Week 11: Every One is Still Alive, and Two People Have Clinched a Spot

In a big week for playoff implications, the four teams on the bubble stayed alive, while only two of the four teams that could clinch a spot did.  This was a much higher scoring week than last week.  Only one team was under 100 points (and that was by less than a point), whereas last week, we had 5 teams under 100.  Last week only saw two teams score over 120 points -- this week had ten teams score over that same mark.

Game Recaps

Skyler vs Tommy: The front runner for the battle of ineptitude ended up being the weekly bonanza by having a combined score of 280+. Skyler had one 30+ point scorer, and an additional 20+ point scorer as well.  Tommy had three players score 20+.  Skyler was able to get the win by the strength of his middle-tier guys.  He had four players score 15+, and most of his team hit double digits (only two players had <10 points, but they still had 9+ points) while Tommy had only one other player score 15+ and had four players with <10 points.

Brady vs Chad:  In the battle for North supremacy and a bye week, Chad was able to get a solid win by 16+ points in the battle of ineptitude.  He was led victory by a combined 50 points from Mahomes and Dalvin, while also getting 20+ from Lockett.  Brady had the leading scorer of the game with Keenan Allen nearly putting up 35, but only one other player on his team had more than 13.5 points.  The win guarantees Chad makes the playoffs -- he is still not guaranteed to win the division though. Given their schedules, it will likely be hard for Brady to make up ground on Chad, but he should clinch the playoffs net week.

Rob vs Matt: Everyone in the league had an eye on this matchup.  If Matt won, it would have eliminated Skyler, Tommy, and Jordan, and no one would have clinched the playoffs. Rob made half of the league very happy with four players having a good game with 19+ points. Matt was let down by most of his team.  He was the only one to not break 100.  His bench had 91 points.  He would have been crazy to start Taysom over Kyler (the only starter to score 18.5 or more for Matt), but Taysom did outscore Kyler this week (by less than a point, but still).  I think that's just a sign that it wasn't Matt's week.  With the win, Rob becomes part of the 5 win club, which means that another win by him will eliminate all of the 3 win teams (Matt is already part of this club, and Tyler is there as well).

Trevor vs Brandon: Brandon's win over Trevor essentially locked up the division and a bye week for Brandon -- and he did it with a Monday Night Miracle in the nail-biter of the week.  Brandon got his win on Monday night with a combined 48 points from Woods and Godwin.  He was able to stay in the game thanks to 20+ points from Henry and Wilson on Sunday.  Trevor took the early lead by getting big (but not big enough) games from Tannehill, Tyreek Hill, and ::double checks notes:: the Cleveland Browns.  They all scored 23+ points.  Trevor was, unfortunately, let down by Travis Fulgham.  From weeks 4 (when he became a starter/had stats to look at) to week 8, Fulgham was averaging around 19 points a game.  Then the bye happened, and he has hit 3.6  points combined in weeks 10 and 11, on a total of 12 targets.  It was a slight dip in targets, but not enough to justify such a big drop in points. If Fulgham hits his season-low from weeks 4 to 8 (12.3 points) Trevor gets the win.  That's back to back weeks of a key player letting Trevor down -- and those back to back losses have knocked him from contending for a bye to not even guaranteed a playoff spot.

Jordan vs TJ: The second favorite matchup for the battle of ineptitude ended up being second on the bonanza list. The winner of this game was guaranteed to still be alive for the playoff hunt, while the loser could have been eliminated based on the other games.  TJ got the win and inched to a game back of the 5 win club, while Jordan was forced to wallow in the 3 win club. Jordan had the best player in the matchup with 33+ points from Herbert, but the rest of his team struggled and no on else scored over 18 points.  TJ's best player was Curtis Samuel with 21.4 points, but he was able to overcome Jordan thanks to 20+ from two other players, and 15+ from four more players.

Kyle vs Tyler: This was a competitive game, but what it represented on a larger scale (the battle for the West) is better categorized as a pillow fight.  The West has limped towards the playoffs the last 3-4 weeks, meaning the top division 'battle' was between a 6 win Kyle and a 5 win Tyler.  Kyle came through victorious with a 16 point win on the backs of Thielen, Andrews, and the Panthers DST -- all of whom scored 20+ points.  Kyle's real MVP though may have been Taysom Hill though.  Kamara had his season low points (10.5) with 0 receiving yards and 0 receptions.  However, Kamara hitting his average (24 points) wouldn't have been enough to win this week, so he wasn't the only one to let Tyler down -- he can also thank Gronk for that.  Gronk scored <5 points, which has happened two times in the last three games. Before this three game stretch, Gronk's last 3 game stretch,  he scored 18, 17, and 14 points.  If Gronk bounces back, Tyler will be fine -- if not, he may miss the playoffs entirely.  At least Elliott looked good for Tyler, and hopefully turns his season around.  Kyle took a 2 game lead on the division, but is behind a lot on points to Tyler -- so if everything goes wrong, Kyle could lose the division, but it would take a lot to get there.  Starting that journey on the wrong foot though is Burrow going on IR, and Thielen going on the Covid list.  Thielen tested positive, and then negative the next day, so sho knows what will end up happening with him.

Award Season

Pick 'em: Skyler won this week, 6-5 over Tommy.  Tommy now leads the season by 4 over Tyler, which likely only happened because Tyler gave up this week.

Highest Scorer of the Week: Now that his team is on life support and were seconds away from getting the plug pulled, Skyler's team finally showed their potential and scored the most points of week.

Lowest Scorer of the Week: Matt was the only one who didn't break 100 points this week.  I think Chad would say Matt was a...well we won't go there.

Luckiest Team of the Week: Speaking of Chad, he was the 8th highest scorer this week, yet he still managed to get a win.

Unluckiest Team of the Week:  Trevor is coming for Matt's record of Unluckiest Team, as Trevor wins this in back to back weeks.  He was the highest scoring loser.  More on that losing in a minute.

MVP: I want to give this to Deshaun Watson as he was the highest scoring player on the highest scoring team, but Skyler could have started any QB who scored over 7 points and still won his game.  The MVP needs to be someone irreplaceable.  The award this week will go to Robert Woods.  He averaged 13.4 points a game (before this week) but led Brandon to a narrow win by dropping a season high 30 points.

LVP: Trevor has a player win this award again.  Go back and reread his game matchup to see why Fulgham gets the LVP this week.

Game Previews

Skyler (12) vs Chad (2): Skyler has five players on Thursday and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. Chad has one player on Thursday and four players in primetime. He has no players on bye. With the amount of players in primtime, this could be the Monday night miracle/nightmare

Brady (4) vs Tommy (10): Brady has two players on Thursday and two players in primetime. He has no players on bye. Tommy has no players on Thursday and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. 

Matt (7) vs Brandon (1): Matt has two players on Thursday and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. Brandon has one player on Thursday and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. Based on standings, this looks to be the bonanza.

Trevor (3) vs Rob (8): Trevor has two players on Thursday and no players in primetime. He has no players on bye. Rob has one player on Thursday and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. 

TJ (9) vs Tyler (6): TJ has no players on Thursday and one players in primetime. He has no players on bye. Tyler has two players on Thursday and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. 

Kyle (5) vs Jordan (11): Kyle has no players on Thursday and two players in primetime. He has no players on bye. Jordan has no players on Thursday and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. He currently has no defense. Based on standings, this if the front runner for the battle of ineptitude.

Playoff Previews

Skyler, Jordan, Tommy, TJ- Eliminated with a loss OR a Matt win OR a Tyler win OR a Rob win.

Brandon - Clinched the playoffs, clinches a first round bye with a win OR a Trevor loss.

Chad - Clinched the playoffs, clinches a first round bye with a win AND a Brady loss.

Trevor - Clinches the playoffs with a win, eliminated from the division title with a loss OR a Brandon win.

Brady - Clinches the playoffs with a win OR a Matt loss and a Tyler loss and Rob loss.

Matt, Tyler, Rob - Cannot clinch or be eliminated this week.

Kyle - Clinches the division title with a win OR a Tyler loss. Clinches the playoffs with a Matt loss AND a Rob loss

Good luck to me, Brandon, TJ, and Trevor this week so I can still mathematically not be eliminated.

Week 10: Every One is Still Alive, and No One Has Clinched a Spot

Thanks to the work previously shared by Brady, we learned that no one has clinched a playoff spot, and as was discussed earlier today, no one has actually been eliminated yet -- though some of us might as well be eliminated given the amount of points and other miracles we need. Don't forget about the trade deadline -- it's this Friday, but I don't know what time specifically.

Game Recaps

Skyler vs TJ: In the week of ineptitude, this was the biggest battle of ineptitude this season.  This was the first time that both teams scored under 90 points in a matchup all season.  Someone needs to put these teams out of their misery. Skyler had one guy score 20+, TJ had one guy score 30+, no one else was really noteworthy.

Jordan vs Tommy: This had the potential to be the battle of ineptitude given that they were 2 of the bottom 4 teams -- instead their score of 105.98 to 122.54 was nearly the bonanza -- they were only .9 points behind the leaders. Tommy got the win to get up to 3-7 (same as Jordan), with help from two guys who scored 20+, and another two who scored 19+.  Jordan had three players that scored 20+, but no one else on his team scored more than 8 points -- those were the guys who ended up letting him down.

Matt vs Chad: Matt got the 11 point win behind two 20+ point winners (one of whom scored 30+).  Chad had no one score over 20 points, so the fact he only lost by 11 shows just how shallow Matt's team was this week.

Rob vs Brady: In the second biggest beatdown of the week, Brady beat Bobby by 30.  I know Rob doesn't go by Bobby or Bob, but the alliteration was too good to pass up.  Anyway, in a week full of disappointments, Brady was the third-highest scorer, and he was able to calmly enjoy the Monday night game since he locked up the win on Sunday night. Even more impressive in this win is that no player scored more than 20 points for Brady.  If he can get a few blow-up weeks from his players in the playoffs while maintaining this floor, he should be hard to beat.

Brandon vs Tyler: For the second time this year, Brandon has lost a game.  When you're at 8 wins, it's not the worst thing in the world -- but when the next guy in your division is only one game behind, any loss hurts.  This was the biggest blowout of the week as Tyler beat Brandon by 50+ points.  His score of 141.50 for the week was the clear highest score of the week, and he was able to drag this matchup to the bonanza of the week. Brandon had one guy score 25+, but the rest of his team let him down -- especially Jimmy Graham at 0 points. Tyler got 63 points combined from Rodgers and Kamara.  I'm not sure there's a much better QB/RB duo heading into the playoffs. Tyler has to be feeling pretty good this week -- the other 11 teams averaged 103+ points, and Tyler outdid that by nearly 40.

Trevor vs Kyle: This was the nail-biter of the week and the Monday Night Miracle/Nightmare. Trevor had around a 25 point lead going into the night, but Kyle was able to come from behind and secure the 5 point win thanks to 20 points from Thielen, and 10 points from Robinson.  Trevor had that lead thanks to a pair of 25 point games from Hopkins and Swift, while Kyle had several players in the mid-teens who help keep him close.  Thielen was his only player to score 20+, so it was a "solid" (in air quotes because 109 is not normally a great week) team effort to pull out this win.

Award Season

Pick 'em: Tommy won the week with 11 correct picks -- Tyler had 9 and Skyler had 8.

Highest Scorer of the Week: We already talked about Tyler's week, so it should have been obvious this was going to Tyler, but in case you weren't sure, it's Tyler.

Lowest Scorer of the Week: You know what rhymes with Tyler? Skyler.  Do you know what else ends in -er? Loser.  Skyler is the big loser this week and wins this award.

Luckiest Team of the Week: TJ would have beat a grand total of 2 people, and he played one of them this week.

Unluckiest Team of the Week:  I want to give it to the whole league for this ugly week, but that's a cop-out. Normally this goes to the highest-scoring loser, but I'm going to deviate and give it to the second-highest scoring loser, who lost by the narrowest margin in the last game of the week.  At least Trevor won something.

MVP: The second closest game of the week was TJ vs Skyler.  TJ won by fewer than 5 points. His WR1 and TE combined for 1.5 points, yet he still got the win and kept his playoff hopes alive thanks to a 30+ point game from Josh Allen.  Josh Allen accepted this award virtually from a private jet this week as he is en route to Brady's team.  No loyalty to players these days.

LVP: In every week that he gets double-digit carries, James Conner scores at least 14 points a week. This was the first week that didn’t happen. If Conner hits 14 points, Trevor gets the win, and would have been the #1 seed, beating out Brandon by less than a point. James Conner gets the LVP this week for Trevor.

Game Previews

Division games are back and more important than ever.  The North and South are battling it out for first-round bye's, while the West is doing their best to get more than 1 team in the playoffs this year.

Skyler (12) vs Tommy (9): Skyler has no players on Thursday night and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. Tommy has no players on Thursday night and three players in primetime. He has no players on bye. This is a front runner for the battle of ineptitude.

Brady (3) vs Chad (2): Brady has no players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has three players on bye. Chad has one player on Thursday night and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. This has a chance to be the bonanza and is a big game for bye week implications.

Rob (8) vs Matt (6): Rob has one player on Thursday night and two players in primetime. He has one player on bye. Matt has four players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has no players on bye. This is big for the minimum amount of wins needed to make the playoffs as a wildcard team.

Trevor (4) vs Brandon (1): Trevor has one player on Thursday night and two players in primetime. He has no players on bye. Brandon has one player on Thursday night and two players in primetime. He has one player on bye. This has a chance to be the bonanza and is a big game for bye week implications.

Jordan (11) vs TJ (10): Jordan has two players on Thursday night and one player in primetime. He has one player on bye. TJ has no players on Thursday night and three players in primetime. He has two players on bye. This is a has a chance to be the battle of ineptitude.

Kyle (5) vs Tyler (7): Kyle has no players on Thursday night and one player in primetime. He has two players on bye. Tyler has no players on Thursday night and two players in primetime. He has three players on bye. This is big for the division win and the (Dare I say undeserved?) 3 seed.  The loser could fall out of the wildcard.

Bye was determined by players who would be startable if they weren't on bye.  If they were bench players, I didn't included them in the count.

Playoff Previews

Let's start with the easy situations

Skyler - Eliminated with a loss OR a Matt win OR a Tyler win

TJ - Eliminated with a loss AND a Matt win or a Tyler win

Tommy - Eliminated with a loss AND a Matt win or a Tyler win

Jordan - Eliminated with a loss AND a Matt win or a Tyler win

The reason Skyler's OR's are capitalized is because they are independent of each other.  The or's with TJ, Tommy, and Jordan are depenedant on the AND part as well.  If it were math or programming, it would have made more sense to write it as 'Own Loss and (Matt loss or Tyler loss)', but I thought it looked weird. Instead I had to include it anyway in my explanation, so it doesn't really matter.  The same syntax applies below as well.

Brandon - Clinches with a win OR a Matt loss or a Tyler loss.

Trevor - Clinches with a win AND a Matt loss AND a Tyler loss.

Brady - Clinches with a win AND a Matt loss AND a Tyler loss.

Chad - Clinches with a win AND a Matt loss AND a Tyler loss.

Matt - Cannot clinch or be eliminated this week.

Kyle - Cannot clinch or be eliminated this week (though a win would give him a 2 game lead over Tyler for the division title with two games to go).

Tyler - Cannot clinch or be eliminated this week (though a loss would give him a 2 game deficit behind Kyle for the division title with two games to go, meaning he would have better odds for a wildcard spot).

Rob - Cannot clinch or officially be eliminated this week (though a loss would give him a 2 game deficit behind Matt for the final wild card slot with two games to go, and would also be behind by 180 points, which would effectively eliminate him).

Good luck to me, Rob and Kyle this week so I can still mathematically not be eliminated.

Week 9: The Final Trimester

Our fantasy football regular season lasts 13 weeks.  If you break it up into 3 groups, you have weeks 1-4, 5-8, and 9-13, and we are going into that final group.  I decided to call it a trimester because I wanted to compare my fantasy season to her pregnancies.  Fortunately, she doesn't read this, so I won't be murdered for making the comparison.  The first little bit of the first trimester is exciting because it's a new season/child, but then there is a lot of throwing up because it's making you sick.  Sometimes the sick carries over into the start of the second trimester, but then you accept what's going on, and you start to feel better.  The last trimester is simply a lot of discomfort, pain, and hope that it ends sooner rather than later.  Anyway, like I said, I'm in my third trimester of this season and everything is pain and hope that the end is soon.

Game Recaps

Skyler vs Rob: Rob is on a hot streak as the highest scorer over the last two weeks.  I don't know if he is currently the scariest team in the league, but he's definitely on the shortlist of teams no one wants to see in the playoffs.  He won this week with 30+ points from Roethlisberger and Adams, and 25+ points from Kelce.  Skyler was let down by his whole team, but also by none of them -- when your standards are so low, you're happy when a player breaks double digits.

Matt vs Tommy: This game had a lot of back and forth for a while, but then Kyler, Juju, Fuller, and Metcalf all had a solid 20+ points and pulled away in the middle of Sunday.  Between a lot of really good games, and Tommy's QB leaving hurt, Tommy ended up losing by 35+ in the biggest blow out of the week.  To help you get an idea of how good Matt was this week, this was the biggest blow out of the week, but Tommy was the 4th highest scorer of the week.  The 1 vs 4 made this the weekly bonanza.  Add Matt to the shortlist of the scariest teams.

TJ vs Trevor: Hold on, I'm pulling up a previous write up. Week 6: It was all brought home as TJ's Monday Nightmare continues. Week 4: It's TJ and a Monday night though, so is anyone surprised? Week 1: This week has the distinction of being the Monday Night Miracle, and spoiler alert, it has TJ losing -- again.  I don't know anyone who hates Monday Night Football more than TJ.  And that's all just from this year.  I could have gone on, but why would you beat a dead horse?  Anyway, this was the weekly nail-biter, but at least the agonizing defeat happened before Monday.  Instead, TJ watched two of his players on Sunday night get him agonizingly close, only to fumble away the ball on the 2-yard line -- literally, that's what happened to his TE.  If he finds a way to score there, TJ would have won.  TJ was given a chance by getting 42 from Allen, but then also getting gut-punched by three of his players combining for 6.1 points.  In a game that came down to fewer than 5 points, that hurts.  Trevor eked out the win thanks to 33 from Tyreek Hill, and a couple of digit games (though no 20 point games).

Jordan vs Brandon:  This nearly got the weekly nail-biter, but as you saw up above, this match couldn't quite get there.  This nail-biter was finished before the Sunday night game, so I guess that gave Jordan more time to heal? The gut-punch this game is Jordan starting C0rey Davis while two WR on his bench scored 23+ points each. Brandon snuck out the win with help from Chef Russ and Steffon Diggs both going for 20+.  This was far and away the battle of ineptitude as Brandon was the 10th highest scorer, and Jordan was the 12th highest scorer.

Tyler vs Brady: In the battle of barely in the playoffs, Brady beat down Tyler by 30 points.  Over 1/3 of Tyler's 101 points came from A-a-ron Rod-gers on Thursday night, but the Rodgers rate wasn't enough to get Tyler the win.  Tyler did win the Zeke vs JTT match, but only because Brady sat JTT. This game was narrow going into Monday night (Brady led by 10), but Brees put Brady ahead by more than Evans and Gronk could score. This loss puts Tyler out of the playoffs thanks to Matt's win and scoring margin. Since 4-5 is fighting for the playoffs, maybe the three 2-7 teams still have a shot?  HAHAHA, just kidding.  Back to this match Brady's 3 WR combined for over 65 points in support of Brees.

Kyle vs Chad: Chad needed to win to keep pace with Trevor, and win he did, by 30 points.  His scoring margin over Trevor means he moves into second based on points (though he was already the second seed based on how the league works). Chad got this all-important win by getting 75+ points from Mahomes and Cook.  This is back to back weeks where they carried his team.  Chad had meh to solid weeks from everyone else on his team.  He is probably the third and final team of scary teams no one wants to see in the playoffs.  That being said, we are still several weeks away, so perhaps all 3 teams cool down. Kyle got Run CMC back, with a whopping 37 points, and another 18 from Derek Carr -- for a combined 55 points.  Unfortunately, the other 7 starters combined for 55 points and let Kyle down.

Award Season

Pick 'em: Tyler beat Tommy 11-8 this week.  Everyone else has continued to give up.

Highest Scorer of the Week: Matt eliminated any chance of getting unlucky by making sure no one could beat him.

Lowest Scorer of the Week: Jordan was 2 passing yards away from scoring under 100 this week.

Luckiest Team of the Week:  Brandon was the 3rd lowest scorer of the week, but still got the win.  He is especially lucky as a loss would have put him even with Chad on record, and only up 3 points for the one seed.

Unluckiest Team of the Week:  Tommy was the 4th highest scorer, but walked a way with the loss.

MVP: In the nail-biter of the week, Tyreek Hill helped Trevor win and overcome a 42 point shot from Jared Allen by scoring 33 points of his own and getting Trevor the 4 point win.  It wasn't the biggest performance of the week, but it was the clutchest performance of the week.

LVP: C0rey Davis let Jordan down big time.  Corey Davis is averaging a shade under 14 points a week.  He could have scored half of his average, and Jordan would have snuck out the win.

Game Previews

Skyler (12) vs TJ (10): Skyler has one player on Thursday night and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. TJ has no players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has no players on bye. This is one of the two front runners for the battle of ineptitude.

Jordan (9) vs Tommy (11): Jordan has no players on Thursday night and three players in primetime. He has one player on bye. Tommy has no players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has one player on bye. This is one of the two front runners for the battle of ineptitude.

Matt (6) vs Chad (2): Matt has no players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has two players on bye. Chad has no players on Thursday night and one player in primetime. He has three players on bye. This is one of the three candidates for the bonanza.

Rob (8) vs Brady (4): Rob has no players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has three players on bye. Brady has one player on Thursday night and one players in primetime. He has one player on bye.

Brandon (1) vs Tyler (7): Brandon has one player on Thursday night and two players in primetime. He has no players on bye. Tyler has no players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has two players on bye. This is one of the three candidates for the bonanza.

Trevor (3) vs Kyle (5): Trevor has two players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has one player on bye. Kyle has no players on Thursday night and four players in primetime. He has no players on bye. This is one of the three candidates for the bonanza. This is the matchup with most players in primetime (4) which gives this game the biggest chance to end up as the nail-biter and/or Monday nightmare/miracle.

Playoff Previews

If the 6 seed/lowest wild card team gets to 5 wins this week, anyone with 2 wins (after week 10) will have less than 0.1% chance to make the playoffs.  There are 3 teams currently at 4-5.  Matt or Rob (two of the 4-5 teams) will eventually get another win as they play each other in the division rematches.  If they both win this week, one of them is guaranteed 6 wins, which a 2-8 team can't match.  There is a scenario where Rob, Matt, and Tyler all end up with 5 wins, and some 2-8 team can come back and tie them on record, and then in that process, outscore everyone by 100 points a week, and then eventually catch up on tie-breaker, but let's be real -- its not happening.  For the loser of TJ/Skyler to make the playoffs, they will need a modern day miracle.  

There are three 2-7 teams -- TJ, Skyler, and Tommy.  TJ and Skyler play each other this week, and Tommy and Skyler play each other next week. So much ineptitude.  Back to the playoffs.

With losses from Matt (who plays Chad), Rob, and Tyler (who plays Brandon), Brandon and Chad will officially clinch the playoffs.  A lot of teams right now could still get to 8 wins and somehow pass Brandon on tie-breaker if he loses out, or could pass Chad if he loses out and only hit 7 wins.  The odds of those scenarios happening are also less than 0.1%.

Realistically, every game has major implications this week with seedings -- outside of Skyler/TJ and Tommy/Jordan. 

So best of luck to everyone, except TJ this week.  Since I'm not hoping for playoffs, I'm hoping for the most fun/chaotic story lines.

Week 8: A Winner Will Be Crowned

In the preseason, we decided that even if the season got cancelled, as long as we got to week 8, there would be a champion.  We are completing week 8, so there will be a champion.  This was an ugly week all around as three members of the league didn't hit the 100 point mark, two more didn't break 104, and two more didn't break 115.

Game Recaps

Skyler vs Matt:  In the first of two of the battles between 2-5 teams, this first matchup was the battle of ineptitude was fraught with ineptitude with a combined score of less than 200.  Baker Mayfield only scored 7.78 points, and yet he was the leading scorer at QB because he outscored Garoppolo by 6 points. The kickers of both teams outscored their QB's, as did the DST's. In fact, if you sum up row by row, QB was by far the lowest row in this matchup.  Of the 18 starters in this game, 11 of them scored single digit points.  Matt had 6 of them, but still managed to get the win.  Why? How? Who? DK 'Jerry "Megatron" Rice' Metcalf is who.  DK scored 40+ points this week to help break Matt's losing and unlucky streak, and will likely be this weeks MVP.  This was also the nail-biter of the week.

Tommy vs Rob:  In the second matchup of 2-5 teams, Rob curb stomped Tommy's team.  Rob's three starting WR and flex scored a combined 98 points would have beaten several teams by themselves.  Rob's other players mostly played well (excluding kicker), and he was the highest scorer of the week.  Tommy was let down by several people, but none more so than his RB 2 and his whopping 0.4 points.  If Rob's team is turning around now and finds a way to make the playoffs, that would be quite the turn around.  Seeing as he will add Chase Edmonds to the mix next week, and maybe even Michael Thomas, we should all be worried about what this team's ceiling is.

Chad vs Tyler: Speaking of curb stomping's, Chad had two players (QB and RB 1) combine for 93 points (enough to beat Skyler and Kyle), while the rest of his team was mediocre to bad.  Newly acquired Amari PCooper scored 1.5 points for him. Tyler's team had solid weeks from his QB and RB 1 (53 points) for most teams, but Tyler didn't go up against most teams. Tyler's team has the potential to turn it around though with the newly acquired Ezekiel Elliot only scoring 8.3 points this week.  This is Zeke's 3rd team in 4 weeks.  Maybe he just needs the stability and solid coaching that Tyler provides?  That's totally a thing in fantasy football right? This was the weekly bonanza with a combined score of around 260.  Not sure if that's the low for the year, but it certainly feels like it.

Brady vs Kyle: In one of the more interesting matchups, Brady beat Kyle and now ties him on record at 5-3.  Kyle leads his division, so he won't drop in the seedings, but Brady is now tied on record with the 5th seed team, and outscored the 5 seed by about 30 points this week.  That 30 point move up was facilitated by 20+ points from  each of Curtis Samuel, Keenan Allen, and the Eagles DST.  The cost of moving up is losing Kittle for roughly 8 weeks after an ankle injury.  We'll have to see how Brady maneuvers the latest speed bump on his quest for the playoffs.  Kyle was let down by everyone on his team not named Allen Robinson -- and Robinson didn't even score 21 points. Only two other players scored in the double digits.  Thankfully Kyle's trash week was offset by the rest of his division losing.

Brandon vs TJ:  Going into the week, Brandon was the #1 ranked team, and he finished this week as the #1 seed while cruising past TJ.  I'm not saying Brandon wants the season to end early, but if it does, he is the front runner for "Champion*".  If we see an uptick in covid cases for NFL players in the cities Brandon has recently been in, we know who did it.  Brandon held onto his seed with a great week from Russell Wilson, and Robert of the Forest (Woods -- get it?  Wood comes from trees, trees are in a forest, and I am clever) nearly getting to 30 points himself.  TJ's team struggled mightily this week with no one topping 20 points, though Tyler Boyd was the closest at 19.6.

Trevor vs Jordan: In this weeks medicine bowl (Get it?  A doctor vs a pharmacist -- man are my dad joke's on a roll this week), the doctor beat the pharmacist behind a 20+ point game from Tannehill and T. Hill (Tyreek not Taysom -- though all of these T Hill names make me want to see Taysom on this roster), while also getting solid performances from Conner, Fulgham, and his DST.  Nels0n Agh0l0r tried to ruin Brandon's day, but his 0.00 didn't end up costing Brandon the game.  Jordan had big weeks from Herbert and Davis, but Kenny G0lladay got hurt and also scored 0 points.  Despite all of that, Jordan had a long shot chance of winning, but Evan Engram wasn't enough to get it done on Monday Night Football, but he got it within 10 and it was the nail-biter of the night (but not the week)

Award Season:

Pick 'em: This was ignored last week because I read the data wrong.  This week, Tommy and Skyler won by getting 8 right.  Overall, Tommy and Tyler are tied.

Highest Scorer of the Week: Rob and Chad battled it out, but Rob was able to take home this award after the Bucs DST had a really good week, and RoJo was bad.

Lowest Scorer of the Week: Kyle joins the illustrious group by scoring 85 points this week.

Luckiest Team of the Week:  It was about time something broke Matt's way. He would have lost to 9 other teams, but he played last place Skyler and got a victory.  Maybe this will help make up for that previous unlucky streak.

Unluckiest Team of the Week: Jordan was the highest scoring loser, and he actually came close to winning, but wasn't able to pull it off with Engram doing what the Giants do best getting close, but then coming up short.

MVP: This was forgotten last week, but this award will go to DK Metcalf because I'm bitter -- and also because he was the third highest scorer this week.  The only 2 people to outscore him were also on Chad's team, and played in a blow out, so they didn't help as much as DK did in the weekly nail-biter.

LVP: I don't like giving it out for injuries, but in the games Kenny G has been healthy, he averages 16.5 points in a week.  If he only got 11 points this week, it would have been enough for Jordan to win.

Game Previews

Coming later because I'm going to get a free birthday burger at Red Robin.  I may be in last place, but I'm eating "bottomless" fries suckers. Bottomless is in quotes because I feel like I never get more than 3 total baskets of fries in because the waiter is never around to hear me say "I'm a glutton and want more fries immediately". Update: again with only 3 baskets, and only 3 refills on the soda, and those cups were like 80% ice when they were brought out. I am a bitter, fat man.

Skyler (12) vs Rob (8): Skyler has no players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has three players on bye. Rob has two players on Thursday night and two players in primetime. He has no players on bye. Based on the standings, this is the front runner for the battle of ineptitude.  Based on Rob's score last week, it may just end up being a thrashing.

Matt (7) vs Tommy (11): Matt has no players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has no players on bye. Tommy has one player on Thursday night and one player in primetime. He has no players on bye. 

TJ (10) vs Trevor (2): TJ has one player on Thursday night (if he's healthy) and three players in primetime (depending on health and roster decisions). He has three players on bye. Trevor has no players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has one player on bye. 

Jordan (9) vs Brandon (1): Jordan has no players on Thursday night and no players in primetime. He has one player on bye. Brandon has one player on Thursday night and one player in primetime (depending on health). He has several players on bye (but only one that would have likely been a starter). 

Tyler (6) vs Brady (4): Tyler has three players on Thursday night and three players in primetime. He has two players on bye. Brady has no players on Thursday night and one player in primetime. He has three players on bye (only one would be a guaranteed starter if he wasn't on bye, but he hasn't been healthy anyway). Based on the standings, this is one of two choices for the bonanza. Based on the number of primetime players, this could be the Monday (Sunday) Night Miracle/Nightmare.

Kyle (5) vs Chad (3): Kyle has no players on Thursday night and up to two players in primetime (depending on roster choices). He has two players on bye. Chad has no players on Thursday night and 2-3 players in primetime (depending on roster choices). He has three players on bye. Based on the standings, this is one of two choices for the bonanza. Based on the number of primetime players, this could be the Monday (Sunday) Night Miracle/Nightmare.

Good luck to everyone next week, except for Rob.  Mathematically, I believe everyone still has a chance, but it would take a miracle for for 2-6 teams to get there.