Fantasy State of the Union: Week 11
With Week 11 in the books, it’s time to see how all of the “experts” in the Big Baller Brand League sponsored by Yobagoya fared.
COB vs. Ben
Man, I really needed this one. Unfortunately, Ben’s team was just that much better this week. It’s actually ridiculous how well Ben’s team has been doing over the last 6 weeks.
Since starting the year 0–5, Ben has gone 6–0. In what can only be called an impressive feat for Ben, he was able to put together with a full squad. After winning 2 weeks in a row with 10 starters, we were beginning to wonder whether starting a full lineup would throw off the mojo. It sure didn’t. Almost everyone on Ben’s squad showed up to play. Outside of Buck Allen and Zach Ertz going sub-2.5 points, everyone on Ben’s roster went for double digits. The keys to victory here were Jarvis Landry, who has become QB-proof (double digits in the last 3 games with a combination of Matt Moore and Jay Cutler), Russell Wilson, who started the day with a horrible interception and got strip sacked for a TD but almost led the Seahawks back in the 2nd half behind 258 passing yards and 2 TDs and 86 rushing yards and another TD, and the Eagles D, which absolutely terrorized Dak Prescott, picking him off 3 times, recording a strip sack TD, and 4 sacks. The Eagles game was an absolute bloodbath. Derek Barnett and Brandon Graham abused Bell, exposing how badly the Cowboys really need Tyron Smith. HUGE week for Ben.
Going forward, Ben looks like the only team that can beat Costas. As long as the Seahawks have a non-existent running game, the Dolphins continue to lean on Jarvis Landry, the Vikings continue to start Case Keenum (why is this even a question for the Vikings coaching staff??), and Redskins offensive weapons keep going down around Jamison Crowder, Ben will be a force to be reckoned with. Add that to the fact that Le’Veon Bell still hasn’t busted out and Zach Ertz won’t put up duds like this very often, and Costas might want to watch his back a little bit.
On my side, I can’t be disappointed with my performance. Pretty much everyone else had a week where they played well enough to win and didn’t, so it must have just been my turn this week. With 3 starters (TY Hilton, Jack Doyle, and Jacoby Brissett) on bye, I decided to swap Greg Olsen (also on bye) for Joe Mixon and start Randall Cobb and Ben Watson. These moves didn’t really work out for me as Mixon averaged 2.5 ypc on 20 totes (5.9 points), Randall Cobb couldn’t get much going with Brett Hundley (not surprised about this at all), and Ben Watson was so so so mediocre (as he was last time I started him for 1 week earlier this year). The good news for me was that Drew Brees looked like himself after a few down weeks (385 yards, 2 TDs), Larry Fitzgerald showed he’s QB-proof (double digit outings with Carson Palmer, Drew Stanton, and Blaine Gabbert at QB) and well worth his newly signed 1 year extension, and both Duke Johnson and Melvin Gordon took control of their respective backfields despite rumors of competition from Isiah Crowell and Austin Ekeler, respectively. The one bummer there was that the Chargers D and Keenan Allen ate up some of Gordon’s scoring chances. Not cool.
Going forward, though I’m not thrilled that I lost, I’m pleased with the direction of my team and am glad that there are no more byes. Really looking forward to seeing what my team can do at full strength.
As usual, we also need to look at the Jags D. Huge day for my boys, but this one was like taking candy from a baby. After an early passing TD to Duke Johnson, the Browns offense reverted back to their normal ways with 5 turnovers (3 fumbles, 2 INTs) including a fumble recovery for TD, and 5 sacks. It wasn’t just turnovers either, as the Jags held the Browns to 184 total yards on offense. That’s suffocating.
Next Week: COB vs. Colin, Ben vs. Shriver
Jackson vs. Derek
A look into the weekly Sacko update went really well for one team and really badly for another. Don’t look now, but Jackson has strung together 2 wins in a row, moving into a tie with me for 10th (luckily I hold the tiebreaker if this comes down to the wire). Derek, on the other hand, has now lost 9 in a row. I’m actually his only win of the year from way back in Week 2.
Before we get started, let’s take a quick look at Sashi Brown, Hue Jackson, and the entire Brown’s organization after seeing Derek’s team put together another brutal performance:
Derek’s team was nothing short of a disaster yet again. Outside of Tom Brady sort of Orleans Darkwa, and Dez Bryant every other week, there is nothing to look forward to here. Derek’s running backs are garbage. Adrian Peterson tickled all of our nuts with 2 vintage performances in his first 3 games in Arizona, mixed in with 3 double digit rush, 20 sub yard performances. He’s basically over the hill unless you get him in front of an atrocious run defense or a fantastic offensive line. Theo Riddick is very clearly 2nd fiddle to Ameer Adbullah and CJ Anderson, though he scored in the 1st quarter, is horribly inefficient and got way outperformed by Devontae Booker down the stretch. Add that to Paxton Lynch starting this week, and he’s borderline untouchable going forward. Add that to the fact that Nelson Agholor has gone relatively unnoticed the past 3 weeks (despite a kickass Eagles offense) and Will Fuller has gotten nothing but scraps from Tom Savage, and there isn’t much hope for Derek’s scoring potential. At least he has Josh Gordon to waste a bench spot for the rest of the season!!!!
Jackson’s team was just about the exact opposite of Rick’s squad this week, dropping a beautiful 150 points. There were really only 2 black marks on Jack’s squad this week: Gio Bernard’s 0.9 points and Jake Elliott’s -1 point. The Jake Elliott one isn’t Jack’s fault. Elliott left the game with a concussion after missing a field goal. When’s the last time you saw a kicker in concussion protocol??? On the bright side, there were a lot of strong performances by Jack’s boys. Andy Dalton, though only throwing for 184 yards against a tough Broncos D, managed 3 passing TDs, LeSean McCoy came to life once the human interception (Nathan Peterman threw for 5 INTs in 1 half for those of you who live under a rock) with a rushing and passing TD, Alshon Jeffrey scored his 4th TD in the last 3 weeks, Kenny Stills has developed some SERIOUS feelings for Matt Moore. These 2 had a stronger connection that Jim and Pam on The Office this week, and the Ravens D absolutely abused Brett Hundley. If Stills/Moore and Jeffrey/Wentz can stay on the same page and the Bills go back to Tyrod Taylor, Jack has the chance to dig himself out of the cellar.
Next Week: Derek vs. Thomas, Jackson vs. Costas
Costas vs. Griff
Jimmy Cheffo’s 2017 Fantasy Football Roller Coaster Experience is currently in the really hard jerky braking portion of the ride that came right after the drops that made you feel like this ride almost wasn’t going to be really disappointing. News flash: it’s really disappointing.
The only positives this week were Alvin Kamara and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Yeah it was that bad. No, not Alvin Kamara, he’s awesome. Actually, he should probably be the Offensive Rookie of the Year (459 rush yards and 4 rush TDs, 447 receiving yards, 3 receiving TDs). If you’re still out there tooting Kareem Hunt’s horn, go jump off a bridge. He hasn’t done shit since week 3. Kamara is the real rookie to watch right now. The Saints used him instead of Mark Ingram on the game tying drive/play. That says something with how Ingram has been playing too. There really isn’t much else to discuss here. Sure, Griff gets Josh McCown back from a bye, but that won’t be enough to make up for the disappointments that are Jordy Nelson (thanks Brett Hundley), Kelvin Benjamin, and Jordan Reed (thanks bones made of glass and skin made of paper).
Concerns for Griff (as if there already weren’t enough) have to be the sudden success of Latavius Murray and the crowding of the Pats backfield eating into Jerick McKinnon and James White’s carries. Not much to look forward to here.
Opposite Griff was Costas. Blah blah blah Costas scores 165 again. Something something draft in Greece blah blah we’re all peasants something something WAHAHA. Yeah, you’ve all heard it before. Costas is running laps around all of us while we’re stuck in the loop of getting shot off the track at the end of Rainbow Road from Mario Kart Wii. Still 4 deep at RB, still 2 solid QBs, still a stacked bench. God damn it.
Next Week: Costas vs. Jackson, Griff vs. Aaron
Thomas vs. Colin
Thomas’s team was doing it’s best Costas impression this week, racking up a gaudy 193 points. He managed to do that even with 3.3 points from Brett Hundley and only 5.1 and 5.2 from Brandon LaFell and Rob Gronkowski. He was able to do so behind huge games from Kirk Cousins, Antonio Brown, Adam Thielen, Chargers D, and Stephen Gostkowski along with respectable outings from Chris Thompson (RIP), Lamar Miller, Dion Lewis, and Marshawn Lynch. Thomas’s squad has the best WR tandem in out league with AB and Thielen. This week, Brown went off for 144 and 3 TDs and Thielen chipped in 123 and 1 TD of his own. Normally, I’d say having 2 guy put up number like that on a consistent basis isn’t sustainable, but with these who it honestly might be. Lately, the Steelers have gone to the run less and the hurry up more. This game specifically, Ben really went at Antonio Brown, which is a good sign for Thomas despite the emergence of Juju and the return of Martavis Bryant. Thielen is also about as steady as a rock based on his chemistry with Keenum and his uncanny ability to get separation right now. A concern for Thomas has to be Cousins and Thompson. Thompson is now out for the season (15th ‘Skin to hit the IR), leaving Cousins with fewer weapons by the day. Look for the ‘Skins to turn into the NFL equivalent of the Air Raid for the rest of the year (read: lots of attempts, TDs, but also picks and sacks).
Bummer for Colin here, as he also racked up an L with a solid performance this week. Despite what I said last week about the instability to roles for all of his running backs, they all put up solid numbers this week. Fournette racked up 111 yards on a bum ankle, Alfred Morris was the clear #1 for the Cowboys, Murray continued to steal touches (and touchdowns) from Latavius Murray, and Jay Ajayi took the lead in the Eagles backfield even with Kenjon Barner and Corey Clement scoring TDs. Throw that together with a long TD from Rishard Matthews, a starter quality performance from Blaine Gabbert (I know, it blew my mind too), and solid days from AJ Green and Phillip Rivers, and this really should’ve been a W for Colin. Hopefully the got performances like this out of the way his week and reverts to his usual ways next week when I play him.
Next Week: Thomas vs. Derek, Colin vs. COB
Aaron vs. Tuna
The first of 2 shitty matchups that went down to the wire this week. The thing was that Tuna looked like he had it in the bag until Sunday night when Dak Prescott had a dumpster fire performance (3 INTs, 1 fumble, 145 yards passing), netting him -1.2 points. Unfortunately for Tuna, Tevin Coleman, though earning the start and scoring a TD for the Falcons, wasn’t enough to save him from Dak’s shitshow. This one hurts a little more considering he had Matt Ryan on his bench. Still really bewildered why he hasn’t traded 1 of those 3 QBs to significantly upgrade is flex spot. On the bright side, it appears that Tom Brady and Brandin Cooks have really hit their stride, Davante Adams is the go-to guy for Brett Hundley, and Tarik Cohen is seems to still have a sizable role in the Bears offense. I’m going to chalk this loss up to Prescott and Prescott alone. Tuna’s team isn’t as good as its record, but it isn’t as bad as this week’s performance if he starts 2 QBs and sticks with them.
Aaron got away with one this week. Outside of Carson Wentz, Keenan Allen (finally the kind of game people though he and Rivers were capable of), and DeAndre Hopkins, Aaron’s team really kind of sucked this week. The Rams D even managed to do worse than Dak Prescott. IF you look on his bench you’ll see that Nathan Peterman did even worse than that! -7 points has got to be the worst debut performance in a career. The fact that Sean McDermott claimed there were “a lot of good throws” is beyond laughable. There was nothing good about that performance and everyone knows it. The only time I’ve ever seen anyone throw more picks during a game, it was DeAndre Jordan on the pick and roll with Chris Paul (booo bad joke yeah I know, it’s late, I’m tired, and too lazy to come up with something better). The sore thumb on the bench really has to be Samaje Perine, but Aaron will definitely be starting him going forward with both Rob Kelley and Chris Thompson out for the season.
Going forward, Aaron is going to need better performances out of his team’s namesake. Kupp has a terrible fumble on the 1 yard line and also a really bad drop on a wide open throw late in the game. Kupp will have a lot of opportunities to redeem himself with Robert Woods out for a few weeks with a shoulder injury. If he can’t step up in Woods’ absence, he never will (Sorry Aaron, maybe he’s just not THAT good).
Next Week: Aaron vs. Griff, Tuna vs. Plummer
Plummer vs. Shriver
After swapping Greg Olsen for Joe Mixon, Plummer and I didn’t do much else to help each other this week. I lost to Ben, who catapulted over Plummer for the 4th playoff spot (as it sits right now), and Plummer lost to Shriver, who is now 1 game clear of me near the bottom of the standings. Not great.
Plummer’s team really shat the bed this week against a Shriver squad that was short 3 starters. Actually not just 2 starers, but really his 3 best players of late. Plummer got solid numbers from Jordan Howard (though he still lost out on a 2nd TD opportunity thanks to Tarik Cohen), Marvin Jones (the primary option for Matt Stafford this week after posting a DUD last week), Josh Doctson (slowly blooming into the #1 option for the ‘Skins), and Mohamed Sanu (had a beautiful one handed TD catch Monday night). Outside of that, it wasn’t good. Kareem Hunt posted his 3rd single digit performance in a row and still hasn’t scored a TD since Week 3, Jared Goff was held in check against a Vikings Defense that just got worked pretty decently by Kirk Cousins the week before, Derek Carr and the the entire Raiders offense stalled out against the Pats in Mexico City, and Kenyan Drake and Evan Engram both barely broke a single point. Really, really underwhelming week. Consistency has been an issue for Plummer’s squad all season and this week was no difference.
Opposite Plummer, Shriver has to be thrilled to pull out the win here. Without Cam Newton (bye), Devin Funchess (bye), and Devonta Freeman (2nd concussion of the season), Shriver was able to put up just enough to get by. While there were no stellar performances, Shriver got decent games from Marcus Mariota (despite 4 INTs???), Jamaal Williams, Mike Evans, DeMaryius Thomas, and Mitch Trubisky. Going forward, Shriver will get his stud QB-WR combo back, but has to be concerned about Freeman, given his concussion history and the implication for his lack of running back depth and Thomas with the news that Paxton Lynch is starting this week. This is a team that is limping to the end of the season and could still get away with another win or 2, but will likely be the person in the horror movie who’s hurt and almost gets away, but trips and gets left behind to be slaughtered.
Next Week: Plummer vs. Tuna, Shriver vs. Ben
Lets take a look at the standings. Outside of first and last place, we have an interesting race here. Only Derek is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but both Jackson and I would need to win out and pray for some miracles. Didn’t check, but wouldn’t be surprised if we couldn’t make it either based on remaining matchups. With Plummer and Griff’s losses and Ben’s win, Ben now owns the 4th playoff spot and is 100% trending in the right direction, though Thomas and Plummer each have something of a shot to sneak into that spot if Ben were to falter.
That’s all for this week. Tune in next week to see if I can hop back on the gravy train, if Derek can get a win, if anyone can touch Costas’ godly roster, if Ben can move to 7–0 in his last 7 weeks, and how the rest of the middle of the pack shakes out against each other. Reminder that there are 3 games this Thursday to celebrate Turkey Day. Gotta love there being no byes and maximum football. Til next time, football fans.
