We are now down to the final four teams! Wild card weekend is fun but this is always one of my favorite weekends as it usually falls around Christmas time so in addition to the fantasy playoffs and all that goes on with that we usually have meaningful football being played in real life along with good food and family time. What could be better then that? This years final four is one of experience and teams that have all won a championship and in the case of three of the teams they have all won multiple championships. These 4 teams combined have won 9 championships! We are in year 20 which means after this season these 4 teams will have combined to win 1/2 of the league championships! Not only have these four teams all won championships but they have had A LOT of success in general as these are the top 4 teams in regular season winning percentage! With all that said this may very well be the toughest final four we have ever seen and I can’t wait to get it going!
(1) Bossman vs (5) BIGBOY!
BIGBOY! is coming off their best week of the entire season and they saved it for the perfect time… The playoffs! Some teams can turn it on when they need to and it makes me wonder is this that team that struggled to find points all season long and then the playoffs come and they finally are healthy and start dominating all the way to a championship? Or was this the team that overachieved last week and will come crashing back to earth with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line? We will find out soon as they go up against the top team in the league pretty much all season. Bossman once again had another stellar regular season. This is their 5th straight playoff appearance and if they win this game it will be their 4th trip to the Super Bowl in 5 years! That is really impressive in any league but that much more impressive in a re-draft league! The one thing they haven’t done however in this last 5 years is actually win a Super Bowl. Can they do it this season against this stacked final four? Let’s dive into the preview to see who comes out on top and gets to the Super Bowl!
PREVIEW
As always let’s start with the QB position. We have R. Wilson for BIGBOY! going up against J. Hurts for Bossman. Ever since BIGBOY! lost K. Cousins to injury this has been a tough position for them to fill. They have the weakest QB of all 4 teams remaining so if they get good production from this position this week that would go a long ways toward winning and losing. Hurts for Bossman hasn’t been himself over the past 5 games. He has had one real solid performance (34 points) but outside of that if it wasn’t for the tush push or whatever they are calling it now he would be a below average QB. Yes below average, and actually well below as in the past 5 games he has had 7 rushing TD’s and only 4 passing TD’s which 3 of those came in that one good game against buffalo. So if we remove that big game he has had 1 passing TD and 5 rushing TD’s in the past 4 games. If we take that one step farther and I take away all of Hurts rushing TD’s in those 4 games he would be averaging a measly 6 points per game! Ok, so I know part of the reason Hurts is good for fantasy is because of the rushing TD upside however if for some reason the Eagles RB’s stop tripping at the 1 yard line Bossman and Hurts could get outscored by R. Wilson. I said a lot for one position to come back and tell you I think Hurts has a solid game and outscores Wilson giving the edge to Bossman at the QB position.
The WR position is interesting, BIGBOY! is rolling with Waddle / Kupp and London while Bossman has Lamb, Nacua and Addison. Waddle and Kupp came to life last week for BIGBOY! but I expect Hill back which could limit Waddle and Kupp is in a bit tougher matchup however he seems to be getting back to his matchup proof self in just the right time for BIGBOY! Bossman has arguably the best WR in the game right now with C. Lamb, who is up against MIA so if this game gets into a shootout it could benefit both as Waddle and Lamb could have big days. Bossman has Nacua who has been relatively quiet lately and that coincides exactly with Kupp’s big games. We haven’t seen both Kupp and Nacua have a big game together much at all this season so this will be an interesting one to watch. Kupp vs Nacua. Bossman also has Addison coming off one of his best games of the season. I don’t think it is a coincidence that it comes with Jefferson returning to the lineup and teams putting so much emphasis on stopping him. That does bode well for Bossman. This one is really close but I think I like BIGBOY! just a bit more at the WR position. I think Kupp keeps things going and Waddle has another solid day. The edge at WR goes to BIGBOY!
The RB position has gotten much better for BIGBOY! over the course of the last few weeks and it is really due to the emergence of their rookie RB J. Gibbs. He has had some up and down type of games still which I think is going to happen as long as D. Montgomery is there but they are giving him more touches and he is turning those into really great production. Also, K. Walker had one of his better games of the season last week as well which was a good sight for BIGBOY! Bossman has what most thought would be one of the top RB’s in the league in A. Ekeler but he has been a major disappointment really throughout the season. He can make up for all of that with a strong last two games! Bossman’s 2nd RB is D. Montgomery which like the WR’s of Kupp / Nacua we have two backs from the same team going head to head in Montgomery vs Gibbs. Again a really close one here as I have no idea what to think of Ekeler this week and given how the Chargers looked against the Vikings I don’t trust them or the workload Ekeler is going to get. I am going with BIGBOY! with a slight edge at RB.
The TE position is a good one as we have Kittle for BIGBOY! against Hockenson for Bossman. Kittle has been solid but like usual he is a all or nothing type of play. When he has a big game he usually has a really big game (20ish points) but if he doesn’t get in the end zone he usually doesn’t get enough targets to get you more then 6 or 7 points. Hockenson is slightly different in that he can get you a 20 point game without the TD’s. He has had 6 or more targets in all but one game this season and he has had 4 games where he was over double digits. I like Hockenson this week over Kittle and the edge to Bossman.
Lastly, the flex spot. R. Rice seems to finally be getting the #1 WR type of role in KC which is a huge development for BIGBOY! He has been really solid over the last 4 weeks scoring in double figures each game. Bossman right now is going with N Brown at the flex however I get the feeling that if any position could change it would be this one for them. The edge though is going to BIGBOY! as I like R. Rice this week.
I am not going to get into the K/DEF/D positions so that’s it. Who wins? This is really tough as I could make a strong case for both teams however I can’t unsee what BIGBOY! just did last week against DaUnderdog and the last time Bossman played a meaningful game they scored 99 points and barely beat the worst team in the league. Not to mention they had a three game losing streak coming into that game. I am going to go with the upset and pick BIGBOY! to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2018 season!
(2) Pack Attack vs (3) Rapids Plungers
Pack Attack is back in the playoffs after a 6 year drought (the longest of their career). The last they were in the playoffs was the 2016 season which is also when they won their last championship. I talked about in last weeks preview but this Rapids Plungers team just doesn’t miss the playoffs. Winning in the playoffs has been the challenge but getting that first win last week may be the start of another championship season!? These two GM’s have been in many fantasy battles in the past and not just in this league. They also go head to head in a league run by Rapids Plungers and also a fantasy baseball league (yes, fantasy baseball). Win or lose it won’t be because they didn’t put the time into evaluating all angles of the week ahead. These two teams have met in the playoffs three times (2009/2013/2016) with Pack Attack winning 2 of those. The last time was actually the last time Pack Attack was in the playoffs and that was 2016. This should be a good game!
PREVIEW
It is hard for me to do a real great preview without putting in some bias but I am going to do my best to just look at the matchups objectively. Here we go.
At the QB position we have Josh Allen for Pack Attack and Justin Fields for Rapids Plungers. If you just heard those two names it would probably be easy to say Allen would have the edge but I do think this is a really good matchup for Fields. In fact it pains me to say this but it is so good that it wouldn’t surprise me to see Fields come out on top in this one. Both QB’s seem like top 5 plays. So of course I would pick Allen with the edge but I think this one is really close.
The WR position could be the make or break position for both teams. Pack Attack has battled injuries all season long to key positions and once again is dealing with that here for a chance at the Super Bowl. When healthy, the trio of K. Allen, J. Jefferson and M. Pittman feels like one of the top in the league however they could possibly be without both Pittman and Allen this week which would mean Higgins and Z. Flowers would be starting. That’s not bad but certainly not the same as Pittman/Allen. Rapids Plungers has quite possibly the hottest WR in the league in D. Samuel. He has been on fire the last 4 weeks averaging 25.72 points during that span. If there is any worry it would be that he has scored a ridiculous 8 TD’s in the past 4 weeks and the previous 8 games he has played this season he only scored a total of 3 and in an offense like the 49ers where there are a lot of mouths to feed those TD’s become very important. Rapids Plungers also has S. Diggs who has had a disappointing second half of the season. If they could get both Diggs and Deebo going at the same time watch out! Currently Rapids Plungers has Z. Jones in but I am not sure he will be able to play this week due to injury. A lot of ?’s here. If Allen / Pittman go the edge would go to Pack Attack. If one of them are out I think it makes this position even, if both are out the edge is with Rapids Plungers.
The RB Position right now is K. Williams and D Swift vs CMC and Bijan Robinson. CMC has been in a league of his own this season but if there is any back you can try and make a case for that has been at least in the conversation I think that would be K. Williams. Williams despite missing 4 games due to injury is the #3 back in the league and if we just looked at ppg average it is CMC at 22.87 and K. Williams at 20.27. Am I saying that K. Williams outscores CMC this week. Nope. I think it is highlighting the fact that these may be the best two RB’s in the league this season. After that we have Bijan Robinson for Rapids Plungers and D. Swift for Pack Attack. Bijan is coming off a terrible game and Swift hasn’t got over the 10 point mark for 4 straight weeks. The RB position edge has to be with Rapids Plungers. By default if you have CMC you get the edge.
The TE position has been surprisingly a strength for Pack Attack ever since Week 8 when McBride burst onto the scene. He has played in 7 games since then and has scored over 18 points 4 times and only failed to score double digits twice. That is solid from a mid season free agent pickup at TE. The similar story can be said for Rapids Plungers and I. Likely. He took over when M. Andrews went down and was fairly quiet until the last two weeks where he has put up double digit #’s. I like both TE’s but the McBride and Pack Attack should have the edge here.
The Flex position certainly could change as injury news comes to light but right now we have T. Higgins for Pack Attack vs M. Brown for Rapids Plungers. Higgins will benefit this week with Chase being out and M Brown while he is a home run threat waiting to happen he has struggled the second half of the season largely due in part to injury. He did get 12 targets last game so maybe this is the week he breaks out? I like Higgins and Pack Attack here.
Well that’s it. I am not going to pick the winner but if the preview is any indication I would expect a hard fought game. If anyone wants to chime in on Facebook with their predictions let’s hear it!
Good luck to all 4 teams. May all your guys stay healthy and be ready to play this week (ok, well I am really hoping this for my team) :).
Merry Christmas and enjoy the games!