Dave Portnoy Faces Another Uphill Challenge
Dave Portnoy has had a rollercoaster of a fantasy season which has been saved by the emergence of Justin Fields. However, with Fields sitting vs. the Jets, Dave is very much in a tough spot against 2nd place and points leader Mike Moustakas.
A win here would virtually lock Dave into a playoff spot with two weeks left in the regular season, but he's obviously short handed with Fields and Raheem Mostert both out. He'll be forced to start his old pal, Tom Brady who is in a potentially rainy game against the Browns. He'll need big games from Cordarrelle Patterson and Jaylen Waddle in addition to Brady to survive this onslaught from Moose which was headlined by Justin Jefferson shredding Dave's Pats on Thanksgiving. If he can get solid games out of Lamar Jackson, Alvin Kamara, and Tyreek Hill he should win easily.
Commissioner Cheah's pick: Takos and Tequila
Meanwhile, the red hot Eric Hosmer looks to secure his playoff positioning in a must-win matchup vs. the Brewers pair of Christian Yelich and Jace Peterson.
Yelich and Peterson had three guys play alreayd and they basically matched their projection almost to a T. Meanwhile, Hosmer only had one and his guy move than doubled his projection. So good fortune already. This matchup could hinge on David Montgomery who will need a huge game vs. the Jets with Justin Fields out. They'd also like both Justin Herbert and James Conner to return to their 2021 form as they've been disappointing from a fantasy perspective this year. Brandon Aiyuk another one to watch and he's been red hot with 5 TDs in his last 5 games. Meanwhile, the man that could be throwing Aiyuk that TD is on Hosmer's squad where he pairs him with George Kittle, who saved his season on Monday Night. Antonio Gibson gets a leaky Falcons run D and Jonathan Taylor will hve to wait til Monday to show he's getting close to back to last year's peak. This will be a tight one, but I lean Hoz.
Commissioner Cheah's pick: Blood Sweat and Beers
The biggest threat to Hosmer's #6 seed is the winner of this matchup. Both Manny Machado and Mike Napoli are 5-6 and the loser of this matchup is all but done from the playoffs.
Manny already got two disappointing performances settled on Thursday and that is always a bad omen. He'll need huge games from Kenneth Walker III, Austin Ekeler, Mark Andrews and Joe Burrow. Meanwhile, future Hall of Famer, Mike Napoli has been ravaged by injury at the WR position with Cooper Kupp on IR and Kadarius Toney missing the game today. He does have underperforming vets Brandin Cooks and Diontae Johnson on the bench, but with their performances this year, I can't fault him for that. It'll all be on Jalen Hurts/Miles Sanders duo to put him over the top.
Commissioner Cheah's pick: Miami ThunderCoxs
Meanwhile, the 1st place squad managed by Wil Myers looks to end Mike Trouts season.
Wil actually had all three of his guys going on Thanksgiving underperform their projection. But he's still got super explosive guys like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Jacobs, Davante Adams, and Tyler Lockett in, so you'd think at least one fo them has a monster game. Meanwhile, how much will Tua Tagovailoa throw it against a BAD Texans D. But will they take the air out of the football in the 2nd half? In the backfield, Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb are in for huge days.
Commissioner Cheah's pick: The Kid in an upset
The trio of Joc Pederson, Alex Wood, and Austin Barnes is facing elimination, but they're favored after a big Thanksgiving Day from Amon-Ra St. Brown and the Bills D/ST.
Shane Bieber and Austin Hedges also got a good performance out of Dalton Schultz on Turkey Day and I think this matchup could be decided who performs better between Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey. The lineups are fairly even otherwise, but the Guardians duo definitely needs their Kyler Murray/DeAndre Hopkins stack to at least hit their projections.
Commissioner Cheah's pick: Spoilers U in an upset
Alex Bregman has been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but he looks to knock Jake Marisnick down a peg in a game he really needs.
And Bregman has a lot of guys I like today with Jeff Wilson Jr., Terry McLaurin, and Chris Godwin. Derek Carr vs. the frisky Seahawks will be crucial to this matchup and Marisnick has some heavy hitters with Travis Etienne and Travis Kelce. His WRs have been flighty with DK Metcalf and Keenan Allen (a lot due to injuries), but I see a potential upset brewing here.
Commissioner Cheah's pick: One at A Time