Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Week 9 Recap: There is no "Easy Win"

Image result for matt ryan november 4th 2018 
I seriously don't know of a more frustrating game to play than Fantasy Football. It tries to play like a game of skill, and to a small degree it is..I mean you have to know a LITTLE bit about the game at the very least, but for the most part, it's just pure dumb luck..good and bad. Year after year we go through the same spiel and yet..it never gets any less agonizing. I know my problem is, I take it personally, like I FAILED..even though I don't step on the field, I can't control anything..i just put a lineup of guys on different teams out there and hope they outscore someone else's random guys on different teams. What am rambling about? My biggest motto when it comes to matchups..."PROJECTIONS DON'T MEAN SHIT". Hell if they did, I'd probably be a 6 time champion because I'm pretty sure I'm favored in about 90% of my matchups the last few years. But projections just don't matter. It doesn't matter if you're a 20 point favorite or a 2 point favorite, projections are just that..projections. So this week, Kenny had what looked to be a slam dunk win against Mark's team who was just decimated with byes and a couple injuries. Kenny even made a trade with Mark and gave him a couple players to use in exchange for Golden Tate and his #3 Waiver (ended up being DeVante Parker) and even one of THOSE players (Keke Coutee) was ruled out for Mark. Mark had to resort to using Chris Ivory and Alfred Blue as his starting running backs. Yes...CHRIS IVORY AND ALFRED BLUE. Kenny, fresh off scoring nearly 150 points, was rightfully feeling confident about picking up a key win. And then Week 9 rolled around and the games were actually played and projections went out the window and because this is fantasy football, Mark ended up coming away with the unbelievable yet believable upset win. Upsets aren't exactly a rare occurrence in fantasy football, hell Alex built a 4 game winning streak off of them. It just goes to show you that there's no such thing as a "free win" and nothing is over until 0:00 in the 4th quarter (or overtime) of Monday Night Football. Here are the Week 9 results.

The Results

Rigmas Forever (5-4)                            126.28
Trump 2020 (4-5)                                    88.34

No Soup For You (6-3)                         122.46
I Am Queens Blvd (4-5)                          94.24

Underdawg (3-6)                                   108.04
Channel 4 News Team (4-5)                   66.76

Shock The Monkey (6-3)                       104.50
Scott's Tots (3-6)                                     96.40

Light's Broken Bots (6-3)                       112.30
Hoosier Daddy (2-7)                                 94.70

Rocket Man (6-3)                                      103.36
SCLSU MudDogs (5-4)                              75.32

Top 5 Scorers
Drew Brees (I Am Queens Blvd)                35.44 Pts
Michael Thomas (Rigmas Forever)            33.10 Pts
Jared Goff (Underdawg)                             32.84 Pts
Kareem Hunt (No Soup For You)              32.60 Pts
Matt Ryan (Shock The Monkey)

Top 5 Scorers (Non QB)
Michael Thomas (Rigmas Forever)            33.10 Pts
Kareem Hunt (No Soup For You)              32.60 Pts
Alvin Kamara (Rigmas Forever)                31.60 Pts
Christian McCaffrey (Scott's Tots)            30.20 Pts
Tevin Coleman (Rocket Man)                   30.10 Pts

Top 5 Duds
Derek Carr (Trump2020)                        7.34 Pts
Tarik Cohen (Rigmas Forever)               1.80 Pts
Mike Evans (Rocket Man)                      2.10 Pts
Kirk Cousins (Channel 4 News Team)   8.36 Pts
Mark Ingram (Scott's Tots)                     2.10 Pts

Highest Scoring Team
Rigmas Forever (126.28 Pts)

Lowest Scoring Team
Channel 4 News Team (66.76 Pts)

Biggest Blowout
41.28 Pts (Underdawg vs Channel 4 News Team)

Closest Game
8.1 Pts (Shock The Monkey vs Scott's Tots)

Week 9 Notes: So this is why I'm always real hesitant to overreact to one Thursday Night Play. The way my Sunday started seriously couldn't have started any worse. After Mike's 7.4 pt play at QB, I felt I'd have a huge QB advantage considering I had Cam Newton against the atrocious Bucs defense. Well...the day started out as frustrating as frustrating can be. First of all, I had a TD taken away from me as Kyle Rudolph had fallen on a Latavius Murray fumble and was credited the TD only to have it taken away a couple minutes later. Then, the Panthers quickly scored 28 points on the Bucs...BUT NONE OF IT WAS CAM. It was two McCaffrey TD's, a random RB TD and a Curtis Samuel Rushing TD. I was IRATE...I couldn't believe that there was a real possibility Cam was either gonna barely score over what Carr had or even worse SCORE LESS. Luckily the Panthers D let up some points and Cam turned in a respectable performance but still, Kyle Rudolph sucked again and Tarik Cohen couldn't even put up 2 points. To end the shitty start, Julio Jones scored his first TD of the season (surprise! against me!) and Mike was the projected favorite going into the afternoon games. Then...once again Michael Thomas and Kamara SAVED MY ASS. They combined for over 60 points and Kennan Allen also had a solid game to solidify my lead and I got the important W. The points also help immensely. I feel like just looking at my own schedule (it's tough) and others around me that my ceiling is going to end up being 5th-6th seed. It's nice being 5th with a little bit of a buffer, but I gotta keep those points up if I end up dropping down. For Mike the roller coaster continues as after a crap start (2 losses) and a great rebound (4 wins) he's back on the downswing again with a 3 game losing streak. Next week's matchup with Kenny is crucial in not only wins but points. For me, well I feel like I have to beat Drew as I'll be a heavy favorite because my last 3 matchups are super tough. We talked about Mark's win as  just how. Don't know how he does it. Undermanned and facing a way better team on paper, Matt Ryan and Travis Kelce luckily had great games to get him the big W. It's a huge win for Mark, because his team had been trending down and another loss could've been really hurt his playoff chances, but at 6 wins and a relatively soft schedule Mark's back on track on the playoff hunt. For Kenny..just a terrible loss and basically it really seems like his only way in is going to be points based. The good news is he currently has the points to make him the 6th seed so as long as his team scores consistently high, wins won't really matter. Kenny takes on Mike next, who's he only like 4 points ahead of so that's a pretty huge matchup for both. Mark on the other hand gets what should be a pretty winnable matchup against my dad. Speaking of Dad, his role has been basically reduced to spoiler this season and he did his job against Albert. Not only beating him, but getting blowout of the week against him. Injuries and byes just killed Albert and not only did Albert get the Blowout of The Week but also lowest points of the week which is an absolute KILLER. Just the wrong time to have injuries and byes hit your team. Albert will try to bounce back against yet another "spoiler" team, Ryan, while Dad takes on Mark and tries to spoil his playoff hopes. I think it's getting pretty clear who the overall favorite is to win it all. Leland is just DOMINATING points wise and picks up another easy win as he blows out another opponent in Drew. It seems like nobody has even come close to beating Leland. It's hard to think Leland won't finish with the #1 record and most points in the league. He'll take on his brother Eugene next week in what could possibly be a Wane McGarity Bowl preview. There was nothing Drew could do, Leland just has the better team. Drew's playoff hopes are slowly fading and he'll need a huge win against me next week to keep afloat. Alex, it's been a hell of a run, but it FINALLY predictably stopped this week. Look, this is meant as no disrespect, but this is how I basically expect Alex's team to perform, especially with no Andrew Luck this week. I feel like the only way Alex makes the playoffs is by wins because his points are DEAD LAST in the entire league. To me he'll have to win 3 of his next 4 to have a solid chance, and I just think it's going to be really rough to accomplish. Eugene picks up yet another win to solidify his #2 seed but the big news is A.J. Green's toe injury. He's going to miss 2 games at  least and that's a pretty big blow to Eugene's roster. He still has tons of firepower, but Green will definitely be missed. He'll take on his brother next week, while it doesn't get any easier for Alex as he takes on Matt next week. So Finally, Ryan once again loses another nailbiter, this time on Sunday night against Matt. Ryan was even briefly projected to win after Jimmy Graham scored a TD, but Matt's guys rallied and Josh Gordon but a nail in the coffin with a 50 yard TD as Matt picks up win #6. Matt's team is for real and it's crazy that the top 3 seeds (Leland, Eugene, Matt) have won a combined 13 straight matchups. They have obviously separated from the pack by wins and points. and Matt will look to build on that lead next week against Alex, while Ryan takes on Albert.









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