We are now down to four remaining teams who will battle it out for the championship. Three of those teams are striving for their first ever championship while the other Bossman is looking for his third. Will the experience of Bossman and their exceptional season continue? Will Rapids Plungers do something they have rarely done in the playoffs which is win a game? Can pack slayer repeat last week’s performance? Can Big Papa keep their hot streak alive all the way to the Super Bowl? All this and more in this week’s Final Four preview!
(1) Bossman vs (4) pack slayer
Bossman has been itching to bring their squad back out to the field after having a week break. Despite the 11-2 record and the #1 seed in the playoffs this is a team that wants to win another championship. They won championships in the 2008 and 2015 season and will be looking to add 2019 to that list! They have done everything right this season from the draft room, to in season pickups, to playing the right players at the right time. It has been one of those exciting seasons that make you love fantasy football even more if you are the coach of Bossman. However, if they are not able to take this all the way and get that championship I think there will be some big time disappointment felt despite all the regular season accolades.
pack slayer has been quietly doing what they have done the past two seasons and that is win enough in the regular season and then play their best come playoff time. They had what I would call a quiet 8-5 season and then had the best performance of the Wild card round in the playoffs. They have been in this position before but they too are not satisfied with getting to the playoffs and winning a couple of games. They want that championship and anything less would be a disappointment!
Prediction / Analysis
Let’s go through this to see who comes out on top this week. At the QB position we have Matt Ryan for pack slayer and right now J. Winston for Bossman. I say right now because of his injury but for the sake of the prediction I am going to assume he plays. Matt Ryan has a tough matchup at SF and Winston goes up against a Detroit secondary that two weeks ago made Trubisky look like a MVP candidate. I have to go with Winston and Bossman to have the edge here.
Now to the WR position, Bossman will be starting Tyreek Hill, Julian Edelman and Darius Slayton while pack slayer counters with Michael Thomas, Deebo Samuel and Diontae Johnson. Michael Thomas is the best WR without a doubt but Bossman has a formidable WR in Hill who could match points OR the downside is he could score 5! Slayton and Edelman have easy opponents in Mia and Cin while Johnson may have a tough time against the Bills. Samuel I expect to be solid against Atlanta. I think Bossman has three players with strong plays this week whereas I am less confident in pack slayers WR’s outside of Thomas of course. I am going with Bossman to have a slight edge at the WR spot.
The RB position has really turned into a strength for pack slayer and they will be starting Leonard Fournette and Melvin Gordon this week. Bossman will be starting Ezekial Elliott and Phillip Lindsay. Elliott of course is the guy that scares you for Bossman but both Gordon and Fournette are capable of big games. Gordon however is going up against a MN defense that has given up the 5th fewest points to RB’s this season. I still trust those two a bit more and will give the edge to pack slayer.
The TE position is George Kittle for pack slayer vs Austin Hooper for Bossman. You look at this and you say.. oh this is easily an edge for pack slayer and Kittle right? Well, not so fast.. and not because Hooper is really slow but because he actually has played really well this season. If you look at scoring for the year Hooper actually finished 2 points ahead of Kittle and he missed three games to Kittle’s 2. Looking purely at the #’s you might think Hooper is the better TE…I get it though all that people can see is Kittle carrying three guys down the field while someone is trying to rip his helmet off! The fun part about this one is that Kittle and Hooper will be on the same field together so that adds a little more intrigue. All that said, I like Kittle and pack slayer to come out on top mainly because the 49ers D is awesome and Atlanta’s is not.
Now to the Flex Spot. I find this one interesting because Bossman is starting Ekeler and pack slayer starting Mostert. I think pack slayer should have moved Gordon to the flex so we can see which SD running back comes out on top! For now though we have Mostert and Ekeler and I like Ekeler in this one. I expect that Chargers are not going to be able to run the ball exceptionally well against MN which means a lot of catches for Ekeler. The edge here goes to Bossman.
And lastly the K, DEF, & D, this looks like a close one but the glaring difference right now is the DEF as the 49ers are head and shoulders above the Texans. I am going to give the edge to Bossman.
So there you have the analysis but in looking at the players it became clear that one particular NFL game is going to play a huge factor in who wins this matchup. That is the 49ers vs Atlanta game. pack slayer has a total of 4 players (M. Ryan, D. Samuel, G. Kittle & R. Mostert) while Bossman only has 2 players (SF DEF and A. Hooper). I am sure both teams will be keeping an eye on that one!
And the team moving on to the Super Bowl is… Bossman! I don’t expect a similar performance from pack slayer this week. Although, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them come out on top I think the better roster goes to Bossman and I think they figure out a way to win like they have all season.
(2) Rapids Plungers vs (3) Big Papa
Rapids Plungers has been waiting for this moment all season. There successes in the regular season were highlighted before the season began and they continued that success this season with a 9-4 record and a first round bye. We now though have entered the danger zone… queue up the images of Maverick and Goose, fighter jets and that bald guy spilling his coffee, what was his name? I think I need to watch that movie again! Ok, sorry for the slight squirrel moment, where was I. Oh yeah, I was talking about how Rapids Plungers has struggled to carry their success over to the Post season but they will be looking to get that monkey off of their back and get rid of the mantle that is unfortunately becoming a big part of their team which is “Can’t win when it matters most” and that is in the playoffs. I expect them to come out motivated and ready but if they get down early expect some of that pressure to play a factor here whether they would admit to it or not. Big Papa just continues to win and I get the sense that they are coming into this one with very little pressure even though they have yet to win a championship and that has to be on the back of their minds. I don’t think that will become an issue until the next round if they can figure out a way to take down Rapids Plungers this week. This is going to be a great game!
Prediction / Analysis
The QB position is first and we have Patrick Mahomes for Big Papa vs Josh Allen for Rapids Plungers. There isn’t too much to analyze here as this is a clear edge to Big Papa and if they are going to win this game they need Mahomes to dominate. Edge goes to Mahomes and Big Papa.
The WR position has been a strength all year for Rapids Plungers and they will be starting Chris Godwin, Cooper Kupp, and DeAndre Hopkins this week vs Jarvis Landry, John Brown and Robby Anderson. Hmmm…. this is the David vs Goliath position in this matchup and I don’t think Big Papa would need to win this position to win the game but I do think they need to be close. The edge clearly goes to Rapids Plungers, not to mention Mike Evans and his over 1000 yards receiving are no longer contending with Chris Godwin’s touches this is setting up nicely for Rapids Plungers. If you are Big Papa you find the positive and assume that Godwin gets double teamed all game and Perriman has the monster game!
Moving on to the RB position, Todd Gurley and Derrick Henry for Big Papa vs Alvin Kamara and Patrick Laird. Gurley’s useage has been going up as we get later in the season and the Rams need to win so I expect them to feed him the ball. Henry has been great the last 5 weeks and I expect more of the same from him. Kamara is a home run hitter and to keep using the baseball analogy where a non-homerun is a out then he is batting 1/11. He only had one what I would call a homerun week in which he scored 30 points. It certainly could happen this week but I will go with the odds and say it doesn’t. Big Papa wins this category.
Next up we have the TE’s, Big Papa is starting Kyle Rudolph while Rapids Plungers is hoping to feature Evan Engram for the first time since week 9 due to injury. If Engram plays he has a great matchup against the Dolphins, Rudolph has been decent but he is very TD dependent. I am concerned with Engram playing so I am going to go with Big Papa to win this category.
Let’s go to the flex position where Big Papa is starting Cole Beasley and Rapids Plungers is countering with Christian Kirk. Cole Beasley has been really good for Big Papa, he isn’t flashy but he has provided consistent points all season and he will be getting thrown to from Josh Allen the QB of Rapids Plungers. Christian Kirk offers much higher upside here and in a good match up against Cleveland. I like Kirk and Rapids Plungers here.
Now to the rest (K, DEF, & D), these are always difficult to predict but I like the eagles D against Washington and Zuerlein to have a big game in Dallas. Big Papa with the edge.
So in looking at all of the individual positions I picked Big Papa 4 times and Rapids Plungers twice so I guess that means that Big Papa should win? Not necessarily, of the 4 positions I have Big Papa winning I think 3 of them are close with the QB position I expect to be easily won by Big Papa. The thing I look at and makes it difficult for me to pick against Rapids Plungers is how good their WR’s are and how average Big Papa’s seem to be. Hence the David vs Goliath analogy. If anyone knows a thing or too about David’s taking down Goliath’s it might be Big Papa and his chosen profession (outside of being a fantasy football coach). Rapids Plungers and their playoff woes scare me and not to mention how they closed out the season. Ah why not? I am going with Big Papa to upset Rapids Plungers and make a trip to the Super Bowl!
Good luck to each of the 4 teams and enjoy the weekend!