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