Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

Folks, this is what we have been preparing for!

We have reached the last week of the NFL season, and the last week of the Confidence Pool. If you have been following along with my picks, you should be in pretty good shape right now and just need one more solid week to clinch a win in your season-long pool. But hey, might as well throw in a weekly payout on top of that as well, right?

Normally, Week 17 is always a tricky one. With only one week to go, playoff spots and seeds are almost entirely figured out already, which means that star players end up getting a Sunday off. Obviously, this adds a degree of difficulty when making your Confidence Pool picks.

Not this year!

Heading into the final week of the season it seems like only 2 or 3 of the 12 playoff seeds have been determined. No need to worry about whether Tom Brady will be in all game – he will. Will Patrick Mahomes be under center from start to finish in KC? Absolutely! Is Todd Gurley in the Rams backfield all game on Sunday! He…well…he won’t be…but we already know this and can prepare accordingly!

It has been another great football season! Thank you all for following along all year!

We’ll see you in September!

WEEK 17 – HERE WE GO!!

(HOME TEAM IN ALL CAPS)

16 – NEW ENGLAND over New York Jets – Another season another Patriots division title…ho-hum. Unfortunately for the Jets the Pats are still playing for a potential #1 seed.

15 – KANSAS CITY over Oakland – Re-read what I just wrote and replace Patriot references with Chief references and Jet references with Raider references … that.

14 – SEATTLE over Arizona – And with this…the Cardinals are officially “On The Clock.”

13 – PITTSBURGH over Cincinnati – These games are always intense and fun to watch. Will more than likely be a LOT more fun for Steeler fans to watch this time around, though.

12 – LOS ANGELES RAMS over San Francisco – The once seemingly invincible Rams are still fighting to get a first round bye. Lucky for them all they need to do is beat the 9ers at home.

11 – HOUSTON over Jacksonville – These two teams have reversed roles throughout the year. The Texans look like a legit threat for the Super Bowl.

10 – GREEN BAY over Detroit – The Lions WOULD have a chance in this one if the Packers would sit Aaron Rodgers. BUT, Rodgers is probably still on the “screw McCarthy” kick and will probably throw for 600 yards…ish.

9 – BALTIMORE over Cleveland – Baltimore is still playing for a division title which will be enough against the Browns…this year! My final BOLD PREDICTION of the 2018 season is that THE BROWNS WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS NEXT SEASON.

8 – Los Angeles Chargers over DENVER – Since the Chiefs will probably easily handle the Raiders prior to this game, the Chargers will be locked in the 5^th seed with nothing much to play for – but will be playing a team that has played like they have nothing to play for all year.

7 – NEW ORLEANS over Carolina – It doesn’t sound like Drew Brees will be playing since the Saints have already locked up the #1 seed. But Cam won’t be playing either and I have more faith in Teddy Bridgewater than (insert Panthers QB name here).

6 – Atlanta over TAMPA BAY – Everybody wants out of Tampa. That’s not exactly the best way to end the season with a win.

5 – MINNESOTA over Chicago – The Vikings will make the playoffs with a win here…unfortunately that (more than likely) means traveling to Chicago to play a healthier, rested, and just better Bears team.

4 – PHILADELPHIA over Washington – It wouldn’t surprise me if the Redskins end up playing their 17^th quarterback of the season in this game with how hard the Eagles will be coming.

3 – BUFFALO over Miami – A glimmer of hope for the Bills future…that’s pretty much all I can say here.

2 – TENNESSEE over Indianapolis – The regular season will end in Nashville with what could end up being two teams fighting for the last playoff spot…the way it should be.

1 – NEW YORK GIANTS over Dallas – The Cowboys are locked in the 4^th spot and really don’t have anything to play for…music to the Giants ears!

We are getting to the nitty gritty right now! Only two weeks remain in the regular season.

If you have been using our picks this year, then you are sitting pretty good in your year long pool and are poised to take that top spot!

If you haven’t been using our picks, well then you deserve the low spot in the standings that you have right now! But hey, jump on the bandwagon now and maybe win a week or two!

…and never doubt me again!

WEEK 16 – HERE WE GO!!

(HOME TEAM IN ALL CAPS)

16 – NEW ENGLAND over Buffalo – The Patriots are home against the Bills…that’s really all the explanation that you need to put New England in the top spot this week!

15 – TENNESSEE over Washington – Derrick Henry likes running the football…a lot!

14 – DALLAS over Tampa Bay – A win here would give the Cowboys the NFC East crown – that motivation and the fact that they are playing Tampa are enough for a high point line.

13 – INDIANAPOLIS over New York Giants – The Colts hitting their stride at the perfect time. The Giants won’t have enough firepower to keep up, especially with Beckham still out.

12 – CLEVELAND over Cincinnati – The Browns are on a double-digit line…as the WINNER! Bengal fans, let that sink in…

11 – Los Angeles Rams over ARIZONA – I am always a little weary on putting road teams on the top two lines…but this will probably end up being the biggest blowout of the week.

10 – MIAMI over Jacksonville – This will be a really, really boring game…that the Jaguars have no chance of winning.

9 – NEW ORLEANS over Pittsburgh – Drew Brees shows up for big games in the Dome, expect more of the same here.

8 – LOS ANGELES CHARGERS over Baltimore – This could be the Game of the Week – luckily for the Chargers it looks like Kennan Allen and Melvin Gordon will be on the fied.

7 – Chicago over SAN FRANCISCO – The 9ers have looked good on their little win streak…but…well now their playing the Bears.

6 – PHILADELPHIA over Houston – The Eagles shocked the world traveling to LA and beating the Rams last week. I expect that momentum to keep rolling back home in another big game.

5 – CAROLINA over Atlanta – Someone has to win this game – right?

4 – SEATTLE over Kansas City - The Chiefs are picking the wrong time to lose two games in a row, but a trip up to Seattle could not come at a worse time for them.

3 – Minnesota over DETROIT – The Vikings are playing the Bears next week. If they want to keep their playoff hopes alive they NEED to win this game!

2 – Green Bay over NEW YORK JETS – A whole lot of horrible looking green on this field!

1 – OAKLAND over Denver – The last time the Raiders played on Christmas Eve Derek Carr broke his leg…but they still won the game.

Have you seen Happy Gilmore?

If you haven’t, stop reading this and go watch it. Not just for a reference that I am about to make, but also, well, for life in general. You haven’t seen Happy Gilmore? Go fix that now, I’ll wait …

…on behalf of society in general, thank you for FINALLY watching it!

So the part that we will be talking about here is when Happy hits his first hole-in-one. Going through the games this week really made me think about this one, and here’s why.

Looking at the schedule this week we have a game or two where it is pretty easy to guess who will win. Past that, it’s anybody’s guess! We have so many potential good games this week. I don’t just mean good teams going at it, but evenly matched teams against each other – we have good vs good, mediocre vs mediocre, and the Raiders vs the Bengals!

Not only that though, in the few games where, on paper, there is clearly a better team, the better team is on the road, which should ALWAYS make you think a little more when picking that game.

This could obviously pose a problem for a confidence pool as you can imagine. There are way too many toss-ups to feel completely confident this week. However, we are coming off of a really good week so the momentum is on our side.

OK, back to the movie – so Happy hits the hole-in-one, turns to Chubbs and says that was a lot easier and should just try to get it in one shot every time! So, that’s what we’ll just do. Forget about the general purpose of a confidence pool, let’s just get them all right! Hard to lose that way!

WEEK 15 – HERE WE GO!!

(HOME TEAM IN ALL CAPS)

16 – BALTIMORE over Tampa Bay – Giving Lamar Jackson the undisputed reigns is going to go a long way for potentially getting the Ravens to sneak the AFC North away from Pittsburgh.

15 – CHICAGO over Green Bay – Oh there are just so many things that I could say about this game…I’ll just leave it at this…BEAR DOWN!!!

14 – LOS ANGELES RAMS over Philadelphia – It feels like the Rams may feel a little shaken right now – their stranglehold on the NFC is gone. That could make them dangerous.

13 – ATLANTA over Arizona – I know what you’re thinking – “Why would the Falcons be this high?” First off, look at the rest of the games and you’ll understand. Second…have you seen the Cardinals lately?

12 – KANSAS CITY over Los Angeles Chargers – Couldn’t ask for a better way to start the week off. If Melvin Gordon doesn’t play then there is no way the Chargers can keep up with the Chiefs.

11 – MINNESOTA over Miami – I still can’t get over the way the Dolphins won last week…and I have a feeling Miami is a team that will be thinking about last week too much and not enough about this week,

10 – Houston over NEW YORK JETS – The winning streak is over for the Texans, which may be the best thing for them heading to the end of the season.

9 – JACKSONVILLE over Washington – Cody Kessler vs Mark Sanchez … this is a thing! My BOLD PREDICTION for this week is that BOTH OF THESE TEAMS WILL HAVE NEW COACHES NEXT YEAR.

8 – CAROLINA over New Orleans – The bookends of this week are amazing and will be full of points. Look for another big game for McCaffrey (something that could probably just be said the rest of the year).

7 – PITTSBURGH over New England – So the Patriots lost on the Miami Miracle and the Steelers lost to the Raiders. Both teams obviously have a lot to prove – lucky for the Steelers the game is in Pittsburgh.

6 – DENVER over Cleveland – Who would have thought that a road game for the Browns wouldn’t exactly be a slam-dunk pick for the home team?

5 – INDIANAPOLIS over Dallas – Also, who would have thought that this game would end up having Game of the Week potential?

4 – Detroit over Buffalo – This game is on the schedule and therefore will happen…that’s all I can say.

3 – NEW YORK GIANTS over Tennessee – Derrick Henry can’t run for 732 yards and 17 touchdown every week like he did last week! **Disclaimer – numbers may not be exact**

2 – Oakland over CINCINNATI – Marvin Lewis will still have a job next year. The Bengals could very well lose at home to the Browns and Raiders in the span of a few weeks and Marvin Lewis will still have a job next year.

1 – SAN FRANCISCO over Seattle – Richard Sherman is going to have the 9ers ready for this one.

Last week is what makes the NFL so fun! So many upsets! Any Given Sunday!

On the flip side of that, last week is also what makes being a confidence pool pretty frustrating. More than likely though, the others in your pool were joining in your misery so you shouldn't have lost too much ground.

Week 14 – HERE WE GO!!!!

(HOME TEAM IN CAPS)

16 – KANSAS CITY over Baltimore – With all of the off the field distractions going on in KC, the Chiefs need to make an on the field statement.

15 – LOS ANGELES CHARGERS over Cincinnati – One of the main reason that the Chiefs need to make a statement is because the Chargers aren’t exactly that far behind them!

14 – TENNESSEE over Jacksonville – The Titans surprised the Jags early in the season. This time, it won’t be nearly as surprising (hopefully it will be more entertaining though since it will be the Thursday Night Game).

13 – HOUSTON over Indianapolis – This is an understatement, but the Texans are just impressive!

12 – GREEN BAY over Atlanta – You know that feeling when you get out of a long, bad relationship and you just want to go out and have fun? That feeling may propel Aaron Rodgers to a career day…which is saying something!

11 – SEATTLE over Minnesota – When you have to go on the road to play a team that is in the same playoff boat as you are, CenturyLink Field is not the place you want to go!

10 – Pittsburgh over OAKLAND – The Raiders looked good at home against the Chiefs last week! Can they keep that momentum going? … … … no … … … the answer is no.

9 – DALLAS over Philadelphia – Again, someone has the win the NFC East, right? My BOLD PREDICTION for this week is that THE COWBOYS WILL WIN THE NFC EAST.

8 – Carolina over CLEVELAND – I feel that Christian McCaffrey will have a big game…like he apparently always does!

7 – New Orleans over TAMPA BAY – Remember when the Bucs beat the Saints in the Dome to start the season…Drew remembers!

6 – MIAMI over New England – Is it me or do the Pats not really seem like “the Pats” right now? 

5 – CHICAGO over Los Angeles Rams – Soldier Field will be rocking Sunday night! Trubisky will be back, and with him comes hope for a win here.

4 – ARIZONA over Detroit – A two game winning streak for Cardinals…what’s so surprising about that?

3 – New York Jets over BUFFALO – The Jets have been down this year, but I have to think the drubbing they took from Buffalo a few weeks back is still fresh on their mind.

2 – New York Giants over WASHINGTON –Mark Sanchez is quarterback for the Redskins…hard to have confidence in them right now.

1 – SAN FRANCISCO over Denver – This may just be a Raider fan hoping the 9rers can win another game and clear the path for the #1 pick in the draft.