Week 11: Clear As Mud

We have now wrapped up the non-division part of the season, and we will start the home stretch of our rivalry games over the next three weeks.  As a fun (or maybe not so fun based on how last week went for you) reminder, week 11 was when we played all the matchups we missed out on for years because of the league layout and the NFL league schedule.  Those dark days are now behind us, and we all play each other every year.

The Triumvirate of 8-win teams became the Holy Trinity of 9-win teams (in the name of a 2-time champ, a pre-historic champ, and a championship virgin, amen) and look to be the clear favorites in the playoffs.  I thought Matt locked up his bye week, but there's a small possibility that Trevor can win out, while Matt loses out, and Trevor catches Matt on the points tie-breaker.  Matt's win guarantees the North will not get a bye in the playoffs this year.  I was guessing it was the first time in a long time, but it turns out the last time they missed out on a bye week was 2022. TJ and Jordan are in a heated battle for the other bye week, and they play each other this week. This week won't settle it, but the winner will be set up nicely.

Lastly, it is mathematically confirmed that the members of the first presidency of fantasy football are all in the playoffs and that Tommy is officially eliminated.  That means there are 3 spots left with 8 teams fighting for said spots over the next 3 weeks.

Game Recaps

Skyler vs Jordan: This game was 0.58 away from being a 60-point blowout.  Yet somehow, this isn't even the biggest blowout of the week. Jordan had 4 people (A Rodg, Saquon, Jacobs, and the Texans DST) score 20+, Skyler had 0. Jordan had only 2 people score in single digits, Skyler had 5.  Not much more to say from this breakdown as Jordan took the lead during the Sunday morning game, and never gave it up again.

Scott vs Rob: In the second of the four blowouts this week, Rob beat Scott by a solid 44 points.  It was a close back-and-forth game for a while, but then Rob took off like a rocket near the end of the Sunday afternoon game and never looked back. Rob had 3 people (Jameis, Jennings, and Higgins) score 20+ points, while Scott had 0. In a strange turn, Rob had more people score single digits than Scott, (4 to 3), but Scott's 3 combined for 10.2, while Rob's 4 combined for 24.3 aka Rob's single-digit players averaged double the points of Scott's single-digit players. This was the battle of ineptitude this week as it was the only match to not break the the combined 240 mark.

Tyler vs Trevor: This is the third of the four blowouts, and it was actually the blowout of the week.  Trevor beat Tyler by 59.62, which was only 0.2 points more than what Jordan beat Skyler by.  This blowout was made possible by Trevor putting up a very good 162.6 points.  Why was it not great you ask? Find out in the next recap. Back to this recap, Tyler wasted a 35-point (34% of his points this week) game from Joe Mixon, while Trevor had 3 people score 20+ points. Herbert was 20+, Breece scored 30+ and Tyreek went for 40+. Tyler didn't do himself any favors by having 5 players score in the single digits, while Trevor only had 3. Trevor led this one comfortably wire to wire.

Matt vs Brady: Thankfully not every game was a blowout, and this was one of the two games to be decided by less than 10 points.  This was also the bonanza of the week as this was a matchup of the 1st and 3rd highest-scoring teams. Brady took the lead Thursday behind a solid Eagle and Commander and then watched as his Lions put up some great points.  Unfortunately, those Lions stopped putting up points, and Matt's Lion took off. Brady still had the lead the whole week up until JK Dobbins went on his crazy end-of-game TD run, which gave the Chargers and Matt the win.  The twist of the knife was when Dalton Schultz played on MNF and ran up the score ever so slightly.  Matt had three 20+ point scorers (Goff, JSN, and Chase) while Brady also had 3 (Allen, Monty, ARSB). Each team also had 3 people in the single digits, and neither one had someone score <5. The combination of their big 3 (each of the 20+ people) was less than 2 points apart (in Matt's favor).  The combination of their small 3 (single-digit people) was less than 3 points apart (in Brady's favor). The 3 middle people favored Matt by 10 points, which got him his win.

TJ vs Tommy: The 4th blowout of the week was TJ beating Tommy by over 31 points. For two brief moments, Tommy had a lead, but TJ didn't let it last long. TJ had 3 people score 20+ (Burrow, Puka, and Bowers), while Tommy only had 1 (Nix). Fun fact, a few weeks ago, a very good source tells me that Tommy was offered Nix but turned down the offer.  Turns out he made the smart move to simply scoop him up off the waiver wire. Anyway, both teams had 4 players score in the single digits.  Tommy's scored 12 fewer points than TJ's, which explains some of the loss, but the much bigger margin was in the 20+ point group.

Kyle vs Brandon: This was the closest game of the week, so it will get the nail-biter of the week award.  There was no nightly nail-biter on Monday and no Monday Nightmare/Miracle, so we'll say those awards go to this battle.  There was some back and forth early, and then Brandon took a big lead on Sunday night.  Unfortunately, that big lead was his defense, and they slowly got whittled down while McConkey slowly went up for Kyle.  Their paths crossed late in the game, and unfortunately for Brandon, there was no last-minute pick-six to give him a tie game, which would have been a first in league history.  Unfortunately for Brandon, he missed the announcement that Kittle was out.  Brandon mentioned to the group that Kincaid would have gotten him a tie, which would have been hilarious.  Sadly, it didn't happen. It would have been great had their been a tie for the King of the Court, but Kyle is the undisputed King.

Award Season

MVP: Dobbins and McConkey had the late-game heroics to seal their close wins, but Boswell doubled his average while also kicking three 50 yard FG's in one game (6 total in the season before this week) wins the award this week

LVP: From the same matchup the LVP will go to the Chargers.  They were averaging over 11 points a game but only put up 2 (season low) in a game decided by 8. Or maybe the award should go to not being on top of roster management?

Luckiest Team of the Week: Kyle was the lowest-scoring winner (7th total points), and he won off some last-minute heroics against a guy who missed that his TE was out.  The stars lined up, and he took advantage of it.

Unluckiest Team of the Week: Brady was the 3rd highest scorer, and lost by less than 10 points.  A big part of that is thanks to Goff not throwing to Brady's players, and Dobbins scoring a last-second TD.

Highest Scoring Team of the Week: Matt by 4 points

Lowest Scoring Team of the Week: Skyler goes back-to-back and gets the award this week.

King of the Court: Kyle takes it from Brandon.  It will now reside in the West until the playoffs.  There's an off chance that Kyle (or Tyler) could have the crown, and still miss the playoffs.  If that is the case, I haven't decided how to track it during the consolation.  I don't normally cover the consolation in the blog, but those games matter for draft picks, and they feel like they should matter for the King of the Court.  Hopefully, this matter resolves itself before we get there.

Game Previews

Skyler (8) vs Tommy (12): Skyler has 1 player on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. Tommy has 1 player on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. So much ineptitude this game.

Jordan (3) vs TJ (1): Jordan has 1 player on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. He has 4 players on bye. TJ has 1 player on Thursday and 3 players in primetime. He has 5 players on bye. This is the front-runner for the bonanza

Kyle (5) vs Tyler (11): Kyle has 2 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. He has 3 players on bye. Tyler has 0 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. He has 3 players on bye. There's a shot at the battle of ineptitude here as they are the other 2 teams (with Tommy and Skyler) to be under 1,300 points for the season.

Matt (2) vs Rob (6): Matt has 0 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. He has 3 players on bye. Rob has 0 players on Thursday and 3 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. 

Scott (10) vs Brady (5): Scott has 2 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. Brady has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. He has 3 players on bye. 

Brandon (9) vs Trevor (4): Brandon has 0 players on Thursday and 3 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. Trevor has 1 player on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. He has 3 players on bye. 

Playoff Scenarios

Matt, TJ, Jordan -- In

Tommy -- Out

Scott, Brandon, Tyler -- These are the 4-7 teams. If they lose and if 2 of the 4 teams that have 5 wins (Brady, Skyler, Rob, and Kyle) get to 6 wins, they will be behind the 6 seed by 2 games with only 2 games to go.  It would be quite a hole to dig out, but not impossible.  They cannot mathematically be eliminated this week, but a loss makes it very hard for them to come back.

Brady, Skyler, Rob, and Kyle -- The 5-6 teams can't clinch or be eliminated this week.

Trevor -- The lone 6-5 team, if he wins and all the 5-6 teams lose, he will have a 2 game lead with 2 games left to go.  He wouldn't mathematically clinch, but he would be in a great spot.

Divisions and Seeding

West: TJ and Jordan are both fighting for the last spot, and this week sees them play head-to-head.  The winner will take a commanding lead.  TJ currently leads the tiebreak by around 65 points.  A win this week would see him move to a 1 game lead and a likely 70+ point lead.  He wouldn't guarantee himself the division, but it would be hard for Jordan to catch up. If Jordan wins, he would have the same one-game lead, but he would likely still be behind on points, and if TJ were to sneak a win back, he would be back in the lead over Jordan,

South: Matt will win the division once he wins a game or Trevor loses a game.  Even if Trevor wins out and Matt loses out, Trevor would also need to overcome an 80+ point deficit to beat Matt on a tiebreak.  Matt's at >99% to win the division.

North: Anyone but Tommy can still win. This will likely come down to the wire.  As mentioned above, this division cannot get a first-round bye. Depending how weird this gets, we could see the division winner be the 7th seed overall, but still make the playoffs as a division champion.  It's not likely, but it's possible.

Mail Bag Questions

Hey Commish, I'm insecure about my team record, but I noticed the top two members of the Division of Champions have the same record as me and I want to dunk on their whole division during a down year where they all have a losing record after week 11.  Can you let me know if any other division has been this bad before? (edited slightly from the original submission) - Anonymous

Hey Anonymous, I'd hate to help you out, but here you go. Back in 2021, everyone in the South division had a losing record. If you don't remember much about that year, that was the first time everyone in the North made the playoffs -- the first and only time to date that every team from one single division made the playoffs. It was also the first year of the expanded schedule.  The South also did the same thing in 2018, and the North pulled it off in 2011. So congrats to the South for never having everyone suck all at the same time.  Another fun fact that you didn't ask for, but I wanted to make sure to include, 2011, 2018, and 2021 were all years that a team from the North won a championship.  We shall see if history repeats itself.

Week 10: Cloudy The Future Is

After another week of chaos, the math is still undecided.  It's possible that the 8-2 teams lose out, finish 8-6, and all the 4-4 and 5-3 teams catch them and eliminate them on tiebreaker, but it's incredibly unlikely -- especially since two of the 8-2 teams will play each other later in the year, and one of them will have to get to 9 wins (which would mathematically guarantee a playoff spot).  It is also possible that Tommy wins out, and the right combination of teams win or lose, and Tommy could sneak in on a tiebreaker, but that's incredibly unlikely. No 8-win team has ever missed the playoffs, and no 5-win team has ever made the playoffs -- we haven't had a 6-win team make the playoffs in nearly 10 years, and likely won't with the 14-game season.  These next 4 weeks are crucial for all of the 5 and 4 win teams.  Given the schedules and the fact that 8 teams are in that win range, it should be a wild end of the year.

Game Recaps

Skyler vs TJ: TJ won by 40, and it was only the 3rd biggest blowout of the week.  Joe Burrow put up a 40 burger on Thursday night, and the game was essentially over from that point on.  TJ had no other 22+ point players and had 3 single-digit players.  Skyler had no 21+ point-getters and had 5 people score in the single digits.

Brady vs Rob: This was the closest game of the week, and Rob got the win thanks to Kyren getting over 5 points on MNF, which designates this both the nightly and weekly nail-biter, as well as the Monday Nightmare/Miracle.  Brady had Chase Brown score 21+, while Rob had Kelce and the Eagles DST hit that mark. Rob needed that extra person scoring 22+ as he had more people score single digits (4) than Brady did (3).

Scott vs Matt: Matt was a top 2 scorer this week, and Scott was a bottom 3, which is a perfect recipe for the blowout of the week. Matt had Ja'Marr Chase on Thursday night and never needed to look back after that. Matt had no other 22+ point scorers.  Scott actually had two 21+ point scorers, but it didn't help that he had 6 people score single digits.  Time out, hold on just a minute, Scott started an inactive player? I was excited about Scott being in the North, but today, I am not. I’m very disappointed and will talk to the commissioner (myself). This was not fair to our division. I'm disgusted that it didn't actually make a difference though since he didn't have anyone on the bench who would have won him the game.

Tommy vs Jordan: Jordan got a solid win by having two 22+ point scorers, while Tommy only had 1 player score 21+.  They both had 5 single-digit scorers, so Murray going for 30+ is what really sealed the deal.  This loss essentially knocks Tommy out of the playoffs, not that he had much hope before this.

Tyler vs Brandon: This was the second biggest blowout of the week, with Tyler doing most of his damage in roughly the second quarter of the game (if you look at the point chart).  Fortunately for him, he didn't totally fall apart at halftime, and he was able to get the win. Tyler had two people score 22+ plus, while Brandon had zero people score 21+.  In an interesting twist, Tyler had 3 people score in the single digits, while Brandon had 0 score in the single digits.  Despite having his whole team score in the double digits, Brandon lost thanks to Tyler having a few heavy hitters (Lamar going for 40+ on Thursday night) getting the job done. This gets Tyler the King of the Court

Trevor vs Kyle: Trevor got a narrow 8 point victory over Kyle, which was only the 2nd closest margin this week.  Kyle tried for a Monday Night Miracle, but Tyreek only ended up with 11.7 points. Tyreek has only scored over 13 points once this season, so while he probably had some hope, this score should have been in his expected outcome.  Trevor got the win despite only having one player score 22+ points.  Kyle also only had one player score 21+ points, so it made Trevor's low output ok. The difference appears to be Kyle having 4 people score in the single digits, while Trevor only had 2.

Award Season

King of the Court: Tyler takes it from Brandon this week.

Highest Scorer of the Week: Tyler

Lowest Scorer of the Week: Skyler

Luckiest Team of the Week: Jordan was the lowest-scoring winner, but he was still a top 6 team, so it's not that lucky.

Unluckiest Team of the Week: Brady was the 8th highest-scoring player, so he wasn't really unlucky, but losing on MNF by such a narrow margin will give him the award.

MVP: Ja'Marr Chase going for 55 on the second-highest-scoring team of the week gets the award this week

LVP: Let's go with Josh Allen and his 2 INT's.  That's -4, in a 7 point loss, and maybe one of those drives that ended early would have been for a TD.  It's a weak case, but I'm making it.

Skyler (6) vs Jordan (3): Skyler has 2 players on Thursday night and 0 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Jordan has 1 player on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. 

Scott (7) vs Rob (10): Scott has 1 player on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. Rob has 1 player on Thursday night, and 1 player in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. 

Tyler (9) vs Trevor (5): Tyler has 0 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Trevor has 0 players on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. 

Matt (2) vs Brady (4): Matt has 0 players on Thursday night and 3 players in primetime. He 2 players on bye. Brady has 2 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. 

TJ (1) vs Tommy (12): TJ has 0 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Tommy has 1 player on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. 

Kyle (11) vs Brandon (8): Kyle has 0 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Brandon has 1 player on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime.  He has 2 players on bye.

Good luck to me and whatever is best for my playoff chances this week.  I can't wish anyone else luck because it's too tight right now.

Week 9: The Playoff Picture Appears, But Doesn't Look Like Anything Yet.

With 5 weeks left to go, no one has clinched a playoff spot or been eliminated.  However, Tommy cannot finish in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, while Matt, TJ, and Jordan cannot finish last.  Everything else is still up for grabs though.

Game Recaps

Skyler vs Rob: This was 1 of 3 games that featured a person under 100 points, but it somehow wasn't the battle of ineptitude (mostly thanks to Rob). Skyler had Daniels and Jefferson go for 20+, but had 5 single-digit players (4 of them had <5 points).  Rob also only had 2 players score 20+ (Darnold and Kelce), but 6 of his other players also scored in the double digits, which led him to his victory.

Matt vs Tommy: This was the 2nd game to feature a person under 100 points, and this one was the battle of ineptitude and the blowout of the week.  Tommy had a sad sub-80 score, while Matt was a catch away from clearing 130.  Matt had Dobbins, Otton, and JSN each in the 20+ point tier, while Tommy had none. Matt had 3 players in single digits, Tommy had 5...and one of those had negative single digits. 

TJ vs Trevor: This was the 3rd and final game that featured someone scoring under 100 points.  This one was the closest of the 3 matchups as TJ only won by 27-28 points.  He got said win by having Joey B be less than a point away from 40 points (with 4 players scoring double digits). Trevor had no one go over 20, while he had 5 players score double digits.

Jordan vs Brandon: Brandon didn't have the blowout of the night, but he did blow out Jordan this week by nearly 40 points. Brandon had 5 players score 20+ (Baker, Henry, Achane, Kupp, and Chargers DST), while Jordan had Barkley and Wilson (they both actually went for 30+) in the same club. The other big help was Brandon only having 2 players in single digits, while Jordan had 5. Brandon's win means he keeps his crown this week.

Tyler vs Brady: This was the weekly and nightly nail-biter, and also had a Monday Nightmare/Miracle -- or at least a light version of it.  Brady had an 8.7 lead going into MNF, while Tyler only had his DST to play.  Tyler took the lead by virtue of the game starting, but then he slowly started coming back down.  Unfortunately for him, he dropped just enough to give Brady the narrow win. While the Chief's DST was the primetime play, the game really came down to Brady only having 2 players in single digits, while Tyler had 4. Both players had 2 players score 20+ (Brady: J. Allen and C. Brown. Tyler: Lamar and Bijan)

Kyle vs Scott: This was the bonanza this week as the 3rd and 4th highest-scoring teams squared off in the 2nd tightest game of the week. Scott pulled off the victory (and got himself back in the playoff discussion) thanks to Hurts going for 30+ and Davante Adams and the Rams DST going for 20+.  Not to be outdone, Kyle had Mahomes go for 30+ (best game of the season), and Kamara go for 20+.  Kyle had 3 players score in the single digits, and Scott only had 2.  Due to those minor adjustments in Scott's favor, he got the narrow win.

Award Season

King of the Court: Brandon

King of the Course: Back, due to (semi) popular demand, King of the Course gets Tommy a shoutout this week -- but we shall see how much longer he will get this shoutout.

Highest Scorer of the Week: Brandon

Lowest Scorer of the Week: Tommy

Luckiest Team of the Week:  TJ was the lowest-scoring winner this week (8th highest), so he gets the award this week.

Unluckiest Team of the Week: Kyle was the highest-scoring loser and 4th highest-scoring team this week, so he'll get the award this time.

MVP: Chase Brown scored a season (and maybe career?) high for Brady in a week when he won by less than 3 points.

LVP: Mark Andrews had his lowest score in a month, and cost Tyler the win by not keeping up with his recent standard.

Game Previews

Game Previews

Skyler (5) vs TJ (1): Skyler has 0 players on Thursday night and 3 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. TJ has 2 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 3 players on bye. 

Rob (10) vs Brady (4): Rob has 0 players on Thursday night and 3 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. Brady has 1 player on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye.

Matt (3) vs Scott (6): Matt has 1 player on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. Scott has 0 players on Thursday night and 0 players in primetime.  He has 1 player on bye.

Jordan (2) vs Tommy (12): Jordan has 0 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. Tommy has 0 players on Thursday night and 0 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. 

Brandon (7) vs Tyler (11): Brandon has 1 player on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Tyler has 2 players on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 4 players on bye. 

Trevor (8) vs Kyle (9): Trevor has 0 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Kyle has 1 player on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. 

Playoff Scenarios

If the 6 seed is ahead of a lower seed by more games than there are weeks remaining, the lower seed is eliminated.  For example, Tommy is in last place and has 1 win, and the sixth seed (and 3 other teams below him) has 4 wins.  Tommy would need to lose his next two games, and any one of the teams with 4 wins right now would need to win his next two games to eliminate Tommy.  Fortunately for Tommy, 2 of the 4 win teams play each other this week, and another one is playing a 7-2 team, and then the next week, 2 of those 4 teams play each other again.  All of that is a convoluted way of saying Tommy could be eliminated by the end of week 11, but it would be highly unlikely.

Similarly, the 7-2 teams could all lock the playoffs in two weeks if they win out, and three of the four 4-5 teams lose out during those two weeks.  However, we know that some of the 4-5 teams play each other, so unless Brandon, Scott, and Trevor all lose out the next two weeks, we won't likely see all the 7-2 teams guarantee a playoff lock in two weeks.

So everyone, even Tommy, still has something to play for, and no one is safe from elimination.

Good luck to everyone but Rob this week.

Week 8: The Return of the Points

If you want the title reference to be for "The Return of the Mack", "The Return of the Jedi", or "The Return of the King", I'll leave that up to you. Either way, it was good for there to be an abundance of points again. 

Game Recaps

Skyler vs Matt:  This was the weekly blowout as well as the weekly bonanza.  A lot of that has to do with Matt being the highest scorer of the week, but it didn't hurt that Skyler (the 8th highest team) was closer to the 2nd highest scorer (Rob), than 12th highest scorer this week (Brady). This week was top-heavy -- Skyler actually had the highest scorer in the matchup with Bo Nix scoring 35, but he had no one else score 20+.  On the other hand, Matt didn't have anyone score 30+, but he had 5 players score 20+ (Goff, Cook, Chase, Harrison, and Otton).  Skyler had 4 single-digit scorers, and Matt had 2, while Skyler had 1 in the 5 and under club, with Matt having 0.

Trevor vs Jordan: Jordan led wire-to-wire, and beat Trevor by a respectable ~25 points. Each team had two 20+ point scorers -- Jordan had Murray and Jacobs, and Trevor had Tracy and McBride. The big difference in this game came from Trevor having 5 players scoring single digits, while Jordan only had 1 of them.

Tommy vs Rob:  Rob started out hot on Thursday and led wire-to-wire. He had 5 players score 20+ points (Darnold, Kyren, Gibbs, Devonta, and Kelce), while Tommy only had Kyle Pitts join that club.  Tommy had 3 players score single digits, while Rob had 2. This was a big win for Rob as both teams had only won one game all season, and Rob was ranked 12th while Tommy was ranked 11th.  With the win, Rob has moved all the way up to 11th, and Tommy has dropped to 12th.  And even with those glowing endorsements, this was not the battle of ineptitude.

Brandon vs TJ:  TJ's reign as King of the Court came to an uneventful end.  Brandon was only the 7th leading scorer, but TJ's team laid a goose egg as they were the 2nd lowest-scoring team this week. Despite being the new King, King Henry wasn't as big of a factor as he failed to score 20+, and had his worst week since week 1.  Thankfully, Brandon had Mayfield and Achane go for 20+, while TJ didn't have anyone in that group. Both teams had 4 players in the single-digit group.  Despite both teams being in the bottom half of scoring, this was not the battle of ineptitude

Scott vs Tyler: This was the only game decided by single digits this week, so it receives the coveted nail-biter of the week award.  By default, it was also the nightly nail-biter as Scott's RB (Harris) was playing on MNF and was trying to drag his team to the come-from-behind victory.  Sadly (for Scott anyway), he could not, and Tyler held onto the win. Scott had two people in the 20+ point club (Hurts and CD), and they were actually both in the 30+ point tier.  Tyler had three players score 20+ (Lamar, Mixon, and Bijan).  Tyler took a commanding lead Sunday afternoon, and I had assumed the game was over, but then Ceedee Lamb went off on SNF to give Scott an outside chance of pulling off the comeback with Najee on MNF.  This game was less than 10 points off of the weekly bonanza and was the game of the week thanks to the amount of points, how close it was, and how it was still up for grabs on MNF.

Brady vs Kyle: Finally, we have the battle of ineptitude. Brady was the lowest scorer this week, with the next highest scorer being 15 points higher. Kyle was the 6th highest scorer, which wasn't enough to drag this matchup out of ineptitude. Kyle got the win thanks to a season-high score from Mahomes (22 points), who was the only 20+ point member of this matchup.  Can we talk about just how bad he has been this year from a fantasy football perspective?  It makes no sense.  I suppose the Chiefs don't need him to be otherworldly with the defense that they have, which is a good thing given his WR are all bad or hurt.  Kyle's 4th highest scorer (the Steelers DST), was less than a point behind Brady's highest scorer. This wasn't the only reason he lost, but Brady was certainly held back thanks to Love and Mason leaving the game early due to injuries. Brady had 5 players score single digits, while Kyle only had 2.

Award Season

King of the Court: Brandon

King of the Course: Back due to (semi) popular demand, King of the Course gets Tommy a shoutout this week.

Highest Scorer of the Week: Matt

Lowest Scorer of the Week: Brady

Luckiest Team of the Week:  Brandon was the lowest-scoring winner, so he'll win the award this week.  He was 7th highest though, so it's not like it was a large amount of luck.

Unluckiest Team of the Week: The unluckiest team of the season is the unluckiest team of the week as Scott was the 4th highest scorer, but he played the 3rd highest scorer.

MVP: Tyler won thanks to the Lamar/Andrews stack -- Lamar's passing TD to Mark Andrews was the big play that ended up getting Tyler the win.

LVP: Amari Cooper's second game with the Bills meant more playing time, but much less production, and in a close game, Scott needed every point he could have gotten out of the extra Amari playing time.

Game Previews

Skyler (4) vs Rob (11): Skyler has 0 players on Thursday night and 5 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Rob has 1 player on Thursday night and 3 players in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. 

Matt (3) vs Tommy (12): Matt has 0 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Tommy has 1 player on Thursday night and 0 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. 

TJ (2) vs Trevor (6): TJ has 0 players on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime.  He has 0 players on bye. Trevor has 1 player on Thursday night and 0 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye, but CMC hasn't taken a snap all year, so does he really count?

Jordan (1) vs Brandon (9): Jordan has 3 players on Thursday night and 0 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. Brandon has 0 players on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 2 players on bye.

Tyler (10) vs Brady (5): Tyler has one player on Thursday night and one player in primetime. He has one player on bye. Brady has 0 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye.

Kyle (7) vs Scott (8): Kyle has 0 players on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Scott has 1 player on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. 

Good luck to everyone but Rob this week, and Happy Halloween to all of you, even Rob, tonight.

Week 7: We're half way there...

...and a lot of teams are living on a prayer.  It was another ugly week with low scores for teams, low passing yards, and I read on social media (so you know it's true) that this was the lowest #1 WR for the week score maybe ever (Amon-Ra St. Brown was the highest WR with 25.2 points).  If you look at the breakdown, only 4 teams in the league have an overall winning record.  I keep thinking this season will turn around and get better, but maybe we're just in for a wild ride all year long?

Game Recaps

Skyler vs Kyle: This was an ugly game and clearly the battle of ineptitude, though this week was the week of ineptitude.  There were 3 teams who scored under 100 this week (and Tommy only got 100.14 if you want to say there were 4 bad teams this week),  and this was the only matchup that featured two of them. Skyler got the win thanks to his 3 players who scored 20+ (Aaron Jones, Justin Jefferson, and the Philly DST). Kyle had no players score 20+. Skyler had had 5 players in single digits, and Kyle had 6.  We've already spent more time on this game than we should have.

Brandon vs Brady: I prewrote the blog because I had the time, and then the fantasy gods laughed at me and this game happened.  This was a crazy game, yet would have been the battle of ineptitude if not for Skyler and Kyle.  This game had an amazing comeback on MNF thanks to some big players and some bad coaching.  In the end, Baker and King Henry dragged Brandon to the lead, while the Chargers DST tried to give it back to Brady. This was the weekly and nightly nail biter, as well as the Monday Nightmare/Miracle. Each team had two players score 20+ (the aforementioned Baker and the King for Brandon, and Love and the Sun God for Brady). Brandon had one of his players actually go for 30+, and he only had 4 single digit scorers compared to Brady's 6.

Scott vs Trevor: Trevor had a chance to join Skyler and Brady in the 5-2 club, and make league history this year by having a 2 game difference between the 6 and 7 seeds this early in the season (I decided to leave this section as a reminder that history was on the line, but Trevor and Brady didn't come through).  Scott had other plans, and with his win, he will jump over Kyle to the 7 seed and is now only 1 game back of 6 seed Brady. It's probably too early to put too much importance on playoff positioning, but this win has Scott 1 game out of the playoffs instead of 3 games out (if he had lost to Trevor [and if Brady had won]). It is a little bit surprising that Scott got the win given how few 20+ point games he had (only Jalen Hurts) compared to Trevor, who had three 20+ point scorers (Geno, Breece, and BTJ).  It helped that on the low end, Trevor's guys really let him down, whereas Scott's Tot's only kind of let him down (aka Davante Adams being bad in his Jets debut) .

Jordan vs Matt:  Matt has been roughed up the last two weeks, and in his defense, he has had the hardest schedule. Not in Matt's defense, he is averaging around 102 points per game the last two games. The beatdown of the week was brought to you by the number 4 and the letter N.  Jordan had 4 guys score 20+ points (Barkley, Jacobs, Pickens, and the Washington DST), and the Jets DST had Negative points for Matt. Matt did have 1 player score 20+ points (Goff), so we should give him his flower for that -- not flowers though, because he doesn't deserve more than one flower. Despite Matt's best efforts to suck, Jordan made this the bonanza with his offensive explosion.

TJ vs Rob: In lieu of writing something crazy just to see if TJ will post what I wrote to social media (with all my bad typos and awkward writing in general) 3 weeks in a row, I'll keep this a little more simple. Rob was the highest-scoring loser, and TJ was one of the better winners.  Going into this week, 4 teams had scored between 600-699, 7 teams had scored between 700-799 (5 of those under 712), and only TJ had scored over 800 points. After this week, TJ is the first (and only) team to 900 points on the season.  That was made possible this game due to 2 players being the 20+ point club (Walker [not Texas Ranger], and Bigsby [not Clayton]). Rob had 1 guy in said 20+ club, and he actually was a 30+ point scorer (Gibbs), but it wasn't enough to overcome TJ.  Rob was done in by having his bottom 3 players combine for 2.8 points, though TJ's bottom 3 weren't stellar either, and only scored 9 -- but in a game decided by less than 8 points, even the scrubs matter.

Tommy vs Tyler: In one of the weirder matchups this week, Tommy's K and DST combined for 40, but Tyler's combined for 30.  Unfortunately for Tommy, those were his two best players, and only the Broncos DST scored over 20+ for him.  Tyler had a really bad week from his 49ers WRs (combined for 4.3), but he did have 3other players score 20+ (Mixon, Bijan, and Lamar). In unfortunate news for Tyler, Aiyuk will be out for the year, and Jerome Ford may have lost his job with Nick Chubb coming back. This was the only matchup of 1-5 teams (there were 4 of them going into this week), so one of them had to win.  The other 2 lost, and will go to 1-6 with Tommy, which means Tyler goes from 12th to 10th.  It's not a lot, but you have to start somewhere.

Award Season

MVP: Baker for getting the win for Brandon in garbage time

LVP: I wanted to give it to someone on Brady's team, but so many of his people played hurt, and that feels dirty.  I was thinking Jordan Mason, but he actually has the most rush yards against the Chiefs this season.  So sadly, I will go back to the injured (or kind of injured) Montgomery since his injury didn't knock him out, and it was by far his worst game of the season.

Unluckiest Team of the Week: Rob was the highest-scoring loser, so I was going to give it to him, until Brady lost in the fashion he did.

Luckiest Team of the Week: Skyler didn't break 100 and still won.

Highest Scorer of the Week: Dr. (50 shades of) Gray

Lowest Scorer of the Week: Kyle

King of the Court: Early on, Rob was projected to win, but TJ managed to beat projections and hold onto his crown.

Game Previews

Skyler (4) vs Matt (3): Skyler has 3 players on Thursday night and 0 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Matt has 0 players on Thursday night and 0 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. 

Trevor (6) vs Jordan (2): Trevor has 0 players on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Jordan has 1 player on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye.

Tommy (11) vs Rob (12): Tommy has 0 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Rob has 2 players on Thursday night and 0 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Given their rankings, this has the potential to be the battle of ineptitude.

Brandon (9) vs TJ (1): Brandon has 1 player on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has no players on bye. TJ has 0 players on Thursday night and 0 players in primetime. He has no players on bye.

Scott (7) vs Tyler (10): Scott has 0 players on Thursday night and 3 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Tyler has 0 players on Thursday night and 2 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. 

Brady (5) vs Kyle (8): Brady has 0 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Kyle has 0 players on Thursday night and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. 

Mid Year Awards

MVP: Brock Bowers was an 8th round draft pick, and has been the best TE on the season, helping TJ to the best record and most points so far.

LVP: Can't Run CMC -- We all have the same number of points as the #1 draft pick this year

Unluckiest Team of the Season: Based on points for and the breakdown scores, Scott should be a playoff team instead of outside the playoffs.

Luckiest Team of the Season: Based on points for and the breakdown scores, Skyler should be a bottom-three team, not a top 4 team.

Highest Scorer of the Season: TJ

Lowest Scorer of the Season: Tyler

Good luck to everyone but Matt this week!

Week 6: A Strong Middle Class

I had no great title or overarching theme for this week, so I went with a mediocre observation -- the teams that were ranked 5-9 before the week started didn't change at all in their rankings after the games went final. That won't be the case this next week though as 6 plays 7, and 5 plays 8.

As part of writing the blog, I looked through the write up for week 6 last (so I can copy and paste the game preview template), and I realized that in weeks 5 and 6 last year I talked about how many injuries were occurring.  Given last year and this year, it seems weeks 5 and 6 are the cursed weeks.

Game Recaps

Skyler vs Tyler: This was the second closest game of the week, and it came down to MNF.  Aaron Rodgers did enough to drop the Bills DST down and get Skyler the win.  Going back to the unexpected theme of a strong middle class, Tyler had 4 guys score 20+ points (Lamar, Mixon, Bijan, Deebo) compared to Skyler only have 1 (Daniels). Given the top heavy nature of Tyler's team, it would have been safe to assume he would have won, but Tyler was let down by 5 players in single digits, 3 of whom were 5 and under.  Skyler only had 2 guys in double digits, and only one of them was 5 and under.

Kyle vs Tommy: What a game! It was the 3rd highest scoring game of the week, and it was decided by less than a point on MNF aka Monday Nightmare/Miracle and Nightly/Weekly Nailbiter.  What was fun for the rest of us must have been agony for Kyle and Tommy, so thank you gentleman for the entertainment. In one of the flukier things I have ever seen, each team had a player end with negative points (neither of them DST's).  Tommy had 3 guys score 20+ (Stroud, Swift, and Scary Terry), while Kyle only had Fields, yet it was Kyle's middle class of guys who got him the win.  This middle class thing I made up at the start is now paying dividends two matchups in.  Let's see how it continues.

Matt vs TJ: In preparation for the matchup of the top two teams, there was a media event similar to boxing.  As they were staring each other down, Matt blinked first, and then decided to fall to the ground and get in the fetal position.  Surprised by this show of weakness, TJ decided to stomp on him repeatedly until he got Matt right in the bladder, causing him to wet himself while crying. Afterwards, a reporter asked what happened, and TJ's only response was "If you come at the King, you best not miss". Maybe that's not what really happened, but when you are the number 1 team on the season and then you are the second lowest scorer of the week and you were on the losing end of the weekly blow out, I feel I get to take creative liberties in describing what happened. TJ didn't quite lead wire to wire, but he got a lead by the end of Thursday night and never looked back. TJ had 2 people score 20+ (KW3 and Flowers), while Matt only had 1 pass the 20 threshold in Goff.  In Goff's defense, he actually got 30+, but the rest of his team was lacking.

Rob vs Jordan: This was the first of 3 games that was decided by 15-25 points -- right in the sweet spot of not agonizingly close where you wish you had started someone else, but not far enough apart that it's embarrassing. That being said, Rob still has to be pretty salty that in a game where the Cowboys were down the entire time, Dak had his worst game in yards and TD's to combine for his worst game of the season.  Overall, this game was a bit of a let down as it was the battle of ineptitude and featured two of the bottom four scorer's.  Rob had 0 people score 20+ points, and Jordan only had 2 in that group (Wilson and Kmet). Rob actually had more people score double digits than Jordan did (6 to 5) but he also had more people score 5 and under (3) than Jordan (0).

Trevor vs Brady: Trevor is finally on the winning side of when 2 of the top 3 teams play each other. This was the weekly bonanza, and was pretty close through the early games with a couple of score changes early on.  Trevor was able to put it away in primetime behind Tracy and Hall running wild when it mattered most as they both scored 20+ this week.  Not to be outdone, Caleb Williams went for 36, and managed to outduel Jordan Love on Brady's side, who went for 33. Brady also had Monty and the Sun God join the 20+ point club.  Neither team had anyone score under 5 points.  Brady did have 3 people in the single digits, while Trevor only had 1. Unfortunately for Brady, Mike Evans played the Saints (his Kryptonite) and Mason got hurt. As great as this bonanza was, I feel like we were robbed of an all-time classic with Mason and Evans underperforming.

Brandon vs Scott: In the surprise of the week, 12th place Brandon and 8th place Scott were 2nd place in the bonanza standings, and were the 3rd closest matchup of the week. Each team had someone score 30+ (Baker for Brandon, and Purdy and Godwin for Scott), and they had an additional 4 players combined score 20+ (3 for Brandon -- Henry, Allen, and Kittle, and 1 for Scott -- Najee).  Scott's demise came from 5 players scoring single digits, while Brandon only had 2.

Award Season

MVP:

LVP:

Unluckiest Team of the Week: Should it go to Brady, for being the 3rd highest scorer and losing? Yes.  Could it also go to Scott, for being the 5th highest scorer and losing? Yes. But will it go to Tommy, who lost on MNF because Kincaid had a season-high total in catches and yards? Yes

Luckiest Team of the Week: Jordan only could have won against 3 teams this week, and he was lucky enough to play one of them.

Highest Scorer of the Week: Dr. T-Rev

Lowest Scorer of the Week: Rob

King of the Court: It's still TJ, but let's see if Rob has anything to say about that next week.

Game Previews

Skyler (6) vs Kyle (7): Skyler has 1 player on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. Kyle has 1 player on Thursday and 3 players in primetime. If Skyler wins, there will be a 2 game gap between the last playoff team and the 7 seed, but if Kyle wins, it will be all tied up. It probably means nothing, but we've never had the 6 seed with a 2-game lead over the 7 seed after week 7.  And I'm also realizing this would require Trevor and Brady to win as well as Skyler.  So odds are good we won't see a 2-game gap from 6 to 7 at the halfway point.

Brandon (10) vs Brady (4): Brandon has 0 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. Brady has 1 player on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. This is the leading bonanza candidate based on the always accurate and infallible projections.

Scott (8) vs Trevor (5): Scott has 0 players on Thursday and 4 players in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. Trevor has 0 players on Thursday and 3 players in primetime. 

Jordan (2) vs Matt (3): Jordan has 0 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. Matt has 0 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. 

TJ (1) vs Rob (11): TJ has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Rob has 0 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Based on the standings, this could be the blowout of the week.  Based on projections, this is a prime bonanza candidate.

Tommy (9) vs Tyler (12): Tommy has 1 player on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. He has 3 players on bye. Tyler has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. He has 1 player on bye. Based on standings, this looks to be the battle of ineptitude.

Good luck to everyone but Kyle this week.

Weeks 4&5: Rapid Fire

Here's a rapid-fire update in the hopes of trying to get caught up before getting further behind.

Week 4 Game Recaps

Skyler > Brandon: Skyler got lucky that several of Brandon's players got hurt.

Brady > Jordan: Brady had 4 guys who went for 20+, Jordan had 0.

TJ > Scott: This blowout of the week was made possible by TJ having 3 score 20+ while Scott had none. TJ even had 1 of those three go for 30+.

Matt > Tyler: Matt had one guy over 30, Tyler had one guy over 20. Tyler's bottom two players combined for 2 points. Tyler's bottom two players combined for less than Matt's worst player. This was the battle of ineptitude

Kyle > Rob: Weekly bonanza as well as the weekly and nightly nail-biter, so it was easily the game of the week. 

Trevor > Tommy: Game was decided by Sunday afternoon.  According to the website, this was Trevor's first win over Tommy. Both had players score 0 points, but Trevor got the win by having three 20+ point players (including a 30+), while Tommy only had two 20+ point players.

Week 4 Awards

MVP: The Titan's DST gets this for Kyle.  They were playing Monday night, they were averaging 7 points a game, and then they put up 19 in a game Kyle only won by 8.

LVP: There's no one obvious, so I'll say the Dolphins DST for Rob. Will Levis got hurt before he could give up 3+ sacks or throw a pick 6.

Unluckiest Team of the Week:  Rob was a top 4 team and still lost -- it couldn't happen to a more deserving team.

Luckiest Team of the Week: Matt was the lowest-scoring winner, and is lucky to stay undefeated.

Highest Scoring Team of the Week: TJ put on a clinic this week.  Let's hope it's not a trend (foreshadowing).

Lowest Scoring Team of the Week: Tyler needs to go to a clinic as the only team to not break 100.

King of the Court: TJ takes the crown from Scott this week.

Week 5 Game Recaps

Skyler vs Trevor: This was the battle of ineptitude, but at least there was a Monday Nightmare/Miracle to make up for the low score, and this was also the closest game of the week. Each team only had one player score 20+, and each had 3 players in single digits, and both had a key player injured. There's no real reason that Skyler won this game.

Brandon vs Tommy: This would have been the weekly bonanza had TJ not gone nuclear and automatically made his game the bonanza.  Almost hitting the bonanza was unexpected as these two came into the game defeated.  As a parting gift to his former North Carolinian, Tommy took the win with him to Cedar City. On the top end, both teams had two players score 20+.  Tommy got said win thanks to the lower-level players though, as Brandon had one player go <=5 while Tommy had none, and Brandon had 4 players score single digits, while Tommy only had 2.

Tyler vs Rob: Speaking of teams getting their first wins of the season, Tyler gets his first win thanks Lamar going for 40+ and Rob tanking.

TJ vs Brady: TJ decided he liked being the high scorer last week, but didn't like that he didn't get his shout-out in time -- so he went even higher this week and throttled Brady, making this both the weekly bonanza and blowout of the week. Said throttling was made possible by Burrow going for 40+, London going for 30+, and Bigsby and Bowers going for 20+.  Brady had a valiant effort and would have won against about half the league, but had a rough schedule this week. TJ keeps his King of the Court crown for another week, and Brady is no longer undefeated.

Jordan vs Scott: Jordan got the win this week by ~30 points.  In a normal week, that's blowout material, but this week it only puts him in the top half of winning margins. Jordan's win came on the backs of his studs as he had two 20+ point players (Murray and Wilson).  He needed those top players as he had 4 people in single digits, while Scott had only one player score single digits (and he was 3 yards away from being double digits).

Kyle vs Matt: Matt got a 35-point win -- which was made possible by the 2nd highest scorer going against the lowest scorer.  Again, that was solid blowout material except TJ went crazy.  Anyway, Matt remains the last undefeated team thanks to a great game from Ja'Marr Chase going for 40+ and Geno going for 20+. Kyle was let down by no one going over 20 points.

Week 5 Award Season

MVP: Shaheed got Skyler the late win on MNF in the closest game, so he was the front-runner, but then I remembered that Lamar put up so many points for Tyler that he convinced Rob to quit a game he would have won had he actually tried, so Lamar gets the award this week for getting Tyler his first win.  Burrow was also a leading contender as he was the highest-scoring player on the highest-scoring team, but TJ could have sat him and still won.

LVP: Kaimi Fairbairn and the Saints DST.

Luckiest Team of the Week: Skyler should win the award as he was the lowest-scoring winner, but for reasons mentioned above, we'll give it to Tyler.

Unluckiest Team of the Week: Brandon would have beat 6 other people, so he'll get the award this week, though Trevor has a minor claim to the thrown with only 10 points combined from Darnold and Hall.

Highest Scoring Team of the Week: TJ -- aka Mr Goodtimes

Lowest Scoring Team of the Week: Kyle

King of the Court: The good times keep rolling for King Goodtimes, and he holds onto his crown for another week.

Game Previews

Skyler (6) vs Tyler (11): Skyler has 0 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. He has 5 players on bye. Tyler has 4 players on Thursday (likely only 2 starters) and 0 players in primetime.  He has 1 player on bye. 

Kyle (7) vs Tommy (9): Kyle has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. He has 3 players on bye. Tommy has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime.  He has 0 players on bye.

Matt (1) vs TJ (2): Matt has 2 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. He has 3 players on bye. TJ has 2 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime.  He has 1 player on bye. Rankings have this as the bonanza.

Rob (10) vs Jordan (4): Rob has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. He has 2 players on bye. Jordan has 1 player on Thursday and 2 players in primetime.  He has 1 player on bye.

Trevor (5) vs Brady (3): Trevor has 0 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. He has 0 players on bye. Brady has 1 player on Thursday and 2 players in primetime.  He has 0 players on bye. 

Brandon (12) vs Scott (8): Brandon has 1 player on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. He has 3 players on bye. Scott has 2 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime.  He has 1 player on bye. Based on rankings, this is the battle of ineptitude.

Good luck to everyone but Trevor this week.