I sound a bit cavalier about that. It’s not that it’s easy or that I don’t care about the winning, it’s that I’ve been systematically beaten down and depressed about my sports fandom until outcomes like this are not only routine but expected. I have no idea why I even follow that shitty team at this point, except a sense of solidarity and obligation towards being part of the best fanbase in terms of fanaticism to success ratio in all of sports.
And now for the updated playoff picture.
Hamlet won, guaranteeing him the Midwest division.
Varlos won a close game over Ellis Dee, maintaining his division lead at two games. If Varlos were to lose next week, and Furt win, the last game of the season would determine the division winner. If either of those things doesn’t happen, Varlos secures it.
Sunbelt doesn’t have the same chance at last week drama, since I play RNATB this week. If I win, I’d be one game behind him with a tied division record. I would likely have to win the final week and him to lose it to catch up - he has a 113 point lead on me for scoring. He plays Dale in the final week. Petey is out of the race on account of being 2 games behind and two games in the division also - he could tie the first two tiebreakers but he’s 200 points back on the third.
The winner of the Bailey / furt game - which was furt - pulled into the lead for the wildcard slot at 7-5. Justin, Petey, and I are a game behind at 6-6. Furt has 1387 points, me 1365, Justin 1339, and Petey 1275. Furt plays Ellis next week and Varlos to finish off the season. It’s still very much possible if he drops a game for Justin or I to make up the points gap to snatch the wildcard. The 5-7 teams, Stringer, Omni, and Ellis are still in the running for the wildcard slot. They’d have to win out, have furt lose both games, and the 6-6 teams lose at least one game. Stringer is a strong contender on the points tiebreaker with Omni also in reach.
Thanks to some favorable matchups, I have a projection of 150.82 for this week; I won’t hit it, but that’s the highest I can remember seeing in our league (though probably not the highest in fact).
More impressive, thanks to the end of bye weeks, I could replace every player in my lineup (except the Kicker) with bench players and have a projection of 105.89*.
I swear, I’m not (just) saying this to boast: My roster is too deep. I don’t have any definite ideas yet (I’ll scout around), but I’d like to trade some guys away. That could be either be taking two or more of my players and combining them for on player somewhat better than either, or trading someone for a draft pick (even a starter, possibly). If you see someone on my roster you like, hit me up; no harm in asking, you know?
- Hoyer / Crabtree, Adams, Sanders, Watkins / Gio, Woodhead / Ertz / JAX
I think it really helps that you have just one guy (a 4th round draft pick) on IR, and Tony Romo is really the only injury you’ve suffered. It’s easy to have depth when you don’t lose your #1 RB and 3 top 20 WR’s.
No doubt. I’ve had plenty of guys miss a few games here and there, but nothing that really caused any hardship other the the Romo injury, and even that’s minor because he only missed out on a few would-be starts with Newton playing so well.
I was going to mention this, actually, but didn’t want to tempt fate by boasting of my team’s health on the eve of the playoffs. (I’m not actually superstitious, but sometimes I act like I am.)
You’re not superstitious; you’re a little stitious.
I suppose that’s one way of putting it, Mr. Scott.
On the other end of things, I have really awful matchups this week and I’m still dealing with the loss of Edelman. Having V-Jax come back healthy at the same time Edelman went out helps a little, and having Jordan Reed finally stay healthy (knocks on wood) for the majority of the season does too, since Martellus Bennett has been banged up and ineffective. I am now very glad I didn’t trade Reed even though he’s been a wasted roster spot most of the time I’ve owned him.
Yahoo isn’t letting me put a trade offer through (it still thinks the deadline passed). Hopefully the commish will be able to put it through.
Trade:
Hamlet (Cute Widdle Bunnies) gives up: Kelvin Benjamin, WR Carolina Panthers
Dale42 (Warner Brothers) gives up: David Johnson, RB, Arizona Cardinals.
I’m making a run for a championship, but I still have a hole at the RB#2/Flex#2 position. With questions about Charcandrick West’s health, I needed a temporary fill in. With injuries to Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington, I’m hoping David Johnson has value for a few games to help me win the championship. We will see.
Smart trade. I’m jealous. Incidentally, I am open to trading Edelman for a good QB.
How about Tyrod Taylor!
I would consider Taylor, but given the appreciable risk that he won’t be starting in Buffalo next year I’d need more than just him in return.
Check out my team and PM me if you see a trade you like.
Jameis?
I would do Edelman for Dalton and a first round pick swap. I would need more to flip Edelman for Jameis.
I’d take that deal.
Done, then. Unless you want to see if we can work a deal for Jameis instead; assuming we don’t agree on something I will still go through with the Dalton deal.
I’m pretty good with this deal right now. If we work something out for Jameis later, then that can be something else. So…
TRADE ANNOUNCEMENT
Really Not All That Bright Gets:
Andy Dalton (QB - CIN)
Justin Bailey’s 2016 1st Round Pick
Justin Bailey Gets:
Julian Edelman (WR - NE)
RNATB’s 2016 1st Round Pick
Sweet. Fuck you, Matt Ryan! Now I have to give serious consideration to letting Beef win this week to try and keep you out of the playoffs (though given my matchups that may happen anyway).
I assume you’re kidding, since that sort of thing is a pretty strong violation of competitive ethics.