Week 14: Playoff knockouts, Pickups of the Y E A R

Knockout!!!

Pour one out for the fallen. Wampus Cats and Cool Beans have both been eliminated from championship contention, leaving just 4 teams a shot at glory. Eagle Powers survived Gurley's worst game of the season thanks to "Tight End" Jaylen Samuels and a resurgent Dalvin Cook, while Goofy Gang outscored the other 3 teams playing this week with huge performances from Saquon and Jarvis Landry.

These teams now have to face Dakstreet Boys and NB Power, who got to watch comfortably from the sidelines during their bye.

Matchup Previews

NB Power (8-5) v Goofy Gang (7-6)

It's the biggest father vs son showdown since last season's championship game, and the closest projected scores we've had in the playoffs. After starting the season 1-3, Goofy Gang has now won 5 of his last 6 games thanks to some timely in season pickups, and NB Power seems to have benefitted greatly from his name change, pushing Wampus Cats out of the 2nd seed on a 3 game win streak of his own.

Players to watch:

• Gronk is finally 'back' it seems, averaging 12.6 points/game since his return from injury. Will Goofy Gang actually play him this week after sitting him the last 3?
• Drew Brees has fallen back to earth from his MVP pace, with a 1:1 TD:INT ratio over his last 2 games. It's time for him to get right vs the Panthers
• TNF features Chiefs v Chargers with a chance for Mahomes to repeat his 4 TD performance from the first game of the season. This should be a high scoring affair
• Carson Wentz is out this week, maybe the rest of the season. Is Ertz still a dominant TE with Foles behind center? Probably yeah.
• Can anything slow down the Julio/Hopkins/Edleman WR trio for NB power? No, I really don't think so.

Dakstreet Boys (9-4) v Eagle Powers (7-6)

It's another family elimination match, Brother-In-Law edition. To say Eagle Powers has come from barely making playoffs to having a dominant team is a bit misleading, as his team has always been better than his record. Dakstreet is just the opposite with the best record of anyone remaining and the lowest projections.

Players to watch:

• In a weird twist, Eagle Powers would actually prefer for James Conner to remain sidelined so he can play a RB in his TE slot and still start 3 other great RBs. Worst case scenario would be Conner returning in a limited fashion that caps both of their upside.
• Josh Adams turned in just 36 yards last week which makes Dakstreet's flex position a gamble. Any one of Adams, Doug Martin, or Mike Williams are equally likely to have a good game in my opinion
• Dalvin Cook has been surprisingly good for fantasy despite his actual game results. He has 10+ points 4/5 games since his return but he hasn't topped 100 rushing yards all season. If he doesn't score a TD vs Miami he'll be disappointing to play
• Steelers v Patriots has major NFL playoff implications, but it's also super important to Dakstreet's WR pair. A high scoring game is almost required for him to compete with Eagle Powers

Sorry other teams, no matchup previews for the losers (myself included)

Pickups of the YEAR

Mitchell Trubisky

Quarterback

Well, what can you say here? The highest scoring QB that no one drafted in our league is actually Dak Prescott, but he's the QB 14 and no one even owns him now (not even Dakstreet). If the Bucaneers pendulum between Fitzpatrick and Jameis could have stopped swinging 10 weeks ago one of them might be in this category, but as it stands whoever owned them (me) got burned a lot by their mid game substitutions.

In the end, I'm giving it to Mitchell Trubisky (Goofy Gang) who's averaging just under 24 PPG in weeks that he wasn't injured since his breakout in week 4. Runners up: Dak?

James Conner

Runningback

Now we move to a much more impactful category with a much clearer answer. James Conner (Eagle Powers) has been the RB pickup of the year without question. Despite missing the last week he's the #6 RB in our scoring averaging 20.8 PPG. As a preseason pickup you also got the value of starting him all year instead of waiting for him to break out and then pickup him up.

Runners up: Philip Lindsay (Greg's Grand Team), Nick Chubb (Eagle Powers), Aaron Jones (Goofy Gang)

Tyler Boyd

Wide Receiver

As it turns out, a lot of the years surprise breakouts (Robert Woods, Tyler Lockett) were actually drafted in the later rounds. Tyler Boyd (Eagle Powers), however really surprised fantasy owners this year by stepping into the #2 role for the Bengals and eventually taking over for AJ Green after his injury. 13.7 PPG might sound a little disappointing compared to our RB pickups, but that just goes to show how much more difficult it is to find breakout WR talent mid season.

Runners up: Calvin Ridley (Greg's Grand Team), Josh Gordon (Wampus Cats)

Eric Ebron

Tight End

13 games, 12 touchdowns, one surprisingly dominant TE. Eric Ebron (Steven's Team) has been Luck's best friend on the Colts this season and clocks in at the #4 TE in our league with 13.1 PPG. Much like Tyler Lockett for the Seahawks, Ebron had a TD pace that seems unsustainable to start the season but never really slowed down. In hindsight, owners should have bought in much more quickly.

In a position that is so often horrible, this is possibly the single best pickup of the season.

Runners up: Jared Cook (NB Power), Austin Hooper (Goofy Gang)

And there you have it. The obvious winner on waivers this season has been Eagle Powers, securing 2 of the best RB pickups as well as the top WR. If you don't see your name next to any of these pickups, take that as encouragement to watch the waivers a bit more closely next season. Good luck in the playoffs!