The AFC… players to watch in this matchup are a little easier to predict than the NFC matchup. The Titans have been riding Derrick Henry (finally) for the last 3 weeks and they better not stop now. Henry is the first player to rush for more than 180 yards in 3 consecutive weeks and it couldn’t be happening at a better time for him. He single-handedly clinched the playoffs, beat the defending champions and then knocked off the top team in the AFC in 3 straight weeks. I think this game will come down to who can win the time of possession because the Chiefs can’t let Henry get warmed up and the Titans also want to limit how many times they give the ball to Mahomes and company. For Kansas City, you know how deadly their passing attack can be and last week they showed us how quickly they can score and turn a game around so Kelce and Hill should play a big role in the game plan like normal.
In this game, my favorite daily fantasy play would be Damien Williams because I expect most people to spend on the Chiefs receiving crew and Derrick Henry for this game. Although Williams has been averaging 30 fantasy points over the past couple of games I think his ownership will be rather low this weekend. Damien is finally healthy and he's taken command of the backfield the past two games he's averaged over 7 yards a carry and has scored 5 touchdowns. Tennessee’s defense started the season off stingy against the run allowing just over 100 yards a game for the first 13 games, but in their last 5 games that number has shot up to 126 yards per game. I think both teams will want to keep the ball out of their opponent's hands which means a big day for both RB’s or at least they should have the opportunity for a big day if they can capitalize on their touches.
The NFC… championship will hopefully be a little closer than when these two teams met previously this year. In their first matchup, the Packers couldn’t get anything going against this defense and found themselves down 23-0 at halftime after they had five first-half three-and-outs and only managed to hold onto the ball for more than two minutes twice the entire half. I don’t see Rodgers going 1 for 15 on 3rd down conversions again though and I expect the Packers to stick with what has gotten them to this point so far which is a heavy dose of Aaron Jones and Davante Adams.
As for the 49er’s everyone chipped in during the regular season matchup between these two. Kittle, Coleman, Mostert, and Samuel all scored a touchdown and the defense started the game off with a crucial fumble recovery to give the offense great field position to take the lead early. The Niners offense has been somewhat of a mystery this season and it’s truly been the cliché ‘next man up’ mentality for this team. Three different running backs have led this backfield throughout the season and the only reliable week in and week out receiver has been George Kittle. Despite his ankle issues recently I don’t see anything slowing Kittle down and I don’t think the Packers have anyone they can throw at him to slow him down either. If I was wanting to gamble on which running back might get the majority of the carries this game I think you have to stick with the hot hand after Tevin Coleman’s explosion last week against the Vikings, but I would try and stay away from this backfield completely.
My favorite player to bank on in daily fantasy for this matchup would be Deebo Samuel because as great as Green Bay’s defense has been this year they have struggled at times with letting up the big play. Deebo scored a long touchdown in their first matchup and Jimmy G is going to him more and more as he finished the season as the 2nd most targeted receiver for this San Francisco offense only behind Kittle.
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