Week 16 Recap

Playoffs Round 1

Trash Pandas vs Achilles Heels

Vengeance is mine!

A loss to the Heels three weeks ago kept me from going undefeated in our division, and getting an extra first round pick next year. The Heels also bounced me from the playoffs two years ago. My track record against them hasn’t been good. As I said in the preview, they’ve been, quite literally, my Achilles heel. To advance by eliminating them is sweet.

It wasn’t an easy victory, it came down to Sunday night and one of the two players I had going went down with an injury and scored a big, fat zero.

I started Justin Herbert over Trevor Lawrence due to matchup and that is why I won. Herbert only outscored Lawrence by 8 points, and won the QB battle 48-32, but he also affected another position.

Because I was playing Herbert, and because Rome Odunze was out with an injury, I decided to put Herbert’s Chargers teammate, Quentin Johnston into my lineup and that is what ultimately led me to victory. Johnston put up 22 points and helped me win the WR battle by 7 points.

Jahmyr Gibbs didn’t have a great game, but he got a late TD and was able to muster 14 very important points. Unfortunately, TreVeyon Henderson went down with an injury without scoring a single point. I lost the RB battle by 4 points.

When Henderson went down I was still trailing by 8 points, fortunately I had Patriots kicker, Andy Borregales going and he came through with 18 points.

Brock Bowers didn’t have a huge game, but he did score a very valuable TD and won the TE matchup, 10-3.

Besides the Henderson injury, the other negatives this week were Marvin Harrison Jr mustering just a single point in his return to the lineup & my injury replacement and hunch start at flex, Audric Estime, managing just two points.

Week 17 Preview

Playoffs Round 2

Trash Pandas vs Shamrocks N Shenanigans

Previous Matchup

Our previous encounter was a wild one. Jonathan Taylor had a monster game in Germany and I thought I was done, but then Gibbs & Henderson went off. For Henderson, it was his breakthrough game.

The Shamrocks were rolling before that loss and they stumbled a bit down the stretch. They were able to hold onto a playoff spot and last week they were very good.

They’re a formidable opponent and I’ll need to have some guys really outperform their projections.

My keys to the week:

1. Trevor Lawrence- I’m going back to Lawrence because of matchup. Lawrence has been on a hot streak for the last month and I need that to continue.
2. Jahmyr Gibbs– Henderson’s status is uncertain as of this writing, so I need Gibbs to have one of his big games.
3. Dalton Schultz- Raiders are shutting down Brock Bowers for the season. I understand it, but it sucks for my fantasy team. Bowers had an excellent matchup and I cannot expect Schultz to hit Bowers’ ceiling, but I need him to produce like a normal TE1.
4. Marvin Harrison Jr- I cannot afford to have Harrison have another dud this week. Fortunately, he has a great matchup & he needs to produce.