Preparing for Fantasy Football Playoffs

[ProfessorBen]

In one of my leagues, I've already passed through the rough stretch and have started thinking about the playoff matchups. I did some research that should be useful for SE. This league is quite deep at 12 team+Flex, so this might not apply to your leagues.

The table below shows favorable matchups for Weeks 14-16. Especially favorable ones are bolded, red ones are bad. While my football knowledge is limited, I did try to keep things specifics in mind such as Denver having a weak rush defense/strong pass defense, etc. I did this kind of sporadically so I may have missed some gold mines but I tried to list all players that had at least 2 favorable matchups.



The upper left section is my team, but the other 3 sections represent Kickers/Defs on Waivers, players who should already be owned, and QBs who will likely still be on the wire during those weeks. I left out RBs because any starting RBs should all be owned and WRs because you can simply look to their QBs for the same information.

A couple of notes:
[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Some players who are already undervalued have solid matchups later. Rudi and Lewis come to mind if they come back healthy. Buy low! This makes their backups worth that much more as well.

[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Akin to why we don't reach for them early in drafts, the QB position is deep come playoff time this year. If you're running a shaky platoon or face an injury later, don't panic! Lots of alternatives are out there.

[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]If you're in a money league, I encourage you to do some kind of analysis on your own team. You don't need to be this detailed, but find out where your holes are, not just now, but later in the season as well. With my team, I can conclude that I'm surprisingly set at WR with only 3 wideouts, Benson is trade bait, and that I'm still looking for another RB for those weeks when I'm trading.

[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]You may tell me "Cross that bridge when you get there" or that it's retarded to give up value in deals right now. However, this is similar to drafting with bye weeks in mind. It would be a terrible mistake to pass up the best available pick(trade) just so you avoid conflicting bye weeks(bad playoff matchups), but it's equally bad to have all of your RBs off the same week(bad playoff matchups the same week).

[Russ M.]

It's somewhat hard to tell the bolded from the unbolded. Maybe put the good matchups in green or something.

[KLJ]

a couple of more notes based on stats to date regarding only Weeks 15&16:

Rushing Matchups
1. GB (too bad they don't run much)
2. NE (ditto)
3. IND
4. BAL
5. SF
...
28. NYJ
29. CHI
30. MIA
31. NYG
32. STL

Passing Matchups
1. PHI
2. ARI
3. CHI
4. BUF
5. WAS
...
28. DET
29. MIA
30. MIN
31. NYJ
32. JAC

[stakman1011]

It's also worth noting to Fantasy owners that the Patriots' (and perhaps the Colts depending on how things shake out) players may well be ineffective in Fantasy playoffs due to having already wrapped up a bye, home field advantage etc.

I wouldn't bank on Tom Brady putting up big numbers in week 16 regardless of how good or bad his matchup is...

Stak

[ProfessorBen]

[ QUOTE ]
It's somewhat hard to tell the bolded from the unbolded. Maybe put the good matchups in green or something.

[/ QUOTE ]

[34TheTruth34]

What is this "fantasy football playoffs" thing you speak of????? 1-6 FTW!

[MCS]

[ QUOTE ]
What is this "fantasy football playoffs" thing you speak of????? 1-6 FTW!

[/ QUOTE ]

Bitch: I drafted Brady, Bulger, Gore, Westbrook, MJD, Plaxico, Driver, and Roy Williams and I'm 1-6 right with you. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Franchise 60]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What is this "fantasy football playoffs" thing you speak of????? 1-6 FTW!

[/ QUOTE ]

Bitch: I drafted Brady, Bulger, Gore, Westbrook, MJD, Plaxico, Driver, and Roy Williams and I'm 1-6 right with you. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

2 person league?

[MCS]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What is this "fantasy football playoffs" thing you speak of????? 1-6 FTW!

[/ QUOTE ]

Bitch: I drafted Brady, Bulger, Gore, Westbrook, MJD, Plaxico, Driver, and Roy Williams and I'm 1-6 right with you. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

2 person league?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's actually only 8, so it's smaller than most...but still, looks pretty strong, right? The biggest problem is that I traded Brady away before the first game. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] One team grabbed the Chicago defense with the 9th pick; that team is currently 6-1.

[dkgojackets]

wtf at 6 RBs