Week 15 Recap & Playoff Preview

 

Wow, we made it guys.

The regular season concludes with 4 playoff-bound teams who are all probably pretty happy.

While the rest are.. not as much..

Congrats to Matt, Dan, and Tom. Well-deserved.

Tom will square off with me in Round 1, while Matt and Dan will battle it out to see who advances to the championship matchup.

As for this past week's matchups..

Dan vs Tom

The battle of the Dacken brothers had a lot of eyes on it this week, as a couple of teams needed Dan's squad to stumble if they had any chance of making the playoffs.

Well, Dan apparently saw them in the rearview mirror and just hit the gas.  His team put up the highest score of the week and he cruised to victory on the backs of Nico Collins, TreVeyon Henderson, and Trey McBride.

McBride in particular has been nothing short of phenomenal.  He now has 105 receptions on the season, which is only 11 shy of the NFL record for a tight end.

Probably not much love lost for Tom's team, as he was a lock for a playoff spot regardless of the result.  His RB duo of Bijan and Cook delivered again, as they typically do.  Davante Adams is dealing with a hamstring issue, but hopefully he can stay on the field for a couple more weeks.

Brice vs Zach

Well it's been a rollercoaster for Brice.  He saw his all-time favorite (non-Packers) player put up 40 POINT 1 points in the Thursday night game.  Giving him hope that his team would put up a huge point total & maybe even Dan would lose his matchup.  

But Dan was obviously having none of that, and the rest of Brice's team only put up 70 in addition to Pitts' total.  However it was enough to JUST edge out Zach's team for the W though.

Brice finishes the regular season a respectable 8-7, but I'm sure he's thinking "what could have been".

It was only fitting that Zach would lose his last regular-season matchup by less than a point.  

I believe he lost last week by .34, his week 9 matchup by .84, and a couple other close ones.  Sometimes they just don't go your way.

Amon-Ra St Brown didn't get the memo that Zach's team was supposed to be tanking though, because he decided to put up his highest point total of the season.

If it's any consolation, there's no official punishment for finishing at the bottom.

Jordan vs Kyle

Ultimately, Jordan's team did about all they could to put up a fighting chance for the playoffs.  His RBs delivered, with Kyren Williams and Josh Jacobs combining for 4 TDs in his victory over Kyle's team.

Jordan finishes the regular season in 5th place at 8-7 and gets to take on Kent in the consolation bracket.

Courtland Sutton tied his best fantasy output of the season and Saquon put up a serviceable game, but it was not enough for Kyle to catchup to Jordan this week.

Kyle was fighting an uphill battle a lot of the season, with the most points scored against him in his matchups.  Always tough to overcome that.  He'll face off with Brice in Week 16.

Matt vs Ramsey

Matt couldn't quite manage to catch me in the regular-season point total, but he did make it pretty close.  More importantly, he made the playoffs in his inaugural season.  Since he won't be playing me in the first round, I caught up with him to give him a little pre-playoff prep talk..

Ramsey fell on the losing end of this one, but Tyrone Tracy & George Kittle didn't go down without a fight.

Also, I talk about Jaxon Smith-Njigba in every single write-up, because the man has been an absolute weapon for his team all year.  On the flipside, Justin Jefferson has been all but left for dead.  Sad to see, to be honest.

Kent vs Eric

Kent came up short in our relatively low-scoring matchup.  CeeDee Lamb did put up his 3rd 110+ yard game in a row, but Burrow was dominated by the Ravens and Omarion Hampton hasn't shown the magic since coming back from his long injury absence.

I somehow ended the year winning the last 7 matchups.  An optimist would say that's a hot streak, but I can't help but thinking now I'm due for a loss.  Guess we'll see what happens in Week 16.

Best of luck in your playoff matchups!

Cheers!

- Eric

Week 14 Recap & Pre-Playoff Panic

Things are gettin' real now...  and I do love a little fantasy football drama to end the regular season.

While Tom & myself have clinched playoff spots, Matt effectively has a reserved spot also, due to his points lead over any potential ties.

With a wild, down-to-the-wire win this week over Zach's team, Dan now sits alone in 4th place at 8-6, and destiny is in his own hands.  If he secures a win in Week 15, he makes the playoffs.  But if he doesn't, then that leaves the door open for a couple teams..

Right on his heels is Brice, who has had...let's just say, a rough last month or so.  His team drops to 7-7, but with only a handful of points separating the teams still in contention, things could get interesting in the last regular season matchup.

With Jordan getting an absolute "must-win" over Matt's team this week, he moves up to 7-7, and would also need a win in Week 15 to have a shot at the final playoff spot.

Both Brice & Jordan need wins to have any shot, but they will most likely be paying very close attention to Dan & Tom's matchup as well.

Quick summaries of the Week 14 matchups..

Dan vs Zach

OK...this matchup was, wild.  Not only did it have serious playoff implications, but it came down to the very last play of the Monday Night game.

With Dan having a narrow lead going into the MNF game, Zach basically needed a measly 5 points out of Jalen Hurts in order to get the win.  Well....yeah that didn't happen.  Hurts had something like 3 fantasy points at halftime after contributing several turnovers, only to see the game go into OVERTIME with Zach's team having a little over a point deficit.  

At this point, I'm thinking "surely, Hurts is going to manage to score a couple points in overtime, right?"  Well, he DID do that to give Zach's team the brief lead, only to promptly throw them away with an interception immediately afterwards.  What a crazy end to that game, and to this matchup.

Pretty sure that Jalen Hurts also became the first player in NFL history to throw an interception AND have a lost fumble on the same play.

Dan escapes with the narrow victory, to cement himself in 4th place at 8-6.  Dan faces off with Tom in the last matchup of the regular season.

Zach will get another chance to play spoiler when he squares off with Brice in Week 15.

Jordan vs Matt

As I previously mentioned, Jordan HAD to win this week and did just that vs Matt's team.

Jordan got a career day out of WR Michael Wilson, while Matt saw Jayden Daniels leave due to injury in the 2nd half after only contributing a handful of points.

Matt drops to 8-6, but it's looking like his playoff spot is basically locked up with his fairly considerable points advantage over the other teams in contention.

In Week 15, Matt will get a matchup with Ramsey while Jordan squares off with Kyle.

Eric vs Ramsey

Ramsey & I battled in a fairly high-scoring affair this week.  Gibbs & company managed to just outpace JSN, Tony Pollard, and the rest of Ramsey's crew.

Ramsey will close out the regular season in a matchup vs Matt.

Kent vs Tom

Kent did manage to dominate Tom's team in Week 14, albeit in a game without any real playoff implications.  We're always playin' for pride though, and it has to feel nice to knock the #2 placed team down a peg.

It has ultimately been a tale of "too little, too late" for Kent's team.  I liked him as a dark horse pick early in the year, but costly injuries (like Omarion Hampton missing the majority of the year) made it tough to have a fighting chance.

Kent gets a matchup with me this week.

Tom's team must have heard he secured a playoff spot and decided to take the week off, because most of his squad played pretty flat.  It never bodes well when none of your players find themselves in the endzone.

Stafford was really the only one who contributed, as he did throw for 3 TDs in their win over the Cardinals.

Tom does get a matchup with serious playoff implications (for his opponent) when he faces off with Dan in Week 15.

Kyle vs Brice

Kyle got a nearly 40-point game out of Josh Allen to lead his team to victory over Brice's team in Week 14's high-scoring matchup.

Puka Nacua did put up his season-best fantasy score, and Lamar decided to actually play football this week, but it wasn't enough for Brice's squad.

Brice will have a must-win matchup vs Zach in Week 15, while Kyle can play spoiler again as he faces off with Jordan.

It'll be very interesting to watch how everything unfolds in the matchups this week, as we close out the regular season and venture into the playoffs.  Best of luck in your matchups!

- Eric

Week 13 Recap

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

We're in crunch time now, with just 2 weeks remaining in the regular season.

As is usually the case, there is still a lot up-in-the-air, as quite a few teams are vying for a playoff spot.  How these last couple weeks play out will be interesting to see.

On to the Week 13 matchups..

Tom vs Ramsey

Talk about getting hot at the right time.  Tom moves up to 9-4 after winning his 4th consecutive matchup, and appears to be destined for a playoff spot.  His team is averaging over 122 points over the past month.

His RB duo of Bijan & James Cook have been reliably great most of the season, and Davante Adams leads the league with 14 receiving TDs so far.  Nobody else in the NFL even has double-digit receiving TDs yet, so he's way ahead of the pack.

Tom will look to clinch things up when he faces off with Kent in Week 14.

Ramsey drops to 5-8.  I could say this was the lowest score of the year so far, or I could talk about how it was the greatest score disparity in a matchup.. but I won't talk about that.

Jaxon Smith Njigba is the #1 scoring receiver in the league.. and he had 2 receptions for 23 yards.  This was the first time he has failed to get double-digit fantasy points all season.

Justin Jefferson had 2 receptions... for 4 yards.

The Vikings & Seahawks should be publicly ridiculed for that, that's all I'm gonna say.

Ramsey would need some help from others to have any shot at a playoff berth, but we're always playing for pride anyways.  He gets a matchup vs me this week.

Jordan vs Eric

I managed to get the best of Jordan's team this week.  But now he's sitting at 6-7...so, I guess he can do that hand-thing at least.

Packers QB Jordan Love led his team this week with 4 passing TDs and gets another plus matchup vs the Bears in Week 14.

Jordan will likely have to win his last two matchups to have a shot at the playoffs, as getting to 8 wins would give him the best chance.  But he'll have to get through Matt this week in order to do so.

Matt vs Brice

Matt led the league in points in Week 13, and moves on up to 8-5.  Currently sitting in 3rd place in the overall standings.  A great spot to be in, considering another win would essentially clinch it for him, as he's #2 in points scored on the season, which is the tiebreaker stat if two teams have the same record.

Worth noting that there is $50 up for grabs for both the regular-season winner and regular-season points leader.  Matt is still in a position to claim one (or both) of those.

Matt squares off with Jordan in Week 14.

Oh Brice, what can I even say?  

Ok, I know what to say...I blame Lamar.

Lamar Jackson is averaging 7 points over his last 3 games.  Ouch. 

That's tough for the rest of a fantasy team to overcome.  But what can you even do?  Bench Jackson?  That's borderline crazy talk...but it will be up to Brice on how he manages things going forward.

He drops to 7-6 and is still sitting in a decent position in 5th place.  But it will be interesting to see what happens through these next couple weeks.  He'll get a matchup with Kyle in Week 14.

Kyle vs Zach

Kyle moves to 5-8 after dispatching Zach's team in Week 13.  Brock Bowers contributed a couple scores to lead his team's scoring.

If my math is correct, Kyle still has a very outside chance of earning a playoff spot.  The good thing is, he plays two other contenders (Brice & Jordan) in the final two weeks.  So his destiny is, at least partially, in his hands.

Zach drops to 4-9.  Sometimes things just don't go your way.  Amon-Ra left the Lions' Thanksgiving game with an ankle sprain before being able to contribute any points.

Zach IS in a prime position to play spoiler though, as he faces off with Dan & Brice in Weeks 14 & 15, who are both needing some wins to close out the year.

Kent vs Dan

Always enjoy seeing how this rivalry plays out, and this time it was Kent claiming the victory in a closely contested, high-scoring matchup.  He seemed more than happy to do his part to try and spoil Dan's playoff chances, although Dan is definitely still in the running, sitting in 4th place.

Kent is peaking a bit too late unfortunately, but his WRs Rashee Rice & Lamb both put up big games. 

Kent will get a matchup vs Tom this week, while Dan faces off with Zach.

Best of luck in Week 14!

- Eric