IDK Playoffs - Rd 1

Two seasons in a row we haven't had a ten win regular season team. What that means is that no team has been dominant and that's been a good thing. This year's playoff hunt went down the very last week of the season, with both byes being up for grabs. Heading into Week 13, the Chunky Monkeys had the lead in the Inscrutable Drama Kings division while the Philadelphia Phreaks had a narrow edge over in the Spunky Misunderstood Geniuses division.

Interestingly, the two faced off during this last weekend, in a very crucial matchup. Both teams desperately needed the win; at stake was Ping's first division title and a guaranteed playoff bye for the winner. Despite a strong running game, the Phreaks couldn't muster much of an aerial offense and fell to the Monkeys' balanced attack, 90-70. What that meant was that the Chunky Monkeys found themselves in a familiar position of a #1 seed, while on the other side, another CTDB champion, the Fat Jubas, sneaked into a bye by beating the Dirty Birds 97-75.

With those two on easy street this coming weekend, let's take a look at what the playoff matchups will be for Week 14.

Buffy (8-4-1) vs Ante Up (7-6)
Two time champ Buffy haven't been in the playoffs since 2007 and have had some up and down times since then. Most of Buffy's resurgence this season can be attributed to one man: Arian Foster, the number one fantasy running back in the land. Foster started the season off with an eye opening 41 points and never really slowed down, finishing with three straight 20+ point games to head into the playoffs hot like fire. Buffy's other RB, Matt Forte also had a huge first week, but he faded a bit as mid-season approached before recovering nicely over the past few weeks. The running game is now Buffy's bread and butter, even as off-season acquisition Steven Jackson takes a seat behind Foster and Forte. Having a backup the caliber of Jackson can't be a bad thing.

The Buffy passing game has TE Antonio Gates, who was leading the league in touchdowns, and was vying for fantasy MVP-dom before missing essentially four games. He's back now and in full health so Roger can breathe a sigh of relief. Wes Welker had seemed to lose some of his mojo but over the past four weeks has ripped off double digit games and is becoming super dependable again. The big question is Chad Ochocinco, who has been barely serviceable, and could be relieved by Santana Moss, Deion Branch, or Steve Breaston.

There's also a bit of a QB controversy, as rookie Sam Bradford took a start over the mercurial Carson Palmer. The steadiest QB, David Garrard, isn't even on the roster anymore and it's going to be real interesting to see if he gets picked back up, or if Bradford and Palmer will be given the keys to the Buffy-mobile.

The good news is that Roger's team has been very consistent this year, dipping below eighty only three times all season, and has been near or over the century mark the last four weeks. They're going to be a tough out and are serious contenders for their third championship.

This marks Ante Up's second straight year in the playoffs, a strong turnaround for a team that was coming off of back to back 4-9 seasons. While playoff success has been fleeting, it's a good sign that Jae has found his way back to fantasy relevance. Sophomore LeSean McCoy has been the fourth best back in fantasy this year, and has only one game with less than double digit scoring. He's a double threat and super legit. While the gap between Foster and McCoy is large overall (over sixty points), McCoy has been stellar the past four weeks and has only scored four fewer points than Foster during that span. As long as Vick remains the Eagles' QB, McCoy is a franchise player.

The other starting running back is Ray Rice, who hasn't quite lived up to his preseason hype, but has been intermittently explosive nonetheless. Rice may not be a number one back, but as a number two he's just fine. Then again, raise your hand if you knew that Ahmad Bradshaw was a top ten back this year? With the Giants having found their run game again of late, Bradshaw is picking up steam heading into the fantasy playoffs. There's no doubting that Bradshaw can be an impact player, and is sneaky dangerous. Who will fill the second RB spot next to McCoy? We told you Buffy had a strong running game, but Ante Up has the advantage here.

Jae's not so secret weapon is Aaron Rodgers, the best fantasy player this year, who's also coming off of four weeks with scores of 36-41-32-35. The problem is, outside of Reggie Wayne, there's no receivers for Rodgers to throw to. The second best receiver here is arguably Danny Amendola, but Nate Washington, Jabar Gaffney, Lance Moore, and someone named Ben Obomanu have been starting the past few weeks. Receiver is a big Achilles' Heel on this team and maybe Jae can move LeGarrette Blount, Jonathan Stewart, or even Bradshaw for some last minute WR help. Heaven knows the injured Mike Sims-Walker and Kenny Britt aren't the answer. Can a team win the Super Bowl with this sorry group of pass catchers? Jae probably wishes he could play three or four RBs.

Barring a 78 point dip in WK10, Ante Up has scored 133-128-93-130 points heading into the playoffs. In fact, they used that 130 point outburst to topple Battle Angel by five points, in a wild last game of the season matchup. Can Ante Up beat Buffy this week? Well it looks like it'll be a high scoring game either way because their first matchup this year in WK4 was decided by five points as Buffy toppled Ante Up 135-130. Then three weeks later their rematch was decided by two points, as Buffy once again nipped Ante Up in a scorcher, 107-105. We're guessing this game gets decided by three points, with both teams going all out and flexing their offensive muscles. Looking at the final regular season stats, these two teams almost had identical PF and PA numbers, meaning we're in for the game of the week!