BEST MOVE OF THE WEEK This week T-Swift pulled off a surprising victory over the #3 team, winning 135.2 to 96.2. This was on the back of a savvy waiver pick-up, LeGarrette Blount. T-Swift needed some RB help and boy did they get it. After picking Blount up, he was placed immediately into the starting lineup, a bold call given the fact that he was newly-signed to the Patriots and hadn't even been able to practice for a week. Still, T-Swift plugged him in, and he responded by scoring 2 TDs on his was to 19.8 points. What a call. WORST MOVE OF THE WEEK I'm going to highlight the team of PMotr for this week's Worst Move of the Week. In PMotr's section I'll provide more details on each individual starter, but the "Worst Move" was the combination of leaving Eli Manning (23.5), Steve Smith (14.9), and Marques Colston (14.2) on the bench for Brian Hoyer, Denard Robinson, and Sammy Watkins. With some mix of those three starting, the game would have shifted towards PMotr's favor. Dan went 0 for 3, and PMotr lost by 20. On top of that, Julius Thomas was ruled OUT prior to the start of the Denver/Miami game, so he got 0 points from his TE. In such an important match-up with a playoff bye on the line, Dan should have grabbed a waiver wire TE to make up some points. Honorable mention: MPM playing the Dolphins DST (-6) against the Broncos. How was that a good idea? Power Rankings: #1 Turn Down for Watt (8-3) --- If posting 120 in the rough Week Eleven wasn't enough of a wake-up call for the rest of the league, perhaps the 137 in Week Twelve will do the trick! TDfW has averaged 129.8 points over the last three weeks, and with that, it has pulled even with SI record-wise. Both sit atop the Jokers division, but with SI holding the tiebreaker, there's another week of work to be done to secure a first round bye. TDfW was blessed with a fantastic Week Twelve outing, posting its highest score of the season thus far. Tannehill (27), McCoy (19), Charles (16), Lacy (26), and Dez (21) all posted nice totals, surprisingly with Jordy (7) and Gronk (8) lagging behind. In this year though, with the dearth of TE talent, 8 points really isn't that bad of a "down" week for Gronk. Despite posting the highest score of the week, TDfW also left the most egregious point values on the bench. The Seahawks DST had their best outing of the year (21) in the first week TDfW swapped them out (of course), and Odell Beckham Jr. earned 26.2 while sitting comfortably on the bench. And in doing so, he had the single most difficult/impressive catch I've ever seen. It may not have been on a huge stage like David Tyree's helmet catch, but this catch was next-to-impossible: Click for ODB's catch in beautiful 60fps That was done with two fingers and a thumb. That's it. I couldn't make that catch with both my hands. ODB may still be a rookie WR, but the future is bright. Next week, TDfW faces the red-hot T-Swift in what should have been the match-up of the week, had GMMBP lost like he was expected to. Can TDfW win and push for the #2 seed? Can T-Swift keep its improbable hot-streak going and upset yet another top-tier team, readying itself for the consolation ladder? Find out next week! #2 the mullynation (9-3) --- While this was the second consecutive subpar week from the mullynation, SI really didn't do enough to vault past her in the rankings, so she remains at #2. She scored 99, he scored 96. These are still the best two non-TDfW teams. This week though, Andrew Luck had his worst game of the season, and interestingly enough, Calvin Johnson followed up his 6.2 total from last week with 5.8 points this week. What's going on with Calvin? The quick start of Josh Gordon (12.7) makes up for that, along with T.Y. Hilton's continuing dominance (17.7), but the question remains. Can the mullynation rely on Calvin in the playoffs? Jimmy Graham is playing like the elite TE he is, but her elite WR needs to shape up. I'm not too concerned about Mark Ingram's poor outing on Monday Night Football, as the Saints were behind the entire game playing against Baltimore's #1 RB-against defense. That's a recipe for disaster for any back not named Demarco Murray or Matt Forte. Ingram has been solid, and will bounce back. She locked up the #1 seed this week with her 20 point victory over PMotr, but this team looked a bit more fearsome four weeks ago. Regardless, the $20 bonus for the regular season winner belongs to the mullynation, though I personally know she is in championship-or-bust mode currently. For her to do so, she's going to need to get some decent production out of Calvin. #3 Staff Infection (8-4) --- The troubles with Gio Bernard continue. In his first game back from injury, he was solidly outperformed by Jeremy Hill both in yards, YPC, and the sole TD. It would appear that the Bengals are gearing up for a firm RBBC, perhaps favoring Hill now. This is a big blow to an RB corps that has gone from easily the best in the league to solidly middle-of-the-road. Frank Gore (1.6) is not a reasonable replacement for Gio's early-season production, but hopefully he won't have to be. Enter Latavius Murray. After being one of the most-hyped waiver RB pickups last week, Murray absolutely delivered the goods. Four carries, 112 yards, 2 TDs. The only issue was a concussion sustained in the game. Well, I guess another issue was that SI left Murray on the bench against T-Swift. It didn't matter ultimately, as SI was beaten soundly by 39 points, but still. SI had the chance to secure a first-round bye, but the loss this week (and win by TDfW) opens the door for the #3 seed. SI is now 8-4, holding the tiebreaker over TDfW. A win this week against PMotr would seal the deal, and PMotr may be coming out swinging after two straight ugly losses. SI is in a bit of a free-fall over the last two weeks, highlighted by Week Eleven's 96 point total despite Demaryius Thomas scoring 3 TDs. Other than Thomas' career day, only one skill position player broke ten points, and that was Stafford's 10.4 points. Gio (6.7), Gore (1.6), White (9.6), and Maclin (6.2) round out SI's big guns, and Lamar Miller (6.7) also had a pedestrian day on the bench. The Dolphins interestingly deferred to Daniel Thomas in numerous important situations, which I think most people did not expect. This obviously limits Miller's upside, something SI really doesn't need right now. We do have to keep in mind that Le'Veon Bell was on bye this week, undoubtedly hurting SI's RB corps. This team could use a win in Week Twelve, and Le'Veon is going to need to help get SI there. #4 302 Cadets (6-6) +2 In the first week since trading away Jamaal Charles, his replacement RBs looked solid. Jeremy Hill earned 15.6, far surpassing Gio, and Rashad Jennings earned 12 points. Compared with Charles' 16.2 points, this was undoubtedly productive. Unfortunately the WR aspect of the trade, Brandon Marshall injured his ankle, limiting his touches in Week Twelve. He finished with just 3.2 points, but it does not look like the ankle will limit him going forward. That's good news at least, but unfortunately that point total helped doom 302 in Week Twelve against TDfW. After Brees earned 28.3 points on Monday Night, 302 still lost by 20, though they posted a very respectable 118 total. With Andrew Hawkins taking over the third receiver role (behind Antonio Brown and Brandon Marshall), this WR corps is suddenly looking solid all around. Pairing those WRs with Hill and Jennings, as well as Brees? This is a good team. Now if only 302 could get consistent production from the TE slot. They've had a merry-go-round of Vernon Davis, Larry Donnell, and Travis Kelce, and it's not working out too well. On another note, can we discuss the Eagles DST? They've now broken 20 points on five occasions (34, 28, 25, 21, and 20), and they also scored 19 in Week One. Pairing that with Cody Parkey's ridiculous 20 points from kicking, the Eagles provided Derek with 40 points this week. It's no wonder he scored 118. That's a hell of a cushion, if you can get it consistently. That bodes well for 302's playoff chances. #5 Merman pop, Mer-Man (3-8) -1 The win was RIGHT THERE. Ugh. Another candidate for Worst Move of the Week was the playing of the Dolphins DST against the offensive juggernaut, the Denver Broncos. That earned MPM a negative 6 for their effort. We'll revisit that later. So Tom Brady had his usual 20 point game. That's a given now. AlfMo had a nice 19 points, and Ryan Mathews scored 17.3 points. That's some nice RB production, and that right there usually spells a victory. The flex had Alshon Jeffery with 8.2, decent numbers. AJ Green and Mike Evans earned 12.1 and 11, respectively. Man, things sound like they're going great for MPM! Everyone is in double digits, and the QB and RBs were around 20. This is good! The TE Martellus Bennett only earned 3.7, but that's honestly not horrible for TEs this year. DP Brent Grimes had 2.7, a fine total. K Caleb Sturgis kind of let the team down with only 4 points, but your K should not be the reason you lose games. This week sounds pretty solid, huh? 98 points right there. Plus you've got the DST left to play! An average DST week of 8-10 points means we're nearing 110, a very respectable total for the week! A great DST week (20) means we're near 120! So what does MPM do? They play the Dolphins. On the road. AT DENVER. Bam, negative six points. MPM drops to 92, and subsequently loses to GMMBP who scored 100.7 points. This was a win that turned into a loss. It's a good thing it was only for pride, as any real stakes lost on this game would be painful. #6 I'm Just Gonna Shake It Off (5-7): +2 The train had kept chuggin along, but the playoff dream died this week. After knocking off the mullynation (then #1) in Week Eleven, T-Swift locked horns with SI (#3) in Week Twelve. T-Swift earned a convincing 39 point victory on the back of CJ Anderson and LeGarrette Blount's surprising production, and now they set their sights on TDfW in Week Thirteen. T-Swift scored the second-most points of the week (narrowly missing first by 2 points) with an impressive total of 135 points.Despite this seemingly-fairytale ending, it wasn't meant to be. GMMBP's 31 point explosion from Justin Forsett on Monday Night Football turned a probable loss into a win, so GMMBP grabbed the last playoff spot for good. It's time to say goodbye. 302 lost this week, but because they defeated T-Swift in their only match-up, I think 302 is safe with the tiebreaker. T-Swift has some work to do in the coming week, with yet another tough match-up, and now it's just pride on the line. If T-Swift has suddenly found solid RB production (like his brother did earlier this season with Forsett and Oliver), T-Swift is suddenly a team to be eyed warily. I personally would bet against Blount posting another 20 point game, but then again I would have bet strongly against it this past week and yet it happened. T-Swift was able to post 135 points with pedestrian days from his WR1 (Cobb, 5.8), WR2 (Randle, 3.6), and TE (Sims, 3.1), so clearly this team has a high scoring ceiling. #7 Gin Makes Me Bum Pucker (7-5) -2 GMMBP had one more miracle in them before the playoffs. The Bum Puckers went into Monday Night Football needing 22.3 points from Justin Forsett just for a tie. I mean Forsett has been great this season, but 22.3 is by no means a gimme. I will admit I expected MPM to win this one. The game started, and it was proven that I am an idiot. Forsett ran at will against the Saints, gashing them for 182 yards on 22 carries (8.3 YPC) and two TDs. A 31 point performance earned GMMBP the unlikely come-from-behind victory, meaning GMMBP has booked his ticket to the playoffs. In doing so, he officially eliminated his brother, T-Swift, from playoff contention. That's got to feel good. Overall in Week Twelve, GMMBP had a mix of great performances and dreadful performances. Desean Jackson (3.9), Reggie Wayne (1), Antonio Gates (1.4), and Robbie Gould (2), are the low-lights, while Justin Forsett (31), Aaron Rodgers (19.8), Emmanuel Sanders (14.8), and the Cardinals DST (13) are the highlights. When I thought he was going to lose by just a couple points, I was ready to give GMMBP the Worst Move of the Week (and perhaps I still should) for starting Wayne over any of the following: Mike Wallace (9.5), Darren Sproles (9.9), Shane Vereen (6), and even Michael Crabtree (5.8). Because he pulled out the victory with Forsett's herculean effort, I decided it didn't matter anyway. But still. It was bad, dude. 1 point? Come on. Not going to make it far in the playoffs with that coming from a starter. #8 Forgetting Brandon Marshall (4-8) +1 FBM drew 38V this week and turned in a 37.6 victory with an impressive 114.9 point (fourth-best this week) total. FBM got excellent production from Tony Romo (24.8), Matt Forte (23.2) and the Colts DST (21), and he also got a TD from Julio Jones! Praise God! That's the first TD from Julio since Week Three, though it appears to have come just a bit too late for FBM's playoff hopes. Keenan Allen, Fred Jackson, and Steven Jackson also turned in nice performances on the bench, and FBM is ready to make a run at the consolation bracket championship. Tre Mason and Jerick McKinnon have quelled any concerns about their lead-back statuses, though it looks like Jonas Gray is heading the other direction. LeGarrette Blount kept Gray from securing a single carry in Week Eleven, and his value is in question. Getting Greg Olsen back (after his bye) will help, as Mychal Rivera (0.8) was less than impressive on Thursday Night Football. FBM took a page out of GMMBP's book and chose not to play of defensive player, and it ended up not mattering. Look for FBM to cut ties with Rivera and grab super-stud Chris Borland back. If he doesn't, I'm sure someone else will take that 5+ point per week bonus. #9 Poppin Mollies on the reg (7-5) -2 PMotr had a dismal week, other than a truly amazing DST performance from the Bills. Last week PMotr's highest achiever was his DST, and this week, it happened again. With 29 points coming from the DST (and 11 from K), you'd think most weeks would be an easy win! Unfortunately that was not the case in Week Twelve, with PMotr losing by 20 to the mullynation. With a win, PMotr could have jumped into the driver's seat regarding a first round bye (passing the mullynation), but the loss kills those hopes. This was a huge match-up for PMotr, but it got away from them. Brian Hoyer: 6.1 Andre Ellington: 6.3 Marshawn Lynch: 8.2 Denard Robinson: 5.2 Sammy Watkins: 3.5 Brandon Lafell: 9.8 Julius Thomas: 0.0 This team scored 79 points, with 40 coming from DST and K. That's a pretty rough week by anyone's standards, and after coming off a 71 point outing in Week Eleven, PMotr's stock is a little low right now. You simply can't count on defenses earning enormous point totals. It's too much of a crapshoot. Instead, you need consistent skill position players, something that PMotr has struggled with all season. After posting 130+ in two consecutive weeks, the tide has apparently turned for PMotr. Still a lock for the playoffs, PMotr just needs to sort out its RB match-ups for the remaining schedule. Playing RBs against ARI and SEA (like in Week Twelve) is just not a good situation. #10 38% Chance of Victory (3-8) --- Oof. I'm going to focus on the positives! 38V has found a legitimate RB2 play in Crowell, and he's a dynamite keeper candidate. Pairing him with the Foster/Blue combination actually solidifies 38V's RB situation pretty darn well, a feat that only took Mike 2 weeks to achieve. Color me impressed. The bad news is that the lineup gods are not being kind to 38V. They're leaving points on the bench that could be counting in the starting lineup, an exceedingly frustrating problem. We've all been there. 38V just can't seem to win at the TE position, and the WR situation isn't a whole lot better. Dropping Delanie Walker to hang onto both Colts TEs was a gamble, and it looks (for now) like it didn't pay off. Greg Jennings, Eric Decker, and Andre Johnson are all around the 40-50th ranked WRs, meaning they sit at WR3-4 status. Kendall Wright has been unreliable with his rookie QB throwing to him, and is ranked down a bit further. With a Week Thirteen match-up against the upstart MPM, 38V might end the regular season on a bit of a down-turn. Still though, the consolation bracket is wide open, and anyone can get a win in the playoffs with one monster game. 38V needs Arian Foster back, sooner rather than later. Predictions (Winners underlined): Turn Down for Watt (8-4, +1325/-1255) @ I'm Just Gonna Shake It Off (5-7, +1122/-1212) 302 Cadets (6-6, +1254/-1194) @ Gin Makes Me Bum Pucker (7-5, +1159/-1143) the mullynation (9-3, +1409/-1212) @ Forgetting Brandon Marshall (4-8, +1180/-1326) Poppin Mollies on the reg (7-5, +1192/-1064) @ Staff Infection (8-4, +1305/-1214) Merman pop, Mer-man (3-9, +1145/-1289) @ 38% Chance of Victory (3-9, +1072/-1253) Last Week’s Picks: (4-1) Overall record: (37-23)
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BEST MOVE OF THE WEEK I'm going to go a little unorthodox here, and commend Merman pop, Mer-man for his entire WR corps. Alshon Jeffery was coming off a seven point game. AJ Green was coming off a two point game, and frankly looked bad. Mike Evans, though coming off a nice 18 point game, was still a rookie WR. There were other options too. Larry Fitzgerald had just scored 11. Julian Edelman had last scored 21. Jordan Matthews had just scored 26. You see my point, right? Alex made three consecutive right calls with his lineup. He played Jeffery (20), Green (19), and Evans (33), benching the rest. Though Matthews had a nice day (17), he was the only one to even come close to the other three's production. Fitz had 3 and Edelman had 8. Nice call, Alex. MPM earned a beautiful 50+ point victory with this week's high score. WORST MOVE OF THE WEEK This was a really bad week for fantasy football in general. Scores were down in a major way. In fact, through all the afternoon games (noon and 3 o'clock), there were a total of four rushing TDs. That's it. Four. Jamaal Charles had two of those. Then Jonas Gray screwed it up and got four more, and the Pit/Ten game had two more. But for the vast majority of teams, their RBs were awful this week. Pretty much across the board. I'm avoiding picking an RB move for that reason, though basically everybody's RBs were bad. For this reason, I'm unfortunately going to pick on our #10 seed a little. I don't like it, but I'm going to. 38V chose to play Colin Kaepernick (12) over Jay Cutler (23) this week. Kaep was at NYG. Cutler was home facing Minnesota. If you look at Kaep's stats, he's been really bad. Cutler has been bad too, but he's had more ups than downs. Also, home vs. road makes Cutler a more attractive pick, in my opinion. In losing by three, this was the call that lost him the game. Them's the breaks. Power Rankings: #1 Turn Down for Watt (7-3) +1 Sound the alarm. TDfW is coming up big, and the playoffs are right around the corner. Things are just starting to click, meaning TDfW has recaptured the #1 seed for the first time since Week One. As the second-highest scoring team (kudos Alex!) in this incredibly strange fantasy week, TDfW posted a healthy 120 points despite the absolute incompetence of Pierre Garcon (who was filling in for Dex Bryant). TDfW is riding the Packers to victory, and even though that fact makes it hard to sleep at night, owning our beautiful trophy at the end of the year will make it all worthwhile. The ends justify the means. Gronkowski is putting up potential fantasy MVP numbers considering the dearth of healthy, elite TEs this year. He's a juggernaut. Speaking of juggernaut, is there any player better than JJ Watt? I mean honestly. He's outscored the second-highest DP by 24 points. Yup. Watt has 83 points, while second-place Brent Grimes has 59. Watt is averaging 8.3 points per week, and has scored more TDs than Calvin Johnson. He's a legitimate weapon, and a surprisingly important part of TDfW, besides just being the namesake. On another note, there was a beautiful three-team trade on Tuesday, prior to the trade deadline. Jeremy Hill and Rashad Jennings are good solid players, I won't argue with that, but why not grab a home-run hitter? TDfW parlayed Tre Mason and Charles Sims into Brandon Marshall and Adrian Peterson (sob), then turned Hill, Jennings, and Marshall into Jamaal Charles and Odell Beckham Jr. In effect, Garcon became absolutely expendable with OBJ as the WR3, Charles gets locked in as the new RB1, and LeSean McCoy laughably is now the FLEX play. Who cares who plays QB now? Roethlisberger/Newton Charles Lacy McCoy Jordy Dez Gronkowski Don't mind me, I'm just admiring this handiwork over here. Buckle up playoff-bound teams. It's going to get messy. I'm not dropping this #1 seed no matter what my wife says. She can deal with it. The Quest for Three is alive and well. #2 the mullynation (8-3) -1 She's mortal! The streak is over! For the first time this entire year, the mullynation did not break 100 points, nor was she a top 4 scorer. It actually happened, and T-Swift earned a surprise victory. This is perhaps the most surprising upset since TDfW was curb-stomped by GMMBP in Week Two. The issue this week was...mostly everything. Every player basically had their worst game of the season, and it all happened in the same week. That's pretty darn funny, and boy was it satisfying to see. The part that's tough to ignore though is that the mullynation's MVP, Demarco Murray, was sitting out this week. On top of that, the mullynation is now bringing out Josh Gordon to bolster her already frightening WR corps. It's actually finally happening. This is the guy who led the league in WR fantasy points last year, despite only playing 14 games. It's hard to drop the mullynation too far when her lineup in Week Twelve is going to be so drastically different than her Week Eleven lineup. I don't envy PMotr, who will be the first opponent for the now-Gordon-led mullynation. This team may have slipped up in Week Eleven, but this is still the mullynation we're talking about here. This team has the #8 and #10 WRs in fantasy right now. Oh yeah, and they ALSO have Calvin Johnson and Josh Gordon. This is an embarrassment of riches (to go along with the #1 fantasy QB and the #1 fantasy RB). This might be the best overall WR corps in the history of Just Win, Maybe. This week was a speed bump on the way to a first round bye. #3 Staff Infection (8-3) +2 Losing Gio Bernard has really hurt this team. It's a good enough squad that they've been able to keep chugging, but his loss does hurt. Gio is hopeful about coming back this week, though I went through two weeks of that teasing with Rashad Jennings before he actually hit the field. We'll see. Darren McFadden didn't exactly fill Gio's shoes this week with his 2.1 points. Still though, LeVeon Bell actually scored a rushing TD! He did it! First time since Week One, but Bell absolutely delivered when SI needed it. Bell had a dynamite performance against Tennessee, eclipsing 200 yards on his way to 28.2 points. Mark Sanchez didn't exactly WOW with his 11.8 points, and maybe people were too quick to deem him the next big thing in Chip Kelly's offense. This is Mark Sanchez we're talking about. Demaryius Thomas once again broke 100 yards receiving, and he once again did not score a touchdown. He has now been outscored by Emmanuel Sanders in FOUR straight weeks. That's actually pretty surprising. It's also unlikely to continue, since Sanders had his head knocked off and probably won't play this coming week. Along with Julius Thomas being questionable, there's a chance that defenses will be able to key in on DT even more than they already do. This could go either way. Who is Manning going to throw to, other than DT? Who are defenses going to blanket, other than DT? The Jordan Reed experiment didn't work out. He's just not the same guy he was last year, whether RGIII is throwing the ball or not. Regardless, riding Bell, Maclin, and the Texan's DST nice production, this team broke 100 points in Week Eleven, a feat that only two other teams (MPM and TDfW) accomplished. Scoring 102 in a normal week isn't super impressive, but in this week, it worked out well. SI needs to sort out the RB situation if they want to be in the upper echelon, but trading DeAndre Hopkins is a step in the right direction. Hopkins wasn't being used, and Gore is a decent FLEX play. At least he won't need to play McFadden anymore. #4 Merman pop, Mer-Man (3-8) +5 I am so pumped about this team. Seriously. I knew this team had potential and I've been harping about it for weeks (even though last week was admittedly grim). This team is pretty damn scary, especially with the explosion of Mike Evans. Evans is the highest scoring WR over the last three weeks, certainly paying off after TDfW traded him for Jeremy Hill. This may be hyperbole, but I don't know if there's a team that I fear more right now besides the mullynation. Brady is electric. Morris is improved after RGIII came back. Mathews is back from injury. Jeffery and Green are playing great, and Evans is on fire. On top of that, the Dolphins DST is playing unbelievably well, and is a nice advantage on a weekly basis. This team is legit. Does this resemble a team that's 3-8? Nope. Is that a shame for MPM? Yup. Is that a sigh of relief I hear from all the playoff-bound teams? Yup. I have a feeling that Alex is going to be adorning himself in a brand new jersey of his choice after winning the consolation bracket. I'd consider him the favorite at this point, though we all know injuries can strike. He's the one to beat right now. #5 Gin Makes Me Bum Pucker (6-5) -2 This was one of those weeks that just bugs you. GMMBP actually had a pretty good showing. He scored the fourth-most points (with a paltry 92 somehow), but since he was facing TDfW's 119, he gets the L. On the whole though, I don't know if GMMBP deserved a W this week. 27 points came from the DST and K, and Rodgers contributed another 24.8. Rodgers is pretty much automatic at this point. I take that for granted. The DST and K production is more fluky. What does this mean? This means that GMMBP's RB1, RB2, WR1, WR2, FLEX, TE, and DP all COMBINED to earn 40.4 points. That's a bad omen for a playoff team, really. Mike Wallace (3.8) has been on a cold spell after a great start to the season. DeSean Jackson (3.7) also had a rough game, despite coming off a bye against Tampa Bay. Antonio Gates (3.2) couldn't do anything against Oakland. Darren Sproles (4.4) and Shane Vereen (7.7) are not RB1 and RB2 material (though only one has to start normally, because Justin Forsett, who was on bye, has been solid). Vereen may be in even more trouble after Jonas Gray's ridiculous 43 point explosion. The only good production from this group was Emmanuel Sanders' 16.2 points, but then he promptly got concussed. It's unclear when he'll be back, but that was a nasty hit. Losing Sanders would push Patterson, Crabtree, or Wayne into the starting lineup. That could go okay, but I wouldn't want to bet on it. Sanders has been the best GMMBP player other than Aaron Rodgers. Let's hope that concussion isn't too bad, or GMMBP is going to be in trouble. #6 302 Cadets (6-5) --- It's tough to win a fantasy football match against a competent opponent when two players score 1.8 and 1.7, respectively, another player scores 0.3, and two players get negative points. That's a pretty rough setup to win. It was going to be so close, and then all the sudden it just wasn't close any more. 302 couldn't keep up with SI, and in fact the team sabotaged itself. Ahmad Bradshaw, while breaking his fibula, earned -0.9 points. Further, the Eagles DST earned -2 points. Playing them against Green Bay, arguably the hottest team in football? Maybe not the best call. Other than that though (as if it even matters, with those issues), the studs came to play. Brees had a decent game, Brown once again broke 15 points, and Jamaal Charles looked magnificent. In fact, he just had such an impression on me that I had to go and trade for him. 302 got a nice return for Charles though. This is a team that, upon losing Bradshaw, had Jonathan Stewart as its every-week RB2. Damn. That's not going to go well. Derek made the prudent move and took one superstar and turned him into two legitimate starters. Charles became Jeremy Hill and Rashad Jennings. Jennings may be the steal of the year, as the Giants have been a joke without him. They're obviously confident in his health too, as he touched the ball 22 times in his first game back. He's the obvious bell-cow in NY. Also, Hill just got a lovely compliment from his OC on Wednesday. He said that they are excited about Hill's talent, that he's a complete player, and that they're going to use him more than they were before, even after Gio comes back. 302 also turned Odell Beckham Jr. into Brandon Marshall in the trade, though that one could really go either way. Marshall has been great lately, but OBJ has also. OBJ also has nice keeper value, but 302 wasn't in a position to be picky. This deal had to get done, and it did. It hurts to lose Charles, no doubt, but something had to happen to keep 302's championship hopes alive. It's hard enough to win with Dwayne Bowe as a starting WR. Can't have Jonathan Stewart too. #7 Poppin Mollies on the reg (6-4) -3 PMotr had an absolutely brutal week. Yes, they won. But with 71 points, this was the worst winning point-total of the year thus far. After breaking 130 points in back-to-back weeks, this team just collapsed. I'm having a hard time justifying any ranking for this team, since it fluctuates so much! RGIII is not himself, and is a liability at QB. Ellington is getting into perhaps the most difficult RB schedule of any RB (though Oakland's RBs could contend). Lynch was effective against KC, but just couldn't score. Oh well. Joique Bell was decent compared to his baseline, but 9.5 points from a starting RB isn't great. And then, it gets worse. Sammy Watkins had 3.5 points. Rookie indeed. Brandon LaFell had 6.2 points in the hyped-up "shootout" against Indy. Julius Thomas had 0.3 points before getting injured for the second time this year. The WR corps has always been PMotr's obvious weakspot. That's not new. The issue is potentially losing production from Ellington and Thomas. Ellington is a great back! If I was a Cardinals fan, I'd be glad to have him. The fact of the matter is, going against @Sea, @Atl (ok that's easy), KC, @StL, and Sea is going to be BRUTAL. Other than the @Atl game, Ellington could have a decent day running the ball and still only earn six points. That's a major issue down the stretch. Also, though I'm not particularly worried about Thomas, if he misses time, that would be a major loss. Thomas has perhaps been PMotr's MVP this year, and any time or points lost due to injury would be a big blow. On the plus side, the Bills DST had a nice day, earning 11 against Miami. Yay! #8 I'm Just Gonna Shake It Off (4-7): --- They're alive! T-Swift still lives. The playoff hopes are slim, but they're still there. T-Swift is going to need to go 2-0, and either 302 or GMMBP are going to need to go 0-2, but the dream lives on. This week was a shocking victory over the previous #1 seed, the mullynation. T-Swift caught her at just the right time and stole an 89.9 - 83.6 point victory. As important as the victory was, oddly enough the best overall contributor was the Chargers DST scoring a lovely 14. Peyton did earn 15.5, but it was by far his worst game of the season and he usually scores much better. CJ Anderson had a strong 11.8, Randall Cobb had 12.9, and Rueben Randle earned 11.5, but other than that, it was pretty subdued. T-Swift declined to ship off their captain, Mr. Manning, at the trade deadline, though this team could really use some RB help. Anderson is fine; Ball and Hillman are out for basically the duration of the fantasy season. The other starter though? Matt Asiata. Oof. Unfortunately this was a rough week for waiver wire RBs. Looking ahead, I see Peyton, Cobb, and Anderson keeping T-Swift in most games, but the missing RB piece is going to make the next two weeks' matchups (SI and TDfW) pretty tough to overcome. Still though, who was betting on T-Swift in Week Eleven? No one, but they still won. The playoff potential is still there. #9 Clam Juice Junkies (3-8) -2 CJJ is going to be changing names once again after consecutive 50+ point losses (EDITOR'S NOTE: They just changed to Forgetting Brandon Marshall). Evan's misfortune was going against the red-hot MPM squad, rather than an embarrassment on his own end. CJJ scored 82 points in this low-scoring week, good for seventh best (a strong indicator at how bad this week was). Matt Forte is continuing to roll as a potential fantasy MVP candidate, and CJJ has given the keys to the car back to Tony Romo. I think it's a good move. Matt Ryan simply doesn't have time behind his offensive line, which we've discussed before regarding Julio's value. Meanwhile, Martavis Bryant has officially come back down to earth. The pace was seemingly unsustainable, yet every week we would see that he could keep it going! That is, until this weeks 1.1 point outing. Ouch. On top of that, Julio Jones resembles the usual 2014 Julio Jones with his 5.9 point outing. Golden Tate also just added 4.9 points. Unfortunately for CJJ, the one receiver who lit it up was Brandon Marshall, who was on the bench. Brandon Marshall then was traded to TDfW, and subsequently traded to 302. Evan made a couple nice gambles, trading the nice asset BMarsh for two young options, both with keeper potential. Still though, Tre Mason gives CJJ a nice RB2 option. Also, trading Frank Gore for DeAndre Hopkins was an excellent deal. The moves overall strengthened CJJ while also keeping the future in mind, which was a perfect outcome. This year isn't really CJJ's year, but hopefully the young talent turns out to be viable starters, and one as a nice keeper. #10 38% Chance of Victory (3-8) --- What a truly agonizing defeat. After having two really rough losses to start his fantasy football career, Mike was looking at PMotr as a potential win in Week Eleven. 38V was actually favored in the game line, and as the match progressed, 38V's projected points surged ahead of PMotr's. This was the week. Then, life interrupted. The matchup ended hinging on 38V's play of Colin Kaepernick over Jay Cutler. Kaep had 12. Cutler had 23. 38V lost by 3. There it is. On the other hand, 38V actually had a decent week, considering the squad. Yes, Greg Jennings got injured and scored only 0.4 points. Yes, Dwayne Allen also got injured and scored no points at all. Yes yes yes. The rest of the team did decently. Alfred Blue stood in well for Arian Foster by earning 15.6. Crowell, Andre, and Wright all had 7, which could be better but isn't bad. Vinatieri had another nice week with 10 points. This could have actually been worse than it was, and it was pretty bad. 38V just needs Arian Foster back, and it needs the right QB play. I'm not going to offer any advice in that area, because I always, always choose wrong. Good luck, Mike. Predictions (Winners underlined): Turn Down for Watt (7-4, +1187/-1139) @ 302 Cadets (6-5, +1138/-1057) I'm Just Gonna Shake It Off (4-7, +987/-1117) @ Staff Infection (8-3, +1209/-1079) 38% Chance of Victory (3-8, +995/-1139) @ Clam Juice Junkies (3-8, +1066/-1248) Merman pop, Mer-man (3-8, +1053/-1189) @ Gin Makes Me Bum Pucker (6-5, +1060/-1051) Poppin Mollies on the reg (7-4, +1112/-966) @ the mullynation (8-3, +1311/-1133) Last Week’s Picks: (3-2) Overall record: (33-22) BEST MOVE OF THE WEEK
Though I do try to avoid it, I'm patting myself on the back this week boys. With super-stud Rob Gronkowski sitting uselessly on my bench, I needed a bye week TE. If you guys haven't noticed, the TE crop this year (excluding some blue-chip studs) has not only been inconsistent but weak overall. I opted for the ballsy pick of Jared Cook against the Cardinals, and Cook responded with 84 yards and a TD for 14.4 points. Color me satisfied. I may not use him again for the rest of the season, but when I needed him, that guy showed up big. This is a guy whose last three games were 2.5 points, 1.1 points, and 1.2 points, and his previous season-high was 7.5 points in Week Three. Feel free to call me Nostradamus; I won't stop you. Honorable mention: 302 picking up Jonathan Stewart off waivers and starting him against the Eagles, earning 12.2 points in the process. WORST MOVE OF THE WEEK I actually kind of had a hard time finding a "Worst Move of the Week," so really this is congrats to you all. No bonehead moves this week! Since I do have to pick one though, if you twisted my arm I would go with Clam Juice Junkies (nice name choice, Dan!) benching Martavis Bryant for any of the three WRs he started. He had Julio and BMarsh at WR and Golden Tate in the FLEX. Now I know that Julio has enormous name-value and there's really no way to expect anyone to bench him. Got it. BMarsh is much the same way, though we can't deny that both have clearly underperformed this year, especially in recent weeks. Julio had scored in double digits in just one of his last five games. Brandon, in one of his last six. Still though, Golden Tate is the easier critique here. Calvin was coming back, and Martavis Bryant had scored FIVE touchdowns in the last three games (now four in the last six). How do you not get a guy like that in the lineup? Bryant proved to be the highest-scoring WR, besting Tate by 9, Julio by 8, and BMarsh by 3. Those points are just sitting on the bench. It's not a really dumb move, but in a week with few dumb moves, I guess this one wins. Power Rankings: #1 the mullynation (8-2) --- Despite last week being "the closest call for the #1 spot all year," this week the winds have changed a bit. The mullynation has now gone NINE straight weeks scoring 100+ points and also being a top-4 scorer, which is frankly just absurd. This was supposed to be the week where she was handicapped. This was the week that the unstoppable Andrew Luck-TY Hilton connection was halted (due to bye). Losing the #1 QB and #5 WR would be rough for any team, or maybe not. She posted 133 (second-most this week) despite her depleted arsenal. Also of note, the mullynation finally got her beloved Calvin Johnson back, and I think that worked out pretty well for her (17.3). No skill position player scored fewer than 13.1 points. With sole possession of the best record in the Just, Win, Maybe League, life is sweet in the mullynation. A playoff bye week also seems a virtual lock, as she owns a two game (plus tie-breaker) lead over PMotr in the Clowns division with only three weeks to play. #2 Turn Down for Watt (6-4) +1 Just one week removed from being beaten by SI and TDfW is above them in the power rankings? How can that be? Can I feign any semblance of non-bias? I'm not sure. I'll talk in more detail about SI's drop in their section, but this section is about what's working in the world of TDfW. The loss last week was in no small part due to the absence of my two Packer (ick) studs, Eddie Lacy and Jordy Nelson. I won't need to worry about that anymore. I think it's safe to say that Eddie Lacy is back, people. In his last six games he has scored 12, 25, 4 (a stinker in Miami), 11, 19, and 18. Maybe not the greatest keeper of all time, but at least he's not losing TDfW games. As a flex play, you can do a whole lot worse. While Lacy's performance was nice, this week is all about the WRs. The combination of Dez Bryant and Jordy Nelson earned a truly grand total of 55 points this week (2.9 points more than the entire 38V squad). Evan was left shaking his head as his QB Romo's touchdowns kept going to Dez. Most importantly though, for a team that started the year absolutely riddled with injuries, there is not a single meaningful injury on this squad besides Rashad Jennings, who was injured five weeks ago and is finally due to return this week. TDfW has gone 3-2 since losing the then-#6 RB, but I'm hopeful that record will be nicely boosted by his return. The Giants have been downright pathetic without him, and I'm thinking they'll feature him heavily once he's back. They certainly did before he was injured. #3 Gin Makes Me Bum Pucker (6-4) +2 After a tough loss to T-Swift last week (scoring only 84 points), GMMBP responded in true bum pucker fashion, earning a big ol' win over the favored SI. GMMBP was our high-scorer of the week, being just the third team to crack 140 points (38V with 162 in Week Two, and the mullynation with 156 in Week Eight) Even more impressive was that this was accomplished with six players on bye, though the only stud missing was Antonio Gates. Aaron Rodgers (unfortunately) is playing mistake-free football. In fact, that might be an understatement. Rodgers is playing football about as well as I've ever seen anyone play it, and GMMBP is eating those points right up. A lovely 36.6 point outing, along with Justin Forsett's 23.2 and Emmanuel Sanders' 19.2, helped put SI in the rearview mirror. Oh don't forget about the Packers D/ST earning 21 points in their defeat of the Bears. After a couple of lackluster weeks, Mike Wallace also got things going again with 11.1 points. As I've mentioned before, the WR depth on this team is nice. Sanders and Wallace are a nice WR1/WR2 combo, but Desean Jackson, Reggie Wayne, Michael Crabtree, and Cordarrelle Patterson (eh) round out a really solid deep set. And imagine if the WR trade hadn't gone through earlier this year, GMMBP would still have BMarsh and Golden Tate instead of Wayne and Crabtree! If Rodgers keeps putting up 30+, this team can beat any team in the league. The only concern persists at RB. It's unclear how that's going to affect the team come playoff time. Relying on a Patriot RB as an every-week starter is a dangerous game. But for now, we live in the moment. GMMBP has won five of its last six and is making a decent push for a playoff bye. GMMBP and TDfW are now both trailing SI by just one game, but the interesting note is that these two teams play each other in Week Ten. There can only be one... #4 Poppin Mollies on the reg (6-4) +2 Last week PMotr was our high-scorer, riding on the backs of its nice RB talent. I feel like I'm singing the same song here. Ellington is hitting that stretch of schedule where points are going to be hard to come by, but he still managed 10. Denard Robinson continued his great streak with another solid game (17). The game ball though, that goes to Marshawn Lynch. Holy guacamole. Lynch (and really the whole Seahawks running-game) obliterated the Giants in the best running performance in the history of the Seahawks franchise. Lynch had 140 yards on the ground and FOUR touchdowns, earning PMotr 38 points. There was no coming back from that for RRiaa. If I'm going to sing the same song as last week though, I need to sing the part about the underperforming WRs. Last week they combined for 7.4 points. This week they combined for 4.4 points. This is a dangerous road Dan is walking. When the RBs have solid matchups PMotr will feast. We've sure seen that! When the RBs have rough matchups, PMotr is going to be lucky to break 100, because those WRs don't really bail him out. For PMotr's sake, I'm hoping that RB opponents in Weeks 14, 15, and 16 are soft. Steve Smith is no longer getting it done, and Sammy Watkins, as good as we all know he is, is going to have games where he looks frustratingly like a rookie. That's how rookies are, especially at WR and QB. This was one of those weeks. With that kind of serious deficiency at WR, it's hard to move this team up the ranks, even with such dominant performances as the last two weeks. It's just tough to know what we're going to get. #5 Staff Infection (7-3) -3 With last week being one of the high-water-marks of the season for SI, it would seem like things are just peachy-keen, right? Wrong. There may be some trouble in paradise. Despite boasting one of the most solid RB corps just several weeks ago (Le'Veon Bell, healthy Gio Bernard, healthy Lamar Miller), things have precipitously fallen off. Gio was out yet again, and there's been no indication yet that he will be back for Week 11. Lamar was actually active for this week's game, yet he was used so sparingly that he earned a whopping 0.6 points. Furthermore, Le'Veon Bell continued his head-scratching streak of no rushing TDs since Week 1, and he earned 7.6 points in the process with only 36 rushing yards. Legarrette Blount got the goal-line carries this week, an annoying sign of things to come? Demaryius Thomas is a kindred spirit with Bell, as he's had no TDs in the last three weeks, though he's been fantastic yardage-wise. Emmanuel Sanders is slowly stealing DT's thunder, with FIVE touchdowns over those same three games. Sanchez really did look competent on Monday night against the hapless Panthers, but unfortunately the drop-off happened (as predicted) for Jeremy Maclin. Perhaps I'm a pessimist, but I don't see how Maclin could keep his first-half-of-the-season pace without Foles force-feeding him the ball. Though SI is certainly in the driver's seat for a playoff bye, the loss this week (and wins by TDfW and GMMBP) open the door a smidgen. This is compounded by the issues several key players are facing. This is a team that needs to get back to the football they were playing four weeks ago. #6 302 Cadets (6-4) -2 The Cadets earned a nice 47 point win over 38V last week, but this week proved to be a bit tougher. With almost an identical end-score, the margin of winning this week was a nail-biting 4.8, and the best part is that it came down to Monday Night Football. After solid performances from Drew Brees and Jamaal Charles (and the Cowboys D/ST), 302 would normally be riding high. Antonio Brown, the superman, interestingly became the weakest link in this week's lineup. His 3.7 points (only beating Larry Donnell's 2.6, but that's not as surprising) almost cost Derek the victory. It came down to the unheralded Jonathan Stewart, of all people, and Cody Parkey. Derek needed 17 and he got 21. Jamaal Charles has now put up four straight solid games, and Brees is inching back towards where he belongs in the rankings, though he's still the #8 QB after his slow start. The question is, what is 302 going to use in the FLEX spot from here on out? We have the obvious RB starts of Charles and Ahmad Bradshaw, and the obvious WR starts of Brown and Odell Beckham Jr, but there's no clear FLEX play. Do we roll the dice with Stewart again? Can 302 live with Dwayne Bowe's maddening inconsistency? What about Andre Holmes or Andrew Hawkins? In comparison to other potential playoff squads, that FLEX spot is seriously behind. 302's FLEX spot is going to be compared with TY Hilton, Eddie Lacy, Lamar Miller, Desean Jackson, and Denard Robinson. That's a matchup 302 will lose virtually every week. Furthermore, unlike teams with JT, Graham, and Gronk, the TE position is another spot that may be consistently losing 302 points. As we've seen, when Brees, Brown, and Charles are on their game, who cares? But we've also just seen that Brown is a mortal man like the rest of us, and we already knew that about Brees and Charles. The drop in ranking has more to do with GMMBP and PMotr surging ahead, rather than 302 slipping back. #7 Clam Juice Junkies (3-7) +1 Clam Juice Junkies was born from last week's 50+ point defeat (thank you Dan), and I'm hoping this name (and the accompanying picture) sticks around. The good news for CJJ is that there was certainly no 50+ point defeat this week. The bad news was, in terms of records, all defeats look the same. CJJ fell to TDfW this week despite having nice showings from Tony Romo (22), Frank Gore (14), and Brandon Marshall (17). Is there a tougher QB than Tony Romo? This guy has two broken bones in his spine and yet travelled halfway round the world to London only to throw three TDs and no INTs. He gets way too much flak. I already wrote about Martavis Bryant in the "Worst Move of the Week" section, so I'll spare you any redundancy here. I think it's a reasonable bet to assume that Evan will find a way to feature Bryant in most upcoming weeks, so I'm going to look at his WR corps with that in mind. Julio Jones may have put up 119 yards on Tampa Bay this week, but you have to look back to Week Three to see the last time Julio even scored a TD. This is JULIO FREAKING JONES. The guy is too good to be satisfied with the occasional 100+ yard no-TD game. Even with the 11.9 this week, Julio is now averaging less than 8 points per game over his last six games. This offensive line is killing him. BMarsh looked like his usual physical self against the Packers, nicely throwing a CB to the ground while running for a TD. This came at the cost of his ankle though, as he had to leave the game due to injury. I'm thinking this WR corps could use an infusion of Martavis Bryant, and if this ridiculous TD streak keeps going, Bryant could easily end up as the highest -scoring CJJ receiver over the second half of the season. #8 I'm Just Gonna Shake It Off (3-7): +1 For a bit there, I thought that T-Swift was going to pull the upset of the week. Peyton, T-Swift's obvious lynchpin, earned 30 points against the Raiders, and when that happens, T-Swift usually will get a good shot at a win. Unfortunately, Peyton and Anquan Boldin were the only members of T-Swift with healthy totals. Randall Cobb did earn 11.2, but for the only WR in the NFL with 10+ TDs, 11.2 points isn't a great day. The good news is that Boldin has surprisingly broken 15 points in three of his last four games! Boldin along with Cobb forms a pretty decent WR combo, and Percy Harvin/Cecil Shorts III/Terrence Williams are left fighting for the WR3 role. Okay, maybe that's not great depth, but at least the top two are getting the job done. T-Swift's team has a well-documented issue at the RB position. With Rashad Jennings reportedly ready to play in Week 11, T-Swift has just lost Andre Williams for good. Not an earth-shattering loss, but still. Oh and how the losses have accumulated... We've got Williams, newly-injured Ronnie Hillman (out at least 2 weeks), Khiry Robinson, Doug Martin, CJ Spiller, and Matt Asiata. Amazingly, none of them will be a starter this week, and the only other back on the roster is Montee Ball, who is just returning from a long injury and may have to be eased into the lineup. We still have things to play for. Time to figure out that RB spot, before it's too late for all the prizes. #9 Ray Rice is an asshole (2-8) -2 RRiaa suffered another defeat, but at least this time it wasn't an agonizingly close one. Is that a good thing? I don't know, but I feel like it probably makes Alex sleep easier at night. At least this week there wasn't any "I should have played/benched " second-guessing, because nothing would have helped this week. RRiaa ran into PMotr and the Marshawn Lynch/Julius Thomas buzzsaw, and unfortunately that resulted in a 52 point loss. Russell Wilson continues to do nothing of note through the air (one TD in the last three weeks), but his day was saved by 107 yards rushing and a rushing TD. That certainly helps! Even though that rushing production alone is worth 16.7 points, Wilson finished the game with just 17.6 points total. Woof. For once the Bengals WRs didn't come to play, with both Sanu and Green scoring exactly 2.3 points in that dreadful Thursday night game. That kind of set the tone for the whole week right there. Until Russell Wilson's late 4th quarter rushing TD, Caleb Sturgis (Miami kicker) was the high scorer on the team with 12 points. The playoff hopes of RRiaa have dwindled into nothingness, but hopefully this team keeps playing tough for pride (and to avoid that last place standing). I still believe, Alex! #10 38% Chance of Victory (3-7) --- Mike, I apologize. The cupboards are real bare, dude. Real bare. I can sleep easier at night now because my pathetic total of 53.4 points in Week Two has been bested! In the two weeks since Mike took over for Steve, 38V has now scored a total of 112.8 points. For reference, six of the seven other teams (sorry 302) have scored that many points in either of the last two weeks. Two teams have scored that many points in both weeks (the mullynation and PMotr). This week paired 38V with the mullynation, a matchup that resulted in a breathtaking 80.9 point loss. I didn't think it would be possible, but there was in fact a position group that scored fewer points than PMotr's wide receivers this week (who scored 4.4 points combined). That position group? 38V's RBs. Antone Smith earned 0.3 points, and he was the highest scoring RB on the entire roster. Good thing he was starting! The next two highest scoring RBs were Arian Foster and Alfred Blue, both on bye and on the bench. Can't blame Mike for that call. Yes. That means that the other starting RB, Knile Davis, scored negative points. Negative 1.4 in fact. So the total for the two starting RBs was a staggering -1.1 points. Let's just forget about this week, okay? Taking ownership of 38V is akin to a Sisyphus-like task at this point, and we've got to give Mike a little grace here. These weeks will be rough. But just think of how battle-hardened you'll be for next year! And hey, Torrey Smith had a good game! Predictions (Winners underlined): Gin Makes Me Bum Pucker (6-4, +967/-933) @ Turn Down for Watt (6-4, +1069/-1047) the mullynation (8-2, +1227/-1044) @ I'm Just Gonna Shake It Off (3-7, +898/-1033) Clam Juice Junkies (3-7, +984/-1114) @ Ray Rice is an asshole (2-8, +919/-1107) 38% Chance of Victory (3-7, +927/-1068) @ Poppin Mollies on the reg (6-4, +1042/-898) Staff Infection (7-3, +1107/-1003) @ 302 Cadets (6-4, +1061/-954) Last Week’s Picks: (3-2) Overall record: (30-20) BEST MOVE OF THE WEEK
Our "Best Move of the Week" for Week Nine goes to Mr. Gentry Bain for SI's FLEX play of Deandre Hopkins over Vincent Jackson. Anybody who has been following fantasy football this season knows that VJax has looked like a dumpster fire at times this year, but name recognition is still hard to overcome sometimes. VJax can play like a stud every once in a while, and that gamble can be just so tantalizing. On the contrary, Deandre is the second-year guy that had a really rough start to the season with an equally-bad QB, so it's not too hard to do the required mental gymnastics to sit him. SI sniffed out the right play, favoring Deandre's 19.5 over VJax's 8.9 points. Smart move. WORST MOVE OF THE WEEK This is perhaps the easiest pick of the entire year. Maybe that's a little much, but maybe not. When you lose by 7.5 points, you dissect every lineup move you made that week. Starting one QB vs the other (my problem), starting one RB vs the other (mullynation's quasi-problem, though she still won), starting one WR vs the other (RRiaa's problem). These are normal things, and everybody has to deal with them sometimes. The issue lies when you just decide, "Eh, I'm not going to fill out a full roster this week." Losing by 7.5 blows. Losing to your brother blows. Losing by 7.5 points to your brother when you chose to leave a hole in your lineup IS YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT. Plenty of DPs earn 7.5 points in a week. I'm shaking my head at you Chris. You're better than this. Get puckered. Power Rankings: #1 the mullynation (7-2) --- Wow. This is maybe the closest call for the #1 spot all year. Maybe it's more fair to call the mullynation #1 and SI #1a. Regardless, it's the mullynation's name at the top spot for another week. The distinction lies with the mullynation not having any injuries with Calvin Johnson returning. Jimmy Graham doesn't care if he's Probable. Whatever. Since his embarrassing goose-egg in Week Seven, Graham has posted 12 and 14 points. Luck has proven time and time again that he's among the most valuable fantasy commodities, and TY Hilton is getting there. Murray took a tumble this week against Arizona, though the do boast the second-best RB defense. Murray didn't break 100 yards for the first time this week, though I don't really think that anyone is worried. Ingram has averaged over 20 points per game in the four games he's played healthy. The triumphant return of Josh Gordon looms every nearer. Let's just say I'm glad that I'm not playing the mullynation any more times this season. The Top-4 scoring streak and 100+ streak continue yet another week, a truly remarkable achievement. #2 Staff Infection (7-2) --- SI is looking incredibly strong, though perhaps not quite as strong as last week. There are hushed rumors from Bengals insiders that Gio's injury could cause more missed time than previously thought, and SI's seemingly-unstoppable Jeremy Maclin may be capped in coming weeks by the play of Mark Sanchez. As dynamic as Maclin has been, its not often that a WR just shakes off the loss of their QB. Foles could be out for the rest of the fantasy season, and it'd be foolish to think that Maclin won't be affected in some manner. Still though, it might not even matter. DT is racking up yards (if not TDs), and LeVeon is basically the same way. Deandre Hopkins played great this week and it showed of SI's depth. This is a tough team, and it's going to take an unusual turn of events for it to not secure a playoff bye. Not like that mattered last year though, right? #3 Turn Down for Watt (5-4) --- The Cam Newton era is over. It's officially time to switch to Ben Roethlisberger. In fact, that time was two weeks ago, but I was too stupid to notice. Ben now has a staggering 12 passing TDs in two games, an NFL record. He's a Top 3 QB in scoring. He's going to captain the Quest for Three, and you scrubs are going to stand by and watch. Despite being on Bye-pocalypse this week with two of my starting RBs out and my precious Jordy Nelson gone, I was decently happy with a Top-5 finish for TDfW. Of course I predicted my victory in the blog last week, but as Gentry will attest, I wasn't really too confident. If it took two consecutive losses to the #1 and #2 team to convince me to rid myself of Cam Newton, I'll thank you both. On another note, I need Rashad Jennings back. I mean it would be poetic to sneak into the playoffs as the six seed yet again, beat Gentry down, then snatch the championship trophy as he cries, but wouldn't it be nice to be a favorite? That would be cool I guess. But really, I've just got to make it. A playoff lineup of Big Ben, Shady, Jennings, Lacy, Jordy, Dez, Gronk, and JJ Watt is a pretty damn good lineup, and I think it can compete with the mullynation and SI. Just gotta get there. #4 302 Cadets (5-4) +1 302 had a nice week and introduced 38V to the league in a major way. Drew Brees looked more like the old, new Drew Brees (AKA the bad Brees) rather than the new, new Drew Brees we've seen in the last two weeks. The rare rushing TD saved his fantasy day, otherwise he would have stayed in single digits. Jamaal is finding his way into the endzone with ease, though interestingly enough he still hasn't broken 100 yards this season! ODB is looking like yet another productive rookie WR (joining Benjamin, Watkins, Cooks, Evans, Bryant, etc) and could work as a high-ceiling, low-floor WR2 for the rest of the season probably. There are going to be games were he looks like a rookie, and there are going to be games where Eli looks like Eli, but there are going to be games like his last two, where he looks like he belongs in the NFL. Hawkins, Bowe, Holmes, and Pierce don't really belong in a standard starting lineup, but maybe something will change. Regardless, 302 is making his playoff push with a couple nice wins in a row. #5 Gin Makes Me Bum Pucker (5-4) -1 This was it. Chris Hanson of House Bum Pucker, was facing off against his hated arch-nemesis, Hayden Hanson of House Manning. This was a matchup to prove that Chris is truly a Bum Pucker at heart, not just some bottom-of-the-heap scrub like where he started the season. He was supposed to be the chosen one, rising from the ashes like an anus-shaped phoenix. This was his magnum opus. He was going to sweep his brother, and possibly vault into the Top 3 doing so. Wouldn't that have been grand? Despite GMMBP riding an impressive winning streak, like some ruggedly handsome version of Nostradamus, I noted last week: there is some mild concern on the horizon Am I the best? No. Am I a hero? I won't stop you from saying that. Was I right? Unfortunately for Chris, yes. The matchup came down to a narrow 7.5 point victory for I'm Just Going to Shake It Off (previously #Omaha!). The kicker is that GMMBP had this victory easily within its grasp, even with sub-par production from most of its players. The defensive player slot was undeniably a factor this week. Every point matters in close matchups, and even though going in this wasn't supposed to be all that close, that's the way the cookie crumbles. GMMBP got cocky this week, thinking his brother was no more than a pleb, and GMMBP took his nice five game winning streak and just shat all over it. There's no excuse not to field a full squad, and it's not unreasonable for a defensive player (even a non-JJ-Watt player) to break 7.5 points. This was a win, but GMMBP didn't want to commit to the pucker. Embarrassing. #6 Poppin Mollies on the reg (5-4) +2 PMotr mostly looked pretty damn good this week. They collectively feasted on some nice easy matchups, and there was uniform, solid production en route to earning our high score of the week. Remember when PMotr scored the fewest points last week and the second-fewest points two weeks before that? Evan doesn't. As I've said a couple times, PMotr will go as Lynch goes. When Lynch gets to play the Raiders, PMotr is going to win games. Also, can we just take a moment to acknowledge that Denard Robinson is looking solid? That Jacksonville offensive line isn't exactly Dallas, yet he's getting the job done. Ellington, on the other hand, had a somewhat unimpressive 19 point game, if that's even possible to say. He's running for under 4 yards per carry and still has a season-total of two rushing TDs. Receiving TDs are undoubtedly more sporadic for RBs, though Ellington did get one this week. He has a total of two receiving TDs on the season as well. Unfortunately the road is tough for Andre, with some serious defenses coming up. On top of that, the WR production still isn't there. 7.4 points combined from Steve Smith and Doug Baldwin is not going to cut it come playoff time, and Lynch won't be playing the Raiders every week. PMotr is definitely benefiting from having the least points against, though its not like it mattered this week! Enjoy your new name, Evan. Pick something good, Dan. #7 Ray Rice is an asshole (2-7) --- Call me a believer. I'm on the RRiaa hype-train. After bottoming out at #10 RRiaa has now put together two straight weeks of nice totals (132 and 116). The legend of the #10 spot lives on. Unfortunately RRiaa drew a tough opponent this weekend, facing off and losing to the mullynation in our closest match of the week. Brady is playing like a man possessed, averaging a ridiculous 26+ points since his abysmal Chiefs game. AlfMo put together his best game of the season, covering for Chris Ivory's rough start. Sanu is playing more like AJ Green than AJ Green is, but if that changes back to normal that's okay, because RRiaa has AJ Green also. Furthermore, RRiaa showed off some nice bench WR depth this week with Edelman and Evans both cracking 20 points easily. Ryan Mathews is coming back from injury soon, and suddenly this team actually looks pretty legit. Color me convinced. I'm not sure that RRiaa can make the playoffs this year due to the 2-7 record, but I'm honestly expecting three wins in the last four games. Let's see a strong finish here, Alex, and who knows? Maybe 6-7 could be good enough for a six seed. The 3 point loss to the mullynation and the 4 point loss to 302 really hurt here. This team is way better than its record. #8 Tucker and Duds vs. Evil (3-6) -2 I'm not going to overreact and plummet TaDvE down to the #10 spot just because of a 71 point showing. I went to review how TaDvE performed this week and was left pretty unimpressed with the starting lineup, but then I checked the bench. Oh boy. Matt Forte, Steven Jackson, Brandon Marshall, Golden Tate, and Julio Jones were all on bye this week (perhaps a good thing in the case of Jones, given recent play). Wow. This team was completely gutted by the bye, much to the benefit of PMotr. Unfortunately for TaDvE's bye week woes, they're set for a new name in Week Ten. Olsen has had a couple troubling games, and he's clearly impacted by Cam Newton's ridiculously poor play right now. On the bright side though, Martavis Bryant is looking like the real deal. He scored 16.7 points this week, just narrowly missing Julio's total production from his last three games. Big Ben is playing as well as he ever has, and I think a large part of that is due to the inclusion of Bryant. TaDvE is going to need to make up two quick games to get into a playoff position, which is a tall task with only four weeks to play. #9 I'm Just Gonna Shake It Off (3-6): +1 Do we even need to mention the whole #10 anti-curse anymore? Has it gotten to that point yet? T-Swift bounced back nicely from the #10 spot earning a victory over rival GMMBP. Despite mediocre days from Terrence Williams, Reuben Randle, and Zach Ertz, T-Swift scraped together 91 points which was enough for a slim win. At 3-6 this team still has playoff hopes, though those would take a big hit with any more losses. Peyton has only not broken 20 points in one single game this year, and you know what he scored in that game? 19.5 freaking points. In my draft review early on I named Hayden's team: “Help Me Peyton Manning, You’re My Only Hope”. That may have been my most accurate team name of the year. As long as Peyton keeps chugging, T-Swift has a chance. Not a great chance, but a chance. The RB situation is pretty grim, as the Denver backfield (either Hillman or Ball) is the only real option. Andre Williams will lose his gig when Rashad Jennings comes back, though that keeps getting pushed back. Doug Martin is now a third stringer. Khiry Robinson is now a third-stringer. Zac Stacy is now a third stringer. CJ Spiller is on IR. Woof. #10 38% Chance of Victory (3-6) -1 Welcome to the league, Mike! Or should I say Dick Cream? After taking over for Steve, Team Kanne is now 38% Chance of Victory, perhaps the best name in our league's history. That name couldn't save 38V though, as they barely broke 60 points in their first game. That was largely due to Adam Vinatieri's heroics on Monday night, coming through with 19 points. 38V may be in more capable hands now, but this team still will need a lot of help to make the playoffs. It's crunch time now, and 38V has four weeks to prove their mettle. Arian Foster sustained a groin injury this week, though 38V has his backup Alfred Blue. That's about the extent of the good news. Knile Davis had 0.9, Andre Johnson had 1.2, Stevie Johnson had 4.1, and Clay Harbor had 0.7. This was a rough week, even by rough standards. I think that 38V is better than they looked this week, but they're going to need some deft waiver moves to climb out of this hole. Predictions (Winners underlined): Tucker and Duds vs. Evil (3-6, +870/-982) @ Turn Down for Watt (5-4, +936/-933) the mullynation (7-2, +1094/-993) @ 38% Chance of Victory (3-6, +875/-935) Ray Rice is an asshole (2-7, +724/-859) @ Poppin Mollies on the reg (5-4, +913/-819) 302 Cadets (5-4, +956/-855) @ I'm Just Gonna Shake It Off (2-6, +709/-845) Staff Infection (7-2, +1014/-860) @ Gin Makes Me Bum Pucker (5-4, +826/-840) Last Week’s Picks: (3-2) Overall record: (27-18) |
By: Hayden HansonMr. Hayden Hanson (Editor in Chief) is an Accountant-extraordinaire, as well as an aspiring writer. He has written several moderately-successful self-help books, the most famous of which is "What Do You Mean You Can Smell My BO?" Gustav Travers of the New York Times praised the book as "A vulnerable, courageous look into the mind of a man who has literally no sense that other people exist. And also no sense of smell. Nope, he definitely doesn't have that either. Just musk, like a hog that's gotten into the cabbage." Archives
September 2019
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