Bossman (5-3) vs Pack Attack (1-7)
On a normal year this is one of your best rivalry games and with a lot at stake in a week 9 matchup. Bossman has done their part by being right in the thick of the playoff race through 9 weeks but Pack Attack has seemingly forgotten that in order for a game to be considered a rivalry or have meaning they actually need to have won some games! This game does have some importance however as Bossman who is right now in the middle of the playoff pack needs to win the games they “should” win as they go up against U Don’t Know next week. Wins the next two weeks and this team could be talking about the possibility of a first round bye. Losses the next two weeks and the narrative shifts to needing wins to sneak into the playoffs.
Prediction:
Check out the Yahoo predictions for this one!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 16
- Record: Advantage Pack Attack at 10-6
- PPG Avg: Advantage Pack Attack 130.15 vs 121.04
BIGBOY! (4-4) vs 16hrs Ahead of You!! (3-5)
As we talked about last week BIGBOY! got the huge win against Rapids Plungers to stop their three game losing streak and set themselves up for a real chance at not just making the playoffs but pushing their way up the leaderboard. That push needs to start this week as they go up against a 16hrs team that is in desperate need of a win. 16hrs has lost two in a row and last week’s loss was one of their worst performances of the year. They need to turn things around and they need to do it fast if they want any chance at making the playoffs. This is an extremely important game for both teams which makes it one I will be watching closely throughout the weekend. Will BIGBOY! keep building on the momentum from last week’s win or will 16hrs get the win and remaining in the conversation for that ever elusive (for this team) playoff spot?
Prediction:
I took a quick glance at the lineups and I saw that 16hrs would be without D. Henderson (bye week) who hasn’t been anything special but he has potential and knowing how decimated this team has been at RB I didn’t think there would be anyway I would consider them for the win. However, I started looking closer at the players and I actually think they have a shot. I think 16hrs is likely going to be in the 100 to 120 range depending on who they find to replace Henderson in their starting lineup and they have some players who could be sneaky good plays this week like J. McKinnon, Ebron and Beasley. For BIGBOY! I see mostly the opposite. They have the more well known names and guys with greater potential but I am not sure I see it this week. Brady vs NO seems like a tough one, Zeke is going to be the focus for teams to stop with nothing to worry about at QB.. OH and he is going up against the Steelers. It actually wouldn’t surprise me if T. Pollard outscores Zeke this week. Then there is C. Carson who I am not sure what his status will be so with all that said I see even fewer points for BIGBOY! I am picking the upset here and going with 16hrs to find a way to get the win.
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 10
- Record: Advantage BIGBOY! at 8-2
- PPG Avg: Advantage BIGBOY! 124.46 to 98.98
Big Papa (5-3) vs HHH (4-4)
There are a number of games that I will be keeping close eye on and this is one of them for sure. HHH has been struggling and they are waiting on pins and needles to see if A. Jones is back this week or will he be out for the third straight week. HHH needs to find a way to win this one and stop this three game losing streak! If they can, their schedule actually sets up rather nicely for rattling off a few wins in a row and strengthening their playoff positioning. If they lose, they are going to need to rattle off those wins just to get into the playoffs! Big Papa interestingly enough only lost their last game by 1.58 points. We knew it was a close game but then there was a stat correction and pack slayer lost 5.05pts due to that correction which made the game that much closer. I know a loss is a loss but that is one that might come back to haunt them as they only would have needed to score 83 points to get the win. Big Papa will be looking to get back into the win column and in doing so staying at the top of the standings while HHH is looking to avoid a full on free fall which prior to this losing streak had them being looked at as one of the better teams in the league.
Prediction:
The biggest question marks come down to the RB’s on both teams. There is rumors out there that both K. Drake (Big Papa RB) and A. Jones (HHH RB) will be playing this week but that is also followed up with a lot of uncertainty especially for Drake as it looks unlikely at this point that he will go. If A. Jones does play he is in line for a big day against a banged up 49ers defense and team as a whole oh and not to mention that the Packers 2nd and 3rd string RB’s won’t be playing so if Jones is in he is likely in for a solid workload. For the sake of predicting the game, I am going to assume both Drake and Jones are out. There are players on both teams that I really like this week but there are two players in particular for HHH that I think will lead them to victory. Those two players are D. Hopkins and J. Jefferson. Jefferson is coming off a quiet game against GB which saw him matched up against J. Alexander and not to mention Cousins only threw the ball 14 times. While D. Hopkins is rested and coming off his bye week so it is easy to forget he is coming off his best game since week 1. I like A. Gibson for Big Papa and D. Parker seems like a good matchup which I would like a bit more if Fitzmagic was still throwing him the ball. I am going with HHH to break their losing streak and move both Big Papa and HHH into a tie!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 18
- Record: Advantage HHH at 10-8
- PPG Avg: Advantage HHH 119.30 to 113.03
pack slayer (3-5) vs Sportsfreak (1-7)
pack slayer is coming off a narrow win last week as mentioned in the preview above but this is a team that is hanging on by a thread… a very, very thin thread! They now are going up against a team that has one win on the season in Sportsfreak so you would think this is a good chance for them to get their 4th win of the season. The problem is that this Sportsfreak team is not as bad as their 1 win record may say which certainly doesn’t bode well for pack slayer. In talking about Sportsfreak they will likely get C. McCaffrey back for this game which is somewhat ironic given that pack slayer and Sportsfreak pulled off the biggest trade of the season which included swapping Kittle and McCaffrey. With the injury to Kittle it certainly looks like Sportsfreak got the best of this deal and how ironic McCaffrey’s first game back is against pack slayer! If Sportsfreak wins this one and does so because of McCaffrey’s performance I think it is safe to say that McCaffrey ruined pack slayer’s 2020 season! It kind of seems like pack slayer maybe should have considered trading McCaffrey to a team he has already played to avoid this?
Prediction:
So I think you may be able to tell who I am picking in this one given the preview portion of this matchup. What I didn’t mention is that pack slayer will also be without K. Hunt and C. Kupp in this one so I really don’t see a path to victory. Look for Sportsfreak to get win #2 on the season!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 9
- Record: Advantage pack slayer at 6-3
- PPG Avg: Advantage pack slayer 121.10 to 115.36
teamAlaska (6-2) vs Rapids Plungers (4-4)
GAME OF THE WEEK! This game lost a bit of it’s appeal as both of these teams are coming off tough losses last week. Rapids Plungers however was missing some key players due to bye or injury to they are hoping for a bounceback game this week. teamAlaska just had a dud of a game and they too will be looking for a bounceback performance. The fact that both teams are coming off a loss also maybe makes it a bit more important of a game. Given their records, it is far more important for Rapids Plungers as they do not want to fall back below .500 as they have worked hard over the past few weeks to claw their way back so a loss here would be tough. A win here though would prove what I have been saying for the last few weeks which is that the defending champs are coming and they are coming on strong! If teamAlaska can hold off the defending champs and move to 7-2 on the season it would only solidify their team as one of the favorites to win it all!
Prediction:
Neither of these teams will be at 100% full strength. teamAlaska will be without K. Golladay and Rapids Plungers will be without M. Sanders and T. Boyd. I still expect this to be one of the higher scoring games of the week as their are players all over the place that have high ceilings! R. Wilson is going to do his thing and put up big points this week which teamAlaska is going to need. I don’t love R. Anderson against a solid Chiefs D and T. Gurley’s usage was interesting last week and the same could be said with D. Singletary as Z. Moss is seemingly moving into more carries each week. I think C. Edmonds has a big game and I also like J. Dobbins this week. This game likely will come down to the play of D. Watson and W. Fuller. I think this needs to be a 45 pt duo for them to win this week and I am not sure that I trust them to do this. I expect this to be close, really close which for these two teams seems about right as historically they are about as close as you can get. 12 games, each team won 6 of those games and the ppg avg over those 12 games is within 0.61 points! I don’t expect that average to move much but I am going with teamAlaska to find a way to get win #7!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 12
- Record: Tied at 6-6
- PPG Avg: Advantage teamAlaska 113.68 to 113.07
U Don’t Know (7-1) vs PackerFANatic7 (4-4)
U Don’t Know got back to their winning ways last week and I am curious to know how they come out and play this week. I am also curious to see how PackerFANatic7 comes out and plays but for a different reason as they are coming off a tough loss to the previously winless Pack Attack team. I know they would want nothing more then to come out and “Totally redeem themself” by getting a win this week against the top team in the league. You might say that this is a far more important game for PackerFANatic7 then U Don’t Know. If you are thinking of just getting to the playoffs then of course that is true but for U Don’t Know this is about securing that first round bye and overall #1 seed with the first round bye being the most important! I am excited to see who comes out on top of this one.
Prediction:
This is another interesting game and one that based on the records you would think that the 7 win U Don’t Know team would run away with however in looking at the lineups I expect this to be a close game. I like both Herbert and Rodgers this week. I like Diggs and McLaurin. I don’t love M. Evans this week or J. Taylor against Bal. PackerFANatic7 is benefiting from this GB / SF game where no name players are likely to get some opportunities such as D. Williams for GB and R. James for SF. I think this one comes down to which Sea WR gets the 150 yards and 2TD game? The latest trend between these two WR’s would say this is T. Lockett’s turn for a monster game. I am just not 100% sure that holds true here. It very easily could, however I am going to go with DK to have the slightly better game this week and help U Don’t Know to get the W!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 3
- Record: Advantage PackerFANatic7 at 2-1
- PPG Avg: Advantage U Don’t Know 102.04 to 100.35
Starrfavrerodg (6-2) vs DaUnderdog (3-5)
Starrfavrerodg is on a roll! They have won three straight games and they are coming off their biggest win of the season last week! Not only that they are going for the “Keepers Sweep” and major bragging rights for their first season in the league. Keepers Sweep = beating all coaches with a last name of Keepers and now there is only one person left for them to take down and that is DaUnderdog and their coach Tyler Keepers. I know they are excited about the prospect of doing that but they have their eyes set on so much more this season as they want to continue their rise to the top of the standings and get one of those top two seeds! DaUnderdog got the much needed win last week but they are going to have their work cut out for them this week to get the W.
Prediction:
There is one shot that I see here for DaUnderdog. L. Jackson needs to have one of those games from last year that made him a first round pick this year. By one of those games I mean the very best game he had from last year which was 41.88! If he can pull that off then DaUnderdog has a chance but other then that happening I am not seeing a path to victory here for DaUnderdog and I expect that Starrfavrerodg keeps things rolling and gets win # 7!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: N/A
- Record: N/A
- PPG Avg: N/A