For each game you can find my pick against the spread, my reasoning behind that pick, and some player notes to let you know who to start or sit for the upcoming weekend. Remember because of Christmas most of the games on on Saturday with just the Sunday Night Football NFC North battle on Christmas Day and then the Monday Night game to wrap it all up.

If you’re looking for an earlier game check out part 1 of the preview, and here we go with the second half of the slate with my picks against the spread (taken from ESPN’s pigskin Pick’Em, home team in caps)

QBs Mark Sanchez and Eli Manning chatted after a preseason game this past August but it will be all business come Sunday in the battle for New York. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)

Giants +2.5 over JETS

Analysis: The battle of New York has huge playoff implications for both teams. The Jets come into the game tied with Cincinnati for the 6th and final AFC playoff spot with 3 teams just a game back. They do own the tiebreaker with the Bengals so as of now would be in the playoffs, but their grasp on the final spot is tenuous at best with the Giants and a trip to resurgent Miami left on their schedule. They need this game almost as bad as the Giants do. The G-men laid an egg last week against the Redskins and now find themselves in a suddenly extremely tight NFC East race. The Eagles are 1 game behind them and the Cowboys are 1 game ahead of them as those 2 teams face off in Texas this weekend. The Giants need to win this and beat the Cowboys next week and they’re in the playoffs. The wild card is out of their reach so they must win the division to be in. I think Eli and the Giants will pull it off against the Jets. They’ve dropped 5 out of their last 6 games but they’ve all been to playoff level teams except for the Redskins game last week. They haven’t been able to get any kind of a running game going but their passing game can be one of the best in the game at times. Here’s the reason I’m going G-men: I can’t take the Sanchize and that offense that ranks 20+ in just about every meaningful offensive category against a Giants offense that has Manning, Nicks, Cruz, Jacobs, and a healthy Bradshaw. I don’t love the pick after last week’s showing but the Giants should win 30-20.

Player Notes: It’s really all on Eli Manning. Last week, he struggled with some horrible drops by his receivers and some bizarre deflections and misreads. This week he’ll have a tough matchup but should bounce back and be able to find Hakeem Nicks (hopefully he can catch it this time), Victor Cruz, and Mario Manningham (if he plays). He will be missing Jake Ballard who will be out and Manningham looks likely to be a game-time decision. Nicks and Cruz are WR2′s with upside depending on the pace of the game, while Manningham even if he plays is not a good option. Neither are Ahmad Bradshaw or Brandon Jacobs against a good Jets run defense when they’ve been struggling to establish anything on the ground… On the Jets side of things, Mark Sanchez has struggled and hasn’t broken 200 yards since week 11 and his tendency to hold the ball too long could get him in big trouble against a vicious Fiants pass rush. The New York secondary though is beatable so I actually like Santonio Holmes, Plaxico Burress, and even Dustin Keller more than I normally do this week. Holmes is a WR2, Burres a low end WR3, and Keller a non-elite TE1 option. I’d put Sanchez as a high-end QB2 in this matchup, but try to stay away in single QB leagues. Shonn Greene could be the difference-maker and if the Jets win, it’ll be because he goes off, not because Sanchez leads them to victory. I just can’t see that happening after last week’s game against the Eagles.

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Fantasy Football-Week 16 Preview (part 2) - Fantasy CPR - Fantasy CPR - A Fantasy Sports blog for news, rumors, and updates on all Fantasy Sports

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Is There Really A Madden Cover Curse? - Fantasy CPR - Fantasy CPR - A Fantasy Sports blog for news, rumors, and updates on all Fantasy Sports