I guess you'd call this the business end of the season, which is probably true except that amusingly, NFL teams seem determined to ruin fantasy football playoffs and pick'em leagues around the world by starting players off the street at key positions. For players like Maurice Morris and Ryan Torain, THIS is their Super Bowl.

I've re-vamped the standings this week using a little-heard-of program named 'Microsoft Excel'. I don't know much about computers, but this little known start-up business that 'Micro-soft' have got going on seems like a winner. Don't be surprised if one day they challenge Apple's dominance of the computer industry. I've added some new graphics and I've also sorted the true rankings and added tie-breakers to the format as follows:

1) Overall record
2) Record this week
3) Record last week
4) Record the week before
5) 40 time.

That seems as fair as anything, although it does leave Kurt Warner at a serious disadvantage because I hear Mort runs a very Danish 4.2 in pursuit of a scoop - or a pastry.

Before we get to the nitty gritty, here's a Wednesday thought: **
**If I'm Mike Shanahan - and I'm extremely surprised to learn I'm not - maybe I tell Pierre Garcon to go and 'let slip' about RGIII in some interviews early in the week to get the Browns defence thinking about Kirk Cousins? The whole thing sounded a bit contrived, particularly as if he really had 'let slip', Shanahan would have had to leave the tanning booth for 5 minutes of his 'Caribbean Monday' (something he almost NEVER does) to field questions from reporters about why his star WR is ruling his starting QB out through injury.

Now does anyone seriously believe Shanahan would then let Garcon go and say the same thing throughout the day? Exactly. Whether RGIII starts or not, I think that because of Garcon's words, the Browns have to fully gameplan for two very different QB's, meaning whoever starts, Cleveland won't have had a full week of preparation.

ANYWAY ON WITH THE STANDINGS:

Biggest Climber: Will Brinson, CBS - up 11
Will Brinson? Yes, I think he Will.

Biggest Faller: Mike Golic, ESPN - down 14 (fourteen!)
Enough said.

Wickers and The Danish Discerner are now locked in a steel-cage match for the title that is currently being decided by a tie-breaker, but... wait... who is this entering the ring? It can't be! They said he was dead! Why is he holding a grill pan? IT'S THE SIZZLER! Yes, Marc Sessler is looking like a serious contender after a strong week, but there's still plenty of time for those in the top 8 to catch up. Scrub that, there's only THREE WEEKS LEFT OH MY GOD HELP.

'Wandering Hanzus' - a man it is literally impossible to think of a nickname for - managed to pull himself out of the relegation dogfight* and towards safety with a big score this week, as did Fox's John Halpin who deserves either credit or rotten vegetables thrown at him for completely missing one week of picks. Imagine, you could be in 30th place John. IMAGINE. Anyway if you're near the bottom, a swing of 3-4 in the next week could set you too well on the way to mid-table obscurity like John.

* I haven't actually worked out the details of this but Mike Vick isn't busy any more so we've got time to plan it properly for once. He's more of an 'ideas man' but he's still a big asset.

on with the overall standings:

Check back through the week for my early picks (Wednesday) and my spreads to watch, as well as a nice bit of NFL chat about relevant info you need to make your own picks this week.