Week 15 Preview: Key Matchups and Their Fantasy Relevance

Patriots at Broncos

Don’t worry, I am not going to go on an on about how awesome Tebow is.  This is however the ultimate test of his abilities as a passer as well as the ultimate test for the Denver defense.  I watched my Bills win a string of close, come from behind games and I can assure you that the bubble has to burst some time. The Patriots have proven to be a beatable team this season because their secondary is the worst in the league and people have been able to keep pace with their offense.  It is really going to take a hell of a performance from the Bronco defense to contain both Welker and Gronkowski throughout the game and I think we would be foolish to expect the Broncos to be able to put up over 30 points.  Either way I think Tebow is in for one of his best statistical performances of the season and he is a great start for fantasy owners this week.  As for your Patriot players, production on the overall might be a little below the normal but you shouldn’t be too scared to play your guys anyways where you normally would.  Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker are both viable flex plays this week, as for the first time there should be enough targets to go around.  I’m not about to predict a Tebow victory here but I do think it will be a relatively close game. I would guess in the area of 35 to 28.

Steelers at 49ers

The 49ers are on a bit of a slump at the moment after a rough loss to the Cardinals last week. They have a tough test this week to try and put this behind them with Pittsburgh coming to town.  In all honesty, I don’t see San Fran pulling this one off because they will need to get the job done in the running game and Pittsburgh has been much improved on defense in the second half of the season.  San Francisco should continue to shut down the running game but Pittsburgh is no longer a run-first team and Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown are going to be able to make a few big plays throughout the course of this game. Do everything in your power to leave Rashard Mendenhall on your bench and lower expectations from Frank Gore too although you likely have to play him regardless this week. Ben Roethlisberger is also worth a start but he is not at all likely to have a really big game against such a solid defense. I think Pittsburgh will likely win this by 2 scores unless Gore can break through the Steel Curtain and the 49ers defense holds the Steelers offense to under 20 points.