News:

Not really news but I’m finding the NFL schedule particularly challenging this year in fantasy terms. The bye week situation was the biggest one but then you add in these Saturday games and even the head-scratching Monday night double headers. Can someone explain to me why a league that loves money would schedule two games at the same time on Monday night? Say what you want about the Thursday night games but at least you have all the eyeballs on one game.

Anyway, add another Monday game to the Sunday night one and then mix in the usual Q’s, D’s and O’s and you have the makings of a real mess. There are not too many “set and forget” line-ups this time of year!

In Clan McDonald, we’re down to the final four as Grid and the Champ posted respectable numbers but ran into pretty strong resistance from BK and Commish. In the consolation bracket, the Piper won the Scotch Bowl (aka the “Glass Bottle of Excellence”) over BigPlay and Jay somewhat poetically had the high score of the week to advance against Chloe.

Random Thought of the Week:

This is nothing new but I feel like it’s time to renew the age old internal debate I have on the merits of gravitating towards drafting players on good teams. Stated differently, does it matter fantasy wise, if NFL teams have something to play for late in the season or not?

The argument against is simple. We’ve had championship line-ups in the past with players like Tyrod Taylor, Robert Woods and Jack Doyle. Those players were raking during the fantasy play-offs on teams that were going nowhere. Why? Obviously coaches are trying to keep their jobs and players are trying to earn or solidify roster spots. I get that there’s no quitting in football but this year we’re seeing some teams that are literally falling apart right now. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t quit when you’re down to your third QB and most of your o-line is from the practice squad. Try as you might, it’s all over.

The opposite risk is that the good teams may wrap things up early and start resting people. I’m not sure this will be a year for that but it happens pretty regularly too – especially in weak divisions.

Shark Move of the Week:

The award this week goes to BK who displayed one of (and arguably both) the elements I think will win a championship this year. I think the Plastic Helmet of Excellence will be decided by Special Teams (K and DEF) and the presence (or absence) of the “explosive element” on offense (to borrow NFL terminology). Brandon got solid production from his entire line-up but 39 points from your kicker and DEF is the kind of thing that will separate you from a very worthy opponent.

The other element is the “big game”, the 50 by Goff, the 40 by ARSB, the 46 by Adams and 45 by Allen. Like really good drywall mud, performances like those can hide a lot of holes and mistakes. Time will tell but I do think the team that gets the big game and the Special Teams thing right will hoist the trophy.

Guppy Award of the Week:

I can’t help but feel like the Champ may have run out of managerial gas this week. What happened with Waddle is obviously unforeseeable and crappy but deciding to roll with Legette when your season is on the line was a bit of a head-scratcher. I think I would have closed my eyes and thrown a dart at the waiver wire instead, but that’s just me…

Smacktalk Award of the Week:

The championship bracket is typically a pretty quiet group so you don’t expect too many there to be focused on winning this award. Things are a little more relaxed in the consolation bracket though and BigPlay and Piper did not disappoint with their little side wager.

I did enjoy the call out of Justice Hill but couldn’t help noticing the irony of Mooglar having left Sam LaPorta on his bench for a cool 21 points. At the end of the day, we have to go easy on both of them. Piper claimed victory but barely cracked the 100 point plateau, so it’s a bit like an adult beating the children in the three-legged race at the family picnic. Impressive… but also a little embarrassing.

Welcome To Fantasy Hell Award of the Week:

There are many candidates but I’m going with Grid this week, who had two QBs on his roster who just happened to be playing each other in a foul weather game. What are the odds of that happening? Fantasy wise, each was about as bad as the other and it’s a perfect “trap” scenario. Both are great QBs and it’s reasonable to think both will find ways to overcome the weather and score points. In the end, neither did. Ironically it was a pretty good game for the kickers. Many seem to struggle to make extra points in good weather but they can go 4 for 4 in the slop. Go figure…

Anyway, Week 16 awaits! We get our top seeds back in action and we’ll have to see if the week of rest did them any good on game day.