Fantasy Football Matchups

If all you did was throw your fantasy football rosters out there every week you might think it's easy to compete in NFL fantasy football, but it's not. You have to take into account matchups, fantasy football matchups that is.

What's the difference? Well, regular NFL matchups look at who might win and who might hold an advantage at different parts of the game. Fantasy football matchups look at things from one perspective: which players have the greatest chance of accumulating the most points.

Figuring out all the intricacies of each player's matchup isn't that easy. There are a variety of things that have to be taken into account, such as how that certain player has fared against a team's defense over the past few seasons, or how that player fares against a certain type of defense. Is the team that player is facing strong against the run or pass? Weak against them? How do they fare against the particular blocking scheme your player's NFL team uses? Each of these things need to be taken into consideration.

For example, look at the fantasy football matchups involving the Indianapolis Colts last season. Instead of trying to go after Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, many teams sat back in a deep zone in an effort to take away Manning's passing game. As a result, the fantasy football matchups involving Manning and Colts receivers Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison had to be adjusted. The opposing teams' defensive schemes didn't allow them to be involved in many big plays. On the contrary, the matchups involving Edgerrin James changed for the positive. Manning began calling audibles at line of scrimmage for James' runs. That meant big games for James in terms of fantasy football, and sub par games for Manning - as far as fantasy football points were concerned.

Fortunately, there are web sites available to help out fantasy football owners with those decisions, including Fantasy Football Starters. Our site actually looks at the fantasy football matchups for you. Instead of you trying to figure out how New York Giants running back Tiki Barber has done against the Philadelphia Eagles, our fantasy football software figures everything out for you.

Fantasy football matchups go beyond just the skill-position players, however. It's also important to look at the matchups involving defenses. Most times, a good defense will negate a good offense, but why take that chance? Sometimes it's better to rest a very good defense it it's going against a high-powered offense if you have better fantasy football matchups elsewhere on your fantasy football roster. If your backup defense, for example, is going against a below average offense, it might be the safer and better pick.

Don't forget about the fantasy football matchups involving tight ends, too. Many times, certain defenses are more susceptible to tight ends having good games because of the style of defense they play - and vice versa. If a defense likes to blitz, a tight end might be more likely to stay in and block. Additionally, if it looks like a team is going to run more times than pass, a tight end will likely stay in to block as well. It's just one of many fantasy football matchups to look for.