The Championship Rounds

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

All year long it has been Brent and Sean leading the pack at number one and two. Fantasy is full of luck and surprises so I am surprised that these two teams are meeting in this week's championship game. All it takes is one bad week or one player not pulling his weight for a team to lose. That is why we play week in and week out; you just never know.

As it stands as of this exact moment in time, Yahoo predicts that Brent will win, by just over 10 points. His advantages are his QB, RBs, and DEF. Which is three of the five positions which is not good for Sean. Lets look at each position. Brent's guys are going to highlighted in green and Sean's players will be in red. 

QB breakdown: Both teams QBs, Palmer and Manning, are having stellar years and are top ten fantasy QBs (each has thrown 32 TDs), but are slated to start and face decent defenses. Palmer is coming off his worst fantasy performance last week and will look to bounce back at home vs the Packers. He hasn't had stellar historical outings against a Rodger led Packers, going 1-1 and has thrown 4 TDs and 6 INTs in just two games. Maybe the third time is the charm? 

Losing Odell Beckham is definitely going to hurt the deep throws for Eli Manning, who has accounted for 40% of his TDs and almost 36% of his passing yards. While he does like check down and go to his RBs you can replace Odell. His history against the Vikings is not bright: going 2-4 and a TD/INT ratio of 4/11. 

Who wins this matchup? Brent 

RBs: Right now the biggest question mark is why Hightower getting the start for Mustache salad. He is getting more touches than Spiller and is facing a lack luster defense in Jacksonville, but has had relatively few games under his belt. However, he had a 15 point game against Tampa, which is pretty much the same team as Jacksonville, right? Plus, the Yahoo algorithms are pretty high on him projecting him to score over 13 points. 

Speaking of favorable match-ups, Abdullah is facing one of the worst teams in the league, my San Francsico 49ers. I think this could be a bigger day for him than current projected. I think Murray will have a nice outing against a Chargers team that has said goodbye to both its playoff chances and city. 

Finally, Freeman is facing the red hot Panthers, who held him to a season low of just over five points. This is interesting to me because the Falcons seem to always start great and fall horrifically at the end. Its a burning ship and he hasn't been that been consistently impressive since week 3 through 9.  

Currently Brent has an eight point advantage here, but this has the potential to be much different on both spectrums. I may have already given away where I would place my bet, but I can see this matchup much more favorable for Sean. 

Who wins this matchup? Push

DEF: Denver has been one of the best defensive teams in the league and has had some BIG games this year. They face a Cincy team that is without their Red Rifle QB and are starting AJ McCarron. I can see Denver taking advantage of McCarron and scoring big. Baltimore's defense isn't the defense you were used to seeing a few years ago. They have been pedestrian at best and face the potent Pittsburgh Steelers. Look for Big Ben to attack vertically with Brown and Bryant. 

Who wins this matchup? Brent 

Other notable notes: The TE matchup could be key here with Gronk and Walker. Both players can put up big numbers. 

As far as the Kicking game, I can see Crosby getting quite a few chances to kicking from distance against a stout Cardinals team. On the other side Gano has had some monster games, but I just don't see Atlanta being difficult to score on...

The WRs I am most interested is Sanders who will be getting even more looks from Osweiler based on his monster 31 point performance last week. 

Who ya got? This is a tough call. I think we finally have the two best teams in the league facing each other. Both teams put up solid numbers last week at 119. However, I think this comes down to explosiveness and this is something I have got on Sean about most of this season. I take Brent, but I think its going to be really close. 

THIRD PLACE

Fitting that two Rookies meet in the Bronze matchup. These teams stats are almost identical, with Dan having the edge in regular season +/- differential at 254 v 184. Jamie finished the regular season a little stronger with points scored, but Dan has beaten his Yahoo projections seven times, three more than Jamie. 

The biggest question for Jamie is: who do I start at QB? With the number one and two players in Newton and Brady, he is a pickle. Newton has just been unreal the past few weeks (scores the last three weeks 46, 31 - against Atlanta, 50). Brady has been solid as well, but hasn't been like Newton. He did put up 34 against the Jets in Week 7 and is projected to hit ~28. 

Dan has placed his bets heavily on the Pats Jets game, with three of his players in that game. Decker and Marshall hope that Fitzpatrick can continue to surprise and get them the ball. 

CONSOLATION BRACKET

Look, you and I both know that winning this is about as cool as winning tickets to a 76ers game... that you have to pay the surcharge for... The hottest team in the bracket is Cameron's Wataaaaah! Eliminating the best team that never was last week was huge. He is on three game win streak and is looking to obtain some hardware. All Day Some Days is projected to win and has beaten his projections eight times. 

This game comes down to the Seattle v St. Louis game. If Russell wilson can continue to play out of his mind and get the ball to Baldwin and Lockett (all three play for Wataaaaah!) he will capture the W.