The first matchup of round one, the #4 and #5 seeds duking it out for world domination. This is the first time that these two teams have ever faced off and it couldn’t have happened at a more exciting time. The teams are almost polar opposites in point production and how each team is scoring their points. The Nibblonians are the leagues most volatile by far, scoring between 60 and 185 points this season. The Shenanihads have been much more stable, and while they don’t have as high of a ceiling as some of the other teams, they have a relatively high floor of 79 points (That Nibblonians have failed to meet three times this season). Nibblonians definitely have momentum in their favor, winning three of their last four games while scoring the most points in the league over the same period.
Outside of QB’s and D/ST’s the teams have also had opposite success with the waiver wire. The Nibblonians have started players off the waiver wire eighteen times this season and produced a best-in-league 11.8 points on average. The Shenanihads have started waiver wire players five times this season and produced worst-in-league 1.34 points on average, including two goose eggs from Torrey Smith. To add insult to injury with pickups and drops, Shenanihads drafted and dropped (twice) Robby Anderson, who’s now the #11 receiver.
It’s hard to know which players each of these teams will start, but as we get closer and closer to game time, the gap between the teams gets smaller and smaller. Projections favor Shenanihads 55-45, with the difference maker coming from the tight end position. The player projections for every other spot are within 2-4 points of each other, but Travis Kelce is a significant upgrade over Ertz (who may not play) or Jason Witten. The Nibblonians will have tough line-up decisions to make with the Steelers back at home, but facing one of the toughest defenses in the NFL.
This will be another long drawn out match-up with the Saints/Falcons playing on Thursday, and the Patriots on Monday night.
Final Prediction:
The Nibblonians: 113
Philadelphia Shenanihads: 116
The Domestic Bowl! These two have faced each other ten times (although never in playoffs) with the Shittysauruses winning seven of the contests. In each of these matchups, the Shittysauruses have scored a robust 117 points on average over Giant Ocotpus’ 97.5. Shittysauruses domination over Giant Octopus continued into this season when she crushed the ‘Pus back in week seven. The Shittysauruses are second in points over the last four weeks and have outscored Giant Octopus five times over the last seven weeks. While Giant Octopus had a nice bounce-back week, they also only scored four more points than their competitor, and have scored as low as 54 only five weeks ago.
Shittysauruses hold the highest projection of the week and are heavily favored 65-35 to crush Giant Octopus. Shittysauruses have outscored Giant Octopus at nearly every position this season, aside from tight end. The Shittysauruses have started eight different tight ends this season for an average of 5.1 points. The tight end discrepancy may not matter this week as Giant Octopus will be missing the #2 tight end Gronkowski due to an unimaginably stupid late hit suspension.
This match-up will also feature two of the draft-darling running backs, Kareem Hunt and Alvin Kamara. While Hunt came out of the gate roaring, his usage and production has slowly dropped over the season while Kamara has seen an increase in both, earning him the #2 running back spot – only four points behind Todd Gurley and ahead of Le’Veon Bell. This match-up also features the two teams strongest at wide receiver – Six of the top ten receivers are on these two teams.
Both teams have been streaming defenses over the course of the season, and while The Shittysauruses may regret dropping the Jaguars D/ST after week two, they can feel confident in their ability to pick streamers – they’ve scored 11.5 points per game, good for third in the league and only behind the Jaguars and Ravens D/ST. Giant Octopus on the other hand has produced the fourth fewest points from the position.
This match-up also features players Thursday through Monday, so don’t expect any quick conclusion.
Final Prediction:
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