Week 9 is in the books. We have one more week of inter-division play, and then we are back to beating up on the people in our own divisions. Until then, let's look back at what happened week 9, and what it means for the playoffs.
Skyler vs Rob: Skyler managed to get the Monday night win behind Ezekiel Elliot, which gets him to 7 wins. That's not a guaranteed playoff spot, but something like 90+% of those who get to 7 wins make the playoffs. Robs loss doesn't put him in last place because he outscored Trevor by a large enough margin, but he is certainly in the danger zone (aka only 6 points ahead)
Matt vs Geoff: In the battle of fringe playoff teams, Matt got the win over Geoff. However, the Jordan/Ren game went in such a way that Matt and Geoff don't really gain or lose any ground after this game. Matt and Geoff obviously would prefer to win, but they aren't necessarily competing for the same spot, so this loss doesn't kill Geoff, even though it was by 30ish points.
TJ vs Trevor: It wasn't close, it was a blowout. TJ likely would have won had he just started his QB, WR1, and DST. The biggest problem facing the rest of TJ's season is that he isn't in the South. If he were in the South Division, he would be tied for first. Instead, he is in the West and is in last place.
Ren vs Jordan: Ren is getting hot at the right time and is in the division hunt. If he can sneak into the playoffs, he could end up making some noise behind Kamara and Cook. The loss puts Jordan a game behind Geoff in the wild-card standings.
Tyler vs Brady: Give me a second, I'm copying the first sentence from TJ vs Trevor. It wasn't close, it was a blowout. Brady whooped Tyler and is further cementing his grip on first place in the regular season.
Kyle vs Tommy: It wasn't the beatdown that TJ gave Trevor, or Brady gave Tyler, but it was a solid win for Kyle all the same. His win plus Tyler's loss puts him back in the division lead, and the second seed in the playoffs. As much as it pains me to say it, Kyle is putting up some decent points the last three weeks.
Currently, Brady is winning the North, Matt is winning the South, and Kyle leads the West. No one leads by more than a game though so inter-division play could change those standings. However, I want to look at the Wildcard situations right now. Everything will be in relation to 6th place since that is the last spot/person to make the playoffs.
Rank Team Margin from 6th
4th Skyler +2
5th Tyler 0
6th Geoff 0
7th TJ -1
8th Jordan -1
9th Ren -1
Something I just realized is that Brady still hasn't officially clinched the playoffs, but it is close. At 8 wins, with 4 games left to play, he can't be caught by Tommy, Trevor, or Rob, since they all have less than 4 wins. The 4 teams that could, in theory, catch him are split 2 in one division, and 2 in another -- meaning that the two teams in the west and the two teams in the south will play each other. That means each one of them is a guaranteed loss. So that means he can't be caught by 5 people, but 6 is the magic number to clinch a playoff spot. I'm sure Brady gets there next week, but he would have liked to get there today.
The purpose of all of that is to say that people are still competing for the playoffs. Sure, Tommy, Trevor, and Rob can't catch Brady, but they can catch the wildcard teams -- so no one should give up.
High Score of the week: This goes to the number one team overall. Brady cleared the second highest scorer by 10 points this week, and further cements his status as the number 1 team.
Low Score of the week: Geoff's hot streak came to an end, but he had built up enough of a buffer that he is still in the lead for the last wildcard spot. He doesn't have that margin for error next week though.
Luckiest Team of the week: The true answer is no one because all of the teams that finished in the top 6 won, but because Matt was the lowest scoring winner, he goes here by default.
Unluckiest Team of the week: The true answer is no one because all of the teams that finished in the top 6 won, but since Rob was the highest scoring loser, and he was in the closest game, he goes here by default.
Interesting notes from the matchups next week -- I normally only pick a few matchups, but there are enough decent storylines/matchups that go together that I will include everyone this week.
Geoff vs Jordan & Skyler vs TJ: Winner of Geoff vs Jordan should be the 6 seed of the playoffs, though if Jordan wins, and TJ wins, and TJ outscores Jordan by 4ish, TJ would move up ahead of both Jordan and Geoff for the 6th seed, so that's why these matchups are in the same section.
Matt vs Tommy & Ren vs Tyler: I am doubling up on this one because if Matt loses and Ren wins, Matt will no longer be the division leader, which is a title he has held on to after beating Ren in week 2. If Matt wins and Ren loses, that will give Matt a 1 game cushion as we head back into the division rounds. If Tommy loses, he might as well kiss the playoffs goodbye.
Rob vs Brady & Trevor vs Kyle: If Rob and/or Trevor lose, they can kiss a wild card birth goodbye, and they would need a miracle to win the division. If they win, they still have a shot (though a very long one) at winning the division. Making the wildcard would be a miracle for either of them at this point. A Brady win clinches him the playoffs for sure, and it would guarantee that the North would have a bye week because no on in the South could catch him (he could still lose the bye week to Skyler, but the North would still have the bye if that happened).
Prime time matchups next week are the Cowboys and Eagles on Sunday Night Football and the Giants and the 49ers on Monday Night Football. I was about to say that doesn't sound very exciting, but that should be around 9 starters (excluding kickers), so it actually could be semi-interesting.
Well that's all for this week. Good luck to everyone but TJ in week 10.
Skyler vs Rob: Skyler managed to get the Monday night win behind Ezekiel Elliot, which gets him to 7 wins. That's not a guaranteed playoff spot, but something like 90+% of those who get to 7 wins make the playoffs. Robs loss doesn't put him in last place because he outscored Trevor by a large enough margin, but he is certainly in the danger zone (aka only 6 points ahead)
Matt vs Geoff: In the battle of fringe playoff teams, Matt got the win over Geoff. However, the Jordan/Ren game went in such a way that Matt and Geoff don't really gain or lose any ground after this game. Matt and Geoff obviously would prefer to win, but they aren't necessarily competing for the same spot, so this loss doesn't kill Geoff, even though it was by 30ish points.
TJ vs Trevor: It wasn't close, it was a blowout. TJ likely would have won had he just started his QB, WR1, and DST. The biggest problem facing the rest of TJ's season is that he isn't in the South. If he were in the South Division, he would be tied for first. Instead, he is in the West and is in last place.
Ren vs Jordan: Ren is getting hot at the right time and is in the division hunt. If he can sneak into the playoffs, he could end up making some noise behind Kamara and Cook. The loss puts Jordan a game behind Geoff in the wild-card standings.
Tyler vs Brady: Give me a second, I'm copying the first sentence from TJ vs Trevor. It wasn't close, it was a blowout. Brady whooped Tyler and is further cementing his grip on first place in the regular season.
Kyle vs Tommy: It wasn't the beatdown that TJ gave Trevor, or Brady gave Tyler, but it was a solid win for Kyle all the same. His win plus Tyler's loss puts him back in the division lead, and the second seed in the playoffs. As much as it pains me to say it, Kyle is putting up some decent points the last three weeks.
Currently, Brady is winning the North, Matt is winning the South, and Kyle leads the West. No one leads by more than a game though so inter-division play could change those standings. However, I want to look at the Wildcard situations right now. Everything will be in relation to 6th place since that is the last spot/person to make the playoffs.
Rank Team Margin from 6th
4th Skyler +2
5th Tyler 0
6th Geoff 0
7th TJ -1
8th Jordan -1
9th Ren -1
Something I just realized is that Brady still hasn't officially clinched the playoffs, but it is close. At 8 wins, with 4 games left to play, he can't be caught by Tommy, Trevor, or Rob, since they all have less than 4 wins. The 4 teams that could, in theory, catch him are split 2 in one division, and 2 in another -- meaning that the two teams in the west and the two teams in the south will play each other. That means each one of them is a guaranteed loss. So that means he can't be caught by 5 people, but 6 is the magic number to clinch a playoff spot. I'm sure Brady gets there next week, but he would have liked to get there today.
The purpose of all of that is to say that people are still competing for the playoffs. Sure, Tommy, Trevor, and Rob can't catch Brady, but they can catch the wildcard teams -- so no one should give up.
High Score of the week: This goes to the number one team overall. Brady cleared the second highest scorer by 10 points this week, and further cements his status as the number 1 team.
Low Score of the week: Geoff's hot streak came to an end, but he had built up enough of a buffer that he is still in the lead for the last wildcard spot. He doesn't have that margin for error next week though.
Luckiest Team of the week: The true answer is no one because all of the teams that finished in the top 6 won, but because Matt was the lowest scoring winner, he goes here by default.
Unluckiest Team of the week: The true answer is no one because all of the teams that finished in the top 6 won, but since Rob was the highest scoring loser, and he was in the closest game, he goes here by default.
Interesting notes from the matchups next week -- I normally only pick a few matchups, but there are enough decent storylines/matchups that go together that I will include everyone this week.
Geoff vs Jordan & Skyler vs TJ: Winner of Geoff vs Jordan should be the 6 seed of the playoffs, though if Jordan wins, and TJ wins, and TJ outscores Jordan by 4ish, TJ would move up ahead of both Jordan and Geoff for the 6th seed, so that's why these matchups are in the same section.
Matt vs Tommy & Ren vs Tyler: I am doubling up on this one because if Matt loses and Ren wins, Matt will no longer be the division leader, which is a title he has held on to after beating Ren in week 2. If Matt wins and Ren loses, that will give Matt a 1 game cushion as we head back into the division rounds. If Tommy loses, he might as well kiss the playoffs goodbye.
Rob vs Brady & Trevor vs Kyle: If Rob and/or Trevor lose, they can kiss a wild card birth goodbye, and they would need a miracle to win the division. If they win, they still have a shot (though a very long one) at winning the division. Making the wildcard would be a miracle for either of them at this point. A Brady win clinches him the playoffs for sure, and it would guarantee that the North would have a bye week because no on in the South could catch him (he could still lose the bye week to Skyler, but the North would still have the bye if that happened).
Prime time matchups next week are the Cowboys and Eagles on Sunday Night Football and the Giants and the 49ers on Monday Night Football. I was about to say that doesn't sound very exciting, but that should be around 9 starters (excluding kickers), so it actually could be semi-interesting.
Well that's all for this week. Good luck to everyone but TJ in week 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment