MOTW - Week 13

Man, have the playoffs just gotten interesting. With only one week left, the first round byes are not yet secured. 3 teams at 9-3 will participate in a final, gut-wrenching week that will leave 2 people very happy and 1 person scrambling for week 14.

But the real stress is happening in the bottom half of the playoff table. 3 teams are tied at 7-5 and trying to fend off one of the best 6-6 teams we've ever seen in this league. The dream scenario has occurred which allows one of these teams, Jon, to play the one fighting for their playoff life (Eric). While Yahoo hasn't locked him in to a playoff spot, Dan is safe thanks to his high PF (unless he scores negative and everyone below him scores 200+), but Mike will need to win or score 41.3 more points than Jon to make sure he's not on the outside looking in this year. Additionally, he'll probably be rooting Jon in the MOTW.

Let's take a look at the matchup that basically makes Week 13 the wildcard weekend in our league.

MOTW
5. Fe-Brees (Jon) vs. 7. Dont Stop BellLeveon (Eric)
This one is for all the marbles and looks to be a fun one as (while projected points mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, I'll use it when it helps me paint a picture like I'm about to do right now) this matchup has the highest total projected points in the final week of the season (at the time of writing, 196.43). Jon technically has a way to back door into the playoffs with a loss by Mike but I'm sure he'd rather control his own destiny. Eric, saddled by bad luck all year, will look to wriseak havoc in the playoffs as the team that nobody wants to face with 3 legitimate stars (Wentz, Gronk, Bell).
QB: Wentz has been on fire lately and in years past, a trip to Seattle was enough to stop even top tier QBs, but with no Sherman or Kam, Wentz should continue his hot streak. Cam should keep it close as he faces a NO defense that's improved but still can be scored on (as the Redskins and Rams showed). Edge: Wentz
WR: We went over Eric's WRs last week and while they still have some big name value, they're not huge threats. Jon still has 2 great #1 options even if Julio is matched up against Xavier Rhodes and Cooks faces a largely improved Bills secondary. The WR3 weakness might be enough to allow Eric to keep this scoring battle close. Edge: Jon
RB: Last week, Eric's RBs destroyed the competition. Don't expect anything different this week. While Jon has better backs than Paul, neither look to be 20 point threats as Bell is. Edge: Eric
TE: The only TEs that can even compete with Gronk at this point are Ertz, Kelce, and Graham. The interesting factor in this matchup is whether Brady will lock in on Gronk or Cooks for his TD passes. That could end up deciding the fate of these two teams. Edge: Eric
K/DEF: Jon is riding the Pittsburgh special teams and it's not a bad group to ride. With a high-powered offense and opportunistic defense, they should put up points. Kansas City has been sliding but should get back on track against a terrible Jets team. Edge: Even

Winner: Eric
Eric gets to make the playoffs, something he deserved from Week 1 but almost didn't happen thanks to his schedule. Jon will be rooting for Alex to beat Mike to fail his way to the 6 seed.

Good luck to all!

Simon Kim