NEWS

Conference Championships Preview

Steve Dugas, YFFL.com Draft Guru


December 17, 2005


Dragons vs Big Boys

Tiki Barber
With the attention on Favre, Tiki might be the key player for the Dragons

The Dragons and Boys meet in the most highly anticipated NFC match up in years. The media attention for this week's NFC Championship has been stifling, while both teams seem to have enjoyed themselves for most of the week its time to strap on the pads and find out who the real winner of the "Brett Favre giveaway" is. Eli Manning has a great match-up with a home game against the Chiefs Saturday to kick things off, with three touchdown passes not out of the question. Favre also has a great game playing the Ravens who cannot seem to stop anyone anymore. Ultimately the key to this game could be who wins the battle between Thomas Jones and Tiki Barber; both have had outstanding seasons and will be hungry as they play in nationally televised games. With Barber and Manning starting for opposite teams, one's gain will be the other's loss. I think Jon's wideouts can cancel out Ruben Droughns which would be a huge step towards a Dragons win. In the end the Favre deal will turn out to be Chris' undoing as the Dragons advance to the Super Bowl.

Prediction: Dragons 38 Big Boys 32

Buddies vs Merry Men

Kurt Warner
Mike has already stated that if Kurt Warner wins this game for him, he's buying his jersey

Lost in the shuffle this week has been a great rivalry and a game that could see twice as many points scored as the NFC game. The Buddies come into the game having only lost to the Merry Men in the past two months and scoring in the 50's every week with ease. The Merry Men come in fresh off a bye and on a five game winning streak in which they never scored below 55 points. In fact, the Merry Men have only scored less than 47 once since week 4, an impressive feat considering all the injuries they have persevered through. Kurt Warner gets the nod this week for the Buddies who had an easy decision to make when Warner could close his eyes and throw for 300 yards against the Texans. The Merry Men are hoping that Brad Johnson can deliver a touchdown or two in a home game with Pittsburgh to come within a few points of canceling out Warner. A lot will be known about this game by 8pm Saturday night as the Buddies will have trotted out Pro-Bowler Larry Johnson and running back Corey Dillon. If Johnson is held to 8 points or less The Merry Men will be sleeping a little easier. The YFFL's potential MVP Shaun Alexander plays the hapless Titans on Sunday, so as long a blowout doesn't occur Alexander will probably be able to pile up double digits in points. The Merry Men will have all the points they are going to get by the end of Sunday afternoon and are in for two late nights as Warrick Dunn plays Sunday night and Ryan Longwell is kicking on Monday night football. The Merry Men keep the streak alive.

Prediction: Merry Men 46 Buddies 41