Good morning everyone, we have Playoffs. Let’s get it. Well, some do. Some have the luxury of a first round bye. We had a little excitement and some shifting of the ranks, but the playoff picture is officially set. Let us take a look at the Playoffs, the Consolation Bracket, and Dr. Tilt’s Picks.
The Playoff Preview.
Byes: #1 Daddy Wombat and #2 Teach.
Daddy Wombat dominated the league. This week they enjoy a bye, but their players have some good matchups. Russ and DK take on the Jets, and Alvin Kamara takes on the Eagles. The thing D.W. will want to look into is if Gurley gets it going. Another bad week and they will have to address how they want to fill that spot.
Teach also did well, closing the season out strong to get that bye. Teach really needs this week to see if Joe Mixon is healthy and can get back into his starting lineup. That is the one spot Teach will need to bulk up to make his Championship push.
Wild Card Matchups.
#3 Touchdown Guy v. #6 Bottom Bunk.
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Touchdown Guy was down early in the year. He was always a top scoring team but just faced the wrong teams at the wrong time. TDG finished the year #3 in scoring, so his 3-seed is right on the money. Bottom Bunk also finished where he scored. In fact he limped into the playoffs by scoring just enough to keep his lead over the #7 team Pistol. However, B.B. deserves the seeding he has, whether not he deserves more is up to him. Both of these teams were all in this year. Trades, trades, and more trades. TDG is relying on his biggest spend, two firsts to PeePaw for Derrick Henry is looking to be a great move. Another underrated move was a trade for Tim Patrick, a future late round fourth and a guy he was going to cut, Tim Patrick is a high end WR3 and is just the guy you need to fill out the end of your roster. TDG also added Adam Thielen to his roster (and a 2nd round pick), giving up a WR and RB 3 on their respective teams. These cornerstones, plus the tall Josh Allen will be needed to get the elusive first round playoff win. Touchdown Guy is my favorite of the Wild Card teams, the numbers support it. Bottom Bunk did things a little differently. He drafted a veteran team, then traded some of his younger players for more vets and depth, and then traded his wily vets for more depth. Unconventional, but he’s in the playoffs. B.B. took Dalvin Cook with his first pick of the draft. This pick is likely the best first round pick. B.B. then sought and traded for J.D. McKissic, who when the Football Team is down is a hit, when they are up he is a miss. With the Football Team playing the 49ers, it may be a boom or bust game for McKissic. With vets like Hilton and David Johnson, B.B. is hoping he keeps hitting his mark and TDG misses his. Right now, Touchdown Guy is a 25 point favorite. I think TDG takes it.
#4 CrossFit v. #5 PeePaw
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CrossFit had one of the most unusual drafts and then followed it with some bad injury luck. CrossFit drafted the oldest team and then had CMC, Ekeler, Mostert, and Dak all go down with injuries. CrossFit added other injuries to the mix, but none to as high of profile players. CrossFit started out hot despite the injuries due to Tyler Lockett’s early season success. CrossFit was formally the front runner, but as the season wore on those injuries eventually caught up to him. PeePaw is the underdog. No one finished hotter than PeePaw. Trading Derrick Henry and then still making the playoffs is an achievement of its own. A few savvy waiver moves and a swap of Melvin Gordon for A.J. Brown put PeePaw in a playoff position. CrossFit absolutely needs CMC and Ekeler to be healthy to move passed PeePaw. Additionally Amari Cooper Kupp will be critical to combat the production from PeePaw’s WRs. PeePaw is going to rely heavily on his WRs. Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson, A.J. Brown, CeeDee Lamb, and even Brandin Cooks will need to put up big numbers to make up for the lack of RBs. Miles Sanders, if you are listening, now is the time to shine as a double digit production would do wonders to help balance out the scoring. Right now CrossFit is a 15 point favorite, however I like PeePaw’s WRs and think they continue to outscore projections and are enough to beat CrossFit.
Consolation Bracket Byes.
The importance of this is to determine compensatory picks. Picks 13, 26, 39, and 52 are up for grabs. To get a compensatory pick, you must make it passed the first week of the playoffs.
Locks for Compensatory Picks due to byes.
#7 Pistol and #8 Mush.
Pistol did everything he could to get in the mix of the playoffs. Unfortunately, he just missed. The reward is a guaranteed compensatory pick. Pistol has to like his odds, playing all these bad teams and David Montgomery is trending up. He might have peeked a little too late, but Pistol is promising.
Mush messed up. But if you look at Mush’s team, the Mongrels are young. He already has a good crop of young RBs, they just have to hit. The odds they hit increase as they get experience. Mush really drafted for a year 2 and on push, so his fringe playoffs was really his peak for a season, career wise he will be peaking over the next few years. That is the plan at least. Mush just needs a QB, but maybe he takes one with his comp pick. Mush benefited from an easy schedule all year, and now, there’s nothing easier than a first round bye.
#9 Trashman v. # 12 Bruce.
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Trashman is lucking out. It looks like Cam Akers is going to play more and more. His young RB hit. Zack Moss, well we don’t know, he is up and down. A Rob is good, but does he have a QB? Does Trashman have a QB? Is Baker back? Lot of questions, as there are with all consolation bracket teams. No question is bigger than who Bruce will take #1. Bruce winning here would really help as he needs some. Zeke and JT haven’t been who we all thought. But we thought Bruce would take Mahomes first. He didn’t, now he’s in last place. With Chris Godwin and D.J. Chark dinged up over the year, it is possible that Bruce is better than what his team showed. On paper he has to be better because you cannot get much worse. Bruce is going to be about a 2 point favorite come kickoff. I think Bruce wins it because Trashman has had issues with adjusting his lineup come gameday.
#10 JonnyDIII v. #11 Batman
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In my unbiased opinion, JonnyDIII is in the driver’s seat. He has top tier QBs, he has top tier WRs, he has some RBs, and a tight end. So it tapers off, but my goodness, pick 2 and pick 3? JonnyDIII can inject a STUD RB right into his lineup. And then he can follow it right up with another STUD. But for this matchup, JonnyDIII has to hope Kenny Drake and Devin Singletary have themselves a game. QB and WR are a lock, it’s that RB drop off that might hurt JD3 and his journey for 3 First Round Picks. Batman saw some inconsistent health out of James Conner that had him up and down throughout the season. Batman did what he needed to make the playoffs more chaotic. Batman will have an interesting offseason, where will Juju end up, will that help or hurt him? Batman does have a steal in D’Andre Swift who may be the only building block for the Lions in the years to come. Bob Woods, Fant, Waller, and Myles Gaskin all will decide how he does this week. The first two QBs drafted will face off, Patty Mac v. Lamar Jackson, who will get the better of the other? JD3 will be about a 9 point favorite come kickoff. I cannot pick this game, but JD3 will have a lot of teams rooting against him.
Consolation Bracket Games.
Now we have some picks.
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Dr. Tilt’s Week 14 Prescription
New England Patriots at Los Angeles Rams -5
Minnesota Vikings at Tampa Bay Buccaneers O51.5
Baltimore Ravens -1.5 at Cleveland Browns
That’s all he said.
Last Week: 1-2
Season Record: 22-18-1
The Doc is flirting with .500, let’s hope he hits this week.
That about does it. Big news for JonnyDIII scooping Ty Johnson this week, lot of upset managers over it. JonnyDIII is in future mode and willing to stash guys. Hopefully, if you are in other leagues, you have some playoffs lined up, I know I do. Good luck and I will see you next week, until then I hope you and yours have a better tomorrow.
Let’s Go!
JonnyDIII
DIII Digest 