Christmas will be very rewarding to either Bill or Victor this year. The season will end with a new champ, and unlike the last three seasons, there will be no last-to-first story. These are two franchises with the best record since the league went to a keeper format, and so it'll be quite the clash of titans.
Bill is coming in as the strong favorite, however. He's outscored Victor for six of seven weeks now. Bill's MVP, LT, is having an unmatched and unreal fantasy season for a RB, outscoring even all QBs in TDs. In addition, Bill strengthened his weak spot at QB with the acquisition of Drew Brees in the latter part of the season.
This is the ultimate test of fantasy strategies. Balance vs. power. Diversification vs. Concentration. Victor has a better top-to-bottom lineup, but Bill has tremendous star power in 2 positions. Victor built his roster to withstand injuries, but the dark side of that is a higher probability of inefficient starts. Bill has gone all-in with essentially two players and the Chargers, so he'll hit it big or miss badly. Lately, Bill has hit all bullseyes. Here are the positions breakdown:
QB:
Peyton Manning has slowed down a bit, but he has a favorable matchup at Houston while Drew Brees has to go to New York and play outdoors in the winter. New York is a hard team to predict. The Giants just got upset by Bill's beloved Eagles, but New Orleans lost at home also, to a much worse NFC East team. Both teams will be playing for something, so don't expect either QB to be benched or playbooks to be trimmed to basic plays. However, New Orlean's running game is more mature than Indy's, so Manning may be throwing more.
Edge: Slight Advantage Victor
RB:
LT. LT. LT. So what if Victor has the #2, #6, and #7 running backs in the league. So what if Bill's #2 RB Chester Taylor is hobbled. So what if fantasy is not supposed to be about 1-man teams. This is the year of LT. It's like facing off against the Borg. For week 16, LT goes to Seattle, who just got shredded by Frank Gore for 180+ combined yards. So the Borg won't be stopped this week, and will give Bill a nice Christmas present.
Edge: Strong Advantage Bill
WR:
Victor has more depth, but also more room for heartbreaking inefficiencies. Also, if Victor starts Colston, any points he scores would be negated by Brees. But if he benches Colston and Colston has a monster game, it'd be a double hit on Victor. Steve Smith has cooled with Weinke throwing, and so Braylon Edwards may get the start if Victor decides not to dance with the ones who brung 'ya. Ah decisions, decisions. No such pressure on Bill. He'll be starting Driver and Reggie Brown.
Edge: Slight Advantage Victor (Due to latest news on Walker's injury)
TE:
Winslow has done squat for Victor ever since he acquired the mercurial Tight End. Witten is consistent. Consistently underwhelming with about 3 pts a week. Victor's TEs have definitely underachieved this season, but at least they give him a few points a week. Ben Watson is a hot-and-cold guy. Maybe Bill will upgrade this position with a free agent pickup, but for now, Victor's TEs generate more of a known production.
Edge: Slight Advantage Victor
K:
Bill has latched on to the Chargers bandwagon, while Victor's largest investment in one team has to do with the Ravens. Bill's kicker serves as insurance if San Diego can't punch it in, while Victor has to hope for a low-scoring defensive game with lots of field goals. Heinz Field has always been a tough place to kick for visitors. Plus Pittsburgh is getting its groove again, and will limit Stover's attempts.
Edge: Slight Advantage Bill
DST:
Ravens have a tough match at Pittsburgh, where they never do well and the Steelers will be seeking revenge for the last drubbing from the Ravens. Someone advised Bill to pick up the Patriots since their Faduco playoff matchups were against Houston and Jacksonville. Oh yeah, it was Victor. So that advice may come back to bite Victor. Victor also tried to acquire the Bears but got rebuffed since Donny found out from Victor that he had a not-so-impossible chance to make the playoffs. Two hits of "good deeds never go unpunished" karma will be too much for Victor to overcome.
Edge: Moderate Advantage Bill
Scoring prediction: Bill in the 90s - Victor in the high 70s-low 80s. Victor will have to be ultra-efficient to beat Bill, but that is very difficult to do with Victor's roster. Bill is the betting favorite to finally break the streak of Asian championships. However, I think Bill's babysitter won't be running victory laps around the house till the official scoring comes in, even if the margin will be more than 10 points.
Bill is coming in as the strong favorite, however. He's outscored Victor for six of seven weeks now. Bill's MVP, LT, is having an unmatched and unreal fantasy season for a RB, outscoring even all QBs in TDs. In addition, Bill strengthened his weak spot at QB with the acquisition of Drew Brees in the latter part of the season.
This is the ultimate test of fantasy strategies. Balance vs. power. Diversification vs. Concentration. Victor has a better top-to-bottom lineup, but Bill has tremendous star power in 2 positions. Victor built his roster to withstand injuries, but the dark side of that is a higher probability of inefficient starts. Bill has gone all-in with essentially two players and the Chargers, so he'll hit it big or miss badly. Lately, Bill has hit all bullseyes. Here are the positions breakdown:
QB:
Peyton Manning has slowed down a bit, but he has a favorable matchup at Houston while Drew Brees has to go to New York and play outdoors in the winter. New York is a hard team to predict. The Giants just got upset by Bill's beloved Eagles, but New Orleans lost at home also, to a much worse NFC East team. Both teams will be playing for something, so don't expect either QB to be benched or playbooks to be trimmed to basic plays. However, New Orlean's running game is more mature than Indy's, so Manning may be throwing more.
Edge: Slight Advantage Victor
RB:
LT. LT. LT. So what if Victor has the #2, #6, and #7 running backs in the league. So what if Bill's #2 RB Chester Taylor is hobbled. So what if fantasy is not supposed to be about 1-man teams. This is the year of LT. It's like facing off against the Borg. For week 16, LT goes to Seattle, who just got shredded by Frank Gore for 180+ combined yards. So the Borg won't be stopped this week, and will give Bill a nice Christmas present.
Edge: Strong Advantage Bill
WR:
Victor has more depth, but also more room for heartbreaking inefficiencies. Also, if Victor starts Colston, any points he scores would be negated by Brees. But if he benches Colston and Colston has a monster game, it'd be a double hit on Victor. Steve Smith has cooled with Weinke throwing, and so Braylon Edwards may get the start if Victor decides not to dance with the ones who brung 'ya. Ah decisions, decisions. No such pressure on Bill. He'll be starting Driver and Reggie Brown.
Edge: Slight Advantage Victor (Due to latest news on Walker's injury)
TE:
Winslow has done squat for Victor ever since he acquired the mercurial Tight End. Witten is consistent. Consistently underwhelming with about 3 pts a week. Victor's TEs have definitely underachieved this season, but at least they give him a few points a week. Ben Watson is a hot-and-cold guy. Maybe Bill will upgrade this position with a free agent pickup, but for now, Victor's TEs generate more of a known production.
Edge: Slight Advantage Victor
K:
Bill has latched on to the Chargers bandwagon, while Victor's largest investment in one team has to do with the Ravens. Bill's kicker serves as insurance if San Diego can't punch it in, while Victor has to hope for a low-scoring defensive game with lots of field goals. Heinz Field has always been a tough place to kick for visitors. Plus Pittsburgh is getting its groove again, and will limit Stover's attempts.
Edge: Slight Advantage Bill
DST:
Ravens have a tough match at Pittsburgh, where they never do well and the Steelers will be seeking revenge for the last drubbing from the Ravens. Someone advised Bill to pick up the Patriots since their Faduco playoff matchups were against Houston and Jacksonville. Oh yeah, it was Victor. So that advice may come back to bite Victor. Victor also tried to acquire the Bears but got rebuffed since Donny found out from Victor that he had a not-so-impossible chance to make the playoffs. Two hits of "good deeds never go unpunished" karma will be too much for Victor to overcome.
Edge: Moderate Advantage Bill
Scoring prediction: Bill in the 90s - Victor in the high 70s-low 80s. Victor will have to be ultra-efficient to beat Bill, but that is very difficult to do with Victor's roster. Bill is the betting favorite to finally break the streak of Asian championships. However, I think Bill's babysitter won't be running victory laps around the house till the official scoring comes in, even if the margin will be more than 10 points.
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