FANTASY FOOTBALL WEEKLY FEATURES

SF (1-11) vs ARI (4-8)

Game Prediction: SF 3, ARI 20

Amazingly, this is a rematch of THE 49ers win this season, 31-28 back in week 5 when San Francisco was still bad but still a little lucky. Since then both teams have lost some players but the Cardinals got Boldin back.

Update: Barlow has been declared out due to a concussion and Hicks will be the starter.

Emmitt Smith was upgraded from doubtful to questionable but it still does not appear that he will be able to play.

Pre-Game Notes - SF

The 49ers have gone beyond "bad, they just passed up "laughingstock" and now are in danger of being annexed into a nearby youth sports and cheer organization where the focus is on just having fun, not competition. And McDonald's after every game!

Running Backs: The 49ers returned to a Kevan Barlow heavy attack last week against the Rams and were rewarded with 48 yards on 19 carries. Maurice Hicks only had three runs for 16 yards. Back in week five when he faced the Rams, Barlow had 34 yards on 14 carries. The coaching staff remains certain that Barlow is the starter and Hicks is the relief, but it could end up like week 12 when Hicks relief was for half the game.

Barlow had a concussion last week but still stayed in the game. He probably got it from the locker room wall when he was thinking about his big season as a starter.

Wide Receivers: Brandon Lloyd led all receivers last week with 64 yards because one of his two catches went for 51 yards. It was his best game in over a month. Back when Dorsey was the starter, no wideout ever scored nor gained more than 63 yards in any game. If you have any 49er receivers on your roster, you must be in a dynasty league that spawns great optimism or your waiver window is closed for the year.

Tight Ends: The best game that Eric Johnson ever had was in week five against the Cardinals when he had 13 catches for 162 yards and one score. He has never scored since that game and never had more than 57 yards since.

Match Against the Defense: Forget the week five game. Ken Dorsey was bad in previous starts and on the road to face a Cardinal team that wants revenge is not where he will begin to show improvement. The 49ers are losing all sense of purpose and are just content to ride out the season and see who is still in the NFL next year.

Pre-Game Notes - ARI

The Cardinals have dropped their last three games since starting to play around with the quarterback slot and now that Navarre has fractured his finger, the wheel-o-quarterbacks points back to McCown.

Running Backs: What the offense does not have this time is a running back. Emmitt Smith will likely miss this week as well with a sprained toe on his left foot and will be replaced by Larry Croom who could only gain 49 yards on 18 carries last week. Croom was unable to show enough speed or power to warrant fantasy consideration but against a poor defense like the 49ers he will have his best chance at resembling an NFL-quality running back.

Wide Receivers: This time the Cardinals will feature Anquan Boldin who still has not scored this season. Back in week five, Larry Fitzgerald had his best game in the NFL when he caught five passes for 94 yards and one score. They'll be facing one of the worst secondaries in the NFL and have already been successful without Boldin, so the outlook is bright this week.

Tight Ends: Freddie Jones only has two scores on the season but one was against the 49ers.

Match Against the Defense: Unfortunately, Larry Croom has not shown much so it's unlikely he will have a big game here even though the 49ers are poor against the run. This is a chance for the Cardinals to gain some revenge for the comeback win by the 49ers in week five. Since that won't come via the run, it will happen more by the pass.

McCown already had a three touchdown game last time and the 49ers are certainly worse than they were seven weeks ago. Expect that McCown throws at least for two scores and he could get the three almost as easily. The Cardinal defense should be giving the short field to the offense, so yardage may not be huge this week.