Green Bay Packers Fantasy Profile: Championship Week 2014

Dec 14, 2014; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback

(12) gestures during the game against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Bills beat the Packers 21-13. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Disclaimer: For any fantasy scoring numbers, I will be using those generated by Yahoo! fantasy football. It is the system I have played a majority of my fantasy football on over the years – and currently play on. Other setups are fine – I’ve worked with ESPN and NFL fantasy football teams in the past – but seeing as I have the most experience using this scoring system, I’ll stick with using their methods of scoring.

By now, all of you should have digested that rough loss last week. The further away from the game, the more I’m in awe of it. Not because the Packers played so bad, but because of how great Buffalo had to be to cause that outing.

Before the week, I mentioned some statistics on just how good they were coming in: #1 in Defensive DVOA, including #1 in DVOA against the pass and #10 in DVOA against the run.

That defensive dominance truly came to pass against Green Bay. It’s unfathomable to think Aaron Rodgers wouldn’t toss a TD or reach 200 yards passing, yet that’s exactly what happened. Other factors played into it for sure (7 drops by receivers, the refs allowing an overall heavily physical game) but what they did worked emphatically and brought the Packers offense to its knees.

I’ve noted in my Indirect Effect article all of the effects the loss had on Green Bay’s playoff hopes…but what does it mean for yours?

Of course by that I mean fantasy football. Unfortunately for many, the performances of the Packers’ players on offense may have destroyed your shot at a championship this year. If not, well you got pretty lucky; don’t bet on that happening two weeks in a row.

Luckily for us all, Green Bay this week matches up with a team that should be much easier to perform against, the 2-12 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Let’s start with the man who underperformed our usual expectations the most…

*DVOA is a statistic created by Football Outsiders that measures a team’s efficiency by comparing success on every single play to a league average based on situation and opponent. Weighted DVOA gives more value to more recent games (ex.: a game last week will show more evidence of a team’s performance now than a Week 1 matchup, so it holds more importance)