Blind Midget Patrol Braces For Showdown

On Sunday I'll be playing for the championship of my 12-team ESPN league, with the hopes of salvaging a frustrating, disappointing and controversial fantasy football year. I'll be chasing my sixth fantasy football title over the past five years or so, so it would be a nice one to take down.

That being said, my opponent has a pretty loaded team, as well as a pretty disturbing and gay-ish team name of My Johnson Goes Deep. Even if your last name happened to actually be Johnson, it would still be creepy and sophomoric. With an unrelated name (which is the case here), well … let's just say this sounds like someone who has an unsurpassed knowledge of Megan's Law.

With Manning, Portis, Boldin, Ronnie Brown, etc., I have to respect the depth and talent of his squad. As a result, I have to be right on time with my roster decisions this week, and after adding Matt Cassel (really? He was available?) in a shrewd move recently, I have the happy problem of choosing between:

Matt Cassel at home vs. Arizona

OR

Matt Schaub against Oakland on the road

I should say that I've hitched my wagon to Schaub over the past two weeks and he's come up with one tremendous performance and another that was more than respectable. Also, with arguably the league's best wideout, Andre Johnson, on both my team and his, I've been able to double up on points generated from their connection.


However, Oakland's problem this year has certainly not been on defense. They're actually pretty underrated and stout on that side of the ball, so even tho the Raiders don't have anything to play for and the Texans are fighting to cling to tiny playoff hopes, I could still see the air attack struggling somewhat on Sunday. In that scenario, I'm leery of having two players (Schaub and AJohnson) suffering from the possibility of a poor offensive showing.

Cassel has been lights-out as well, and Patsies-Cardinals would figger to be a shootout, considering New England is in the playoff hunt as well and Arizona was embarrassed last week by Minnesota. Also, Cassel is a pretty accomplished runner, providing the possibility that he could score on the ground as well; meanwhile, Schaub is injury-prone and one hit away from yielding to Sage Rosenfels.

To a lesser extent, I'm also pondering:

Chicago defense/special teams vs. Green Bay

OR

Houston defense/special teams at Oakland

The Texans D/ST was another pickup for me this week, and I'm certainly leaning that way. On the other hand, the Bears were destroyed at Lambeau earlier this year, and I'm sure they'd love nothing more than to pound the Packers into submission in what is sure to be a cold and possibly snowy Monday night game. Chicago is also always a threat to score in the return game or on defense, even tho I counteract that somewhat with Devin Hester, who always seems to shine in primetime games.

With a little cabbage on the line and some interesting choices to debate, I'm more than happy to hear any thoughts, tidbits, opinions or even jokes. Have at it, and …

GO BLIND MIDGET PATROL!