Playoff Preview: Dixon(s) Out (#8) vs McLicker Lites (#1)
(This article was originally written by Zachary McVicker and was republished with his permission)
This morning I’ve been looking into how a №1 seed could be projected a 19-pt dog to the №8 seed. I’m not sure if anything like this has happened in league history and would need veterans who endured the Harrer Age to confirm.
But outside of sucktastic campaigns from McLicker Lites such as Todd Gurley and Jarvis Landry, plus a no-show from Josh Gordon, how can it possibly be explained? Well, Berg has owned the trade market this season. It’s crazy when you look at it all together…
- Dez Bryant — acquired for Jacquizz Rodgers and a 7th round pick
- T.Y. Hilton — acquired with a 7th round pick for Rob Kelley, Jeremy Maclin and a 4th round pick
- Jimmy Graham — acquired with Tavon Austin for Jordan Matthews, Kyle Rudolph and a 10th round pick
- Philip Rivers — acquired with Hunter Henry for Blake Bortles, Martellus Bennett and an 8th round pick
That’s his starting QB and entire receiving corps not counting the FLEX spot. You could argue the only trade he didn’t win this season was sending me Latavius Murray as part of a package for Matthews. But even then, he parlayed Matthews into Graham, which made trading Gronk to Andy addition by subtraction.
Here’s what his lineup could have looked like (with projected points for this week) sans the trades. It’s still looking good because of David Johnson, but it’s a full 10 points less than where he currently stands and much less intimidating.
- QB — Carson Palmer (20.9)
- RB — David Johnson (23)
- RB — Spencer Ware (15.3)
- WR — Jeremy Maclin (10.6)
- WR — Brandin Cooks (12.5)
- TE — Zach Ertz (9.2)
- FLEX — Robert Kelley (13.6)
- K — Stephen Gostowski (8)
- DEF — Bengals (10)
- Total Projected Points: 123.1
Of course, these are all still projections until the games actually get played. But 2016 might go down as the year of the fleece. And I’m not talking about the polar ones that are really comfy, yet still very stylish.
