwich discovered him.   However, things have changed and Jones is not getting the chances he needs with his new QB.   Jones only had 28 yards receiving week 14.   He was a great bench call week 14.

Mike Alstott – Alstott has burned us before, but we saw his week 14 matchup wit the Panthers as a down week for the TD machine.   We were right because Alstott didn’t score and he racked up only 22 yards of offense.   Alstott was a good bench call week 14.

Antwaan Randle El – Randle El only had 31 yards of total offense and only 2 recpetions.   He was a great bench call week 14.   The Bears were able to shut him down even if they couldn’t stop the Bus.

Greg Jones – Jones only had 1 reception and only 51 yards of total offense.   Jones was a great bench call week 14.   Jones had been on a hot streak, but we predicted his collapse.

Keary Colbert – 2 receptions for 20 yards is an excellent reason to leave Colbert on the bench.   We told you to put him there week 14.   If you did you were able to avoid a bad fantasy game.

J.J. Arrington – Arrington has been about as big of a disappointment as you can imagine in 2005.   This past week was another fine example of the Cardinals inability to run the ball.   Arrington only had 32 yards of total offense and a fumble.   Arrington probably didn’t give you a negative score, but he sure did try.


Farmer's Almanac (a.k.a. not so bad/not so good)
Start:
Brad Johnson – Johnson only gets a so-so start call for week 14.   he didn’t turn the ball over, but he didn’t help us out with any TDs either.   Johnson turned in a pretty pedestrian fantasy game week 14.

Steve McNair – McNair’s game was a little better than Johnson’s but he didn’t do enough as a QB to break into our good start calls of week 14.   He also didn’t turn the ball over, but Tennessee’s lack of TDs is starting to be a real downer for fantasy owners.

Bench:
Jeff Garcia – Garcia was a so-so bench call because he wouldn’t have killed your team if you started him.   We doubt that there are many teams out there that wish that they would have started Garcia, but we still rate him as a reasonable start week 14.


Weather Forecast (a.k.a. oops better luck next time)
Start:
Willis McGahee – McGahee got injured in the game.   This crushed our start call on him.   He only managed 8 yards before leaving the game.

Bench:
Willie Parker – Parker was a good start week 14.   Even though he didn’t score, he did manage over 100 yards of total offense.   Parker was a busted call week 14.