Super Bowl VI kicks of tonight. It's a light night to start, but the Jammers and Boyer begin their battle to get their named etched on the JFL trophy.
Boyer is looking for his first inscription on the trophy, while the Jammers is looking to do it for the first time since 2006.
But it will take some time to get it done. I'll have to do some research, but this may be the longest Super Bowl of all time. With the Jammers having the Texans going on Thursday and potentially three players going on Monday night, it will be a while before we know who is champion.
The end is near, though, which is great news for my wife who rolls her eyes every time I answer "Working on fantasy recaps/previews" when she asks, "What are you doing?"
This is the best time of year for her. The end of the fantasy football season.
One more recap to come, and for my sake, I hope it's not another recap about how I lost.
For Boyer, I wish him good luck. We have good teams and both having to knock off No. 1 seeds to get here has been a great accomplishment. No matter what, for Boyer and I, it has been a successful season.
Super Bowl VI
Jimmy Jammers (11-4) vs. Team Boyer (10-4-1)
Series History: Jammers leads 6-1.
Playoff Series History: Jammers leads 1-0, defeated Boyer 96-89 in Super Bowl I.
Playoff History: Jammers (8-4, Super Bowl I Champion, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 conference champion); Boyer (4-3, 2006, 2011 conference champion)
Last Meeting: Jimmy Jammers 141, Boyer 109.7 (Week 9)
The lights will be shining bright on Monday night, hopefully.
I imagine the Saints will have less trouble with their lights than San Francisco.
The scoreboard should light up a bit more, too.
That 49ers-Steelers game had just 23 points in it. The Falcons and Saints should easily surpass, and this matchup weighs heavily on that matchup.
The Jammers will have Darren Sproles and Julio Jones going for sure, while Boyer has Michael Turner.
The Jammers may also have Matt Ryan, but he's a game-time decision as Matthew Stafford could make the start, too. That decision can wait until Saturday when the majority of the NFL slate kicks off.
The Bears-Packers game is on Christmas night on NBC and Boyer has Ryan Grant going in that game, so both teams should have at least six starters in the book before you open gifts on Christmas morning.
For Boyer, he has Tom Brady going against the team that sparked the great season he is having. Brady opened the year with a 51.8-point fantasy performance, throwing for 517 yards and four TDs, including that 99-yard TD to Wes Welker.
It was quite the way to start the season.
But the Miami Dolphins have been much better since then. They've only allowed three 300-yard passers since Brady's epic day (Philip Rivers, Eli Manning and Ryan Fitzpatrick).
It's safe to assume Brady will be able to get back to 300 yards and he'll likely punch a few scores in, too.
So we need not talk about Brady. He can score 50 points, but as we saw last week, it takes more than a QB to win a matchup, and that's where the troublesome matchups come in for the RBs. Turner has the best matchup against the Saints, who have been OK against the run and that's primarily because their offense gets the out to huge leads forcing teams to pass. I expect the Falcons to just come out and attack.
LeGarrette Blount actually has the best matchup, defensive-wise, but I am troubled by his lack of production. The Bucs have been a mess and I'm wondering if this man has checked out. He had just 19 yards on 11 carries against this poor run defense in Carolina. I think this will be a similar situation where the Panthers will build a decent lead early, forcing the Bucs to work from behind.
And then there's Ryan Grant against the Bears, who should get some yards, but if he doesn't break a long run for a TD, he's not scoring. John Kuhn gets the ball on the goal line.
You'll notice that Marshawn Lynch wasn't mentioned. He's on the bench, and rightfully so. The 49ers have not allowed a rushing TD all season. They've been so impressive on defense that the projections are extremely low for Lynch. He's a beast, but the 49ers aren't going to let him score, so Boyer is making the smart decision to sit him. No one can blame him. Just ask any Rashard Mendenhall owner in the nation who missed out on a trip to the Super Bowl because of the 49ers defense.
Boyer's going with his usual at receiver with Dez Bryant, Steve Johnson and Antonio Gates. All have favorable matchups and they can easily get to double-digits.
Defensively, it's the Giants for Boyer and this is his best move. His Bears have to deal with the Packers and nobody wants to put a defense in that is facing Aaron Rodgers, especially a week after a tough loss in Kansas City. Rodgers is going to throw the ball all over and score at will this week.
So, the Giants it is. The Jets Mark Sanchez is a turnover machine, and they've let defensive teams score TDs in five games this season. They are a turnover machine, but that's when they lose. When they win, they're pretty damn tough to defend.
That means we have to find out which Jets team is going to show up. I have a good feeling the "winning" version is going to show up, and it's not just because I'd like to see the Giants lose for the Eagles' playoff hopes. And it's also not because I'd like to beat Boyer.
I know, I have a lot of biases here with this, but I've been saying all week that the Jets were going to beat the Giants — and that's before I knew Boyer had them starting. I just saw that right now as I started writing the preview.
The Jets are coming off a tough loss in Philly and they need to win to keep they're playoff hopes alive. I know the Giants need to do the same thing, but Rex Ryan has the knack for doing this winning thing even when his team doesn't look that great.
They've had bad losses and bad losing streaks over the years, yet they still have made conference championship games. You can't deny that Rex Ryan knows how to get it done when it needs to be done.
He'll get it done this week.
The Jammers defense doesn't have to worry about such a squad. The 1-13 Colts will not present many problems for the Texans. The Panthers had a good week against the Texans defense last week, but that was primarily because of starting field position.
I guarantee that the Texans offense will not set up the Colts offense for three first-half short drives, like they did last week. Donald Brown will find it tough to run wild like he did last week and Dan Orlovsky will come down from the winning high of last week. The Colts will get back on track for the Luck parade. They can't win this week. If they do, they let the Vikings and Rams into the Luck Bowl.
Not that they'd take Luck with first round QBs already on they're roster, but they'd gladly trade that pick away to teams not named the Colts.
The Texans will make sure the Colts don't have to worry about that.
The Jammers will rely heavily on his RBs again, which is surprising considering the way this team was constructed.
Two years in a row, the Jammers has been able to makeshift a RB corps after securing a top wideout contingent.
Reggie Bush, Darren Sproles and Ryan Mathews all had 20-point performances last week and they're in line for double-digits again. Mathews has the toughest matchup at Detroit, while Sproles should get enough receptions and special teams points to reach double-digits.
Bush had a career week last week against the Bills, going for 203 yards and a TD. He will not go for 200 again, but the Pats defense has allowed a lot of yards and points all season. Bush will get enough dump-off passes and rushes to get to double-digits, too.
That being said, the Jammers is surprisingly shaky at WR.
Larry Fitzgerald is hit-or-miss, especially if Kevin Kolb somehow gets back into the lineup.
Antonio Brown has been his best WR, ranked No. 8 in fantasy, averaging 12.7 points per week, but he'll be trying to put up the points without Big Ben, who will sit this weekend.
And the third WR will be Julio Jones, because Greg Jennings is done and out for the fantasy season. Jones' targets have rose, but he's been a bad luck charm for the Jammers. He's 2-3 when he puts Jones in the lineup, and only once did Jones hit double-digits when he's got the start.
He'll get the start for the first time since Week 12 and the Jammers will need him to do much better this week than he did that week when he scored zero points. Nada. Nothing. He was worthless.
We won't know if he's worthless this week until Monday night.
As I said earlier, it's going to be a long weekend.
Inaugural Third-Place Game
News Team (9-5) vs. Sunday Slackers (10-4)
Hey, look at this. A second preview on Super Bowl weekend? My wife is going to be pissed.
I can't let a game that has money on it go unnoticed.
These two teams worked hard all season to win No. 1 seeds and it just didn't work out for them in Week 15.
So, in Week 16, they get to play for in the inaugural Third-Place Game. (No, I'm not creating a trophy for this, although, I'm sure they'd love it if I did.)
They'd also love it if they could go back and change last week's outcome to make this the Super Bowl matchup.
After 13 weeks, this is what we thought we'd have for the Super Bowl. Rodgers vs. Brees. Ray Rice vs. Arian Foster. Victor Cruz vs. Jordy Nelson. All in the top 10 in their positions, they should have squared off.
They both have candidates for JFL MVP, Rodger and Brees, and it would have been amazing to see them in the Super Bowl together, but I guess this Third-Place Game will suffice, especially since a Super Bowl matchup between the two may have been tainted.
Rodgers could potentially be sat early against the Bears. I wrote above that he should go nuts against the Bears — and I'm not changing that statement because I believe he SHOULD — but it is worrisome that he may sit down early.
The Saints need to keep winning so I expect Brees to just keep throwing — hopefully to Sproles — and he'll be worth 40 points again this week in what I expect to be a 34-31 kind of game.
Ray Rice will have a dominant day against the Browns, too. Just look at the facts. When the Ravens get out of their element and lose, they come home a run like crazy.
Rice had five carries at Seattle in a loss and the Cam Cameron bounced back with a heavy dose of Rice (20 carries, 104 yards and 2 TDs) the next week. Rice also has a good history against the Browns (29 carries for 204 yards and a TD in Week 13) so after getting just 10 carries last week, Rice will have a huge day Saturday.
With Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley taking away Aaron Rodgers points and the Steelers playing the hapless Rams, I like the Slackers to walk away with the prize.
This game will, for the first time in JFL history, be an official game, so the Slackers will get the chance to pick up his 11th win of the season. The winner also will push themselves into the 10th position of the draft. (I had the draft order set up, accidentally. I forgot at that time that I had set up an official third-place game.)
Jammers' Prediction: Slackers 145, News Team 131
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