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Matchup Analysis - 2008 Preview

Sep 04 2008, 02:30 PM

Eagles WR Brian Westbrook; barring injury, he starts for you every week.

Contributed by: Andrew Goldhawk


Week 1 of the 2008 regular season kicks off tonight when the Redskins and Giants go to battle. For over seven months, this is what everybody has been waiting for. The last time we saw the Giants they were making history, ending the Patriots bid for a perfect season by winning the Super Bowl. Tonight is the beginning of their quest to defend their Championship and hopefully yours as well.

Matchup Analysis will be posted every Thursday of the regular season in 2008, so be on the lookout. Inside the article you will find many things, including strength of schedule rankings, two players from each position (QB/RB/WR) with beneficial matchups, as well as unfavorable matchups, and I will also have graded my previous week’s picks of those players on a letter rating system, A-F.

In the strength of schedule section of the article, you will see where each team’s opponent stacks up against the run and the pass for the 2008 season to date. For example, if the Cincinnati Bengals have the 32^nd ranked run defense (yielding the most rushing yards year-to-date) and they are playing the Cleveland Browns, the Browns will be listed at 32 under the opponent’s rush defense. Meanwhile if the Pittsburgh Steelers have the 1^st ranked run defense and are facing the Ravens, the Ravens will be listed at 1 under the opponent’s rush defense. The same applies for passing.

Based on strength of schedule, I will then choose two QBs, RBs, and WRs that have a beneficial matchup, as well as two of each that have unfavorable matchups. The players that I pick will not be generally regarded as weekly starters. After all, anyone can tell you to start Brian Westbrook every week. The guys that are picked with beneficial matchups are guys that I think, due to the matchup, will significantly outperform what is expected of them. For the unfavorable matchup picks, I will also take two players from each position that face tough matchups during that week. These players will most likely be viewed at as solid starters most weeks, but because of the matchup they should be avoided if possible. Again what help is it for me to recommend sitting Trent Edwards? Most likely he wasn’t a starting option for you anyway.

Following every week of play I will grade each beneficial matchup player and unfavorable matchup player from the previous week’s games. For example, if I picked J.T. O’Sullivan as one of the QBs with beneficial matchups and he performed well I would give myself a good grade. If I picked Carson Palmer as one of the QBs with an unfavorable matchup and he performed well I would give myself a bad grade. There is no set amount of points to receive a certain grade, but here is a rough rubric:

A: A grade of A means that this player was among the top scorers at his position for the week if picked as a beneficial matchup player. This grade also would go to a player that performed poorly and was picked as having an unfavorable matchup.

B: This grade goes to a player that had a good amount of success, but was not overly spectacular as a beneficial matchup player. This grade also would go to a player picked to have an unfavorable matchup and had very little success.

C: If a beneficial matchup player performed well enough to help most fantasy teams, but didn’t do anything above average, this grade would be given. On the flip side, this could go to an unfavorable matchup player who had an average performance, but did not do a lot to help a fantasy team. He also didn’t lose the game for the fantasy owner.

D: This is basically the opposite of a B. This would go to a beneficial matchup player who offered very little fantasy help or to an unfavorable matchup player who had an above average game, but was just short of spectacular.

F: This is the worst possible grade. This goes to a beneficial matchup player who is a no show and offers no help to a fantasy team or to an unfavorable matchup player who finishes the week among the top scorers.