All in the Family: The Semifinals

Our fantasy football league here at BSB (where we pit a team of Johnsons against a team of Jacksons or Williams or Jones or Smiths or Browns) had its first-ever quarterfinals last week and roll into the semifinals this week.  We’re going to give a quick recap of the quarters and then a preview of this weekend’s semifinal doubleheader.

Quarterfinal:  #3 Football Jones & The Last-Name Crusade 63 – #6 Charlie Brown 27
The hottest team in the league not named “Johnson” continued their red-hot campaign with an easy quarterfinal win.  The Jones squad got 20 from MVP candidate Maurice Jones-Drew and 14 from Felix Jones.  They also got a surprise 15 from Jacoby Jones.  Dhani Jones led the defense with 6.

Charlie Brown didn’t have a terrible game, but it wasn’t near enough to challenge the strong Jones team.  Josh Brown, the only kicker in the league, led Charlie with 9 points (including a special-teams tackle, which isn’t good for his real team, but is good for his fantasy team).  Donald Brown had a decent day, going for 6 points, but the big disappoinment (like he has been for most of the year) was Ronnie Brown, who only got 2.

Football Jones & the Last-Name Crusade moves on to the semifinals, where they will meet the slumping team of Williams, Big Willie Style.  Charlie Brown has to settle for a shot at 5th place this week.

Quarterfinal:  #4 Jack-O’s 66 – #5 BlackSmiths 7
Yes, 7 points for the BlackSmiths, in an embarrassing semifinal loss.  Not that they could have beaten the Jack-O’s on their best day, as they were dominant this week when it mattered most.  DeSean Jackson went for 30 and Fred Jackson went for 14.  They got a decent 10 from Steven Jackson and 4 from the newest addition Vincent Jackson.  The defense (the worst in the league) was okay, as they got 3 Kareem Jackson and 4 from Lawrence Jackson.  The only disappointing part of the Jack-O’s day was only getting a single point from their starting quarterback (a real luxury in this league), Tarvaris Jackson.

The BlackSmiths picked the wrong quarterback.  They went with Troy Smith over Alex Smith, and Troy gave them nothing.  Alex had a good day, but was on the bench.  Only Carolina’s Steve Smith managed more than a single point for them all week.

The Jack-O’s will take their new-found momentum into the semifinals, where they will try to pull off a monumental upset over the regular-season champs and ARCH-RIVAL, The Dix.  The BlackSmiths will try and save some face, as they face Charlie Brown in the 5th place game.

And, now for the previews of this week’s big playoff games:

Semifinal:  #1 The Dix vs. #4 Jack-O’s
This league was formed when Bry threw down the gauntlett to Waters and said “I’ll take on your Dix with my Jacksons.”  Waters gladly accepted, having all the faith in the world in his Dix, and the rest is history.  So, this matchup (though some would say a week early thanks to the great seasons of Big Willie Style and The Jones Crusade) has been in the works for almost a year now, and we’re finally here.  The Jack-O’s, who still believe that they should have been awarded the victory over The Dix on the last week of the season because of the should-have-been suspension of Andre Johnson, now get a chance to win it when it matters.  The Dix, who won their last 6 regular season games with ease to cruise to a 11-2 record (including a season sweep of the Jack-O’s), are the heavy favorites to win it all, but they have to get past this one first.

Before any action, Yahoo instituted The Dix as the projected winner 64-46, but that was only counting on 7 points from Vincent Jackson.  On Thursday night, Vincent made up for missing the entire regular season by dropping a MONSTER 31 points putting The Dix is a precarious position heading into the Sunday games.  As good as the Vincent Jackson game was Thursday night, the Jack-O’s took a big hit as well that day, as Tarvaris Jackson (the only quarterback remaining in the playoffs), was placed on IR.  With Tarvaris and 31 from Vincent, the Jack-O’s may have become the favorite in this one heading into Sunday’s games, but without Tarvaris, the Jack-O’s are still looking at a tall order.  Chris Johnson and Andre Johnson play each other on Sunday in a game that may be a real shootout, which is good news for The Dix.  Fred Jackson and DeSean Jackson have tough matchups with Miami and the N.Y. Giants, respectively.  Keep an eye on the defenses, as both of these teams have struggled on that side of the ball, but could get a big play this week to change the tide of the biggest game of the year.  Either way, with 31 points in the bag, the Jack-O’s are sure to make this long-awaited grudge match at least competitive and very exciting.

Semifinal:  #2 Big Willie Style vs. #3 Football Jones & the Last-Name Crusade
The other semifinal pits two teams going in seemingly opposite directions.  Big Willie Style was the talk of the country in the first half of the season, getting off to a 7-0 start, including a big win over The Dix in Week 2.  But, they stumbled down the stretch, losing 3 of their last 6, including a near loss to Charlie Brown in the last regular season game.  Fortunately for Big Willie, they accumulated so many wins early that they were never in any jeopardy of losing the #2 seed and now the slates are wiped clean and they have to perform now.  On the other hand, Football Jones & the Last-Name Crusade has been red-hot, winners of 6 of their last 8 games.  That being said, they have played Big Willie Style twice this year and gotten beat handily in both matchups.  They will need to put forth their biggest performance of the year this week if they are to pull off the upset and head to the championship next week.

If the Yahoo projections are any indication of what we are to expect this week, we are in for an absolutely thrilling semifinal here.  Yahoo projects 53.22 for Big Willie Style and 52.91 for The Jones Crusade.  Wow!  Jones can feel good looking at two very favorable matchups for their two big guns, as Maurice Jones-Drew plays a weak Indy run defense, and Felix Jones gets to go against a defeated Washington team.  What Jones always looks for as a knock-out punch is getting anything from their wideouts, so if you see any touchdown from James Jones for Green Bay, Jacoby Jones for Houston, or Donald Jones for Buffalo, you will probably be looking at an upset of the #2-seed. 

On the other side, Big Willie Style has been doing it all year with balance, balance, and more balance, so they show up each and every week.  Their receivers aren’t stars, but very solid and go three-deep, with the two Mike Williams and Roy Williams.  Also, their running backs, though much less dangerous with the injury to DeAngelo Williams, are still decent, with Cadillac Williams and Ricky Williams. 

As much as fantasy football is won with high-powered offense, this game may come down to the defenses.  These two teams, who have clearly enjoyed the two best defenses all year, are both highly confident on that side of the ball.  As good as the Jones defense is, Big Willie is even better.  Big Willie has won a lot of games this year with their defense, so they will try and do the same thing here, with everything on the line.

5th Place Game:  #5 BlackSmiths vs. #6 Charlie Brown
The fifth-place game pits two teams playing for nothing but pride.  Charlie Brown, who finished in last-place, winning the two games that bookended the great Charlie Brown holiday of Thanksgiving, are playing a lot better right now.  The BlackSmiths, who started 4-4, but then lost 5 in a row to end the season.  They lost again last week, scoring just 7 points.  It looks like they have quit on their coach, Lovie Smith. 

Yahoo thinks that the BlackSmiths will continue reeling, as Charlie Brown is projected to win 36-21.  With Steve Smith of the Giants out for the year, and Troy Smith on the bench, the Smiths really only have the Panthers’ Steve Smith that can do anything on offense.  Their defense is decent, but can any defense win with almost zero offense?

Charlie Brown has the most consistent player in the league, Josh Brown, the only kicker, so they have that to lean on.  Yahoo also projects a big day from Ronnie Brown against the Bills.  We will see what Donald Brown and that excellent secondary of C.C. Brown and Sheldon Brown can do to get Charlie the bragging rights of 5th place.