In a battle between 6-4 teams who are currently in or tied for second place in their divisions, this game could very well determine who takes the AFL’s lone wild card playoff spot.

This is the latest in a season Evan and William have ever played each other as they’ve never shared a division. The last time they met in a double-digit week, they entered Week 10 of the 2017 season with identical 4-5 records. Evan won that game before losing the rest of his matchups and both managers wound up missing the playoffs.

This week, William will be missing DK Metcalf thanks to a bye week while Evan has to cover for Metcalf’s quarterback as well as Jeff Wilson, who has been fantastic since joining the Dolphins.

Evan will have to keep an eye on Justin Jefferson’s toe injury after the Vikings wide receiver led his team in scoring in his first game since being traded from Stephen April’s squad.

The disparity in this game’s line, though, comes from two devastating injuries Evan’s team suffered in Week 10 as both Cooper Kupp and Dallas Goedert landed on the IR with ankle and shoulder injuries, respectively.

Current Coaching Risks

Evan has Kenyan Drake in his starting lineup instead of Melvin Gordon and K.J. Osborn at FLEX instead of Mike Williams, both of which are risks according to FleaFlicker projections.

William has D’Andre Swift slated to start despite averaging just 32 yards and less than 10 touches per game over his last three starts. FleaFlicker says he should start Kareem Hunt instead. Additionally, Harrison Butker is currently projected to outscore Younghoe Koo.

Sean’s massive advantage in the opening betting line of the week comes from Eric (3-7) having two players on bye without rostered players available to take their place. He’ll need to hit the waiver wire before Sunday to address Evan Engram and Ryan Succop.

Leonard Fournette, who would have likely been inactive this week even if he weren’t on bye, will also need to be replaced but Eric has a couple of running backs available to step in for him.

Sean (8-2) figures to be without Ja’Marr Chase for at least another week and he, like Evan, was hit by the injury bug last week as Khalil Herbert has landed on the Bears injured reserve. He’s also without Tyreek Hill due to bye and he has a number of injuries to keep an eye on heading into Sunday, most notably Davante Adams (abdomen) and Cole Kmet (thigh).

Eric has never faced Sean this late in the season without a winning record. Sean barely missed out on the top spot in the Week 10 power rankings, so he’s certainly going to be motivated to put the best lineup out there this week as he tries to usurp Cory.

Current Coaching Risks

Sean has two coaching risks based on current projections. FleaFlicker suggests he replace Mecole Hardman and Cole Kmet in his lineup with Parris Campbell and George Kittle.

Eric will likely address most of these ahead of Sunday, but he currently has four coaching risks. Fleaflicker says he should put Joe Burrow back into his lineup for Jimmy Garoppolo with the Bengals back from bye, replace Diontae Johnson with Michael Pittman, swap out Leonard Fournette for Michael Carter, and give Isiah Pacheco his first AFL start in place of AJ Dillon.

Like Eric, the biggest thing hurting Anthony (4-6) in our opening line is his lack of a replacement for a bye week player, and it’s at a pretty important position.

Deshaun Watson isn’t due back for a couple more weeks from his 11-game suspension and Tua Tagovailoa is on bye this week, yet he dropped Matthew Stafford following Week 10. He’ll need to pick somebody up.

Cory (7-3), meanwhile, certainly isn’t counting chickens right now. Last week’s opening lines had him a 42.5-point favorite over Alex Kincaid. That line didn’t move all that much heading into Sunday, yet he took the L in that matchup.

With Travis Etienne and Jaylen Waddle both on bye, Cory has had to scramble a bit thanks to a trade he made with Will Massimini last week, swapping out the depth of Alvin Kamara and DeAndre Hopkins for what he hopes will be a ceiling raiser in Derrick Henry. We’ll see if that comes back to bit him in what should be the last week he has to deal with noteworthy players on bye this season.

These two managers have played a lot of great games over the years. With the only exception being their 2016 meeting, both managers have had at least a 20-point scorer in every matchup they’ve had.

In their 11 career meetings, Christian McCaffrey has been Anthony’s top scorer twice; he’s currently in Cory’s starting lineup for this week. Meanwhile Aaron Jones has been Cory’s top scorer twice and Taysom Hill has led Cory’s team in scoring once; they’re both currently expected to start this week for Anthony.

Current Coaching Risks

Sean dropped Wil Lutz and the New Orleans Saints defense this week, but FleaFlicker says he should have started them over Graham Gano and the San Francisco 49ers. Additionally, FleaFlicker doesn’t like his plan to start Foster Moreau in a FLEX spot instead of George Pickens.

Stephen's decision to drop Matthew Stafford instead of planning to start him over Tua is one of two coaching risks he’s currently slatted to take. He also currently has Taysom Hill in his lineup in place of Gerald Everett, who is nursing a groin injury and who Anthony acquired from Cory last week for Zach Ertz, who immediately landed on Arizona’s IR.

Stephen (3-7) has two significant contributors on bye this week in Kenneth Walker and Chris Godwin. That’s going to make it more challenging to pull out his fourth win of the season.

He’s been massively unlucky with a -4 luck rating, which puts him on pace to have the worst luck ever in a single AFL season. It might be tough to even get into the top half of the league in scoring this week.

In the meantime, Brandon (7-3) really only has Christian Kirk’s bye week to cover up, and thanks to the two big pickups he made last week, acquiring Dalvin Cook and CeeDee Lamb from Eric, he should feel pretty comfortable heading into this matchup.

These two were paired up as non-division rivals for this season, so this is their second meeting of the year. Brandon won their first meeting by 14.71 points in a low-scoring contest.

This is only the second time Brandon and Stephen are meeting after Week 5 of an AFL season. The last time was also in Week 11 back in 2020. Stephen won that contest by less than two points. Brandon wound up missing the playoffs that season despite a 9-5 record while Stephen went on to win Sabol Bowl VIII.

Current Coaching Risks

Stephen currently has Curtis Samuel, who is questionable with a shin injury, in his starting lineup instead of FleaFlicker’s suggestion, Najee Harris.

Brandon has no coaching risks based on his current lineup and current FleaFlicker projections.

The battle of the Alexes has finally arrived. Alex Kincaid (4-6) has won the last two meetings and Alex Mayo (6-4) is currently on a three-game losing skid and has lost four of his last five.

The good news for Mayo is that he’s got most of his team ready to go. Injuries haven’t really affected him much this season and his only player on bye is Raheem Mostert. The real question will be whether Buffalo will be hit by as much snow as we’ve heard could fall and how badly it’ll affect the Bills passing game.

For Kincaid, he’s mostly at full strength. Trevor Lawrence is on bye, so he picked up Marcus Mariota. Lawrence has only scored about three more total points than Mariota over the past five weeks, so the drop-off in production at the position ought to be negligible.

One piece of interesting history in this matchup: Alex Mayo has been led by Justin Herbert in all three of his career meetings with Alex Kincaid. That won’t be the cast this week as Herbert is currently playing for Will Massimini.

Current Coaching Risks

Kincaid has Adam Thielen and Tyler Conklin currently occupying starting roster spots for this week, but FleaFlicker projections show that Rondale Moore and Kyle Pitts should replace them.

Mayo has just one coaching risk this week. FleaFlicker says he should put Dawson Knox in at FLEX for Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who had just two targets, no carries, and no points last week.

The smallest line of the week, Will (3-7) is just a touchdown favorite over Andrew (3-7), who has made a couple of lineup changes already this week but has not addressed Mike Evans, who is scheduled to start at WR despite being on bye. With his best depth piece also on bye, it’ll be interesting to see who Andrew replaces Evans with.

Will is at full strength this week with no players on bye and just a couple of depth pieces dealing with injuries.

Andrew has to keep an eye on JuJu Smith-Schuster, who is dealing with a concussion and did not practice Wednesday, and Ezekiel Elliott, who hasn’t played since Week 7 due to an MCL injury. Elliott would likely be Andrew’s top choice to replace Evans if the Cowboys running back is active.

This is the first time since 2019 Andrew will face Will with more than one win already notched for the season. He hasn’t faced Will earlier than Week 5 since 2014, his first year in the league. In fact, this is the first time since 2018 they’ll face off in a week other than 6 or 12.

Current Coaching Risks

Andrew should start Ezekiel Elliott for Mike Evans if he is active this Sunday, according to FleaFlicker projections.

Will currently has Brandon Aiyuk slotted into a starting wide receiver spot, but FleaFlicker thinks Garrett Wilson is the better start this week.