We're down to four teams.Three have been to the Super Bowl before.
Two have won it.
And one, well, is just trying to get his first playoff win.
It's a nice little countdown as we head into conference championship weekend, and it starts early for the News Team and Boyer. They each have a Falcon going tonight — I should have got a Falcon — and they each have a Cowboy WR going on Saturday, so both teams will be heading into Sunday with a good old 7-on-7 matchup.
And there's no better matchup in 7-on-7 than Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady.
Oh, this is going to be exciting.
The Jammers and Slackers also bring in top quarterbacks to Sunday's matchups. The Slackers has Drew Brees and the Jammers will either go with Matthew Stafford or Eli Manning.
Liberty Conference Divisional Playoffs
No. 3 Jimmy Jammers 158.2, No. 2 Real Houserville 146.5
Liberty Conference Championships Game
No. 3 Jimmy Jammers (10-4) at No. 1 Sunday Slackers (10-3)
Nittany Conference Divisional Playoffs
No. 2 Team Boyer 170.4, No. 3 Graybill's Generals 128.8
Nittany Conference Championships Game
No. 2 Team Boyer (9-4-1) at No. 1 Channel 4 News Team (9-4)
No. 2 Team Boyer (9-4-1) at No. 1 Channel 4 News Team (9-4)
Series History: Boyer leads series 5-3; first playoff meeting.
Last Matchup: Boyer 140.5, News Team 95.4 (Week 6)
Playoff History: Boyer (3-3, 2006 conference champion); News Team (5-2, Super Bowl V Champion)
Denver's defense is good, I'll give you that.
Against an average QB, I'll take the Broncos any day.
Against an elite QB, I'm taking the QB.
Insert Tom Brady. The Patriots QB is no Caleb Haine. He's no Matt Moore. He's definitely not Mark Sanchez and he's way ahead of Philip Rivers, especially this season.
So come Sunday, there will be a no Tebowing. There won't be an onside kick to save them. There will be no Marion Barber blunders.
It will be just Patriot domination, and Boyer getting another 30 to 40 from his QB.
Now, take away Tebow and all the magic, and insert Rodgers for the QB and Kansas City as the victim, and you'll see why this week's matchup between Boyer and the News Team is going to be a great one to pay attention to.
I expect both QBs to pace each other, although, there is one troublesome spot for either QB, it would be the rise of the running game for the Packers. Rodgers had his lowest fantasy total last week, all be it 25 points, and it was because Ryan Grant stole the show, scoring twice and rushing for 85 yards.
The Jets ran all over Kansas City and the Packer may be more inclined to try the same thing, especially with Greg Jennings out for a couple weeks.
That's not to say Rodgers isn't going to throw the ball. Hell, Mark Sanchez also scored more than 30 fantasy points on the Chiefs defense, so Rodgers definitely is in line to do the same.
But I just wanted to point out the area of concern.
I had to, because if it comes true and Grant does have a big fantasy day, Boyer will benefit. Grant has been on the bench all season since Boyer drafted him — and appropriately so.
This week, though, Grant is getting the start, along with Michael Turner — who goes tonight against the Jags — and Marshawn Lynch.
Lynch, who is a walking Skittles advert, will have the tough task of going up against the Bears defense that hasn't allowed a 100-yard rusher since Week 5.
That matchup may be rough, but there are points to be had at the receiver position for Boyer. He got plenty from the trio of Dez Bryant, Steve Johnson and Antonio Gates last week, and he has to stick with them this week, even though Gates is going against the Ravens.
The interesting thing about this matchup is that both teams have teammate battles going on.
Boyer has Dez Bryant and News Team has Miles Austin. Boyer has Gates and News Team has Vincent Jackson. Even tonight, Boyer has Turner and News Team has Tony Gonzalez. The likelihood that all six of those guys score is very low, so touchdowns will be at a premium for these guys. Whichever teammate gets the first TD, the other teammate's owner has to worry a bit — especially if he's losing out on two or all three of these teammate battles.
I've kind of rambled through the starters here, so let me get down to who I think is going to win here.
Even though I created a reason for Rodgers to have another "bad" week, I can't believe it would ever happen. I like Rodgers to score close to 45 fantasy points this week, and I'm excited to watch Arian Foster go for about 30 against Carolina.
Carolina has dealt with linebacker issues since the season started and the run-heavy Texans will provide a nice dose of Foster and Tate on Sunday. I can see Yates dumping off to Foster for some big pass plays, too.
I also love Victor Cruz this weekend. He's busting free for a long TD, we'll go with 67 yards as my guess, and Tony Gonzalez scores tonight.
And if Beanie Wells is healthy and gets at least 15 touches, I like him for about 15 fantasy points.
I think Boyer has the potential to put up big points here base on what his team has done all season and in recent weeks, I just see a few tough matchups that will limit those double-digit point totals needed to take down the mighty News Team.
Jammers' Prediction: News Team 158, Boyer 128
No. 3 Jimmy Jammers (10-4) at No. 1 Sunday Slackers (10-3)
Series History: Jammers leads 6-2; first playoff meeting.
2011 Matchups: Slackers 103.3, Jammers 79.3 (Week 11); Jammers 136.3, Slackers 122 (Week 3)
Playoff History: Jammers (7-4, Super Bowl I Champion, four-time conference champion); Slackers (0-1).
Writing the initial preview on Wednesday, I couldn't help but think about how easy it was to two previews a week when playoffs start, and what do I do? Forget to get the second preview up before Saturday.
I actually forgot more than that. I picked up Felix Jones to block the Slackers from getting him. Not that I envisioned a big week from the back, but the fact that the Slackers was missing out on Forte meant that Jones could be a threat to me.
So I made the move.
And then, because he was projected to score 18.6 points — ridiculous projection if you ask me — I put him in to push my projection total up and play mind games with my opponent.
But 9 p.m. rolls around on Saturday night and I'm having fun at a Christmas party when all of a sudden, it dawns on me that there's Thursday Night Football on Saturday. (That whole concept of networks being persistent on calling it a Thursday Night Football special on Saturday, or, NBC, a Sunday Night Football Special on Thursday annoys the hell out of me. Just call it freaking NFL on NFL Network, a special Saturday game.)
I logged onto my not-so-smart phone to see 4.3 points, second quarter, next to Jones' name.
My strategic ploy turned to a strategic eff-up.
But then Jones busted loose for a big one, got 21 carries and finished off at 13.7 points because Romo was a ball-hog in the red zone. Not bad, but not the plan.
So that sets the table for Sunday.
The conference-leading Slackers have a lineup primed and ready to score at will. Everything looks great. ESPN is projecting 151. The teams his players are going against are named the Vikings, Rams, Chiefs, Seahawks and Giants.
It's going to be a good week.
For the Jammers, well, who knows. Stafford is the quarterback of choice and with a 4 p.m. kick after Eli Manning's 1 p.m. tilt, we'll know by the time Stafford throws his first pass how many points he'll need to make the decision the right one. (Unless of course, someone changes my mind between now, 9:32 a.m., and 1).
The Slackers never had to worry about his QB slot. It's Drew Brees all the way. In a dome against a banged up secondary, all the Jammers can hope for is a few tosses to Darren Sproles and limited passing TDs.
Ray Rice is the other big dog for the Slackers, so you can imagine if he gets his usual 50-60 points from that duo, he's Super Bowl bound.
The only major battle here will be the receiver battle in Green Bay. The Slackers won this battle in Week 11 to set him up for this No. 1 seed, as Jordy Nelson went for 27.5 and Jermichael Finley had 3.2. The Jammers' wideout, Greg Jennings, had just 1 point.
It was very disappointing. It was even more disappointing to see Jennings go down for the rest of the fantasy season last week, so the Jammers went ahead and picked up Donald Driver, who should take over a key role in the passing game.
Nelson is clearly the best WR on the team right now and all the Jammers can hope for is that Nelson gets the secondary attention that Jennings used to draw, and Driver will find the seams.
Winning over Aaron Rodgers' love is going to be big in this matchup.
And the two other matchups that will be key will be the battle of rookie WRs. The Jammers' Antonio Brown is ranked No. 9 in fantasy while the Slackers A.J. Green is ranked 13th. A few injuries have kept Green from doing more and neither the injuries or the St. Louis Rams are going to stop him Sunday.
Brown will have the chance to best Green on Monday night in San Francisco, who one would think is a bad matchup, but the 49ers are ranked 19th against the pass. They gave up 47.4 points to receivers last week and when they've faced teams that actually can play offense, they've allowed yards and points.
I fully expect the Steelers to dominate Monday night.
Which is why the final matchup I wanted to talk about — the defenses — is going to be key for the Slackers. I think the Steelers offense is going to put up 20 to 30 points, but I also think the 49ers are going to score some, too, so don't look for the Steelers to put up the defensive point totals that they have in past weeks against teams like the Chiefs and the Browns.
The Jammers has the Texans going on Sunday in a great matchup. It's the No. 1 defense in football against the No. 1 rookie QB, Cam Newton. Wade Phillips has taken the Texans defense from worst to first in less than a year's time, but he won't be on the sideline this weekend. He had major surgery and he'll miss two games.
But he's been scheming and NFL Sirius/XM Radio host Pat Kirwan, former NFL GM, believes that won't change anything. The defenders have been in this system all season, they know what Wade wants and they've been prepared for this game.
Being at home helps greatly, and I'm going to make my prediction. The Texans scored a defensive/special teams TD. If that happens, it's the Jammers matchup to win. If not, the Slackers will defend his No. 1 seeding and move on to his first Super Bowl.
Jammers' Prediction: You know I won't pick this game, but you know I think Parker is going to lose.
2012 JFL Draft Order
1. World of Noise (2-11)
2. Jawz Attack (4-9)
3. Chinese Organ Thieves (4-8-1)
4. Dottsville Toasters (5-8)
5. T-Money (6-7)
6. Fear and Loathing (7-6)
7. Graybill's Generals (6-8)
8. Real Houserville (7-7)
9. Conference Finals Loser
10. Conference Finals Loser
11. Super Bowl VI Loser
12. Super Bowl VI Champion
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