New England Patriots - Fantasy News

Who to Start: Tom Brady or Nick Foles?

by Mike Rose

1/25/18

NFL

New England Patriots

Tom Brady

The Big Game is finally set.

Super Bowl LII is less than two weeks away, and the matchup will be a battle of the top-seeded teams in their respective conferences.

The New England Patriots, who defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in a thrilling comeback win thanks to quarterback Tom Brady, will represent the AFC, while the Philadelphia Eagles, who are led by backup quarterback Nick Foles, blew out the Minnesota Vikings.

Both will look to carry that momentum into the Big Game and get their respective team a title on February 4 inside of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN.

Fantasy Matchup: Tom Brady (19.0 PFP) vs. Nick Foles (16.5 PFP)

There’s no doubt Brady was the reason for the comeback win over the Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game last week. He had 138 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone. With go-to tight end Rob Gronkowski out, he went to wideout Danny Amendola and the veteran stepped up by hauling in the game’s final two scores.

You simply can’t leave Brady enough time to beat you, and that’s exactly what the Jags did. On the season, Brady averaged 18.93 Dober Fantasy Points and enters the Super Bowl as a 2.5-point favorite over Foles. He’s projected to reach 19 Dober Fantasy Points, while Foles was given a projection of 16.5.

Brady threw for an incredible 4,577 yards with a remarkable 32-to-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio while completing 66 percent of his passes during the regular season. And with the Super Bowl approaching, Brady has been nothing short of brilliant in the postseason. He has completed 61 of 91 passes for 627 yards with five touchdowns and zero picks while logging an outstanding 105.0 passer rating in two games.

Against Jacksonville, he completed 68.4 percent of his passes for 290 yards and two touchdowns. Those are great numbers against a unit that was giving up less than 170 passing yards per game. In the Super Bowl, he’ll get to square off against a Philadelphia defense that ranks No. 17 in passing yards allowed (227.3), No. 4 in total yards (306.5) and No. 4 in points allowed (18.4) per game. That same Philly defense knocked Minnesota around in the NFC Championship Game, allowing only seven points while forcing three turnovers.

Meanwhile, Foles played the game of his career last week against the Vikings. He completed 26 of 33 passes for 352 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. He completed 78 percent of his passes and had a near-perfect passer rating of 141.4. He will need to have a repeat performance against New England if the Eagles are to win their first Super Bowl matchup.

Foles will oppose a Patriots defense that ranks No. 29 in total yards allowed (366), No. 30 in passing yards (251.2) and a respectable No. 5 in points allowed (18.5) per game.

This Super Bowl matchup has a lot on the line as Brady will be going for ring No. 6, which would be No. 1 all time. The Eagles, on the other hand, are playing for their first-ever Super Bowl championship.

It would be foolish of me to go against Brady as he’s been nothing short of stellar in the playoffs thus far. So go with him on your Dober Play Cards as I will be doing the same.

Super Bowl Fantasy Matchup: Tom Brady (-2.5) vs. Nick Foles