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Welcome to DFFL's Fantastic Four Semifinals Week!! Underdog, JWW (9-5) is on the road facing DFFL's 2021 Champion and this week's Favorite, UGG (12-2) in what should be a Barley Division shoot out. Both teams spent much of the year dropping DFFL owners like they didn't deserve to be in the league; particularly, UGG.
UGG in 2022 only lost TWO GAMES!! Talk about sheer domination. In fact, UGG faced off in Week 9 against RAF, one of this week's Fantastic Four, and Mixon had a DAY! UGG lost to RAF and to TIU in back-to-back bad weeks. RAF and TIU were the only DFFL owners to stand on the sideline of an UGG game, and walk off the field victorious; that says something about UGG's domination.UGG averages around 165 points per game, and has only fallen below 140 points in 4 games this season. Indeed the UGGernaughts are the team to beat in DFFL, but history has shown the Top Seed at a disadvantage - crazily - to win the big game. UGG will attempt to break this trend.
JWW entered 2022 on an utter tear, going 6-1 before falling to defeat twice in a row at the hands of CAB and KED. During this time, Brian's GM arranged significant transactions to keep JWW in the hunt for a long-awaited DFFL championship. As a result the mid-season stumble was easily overcome, and off was JWW to impressively clinch the 4-seed in a very challenging Barley Division. On average, JWW's squad hauls in around 150 points per game. He's gonna need a performance like Week 4 (187) and more to keep up with the UGGernaughts.
At QB, JWW is going with homer Dak Prescott versus the Eagles. The Cowboys have a tendency to do well against the Eagles, so JWW's expectation for history to continue repeating itself is solid. I believe its still possible JWW makes a change to Kirk Cousins before Saturday, 24 December, but it isn't likely based on JWW's successful "Guns 'a Blazin" Strategy and penchant for "staying the course". On the other side, UGG is challenged this week with a likely easy 35-45 points from Danny Dimes, but he has to then sit red-hot, Joe "Cool" Burrow, who was part of UGG's domination in the league this year. Problem? Joe is going up against homer New England. This defense has a tendency to reduce the production of QBs going against them. Joe is probably looking at between 25-35 points. He could boom, for sure! But, alas, he could also go bust. I'm guessing in UGG's heart, he wants him to bust and therefore NE a shot at playoffs.
The rest of the CowPatty Bowl players facing off with each other are the who's who of both JWW and UGG's successes in DFFL this season. JWW has been blowing the opposition up with Ekeler, Cousins, Patterson, and Pittman, to name a few. His starters in Week 16 don't include a couple of those dudes, and that may still work based on matchups. JWW needs his wides, Pittman and Mike Evans to get projections - TDs and 100 yd games would be nice. Both can do this. Both have had issues in 2022 achieving consistency. At TE, homer Shultz will take the place of Evan Engram, and this is probably for best. TNF features a tough matchup and poor weather for Engram. I guess if you're going to be an underdog, might as well get some homer players in there with boom potential. JWW has the best chance at overcoming underdog status with his stable of Flex dudes. Cook is coming off one of, or maybe his best games of the season! Allgeier will be leaned on by a new QB in a decent matchup with Baltimore's defense. Finally, Zeke. Zeke can go crazy on Philly; he's done it time and again. JWW will need some solid kicking and by Gay, and KC's defense to hold Seattle to low scores (or maybe score a TD...that would be nice).
On the other side, Josh Jacobs. Josh, friggin' Jacobs! Enough said. Moving on to UGG's receiver spots are two dudes that are consistent at getting 100+yd games with multiple TDs. D. Adams and S. Diggs have some good matchups against Chi-Town and Pittsburgh, which should yield projections. Weather is one to watch with these games. Though I don't believe it will matter much as both wideouts always get their targets. UGG appears to be going with Chargers TE Everett in an increasingly crowded pass-catching offense. This is probably best, as homer Hunter Henry, is likely to be low-yield against Cincy. UGG can do some significant damage to JWW's championship hopes with his Flex spots. The likes of Aaron Jones and Ja'Marr Chase are just freakin' scary! Bam Knight is an interesting call in a bad weather TNF game, but it may not matter, and Knight is probably good for at least 10 fantasy points. Legendary kicker, Justin Tucker, who hasn't met a football or FG distance attempt he couldn't successfully put through the uprights, is an easy 10+ points. Finally, UGG is playing the homer NE DST. These dudes can play some defense, and keep scores within striking distance of their offense.
Rudolf's Player's to Watch: JWW's Dak Prescott, Evans and Allgeier can blow up and meet the challenge to push Brian into the big game. UGG's Danny Dimes, Everett, and Bam Knight can be problems..OR..can simply help UGG coast one game closer to repeating as DFFL Champion. Wow! What a game this should be!! Welcome to the CowPatty Bowl! Don't step in anything squishy or smelly, it might just be enough to prevent a victory! Good Luck!
UGG (-10)
JWW (+10)
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