This week is a lot like it was back in 2007. That year, we had one team who appeared to stand above the rest, yet struggled to just make it to the playoffs. In fact, that team needed to shake off a 1-4 start just to qualify as a middle seed (4th place). That team would be Matt Neatock, who would end up making it to the title game and face a 7-seed that no one would confuse for a title winner. That seven seed was Rich Calderon. He had a hot start to begin the year, winning four of his first five, but he would manage just two wins the rest of the way. Rich would finish below .500 (6-7) and needed others to lose in week thirteen, just to get a playoff spot. Yet, despite the struggles during the season, Calderon had no problem taking down first the #2 seed, followed by the #1 seed. Of course, Neatock was the favorite in the finals and he went and won easily, 1,411-811. Fast forward 11 years and we’re pretty much in that same situation, although all the shoes are on the wrong foot. This time around, Rich is the top team I’ve been preaching all season, yet has struggled to even get in the playoffs, needing to win his final two just to get to 6-7 and earning the 5-seed. Meanwhile, Matt was 2-5 at one point and needed a 4-2 finish and a little help in week thirteen just to qualify as the 7-seed. Yet, like Calderon in 2007, he took down both the 2-seed and 1-seed to reach the finals. So, should we expect the same results? Will the man who finished #1 in my end of year rankings (Rich) walk away with an easy championship or will it be the man who is basically starting my team?

QUARTERBACK – Advantage: Rich

RICH C | ANDREW LUCK Calderon decides to not make a move and leave Matt Ryan on his bench (vs the Panthers) and continues to start Luck (vs Giants). Both quarterbacks are at home, both playing foes with nothing left to play for and both are facing Ds that struggle to stop the pass. The nod for Ryan is that the Panthers are actually good at stopping the run, which means Atlanta might need to air it out more. Also, Ryan is heating up, coming off two straight 300-point games, while Luck has failed to throw a touchdown in two of his last three. Yet, Rich has decided the best strategy is to not mess with a winning streak and that may be the smartest move of all.

MATT | KIRK COUSINS On the flip side, Neatock is throwing caution out of a car, off a cliff and into a stiff wind. Since trading away Carson Wentz, he’s been rolling with Jared Goff. As we’ve all seen, Goff has sucked lately. In his last two, he’s thrown zero touchdowns to five interceptions. Thus, he got sent to the pine and replaced with Kirk Cousins. This means Matt will be starting four players from my former starting lineup. The Vikings quarterback is coming off his best performance in a long while and faces a Lions defense that’s not in the top-20 against the pass. Having said that, Cousins in his last three road games has just four touchdowns to match four interceptions, while the Lions pass D has shown a little life. They’ve given up just three passing touchdowns in their last three and haven’t allowed a 300-yard passer over the last month.

RUNNING BACK #1 – ADVANTAGE: MATT

RICH C | JOE MIXON The Bengals star running back has been on a roll lately. He has back-to-back 300-point fantasy games and he’s done it three out of his last four contests and that includes a 155-yard effort against the Browns, his opponent this week. With Andy Dalton gone, the Bengals have turned into a 1970’d style running team. Mixon has 53 carries in his last two games alone. With their D stuck facing a pretty decent Cleveland offense, look for the Bengals to try to win the clock battle and keep the Browns’ O on the sideline. This means a heavy dose of Mixon. Of course, Cleveland’s run D has been better lately. They have not given up a 100-yard rusher in four out of their last five meetings, giving up no touchdowns in four of those five games. Now this is assuming Mixon is healthy to go. If he’s not, look for Jamal Williams to get the go. The Packers backup running back is no longer the backup with Aaron Jones on the IR. Williams got 254 fantasy points off the bench last week.

MATT | SAQUON BARKLEY After scoring over 400 in three out of four games since getting traded to Matt, Barkley hit a wall called the Tennessee Titans. He was held to just 112, which was a season low. Yet, Neatock still managed to win. Fortunately for Barkley, he doesn’t have to face another top-five defense. The Colts D is ranked 17th against the run. They’re actually not too tragic at stopping running plays. Only three teams have rushed for over 100 yards this season against Indy. The problem is, they do allow backs to turn into good receivers. They are just one of two teams that have given up 100 receptions to runners this year. This is great news for Barkley, who has 82 receptions on the season. With Beckham most likely sitting out, don’t be surprised if Barkley dominates the touches for the Giants this week.

RUNNING BACK #2 – Even

RICH C | NICK CHUBB Sitting as Carlos Hyde’s backup for the first half of the season, Chubb has been a pleasant surprise, scoring over 200 fantasy points in eight straight games and this week, his matchups couldn’t be more perfect, as the Bengals are 31st in fantasy against the run. Last time Chubb faced the Bengals, he had 128 total yards and two scores.

MATT | DELVIN COOK By starting both Cousins and Cook, Neatock is going all in on the Vikings against the Lions. Much like in passing, the Lions have been below average on the year, but has done better lately. Erase the game against Todd Gurley in week thirteen, the Lions have not given up any rushing touchdowns and the yards have been 36, 54, 34, 63 and 90 yards. As for Cook, he’s certainly taken back the lead role in Minnesota. After getting just 38 carries between weeks 9-13, he’s got 32 over his last two games, including a season high 19 last week. He turned that into 136 yards and two scores. However, asking him to repeat a 400-point performance is probably asking for too much, but a fifth straight 200-point game is not.

WIDE RECEIVER #1 – Advantage: Rich

RICH C | DeANDRE HOPKINS After going over a month looking like a so-so wide receiver, Hopkins had his best game of the season by scoring 460 against the Jets in New Jersey. It’s almost a shame he’s beat up now and like Mixon, might not play this week. It’s a double shame because the Texans will be facing the Eagles, who are the second worst team against wide receivers this year. If Hopkins can’t go, I have to assume Calderon will pick Brandin Cooks vs Cardinals over Ken Golladay vs the Vikings.

MATT | JARVIS LANDRY While capable of putting up big numbers (312 just two weeks ago), Landry remains a middle of the pack WR2. He’s had just three 100-yard games and scored only three touchdowns on the season. The issue is, Mayfield is a solid quarterback, but he likes to spread the ball around. Thus, no matter who Rich has to start, he’s going to be better than Landry.

WIDE RECEIVER #2 – Slight Advantage: Rich

RICH C | ADAM THIELEN Through eight weeks, no receiver was better than Thielen. He had eight straight 100-yard games, plus six scores. However, beginning in week nine, he’s been average at best, except for an outing against the Packers. Take away that 310-point effort against Green Bay and Thielen has averaged just 115 points per contest. Last week, he hit rock bottom with just 38 points against the Fins in a game where the Vikings scored 40. Against the Lions, Thielen may not find a ton of breathing room. The last time he faced the team from Detroit, he had just four catches for 22 yards (although one catch was for a touchdown). Over the last month, the Lions D has not given up 200 yards to receivers and allowed only two touchdowns, yet I see a nice bounce back game from Thielen this week.

MATT | ALSHON JEFFERY By scoring 320 against the Rams this past weekend, Jeffery had his best game of the year. Perhaps he just likes Nick Foles better. Yet, wide receivers coming off their best performance worry me, especially when they’ll be facing a top-10 defense. The fact is, after a big game, you know they are going to be a focal point in the opponent’s film room all week.

TIGHT END – SLIGHT ADVANTAGE: MATT

RICH C | GEORGE KITTLE Despite a trio of quarterbacks tossing him the ball, Kittle has remained one of the better tight ends in football, although he tends to rely on monster games to pad his stats. In his top four games, he has averaged 331 points per game. In his other 10 games, 115 points per game. Against the Bears this week, I think those other ten games will best resemble this week’s outcome. Fact is, while the Bears struggled early against tight ends, they’ve been pretty good lately. They’ve given up over 50 yards to a tight end just three times all season, just once since week ten and have not allowed a tight end to score a touchdown since week eight.

MATT | ZACH ERTZ Last week Ertz struggled to connect with Foles (3-22-0) and now he’s dealing with an ankle injury, but I still have him listed as the better of the two tight ends. Fact is, Ertz is more consistent. 101 catches in 14 games will convince me of that. Best yet, he’s facing a Texans D that has made tight ends look good. Over their last six games, the opponent’s tight end has produced at least 65 yards in six of their last eight games (this includes 127 yards and 142 yards in two games), plus four touchdowns.

PLACE KICKER – Advantage: Rich C

RICH C | HARRISON BUTKER There is no question that Butker is a good kicker, but the problem is, he needs less extra points and more field goal attempts. His 62 extra point attempts are 15 more than the next guy, while 17 kickers have kicked more field goals. Last week against the Chargers, Butker took no field goal attempts. He’s taken one field goal or less in seven games this season. Luckily, he’s facing the Seahawks, who allowed the 49ers to kick four last week. Opponents have kicked three or more field goals four times this year against Seattle.

MATT | MIKE BADGLEY Badgley has only been with the Chargers since week six, but in that time, he’s only missed one field goal and one extra point. However, he’s coming off a game where he attempted no field goals and the Chargers face the Ravens, who are the third best team against kickers. Baltimore has only allowed 18 made field goals on the season. That’s not a lot.

DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS – Slight Advantage: Matt

RICH C | DOLPHINS DST Calderon has been playing roto defense pretty much all season. It’s sort of his thing. This week, he’s betting against the opponent more than he’s showing faith in his DST. The Dophins DST finished our regular season ranked #23 and so far in the playoffs has combined for just 31 fantasy points against the Pats and Vikings. This week, they’re back home facing the Jaguars, who are the fourth worst fantasy offense against Ds.

MATT | VIKINGS DST Unlike Rich, who changes his defense weekly, Matt has stuck with the Vikings through both thick and thin. It certainly helps they are the fourth best defense in fantasy and have played well lately, if you ignore the Patriots game three weeks ago. They will be taking on a Lions offense that’s in the bottom ten against DSTs in fantasy. However, they’ve shown signs of life since facing the Rams three weeks ago. Against Buffalo this past week, they gave up no sacks, no interceptions or fumbles.

SO, WHO IS GOING TO WIN THIS THING?

The new Bob: three titles in six years.

CBS has labeled Calderon a 207-point favorite. That seems a little high, especially with the injury issues Rich is dealing with (Mixon, Hopkins), but yes, he should be the favorite over the defending champ. Neatock’s fortune are basically being decided in two games. He’s starting three Vikings (Cousins, Cook and Vikings DST) against the Lions and two Eagles (Jeffrey, Ertz) against the Texans. Neither of those opponents are pushovers. For Matt to pull this baby out, he’s going to need to dominate in the backfield. Both Barkley and Cook will need 300+ points. Luckily for him, both are capable of scoring over 300. Still, if Calderon is at full strength, hell, even if he’s missing one star, he’s just loaded from top to bottom and should win. There is no weak spot on this team, as every starter, other than kicker or DST, can deliver 300 points. Oddly enough, we’ll know pretty quickly who is going to win this bad boy. 14 of the 16 players playing in this title game will be done playing at around 4pm on Sunday (Matt’s kicker plays Saturday night). After that, Rich has Kittle at 4:05 and then his kicker later that night. No Monday night magic will be had…or needed.

WINNER: THE DICK-TATERS BEAT BELL PALSY, 1,720 – 1,460