GW Bush League - Week 11 (Part 1)

We have arrived…..

Thanksgiving Week is here and it’s one of the best weeks of the year. Honestly I can post an argument that it is THE best week of the year. Why? For starters: 96% of people only work 2.5 days this week. Of that 96%, about 92% of them aren’t reallllyyy working. About 94% of the people in that 92% are actually doing nothing. All in all about 83% of people do nothing at work this week (the math works out, trust me).

Work aside, you get to see your friends and family this weekend. Old friends from high school/college, siblings, parents, etc – nostalgia is in the air. If you don’t get to catch up with at least 3 to 5 people you haven’t hung out with in months/years then it’s a let-down. Last but not least – the food and booze. How many times can you eat and drink for 4-5 straight days with pretty much no repercussions? Not many. 

Anyways we’re in for a great week. For all of you West Coast people who can’t make it home because flights are expensive and you have 6 weddings next year….. my condolences. I’d be pretty pretty prettay bummed if I didn’t get to go home for Thanksgiving. Then again, you have a 4.5 day weekend with no family commitments and no awkward encounters at the bar when you bring your significant other home….. silver linings are all around us. I’m sure there are some other transplants around who can meet up for a Slapsgiving, so you’ll be just fine.

Anyways I personally think it’s the best week of the year. The only other ones that might have a shot are a) the week between Christmas and NYE and b) the week between June 30 and July 7th (dependent on the day of the week the 4th falls on). Regardless, we’re in for a good one this week.

All of that is my way of wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you are all able to enjoy yourselves this week/weekend and everyone stays safe. We still have 1.5 more workdays to go including today, but we’re almost there.

To help you get through these workdays, I gift to you the 11th installment of GW Bush League weekly entertainment. This week I’ll just go through the matchups from Week 11 and draw some conclusions. We’ll also have the 10th and final interview this week – the Commish (you didn’t think I’d leave myself out did you?). Anyways let us get on with it.

WHAT IF HE SHOT ME IN THE FACE? (6-5) Excruciating Loss 111-127

First Down: What a kick in the dick this loss was. I was down by 16.2 points going into the Sunday Night Football game. I had Zach Ertz and the Eagles kicker. Barring disaster it seemed like I’d be able to pull off an upset win over Bob D’s team. Annndddd we got a disaster. Ertz and Jake Elliot both had their worst game of the season with 1.8 and NEGATIVE 1.5 points respectively.

Do you wanna see how improbable this was? The combined scores for Ertz and Elliot in weeks where they’ve both played are as follows: 16.2, 21.5, 24.6, 21.1, 22.8, 25.4 and 18.9. In those 7 weeks, they would have gotten me the win 6 times and tied the other. Of fucking course they shit the bed this week and hand Robby D the victory. I’m the unluckiest lucky person in this league. If there are tiers of bad luck I’d be in the second lowest tier, right above Kev and Frader, but right below everyone else.

Second Down: I had a tough choice at flex this week and had to pick between Isaiah Crowell, Emmanuel Sanders, Devante Parker and Vernon Davis. I made a bold call and started a TE in the flex – I didn’t like the other options. Vernon Davis only scored 8.2 points this week, so it was a bad decision right? Wrong, he was actually the highest scoring player of those 4. LOL. LOL.

LeveonStuffed Kens TacoBell: 8-3 wins 127-111

First Down: We’ll continue the pity party with this – Drew Brees had his highest score of the year against me this week – 28 points. Brees is having an uncharacteristic down-year, but not because he’s playing poorly. It’s because his run game and defense have been really good. Still… of course he puts up his highest point total against me. Why the fuck not? The worst part is that it was avoidable if the Redskins weren’t a complete clown-show of a team. Of those 28 points at least 10 of them came in the last three minutes – when the Redskins had an epic collapse and Brees threw 2 TDs in a 2 minute span. Overall Brees probably had about 12 of his 28 points in the last 4 minutes plus overtime. Ari Gold, please tell the crowd my thoughts on this…..

Second Down: LeVeon Bell had a “down” week and the 17.2 points were his worst output since the 16.5 he put up in Week 2. Must be nice when a down week for your RB1 is 17 points. LeVeon had a poor day rushing (12 for 46), but as always was buoyed by his absurd usage in the passing game (9 for 57). With that 9 catch game, Bell now has 4 games with 5 or more catches on the year. For comparison, AJ Green only has 6 such games while TY Hilton only has 3. As my good friend Charlie Brown once said – GOOD GRIEF. Once again LeVeon Bell is gonna carry Bob D to the finals.

Third Down: Travis Kelce had another big game with 8 catches for 109 yards and 14.7 fantasy points. This is the 4th week in a row he’s had 11 or more fantasy points and the 4th week in a row he’s had at least 73 yards receiving or a TD. The tight end who definitely shouldn’t be on Robby D’s team has a pretty strong hold on the top TE spot in our league (140 total points in 10 games). Unless Gronk has a big end to the season we can probably lock Kelce in for TE1.

MIXONS HERE HYDE UR GURLEY: 10-1 wins 98-77

First Down: Keetz picked the perfect week to have his lowest score of the year – just 98 points. If he had played any team but Guy he would have lost by at least 13, but timing is everything in fantasy. Every year we have one team that’s just destined to win it all. Three years ago it was Frader with Antonio Brown – you just knew it. Two years ago it was Guy with Odell – you just knew it. Last year it was Lamone with David Johnson – you just knew it. It’s pretty clear that Keetz is the team of destiny this year and will take the trophy. Sometime you just know it.

Second Down: Keetz’ bench went OFF this week and actually would have beat Guy’s starting roster. Keenan Allen finally had a breakout game (36 points), Demaryius Thomas scored a TD for the third straight week (14 points) and Kirk Cousins torched the Saints D (31 points). Add in a modest 6.7 from Rex Burkhead and you get a total of 86 bench points – Guy’s team had just 77.

Third Down: Keetz has a really tough WR situation that I’m interested to see play out. This week he started Mike Evans and Stefon Diggs, while adding Ju-Ju Smith Schuster to his flex spot. Overall he got 23.6 points out of the three of them – not ideal. As I mentioned above, Keenan Allen/Demaryius dwarfed that production from his bench (total of 50 points). So who is he gonna start at WR going forward?

You gotta roll with Mike Evans based on talent. He’s been a complete and utter bum this season, but you gotta start him. You’re between a rock and hard place with this one.

After that it’s tough. Ju-Ju is a role player, so I think he’s out. Stefon Diggs might not be fully healthy, so he’s probably out as well. That leaves us with Keenan Allen and Demaryius, which could slot in nicely at WR2 and Flex. Regardless it’ll make for some interesting start-sit decisions when Keetz’ title run starts in Week 15.

“Jakey-Jakey” Big Mistakey: (2-9) loses 77-98

First Down: Two weeks in a row Guy has started a middling QB with a good matchup over Marcus Mariota. Two weeks in a row he’s chosen…..poorly

Or if you want to put it another way…..THE WRONG KID DIED

Anyways this week he lost 10 points because he started Blake Bortles over Mariota. Last week he lost 6 when he started McCown over Mariota. The 16 point swing isn’t a ton, but you need all the points you can get in this league.

Second Down: Golden Tate was a giant bust this week and has dropped from WR7 to WR15. The 4.7 points just about tied his season low, while the 3 catches for 32 yards were also towards the low-end. (His worst game was 3 for 29 in Week 4). If you paid attention and listened to the game coverage this was kind of expected though. The Bears always play him tough and the Lions offense wasn’t supposed to be good. Part of that was true – the Bears played Tate tough. The other part was not true - Stafford threw 2 TDs and Marvin Jones put up 16.5 points. Ouch.

Third Down: What the hell happened to Gronk this week? The Patriots absolutely butt-raped the Raiders, but Gronk had just 5.1 points? TB12 throws for 339 yards, yet Gronk only has 36 yards? What in the san-hell is going on here? First things first, Gronk got tackled on like the 2 yard line on one catch – if he gets a TD there his game score looks a lot different (and I woulda won in another league where I lost by 3.5 points, NBD). Second, the Patriots just don’t need to rely on him. Over the past 4 games the Patriots have gone 4-0 and won by a combined score of 118-44. In that time Gronk has scored 6.6, 14.2, 9.4 and 5.1 points. It’s sad to say, but the Patriots are so good it can actually be bad for fantasy players. Champagne problems for us Pats fans, real life problems for Gronk owners.

THE STAR OF LARRY DAVID JOHNSON: 3-7 wins 127 to 111

First Down: Look at Frader getting the upset win and messing up the playoff picture. Nicely done my man, tip of the cap.

This win was big for a few reasons. First because Frader and Tieg are good buds. It’s always nice to beat your friends and this one has to feel great on a personal level. Second because it really messes up the playoff picture. We now have three teams at 6-5 and one team at 5-6 – one of those teams (likely mine) is going to get their heart stomped on in 2 weeks. Thirdly it shows Frader hasn’t given up (not sure if thirdly is a word). There’s nothing I hate more than when a bad team gives up late in the season and becomes a bye week. Frader proved he’s in it for the full season and is not going to go down without a fight. Last and most important – it puts a game between himself and the bottom two teams. He’s now got a game in hand over Kev/Guy and that’s before Kev/Guy play each other in Week 12. Overall it looks like Frader will avoid the Gabriel this year.

Second Down: The defense and special teams made a huge difference for Frader this week. While Frader got 26 points from his kicker and D, Tieg only got 12.5 points from his specialists. The 13.5 points made a huge difference when the final score was decided by 16 points.

Third Down: Two players on Frader’s team had huge individual weeks, so let’s put them together here. First was Brandin Cooks who had 26 fantasy points on 6 catches for 149 yards and a TD. His speed was on full display during catches of 52 and 64 yards. Those two plays accounted for much of his production, but I don’t see anyone complaining. It’s nice to see the Pats finally have a legit deep threat and I look forward to watching Cooks toast people on a weekly basis. The second guy is Lamar Miller who had 20.7 points on 26 touches, 83 yards and a TD. The efficiency is brutal, but Miller got a big boost when Donta Foreman went down with an injury. Miller officially has no competition for touches which is huge in a league that rewards volume. These two players will help Frader make some noise down the stretch.

CALEB’S BUKAkE PARTY: 6-5 loses 111-127

First Down: It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Tieg. Over the past month Tieg has lost Zeke Elliot to suspension, Deshaun Watson to an ACL tear, Jordy Nelson to Brett Hundley, Devonta Freeman to concussions and Kareem Hunt to poor play calling. He’s actually lost 3 games in a row and things are looking pretty bleak. Coming right up is a game against our #1 team, the 10-1 Keetz. Could Tieg lose his last two games and miss the playoffs? Could he miss the playoffs on a tie breaker? It’s possible, the bottom 3 playoff spots are genuinely up for grabs………..But wait, who am I kidding? This is Tieg and he’ll make the playoffs no matter what.

Second Down: Adam Thielen is on an absolute tear lately and comes in at WR3 as of press time. WIDE RECEIVER NUMBER THREE!!! The 12th round pick and 44th (?!?) WR taken on draft day is currently WR3 in our scoring. Holy shittttt that’s unexpected. Thielen has been especially hot over his last three games with 19 catches for 387 yards and 3 TDs (70 fantasy points). I doubt this will continue but man, what a run. (Predicting a let down on Thanksgiving, you heard it here first.)

Third Down: What is wrong with Derek Carr? I thought I made a mistake by trading him to Tieg, but in reality it was a wash. Carr is not even a top 20 QB in our league, coming in at QB21 through 11 weeks. In 10 games he’s only thrown for 300 yards 3 times. He’s also only thrown multiple touchdowns in 3 of 10 games. On the season he has 2,191 passing yards, 14 TDs and 8 picks. His passer rating is 88.2. Those look like Blake Bortles numbers, not Derek Carr numbers. Considering the fact he threw for 3,900 yards with 28 TDs, 6 picks and a rating of 96.7 last year….this has been a really bad year for Carr. As my Dad used to say “maybe if he stopped doing all the fahking commercials!!”.