Overview
What a horrible week for RBs. McKissic and Ballage are top five! Outside of Cook and CMC, no other back came close to 20 points. Garbage. It's just been a bad year for running backs and first round picks overall.
The Championship Playoff picture is coming into focus.
Gary is pulling away from Linda in the Broads division. It helps when you have the #1, #2, and #3 WR for the year. Part of my strategy with the trade with Jordan was to have Jordan win the Broads division so his high points aren't a factor for the wild card. Then hope Robinson's poor playoff schedule offers a chance for one of us to beat him in the playoff. It's a long shot.
In the Beards division, things are nuts. Because Tracy has a two-game lead, plus head-to-head on me, I didn't figure I can catch him on record. My final four games are against Jordan, Tracy, Paul, and then Justin. That is a murderer's row. My best bet is to have the highest points of non-division winners for the wild card. With Jordan controlling Broads, I need Paul to win Beards division. If the top two points scorers win their divisions, that just leaves Linda and Tracy to contend with for the Wildcard. I like my chances there a lot better with both Linda and Tracy less than 50 points ahead with 5 games left to go. However, there is a lot of competition in the 2nd tier after Paul and Jordan. Five teams are within 64 points of Tracy in points.
In the Bros division, it's a battle between Travis who is in the bottom four scorers, and Dana. Both of them face Tracy and Paul the next two weeks before divisional games start. It's going to be fun seeing how it works out. Dana is just happy to have a cushion between her and the Crapper teams.
Currently, the bottom four teams are EW Black (1,107.12), Roodiculous (1,041.30), Rolling Dunder (1,040.38), and King of the Crapper (965.62). Travis is just 1.42 points outside the the Crapper tier.
Matchups
Dark Lord Commissioner (135.53) vs Hays Blaze (113.20)
After watching Rodgers go bonkers on TNF, I must admit I was pretty nervous if I could pull out the win this week against Travis. There would have been some serious egg on my face after giving Travis so much smack over his imposter team. I am not sure what surprised me more: McKissic's 17 points or how poorly Tampa Bay's offense played. Gronk only getting 1 catch for 2 yards was a gift.
Fuller had me nervous until he busted off that long TD. That is such a high variance play. I got lucky with that one. I am not sure how long his TD streak can continue or his health. Got to ride the Flying V as far as he can go. Chase Edmonds performance only reaffirmed that getting Aaron Jones for the final stretch was needed. I am not sure if Miami front is that tough or if neither Drake nor Edmonds can run in this Cardinals offense. I was definitely expecting more from Chase. Kyler Murray is my RB1. Watching Richie No Name James put up the top WR performance this week really chapped my ass knowing Aiyuk would have had a monster day if not for the stupid Covid. Argh! At least it didn't cost me the win which I desperately needed. Heck, I desperately need wins from here on out.
As for Travis, things aren't going to get any easier next week when he faces one of the two best teams in the League. Only good thing for Travis is that Dana can't take advantage when he loses.
Mother Tucker (120.92) vs The Jedi Master (155.30)
Poor Dana. Not a bad points day by her standards. It just wasn't enough to overcome Jedi Justin when he has CMC. So much for Carolina limiting his consecutive touches. They rode him into the ground...literally. CMC took a nasty shot getting driven in the turf trying to reach for a first down. The grimace on his face says some form of a shoulder injury. We will see if he misses more time. Justin can't afford for CMC to miss any more games if he hopes to try and catch up in the Wild Card race. For Dana, watching her Steeler D falter at Dallas was even more painful than her loss this week. After the first quarter, she just couldn't watch it anymore. She loves me too much to use me as a punching bag over her frustration. Well, almost.
It's still very close in the Bros division. While Dana continues to trail Travis by one game, she has almost a 30 point scoring advantage and beat him in their first matchup. Travis does get Chubb back next week to boost his chances.
EW Black (103.76) vs Roodiculous (93.24)
Neither of these teams performed well this week. Two one-legged men in an ass-kicking competition. Still, Steve somehow scratched out the victory with Kelce and Curtis Samuel accounting for over 50% of his points this week. Curtis was a hell of a waiver wire pickup. However, both of these teams' low scoring won't help them get out of the bottom four Crapper points positions. It was unfortunate for Gary that he left so many points on his bench. The only reason his bench didn't outscore his starters is that three of his bench players didn't play this week.
Just Beat Gary (167.18) vs Rolling Dunder (117.00)
You know you are in for a butt whooping when you go against Jordan. A great week could have been even better if Hopkins was targeted more. 3 for 30 is not what you expect. Jordan has elected to roster 3 TEs as he searches for one that will hit. This week his TE dice roll came up snake eyes with Rule 81 falling flat. Reed only had 1 catch for 3 yards and was hardly on the field. Those are minor blemishes when you have Mahomes, Adams, and Tyreek on your team.
Dunder can't find points even when Allen goes off for over 400 yards and 4 TDs. DJ Moore only has 2 catches in a high scoring competitive game vs KC. Weird. Conner only rushes for 22 yards vs Dallas. Shocking considering he was healthy the whole game. Michael Thomas only gets 5 receptions for 51 yards in a complete ass whooping of Tampa Bay. When Evan Engram is your second-highest scorer with 15.80, it's going to be a long day. On the bright side, Newton seems to love Meyers who went off for 13 catches and 169 yards on Dunder's bench. Go chase those points, Krug. It's what my brother would do.
King of the Crapper (95.90) vs Check Out My Lightsaber (171.40)
I think David's goal is just to break 100 points each week. He failed again. Lamar has been a complete bust this year even as a later round keeper. I knew he would regress, but dayum. He just blows now. With Dalvin dicing up the defense with his legs, the Vikings don't have to pass a lot to win. This is crushing Thielen's value. The once bright hope of Tonyan turning into mini-Kittle has faded. The Packers have reverted to their normal usage of the TE position which is non-existent.
As for Paul, his lightsaber glows brightly. He racked up another high score on the season. 171.40 points and Henry did do jack. Paul's team is stout from top to bottom. I don't think even Paul can screw things up this year. He just needs Tracy to start losing so he can catch up and take his first Beards division title.
Underestim8ed (80.52) vs Its On Like Donkey Kong (106.04)
Linda earns the Poopsie Award for Week 9. The 2020 fade continues. The Saints didn't need Kamara to do much against the Bucs. Tannehill had the tough matchup against Chicago. Lockett is on a pattern of boom game followed by two bust games which means he will have a boom game next week. It's a shame Linda's team couldn't take advantage of Tracy who lost both of his RBs early.
Everyone talks about my luck. Sheesh. It's got nothing on Tracy this year. Both DJ and JJ get knocked out early and yet he still pulls off the win going up against the low scorer of the week. I really needed to pick up a game on him this week to give me a chance on passing him on record. I just have to hope Tracy's team keeps putting up putrid points and hope his luck wears off. As Paul would say, that rabbit's foot has to be getting bare.
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