The unattractive truth about this game of ours is that there's a lot of luck involved. You make decisions to minimize its impact, but you can't eliminate it. It's especially true in the playoffs, and it's not just from big names having poor games or small names having great ones. It's from guys getting hurt and killing your season.

Seahawks at Ravens: Exhibit A, Thomas Rawls, Off to a fine start when he got caught at the line and crumpled awkwardly, leaving with an ankle injury; out for the season. You got 44 yards out of him and his day was done. That also influenced the rest of the game, probably; would Russell Wilson have thrown 5 TDs if Seattle had its starting running back out there? In one lineup I noticed I had Wilson and Rawls going and removed one of them. The wrong one, unfortunately. For Baltimore, things went about as you'd expect. Season can't end soon enough. ... Luke Willson dropped the easiest touchdown pass you'll see in this game. Wide open on a nice play, he just let it clank off his hands.

Falcons at Panthers: And another blowout, also not terribly surprising. Huge game, again, for Cam Newton and Ted Ginn Jr. Good game going for Jonathan Stewart, though he left with an injury. Greg Olsen left with a knee injury, Panthers hold their breath. This is a great team that has a few players it can't afford to lose, and they're two of them. (Sounds like both he and Stewart are OK.) Although Ed Dickson had a kind of impressive diving touchdown right after Olsen got knocked out. ... Turn out the lights on the Falcons, if you haven't already. Ugly. They play Carolina again in Week 16, too.

Washington at Bears: Robbie Gould had been having a very good year, until the last two weeks when he missed a short game-winner against San Francisco, then was wide left on a 50-yarder that would have tied it up in the final two minutes. Not a gimme, obviously, but back to back weeks where he could have changed the outcome for a team legitimately in playoff contention (especially with Tampa Bay losing). Big games for both TEs, Zach Miller and especially Jordan Reed, who not only caught a touchdown but had another overturned by replay (ruled just short. I guess.) and another catch down near the goalline. Nice outing for Alshon Jeffery, whenever he's healthy. Both Jay Cutler and Kirk Cousins played pretty well and didn't hurt your lineups.

Steelers at Bengals: This game, no doubt, killed a lot of fantasy teams. Andy Dalton (thumb) and Tyler Eifert (concussion) left early with injuries. A.J. McCarron at least had a nice touchdown bomb to A.J. Green, who always kills the Steelers, but that was it. Steelers offense did its thing, and suddenly it's not clear who the best AFC North team is. ... Martavis Bryant dropped a catchable ball in the end zone. Great throw, catch not made. Still, Steelers roll on. Gonna call a kicker -- a kicker! -- my midseason pickup of the year in one league. Chris Boswell is killing it out there.

49ers at Browns: Ho hum. Bad as the Browns defense is, it wasn't quite bad enough for the 49ers. Most curious is that Shaun Draughn wasn't involved in the passing game, just 2 catches for 8 yards. Kind of a big part of his value. Jerome Simpson caught a touchdown. I remember he caught a pass earlier this season and I was surprised to learn he was still in the league. ... Speaking of players nobody started, Isaiah Crowell had a huge day. We knew the matchup was favorable, the problem is just that the Browns haven't run the ball, have barely even tried to run the ball, all season. If you happened to be facing Crowell yesterday, give your opponent props for starting him. Solid games for Hartline and Barnidge, as per usual. And a nice win for Johnny Manziel, who will probably be in Cleveland a little longer than Mike Pettine.

Colts at Jaguars: A sloppy, turnover-filled and coverage-challenged game between a pair of teams that pretty much represent the AFC South. Houston really ought to win this division, which says something. Blake Bortles and the Jaguars offense gave you good numbers here, which is about all you can ask for. Bortles might be the late-round fantasy quarterback of the season. Very few duds in there for Bortles. No interceptions today! Though he fumbled three times. Denard Robinson finished with nice numbers in large part because T.J. Yeldon left due to injury. If Yeldon misses time, Robinson should be pretty good. ... Matt Hasselbeck hurt on a sideline play, leading to a Charlie Whitehurst interception. Figure Andrew Luck plays next week.

Chargers at Kansas City: An Andy Reid special. When the offense doesn't have to do much to get a win, it usually doesn't. Only touchdown in this game came from Albert Wilson, his 2nd of the season. After the play the announcer said, "He's really emerged for Kansas City." No he hasn't! If you avoided San Diego's offense, as you should have, congratulations. Good call.

Titans at Jets: As expected, the team formerly known as Titans wins very big. And you got good or great numbers out of all the expected players, although Chris Ivory didn't score. Threw a Hail Mary starting Bilal Powell in a PPR league at the last minute, thank you Bilal Powell. Jets roll on. AFC playoff field is going to leave out a very good team, probably either the Jets or Kansas City. NFC playoff field will include at least a couple of lousy ones. ... One highlight for the Titans, a Wildcat play where Antonio Andrews threw a 41-yard touchdown to Marcus Mariota, who lined up at wide receiver and caught a perfectly thrown pass easily when the stunned cornerback fell down. Andrews might be a better quarterback than running back.

Bills at Eagles: Good luck trying to figure out the Eagles. They've now won two straight over AFC East teams after getting embarrassed for a few weeks. Sam Bradford threw a perfect touchdown bomb to Nelson Agholor. The big thing everyone was thinking about: three-man backfield, with carries basically split. Darren Sproles, the least-likely running back to score from 1 yard out, did just that. All three caught 2 passes for minimal yardage. Hope you didn't start any of them. ... Nice first half for Sammy Watkins, a story we've seen once or twice. He did get free for another possible long touchdown, but Tyrod Taylor missed him. Stick a fork in the Bills, but the Eagles, with the same record, are a first-place team!

Lions at Rams: In the don't bench your studs corner, we have Todd Gurley. You didn't bench him, right? Big game for Gurley against a defense that had played pretty well of late. Lions got some late production from Matthew Stafford and Golden Tate. Calvin Johnson came into the game questionable and I think we can assume he was hurting, since he burned a lot of us with his 1-catch game. Some credit to Rams corner Trumaine Johnson, but Megatron wasn't right. Lions running game and Rams passing game did nothing, as you might expect.

Saints at Buccaneers: I went Buc-heavy in several lineups, and it cost me. I am kicking myself, but at some point you've got to trust the process. When it worked out (e.g. when Washington lit this defense up), you made the right call. This time it didn't. I'd probably start Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson again, though maybe not Connor Barth and the Bucs D; that didn't work out so hot. And Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who had a quiet day. ... So if you get 28 carries, like Tim Hightower did, it doesn't matter if you only manage 3.0 yards per carry. Good numbers for Willie Snead and especially Marques Colston, who nobody started. Perhaps the whole non-concussion story for Brandin Cooks hurt him in the game plan. ... Bucs running backs did fine for you. Sims you were probably only starting in PPR, and he caught 6 passes for 64 yards. And hey, good for Hightower, and those who started him.

Raiders at Broncos: No way the Broncos should have lost this game. Oakland's offense did essentially nothing in terms of moving the ball, but Derek Carr threw a pair of touchdowns, one set up by a short field. A lot of veteran miscues, including terrible drops by Demaryius Thomas and Vernon Davis to kill promising looking drives. And Denver didn't come up with any kind of answer for Khalil Mack, in the backfield all day. Not a lot of usable offense in this game. Lots of yards for Brock Osweiler, but an ugly game for him and pretty much everyone else. Including Ronnie Hillman, who should be behind C.J. Anderson once Anderson is healthy. ... Raiders scored a fourth quarter touchdown to go up by 3 points and elected to go for 2. Will be interesting to see what the coaching staff has to say about that one. I think Jack Del Rio was as relieved as he was happy when the team won.

Cowboys at Packers: As expected. Dallas' offense just can't do much of anything without Tony Romo. They hung around for awhile, but eventually their lack of ability at quarterback caught up to them. Of course, with Darren McFadden rushing for over 100 yards, maybe he should ahve received more than 9 carries? Dez Bryant dropped a couple of balls; it isn't all on Cassel. High draft pick! say Cowboys fans. Dallas struggled to stop the run, too, so you did just fine if you started either Packers running back. Team generously let Eddie Lacy score a meaningless late touchdown, too. ... Mike McCarthy calling plays in this one, and the passing game was better, particularly Randall Cobb. Davante Adams was benched in favor of Jared Abbrederis. Interesting.

Patriots at Texans: Won a playoff game because LeGarrette Blount got hurt before he could get 3 more points against me. That's a bad beat. A workmanlike win for the Patriots, who now look golden for the AFC's top seed. Easy wins in two of their final three. ... Brandon LaFell had a touchdown erased by a formation penalty and another long pass broken up on a nice defensive play. Not a big game, but he's involved. ... Nate Washington also finished with modest numbers, but got behind the defense twice and was underthrown by Brian Hoyer. Had a ball broken up in the end zone, too, on a nice defensive play. Hopkins was the guy who let people down, but that's what the Patriots usually do; take away the other team's best player. You can't bench him; stuff happens.

Monday, Monday: The Giants are often unpredictable, but they should be the better team in this game. Offense should move pretty freely up and down the field. DeVante Parker, Jarvis Landry and Lamar Miller are the Dolphins in lineups for or against me. I suspect this will be like a 28-20 type of Giants win, with some decent numbers all around. Luck be with you.