GW Bush League - Week 11 (Part 2) — Protector Of The League

JacksON Jacks-OFF: 2-9 lost 124-140

First Down: This was another tough week for Kev and just shows you how timing really is everything in fantasy football. Kev put up 124 this week, which was the 5th highest. Simple math means there he would have beat 5 of the teams if he played them H2H – Ken was not one of them. To make matters worse, if Kev had put up 124 last week he would have beat me (I only put up 118). I’d be willing to bet Kev will lose next week to a team that puts up less than the 124 he scored this week – timing is everything.

I know I say I have a lot of bad luck (and I do, the evidence is there), but holy hell Kev has it worse. The saying “if he didn’t have bad luck then he’d have no luck at all” is overplayed, but it couldn’t be more applicable. I don’t know how he does it, but props to Kev for fighting the good fight.

Second Down: Lesean McCoy was an absolute beast this week – 126 total yards, 2 TDs and 30 fantasy points. The fact that an RB scored 30 when his team lost 54-24 is patently ridiculous, but that whole game was FUBAR. The 30 points he scored this week is double the amount he scored in Weeks 9 and 10 combined (4.9 + 9.1). McCoy has a pretty nice schedule the rest of the way so maybe he can help Kev win his remaining games.

Third Down: I hate to recycle material but this next stat is flat out absurd. Week 11 was huge for defensive scoring – of our 10 teams, the average defense scored 11.2 points. Week 11 was pretty weak for kickers though – of our 10 teams, the average kicker scored 6.2. All in all our teams averaged a solid 17.4 points from their kicker plus defense. Guess what Kev got from his kicker and defense? ZERO POINT FIVE Points. One half of a point. NOT EVEN ONE WHOLE POINT! If Kev had got the average 17 out of those 2 players, he would have won 141-140. Instead he lost by 16. Holy shit Kev let me give you a Condolences Five.

THE FOURNETTEUATE FEW: 5-6 won 140-124

First Down: Where there’s fire there’s ice, where there’s ying there’s yang. Where there’s bad fortune, there is good fortune. Talk about a lucky week for Ken’s team. Despite the fact that he got 0.5 from his kicker and .5 from Dak Prescott, he STILL scored 140 points. Really?

That is nuts, he pretty much played with 7 players and averaged 20 points per guy. Fournette, Ingram and Alex Collins had 21, 28 and 19 points apiece. Dez and Delanie Walker scored 10 and 12 points apiece. Last but not least, Ken got 41 points out of Antonio Brown. Forty one. Brown scored 3 TDs on Thursday Night football and the game was pretty much over at that point. Be better Tennessee Titans, be better.

Second Down: As the Commissioner of this league I’ve swayed the scoring to what I think is appropriate for fantasy football. I try to set up a scoring system that emphasizes the highest priced players (RBs/WRs), while de-emphasizing the lower priced players (kickers and D). The results have generally been positive and I think everyone agrees our scoring system is sound. That being said, one rule definitely troubles me – the Jeremy Hill rule. The Jeremy Hill rule is the rule where players get .2 points for a carry, regardless of the yards gained. Unfortunately it has some unintended consequences and Alex Collins is a good example. Collins had 20 carries for 49 yards, 4 catches for 22 yards and a TD. How many points do you think that should be? 12? 15? In our league it was 19.1. Honestly I feel like that’s too high. Something to think about for next year.

Third Down: Ken is on the precipice of one of the greatest comebacks in GW Bush League history. Two short weeks ago the Fournettuate Few looked like an after-thought. They had a 3-6 record and looked to be the odd man out in the playoffs. Two weeks later and Ken is 5-6 - just one game out of the 6th seed. His competition is me, Tieg and Lamone. My team is choking, Tieg’s team is falling apart and Lamone’s team has a pretty big hole at WR. All are extremely vulnerable. Ken also plays Lamone in Week 13, which is HUGE.

All of this sets up for this week’s matchup – Robby D vs. Ken. This is the game of the year. Ken is the godfather to Robby D’s child. Robby D is going to be Ken’s best man at his wedding (sorry if that’s not true and I created an awkward situation). Ken’s team is hot, Robby D’s team is in 2nd place. What happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object? Will Robby D put Ken down and potentially end his season? Or will he screw me over again and allow Ken to stay in the hunt…… stay tuned.

JABAAL PAP SHMEARD: 6-5 lost 121-126

First Down: I hate to keep going back to this but I have to here. Nothing bothers me more than when kickers and defense determine a fantasy game. I understand they’re a part of the game, but it just sucks when the game is won or lost by late round draft picks and waiver wire adds. Dylan got 25 points out of the Chargers D because the Bills are morons. He then got 13 out of his kicker. All in all 38 from his kicker and D. Lamone on the other hand……Lamone got 12 points out of his kicker and D. When you lose by 4 that’s gotta fuckin hurt.

Second Down: What are the Eagles doing with Jay Ajayi? He’s played two games with them and has ran 15 times for 168 yards and a TD. That’s 11 yards per carry – pretty good if you ask me. So why doesn’t he get more work? In those two games, Legarrette Blount has 22 carries for 94 yards, Kenjon Barner has 1 carry for 1 TD and Wendell Smallwood has 5 carries for 25 yards. Then some bozo named Corey Clement has 18 carries for 101 yards and 3 TDs…… What am I missing here? Ajayi is clearly the best back, so why isn’t he getting the carries? To make matters worse, Ajayi was tackled from behind on a 71 yard run on Sunday. If he scores that touchdown Lamone woulda won his matchup – and I woulda won a matchup in my other league. Eventually they have to smarten up and give Ajayi the ball – I bet he goes off this week.

Third Down: Lamone’s WRs are a definite concern for him this year. They held him back again this week and he got just 13.8 points from Kelvin Benjamin and Jamison Crowder. Lamone was supposed to have Sterling Shepard, but he missed the game due to migraines. Pap Shmeard is a good team, but I’m not sure how far they’ll make it in the playoffs with that weak WR group.

Bud Light n the Dilly Dilly’s: (7-4) won 126-121

First Down: Why is Julio Jones so bad this year? I just don’t get it. The consensus #4 pick in drafts is currently WR17 through 11 weeks. He has scored just one TD this year and that came all the way back in Week 7. That game was played on 10/22, which means it’s been nearly a month since Julio scored his last TD. That month long drought is bad, but it’s nothing compared to the other long TD drought Julio owners have had to suffer. I’m talking about Weeks 1-6 when Julio also didn’t score a TD. That drought was nearly two months – comeon dude. While he’s not a bust on the level of Amari Cooper or Jordy Nelson, Julio could possibly be the most disappointing/underperforming player from our first round.

Second Down: Dylan got the win, but it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. His starting TE Evan Engram had a terrible game on Sunday and scored just 1.4 points for him. (Zach Ertz wasn’t the only bum this week!). Engram had scored a TD in 4 straight games, so he was due for a down game, but 1.4 points is miserable. Dylan was picked up by his kicker/defense, but a performance like this can be the difference between winning and losing.

Third Down: Alfred Morris looked pretty good this week and might be a useful asset for Dylan the next few weeks. He got 17 carries which was great. He gained 93 yards on those carries which was even better. The best part was that he seemed to re-establish himself as the number 1 back in Dallas – a valuable job for the next 4 weeks til Zeke is back.

INTERVIEW: THE COMMISH

1. In a sentence or two, tell me how you feel about your team…..

It’s the same shit all over again. Get off to a great start (4-2) before losing one of my best players (Dalvin Cook) and limping through the end of the season. Overall I don’t feel great and there is a very strong chance I miss the playoffs.

2. Now describe your team in 4 words or less.

They're not good anymore.

3. What do you think about Jerrick McKinnon? He was an absolute stud the first few weeks Dalvin Cook was out, but hasn't done so well lately. It seems like he’s lost the #1 job to Latavius Murray who has been on fire.

It’s concerning, but it’s all about game flow. If the Vikings are in a competitive game then McKinnon is great. He’s the best pass catching RB they have and is a good athlete. Unfortunately they’ve been smoking teams lately and that leads to more Latavius-Murray-run-the-clock-out type games. They have a few good teams on the schedule coming up so fingers crossed they will be competitive.

4. Are you starting to worry about Zach Ertz? He had a huge first half, but has slowed down considerably of late. In the last 3 weeks he missed a game with injury, had a bye week and scored 1.8 points. What gives?

I’m definitely worried and I fear that I missed the opportunity to sell high. Ertz is 100% dealing with an injury right now – that 1.8 point game is a joke compared to his outputs from before the game he missed. I’m still hoping to get above average production from him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t do much from here on out. He’s never scored more than 5 TDs in a season and he already has 6.

5. You’ve made the playoffs every single year but one, but have never finished better than 4th. Will you ever be able to get over the hump?

Nope. Next question.

6. Who do you think will win the league when it’s all said and done? Have you changed your mind about Tieg?

Unfortunately my pre-season expectations are going to be pretty far off from the end result. Tieg had a really good team and looked like the top dog through 6 weeks. Unfortunately he’s suffered from some pretty brutal luck and his team has been dismantled. As of now I have to say Keetz will win with Robby D being the second favorite. At least we’ll have a new champ again this year.

7. Are you in any other leagues? If so, how are those going for you?

I’m in 5 leagues total and it’s been pretty tough. I don’t want to say I’m stretched too thin, but having that many teams takes some serious effort. You end up hedging players half the time which can create some odd results. Through 55 games I have a 27-28 record which is disappointing.

It’s been especially bad lately though - over the past 4 weeks I’ve lost games by 2.6, 8.4, .2, 3.5 and 3.5 points. I went 1-4 this past week and 2 of those losses came by exactly 3.5 points. All in all I lost those 4 games by a combined 35 points which is incredibly frustrating. Might need to think about dropping a league next year.

8. Who do you think is the next league member to get engaged?

I’ll go with Kev here - he’s been with Bri for 5-6 years by my count. We wouldn’t find out for a few weeks, but eventually we would hear the news. Lamone would be my second choice.

(Editor’s Note: That’s 3 votes for Guy, 4 votes for Kev, 2 votes for Keetz, 3 vote for Lamone and 1 vote for Ken. (Cumulative results))

9. Congratulations on the upcoming wedding. How’s everything going with the wedding planning?

Wedding planning is what you’d imagine – not very fun. Nothing is worse than hearing “we should look at some of this stuff” on a Saturday afternoon when you worked 55 hours that week. The cost is also hard to stomach – I’m an accountant and pretty frugal by nature. Looking at the numbers can really make you nauseous sometimes.

That being said I’m a lucky guy. Emma is great and I know the wedding will be a good time. I hope you all can make it, next year is a big year for the League.

10. Any final thoughts you would like to share with the league? The floor is yours…

I’d like to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication to the league. This is definitely the most competitive and challenging league I have – and of course the one I care the most about. I’ve seen how many people start to flake out on fantasy leagues as we get older, but that’s not the case in this league (coughGUYcough). We have a great group of guys and I really want to keep it together for as long as we can.

Also - I know I can get pretty bitter and hostile in these writeups. It's all in good fun and is meant to stir the pot a bit. Hope no one takes offense to any of it. The weekly entertainment is supposed to be a distraction during the workweek, so that's all it is. (If no one is reading this then let me know cuz this shit takes a while sometimes).

PS: Happy Thanksgiving everyone.