My Dallas Clark Blog

The end of the football season has arrived, and with it, one final chance to bask in the glory of a fantasy football championship. To help you navigate your team to the title, here is a look at the players involved.

Player 1

- Drew Brees: Brees has thrown six touchdowns without an interception in the postseason, and has averaged 222 passing yards per game. He faces a Colts defense that was 14th in the league against the pass, and 10th in passing scores allowed.

- Peyton Manning: Manning has been his usual highly impressive self in the playoffs, throwing for an average of 311.5 yards per game, with five touchdowns and one interception, numbers that are even more remarkable when you consider the fact that he faced the Jets and Ravens, who were first and seventh, respectively, in the league in pass defense this season. During the regular season, New Orleans was just 26th in the NFL in pass defense, though it should be noted they were third in the league in interceptions.

Player 2

- Joseph Addai: Addai hasn't been a big part of the Colts' offense during the team's playoff run, but that's mostly because he hasn't needed to be. He's rushed for only 107 yards on 27 carries in two games, and caught just four passes for 27 yards and hasn't scored a touchdown. The Saints were just 19th in the league against the run in the regular season, and allowed more touchdowns on the ground than all but three other squads.

- Pierre Thomas: Thomas has run the ball 27 times in New Orleans' two postseason victories, and racked up 113 yards and one touchdown. He's also caught six passes for 56 yards and one score, and though the Colts were 24th in run defense in the regular season, they also allowed fewer rushing scores than all but six other teams.

Player 3

- Marques Colston: Colston was New Orleans' leading receiver in the regular season, and he is tied with Devery Henderson for the team lead in receptions in the playoffs with eight. His 105 receiving yards are just under Henderson's total for the postseason, however, and his one touchdown also trails Henderson's two.

- Reggie Wayne: Wayne was magnificent most of the regular season, but he tailed off in the latter part of the year, and that has carried over to the postseason. Wayne's 11 catches and one touchdown are tied for second on the team, but his 118 receiving yards are third.

Player 4

- Reggie Bush: Bush has scored twice in the playoffs, once on a dazzling run against the Vikings, and one on a reception. For the postseason, he's run the ball 12 times for 92 yards, and caught six passes for 57 yards.

- Dallas Clark: Clark has 11 receptions in the postseason after snaring 100 in the regular season, and though he was second on the team with over 1,100 receiving yards during the regular season, his 94 so far in the playoffs is fourth on the team. He does have one touchdown catch, however.

Player 5

- Austin Collie: Collie leads the Colts with two touchdown grabs in the playoffs, and is second on the team in both catches with 11, and receiving yards, with 175. And despite the great play of Pierre Garcon during the playoffs, don't forget that Collie was third on the Colts in both receptions and touchdown catches in the regular season.

- Pierre Garcon: Garcon is having a fabulous postseason, leading Indianapolis in receptions, with 16, and receiving yards, with 185, while also scoring a touchdown. He may be having the best postseason of any individual player on either squad.

- Robert Meachem: Meachem has done little to establish himself in either of New Orleans' two playoff games, and has only two catches for 19 yards in the postseason. However, his nine touchdown catches in the regular season were good enough to tie him for the team lead with Marques Colston, and he's clearly a boom-or-bust player for this particular fantasy football contest.

Player 6

- Devery Henderson: Henderson has been the most productive Saints receiver so far in the playoffs, and is tied with Marques Colston for the team lead in receptions with eight. However, he leads New Orleans in receiving yards with 119, and touchdown catches, with two.

- Jeremy Shockey: Shockey is battling an injury - as usual - though he has been productive in the playoffs, catching four passes for 45 yards, and one touchdown reception. He will suit up for this game, but his health will likely have a big impact on how productive he will be.

- David Thomas: Thomas had taken advantage of his opportunity to play when Jeremy Shockey was injured in the regular season, and he has a chance to do that again in the Super Bowl. Thomas has caught three passes for 32 yards in New Orleans' two postseason contests, but if Shockey is not able to go all-out, Thomas could be in line for a good day.

Player 7

- Dwight Freeney: Freeney has torn ligaments in his ankle, and he's officially listed as questionable for the game. However, most believe he will attempt to play, though not nearly as much as usual, and maybe only on obvious passing downs.

- Robert Mathis: Mathis has not registered a sack in the postseason, but he was second on the Colts in the regular season with 9.5, and he also led the team with five forced fumbles to go with 37 tackles. However, keep in mind that if Freeney is limited, as expected, New Orleans may concentrate more on stopping Mathis with chip blocks and occasional double teams.

- Will Smith: Smith's 13.0 sacks during the regular season led all Saints players, and he also forced three fumbles and intercepted a pass to go with 49 tackles. He hasn't registered a sack so far in the playoffs, but he does have a forced fumble and interception, along with seven tackles.

Player 8

- Gary Brackett: In the regular season, Brackett was second in tackles for the Colts with 99 stops. He also had one sack and one interception during the year. He leads all Colts defenders in the postseason with 13 tackles, and also has the team's only sack.

- Clint Session: Session was Indianapolis' leading tackler in the regular season, taking down ball carries 103 times. He was productive in other areas as well, picking off two passes, and scoring one of the Colts' two defensive touchdowns. In the playoffs, he is fourth on the team in tackles with 11, but has not done anything else noteworthy.

- Jonathan Vilma: Vilma's 110 tackles in the regular season was tops among Saints players, but he did more than just hit people. The Pro Bowler also intercepted three passes and amassed two sacks. He has amassed just six tackles in the postseason, but he also has a forced fumble and interception.

Player 9

- Antoine Bethea: Bethea was all over the field in the regular season. He was third on the Colts with 95 tackles, but led them with four interceptions and also forced two fumbles. In the Colts' two playoff games, he's made just eight tackles, but also has one of the three interceptions Indy has managed.

- Roman Harper: Harper was second on the Saints in tackles during the regular season with 102, but led them with 10 tackles for loss. He also forced two fumbles and managed 1.5 sacks, though he didn't intercept any passes. So far this postseason, Harper has nine tackles and one forced fumble.

- Darren Sharper: Sharper's 70 tackles in the regular season placed him third on New Orleans' squad, but his contributions to the team's defense went far beyond that. He picked off nine passes, and more remarkably, scored three defensive touchdowns, which was one more than the entire Colts team had. He has 13 tackles so far in the playoffs, which is tied for second on the Saints, but hasn't gathered an interception.

Player 10

- Jabari Greer: Greer made 44 tackles in the regular season, and amassed the second-highest total of passes defended with 13. He also picked off two passes, and scored one defensive touchdown. So far in the playoffs, Greer has made 10 tackles and leads the team with three passes defended.

- Jacob Lacey: Lacey was fourth on Indianapolis' team with 85 tackles during the regular season, which is impressive considering he's a cornerback. He also led the team with 13 passes defended, and was second with three interceptions and scored one of their two defensive touchdowns. Lacey's 11 postseason tackles are tied for fourth on the Colts, and 10 of them have been solo stops, which is tied for second-most.

- Tracy Porter: Porter made 57 tackles in the regular season, but was around the ball a lot, forcing two fumbles, and snatching four interceptions, which was second on the team. He also scored a defensive touchdown. Porter also made the interception of Brett Favre in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game, and is tied for second on the team with 13 tackles, not to mention one forced fumble.

Kicker

- Garrett Hartley: Hartley has only hit two field goals in the postseason, but both were between 40-49 yards, including the game-winning 40-yarder in overtime of the NFC Championship game. He's also hit all 10 of his extra-point tries.

- Matt Stover: Stover has nailed each of the five field goals he's attempted this postseason, and they've come from varying distances. His boots have come from 19, 21, 25, 33 and 44 yards. Stover has also connected on each of his five extra-point attempts.

Teams

- Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints: Picking the winner will net you 20 points in the contest, so go with your instincts. If it's any help, the Colts are favored by a decent margin, between five and six points depending on where you look. But, if you're playing a Super Bowl fantasy football contest, you undoubtedly already knew that, didn't you?

If you're a true degenerate who can't wait until the Super Bowl kicks off, one of the best ways to pass time, and maybe make a few extra bucks at the same time, is to check out the available quarterback prop bets. Both quarterbacks in this game are very interesting, though not at all for the same reason. If you have any theory at all about how the game is going to go then you almost certainly have put a good deal of thought into the role that the quarterbacks will play into your imagined outcome. It only makes sense, then, that you would extend your handicapping a bit to have some fun and tackle the props. Here's a look at some factors to consider when you are pondering some of the props:

Peyton Manning Passing Yards (over/under 273.5) - If Manning is in form then this number is obviously no challenge for him. Manning threw for at least 274 yards nine times in the 16 regular season games, but he eclipsed that number just once in the three playoff games. He went over in style against the Patriots in his most recent game, though. That means he went over 10 times and under nine times - not surprisingly, the number is well picked.

The Bears are perceived to have a solid defense, but ten teams, including the Colts, actually allowed fewer passing yards per game than Chicago. Indianapolis played five games against those teams, and Manning only went over 273.5 yards once. On the other hand, the Pats and the Bears had similar passing numbers and Manning shredded New England. Drew Brees, another pretty good passer, also shredded the Chicago secondary for a ton of yards last time out.

The final interesting consideration here is in the match-ups. Neither Marvin Harrison nor Reggie Wayne have had particularly good playoff runs. Manning's go-to guy in the post season has been tight end Dallas Clark. He has had two exceptional playoff games, and an unimpressive showing against Baltimore. The Ravens had the depth and talent at linebacker to contain the tight end threat. Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher are just as talented as the Ravens' backers, so Clark could be in for a long day. That could hurt Manning's totals.

Peyton Manning Rushing Attempts (over/under 1.5) - Manning ran either once or no times in 10 of 16 regular season games. That would mean that under, at +120, could present a little value. The margin for error is so slim, though, that it probably isn't worth it. It also doesn't seem to be a great deal to choose the over when it is at -160 - we're not exactly talking about Michael Vick.

Peyton Manning - Times Sacked (over/under 1.5) - The Bears don't have the best pass rush in the league, but they can pressure the passer when they want to. It doesn't take a genius to recognize that Manning can be flustered if you can consistently get to him. That's what worked for the Patriots in the first half, and what worked so well for Pittsburgh last year. You'd have to think, then, that Chicago will be sending the cavalry after Manning.

The odd thing, though, is that despite the fact that anyone with eyes can see that the pass rush is effective against Manning, and despite Manning's almost comical lack of mobility, he doesn't get sacked that much. He was brought down twice or more just six times in 19 games this year. One of those six games was last time out, but three of them came in the first four games of the year. That means that the Indianapolis offensive line is playing better for the most part. That could make the under (-120) reasonably attractive. Unless, that is, the Bears have spent a lot of time watching Patriots film tape. No team besides New England was able to sack Manning more than twice. The Pats took him down three times on two separate occasions.

Rex Grossman Passing Yards (over/under 215.5) - On first glance the under would seem like a fairly easy pick. If you believe the hype about how bad Grossman is, that is. Grossman went over this total seven times during the season, though just once after week nine. His percentage has improved slightly in the post season - he has gone over once in two playoff games.

There's a factor lost in all the talk about the Indianapolis defense all year. The Indy run defense was almost incomprehensibly bad during the regular season, but their passing defense was equally good. In fact, they had the second best pass defense in the whole league. If the secondary can play their own game against the pass then Grossman will struggle to come anywhere near this number. This will be especially true if the Bears, unlike the Patriots last week, choose to stick with the run longer before giving up on it, and if they can find some gaps in the suddenly stout Indy run defense. If that's the case then Grossman likely won't bother testing the pass too much and he'll stay under.

Rex Grossman Completion Percentage - I don't want to sound like I am defending Grossman here, but you can't accuse him of being inaccurate. Over the course of the season he completed almost 55 percent of his passes, and that is despite having a couple of games, like the infamous zero QB rating game against Green Bay, which have been well below that. In fact, in seven of his 18 games he has had a completion percentage of between 50.6 and 60.5. You can get +200 to bet that his Super Bowl percentage will fall within that range, so that would be a profitable bet over the long term given his current rate. He had four more games that had percentages higher than 60.5, so betting on him to have a particularly bad day, though it could happen, probably doesn't present much value.

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