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NFL: Alex Ferguson provides his festive Fantasy Football picks for Week 17

Do you agree with his Christmas crackers?

Odell Beckham Jr of the New York Giants scores a touchdown in the second quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium

Ahead of the final week of the NFL Fantasy season, Sky Sports blogger Alex Ferguson has got all your fantasy picks. Be warned: some teams may bench their starters because of the playoffs next week...

After picking Andrew Luck – who had an abysmal performance against Dallas – and Calvin Johnson, who didn’t post a touchdown last week against a horrible Chicago ‘D’, last week was another one to forget. Even our ever-dependent kicker Cody Parkey missed a couple of easy field goals. So, here are our last shots of the season….

REINDEER RYAN?

For Week 16 we went with Matt Ryan and our wild-card pick was seemingly a good one with Andrew Luck, who we thought would be in a shoot-out with the Cowboys. Unfortunately for Luck, it was the Colts who were shot out of the building and he didn’t start the second half.

Falcons QB Matt Ryan threw for 282 yards and made a TD in the rout of New Orleans, so you’d think you should be putting him in to face the Panthers.

Atlanta and Carolina will battle it out for the NFC South on Sunday, and we don’t think it’s going to end up 9-6. As for Luck, we don’t know if he’ll start against Tennessee – but if he does – the Titans are so awful that we expect big numbers.

Seattle's Russell Wilson in action against the Oakland Raiders at O.co Coliseum
Image: Russell Wilson will be looking for another strong display against the Rams

Fantasy fans might want to consider Seattle QB Russell Wilson, who’s getting better every week and is facing a St Louis Rams side that he put over 300 yards against when they last met.

LE’VEON JINGLING BELLS?  

Last week we actually did something pretty well (about the only good thing we did) by picking the Packers’ Eddie Lacy and the Broncos’ CJ Anderson. Both had touchdowns and pretty strong games, despite their QB’s not hitting top form (especially Anderson’s QB Peyton Manning, who matched up well with Andy Dalton in the ‘who wants to be worse tonight?’ category).

This week, The Steelers’ Le’Veon Bell faces the Bengals in a winner-takes-all battle for the AFC North title. Cincinnati have a pretty miserable defense against the run, while the Bengals will come into the game pretty confident after giving Peyton Manning one of the worst games of his career.

If you don’t like that and have the cash, why not consider the Seahawks’ Marshawn Lynch, who put up 113 yards and two TDs on a seemingly sturdy Cardinals defence on just 10 carries? We’d again suggest you go with CJ Anderson – who has four TDs in three games – if you fancy a running back at a reduced price, as he gets used not only as a RB but also as a receiver in the Broncos’ offence.

OH LITTLE TOWN OF BECKHAM

Every week I talk up Odell Beckham Jr, but for the second week running I didn’t go with him – instead deciding on Jordy Nelson and Calvin Johnson. Both had disasters against two awful defences in Tampa Bay and Chicago, while Beckham got involved in a major brawl at St. Louis – and had 148 yards and two scores.

There has been no bigger rookie sensation this season than Beckham, who’s quickly becoming ‘the person’ in New York, which is great for a city currently short of sporting icons. He’s playing a Philadelphia team who struggled against The Redskins' DeSean Jackson, and it should be fun to see the match-ups the Eagles secondary give him. In most fantasy leagues, he’ll still be pretty cheap.

Dez Bryant Dallas Cowboys touchdown against  Philadelphia Eagles
Image: The Dallas Cowboys' Dez Bryant with a touchdown

Nelson’s playing a tight Detroit Lions defence who have only given up 21 passing TDs this season. If you don’t fancy that match-up, why not replace him with Cowboys WR Dez Bryant, whose side could still technically get home field advantage throughout the play-offs? He’s been on fire lately and he’s still a monster target for Tony Romo, who is in fantastic form.

If you don’t like those match-ups, how about going with Eli Manning’s other target, Rueben Randle, who’s been putting up some strong numbers lately and could well factor? The Chargers' Antonio Gates would be a great tight end pick if you can’t afford him, The Colts’ Coby Fleener is always pretty useful. Or if you want to really go out there, how about Luke Willson, the Seahawks TE who had 2 TDs on just three targets?

BLITZEN!

J.J. Watt #99 of the Houston Texans celebrates his touchdown against the Tennessee Titans in the fourth quarter in a NFL game on
Image: The Texans and JJ Watt are expecting a season-ending victory over the Jaguars.

The Colts defence were definitely in a giving mood against Dallas, handing out a boatload of yards and 42 points. We went for Buffalo, who were looking strong against Oakland until they lost Marcell Dareus, which gave the Raiders a ton of rushing room.

And Cody Parkey would have had more points for the Eagles had he actually got the ball in between the goalposts, instead of wide of them. In defence, we’re still in love with JJ Watt and the Houston Texans, who host an ‘awful-but-not-awful-enough-to-get-the-No 1-pick’ Jacksonville Jaguars. Kicking-wise, why not go for Atlanta’s Matt Bryant, who’s playing in a Dome (good for the boots) against a ‘D’ that’s not totally breaking?

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