Here we are two days after Thanksgiving and there’s still a lot to be thankful for and look forward to for this holiday weekend. Let’s look at a few interesting things that occurred on Thanksgiving and some potentially big things to happen on Sunday.

Can you imagine what Chris Johnson’s stats would have looked like had Lendale White not gotten himself out of the doghouse? White had complained about the lack of work he got against the Jets during Week 12, and later apologized, saying he and head coach Jeff Fisher had worked things out. The Detroit Lions, who rank dead last in the NFL in terms of rush defense, gave up 80-plus yards and two scores to Johnson in the first quarter alone. Had he not yielded carries to White, who ended up with a pair of scores himself, it could have been a record-setting game for the rookie. I’m still thankful for Johnson’s 36 fantasy points (in PPR leagues), but shudder when thinking it could be more like 70.

Terrell Owens scored a touchdown again. In my long-standing “local” league, I drafted Owens and Randy Moss. My team has been the doormat all season; very frustrating. I came in thinking that both WRs would have stellar campaigns following their ‘07 seasons. All things considered, though, Owens is not having a terrible season. He has 52 catches, 816 yards and 8 TDs. The Cowboys do have a brutal schedule in their last month’s worth of games (@PIT, vs. NYG, vs. BAL, @PHI) but you know that TO will be up for the big game against the defending champs and in Philly. He’ll likely top double-digit scores on the season. So yeah, I’m thankful for Owens’ score and 98 yards against the incredibly disappointing Seahawks. For the record, though, I did not eat popcorn on Thanksgiving.

I’m also thankful for other sports. My fantasy football teams have been less than stellar this year. Maybe I bit off more than I could chew by adding more leagues to my portfolio. So far though, my fantasy basketball team is off to a good start (knock on wood). And I won a pretty penny in a fantasy baseball league this year.

And finally, I’m extra-thankful for my incredible family, which includes my wonderful wife. Things have been great here in Austin, Texas, and we’re looking forward to a fantastic end to 2008 and a happy and prosperous 2009. We wish the best to your families in 2009!

But hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves too much. There’s still a lot of football to be played for Week 13 and there are some more middle-of-the-road names that may put up big stats. The following players are all projected to score less than 15 fantasy points (in PPR scoring) by our esteemed David Dorey. No knock on Dorey whatsoever, but I’m going to highlight a few who I think are vastly under-rated this week and could blow up big time.

Larry Johnson (RB – KC): The Oakland Raiders are not quite the Detroit Lions when it comes to rush defense, but they’re darn near close. The Raiders give up an average of 160 rushing yards per game and have yielded 16 rushing scores on the season. The Raiders pass defense is stout, so the Chiefs will definitely try establishing the run – mainly through Johnson – early on. Johnson broke off a few big runs against the Bills last week, so Johnson definitely has spry legs and should easily top 90 rushing yards and will break the goal line at least once. But wait. Johnson had a paltry 22 yards – on 12 carries – against these same Raiders, during their Week 2 game. That poor outing obviously lit a fire under Johnson as he went off for 121 yards and a TD the next week against the Falcons, and 198 yards and a pair of scores the following week against the Broncos. Something tells me Johnson is eager to face this soft Raider defense again.

Frank Gore (RB – SFO): The Niners travel out to what could be a messy Buffalo on Sunday for a battle against the Bills. The Bills have not been stopping many opposing RBs, and Gore is coming off a weak effort against Dallas a week ago. He’ll be back in the game plan, as when he catches the ball out of the backfield, they have a better chance at winning. Figure Gore will catch at least 4 balls on Sunday and could top 90 rushing yards. If he’s able to find the end zone, it could be a 20+ point week for Gore.

Steve Smith (WR – CAR): Yes, I realize the Panthers are facing a Packer squad with terrific cover corners, but Steve Smith is a receptions machine. Smith’s quiet game against the Raiders (and Nnamdi Asmougha) may be a telling factor, but there were other considerations in that affair. The Panthers didn’t have to throw the ball against the Raiders, and QB Jake Delhomme was having a real tough game. Smith has had no less than 4 receptions in any other game, instead usually catching around 6 balls per game. In Smith’s last contest against the Packers, he caught 5 balls for 116 yards. If the Panthers, who are fighting the Bucs for NFC South supremacy, are to escape Lambeau Field with a win, they will have to get Smith into the end zone.

Marques Colston (WR – NOS): Lance Moore has been terrific for the Saints, but Colston is getting back into the flow of the offense and QB Drew Brees would be wise to target the big WR from Hofstra this Sunday. When the Saints faced the Bucs last, Colston was injured after catching 3 balls (he was on his way to a big game). Before that, he caught 8 balls, including a score, when the Saints and Bucs faced off last season. Figure Colston will top 5 grabs this time around, and with the Bucs’ Cover-2 scheming to stop Moore downfield, Colston could rack up 80 yards and could definitely score.

Greg Olsen (TE – CHI): The Vikings allow opposing TEs to rack up yards and scores, and Olsen can likely repeat his previous performance against them (6 grabs for 74 yards). With Desmond Clark’s knee injured (the team says it’s fine, but you never know), Olsen will be even more of a part of of this Bear offense that should move downfield against the Vikes in the dome.

Tyler Thigpen. My man Thiggy. Putting coins in the Thiggy bank.

I have said a few prophetic things in my life, but I hit one square on the head two weeks back in this very blog.

…if you are looking for a guy with the potential to lead your team to an improbable Championship even in a re-draft format, the kind of guy with the potential of making the Manning owner rip his hair out in week 16 exclaiming, “I can’t believe I just got my ass kicked by Tyler freaking Thigpen” I think we might have one here.

I started Thigpen over Matt Ryan in my WCOFF league championship game. The guy I played against did indeed start Peyton Manning. And I did indeed make him exclaim “I can’t believe I just got my ass kicked by Tyler freaking Thigpen.”

My decision to start Thigpen over Ryan was the deciding factor in the game. I won by 7 points. Thigpen outscored Ryan by 9.

Tyler Thigpen and the Chiefs amazing “ole’ defense” saved my season.

So I go into the 16 team tournament as the #1 seed.

I drafted Matt Schaub to be my starting quarterback. If you had told me back in September that I would lose Schaub and Kitna and be left with waiver wire pick-up Matt Ryan, who I would bench for Tyler Thigpen in the Championship game, yet I would still win the championship game I would have told you to put the pipe down.

I think this goes to show how easy it can be to play “bargain basement quarterback” at your drafts. I waited until the 9th round to draft one for this championship team, yet outside of the Brees and Warner owners, I think I probably pulled more points from that position than any other team in my league. Kitna the first few weeks. Then Schaub when he came back from injury, then on to the hot Matt Ryan, and finally to Thigpen. Quarterback by committee worked well for me so far.

The rest of my WCOFF team is healthy, but my bench is still painfully thin for my liking. I am one injured stud receiver away from serious trouble, and likely two injured players away from disaster. And at some point Chris Johnson will need to get me more than 10 points a week. I’m thinking against Detroit should do the trick this week.

But overall I like where I am at with that team.

I got knocked out of the first round of another tournament format league in week 12 as a #10 seed, so I know the end can come swiftly and painfully. I have two other teams that seemed playoff bound two weeks ago and both have tanked the last two weeks making week 13 a must win in all of my leagues.

It is crunch time now. My basic advice for your rosters over the next few weeks is don’t forget how you got here. Realize strengths and weaknesses of you opponents lineup. Don’t take chances unless you are convinced you need to throw a Hail Mary, and know you will probably have to be right.

Weird things happen over the last month of the season. The best team does not always win the big prize, but it sure is nice to be in the hunt come December, and even better to have your hard work rewarded come January. Best of luck to all of you…..unless you are playing against me.

Player notes:

Earnest Graham: I dropped Earnest Graham in my dynasty league. I figure it like this, Graham’s run a a featured back is probably over. He will likely slip down to the Kevin Faulk type level player next season. That guy that is always on the fringes of being worth rostering in deep leagues, but never quite good or consistent enough barring a bunch of injuries to guys ahead of them in the pecking order. Granted, I will have a top 2 or 3 pick in that dynasty rookie draft next season, so the hope is that I can replace Graham with fresh rookie legs. So that decision was easy for me from that perspective. I replaced Graham with JJ Arrington, who ironically is likely doomed to the same fate next season as Graham, but has the potential to be a Leon Washington, Jerious Norwood type.

Domenick Hixon: I really like this guy going forward. This is the last week of waivers in some leagues, and if that is the case in your dynasty league, I can’t stress enough the potential value of rostering this guy over the off-season. The ongoing Burress saga, the mis-deeds and injuries, just reeks of a change coming, and Hixon is the most likely to benefit from that change. The Giants probably realize by now that Burress (like Shockey before him) is a headache they need not endure to win. Rest assured other guys in your league took notice when he racked up about 3 bills of total yards against the Cardinals. In my opinion he should be top priority in dynasty waivers this week.

Anthony Gonzalez: From a dynasty perspective, owners that want Gonzalez will likely never get him any cheaper than he is right now. This is the low-water mark. If you ever want to make a play for him, this is a great time to do it.

Tyler Thigpen: Tyler Freaking Thigpen. My Man Thigpen! Don’t let Thigpen’s benching in the 4th quarter of that Bills game deter you. The kid was in a shootout knowing that he had to score every time he touched the ball. He got wild. He took enormous risks with some of his throws. Boy was just flat out winging it. Herm didn’t pull him because he was doing all that bad, he pulled him to preserve his confidence in a game that had turned meaningless. You might think that the Chiefs would bring in an experienced QB this off-season, and they may. But the Chiefs offense has definitely shown something with Thigpen at the helm, and I wouldn’t bet against Thigpen keeping the job and tossing bombs to Dwayne Bowe for the next several years.

In my job I watch football. A lot of football. Basically all of it to the extent that is humanly possible. And when it is not on, I typically have one of my office televisions on a sports news channel almost like it was my constant white noise for about eight months of the year. And in the course of watching all that football and all those sports news shows, I see a lot of commercials. Maybe I don’t watch them all that intently, but I certainly get more than my share.

When it comes to beer commercials, I have to admit that I find most of them entertaining on a variety of levels. Lot’s of them are funny. Some have small stories that somehow play out in under 30 seconds. There are the obligatory insanely hot women which merit subtle ogling. And there are a lot of shoe commercials as well which can be inspirational, occasionally funny and substitute out the hot babes for star athletes who are so ridiculously talented at their sport that they bear absolutely no similarity to me or you.`

For the most part, there are the commercials that I actually enjoy seeing and then a ton of them that I tune out and ignore. With a television constantly running, it is pretty easy to ignore most commercials since they run so repetitively that it’s little more than a constant drone.

But every so often there are commercials that just annoy me to great extents. When the commercial starts my wife immediately rolls her eyes and starts to tune me out. My dog heads for a different room. My son still sits there the same but that’s because he is 15 years old and there’s nothing I am going to say he doesn’t already know anyway.

I often wonder – do they mean to piss me off? Am I so different from the public at large that they are positively affected and only I am sent running and screaming to get away from the product? I’ll give you my big two commercials that always set me off.

1. Apple Computers. The hip, smart young guy who seems a lot like a guy everyone grew up with stands there with the pudgy fellow with an out of date hairstyle and glasses while wearing a dorky suit. I am very aware of Macs and have friends who are suspiciously enamored with theirs. I know via Hollywood that every one cool is supposed to have the obligatory apple logo on the laptop.

I know that the Apple operating system is not only kick-ass and rock solid, but that it typically leads the industry in innovation. People in graphics seem to love them. But I will never own one because I am subjected to their commercials which are predicated on making Windows look bad. They spend all their time talking about Windows and bringing it down. It Apple was so superior (and it might be) then why do they spend all their time tearing down the competition? I ended up drinking Coke instead of Pepsi for the same reason. Coke would have sappy sing-song commercials while Pepsi would do nothing but tear down Coke. The reality? They are about the same drink really. But I drink Coke instead of Pepsi and I use Windows instead of Mac no matter what some slacker on television seems to insinuate about me for using it. I’ll be honest… I look a lot more like the Windows guy anyway.

2. Pizza Hut. I can appreciate how Pizza Hut needed to address slumping profits by introducing a new offering in three kinds of pasta. I have eaten the chicken alfredo one and it was much like the pizza – tasted okay, was delivered to my door pretty fast and didn’t cost that much. Let’s be serious here – Pizza Hut has to be the largest pizza maker and this is not a Mom and Pop thing – it is a huge chain that itself is owned by PepsiCo along with KFC, Taco Bell, etc. etc.. There is a place for Pizza Hut in this world but no one would ever mistake their thin crust pizza with Lombardi’s in NYC. No one would eat one of their thick crust pizzas and think it came from Giordanos in Chicago. I know this to be true. I ate at Lombardi’s this summer and it was a near religious experience for me.

Now then, they have their commercials for the pasta. The one where some pert yuppie woman wearing a perfectly clean apron standing in what has to be a restaurant which popped up overnight with no kitchen, is somehow feeding a throng of fellow young yuppie type people what I assume is free pasta. Like this group of wanna-be Gen-Xers were between going to Starbucks and a later art show and decided to eat free “gourmet” pasta because their credit cards were all maxed out anyway.

“I love bacon” (yeah, who doesn’t you idiot? Bacon is God’s way of saying he loves us). “Mmmm, this is really good” (Yeah, good because it is free you poser). And then the woman with the clean apron hits her wine glass with a fork and announces that the pasta was really from….. drum roll… PIZZA HUT!!!

“Whaaaat?!?!” smirks some chuckling woman. This is where I lose it.

YOU FREAKING IDIOTS!!!! YOU ARE EATING PASTA THAT WAS MADE BY THE BIGGEST CORPORATION IN THE WORLD AND YOU THOUGHT IT WAS GOURMET????? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? DID YOU ALL PIERCE YOUR BODIES SO WE COULD STRING YOU ALL TOGETHER AND YANK YOU TO STUPIDVILLE?

Oh my god! Can you insult my intelligence any more? Gosh, there’s nothing that motivates the consumer in me more than being played for a fool by offering mass produced pasta under the guise that it is gourmet. Thanks for the insult! Hyuck-hyuck!

She’d be wearing that pasta on her clean pretentious apron if I was there. I am insulted to be part of a species that according to Pizza Hut delights in being an idiot. The great dumbing down of America is now complete because Pizza Hut can fool a group of hip and cool dolts into believing that any mass-produced swill delivered in aluminum foil can be slopped onto a plate with a cloth napkin and served by some clean apron big city Yupette and it is – ‘voila!’ – gourmet. Here – let me charge it with… not that one… not that one… this credit card! I’d like to try a glass of the house wine by Welch’s too please.

AAAAAARRGGG….

Deep breath… dog comes back…. Wife notices me again… and…

SAVED BY ZERO! SAVED BY ZERO! SAVED BY ZERO!

NFL officials have a very hard job. The game is so big, and so fast, it is amazing sometimes just how good officials in the NFL are. I have seen many plays that during live action looked one way, the official called it the other way, and replay proves him right. I give NFL refs a lot of grief from time to time. But for the most part I really think they do a pretty good job given the difficulty of their position.

NFL replay officials on the other hand, have a very easy job. The replays are so clear and so slow. With so many camera angles. All you have to do is find indisputable evidence to overturn a call. Or not.

Indisputable video evidence. It seems simple. The video evidence must be indisputable. No questions. No judgement calls. Either you see it or you don’t.

There was no indisputable evidence for the play at the end of the Steelers game.

While degenerates across the land jumped for joy after the Steelers improbable cover on the last play of the game, the happy dance was short lived. Because a replay official with an easy job, and clear and concise instructions on how to do that job, went outside the realm of his authority. He made a judgement call. Why?

Since the outcome of that replay review had no affect on the winner of the game, why would a replay official feel compelled to reverse the call on the field? The only consequence of his decision was that of fantasy teams and gambling degenerates across the land. None of us could see indisputable evidence. Did we? It is being disputed all over the sports networks the day after. Evidently the replay official saw something indisputable the rest of us idiots can’t see.

The first thing that comes to my mind when something like that happens is that somebody had a “brother in law” with his 401k riding on the Chargers. Or maybe this is one of those “rogue” guys the NBA was infested with. It has to cross your mind. Especially if you were one of the majority holding a Steelers -5 ticket.

According to ESPN approximately 64 mil exchanged hands as a result of that replay official making up the rules as he went along.

I don’t believe the NFL is rigged. I don’t want to believe any aspect of the NFL is rigged. I don’t want to believe that officials make subtle calls during the course of the game to affect it’s outcome, or a gavel slamming replay that shifts 64 million dollars in cache on a “meaningless” call.

Lots of power in that replay booth. Where was the commissioner? Did they not set up direct lines to get these calls right yet? The NHL does. The FREAKING NHL gets it right!!! Somebody could have snuffed out this controversy at its core without affecting the winner of the game, but here we are. Why? What was gained from over-turning that call? Other than a bunch of happy Vegas sportsbooks.

The Steelers were penalized a league high 115 yards. The visiting Chargers were penalized a league low 5 yards. If this case went to trial there would be a conviction based on circumstantial evidence alone.

The NFL better damn well know that incidents like this can chip away at the integrity they have fought hard to achieve, and give conspiracy theorist fuel for their fire. The fact that the NFL admitted the day after that they got it wrong is of little comfort to those who lost out on a decision that appears to those affected to be anything but arbitrary.

Though the NFL goes to great lengths to keep an arm’s distance from that dirty little word “gambling”, the fact is that the modern NFL has gambling as its bedrock and fantasy football as a foundation. The popularity of this sport is BUILT on gambling in one form or another.

You might want to tighten it up a bit there NFL. When people start to think the game is tilted too far out of their favor they lose interest. That replay official should be fired. He is either an indisputable idiot or an indisputable criminal. But knowing the NFL, he will indisputably be working the Superbowl. Along with Hochuli. That ought to be a giant pile of indisputable fun.

Here is a quarterback, running back and wide receiver that are projected to just scratch the surface of fantasy relevance this week that have a small possibility of outperforming the pundits’ picks.

Marc Bulger (QB – STL): A few things going for Mr. Bulger tomorrow: one, he’s playing a Niner team that’s giving up 230 passing yards per game, which is a little worse than the NFL average. They’ve yielded 14 passing scores; also a number that’s worse than the norm. Kurt Warner toasted this Niner secondary for 328 yards and 3 scores last week. Next, Bulger’s literally fighting for his starting role. There were talks of bringing the ancient Trent Green in as the starter, but fortunately for Bulger, Green tweaked his elbow and will just be the backup for now. Lastly, Bulger has 10 TDs in 9 career starts against the Niners. Chances are he’ll throw for 230ish yards (which is right about his average against the Niners) and a score. If you’re hurting at the QB spot and need a deep sleeper, Bulger tops the list this week.

Joseph Addai (RB – IND): Conventional wisdom makes one agree with the pundits’ picking of Addai’s meager Week 11 stats. But bucking the pundits’ picks is what we’re doing here, so let’s take a stab at the struggling Colt RB. The Texans yield 130 rushing yards per game and have given up 14 TDs. Dominic Rhodes will likely get a good number of carries, but even in a shared situation, both Addai and Rhodes could certainly each post modest rushing totals. Figure one of these two RBs will get a rushing score. So, it’s a coin flip between 60-70 yards and a score (12 fantasy points in “standard” scoring). As a low-end RB2 or flex back, I’ll take that any day. Like Bulger, Addai is fighting to keep his status (he’ll likely not lose his starting role, but more so-so games could mean less carries).

Greg Camarillo (WR – MIA): Super-stud cover corner Nnamdi Asomugha will likely shadow the speedy Ted Ginn, leaving the crafty Camarillo to be covered by Chris Johnson, who can be burned rather easily. Camarillo’s had a few solid games this season, and even with the Fins likely to run all day on the struggling Raiders, it should be expected that Camarillo’s number will be called when a key first down is needed. And if Chad Pennington’s gonna connect with anyone for a passing score, chances are it will be to Camarillo.