(1) Steve Ellis vs (6) Ethan Shula
Steve enters the postseason for the 5th time in his career, tied with Earl for most ever, and 5th straight year, which is a BBC record. The last time Steve missed the playoffs, 8/10ths of the BBC was still living in Brock. Unfortunately, all these appearances have produced very little success. Steve has only 1 playoff win on his resume, coupled with 4 losses. This will be his 3rd appearance in the semifinals, but he has never advanced to the BBC Title Game.
Steve’s roster is perhaps one of the most star-studded rosters in BBC history. Led by Todd Gurley, who is avging a ridiculous 21.4 pts/g, Steve has 4 star backs and 3 star receivers. Some people questioned the need to add Fournette, but with the injuries to Conner and Odell, Steve is looking like a genius. His only roster decision this week is between Brees and Rivers at the QB spot. Regardless of his finish in the playoffs, Steve will break the all-time record for points in a season, he tied Josh’s regular season wins record, and he is on the longest W streak in BBC history at 10 games. He’s 2nd in QB scoring, 1st in RB, 2nd in WR, 2nd in TE, 4th in D, 6th in K. He has started a RB in his flex 77% of the time this year, 2nd most in the BBC.
Shula is in the playoffs for the 4th time in his career, and back-to-back years for the first time in his career. When Shula gets in, he finds ways to win. With his win last week, Shula is now 5-3 all-time in the playoffs, tying Alex for 2nd most playoff wins in history. He has never been eliminated in the 1st round, he has 4 semifinal appearances and 2 finals appearances with no titles. Shula has the track record to be successful in the playoffs, can he make his 3rd finals appearance?
Shula’s roster resembles nothing close to the roster that he came out of the draft with. He bought Gronk and Diggs, bought Mixon and JuJu, and traded Kamara for Johnson. Only Dalvin and MT remain from the draft. Fortunately for Shula, all 3 of his RBs have fantastic matchups this week and are must-starts depending on DJ’s injury. MT and Gronk have strong matchups, leaving Shula’s only decision to be at QB. A-Rod has been a nightmare so he is choosing between Dak and Lamar Jackson. Shula will have to choose correctly in order to beat Steve. On the season, Shula is only avging 89.9 pts/gm, but he is peaking at the right time. On the year, he is below average in every positional scoring category except K. He has started WRs in his flex 64% of the time, 3rd most in the BBC.
Ellis and Shula have played each other 9 times in BBC history, with Steve winning 6x and Shula winning 3x. Steve beat Shula both times this year, 117-94 in Week 4 and 126-62 in Week 13. This is their first matchup in the BBC playoffs.
SPREAD: Steve Ellis (-15.0)
(2) Jon Earl vs (5) Tom Dreyer
Earl makes the playoffs for the 5th time in his career, tied with Steve for most ever, and 3rd straight year for Earl. Earl won an epic battle with Josh in the regular season to claim the BYE. Before last year, Earl had only 1 playoff win under his belt, but he made a run all the way to the title game last year. His playoff record now sits at 3-4, with 2 semifinals appearances and one BBC Title game appearance. Earl was 5 points away from a title last year.
Every year Earl finds a way to be the most unconventional owner and still put together a star-filled team. He traded out of the 1st Rd, then nabbed top-3 RB McCaffrey in the 2nd, and then drafted 2 TEs in the 2nd and the 4th. He paired AB with Hopkins to form one of the top WR duos in the league and has been searching all year for RBs to pair with Christian. Every week is different and it looks like Earl is rolling with Justin Jackson this week over AP. Most other leagues around the country Justin Jackson was on waivers this week, but Earl had the foresight to pick him up over 2 weeks ago. He is fortunate Goff plays the depleted Eagles secondary this week, so he really does not have too difficult of a roster decision. Earl is 2nd in points/game at 111.3, which would be 3rd all time in history. Earl comes in at 4th in QB scoring, 2nd in RB scoring, 1st in WR scoring, 1st in TE scoring, 1st in D scoring, 2nd in K scoring. He has started a RB in his flex 69% of the time, good for 4th most in the BBC.
Tom has now made the playoffs in each of the 3 years that he has been a member of the BBC. He just picked up his first career playoff win last week, but it doesn’t really count because he was facing arguably the worst playoff roster in BBC history. Tom made the semis in 2016 via a BYE, so this is second time being 1 win away from the title game. Also notable is the fact that Tom would’ve won the BBC last year if he wouldn’t have traded Gurley away right before the playoffs.
Tom’s roster had potential all year to be in the upper echelon of BBC rosters, but LeVeon never showed up and Melvin is now hurt. He stole Aaron Jones from Alex, but now he has a gaping hole in his RB2 spot. He must choose between Dion Lewis, Peyton Barber, and Jaylen Samuels this week. While he has issues at RB, he has the WR position figured out. His trio of Evans/Thielen/Woods has outperformed expectations all year and one of them could go off any given Sunday. Tom’s biggest strength is Mahomes who is avging 26.0 pts/g. In terms of points, Tom is 4th in the BBC this year at 106.4. He is 1st in QB, 3rd in RB, 3rd in WR, 4th in TE, 7th in D, and 7th in K. Due to his RB issues, he has started a WR in his flex every single game this season.
Earl and Tom have only played each other 5 times in BBC history, however, Earl has beaten Tom in all 5 matchups. Tom has beaten every other member of the BBC, but he has not found a way to overcome Earl. This year, Earl beat Tom 96-95 in Week 5 in their only matchup. They have never met in the BBC playoffs.
SPREAD: Jon Earl (-10.5)