national conference playoff matchup breakdown

West Meadows Molesters vs. Team VOTE 4 PEDRO

WMM pulled out probably one of the greatest, luckiest wins in this league's history. His team has been called a "house of cards" and "lucky", but he is just one game away from the superbowl. Team V4P got help from EVERYONE last week, even sub-average players, and posted the week high; a good thing in the first round of the playoffs. Can he do it again?

QB -
Cassel v. Rodgers - Counting on players getting their first starts earlier in the year, not many QB's have been better in the past 4 weeks. Cassel plays a little tougher pass DEF in the Oakland Raiders, making his matchup not so great. Rodgers gets a sweet matchup against a JAX team that has been mailing it lately and should have no problem posting a really nice score. Prediction - Cassel has a good game, but nothing close to those 70 point games he's had. Somewhere around 35 should be expected. Rodgers goes crazy; going for the bonus and 3 TDs on his way to 50+ point game.

RB -
Antonio Pittman / Reggie Bush v. DeAngelo Williams / Dominic Rhodes - if one matchup is going to be the difference between a loser and winner, this will be it. Bush has already played, posting an ugly 5.6 point game. And when your other starter is Antonio Pittman, you can't expect anything more than poor game. If he puts up more than Bush, it will be shock. On the other hand, no other RB has been as amazing as Williams the past 6 weeks, 6 straight weeks of 30 points. Yikes. Rhodes will split some carries, but might see more action than Addai. Prediction - The tag team of pittman and bush isn't exactly the Legion of Doom. 10 points combined is probably whats happens and is not how you win playoff games. Williams explodes once again versus a weak DEN team, 30+ points once again. Rhodes ends up getting more of the caries late in the game in a blowout, grabbing a late TD and topping 12 points.

WRs -
Ike Hilliard/Larry Fitzgerald/Benard Berrian - T.J. Houshmandzadeh/Deion Branch/Santana Moss - WMM traded for Fitzgerald earlier in the season; now he'll need him to carry a weak WR corp if he expects to keep playing next week. Fitzgerald has been quiet lately, his other WRs have been even more so. V4P got some unexpected results from some WRS who have been tough to have in your starting lineup. Prediction - Fitzgerald gets back to excellence this week with the bonus and a TD, but the other forget to show up. None one the Team V4P WRs have bad games, but none of them have great games - no bonuses and 1 TD between them.

TEs -
Donald Lee v. John Carlson - Donald Lee has benefited from being a red zone target, with tds in 3 of his 4 games. John Carlson has flashed some excellence in his rookie season. In a PPR league, he has been great with 6 and 8 catches in his last 2 games. He also plays a horrible RAMS DEF that should allow a td and some yards. Prediction - Both have good games, with a each getting a TD. Carlson will get 2 more catches and 24 more yards.

D/ST -
Arizona v. NE Pats - The 'Cards have been sorta of feast or famine this year with 6 games over 20 points 6 games under 10 points, including 3 games with negative points. This week they face AP, which is never nice, but also get to face a bad Tarvaris Jackson. New England has been overrated this year, with an aging defensive corp and just bad play. The last 4 games have been less than average, not scoring more than 5 points in any of the contests. But this week they face a Oakland team that is banged up and not exactly a juggernaut. Prediction - Neither of these teams have a dream matchup, but are facing QBs that give up some TOs and allow a few sacks. Lets say both of these squads top out at about 10 points apiece.

Ks -
Reed v. Longwell - For some reason, Reed plays best on the road, which is good for this week. He also plays the Ravens, who dont allow many TDs, also good for a kicker. Ryan "Longshanks" Longwell will be kicking indoors against a team that allows a lot of points. That adds up to make a sweet matchup. Prediction - Reed will be the bulk of the offense for the Steelers this week. 4 FGs and a xp will create his 2nd best week of the year. Longwell will be on the field this week - 3 FGs and 3 XPs sounds about right.

Final Prediction -
Team V4P has just enough sweet matchups, mostly Rodgers and Williams, to overcome any freak point blowups from the West Meadow team, who lacks even 1 player that can consistently be counted on for that HUGE game you need in the playoffs. Team V4P rides nice games from his QB and RBs, but neither team might go over 150 points total, and Pedro can expect to punch his ballot to the Championship Game. 145 - 119.