Top Five Reasons New York Giants Should Be Thankful for Week 12

After consecutive losses to the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Giants entered Week 12 in dire need of a victory to end their recent slide and keep pace in the NFC playoff picture.

So with the Jacksonville Jaguars paying a visit to the new Meadowlands Stadium, and games against the Washington Redskins (2), the Minnesota Vikings, the Eagles and the Green Bay Packers remaining on their schedule, it goes without saying the Giants’ margin for error decreases significantly with each passing week.

That said, as Week 12 action draws to a close, the G-Men should be extremely thankful for several results that placed them in prime position to control their playoff destiny.

5. Minnesota Vikings – 17, Washington Redskins – 13

Prior to their home tilt with Minnesota, the Redskins stood only one game behind the Giants in the NFC East and the race for the last NFC wild-card spot.

However, despite Leslie Frazier making his debut on the head coaching circuit and Adrian Peterson, the NFC’s leading rusher, sidelined since the second quarter with an ankle injury, Minnesota handed the Redskins a crushing defeat at FedEx Field.

The loss opened the door for the Giants to double their lead over Washington with only five games left to play in the regular season.

4. Baltimore Ravens – 17, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 10

With an enthusiastic, young second-year head coach and a 22-year-old quarterback who’s taken giant leaps in his maturation process this season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have gone from preseason outcasts to viable playoff contenders.

And with a dominating 21-0 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 11, Tampa Bay moved one game ahead of the Giants for the final wild-card spot in the NFC.

But a tough road loss to the Baltimore Ravens, one of the top teams in the AFC, left the Buccaneers on the outside looking in coming down the home stretch and in a chase with the Green Bay Packers to catch the New York Giants for the aforementioned wild-card spot.

3. Atlanta Falcons – 20, Green Bay Packers – 17

Unlike Tampa Bay, several NFL analysts tabbed the Packers to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XLV.

Nevertheless, following Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the Packers, who have made due in spite of season-ending injuries to running back Ryan Grant and tight end Jermichael Finley, wouldn’t even make the playoffs if the season ended today.

In fact, as it currently stands, Green Bay has to leap-frog the Buccaneers and the Giants to qualify for the postseason. So their game against New York at Lambeau Field the day after Christmas looms extremely large.

2. Chicago Bears – 31, Philadelphia Eagles – 26

Although the Chicago Bears have their fair share of doubters, all they do is keep on winning to maintain their lead over Green Bay in the NFC Central.

Their fourth consecutive victory, and their most convincing one of the season, came at the expense of Michael Vick and the red-hot Philadelphia Eagles at Soldier Field.

So although the Eagles remain perched atop the NFC East by virtue of their win over New York in Week 11, they have a quick turn-around this week as they face the Houston Texans Thursday evening before hitting the road to take on the Dallas Cowboys and the Giants in Week 14 and Week 15 respectively.

In addition, what the Eagles’ loss did is give the Giants an edge over Philadelphia in a conference tie-breaker scenario if that were ever to come into play as far as postseason positioning is concerned.

1. New York Giants – 24, Jacksonville Jaguars – 20

If the Giants can consistently play turnover-free football and combine it with a swarming defense that pounds opposing quarterbacks into submission, like they did in the second half of their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, they should win their five remaining games to qualify for the postseason.

And for New York, controlling their own destiny is exactly the position they want to be in at this stage of the season.

Therefore, the G-Men can look to Week 12 as a time when the football bounced in their favor in Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago and, most importantly, in the friendly confines of the new Meadowlands Stadium.

Now it’s all on their shoulders to capitalize on this good fortune.

Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which includes relevant links and highlights from Week 12 action in the NFL.

Fantasy Drafthelp: NFL Week 12

Here’s a few standard preface notes:

^ Notwithstanding the claims of any website to be your “home for Sunday morning injury report news,” nothing beats Google News – nothing. Entering a player name into this search engine trumps any other means of gathering information because it culls the data from an unbelievably wide variety of sources.

^ Especially earlier in the season, it’s always good to refer to a strong baseline of where players should have been drafted – and nothing beats FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2010.

^ Unless there are any injury questions, we never discuss “gimme” players. Such core players should be started week in and week out unless there is any question surrounding their playing status. Winning teams only need to worry about “playing the matchups” with one, two or (at the most, during bye weeks) three spots in the lineup. With a full slate of games, and players drafted in a certain order for a multiplicity of reasons, we especially don’t advocate much juggling for the first two weeks of the season. Some websites promise you a crystal ball for how to manage high-risk, high-reward juggling during the season. We don’t. We play the percentages. That approach may be boring, but it’s highly effective and much more intellectually honest in what we promise you.

^ By the way, here are your core players who should not be benched if healthy or available (players listed in their order on our draft board):

QB: Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Matt Schaub, Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, Brett Favre, Tom Brady, Tony Romo

RB: Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice, Maurice Jones-Drew, Frank Gore, Steven Jackson, Michael Turner, DeAngelo Williams, Rashard Mendenhall, Ryan Mathews, Jamaal Charles, Knowshon Moreno, Shonn Greene, Matt Forte, Beanie Wells, Cedric Benson, Jonathan Stewart, LeSean McCoy, Ronnie Brown

WR: Andre Johnson, Randy Moss, Reggie Wayne, Roddy White, Miles Austin, Greg Jennings, DeSean Jackson, Larry Fitzgerald, Brandon Marshall, Anquan Boldin, Marques Colston, Steve Smith (Carolina), Chad Ochocinco, Calvin Johnson, Steve Smith (NY Giants), Dwayne Bowe, Michael Crabtree, Donald Driver, Vincent Jackson

TE:, Antonio Gates, Vernon Davis, Brent Celek, Jason Witten, Tony Gonzalez, Jermichael Finley

^ Here are the players who have been added to the list this season:

QB: none

RB: Arian Foster, LaDainian Tomlinson, Peyton Hillis

WR: Wes Welker, Terrell Owens, Hakeem Nicks

TE: none

^ Here are the players who have been removed from that list this season:

QB: none

RB: Ryan Grant

WR: Pierre Garcon, Mike Wallace

TE: Dallas Clark

^ Links for each game take you to the NFL.com home page for each game, with stats and analysis.

^ All times listed are EDT.

^ Teams listed as “All-In” have a combination of all of the above players and any marginal players reaching a status where QB/RB1/RB2/WR1/WR2/TE all should be played. Teams listed as “All-Out” should have only the above “locks” for their team in a fantasy lineup, with all marginal players being benched.

^ All advice is relative, because there are exceptions to every rule. There are no marginal players who absolutely should be played or benched, but the ones we refer to here should be in the vast majority of circumstances.

^ Of the non-gimme players we like this week, the stronger plays are the ones in all caps.

Week 12

Sun. Nov. 28

Titans at Texans, 1:00 PM All-out on marginal Titans, WR Walter

Buccaneers at Ravens, 1:00 PM WR M Williams, QB Flacco

Jaguars at Giants, 1:00 PM QB Garrard, TE Lewis, QB E Manning

Panthers at Browns, 1:00 PM RB Goodson, all-out on marginal Browns

Steelers at Bills, 1:00 PM All-in on marginal Bills, QB Fitzpatrick, WR S Johnson, WR Evans

Eagles at Bears, 1:00 PM QB Vick, WR Maclin, QB Cutler, WR Knox

Vikings at Redskins, 1:00 PM TE Shiancoe, QB McNabb, WR S Moss

Packers at Falcons, 1:00 PM All-out on marginal Packers, QB Ryan

Chiefs at Seahawks, 4:05 PM QB CASSEL, RB T Jones, QB HASSELBECK

Dolphins at Raiders, 4:05 PM RB R Williams, RB McFadden

Rams at Broncos, 4:15 PM QB Bradford, QB ORTON, WR Lloyd

Chargers at Colts, 8:20 PM RB Tolbert, WR B White

Mon. Nov. 29

49ers at Cardinals, 8:30 PM QB T Smith, WR Breaston