Category Archives: Weekly Matchups

Week 16: For All the Glory

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Wow, Week 16 is here. It feels like yesterday that I was reading between the lines (and sometimes just flat-out guessing) on running back situations like Washington, Atlanta, and Buffalo. This week, though, isn’t for 10, 12, or more teams in each league. Unless you play in a foolish league that uses Week 17, this week is for two teams only – the best of the best and/or the luckiest of the lucky.

I enjoyed my format from last week when I broke out which players are STUDS (fully matchup-proof, no getting cute), which players could be benched only if your team was loaded (great players with bad matchups), and which players would need help from the fantasy gods (“FLEX” types).

Some hits were calling Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, C.J. Spiller, Calvin Johnson, and Aaron Hernandez STUDS (which I realize is obviously not a stretch, but all produced significant numbers in a week where many players laid eggs). Some misses were having Stevan Ridley and Danario Alexander in the “only bench if your team is loaded” and Russell Wilson in the “help from the fantasy gods” category (maybe it should have been called “help from a defense that has given up because they’re playing a game in front of a lifeless crowd”).

With that, let’s go on to the calls, shall we?

Bring home the title with the advice below

Fantasy Semi’s – Who Gets You to the ‘Ship?

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So you’ve made it this far, congrats. But your work is only beginning. Decisions made this week and next (if you get there) are the ones everyone will remember – or the ones you’ll wish you could forget. Lets take a look at who’s going to take you to the promised and who will have you praying for a fantasy miracle. Teaser alert: one of these decisions is an exact situation that I have, so we’ll flip the script and I’ll ask YOU what I should do.

Matchup-Proof, Don’t-Even-Think-of-Benching-Them STUDS
Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady – Despite facing tough D’s in Chicago and San Francisco, respectively (as if this had to even be said)
C.J. Spiller – Despite facing a tough Seattle D
Calvin Johnson – Despite being shadowed by Patrick Peterson all game long
Aaron Hernandez – Despite the amazing SF line backing corps

Only Benching if You Have a REALLY Loaded Team (+ examples of players I’d rank ahead of them)
Matt Ryan (Josh Freeman, Brady, Rodgers, Cam Newton, Drew Brees)
Stevan Ridley (David Wilson if Bradshaw is out, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Frank Gore)
Danario Alexander (Reggie Wayne, Wes Welker, any starting WR in the NYG-ATL game)
Jason Witten (Tony Gonzalez, Hernandez, Jimmy Graham)

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Playoffs – Week 1 Lineup Decisions

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Welcome to Day 2 of the 12 Days of Blogs-mas here at FnB.

On the first day of Blogs-mas, your favorite blogger gave to you: Matchup Data for your fantasy playoffs.

For Day 2, we’re sticking with the fantasy football theme and helping out those of you that made your playoffs and are in need of a timely punch to your lineup. First of all, congrats for making the postseason. But now the hard work starts.

For this week, instead of giving you the traditional Start, Sit, FLEX format, I’ll evaluate some actual lineup decisions from teams in my leagues. If you have the same decision, this will be very helpful. If you have one of the players, perhaps the commentary will guide you in the right direction. If you have none, feel free to leave me your situation in the comments or on Twitter and I’ll do my best to guide you into next week.

Matt Ryan (CAR) vs Andrew Luck (vs TEN)
This time of year, more than any other, is when you don’t want to “get cute.” Would you rather lose with your best guys playing or lose with a stud that had a bad matchup go off for 25 points on your bench?

Benching Ryan, however, does not fall into “getting cute.” He’s no longer a top-tier QB1, sitting at 8th in standard leagues now. Ryan very much falls into the “bench if your other guys has a great matchup” category. And Luck does, so I’m going with him.

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Playoff Schedules – Week 14

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Click Here for a link to my Dropbox – where I store the spreadsheets that generate these posts. Feel free to download and modify as you see fit.

As always, we’ll start with Defensive Averages.  Like last week, I’m breaking them into passing and rushing.  The tables on the left consist of data taken from the last four weeks only.  The tables on the right consist of season-long data.  This allows us to see how the teams are trending and which teams have been good or bad matchups throughout the season.

Defensive Averages – Passing

Passing Averages
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Clinch or Miss: Your Week 13 Lineup Post

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If you’ve already clinched a spot in your fantasy playoffs, congrats. But perhaps you can better position yourself. That’s why I’ve broken the FLEX sections below into “high floor” guys and “high ceiling” guys – because I aim to please, no matter what you need (as a blogger only, don’t get any ideas).

Stronger Than You’d Think
Colin Kaepernick – SF (at STL) – Guys I’d bench in favor of C-Kaep include: Cam Newton, Tony Romo, Andrew Luck, Eli Manning, Josh Freeman, Andy Dalton, Jake Locker, Chad Henne, Matt Schaub,Philip Rivers, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Carson Palmer. You get the idea.

Bryce Brown – PHI (at DAL) – You were watching Monday night, right? Funny how it took his team giving up on him, his defense falling apart at the seams, and a rookie backup QB to get Andy Reid to finally focus on the running game (26 rushes vs 21 pass attempts on Monday).

BenJarvus Green-Ellis – CIN (at SD) – I like players going against teams that have lost the will to compete. Commence “give up on Norv” time now.

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