Week 14 Recap:
Division 1:
Mike (7-7) 107.7 vs. Tommy (10-4) 113.2
Tommy clinches the #2 Seed in the playoffs and a first-round bye! Congratulations Tommy! This put Mike on edge and susceptible to lose his playoff spot if another team went off and caught him for points. Lucky for him there were some low scoring stinker games and he gets to make the playoffs despite losing. This game was close. Mike went into Monday Night Football needing 26.5 from NE D/ST. When Kyler Murray was knocked out of the game it looked as though it was possible. They scored a respectable 21 points, but not enough to overcome Tommy’s lead. Mike lost Tee Higgins to injury early in the Cleveland game and that 0 really hurt. Tommy had a decent outing, with Joe Burrow’s 16.4, Henry’s 22, Tyreek’s 24.1, DK Metcalf’s 15.6 and Brandon Aiyuk catching a touchdown from Brock Purdy for 12.7. Tommy gets to sit back and relax next week and enjoy his first round bye. He’ll play the winner of Mike and Brad in Round 2.
Joe (6-8) 138.8 vs. Chase (7-7) 114.9
Joe has been the hottest team in the league over the last 3 weeks. He swept his division bringing his divisional record to an incredible 5-1 on the season. He went 1-7 in non-divisional games. His team was just piling touchdowns on Chase this week. Geno threw for 3, Pollard scored 2, Perine scored 1, Chase scored 1, Jeudy, scored 3, and even Cam Akers got 1. Chase had a solid week with every one of his players scoring at least 8 points. Kirk Cousins threw for 400 yards and scored 30 fantasy points. This 30 point game from the Qb position was Chase’s highest scoring Qb BY FAR this season. It’s been a glaring weak spot and the week he finally hits a winner, he runs into a Touchdown gauntlet. He still makes the playoffs though. Joe takes his 3 game winning streak into the bottom bowl on a quest to get more balls in the draft lottery in 2023.
Division 2:
Katon (3-11) 106.6 vs. JD (11-3) 90.2
The worst place team in the league defeats the #1 Seed in the league. Because this is fantasty football. JD’s team shit the bed when it mattered least. He had already locked up the 1 seed. His 2 studs performed well with Mahomes getting 22.7 and Ekeler getting 20.4, but the rest of his starters disappointed. Katon pulled off the upset with monster games out of his peripherals. Specifically Evan Engram who had a ridiculous game against Tennessee. Engram caught 11 catches on 15 targets for 162 yards and 2 touchdowns. Good for 36.7 points. Bottom Bowl needs to look out for Katon.
Jen (7-7) 81.3 vs. Kenny (6-8) 59.3
Both teams had a chance. They needed to win and score a significant more than Mike. It just didn’t happen. These two teams will meet again in the first game of the bottom bowl. They had to piece together starters for this one. Jen got decent production out of James Conner who scored 20.4, but no one else scored more than 12.1 and 3 players scored less than 5. Kenny had 7/9 starters score in single digits and his highest scorer was Tua with 12.6. Just complete disappointment from every position. He’ll try to bounce back on his quest to improve his odds for a higher draft pick next season.
Division 3:
Brad (10-4) 143.9 vs. Trey (6-8) 91.0
The expected result was the actual result. Brad had some great matchups and his team delivered, knocking out any hope that Trey had to making the postseason. Brad was carried by his 3 headed monster of Jalen Hurts (30.3), Christian McCaffrey (31.3) and Justin Jefferson (32.8). These three players combined for 94.4 and was enough to defeat Trey and push Brad to victory. Trey had huge games out of Jared Goff (29.1) and Miles Sanders (31.0), but the rest of his 7 starters combined for a pathetic 30.9 points. Not enough against this weeks’ top scoring team.
Scotty (3-11) 65.4 vs. Moose (8-6) 89.5
Moose defeats Scotty in a low scoring affair and despite losing two more players to injuries. Moose hobbles into the playoffs as the 4 seed. Scotty’s team just shit the bed. DJ Moore got hurt, Tyler Boyd hurt his finger and left the game after 2 snaps, and Deebo got hurt. Scotty’s Rb’s didn’t score touchdowns. Only bright spot was Justin Herbert getting a respectable 22.4. To the Bottom Bowl for the AutoDraft team. Moose had 4 players score 5.8 or less including two goose eggs from his tight end and kicker. He did get respectable numbers from Josh Allen (20.5), AJ Brown (15), DJ Chark (18.4) and KC D/ST (16). Enough to get him the win and set up a juicy Round 1 matchup with Chase.
Playoff Preview!
Playoff Teams Playoff Histories:
*Playoff appearances include this year
- JD: Playoff Appearances: 7, Playoff Record 3-5, SB Record 0-2, Avg. Playoffs PF: 106.5
- Tommy: Playoff Appearances: 7, Playoff Record 3-5, SB Record 0-1, Avg. Playoffs PF: 112.3
- Brad: Playoff Appearances: 10, Playoff Record 11-8, SB Record 2-3, Avg. Playoffs PF: 118.8
- Moose: Playoff Apperances: 9, Playoff Record 13-4, SB Record 4-0, Avg. Playoffs PF: 122.7
- Chase: Playoff Appearances: 9, Playoff Record 8-6, SB Record 3-1, Avg. Playoffs PF: 118.1
- Mike: Playoff Apperances: 5, Playoff Record 4-4, SB Record 0-2, Avg. Playoffs PF: 104.3
Round 1 Preview:
Bye Week Teams: 1. JD (11-3), 2. Tommy (10-4)
4.Moose (8-6) vs. 5. Chase (7-7)
Holy shitballs here we go again! Moose and Chase have met in the playoffs 4 times. Moose won the first 3 matchups in 2014, 2017, and 2018. Both the 2014 and 2017 matchups were in the 4th/5th seed matchup. In 2018 it was Super Bowl 10 where Moose defeated Chase 145.5 to 124.1. Chase ended Moose’s playoff win streak against him last season in the Semifinals. Chase won 157.1 to 84.5 on his way to the Super Bowl where he won his 3rd title. And here we are again in 2022. Moose has won 4 Super Bowls. Chase has won 3 Super Bowls. Both are fighting for a chance to meet up with the #1 Seed JD. Earlier this season when these two teams met, Moose looked unbeatable. He came in 5-0 and was averaging a ridiculous 149.8 points per game. But Chase was not deterred. He defeated Moose and handed him his first loss of the season 134.9 to 115.7. A lot’s happened since Week 6, but the biggest story is the injuries to Moose’s team. He hobbles into the playoffs after losing 4 out of his last 5 and averaging only 88.1 points per game in that span. That makes sense considering he’s lost his 1stround and 5th round picks for the season, your 6th round pick for 5 games, and in the last game of the regular season have injuries occur to your 6th and 7th round picks. Chase enters the playoffs having lost 3 in a row. In those 3 weeks he averaged 104.2 points per game but had a crazy average of 144.9 points scored against him in that span.
The Matchups:
Qb: Chase will be looking at #12 Qb Kirk Cousins vs. Indianapolis, Deshaun Watson vs. Baltimore, or Derek Carr vs. NE or maybe someone else as his Qb this week. Moose will be starting #3 Josh Allen vs. Miami on Saturday.
Rb: Chase will have #10 Dalvin Cook vs. Indianapolis and D’onta Foreman vs. Pittsburgh. Moose will have #7 Saquon Barkley vs. Washington and Rashad White vs. Cincinnati. Moose typically starts 3 running backs, but he’ll have to monitor the health of #13 Rhamondre Stevenson who hurt his ankle on MNF, but has a great matchup against Las Vegas Raiders on the horizon if he can suit up. It looks like he won’t have rookie #14 Dameon Pierce who is doubtful with an ankle injury.
Wr: Chase has #6 Amon-Ra St. Brown @ NY Jets, #25 JuJu Smith-Schuster @ Houston, and DeAndre Hopkins @ Denver. Chase also has #24 Michael Pittman as an option, but JuJu is coming off a solid effort against Denver where he went for 9 catches on 11 targets for 74 yards and a touchdown. Moose has #5 AJ Brown @Chicago and Curtis Samuel vs. the Giants.
TE: Chase #1 TE Travis Kelce against the Houston Texans. Moose is hoping to have Dallas Goedert back who was a Top 5 tight end before being injured in Week 10. He’s been designated to return from IR, but we’ll see if they use him this week or not. If not Moose has talented rookie Chigoziem Okonkwo who has at least 5 targets in the last 3 games and scored a touchdown last week against the Jaguars.
D/ST: Chase has #3 Philly who is averaging 11.7 fantasy points per game and has gotten at least 11 points in 5 of the last 7 games they’ve played. This week they get the electric Justin Fields. Moose has #12 KC D/ST who averages 8.7 points per game, but has averaged 10 points per game in the last 6 games and gets a Houston team that gave up 3 touchdowns to the Browns D/ST a couple of weeks ago. We’ll see which Houston team the Chiefs get this week, the one that was blownout by the Browns or the one that almost beat the Dallas Cowboys last week.
K: Chase has #6 Brett Maher @ Jax. Moose has #14 Ryan Succop vs. Cincinnati. Both teams have kickers kicking in Florida this weekend.
7 Championships. 2 Teams. 1 Winner. Who will advance to face JD and who will have their season ended at the hands of their bitter Rival??!?!
3.Brad (10-4) vs. 6. Mike (7-7)
Super Bowl 1 Rematch! Going old school over here. Brad and Mike played each other in back-to-back playoffs. Super Bowl 1 where Brad defeated Mike 120-104 on the back of Atlanta D/ST who he picked up and in Season 2, the 2010 season when Mike defeated Brad in the first round 85-75. In both of those games Mike was the higher seed, but in this year’s matchup Brad comes in at the 3 seed. These teams met in Week 4 and had themselves a battle. The final wind-up being Brad 120.6 vs. Mike 115.8. Mike had replaced an injured Dak Prescott with Carson Wentz who put up a stinker of 7.3 points. Dalton Schultz scored 0 against Washington, but Mike got 26.9 from Tee Higgins. CMC had scored 21.3 for Brad as a member of the Carolina Panthers.
The Matchups:
Qb: Brad has #2 Jalen Hurts who is averaging 26.6 points per game and looks like an MVP front runner going up against Chicago Defense that traded away their two best pass rushers and lost their star safety for the season. Mike will have #25 Qb Dak Prescott with a juicy ass matchup against Jacksonville. The Jaquars have given up an average of 21.7 points to opposing fantasy Qb’s. This has shootout potential and puts Mike in a good spot.
Rb: Brad has #4 Christian McCaffrey against Mike’s favorite team, the #31 OPRK Seattle Seahawks. Deebo Samuel got injured last week. The last game Deebo Samuel missed CMC ran, threw, and caught touchdowns and scored 36.1 fantasy points against the LA Rams. I don’t want to come across too cocky, but CMC alone might beat Mike this week. Brad also has #5 Rb Nick Chubb vs. Baltimore. The last time he played Baltimore was Week 7 and he rushed for 16 times for 91 yards and a touchdown for 17.7 fantasy points. Over the last 4 games Chubb’s utilization has increased a bit on passing downs including 47% of snaps in the two-minute offense. Brad also has Isaih Pacheco. He gets Houston’s #32 OPRK who just gave up 3 touchdowns to Zeke and Tony Pollard last week. Mike has the dynamic duo at Rb that Brad talked shit about in his draft grades in #1 Josh Jacobs vs. New England and #18 Najee Harris vs. Carolina. The Patriots are tough against the run but have given up rushing touchdowns to running backs in back to back weeks. James Conner rushed for over 80 yards and a touchdown against them on MNF. This matchup also adds the spice of Josh McDaniels going up against the Patriots where he served under Bill Belicheck for several years as offensive coordinator. Najee’s utilization has been consistent, and he’s scored 4 touchdowns for the last 4 weeks. Mike also has options on his bench for the flex with Jerick McKinnon who is coming off of a monster game last week where he scored 33.9 fantasy points and has the same matchup as Pacheco against the Texans. He also has Chuba Hubbard who was more efficient last week than D’Onta Foreman with 14 rushes for 74 yards a touchdown. Will Brad’s CMC explode? Or will Josh Jacobs and Najee Harris get the ultimate revenge against Brad’s draft grades?
WR: Brad has #1 Wr Justin Jefferson who is coming off a monster 223 yard performance and faces the tough and scrappy Indy defense. Brad won’t bench JJ, but his expectations for this week are definitely lower. Brad also has #10 Jaylen Waddle. Waddle has had two bad games in a row and is averaging only 5.4 points per game over his last 3 games. This week he travels to Buffalo for a snow game on Saturday. We’ll see if Brad pivots or sticks with his top 2 wideouts. Mike has Target vacuum Chris Godwin against Cincy’s decent defense. He has 16. Tee Higgins @ Tampa Bay. Maybe. Tee hasn’t been healthy. Last game he played 1 snap. His hammy is messed up. Mike will most likely need to turn to Diontae Johnson. His upside has been limited by the Steelers lack of offensive production, but over the last 5 weeks he’s gotten at least 5 target in each game and at least 4 catches in each game, setting up a decent floor for Mike. Mike could also turn to Donovan People-Jones who has scored in double digits 4 out of the last 5 games including last week where he caught 8 balls on 12 targets for 114 yards and 18.4 fantasy points.
TE: Brad has a tough decision on athletic freak #10 David Njoku against Baltimore or rookie Greg Dulcich who has a great matchup against Arizona (#31 OPRK), but will most likely have Brett Rypien at Qb this week. In the last two games that Njoku has played he has scored a touchdown, so Brad will probably ride the hot hand. Mike also has a choice between #15 Dalton Schultz and #12 Gerald Everett. Both have good matchups. Schultz has Jacksonville who gave up a touchdown to Okonkwo last week. Or Everett who is facing a Titans team that was just destroyed by Evan Engram last week.
D/ST: Brad has #5 Buffalo going up against the potent Miami offense in a snow game. Brad will monitor weather conditions and make a determination as he gets closer to kick off on Saturday. Mike has #1 NE who gets their former offensive coordinator’s squad in Josh McDaniels. I’m sure New England will be motivated to stop him.
K: Brad has #T1 Kicker Tyler Bass in the snow game against Miami. What could go wrong? Mike has #T1 Kicker Daniel Carlson in that New England matchup. He’s been money this year if the Raiders can move the ball and get him in range.
Super Bowl 1 Rematch. Let’s do this.
Bottom Bowl Preview:
8.Kenny (6-8) vs. 7. Jen (6-8)
This looks familiar. Kenny and Jen rematch to see who goes to Game 1 of Round 2 of the Bottom Bowl. That means the winner of this game will be guaranteed at least 3 balls in the draft lottery next year. The loser is guaranteed nothing.
10.Joe (6-8) vs. 9. Trey (6-8)
Big game. Winner is guaranteed at least 3 balls in the draft lottery. The loser is eliminated from Game 1 of Round 3, which means the most balls they could win is 4. A lot at stake for the draft lottery next year in this matchup.
12.Katon (3-11) vs. 11. Scotty (3-11)
The winner will move on to Game 2 of Round 2, which has a chance to make it to Game 1 of Round 3 to battle for 6 balls. The loser will be in Game 3 of Round 2, meaning they can’t get more than 4 balls in the draft lottery. Keep fighting!
Best of luck!
-Commish
fantasyfootballbrad 