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Playoff Previews David v. Goliath

Tom Brady and Andrew Luck are expected to have below average performances against solid defenses, with Luck facing the #5 pass defense. Matt Forte and Demarco Murray of Goliath's team have good matchups against weak run defenses and should dominate, while Hill and Miller of David's team face tough challenges. Jordy Nelson, AJ Green, and Dez Bryant have good matchups for David against weaker pass defenses, giving him a slight advantage at WR-TE-Flex over Goliath. The 49ers defense gives Jacob an edge over the Colts defense. Overall the matchup is close but Forte and Murray could carry Goliath to victory if they perform well.

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56 views2 pages

Playoff Previews David v. Goliath

Tom Brady and Andrew Luck are expected to have below average performances against solid defenses, with Luck facing the #5 pass defense. Matt Forte and Demarco Murray of Goliath's team have good matchups against weak run defenses and should dominate, while Hill and Miller of David's team face tough challenges. Jordy Nelson, AJ Green, and Dez Bryant have good matchups for David against weaker pass defenses, giving him a slight advantage at WR-TE-Flex over Goliath. The 49ers defense gives Jacob an edge over the Colts defense. Overall the matchup is close but Forte and Murray could carry Goliath to victory if they perform well.

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Playoff Previews: David V.

Goliath
QBs: Tom Brady v. Andrew Luck:
When looking at the matchups between QBs you would honestly not expect either one to do
over the top awesome this week, when looking at previous matchups compared to this week it
would appear that this should be a less than stellar week. First we look at Brady, in weeks 8 and
9 when he had 2 of his 3 best games of the season (44 & 35). In those 2 matchups we saw Brady
vs. the #31 and #26 pass defenses, but we also saw Gronkowski vs the #31 and #27 defenses
against TEs. If there is anything Ive learned about Tom Brady it is when Gronk is on, Brady is on
or vice versa, one way or another the two of them are a package deal. So with that being said
we have Tom Brady vs. the #15 QB defense and Gronkowski against the #4 TE defense, odds are
that doesnt exactly bode well for the two of them. Now onto Andrew Luck, boasting a 30 point
projection means ESPN is showing some confidence in this guy, as they should, he is the #1 QB
for a reason. But with that being said he is definitely not set up for great success this week, in
weeks in which he plays against a defense that is worse against the run than they are against
the pass such as in games vs. Jacksonville and Cincinnati he has had games that are not near the
norm for Andrew Luck. This week vs. Cleveland Luck will be facing the #5 pass defense and the
#18 rush defense, Im not expecting Cleveland to shut him down, just thinking that maybe the
running game will get more work than it usually does, only one time has Cleveland given up
more than 19 points this year. Now with all of that being said Derek Carr carved San Diego and
Mettenberger/Locker dropped 37 on Cleveland so in other words these defenses are definitely
not bulletproof.especially against these 2 elite quarterbacks. So with all of that being said I
think Brady takes care of business this week and ends up topping Luck.
Advantage: David, narrowly

RBs: Hill and Miller v. Forte and Murray:


Hill and Miller are definitely not sitting in a position to win this matchup, with Bernard back
Hills value is decreasing and with the fact that both defenses these RBs face being good it looks
rough. Lamar Miller unfortunately is only averaging 15 touches per game over the last 3 weeks,
I just dont think that will be enough to have a productive fantasy day against the #1 run
defense. Unless Miller scores a touchdown or 2 then I see this being a long day for him
unfortunately. Jeremy Hill is not looking much better, in his previous 3 games in which Giovanni
Bernard has played he is averaging 16.6 touches per game, he has a chance to have a good day
against the #12 defense if he can get his ypc back up to normal and find some pay dirt. Now to
move on to the bread and butter of Goliaths team, Matt Forte and Demarco Murray have been
the #1 and #2 running backs all season long and even though their last 5 weeks have been not
as impressive as their previous weeks (16.6 DM, 17.4 MF) they are still dominating. I see them
both getting back to how they were previously this week as their teams face each other on
Thursday night football. In the past 5 weeks the Cowboys have given up 24.4 ppg on average to
opposing RBs, in comparison the Oakland Raiders who are currently #32 against the run give up
on average 24.3 ppg. I see Forte having a monster game because he is good on the ground and
through the air, and for Murray I think that he will continue his #1 RB ways and dominate the
Bears who just gave up 31 points to Lions running backs last week. Forte and Murray are a lock
for good games, and unless Hill and Miller can pull a rabbit out of their hats I see this one going

the way of Goliath, and fairly convincing too.


Advantage: Goliath, by a lot

WR-TE-Flex: Jordy, AJ, Dez, Olsen v. Brown, Benjamin, Sankey, Fleener:


Its not often that you get 4 WRs in a matchup that all have the potential to be the #1 overall
WR, but when 3 of them are on the same team sometimes its inevitable. If you take the
average score of games in which AJ Green has played in youll get 14.5 which would be good
enough to be the #10 WR, Dez Bryant is #6 and Jordy Nelson is #3 and all 3 have above average
matchups this week (#17, #23 and #28 defenses). Meanwhile Goliath is rolling out Antonio
Brown, Kelvin Benjamin and either Andre Ellington or Bishop Sankey for his flex. Ellington is
dealing with a severe hip pointer and has been ruled out of practice all week, it is looking like
he is on the wrong side of questionable for this matchup. So if Ellington is out it is looking like
Sankey is the best option left unless Jacob goes off the waiver wire. Benjamin and Sankey both
have good matchups, which is great because they are the two of the weaker players that will be
in Jacobs starting lineup. While they have good matchups, Antonio Brown has a terrible
matchup, as he is at Cincinnati who is currently the #2 defense in the league against opposing
WRs. If there is anyone who can overcome a bad matchup it is the #1 overall WR who is
dropping 20 points per game. On to the TEs, Olsen has been the more consistent play as he has
put up 7 double digit performances in his 12 games, as opposed to Fleener who has just
managed 4. This year Olsen has been consistently targeted, coming in a 7.6 targets each week
he is #3 in that category and is looking to continue his heavy workload. Fleener on the other
hand is averaging just over 7 targets a game these past 5 weeks, which is up from his 4 that he
had been averaging throughout the season. I feel like Olsen will end the year better than
Fleener, but right now at this point in the season theyre getting the same type of looks except
that Fleener actually has a good QB throwing to him. If everyone hits their averages this week
then the score would be 58-47 (taking AJs average of games hes actually played, and putting in
Sankey for Ellington), so Im going to have to give the edge to David slightly this week.
Advantage: David, slightlyagain

Colts and Vinatieri v. 49ers and Walsh:


You guys know how I feel about predicting defenses and kickers, theyre hit or miss, so the only
thing that I can say is that I feel that Jacob is winning the defensive battle strictly because he
has a good 49ers defense going up against a terrible Oakland team who just got shut out
against St. Louis. With that being said, the Colts could return a int for a TD and totally ruin that.
Defenses are 75% luck and 25% matchup, so I give Jacob a 25% advantage in this situation.

Overall
Although the categories were 2-1 in favor of David, they were both small victories whereas the
RB battle was a landslide, if Forte and Murray can have good games tonight then I believe that
we will see Sankey Pank moving on to round 2 to face Ay-Ay Ron for the 3rd time this season.
But if they dont, there is a good chance that David once again slays Goliath.
Goliath: 132
David: 118

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