RADIO
Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots
In what was arguably the best game of the weekend, the Patriots outlasted the Ravens 35-31 on the heels of a big day from Tom Brady. Brady racked up 367 yards and threw for three touchdowns, compared to Joe Flacco’s four. It’s actually kind of shocking how much better Flacco is in the playoffs than he is in the regular season. No one in his right mind would've called Flacco a gunslinger in Week 8, but whenever he gets to the postseason, he turns it up offensively. And I'd bet you anything that at the start of next season, someone in your fantasy league will say something to the effect of “LOL Flacco” the second he’s mentioned in a fantasy capacity.
I was pretty consistent all year that I didn't trust any New England running back for fantasy purposes, given how frequent head coach Bill Belichick likes to rotate guys. That said, at least one of them is typically productive at any given time. But how does 14 total rushing yards between three different running backs sound? Yikes. Granted, the team relied heavily on the pass, with just 13 total rushing attempts anyway, so there wasn’t much opportunity to get anything going on the ground. With Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman totaling 27 targets, it’s not all that surprising to see the run game become pretty much invisible. You know what was surprising, though? Danny Amendola reeling in two touchdowns. Similarly to Flacco, I'll bet that someone in your league will completely shrug off Amendola in fantasy next year, and with good reason. The guy simply cannot stay healthy, which is a shame for someone with his talent.
Overall, this was a really entertaining game, which actually felt like the Patriots just barely snuck by. I know they only won by four, but the game seemed to be even closer than that. It felt like the Ravens played just as well, if not better than the Pats, even in a loss. I think a lot of people wouldn’t have been surprised to have seen them march down the field and regain the lead after Brandon LaFell’s late touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Fantasy-wise, I don’t think this game offered us any intriguing insights looking ahead to the 2015 regular season. Obviously Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman are all well worth their salaries in a weekly playoff game, and the running backs aren’t worth the risk. Barring significant personnel changes, everyone who was fantasy-relevant in 2014 will remain that way in 2015. Justin Forsett has proven he can carry the load, which is one of the more unforeseen results of the year. He’ll turn 30 during the 2015 season, though, so I wouldn’t necessarily be ready to invest a high pick on him just yet, but hey, you can’t argue against productivity. I only hope the AFC Championship game is as good as this divisional round contest was.
