News:

Thirteen down and one to go. Only one play-off spot locked down and the other five will be determined by some combination of wins, losses and points scored. The teams at 8 – 5 appear to be in good shape but with the scoring volatility we’ve seen, there most certainly could be some movement up and down the standings.

Random thought of the week:

When I reflect back on this season it will be with a particular emphasis on the QB position, because I feel there’s been a shift in real football that has me rethinking some traditional fantasy football wisdom. In the past we’ve had QBs that were good for both real and fake football, some better for real than fake and others that were better for fake than real. We’ve often seen bad teams start to move the offence long after the real game has been decided. The other team is playing prevent defence and there’s fantasy stats to be had. The uncontested yards count the same amount as the contested ones.

This year though, we’ve seen QB play so bad their teams can’t even take advantage of “garbage time”. We’ve seen QB play so bad it’s actually had a direct effect on the other team’s offence! On Sunday, the Vikings were so bad that Sam Darnold threw for 128 passing yards and Seattle still won 26 – 0. Cleveland was so bad that CMC was held to 53 rushing yards, Kittle led the receivers with 67 yards yet San Fran still won by 18 points. In the boxscore, Purdy was “okay” but the real story was how he basically neutralized the Browns’ DEF – the best thing they have going for them.

I’m not sure what conclusions to draw but I’m wondering if it’s time to consider streaming two different kinds of QBs week to week? I guess I have nine months to mull that over…

Shark move of the week:

Speaking of QBs, AOB continues to do a nice job of identifying the hotter hand. Maybe I’ll get his book for Christmas this year? As good a QB whisperer as he’s been, I have to give this week’s award to Grid. Technically the reason isn’t limited to a single weekly decision but more that it’s the right time to acknowledge how good Trey McBride and Jameson Williams have been as 4th and 5th round picks – and no, this has nothing to do with the ARSB injury this week. Williams has been putting up WR1 points for the past five weeks. Nice picks Dan!

Guppy move of the week:

I didn’t expect much (or even anything) from Max Brosmer (especially with a name that sounds like a character from an action movie written by ChatGPT) but I picked him up anyway. My rationale was that he was one of the 32 starting QBs in the league but the reality is, that factoid doesn’t carry the weight it once did. How bad was Maximum Bro-ster? He’s so bad that Minnesota knew JJ McCarthy was still better than he is. Oof…

Smack talk award of the week:

I think it’s fairly easy to recognize the Piper here for taking the high road in the face of adversity, both on the gridiron as well as in the chat. It’s been a rough campaign and while I haven’t watched a lot of Ravens football this year, I am now convinced Lamar is dealing with a fairly significant injury he’s refusing to acknowledge or make excuses with. One might say the Piper and his QB share that trait – tape it up, soldier on and make no excuses!

Welcome to fantasy hell award of the week:

Similar to the shark award, this is less about a weekly achievement and more about finding a suitable time to acknowledge a really tough season for a member of our Circle of Excellence. At 5 – 8, things have gone about as badly for the Brewers as they possibly could this year. 2025 is the year the Vikings wasted a season of prime Justin Jefferson. While that was happening, Brian Thomas Jr suddenly caught the Jaguar flu and then ended up injured. KWIII also turned into a textbook “roster clogger” (can’t start’em, can’t drop’em. can’t trade’em) because Seattle was insistent on splitting carries more evenly than a lot of people think they should.

It hasn’t all been bad though. He won the Quinshon Judkins sweepstakes, but even he’s become a bit of a point chasing exercise (see Cleveland, bad) and the great trade for Drake London went from acquisition of the year candidate to yet another injury.

We all have those enigmas on our rosters that turn us into “point chasers” – the guys who go off on your bench, then you start them and they do nothing, only to go off on your bench the week after that. Between those guys and the many injuries, setting weekly line-ups must be a carousel of horrors for BK and I empathize with the frustration of seeing a good roster that just can’t put it together and be good.

Remind me again why we do this?