The Sanderson Gazette - 2020-11-11 - Unsettled

Ed: "Fun completely random fact about week 9"

Ed: "It's the first week in history that four different scores had the same value after the decimal point."

Ed: "And that value is... .69"

Dave: "Nice"

Week 9 Recap

Matt def. Derrek, 115.69-102.33:

This was the only game of the week in which both teams broke 100, and it wasn't exactly a stellar display of fantasy football. Dalvin Cook (38.73) once again went off for Matt and Christian McCaffrey (29.83) returned with a big game for Derrek, but there were plenty of disappointments, too. For Matt: DeAndre Hopkins (4.00) and Jared Cook (2.00). For Derrek: James Conner (1.93) and Adam Thielen (5.07). It took a huge game from Jakobi Meyers (22.53) on Monday night for Matt to pull ahead and move into playoff position.

Scott def. Pulley, 99.24-80.68:

Pulley lost his second straight despite a great week from Aaron Rodgers (31.45). Antonio Brown (4.13) and Rob Gronkowski (0.27) fell victim to the awful week Tampa Bay had, and even Aaron Jones (8.60) came in below expectations. Scott relied on his old faithful, Patrick Mahomes II (34.10), and got good games from JuJu Smith-Schuster (18.40) and John Brown (13.20) to add a third game to his winning streak.

Babel def. Richie, 122.23-85.41:

Babel's second straight impressive week was a full team effort, with Cam Newton (27.30), Travis Kelce (21.20), Keenan Allen (19.73), and Greg Zuerlein (15.00). Richie had a chance going into Monday night, thanks to Tyreek Hill (27.87) and D.K. Metcalf (20.40), but the Jets defense put up -4.00 and sealed his fate.

Kevin def. Rabbit, 145.45-82.12:

Even though Josh Allen (36.65) lost the QB battle to Kyler Murray (40.25), Kevin was able to run away with this one. Davante Adams (29.07) and Terry McLaurin (21.33) were his other top performers, and no one on his team scored less than 6.00 (Zane Gonzalez). Meanwhile, Rabs had six players with less than that amount and fell to 4-5 on the year.

Schertz def. Rob, 127.69-66.67:

One of these teams looked like the #1 team by points, and it wasn't Rob. Deshaun Watson scored 26.05, Curtis Samuel put up 21.30, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling added 19.07 for Schertz, while Rob dealt with -0.13 from Leviska Shenault, Jr. and 0.40 from Jordan Reed.

Mike R. def. Ed, 97.69-75.69:

Ed's team got off to a scorching start thanks to A.J. Brown (19.47) and Brandin Cooks (17.07), but then his team went ice cold (Matthew Stafford's 9.55 being a representative example). Mike got a vintage game from Drew Brees (24.40) and added 25.00 from his special teams (Younghoe Koo (12.00) and the Giants defense (13.00)).

Pat def. Dave, 85.57-82.09:

This one lived down to its billing. Justin Herbert (25.70) was good once again for Pat, and D.J. Chark, Jr. added 25.47. But he also got zero from Corey Davis and -2.00 from the Tampa Bay defense. Dave got 22.67 from Jerry Jeudy, but everyone else on his team either fell below expectations or scored in single digits.

Standings

  1. Pulley, 7-2, 954.43
  2. Rob, 6-3, 1,033.09
  3. Kevin, 6-3, 1,018.21
  4. Scott, 6-3, 937.66
  5. Babel, 6-3, 893.07
  6. Matt, 5-4, 939.57
  7. Schertz, 4-5, 965.89
  8. Mike R., 4-5, 921.02
  9. Rabbit, 4-5, 912.40
  10. Richie, 4-5, 883.68
  11. Derrek, 4-5, 838.37
  12. Pat, 4-5, 821.96
  13. Ed, 2-7, 970.87
  14. Dave, 1-8, 672.36

Blingalytics Ratings

  1. Kevin, 632
  2. Ed, 591
  3. Schertz, 581
  4. Rob, 573
  5. Pulley, 568
  6. Scott, 565
  7. Mike R., 530
  8. Matt, 530
  9. Babel, 484
  10. Richie, 478
  11. Rabbit, 477
  12. Derrek, 422
  13. Pat, 373
  14. Dave, 197

Weekly Awards

Team Blangums:

Kevin's 145.45 earned him his second Team Blangums of the year.

Slapped Heartbeat:

Rob's 66.67 means he now has a Slapped Heartbeat to go with his trio of Team Blangums prizes.

Weekly MVP:

Dalvin Cook goes back-to-back here for Matt with 38.73 points.

Dud of the Week:

Rob Gronkowski put up only 0.27 in a winnable game for Pulley.

Start of the Week:

Playing Jakobi Meyers (22.53) over J.D. McKissic (10.37) didn't directly lead to a win for Matt, but it was still a great decision.

Misplay of the Week:

No game was quite close enough to get this award.

Pickup of the Week:

Jakobi Meyers for Matt (see "Start of the Week").

Pryor Play of the Week:

Cam Newton put up 27.30 for Babel, rewarding him this week after quite a few duds earlier in the year.

Week 10 Preview

Game of the Blingaweek

Rub for Today (Rob, 6-3, 2nd) vs. The Chocolate Donuts (Kevin, 6-3, 3rd):

Rob leads all-time series, 9-5.

Rob and Kev are just the 20th and 21st teams to have 1,000 points through nine weeks, so this was an easy choice for Game of the Blingaweek. At this point, both of these guys should be planning for the postseason; due to their point totals, each really only needs to win one of their last four games to settle into a comfortable position. And each has a strong, deep team that could withstand losing any player.

Rob relies most on Russell Wilson (@LAR) and James Robinson (@LAR), who put up solid scores even on down weeks. Tyler Lockett (@LAR), Cooper Kupp (vs. SEA), and Antonio Gibson (@DET) are a bit more mercurial, but rarely all have duds at the same time (and look at that matchup for Gibson - he gets to face off against only ten defenders!).

Kevin probably comes closest to having one irreplaceable player in Davante Adams (vs. JAC), whose lowest score of the past three weeks is 25.07. But Darren Waller (vs. DEN), Josh Allen (@ARI), and Todd Gurley II (bye) have all been among the most productive at their positions, too, so it appears Kev could manage losing the Packers' WR1.

This game looks really competitive, so I'll let Gurley's bye swing my prediction.

Pick: Rub for Today.

Other Blingamatches

Harrison Hammers (Matt, 5-4, 6th) vs. Keep Calm & Kerryon (Babel, 6-3, 5th):

Matt leads all-time series, 9-4.

Matt's had two strong weeks in a row and moved back into playoff position for the first time since week 5. But what I said about Rob and Kev not relying on a single great player? That's quite the opposite for Matt, who's been riding Dalvin Cook (@CHI) to his recent victories. DeAndre Hopkins (vs. BUF), Robert Woods (vs. SEA), and newcomer Jakobi Meyers (vs. BAL) give him a solid supporting cast, but losing Cook would be crippling.

Babel's record has outpaced his point totals, and he's just fine with that; it means he just need to go 2-2 moving forward to have an easy playoff clinching. That said, because he's only 10th in points (but climbing - see the new rank by week graph on his team page!), he probably needs to win at least two games. Cam Newton (vs. BAL) has a tough matchup, so Babel might opt for Carson Wentz (@NYG) instead. At least Keenan Allen (@MIA) and Allen Robinson II (vs. MIN) show up weekly.

Pick: Harrison Hammers.

D's Nuts (Derrek, 4-5, 11th) vs. DK Country (Richie, 4-5, 10th):

Derrek leads all-time series, 5-3.

Derrek finally got Christian McCaffrey (vs. TAM) back, but lost. And, even worse, McCaffrey came away with a different injury. If he misses time again, it's unlikely James Conner (vs. CIN), Diontae Johnson (vs. CIN), Eric Ebron (vs. CIN), and the Steelers defense (vs. CIN) [editor's note: next time I'll just write "the Pittsburgh Steelers"] can carry him to a playoff berth.

Richie's lost five in a row despite having the top two WRs by total points, Tyreek Hill (bye) and D.K. Metcalf (@LAR). His biggest problem has been at RB, where Joshua Kelley (@MIA) hasn't put up double digits since week 2, but his QBs, Tom Brady (@CAR) and Ben Roethlisberger (vs. CIN), have been inconsistent.

This is a must-win game for both of these guys, which means one will be effectively eliminated come Tuesday.

Pick: DK Country.

Pullman's MondoSquad (Pulley, 7-2, 1st) vs. schertzopotamus (Schertz, 4-5, 7th):

Pulley leads all-time series, 8-2.

Pulley's all alone in first place despite losing his last two, but the fact that one of Derrek and Richie must win their must-win game means he can't clinch a playoff berth this week. Aaron Rodgers (vs. JAC) and Aaron Jones (vs. JAC) will be looking to tee off against the lowly Jaguars, so if Antonio Brown (@CAR) and Rob Gronkowski (@CAR) actually show up this week, Pulley will like his odds.

Schertz - who has been on the edge of throwing in the towel all year - looks like a formidable opponent, though. He actually has more points (965.89 to 954.43) and expected wins (5.23 to 5.11) than Pulley, and is coming off a great week. Deshaun Watson (@CLE) has been so much better since his head coach got fired, and Stefon Diggs (@ARI) and Derrick Henry (vs. IND) have been solid to great all year.

Pick: Pullman's MondoSquad.

The Fantasy FB Team (Scott, 6-3, 4th) vs. Pralines & Dick (Rabbit, 4-5, 9th):

Scott leads all-time series, 2-0.

Outside of a Slapped Heartbeat in week 4, Scott's put up at least 98.96 every week. His lack of 120+ games means he hasn't been getting much attention so far, but he's looking like a solid playoff team. This week he'll be without his MVP, Patrick Mahomes II (bye), as well as Clyde Edwards-Helaire (bye) and Hayden Hurst (bye). At least one of Miles Sanders (@NYG) or Boston Scott (@NYG) should have a good game, though.

Rabbit's not in terrible position, especially if he can win this week. More troubling than his current record, though, is the fact that he's failed to score 85 points in three of the last five weeks. Kyler Murray (vs. BUF) has been outstanding, and Will Fuller V (@CLE) has been quite good, as well; throw in Chris Godwin (@CAR) and J.K. Dobbins (@NE), and Rabs is always a threat to go off. But he needs to win at least three games to make the playoffs, and his habit of producing duds is a major hurdle to that.

Pick: Pralines & Dick.

Bernie's Urgent Care (Mike R., 4-5, 8th) vs. Super Bash Bros. (Dave, 1-8, 14th):

Dave leads all-time series, 8-4.

Mike's team is a lesson in resilience. He's been without Julio Jones (bye), Nick Chubb (vs. HOU), George Kittle (IR), Chris Carson (@LAR), and Raheem Mostert (IR) at various times this season, but sits right on the edge of playoff contention. T.J. Hockenson (vs. WAS) filled in extremely well for Kittle this past week, and Travis Fulgham (@NYG) was a great waiver pickup. And now he gets to play Dave!

Dave has Michael Thomas (vs. SF) healthy again, which means he'll be far more competitive than he was, but his team is still not really scary. Jerry Jeudy (@LV) looks like a great keeper, though.

Pick: Bernie's Urgent Care.

Live Commish (Ed, 2-7, 13th) vs. The Vistas are Back (Pat, 4-5, 12th):

Ed leads all-time series, 7-4.

Nothing signifies Ed's fall from the top tier of the Blingaleague like his record vs. Pat; at one time, he was 6-0 against Mr. Gawne, but has lost four of the last five in this matchup. And coming off his two worst weeks of the year, the nail is in the coffin of his playoff hopes. He has one excellent keeper in A.J. Brown (vs. IND), though, and Alvin Kamara (vs. SF), D.J. Moore (vs. TAM), and Brandin Cooks (@CLE) are all capable of big games. Looks like he's playing to nab a few Team Blangums from here on out.

Pat looked like a true contender after four weeks, but now he just looks like an also-ran once again. Justin Herbert (@MIA) is having a fantastic rookie season, though, so if Pat could just get the right combination of flex players in his lineup, he could definitely play spoiler for a few of our more hopeful teams.

Pick: Live Commish.

Closing Thoughts

Week 9 brought us yet another sub-100 point average score. Our average score on the year is down to 101.29 and our median is down to 100.63 - both lower than last year (101.83 and 101.36).