Both teams have faced off in a close matchup in Week 10 where the Wolfpack edged out the Warriors in Week 10. Since then the Warriors have been absolutely surging scoring over 100 points three out of four weeks and posting up a monstrous 135.7 fantasy points in Wildcard weekend. The Wolfpack have battled injuries and inconsistent quarterback play over the last couple of weeks but finally look to have all their players healthy and ready to go in this pivotal matchup. Let’s go to the breakdown to see how this one will shake out.
Quarterbacks: One of the biggest surprise stories of the week under the radar is the Wolfpack have finally embraced Ryan Tannehil who has been playing incredibly since winning the starting job and will face a great matchup against the 26th ranked Houston Texans defense while Brady sits on the bench struggling to score 20 points only once in the last five weeks. The MVP of last week, Drew Brees will be quarterbacking the Warriors on their quest for the franchise’s first Superbowl championship. Brees enters the matchup as QB20 (recall he missed five games to injury) playing against the 21st ranked Indianapolis defense on Monday night. With the same amount of missed games, Tannehil is impressively QB22 on the season. This matchup is a lot closer than the names would suggest but my vote goes to the experienced gunslinger in Brees.
Running Backs: This will be the best matchup of the week to watch with two running backs coming off injury/illness. I don’t currently see Le’Veon Bell in the starting lineup but I am projecting him to start alongside Austin Ekeler for the Warriors. Ekeler enters the week as RB6 whichi s incredible given how much volume he’s lost to Melvin Gordon and Le’Veon Bell has been disappointing as RB16. Both have tough matchups against the 10th and 9th ranked fantasy defenses, respectively. For the Wolfpack this has been the formula to success all season long: fantasy MVP candidate Dalvin Cook running the ball with tremendous success. Cook enters the matchup as RB2 with a great matchup against the 22nd ranked fantasy LAC defense and will enjoy the company of first round pick James Conner, who enters as RB36 (having spent multiple weeks injured) playing against the 16th ranked BUF fantasy defense. I like both of the Wolfpacks’ running backs and both have better matchups so I will give a considerable edge to the Wolfpack here.
Wide Receivers: The situation to monitor here is Julian Edelman’s health as it was revealed Wednesday afternoon that he is battling a knee injury. If he is in the lineup and able to play (which I am projecting him to do as of right now) the Warriors have a great receiver lineup of Edelman, Ertz, Cooks and DJ Moore to choose from. If Le’Veon Bell plays, you would have some combination of three out of those four guys. The three best I like this week are Julian Edelman as WR8 playing a matchup against the 13th ranked CIN defense, Zach Ertz as TE2 playing against the 24th ranked WAS defense and second year breakout DJ Moore as WR15 who is playing against the 18th ranked SEA defense. The Wolfpack look to run with the usual trio of Kenny Golladay WR4 going against the 32nd ranked TB defense, Courtland Sutton as WR11 going against the 5th ranked KC defense and DK Metcalf as WR31 going against the 20th ranked CAR defense (looks like Hilton will not play this week). I am really impressed by the wide receiver cores of both teams and really impressed with teams building Superbowl caliber teams with breakout receivers like Golladay, Sutton and DJ Moore. I am a big proponent of this strategy. I love both teams, but I give the slight edge because of matchups to the Wolfpack.
Bali’s Prediction: This has game of the year potential and I will give the edge to the Wolfpack 85-83.
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