News:

We definitely had some shifting in the tectonic plates of Clan McDonald this week. We no longer have a perfect season at the top of the standings but still have one at the bottom. We also had some late scratches on game day, some high impact injuries and some late breaking trades as well – thrills, spills and chills to go with the pre-Halloween season maybe?

Random Thought of the Week:

I can’t decide if match-ups are everything or nothing. A clearly more prepared Jacksonville team beats Buffalo. San Fran turns what some thought would be a stern test into what looked like a parent – child football game. Teams like the Jets and Steelers who have looked lost so far suddenly put a bite into their opponents. It’s very hard to know what will happen and how it will trickle down to fantasy, that’s for sure.

Shark Move of the Week:

I have a plane to catch today so I apologize for the abridged newsletter but off the top of my head, kudos to Ken for coming back from a fifty burger by DJ Moore against a 4-0 squad to methodically pull out a win. Allen and Hill are great, sure but it was Hall that made the difference along with supporting roles by “Not Jerry” Rice and Addison. Ken and Jordan caught a bit of luck with the injury to JJ but who among us wins or loses without the influence of luck? Regardless, nicely done.

Guppy Move of the Week:

I like the hustle and wheelin’ and dealin’ going on between the Pipers and Dawgs this week but maybe 8:00PM on a Monday night is leaving it a little late to get a deal done (especially when you’re hoping it will help you round out your weekly line-up)?

I do commiserate with Piper to an extent though. Some of the messages Yahoo sends as part of the trade process are “warnings” and some are errors. It can be hard to sort through which is which but most of they time it tells you when your proposed trade will be processed, taking into account if players have already played or not played. The other relevant factor (I believe) with Thursday to Monday trades is whether you are trying to trade a player in your line-up or on your bench. If you try to trade someone whose points you used this week, I don’t think that deal can go through right away but if it’s “bench for bench” I think you can…

Smacktalk Award of the Week:

I appreciated Neilly exploiting the opportunity of his early lead to chirp Grid a bit about Josh Reynolds but Grid’s response came a little later after the contest tipped his way. The message was fairly simple – as Wayne on Letterkenny often says (while standing at a public urinal), “Keep your eyes on your own work there, Superchief”.

Welcome to Fantasy Football Hell Award of the Week:

We had a few more key injuries this week – Richardson, Justin Jefferson, K Herbert, Achane and James Connor but we need to also keep an eye on the ones that happen to players that don’t directly score us points. Buffalo lost another key piece of their DEF this week and some fans I know have already become doomers regarding the Bills chances in 2023. We’ll see…

Another quick observation I had was regarding the magnified risk and reward of the “stack” – multiple players on your roster from the same NFL team. Obviously everyone wants the “Brady to Moss” combo platter but stacking Cowboys (for instance) this week didn’t go too well. Something to ponder on I reckon…