Fantasy Football-Playoff Challenge-Championship Week Picks

As the playoffs roll on, the points available through multipliers and the intensity of the games (both reality and fantasy) keep steppin’ up. The bad news for me is that last week I lost all my Saints which leaves me in a bad spot moving forward. Thankfully, they poured it in on their double-point week leaving me with 328 points. This week I only have Wes Welker on a multiplier, so I’m going to get a little risky with my picks as you’ll see at the bottom of this article.

Big Blue (represented here by Kenny Phillips) and their fantasy owners have plenty to celebrate as they head into the next round on triple multipliers. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

At this point, the game is basically “Who had the most Giants?” They’re on a triple multiplier so whatever you do, don’t drop them if you’ve had them since the Wild Card Weekend. They’re the only team to make it to the championship game that started in that round. If they beat the Niners, all teams who have owned Giants the whole time would have them on quadruple multipliers in the Super Bowl which may be against the 31st ranked pass defense in the regular season. Don’t drop your Giants!

If you don’t understand the scoring system, you might be tempted to since they’re going against the gritty Niner defense (more on that in our full preview tomorrow, check back then for picks and analysis!) Trust me, multipliers are the key to the whole game. That’s why I’m making the picks I am for this weekend. We’ll get to that in a minute, but first the latest from our FantasyCPR group…

Our group (which you’re still welcome to join) has 45 members headed into championship week and is led by “tailchaser619′s entry” who is in the top 4,000 in the whole game. Congrats! He also was the high scorer for the divisional round. My entry is slightly above the middle of the pack in our group. There are over 633,000 people playing the game and actually getting points. I’m ranked just over 200,000 so right around the 60+ percentile which is about the right percent that I am in our group as well.

I need to step it up this week, and the best way for me to do that is risky. I’m picking who I think will win and going completely with those 2 teams. It’s putting all my eggs in 2 baskets. If you have people on multipliers, don’t do this; keep them. I’ve only got Welker and he happens to be on the Pats who I’m going with along with the 49ers. Here’s my full roster:

QB: Tom Brady-Brady looked great against the Broncos. Although Baltimore’s defense is in different league than Denver’s, I still expect him to look good against the Ravens. He’s got so many weapons on this team that unless he gets pressured and jumpy while having an off game (see @ Buffalo earlier this year) he’ll be able to find one of his TE or WR open with space to make the play. Having Brady on a double in the Super Bowl would be great, so I’ll roll with him in this round and hopefully he advances.

RB: Frank Gore, Ray Rice-Yes, yes I know what I said in the paragraph above. The problem is figuring out what New England RB will be the flavor of the day. Add to that the chance the Ravens advance, the Giants split backfield, and the fact that just chasing the multiplier isn’t the best call (2×2 is still just 4). Rice is my “insurance policy” in case the Ravens win, and he should be set up for a great one-game score in the AFC Championship against the Pats (preview coming Thursday).

WR: Wes Welker, Michael Crabtree-Welker’s on a double so here’s hoping the Ravens leave him single-covered while focusing on the TE. Not likely, but it would help my fantasy team. Michael Crabtree is the clear #1 wide receiver (Vernon Davis is a TE) for the 49ers and should see plenty of looks from Alex Smith once again this week against a beatable, but vastly improved, Giants secondary.

TE: Rob Gronkowski-It’s either Gronk or Vernon Davis. The decision really comes down to who do you have more confidence in winning the game. It’s a tough call, but I’m going with Gronkowski and his spike to get the Pats to the big game.

K: Stephen Gostkowski: The Pats didn’t settle for 3′s at all against Denver, but against Baltimore’s D they may need some FG’s.

D: San Francisco 49ers: For me so far this position has only gotten negative points, so I don’t think I want multipliers here… I’ll take San Fran to harass Eli into turnovers which the Packers couldn’t do. Patrick Willis, Donte Whitner, Justin Smith, and rookie sensation Aldon Smith will be ready to take on a Giants team which they faced in week 10 and held to 20 points in a San Fran victory.

We’ll have lots more coverage to come throughout the next few days as we gear up for Championship weekend. Tomorrow we’ll preview the 49ers-Giants rematch, and then Thursday we’ll turn to the AFC and break down the Pats-Ravens showdown. Both games promise to be very entertaining and we’re in for some great football if last week’s games were any indication.

Come back on Friday as we’ll turn our attention to those teams that went home earlier than they wanted in our first look ahead to the 2012 NFL Draft. We’ll have version 1.0 of our Mock Draft finalized by then, so make sure to check back to see who your team is targeting and who you should take a long, hard look at in fantasy football drafts next year to find the next Cam Newton.

Enjoy the games!

Z

Tags: 49ers Defense, Championship Playoff Week, Fantasy Football, fantasy football playoff edition, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, NFL playoffs, tom brady