News:

Pretty robust scoring in Clan McDonald this week on the whole! In the standings, the eye-catching update is that Archie has officially locked up a play-off spot and while I don’t keep records on that sort of thing, it would seem to me Week 11 is pretty early to reach that milestone. With the best win-loss record, being tops in points scored and not having a lot of Qs to deal with, I think it’s safe to say it’s his Helmet of Excellence to lose right now.

There didn’t seem to be a lot of news in the NFL this week, no high profile injuries or controversies but people continue to complain about how the game is drowning in penalty flags. I’m not throwing objects at the TV or anything but I do remain concerned about the areas where the NFL and the gambling industry have common interests. One such interest is keeping games close and if anyone is tempted to put their thumb on the scale, penalties are one way to do it.

Random Thought of the Week:

While watching the Red Zone on Sunday and being toggled back and forth between the Lions – Jacksonville game and the Baltimore – Pittsburgh game, I occasionally had to remind myself that I was watching the same league and for that matter, the same sport. Does anyone have the kryptonite for Detroit this year? Yikes…

Shark Move of the Week:

I don’t often bestow this award for cagey moves in a losing effort but I’m going to break with tradition and give this week’s award to AOB for starting Tua, Jeudy and Jennings all in the same week. Jeudy in particular had a 21% start rate in Yahoo leagues and was only rostered in half of Yahoo leagues. That means a lot of people watched him put up a thirty-burger either on their waiver wire or on someone’s bench. Not in Clan McDonald though! Nicely done Andy!

Guppy Move of the Week:

I deliberated over where to put this little editorial featuring Javonte Williams. Is it a simple reminder of the impermanence of depth charts and a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of making permanent decisions in the face of temporary conditions? Is it just NFL coaches not caring about your fantasy team and running their team’s offense through the guy you dropped two days ago? I think it’s both.

We don’t have general fantasy discussions among ourselves as a league but the Internet at large does and I tend to listen in on those conversations when I can. After Week 10, the fantasy community decided that Audric Estime had arrived, the king is dead, long live the king and all that. It would seem the Internet was wrong (again). Shocking right?

Why are we (in the broader sense) in such a hurry to crown some players while relegating others to the trash heap? Some of it is our innate need to find patterns in random information. Some of it is just the reality of having limited roster spots and increasingly harder decisions to make. Early in the season, patience is a virtue but as we approach the home stretch, it becomes a luxury.

If there’s a pattern here it’s that good coaches will use every crayon in the box unless they happen to have one or two that are objectively nicer than the rest. Those special “crayons” get drafted in the first two rounds of a fantasy draft. We can argue there’s more than 24 of them (QBs excluded) but honestly, there isn’t many more than that. After that very short list, everyone else is just another crayon and it doesn’t matter if you’re Deebo or Taysom Hill. You almost never use that Silly Putty coloured crayon but when it’s the perfect colour, it’s the perfect colour and you use the crap out of it.

Fantasy managers all have opinions about what crayons should be used (and to what extent) but the harsh truth is, it ain’t our colouring book.

Smacktalk Award of the Week:

This was a quiet week among quiet weeks but I did enjoy Neil’s gentle chirping of the champ. I started to compose a response to say, “Hopefully Ceilidh’s Secret Santa will bring her a…” but after looking at her roster I really wasn’t sure how to make the joke work. Maybe some sort of app that tells you when half your team is on bye the same week? Come to think of it, I could use that myself…

Welcome to Fantasy Hell Award of the Week:

I saw this as a bit of a “swing week” for some teams and we had three nail-biter contests to provide the drama. Condolences to those who found themselves holding the short straw by the end of Monday night.

Objectively, a win is just a win. They all count the same but in November the weeks are growing fewer and we’re all staring down that “contender or pretender?” scenario. Nine teams are in the mix for five play-off spots but realistically, three of those squads are a loss away from the eau de toilet. This coming week I have AOB versus BigPlay circled on my fight card because that’s basically an elimination game I think. Getcha popcorn ready! Hopefully it’s better than Tyson vs Paul was.