Fantasy

The Seahawks’ 58-0 win over the Arizona Cardinals was a major shot heard ‘round the Fantasy Football world. Week 14 marks the beginning of the Fantasy playoffs, and Seattle’s defense was showered with much national praise and recognition after its incredibly dominant performance on Sunday. Fantasy Football is a game largely based on offensive skill position production, but the Seahawks defense tilted the Fantasy world in a much different direction in Week 14.

Twitter exploded with those praising the Seattle defense for its performance on Sunday night and Monday morning. The phone lines at SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio were flooded with giddy callers who wanted to brag that they started the Seattle defense. The email box at RotoExperts.com kept pinging with “thank you” notices for recommending the Seahawks defense as a must-start unit prior to Sunday. And on NFL.com, it was clearly outlined just how prolific the Seahawks defense was in Week 14.

With eight turnovers, three sacks, two touchdowns and a 10-point bonus for a shutout, the Seahawks defense totaled 41 Fantasy points on NFL.com, making it the highest-scoring Fantasy selection for the week. The Seahawks defense outscored all offensive players, skewing Fantasy production in an unusual and overwhelmingly positive way for its owners. If you had the Seattle defense in Week 14, you very likely advanced to the next round of your Fantasy playoffs.

As illustrated in this article (http://blogs.nfl.com/2012/12/09/nfl-fantasy-football-seahawks-high-flying-defensive-day/) by NFL.com’s Marcas Grant, the Seahawks put forth the best defensive effort in Fantasy since 2005, when naturally, the Super-Bowl bound Seahawks scored 44 points in a Monday night football rout of the Philadelphia Eagles. In NFL.com standard scoring, players receive two points for each fumble recovered or interception, which gave them 16 points for Seattle’s eight turnovers. One point each was awarded for each of three sacks, and six points each were awarded for Richard Sherman’s interception return for a TD and Malcolm Smith’s fumble recovery for a score.  As previously indicated, 10 points were added on for the zero points allowed.

The defense, however, was not the only great Seattle Fantasy selection of Week 14. With 128 yards and three touchdowns, Marshawn Lynch’s 30.80 paced all running backs in Fantasy scoring for Week 14. Anthony McCoy burst onto the Fantasy scene with his 105 receiving-yard day, which translated to 10.50 Fantasy points. McCoy is sure to draw some attention now in Fantasy leagues, because the TE position is very thin overall in terms of reliable production.

Week 14 of the 2012 NFL season, though, will clearly be remembered as the time when Richard Sherman, Bobby Wagner and company stepped in front of their offensive counterparts and owned the Fantasy Football world in an all-important playoff week.

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