Superbowl Preview

NFFL Superbowl XII Preview

Another year…

Tighe squares off against Brett in the climax to what has been a season-long confirmation of the league’s traditional powers.  It is a contrast in success, Brett’s history marked with boom or bust campaigns culminating in multiple Super Bowls or multiple first round picks, Tighe’s a more stready progression of unfulfilling regular season success leading to devastating playoff defeats.

Storylines, storylines- will Brett add to his tally of Superbowls, establishing himself as the most successful team of the 10+ era?  Will Tighe finally validate his regular season success with a long overdue Super Bowl win?  Will the commissioner commit to spelling Superbowl or Super Bowl?  Will Lee continue to insist his squad was the best in the league?  All answer coming this weekend in the league’s twelfth championship game.

News and Notes- Brett

*The return of Cutler proved massive for Brett, his 23 points in week 15 providing a hint of a quick return to major prominence as a strong QB2.

*Ben Tate was placed on IR, ending a two month struggle with his ribs.  At press time, Ivory was plugged in as a nominal RB3.

*Waiver activity is a non-starter at this stage but Ryan Griffin, TE in Houston, is plugged in to start this week against Denver.  Teams tend to lose playoff games in a way that reflects the overall struggle of the season- see PBR’s RB1 struggle last week or Malinn’s week 15 WR totals- so I will keep a close eye on the TE position here.

*Calvin Johnson is questionable, but he’ll play.  No other injuries here.

*Amendola, DeAngelo, and Caldwell are available if needed, as is Wright and Ertz at TE. Geno is in the bullpen for QBs.  If the Eagles game is rendered meaningless on Sunday night, I could see Bryce Brown, but by that point Brett will likely have played his guys.

News and Notes- Tighe

*In the QB2 battle, McGloin proved capable, his 19 points a promising sign going into a solid matchup against the Chargers.

*No major developments  with injuries or etc here- Tighe’s team is more or less picking itself, save for a possible Dolphins RB sighting.

Tale of the Tape

*QB- Brees and McGloin (33 points) v Luck and Cutler (38 points)

Brett holds the slight edge here (all points Yahoo projections) in both pedigree and season-long performance.  Matchups are good except for Brees, who is essentially matchup proof, so I think the projections here may in fact end up being favorable for Brett.

Slight edge- Brett

*RB- CJ, Murray, Ivory (38 points) v Gore, Charles (32 points)

A good holding job here from Tighe as an undermanned unit stays close on Brett’s heels.  The loss of Tate hurts.  For Tighe, the Charles explosion hints at regression but he has been valuable all year while Gore’s strong matchup could be offset by a declining workload- a major concern.

Brett has the benefit of strong matchups and, surely, the spotlight will be on in Washington each time Romo drops back, likely leading to a full Murray workload.  Ivory has averaged about 7 points a game in the last four and my feeling is that he will be touchdown dependent.

Slight edge- Brett

*WR Brown, Calvin Johnson, Gordon (37 points) v Allen, Jackson, Thomas, Streater (35 points)

About even with the extra guy.  Tighe has great matchups, which I feel are very important at the mid-range WR level, and this should help him compete with Brett’s red-hot trio.  Streater is a bit of a wild card and a possible lineup change candidate but the others are locked in.  Welker’s injury dramatically changed Denver’s offense- will Thomas get more involved?

Brett counters with his own good matchups, save for Johnson, who is matchup proof.  No real analysis here- three top, top guys that will have Tighe concerned through Sunday’s games.

Slight Edge- Brett

*TE- Griffin (8 points) v Thomas (8 points)

Yahoo projects a clever move from Brett here but the reality is that Griffin has not scored eight total points over the last three weeks.  His expanded workload in the face of injury will lead to more opportunity but I just cannot take the equal projection seriously.

Like his teammate and namesake, Thomas will look for more work post-Welker injury.  The real value here is that Thomas is good enough to turn this matchup with a twenty point showing while Griffin is basically hoping to fall into the end zone while holding the football.  This match winner value is not reflected in a flat ‘average’ projection and gives Tighe a major edge.

Edge- Tighe

Biggest Games

1pm- Indy @ KC

*In terms of this battle, Luck and Charles are two of the biggest point scorers- the ebb and flow of this game will be critical.  Can the KC defense keep Luck down to a QB2 level? 

4pm- SD @ OAK

*Selfish- three of Tighe’s players involved here, with Brett to watch on the sidelines.  A shootout would really suit Mr. Allen, perhaps our league ROY, and any excuse to pass will help McGloin-Streater, the partnership that reminds many of the great Unitas-Berry connection…

8pm- PHI @ CHI

*It gets interesting late on as Cutler will look to expand what is sure to a Brett lead while DeSean will try to counter.  Again- will this game be rendered moot?  Not sure if this is a possibility…but if it is, that is trouble for Tighe.

MNF Game of the Week

*GORE GORE GORE!  A fitting end to the competitive season would involve old man Gore needing about ten to twelve points, causing madness and chaos for all of our Monday nights.

Final Thought

A resilient Tighe stumbles at the last, perhaps with Gore being benched in a blowout, falling just shy of that final hurdle once more.

Brett 114, Tighe 110