2018 - Week 8

Week 8 Recap

Power Rankings:

Recaps are back at it again after a 1 week hiatus. Let's start with a quick power ranking since we're officially halfway through the fantasy season.

1. Justin - He's on a 3 game winning streak with the most points for in the league.
2. Jono - 2nd most points for and the best record, his loss to Mike this week knocks him down to #2.
3. Mat - Bounced back with the most points scored after scoring something like 60 points the week before.
4. Brad - Brad and I are pretty much same same but he's coming off a bad loss and least points scored.
5. Mike - Mike's made strides since the last ranking, he's got a lot of points scored against him and he's still hanging onto the .500.
6. Dylan - Dylan's another rags to riches story, going from the bottom to .500. He's coming off a loss so I had to rank him lower than Mike.
7. Fuki - He's got more points for than me. A series of bad matchups has him 2 games under .500. We'll see if his luck turns around as he fights to get back in striking range of playoffs.
8. Brent - Brent's got work to do. Even coming off a win, he still 2 games under .500. With our 4 team playoff, it'll be an uphill battle to get back in it. (Maybe we should change it to 5 team now that we have 10 people).
9. Lee - Lee's only made 3 moves this entire season, it's almost like he doesn't care. It's pure luck he's not the taco.
Taco. This RB stealing, name jacking, no good lyin' Sak. Even Nick Chubb won't be able to save him. He'll pretty much have to win out to get back in this thing.

Matchups:

Let's take a look at the matchups.

Mat vs Dylan

It's unfortunate that two weeks after I professed my fandom for Dylan, I had to do this to him. His team put up a hell of a fight with 135 points, good enough for 2nd most points scored this week. But as is tradition, the two highest scoring teams always match up. Dylan got production across all of his positions except Def and Flex, he started Breida in his flex (one of the players I traded him) and only got 4 points while leaving Marvin Jones Jr (the other player I traded him) on his bench who went off for 27 points. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I gave him every thing he needed to beat me, except for decision making skills. My team bounced back from a strange 60 point outing the week before with the most points scored at 136, enough to beat Dylan by 1. I needed 12 points from Tom Brady Monday night to close the deal and he gave me 13. Thanks, Tom!

Jono vs Mike

Mike, taco no longer, takes down the king this week. Mike's team had a very balanced performance, having double digits across every spot except for RB2 and Def. Starting the Jets against the Bears after their -3 point performance the week before is definitely a questionable decision, and Crowell seems to have forgotten how to RB after his record breaking 200 yard performance 3 weeks ago. In the end it didn't matter, Joe Mixon is a G and Antonio Brown is living up to his WR1 hype. Mike can also stop playing Crowell when Tevin Coleman comes back from Bye. He lucked out there with Freeman going on IR, locking in Coleman as an RB1 rest of season. Jono's team was not nearly as balanced this week. Gurley as usual puts up monster numbers, Jono was probably pissed that Gurley took a knee at the end of the last run instead of getting him another TD, but it wouldn't have been enough to win anyway. However, if he would have started my boy Deshaun AND gotten that extra TD, things would have been different. Starting Carlos Hyde on his first week with a new team was a mistake. With Fournette coming back eventually, Hyde might have just lost most of his value. Jono is really banking on Dalvin Cook coming back for playoffs.

Brad vs Brent

In the battle of best man vs groom, Brad comes up short. Brad was forced to start Chris Thompson at RB2 with Sony Michel injured and Zeke on bye. That worked out about as well as you'd expect. All in all, Brad scored the least points this week. He got single digit performances out of more than half his positions, including Drew Brees. That was a strange game with the Saints up early and the Vikings covering them deep, Saints resorted to dump offs and runs all night. Brees ended up with 120 yards, but the Saints ended up with the W. As a Michael Thomas owner, I felt Brad's pain. I see where Brad was going starting Houston Def against the Brock Osweiler led Dolphins, too bad Danny Amendola ended up throwing a TD pass to ruin his Def position. Brent made a few bad decisions including a 0 at TE and a 1 reception performance from Golladay, but the rest of his team did just enough to help him win. In fact, he probably could have made another bad decision or two given how badly Brad did. We'll see if he does that next week.

Sak vs Lee

Sak straight up steals and improves on my team name after getting Chubb off the wire. A move I applaud, but it wasn't enough to make his team good. Injuries to Kupp and Fournette are really tanking his team. Most of his players are talented but just underperforming. Odell is putting up his usual great numbers but his talents are wasted on a floundering team, just like in real life. Calvin Ridley pretty much fell off a cliff after Sak added him 4 weeks ago. He's starting Geronimo Allison and Jimmy Graham who are both on the Packers who just can't seem to figure it out. He even has Aaron Rodgers on his bench to really cash in on that QB-WR-TE stack, but unless GB turns it around, I can't see how Sak can turn his team around. Credit where credit's due, he did have a great plug and play at Def with Cincinnati. Lee breaks his losing streak with a monster performance from Adrian Petersen. It seems his team's fortune is inextricably tied to Petersen's aging hot body. Every time AD goes off, Lee wins. His WRs pretty much shit the bed, both logging only 34 yards. All the hype around Josh Gordon seems to be going nowhere and Keenan Allen is not getting his. He'll need something to happen at WR for him if he is to claw his way back in.

Justin vs Fuki

Because Justin insisted. Justin's team is good. There I said it. Excuse me while I go dry heave. Justin walks away with another easy win this week over Fuki. Kenyan Drake is finally taking over that Dolphin's back field from the immortal Frank Gore. Will Lutz kicked the shit out of the Vikings while Brees hibernated. He left some points on his bench in Larry Fitzgerald and Jared Goff. Say what you want about Justin, but he's a true Raiders fan. Starting Jordy Nelson is a gamble that did not pay off. If he would have started his other old ass receiver, he might be looking at most points scored this week. And of course, starting Big Ben on the road is always a gamble. Justin has finally attained the coveted "most points for" title. Too bad our league doesn't pay out for that. Fuki had a slew of problems this week. Including a goose egg at TE from Uzomah and 2 points from Prater at K (who he dropped Vinateri for, who BTW scored 10 points). It's not all bad though, he picked up NE on defense who scored him 20 points. He continues to stubbornly start TB QBs. With Jameis being benched this week maybe he'll go pick up Fitz again. Mean while Wilson is sitting on his bench scoring 20+ a week.