Here’s your championship injury reports.

12:30 Update: Portis and Lynch are starting.

Playing

Clinton Portis
Marshawn Lynch
Brandon Jacobs
Kevin Smith
Jeff Garcia
Trent Edwards
Matt Forte

Not Playing

Frank Gore
Anquan Boldin

It’s championship week, the first game’s tonight, let’s get this thing started.

Pop in between noon and 1:00 to get all your title game (or third place game, or fifth place game…or in one of my leagues seventh place game) roster advice.

Let me level with you, I don’t really intend to bloviate on the benefits of Mike Singletary on your fantasy team. Chances are, unless you happen to own Frank Gore, you don’t much care about about the minimal effects Iron Mike II has had on your fantasy team. If you still care how many catches Bryant Johnson or Vernon Davis have been getting under the new regime, your fantasy season has been over for weeks — if not months.
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Just a quick one this week.  All-Start beat All-Bench by 10 despite a 19-point game by Tyler Thigpen of all people.  Also, in answering a question I managed to pick the player who had the 18-point game and be wrong at the same time, thanks to Pierre Thomas looking better than Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister somehow.

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I have tragic news.  Gore is likely out.

Oh, and a lot of other stuff.  Keep checking until 9:30 a.m. for updates.

Playing

LenDale White
Calvin Johnson
Kevin Smith
Michael Clayton

Not Playing

Frank Gore
Brandon Jacobs
Joseph Addai
Jeff Garcia
Matt Hasselbeck

Too Close to Call

Marion Barber

Well, it’s the home stretch.  The playoffs.  For those of you who made it this far, Start/Bench this week is weighted to players who have something to play for, teams right on the edge of the real playoffs for whom every week is an elimination game.  And for those of us you who fell short of the playoffs, well, this’ll help you in your consolation tournament to save face.

Team: Last Week (Season)
All-Start: 61 (1167)
All-Bench: 42 (893)

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Noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11.

Jeremiah and I will A all your various playoff-related Q’s.

Be there.

The All-Start and All-Bench teams are cursed.  All-Start lost Gus Frerotte and Peyton Hillis to injury, All-Bench lost Marion Barber as a last-minute scratch before the game even started.  But All-Start still managed to pull it out thanks in large part to an abysmal seven-yard-on-seven-carry performance by Jamal Lewis.

From the question submissions my condolences go out to Domenic for having to watch Jonathan Stewart beat the will to live out of the usually solid Bucs defense while on his bench.  That is the definition of a tough break, especially in the playoffs.

All the numbers after the jump.

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I’m really not kidding.  The following running backs either got injured, aggravated an existing injury or didn’t play in Week 14:

• Frank Gore
• Clinton Portis
• Marion Barber
• Peyton Hillis
• Willis McGahee
• Ray Rice
• Brandon Jacobs

If you’re keeping score that’s two of the three running backs on the Ravens (McGahee and Rice), the fifth Broncos running back to sustain an injury this year (Hillis) and the third, eighth, 10th and 14th leading rushers in the NFL so far (Portis, Jacobs, Gore and Barber respectively).

And next week the playoffs begin.

So what do you do if you have one of these seven guys on your roster?  Other than burst into tears in an embarrassing display of sorrow?  (Seriously, stop crying, it’s embarrassing.)

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Turns out I accidentally cheated at Start/Bench.  I was sure Marion Barber would play through his injury but have a subpar week, but apparently he’s out.  So when I said bench for once I really did mean bench him.

Playing

Brian Westbrook
Clinton Portis
Derrick Mason

Not Playing

Marion Barber