SI.com Experts League: Week 15 recap

By James Quintong, SI.com

It's now down to the final two: Richard Harris, the leading scorer in the regular season, and Joe Levit, who started the season on an eight-game winning streak. However, the path each took to the championship game was completely different.

Let's see how each prevailed in the semifinals:

Richard Harris 84, James Quintong 80: Sometimes a better all-around effort can neutralize a couple of huge performances. That's what happened here. Harris was led by 21 from Tony Gonzalez, plus three 12-point games from Matt Hasselbeck, Peter Warrick and Jamal Lewis. A nine from Jeff Wilkins and an eight from Fred Taylor also gave Harris a nice base.

On the other hand, I had 31 from Priest Holmes and 22 from Curtis Martin. Unfortunately, I stuck with Chad Pennington, who got snowed in with five points, instead of either Donovan McNabb (16) or Drew Brees (23), whose points would've been enough to make the finals. Outside of my running backs, only Mike Vanderjagt (8) had more than five points. My receivers -- Marty Booker (4), Santana Moss (4) and Laveranues Coles (0) -- got eight points total, the same as the wildly inconsistent Chris Chambers on the bench.

Still, I had an eight-point lead after the early Sunday games. I had Laveranues Coles going, while Harris had Jamal Lewis and Marcus Robinson. Lewis did exactly what was expected of him against the Raiders, but his lack of touchdowns kept me in it, especially since Robinson was shut out. Unfortunately, Coles couldn't muster a single catch against the Cowboys as Tim Hasselbeck achieved the same passer rating as his wife Elisabeth -- 0.0. That, and starting Pennington in the snow, have me wondering "What if?" heading into my third-place game this week.

Joe Levit 109, Bob Harris 65: Any thoughts of a Harris-Harris Super Bowl were dashed pretty quickly as Levit put up a monster performance despite leaving Jeff Garcia's 30 points on the bench. While he got just 10 points combined from his tight end, kicker and defense (the Ravens surprisingly got nothing), his core players all broke double digits, led by 23 from Marvin Harrison, plus a pair of 18s from his running backs Shaun Alexander and Troy Hambrick and a pair of 15s from Chad Johnson and Darrell Jackson. It was the solid all-around effort one might expect from a team competing for a fantasy title.

Harris had been relying all year long on his triple threat of Torry Holt (16), Deuce McAllister (14) and Daunte Culpepper (12), and while they had reasonably good numbers, he got little help elsewhere. No other player broke double digits, including the up-and-down Eddie Kennison (5), the amazingly disappointing Koren Robinson (4), plus lesser lights like Desmond Clark (3) and Jeff Reed (0). Even the productive Patriots defense got just five. And any hopes of a miraculous comeback Monday night were dashed as Correll Buckhalter scored just one touchdown.

Championship game preview

Levit beat Harris 107-94 in Week 5, and another high-scoring game could be in the works this time around, as both have plenty of good matchups.

Harris gets to start Lewis this week as he plays a Browns team that allowed him to set the single-game rushing record earlier this season. He may also get better numbers from Matt Hasselbeck against the Cardinals and Hines Ward against the Chargers.

Levit should clean up with Alexander and Jackson against the Cardinals, which also neutralizes some of the numbers Hasselbeck could put up. It wouldn't be surprising if Hambrick goes off against a Giants team that seems to have given up, and if Jeremy Shockey decides to come back, Levit could have a real edge. Plus, we know what Harrison can do. But one big question will be whether Levit decides to start Jeff Garcia against the Eagles or stick with Anthony Wright.

The key battle between the two could come in the Bengals-Rams showdown. Levit has the red-hot Chad Johnson, but Harris has Peter Warrick, who has been playing better in recent weeks and occasionally can outscore Johnson.

Check back next week for the triumphant conclusion of the inaugural SI.com Fantasy Football Experts League.

James Quintong is Fantasy Sports Producer at SI.com.