News:

Another week in the books and another week closer to teasing out the top and bottom six. We have a three way tie at the top and five teams right on their heels.

A fantasy season is like a triathlon. The swim is invigorating. The bike is a different level of strain but at least you’re sitting down. Now comes the run. You’re already tired, suddenly the burning sun comes out and there’s nothing but 26 long miles between you and the finish line. Those hairline cracks in your resolve begin to widen and you realize success is as much about outlasting everyone else as it is being better.

In NFL news, more woes at the QB position and since QB play is the “high tide” that raises all other “boats”, a shift to a backup (or the backup’s backup) can dramatically shift the fantasy currents. It looks like the Sanders show in Cleveland, Rodgers is out in Pitt, Penix went on the IR and it also looks like Stroud is still out for Week 12. As always, it remains to be seen if these changes will lead to new opportunities or total collapse as players start to make “business decisions” and travel plans.

Shark move of the week:

Honourable mention to Ayden this week for starting Greg Dortch, who was clearly the difference in his match-up. More than just a kick return desperation move, Dortch was a significant contributor on offence.

A nod to Neil for Michael Wilson as well. I absolutely did not see this journeyman taking his WR1 opportunity to suddenly start looking like peak AJ Green.

This week’s winner seems fairly clear to me though. Scott (Chloe’s Crusaders) demonstrated significant patience with TreVeyon Henderson this year and it’s finally being rewarded. Combine that with a bounce back game for Dallas and Pickens, a Derrick Henry sighting and somehow getting 19.50 points out of the Steelers DEF against Cincinnati (which could have just as easily been ugly) and that’s how you post a weekly high score. Nicely done…

Guppy move of the week:

To echo sentiments from last week, there’s simply too much cumulative injury to point fingers at our sit / start decisions at this stage of the game. More and more “starters” seem to toggle back and forth between “focal point of the offence” and “nearly invisible”. Similarly, NFL teams seems to toggle between unstoppable and looking lost from week to week. Maybe I’ll do a draft look-back edition next week?

Smack talk award of the week:

Good work in the chat this week. AOB was clearly watching the same shit show in Europe I was. Two teams in a game with under two minutes to play and neither wants to kick a field goal to take a lead? This is like seeing a twenty dollar bill on the sidewalk and refusing to pick it up because “analytics” told you not to. Whatever the reason, these European games are clearly how you get new markets interested in American football…

Lastly, I think Moogs speaks for all of us when he’s ready to take a jar of preserves for his first round pick. Guys like Chase are the worst. They can absolutely kill you but you can’t sit them because you know the 40 point game is coming. Well, I mean, maybe it’s coming?

Welcome to fantasy hell award of the week:

In no particular order, my match-up with Neil was shades of last year’s championship game, where I woke up the next day to see that Gibbs had somehow snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. As if that’s not bad enough, he also had to watch Josh Jacobs make an early exit.

If you’re able to watch games in real time and see the fantasy numbers as well, the agony of defeat is often a matter of the numbers behind the numbers. For Archie, that meant watching Kyren Williams come 9 yards shy of a 100 yard bonus, which would have secured a victory – ouch.

The winner this week has to be Brandon though. He has to watch his JJ looking visibly frustrated with the other JJ (and here I thought McCarthy was a nice sleeper pick this year). As if that isn’t bad enough, bright spot Drake London catches a knee injury and Kimani Vidal’s season-saving potential is suddenly undermined by a thigh injury. That’s a large serving of crap to ingest in a single week! Pickles anyone?