Both teams have faced off two times before with the Pool being the victor both times by an average margin of 6.8 fantasy points. Both games were extremely close, but will the Warriors be able to get one win on the Pool this year in the most important game or will it be a clean sweep hat trick for the Pool of the Dead?
Quarterbacks: With the breaking news that Daniel Jones would miss the game, you have to wonder what the course of action will be for the Pool who still have Baker Mayfield on the bench. With Eli Manning and a few other options on the free agency wire, it would have been better to write this at a later date but I’m going to assume the play here is Baker. It’s a great matchup against a deplorable Cincinnati defense who is ranked 27th against fantasy quarterbacks this year. Baker hasn’t done enough to salvage his horrible season but has scored 20+ fantasy points in three of the four games, so he has shown some potential lately to get the job done. And you also have to remember he injured his hand in the last game against Pittsburgh but it looks like he will be able to play this week. On the other side of the ball you got the legendary gunslinger Drew Brees who will have his hands full against a San Francisco defense that is ranked 2nd against all fantasy quarterbacks. There is no question the play here is Brees as no other quarterback gives you a better chance on the waiver wire. The Michael Thomas connection has been incredible this season and he has shown that he is matchup proof and the most reliable receiver in fantasy this year which will help out Brees against the tough defensive assignment. I give the slight edge to the Warriors in this matchup.
Running Backs: The Warriors look to be in a four wide receiver set and will rely on their workhorse first round pick in Le’Veon Bell to be the sole bell cow in the game. Bell has been exceptionally mediocre this season, coming in as the 14th ranked running back but he has a great matchup against the 29th ranked Miami Dolphins defense. Under normal circumstances this would look like this would be a layup, if he wasn’t playing against the most dominant running back this season who sits on the Pool’s roster…and I’m not talking about Saquon Barkley. Derrick Henry has been an absolute beast this season and if you haven’t taken notice of what he’s doing you will surely notice it this week. Henry comes in as the RB3 on the season, has scored 7 touchdowns in the last 4 games and has gone over 149+ rush yards three consecutive games. And he’s got a great matchup against Oakland. This is a slam dunk win for the Pool of the Dead. Oh, and they also have Saquon.
Wide Receivers: This will be the most interesting matchup to watch this week for me and will ultimately decide the game. I like both receiver cores on paper even though they have underperformed in some aspects (Brandin Cooks and Mike Williams), you also have some young players who have far outplayed their rank (Deebo Samuel and DJ Moore). The Warriors will have some tough matchups like Edelman against the 4th ranked fantasy pass defense in KC and Zach Ertz against the 5th ranked against tight end pass defense in NYG. The Pool will have some better matchups but also have Adam Thielen listed as questionable in the starting lineup. If you could tell me that Thielen would be healthy, I would pick Pool of the Dead here. Despite the tougher matchups I trust the talent on the Warriors side a little bit more so I will give them the slight edge.
Bali’s Prediction: I like the Warriors to slightly edge out the Pool of the Dead 82-80 this week.
Navdeep’s Predictions: Slam Ball wins : 81 – 69. Pool of the Dead wins : 77 – 71
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