Fantasy File

Continue your fantasy fix in the playoffs

Marshall Faulk should put up big numbers in the playoffs, even if it is for just one game. AP

By James Quintong, CNNSI.com

Many fantasy leagues ended last week and the rest of the leagues will do so this week as the regular season comes to a close. But that doesn't have to mean your fantasy football fun is done for the season. You can still feed your craving for fantasy football throughout the playoffs.

While CNNSI.com won't be offering a playoff fantasy football game this year, it's very easy to set up a league with friends, and possibly get some vindication after a bad regular season.

The setup for the league is a lot like your standard fantasy league. Get about 10-12 players, do a serpentine draft (you could even base order on reverse order of finish from the regular season), keep a standard set of positions (1 QB, 2 RBs, 2-3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF) and scoring settings.

The big differences in these leagues is that you won't have week-to-week lineups to set because of the smaller pool of players. You'll accumulate points throughout the playoffs from your base lineup, and if you have a lot of players from teams eliminated from the playoffs early, you could be sunk. Thus comes the most interesting bit of playoff draft strategy -- do you draft a superstar on a team that might not last through the playoffs or do you go with a middle-of-the-road player who might make it to the Super Bowl?

For example, during last year's playoffs, Marshall Faulk had a big game in the first round and may have helped many fantasy owners. However, the Rams lost that first game and Faulk obviously didn't do anything the rest of the playoffs. At the same time, Trent Dilfer's numbers weren't anything to write home about for most of the playoffs, but he got to the Super Bowl and had a decent game there, so his fantasy value was on par with Faulk, as strange as that may sound.

With most of the playoff teams already determined, here are some of the early rankings of fantasy players for the playoffs, taking into account fantasy production during the year as well the possibility that their teams will advance far into the playoffs.

End of year schedule watch

There's a good reason why many fantasy football leagues end after Week 16 instead of Week 17. Teams out of the race will likely sit their top stars (especially those not expected to return next season) to try out some younger players. And playoff teams will usually give their stars some limited work before resting them in advance of the playoffs. This is especially the case when a playoff team plays a pretender. Thus, some supposedly favorable fantasy matchups don't look so favorable -- and it's definitely something you don't want to see in your fantasy Super Bowl. There's nothing worse than the most important game of the year looking like an exhibition game in the middle of August.

Instead of an injury report this week, here are some games that could really affect your fantasy team because of the potential of starters seeing limited action:

Falcons at Rams: Normally, St. Louis players would be recommended highly as usual. However, should the Rams race out to a quick lead (and thus clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs), expect Marshall Faulk to rest up that knee, giving Trung Canidate a chance to put up some numbers. The backups for Kurt Warner and the receivers don't look as good, so they may stay in a little while longer.

Browns at Steelers: Never mind last week's loss to the Bengals, the Pittsburgh offense is still rolling along. Jerome Bettis could see a little action to shake off the rust before the playoffs begin but don't expect much out of him. Kordell Stewart could sit out early if he gets an early lead since the Steelers already have clinched the No. 1 seed.

Philadelphia at Tampa Bay: Both teams know they're going to face each other in the first round of the playoffs, so this game could really look like a mid-August exhibition game by halftime. Plus, there really isn't big reason to open up the playbook that much this week since they'll be doing it all over again next week.

Minnesota at Baltimore: If Seattle loses on Sunday, this game will have little meaning other than Brian Billick taking on his old mates, who are very depleted these days. Elvis Grbac has been hurt with some injuries recently, but the Ravens running game will want to tune up heading into the playoffs.

And for those curious, San Diego is done with the season and done with their coach. So if you're still playing, make sure you don't have Doug Flutie, LaDainian Tomlinson, Freddie Jones or the underrated receiving duo of Curtis Conway and Jeff Graham.

James Quintong is Fantasy Sports Producer at CNNSI.com.

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