The Keepers Fantasy Football XVI playoffs are about to begin! Congratulations to the 6 teams that qualified and now have a chance at taking home that trophy for the first time and for some of you getting back that trophy that you have been missing for awhile! This is about as wide-open of a field that I can remember and yes we might have a clear cut favorite in Bossman right now based on record but come playoff time you start looking at the overall body of work and that is points scored throughout the season. The difference between the top scoring team and the lowest scoring team of the 4 teams playing in this weekends wild card round is 76.66 points! That is about as close as it gets. The difference in scoring between the #1 and #2 seeds is 59.49 points. Needless to say I think we are in for a fun three weeks as we look to crown a new champion!
(3) Big Papa vs (6) DaUnderdog
Big Papa comes into the playoffs on a role. They have won five straight games and they will look to keep that momentum going against DaUnderdog who has failed to score over 100 points in each of the past two weeks. There is definitely something to be said about momentum heading into the playoffs however I also think that teams can flip the proverbial “switch” when the playoffs hit and play on a whole new level. I get the sense that Big Papa has been playing about as good as they are capable of playing over the last 5 weeks. The question becomes can they keep it up for the next three weeks in the playoffs! DaUnderdog is hoping that they can get their team to respond after the two less then impressive performances the last two weeks! This is a team that has shown they can score with anyone but that also includes the teams that only score 80 points a game so not ideal in that scenario! They are going to need to come out firing on all cylinders if they want to get past a hot Big Papa team!
Prediction:
The QB position this week is looking quite close. Mahomes (Big Papa) is up against R. Wilson (DaUnderdog) and normally I would side towards Mahomes but going up against NE in NE is a tough task. I consider the QB spot even.
Landry, J. Brown and R. Anderson for Big Papa vs Ridley, Sutton and Lockett for DaUnderdog at the WR position. Three weeks ago I would have said this was easily a win for DaUnderdog however Lockett’s poor play lately and J. Brown’s emergence have me questioning that… I still think however I will give a slight edge at the WR position to DaUnderdog.
We move to the RB position and we have Henry and Gurley for Big Papa vs Mixon and Cook for DaUnderdog. This is the interesting one as Cook is stating he will for sure play but in a game that you expect MN to win rather easily you wonder how much will he play assuming that he won’t be 100%. On the other side of the ball you have Henry who you could argue is playing as good as any other RB in the league right now. Given the uncertainty with Cook I am going to give the edge to Big Papa at the RB position.
At the TE spot we have H. Henry (DaUnderdog) vs K. Rudolph (Big Papa). Rudolph has had a really great last 4 weeks and it is hard to ignore that production but ultimately H. Henry is 25+ point game guy waiting to happen and I expect a big game from him this week, advantage to DaUnderdog.
At the flex, Big Papa is going with C. Beasley and DaUnderdog is leaving that a mystery at this point. Beasley has been very consistent this season so given I have no idea for DaUnderdog I am going with Big Papa with the edge here.
And then their are the rest (K, DEF, D), I am going to give the edge here to Big Papa. So who does this mean I am picking to win? It is hard for me to do this because I feel I have picked against Big Papa a lot this season but I think DaUnderdog gets the upset here. The big factor for me in this one is D. Cook. If he plays and plays a full game I expect him to have a monster game and I expect that to be the difference in addition I think the combination of Lockett and Wilson will be solid and ultimately lead them to a victory come Sunday night! Which would mean that DaUnderdog would move on to play the #1 seed Bossman!
(4) pack slayer vs (5) HHH
pack slayer enters the playoffs on a bit of a low note as they failed to score 100 points for just the second time all season last week. HHH on the other hand won 3 of their last 4 games including a big win over Rapids Plungers to gain a lot of momentum entering the playoffs. pack slayer enters this playoffs with an eye on revenge as they still have a sour taste in their mouth from last season’s Super Bowl loss. Despite the loss last season they gained a ton of experience that should help them as they look to go deep into the playoffs again this season. HHH finished as they #5 seed last season and were knocked out by the eventual champion BIGBOY! in the first round. Also if we go back to the 2016 season, HHH finished as the #2 seed which brought with it a first round bye but they were knocked out that year by the eventual champion in BIGBOY! again. So if the last two years are any indication either HHH is going to win the championship or whoever beats them will. pack slayer you get the first shot at it!
Prediction:
Let’s first take a look at the QB position. HHH is starting T. Brady while pack slayer is going with M. Ryan. I don’t necessarily trust either of these QB’s this week however I think Brady is going to post numbers as they try to keep up with the high flying Chiefs offense. I am going with a slight edge to HHH. The WR position has M. Jones Jr, D. Adams and AJ Brown for HHH vs D. Samuel, M, Thomas and D. Johnson for pack slayer. This is another close one because M. Thomas is going against a tough niners D while D. Adams gets the lowly Redskins. I think this ends up being really close but I will go with pack slayer here. Now to the RB’s, HHH will be starting M. Ingram and A. Jones while pack slayer counters with Fournette and M. Gordon. Right now, I trust Fournette and Gordon more then Jones and Ingram however if the Packers decide to use Jones like they should this could easily swing in HHH’s direction. Right now the edge to pack slayer. The TE position is a bit easier to handicap as Kittle and pack slayer have the edge here over HHH and M. Andrews. In the FLEX or TE2 spot we have two more TE’s starting for each team which is interesting for sure. HHH is going with Cook while pack slayer will be starting G. Olsen as of now. I think Cook and HHH get the edge here. Lastly we have the (K, DEF and D) I am going to give the edge to pack slayer here. So now that we have all of that figured out who wins? I think pack slayer gets the win in this one. There are two key players for HHH that are capable of BIG games and that is Jones and Adams. If those two deliver over 45 points combined then I think HHH would pull off the upset. I am not confident they do that this week. Pack slayer moves on!