- Pre-Season Week 1 HERE – Here We Fucking Go Again
- Pre-Season Week 2 HERE – Corona-Draft Prep
- Fantasy Draft HERE – Nobody Beats The Wiz!
- Week 1 HERE – Crisis Averted!
- Week 2 HERE – Everything That Could Go Wrong
- Week 3 HERE – Some Nobody Did, In Fact, Beat The Wiz!
- Week 4 HERE – Literally Everyone Beats The Fucking Wiz
- Week 5 HERE – Signs Of Life!
- Week 6 HERE – And Tua All A Good Night
- Week 7 HERE – Tua Be Or Not Tua Be, That Is The Question
- Week 8 HERE – Tua Thine Own Self Be True
- Week 9 HERE – Tua The Window, Tua The Wall!!!
- Week 10 HERE – Tua Infinity & Beyond!
- Week 11 HERE – Tua Err Is Human
Still I can’t let go! Tua belongs to me! I belong Tua!
This was supposed to be a Get Right game for Tua (against the Jets), but instead he suffered some sort of thumb injury beforehand (!) and didn’t even play. That left me scrambling to get his backup, but thankfully I was on the ball this time. So, it was The Return Of FitzMagic who was … fine. 25.85 points is actually pretty good for me, but obviously when you’re going up against the Jets you’d like to see 30+ out of your quarterback. In the end, it didn’t matter because I was smart enough to sub Kirk Cousins in for Carson Wentz, who ended up getting me 35.25 (compared to Wentz’s 22.95), and Nobody Beats The Wiz ended up defeating Korky Butchek 172.78 to 104.90.
What a drubbing! And, it could’ve been so much worse, but I got cold feet at the last minute with Deebo Samuel. Once Tua was ruled out, I was able to stash him in one of my IR spots, giving me an opportunity to pick up Atlanta’s backup running back – Brian Hill, who was starting in place of the injured Todd Gurley – who I figured would be good for 10 points or so, with upside in the high teens. I was honestly more worried that the Rams’ defense would destroy the 49ers, but boy was I mistaken! Hill only got 5.5, while Deebo racked up 24.3 for my bench (and, to boot, the 49ers actually beat the Rams, to help the Seahawks out!).
But, on top of my QBs killing it, I had a lot of guys running up the score. A.J. Brown, Dallas Goedert, and the Rams’ defense all had over 20 points (with DeVante Parker getting 19.9); that was enough to overcome my three running backs scoring me a combined 13.8.
The victory puts me at 7-5 on the season, and thanks to Sausage Shaped Pest losing, guarantees me a spot in this year’s playoffs! Now, all I have to worry about is playoff seeding.
I was about to get into all the possible scenarios, but they are too varied to count. Suffice it to say I’m currently in 5th place; the highest I can climb is to third place (if I win and the two teams above me – also 7-5 – lose their games). The lowest I can finish is 6th place; I have no tiebreaker advantages because I have the fewest points scored of all the teams in the playoffs. I wish I knew the history of being the playoff team with the fewest points, but I’ve never been in this position! Usually, I’m one of the teams that scores MORE than one (or more) of the playoff teams, but due to bad luck ends up in the Consolation Bracket. So, this is uncharted territory for me; hopefully my team gets hot at the right time!
This week, Nobody Beats The Wiz gets a meaningless matchup against Sausage Shaped Pest. It most likely won’t matter either way if I win or lose, so watch me have my best game of the entire season (right before having my absolute worst game, to bounce me from the playoffs). Here’s my lineup anyway (subject to change, if I get a wild hair up my ass about something on Sunday morning):
- Kirk Cousins (QB) vs. JAX
- Ryan Fitzpatrick or Tua Tagovailoa (QB) vs. CIN
- A.J. Brown (WR) vs. CLE
- DeVante Parker (WR) vs. CIN
- Ezekiel Elliott (RB) @ BAL
- Josh Jacobs (RB) @ NYJ
- Dallas Goedert (TE) @ GB
- Deebo Samuel (WR) vs. BUF
- Harrison Butker (K) vs. DEN
- L.A. Rams (DEF) @ ARI
It seems to be a toss-up as to who will start for Miami this week; is Tua’s injury healed? We’ll see! My three receivers all have great matchups this week; my running backs less so (especially if Jacobs’ sprained ankle doesn’t allow him to play; then I’ll have to start CEH against Denver’s stout defense). But, again, I’m not too worried because this game is meaningless. Here’s Sausage Shaped Pest’s roster this week:
- Derek Carr (QB) @ NYJ
- Kyler Murray (QB) vs. LAR
- Michael Thomas (WR) @ ATL
- Justin Jefferson (WR) vs. JAX
- Gio Bernard (RB) @ MIA
- Wayne Gallman (RB) @ SEA
- Darren Waller (TE) @ NYJ
- Brandin Cooks (WR) vs. IND
- Brandon McManus (K) @ KC
- Cleveland (DEF) @ TEN
That’s a pretty good team, that’s been decimated by injuries. He should have Joe Mixon and Saquon Barkley as his starting running backs, but both are currently on IR. He’s also got Mike Evans on BYE this week to hamper his flex spot. Nevertheless, there’s a lot of firepower left over. My guess is he’ll pick up a new defense this week, but he also might not care because he’s already been doomed to the Consolation Bracket.
Next week, I’ll have a playoff preview, since I’m guaranteed to be playing in Week 14. The top two seeds – both with 8-4 records at the moment – while they don’t have their BYEs locked in, they’ve at least locked me out (since they have SO MANY more points than I do). Nevertheless, you know what’s crazy? I have the longest active winning streak in the league right now, of four games, with a very good chance to make it five heading into the playoffs. The hottest team wins no awards, and it has no bearing on what happens in the all-important playoffs. But, I feel better than I did two months ago, when it comes to my team! I’ve done everything I can to try to improve my lineup, and now it’s up to the players to lead me to victory or (more likely) submarine me into the briny deep.
Now that I feel somewhat okay about my lot in (fantasy football) life, watch it all blow up in my fucking face. Next week, I’ll take you down Memory Lane, and look at all of my fantasy football finishes in this league, dating back to 2003 (when we joined Yahoo!). Spoiler Alert: there’s A LOT of mediocrity!