WRBL Week 5, 2018 Recap

Wisconsin Rapids Bro League

Week 5
Our 4th official season of blaming Cole Walters for falling asleep in the middle of completing a project.

Current Standings (with regular season won-loss streaks)
Steven Nett Division

Team Easy Breesy (Ryan Dougherty) 4-1 W1
Colieveland 96ers (Cole Walters) 3-2 W2
Team ChowHounds (Darrin Aschebrook) 3-2 L1
The Scottfather (Scott Aschebrook) 3-2 W1

Shooter McGavin Division
Tax Paying Homeowner (Alec Swanson) 4-1 W4
Perfectly Balanced (Nick Zurawski) 2-3 L1
Crazy Todd's Driveway Band (Andy Todd) 1-4 L3
SNEEN MACHINE (Tyler Sneen) 0-5 L5

Week Five Final Scores

SCOTT  121 NICK  116
COLE  146 DARRIN  138
RYAN  141 ANDY  127
ALEC  139 SNEEN  115

Heroes of the Week: RB James Conner (Cole), RB Todd Gurley (Ryan), TE Eric Ebron (Ryan)

Steven Senne, AP
Hero of the Week: TE Eric Ebron (Team Easy Breesy)

Waiver Wonders: WR Robby Anderson (27 points), WR Tre'Quan Smith (26), DF Cincinnati Bengals (24)

Zeroes of the Week: K Mason Crosby (Sneen), K Robbie Gould (Darrin), DF Denver Broncos (Nick)

Getty Images
Zero of the Week: K Mason Crosby (SNEEN MACHINE)

Upcoming Week 6 Match-ups & NFL Schedule (in CT)

Alec vs. Darrin
Scott vs. Ryan
Cole vs. Nick
Andy vs. Sneen
Thursday: Philadelphia @ NY Giants 7:20 PM
Sunday: Tampa Bay @ Atlanta NOON
Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati NOON
LA Chargers @ Cleveland NOON
Seattle vs. Oakland IN LONDON NOON
Chicago @ Miami NOON
Arizona @ Minnesota NOON
Indianapolis @ NY Jets NOON
Carolina @ Washington NOON
Buffalo @ Houston NOON
LA Rams @ Denver 3:05 PM
Jacksonville @ Dallas 3:25 PM
Baltimore @ Tennessee 3:25 PM
Kansas City @ New England 7:20 PM
Monday: San Francisco @ Green Bay 7:15 PM
Bye Weeks: Detroit & New Orleans

Bro...

I'm always looking to try new things in fantasy football and with this 1-4 start, I've decided that I'd like to go all in on starting over through trades, waivers and maybe even an eventual team name change to top it all off. It's very easy to become disengaged with one's team when you continuously are getting beaten down on Thursday Night and somehow expected to come from behind and never doing so. Frankly, I've accepted that this could be a losing season but, I'm still going to try to compete because A. Nobody wants to trade picks with me and B. It's fantasy football and the more competitive the league, the more fun each week typically turns out to be. There may have been a potential Odell Beckham trade that fell through due to a fellow owner's cowardice but let it be known that every single player on my team is available for trade (except Kareem Hunt, Long live the 14th round!). Now that my advertisement is over, on to the rest of the week for the WRBL...

Denny Medley - USA TODAY Sports
Chiefs' RB Kareem Hunt remains a bright spot on Crazy Todd's Driveway Band despite the 1-4 start.

In case it was not already made clear, Crazy Todd's Driveway Band lost to league favorite Team Easy Breesy by 14 points after Monday night to remember from the NFL's all-time passing yardage leader Drew Brees. If it weren't for Ryan's three primetime players (Eric Ebron on Thursday & both Brees and Michael Thomas on Monday), Ryan would have only had 72 points. It's always a buzzkill to see your team get destroyed with no hopes of rebuttal on national television, luckily I had to work both nights (This is not actually lucky, I hate all things). Rivalry week was made especially apparent by the amount of reverse-jinxing and throwback trash talk that was brought to our attention this week. Constantly throughout the weekend, Nick Zurawski would congratulate Scott on his "victory" long before every player had finished their games in hopes of a collapse that never came. It did not help Z's cause that Brandin Cooks left the Rams-Seahawks game with a concussion but, Nick basically spoke a win for The Scottfather into existence so, he only has himself to blame (also, benching token Dolphin Kenyan Drake's 23 points was a big oof) for a five point loss. In a rematch of the MoonBak Bowl of 2017 and the Shelby Bowl of 2016, Don't let Cole's incessant need to diminish Darrin's fantasy football accomplishments (like avoiding last place in 2017) distract you from the fact the The ChowHounds put up 138 in a loss this week. His team is still a force to be reckoned with whether Alvin Kamara is putting up 40 points or a disappointing 6 as he did in week 5. Of course, the weekly WRBL wrap-up would not be complete without SNEEN MACHINE losing another game so, in the week's largest deficit (24 points), Tyler Sneen dropped to 0-5 as Alec now holds a two-game lead in the Shooter McGavin Division. Mason Crosby's five missed kicks did not help but, neither did benching Isaiah Crowell for Devonta Freeman in Freeman's first week back from injury (that was a 24-point, decisive benching).

AP Photo/Don Wright
James Conner continues to make a case for future playing time even once Le'Veon Bell returns, making the lineup decisions difficult for both his owner (Cole) and Bell's (Sneen)

You know how I know the Saints are going to win the Super Bowl this year? Just look at their depth... it is insane. No other team can just look at the potential Offensive Player of the Year (my personal Weeks 1-4 MVP) in Alvin Kamara, look to the side and see a trusted veteran with fresh legs coming off a suspension (Ingram) and suddenly decide that the MVP candidate doesn't need to play as much anymore. Their defense might be coming around to the potential they showed in 2017 and that's just petrifying for more hot-and-cold teams like Minnesota, Philadelphia and Carolina. This week, Drew Brees gets to rest his right arm and rightfully so because 72,103 yards could really do some damage on a man's arm. Detroit will also hold their bye week this week after defeating Green Bay despite a 400-yard performance from Aaron Rodgers. Speaking of 400 yards, how many quarterbacks top that mark this week? It seems like this happens 3 or 4 times a week now where it used to only happen once a month. The NFL has changed and with Michael Bennett not even bringing a quarterback down resulting in a penalty, I'm not sure whether to be extremely happy (FANTASY POINTS GALORE from the offenses) or extremely turned off (BUT... MUH DEFENSE!). One thing that has not changed is the excitement of October as the NBA is right around the corner (My NBA picks are coming next week) and the MLB playoffs move forward with just the Dodgers, Red Sox, defending champion Astros and somehow, the Milwaukee Brewers remaining. It's a great time to be a sports fan and did I mention that the WRBL matches are pretty damn interesting this week too? Not only do both 4-1 teams face teams with winning records but, there's a battle for last place between myself and Tyler Sneen AND Nick has a chance at knocking Cole down a peg in a crucial result for the future of Nick's Tremendously Perfectly Big League Balanced team. If Nick falls to 2-4, he'll need to go on a real hot stretch in order to contend for that second wildcard spot. If he wins, he could be in a 4-way tie for 3rd overall and keep Cole closer than ever. It's another saucy week in the Bro League, I just hope it's a KC Masterpiece on Sunday Night Football because I'm being forced to start the Chiefs defense in a separate league and even without Mahomes, there's still Kareem Hunt and Harrison Butker keeping me heavily invested in Andy Reid's team.

Scoring Leaders

QB

Patrick Mahomes 127 (Andy/Scott)

Drew Brees 122 (Ryan)

Matt Ryan 118 (Alec)

Aaron Rodgers 100 (Darrin)

Tom Brady 89 (Sneen)

Cam Newton 88 (Nick)

DeShaun Watson 63 (Cole)

Russell Wilson 41 (Scott)

Ryan Fitzpatrick 24 (Cole)
Philip Rivers 22 (Nick)
Jared Goff 13 (Andy)

Andrew Luck 11 (Cole)

Carson Wentz 11 (Scott)

RB

Alvin Kamara 138 (Darrin)

Todd Gurley 135 (Ryan)

Melvin Gordon 123 (Alec)

Saquon Barkley 115 (Alec)

James Conner 107 (Cole)

Ezekiel Elliott 96 (Nick)

James White 95 (Darrin)

Christian McCaffrey 80 (Scott)

David Johnson 76 (Scott/Andy)

Kareem Hunt 75 (Andy)

Isaiah Crowell 46 (Sneen)

Giovani Bernard 43 (Nick)

Jordan Howard 42 (Ryan)

Tevin Coleman 37 (Cole)

Matt Breida 35 (Andy)

Joe Mixon 34 (Andy)

LeSean McCoy 30 (Darrin)

Kenyan Drake 26 (Nick)

T.J. Yeldon 25 (Nick)

Dalvin Cook 24 (Andy)

Mark Ingram 21 (Scott)

Sony Michel 17 (Sneen)

Chris Thompson 17 (Scott)

Javorius Allen 16 (Darrin)

Jamaal Williams 16 (Sneen)
Carlos Hyde 14 (Scott)

Devonta Freeman 12 (Sneen)
Phillip Lindsay 11 (Ryan)

Leonard Fournette 8 (Cole)

Adrian Peterson 8 (Ryan)

Marshawn Lynch 6 (Cole)
Dion Lewis 5 (Nick)

WR

Adam Thielen 122 (Cole)

Michael Thomas 109 (Ryan)

DeAndre Hopkins 106 (Nick)

Davante Adams 102 (Scott)

Antonio Brown 101 (Darrin)

Stefon Diggs 97 (Alec)

Odell Beckham Jr. 95 (Andy)

Tyreek Hill 94 (Alec)

A.J. Green 92 (Cole)

Julio Jones 89 (Ryan)

Mike Evans 85 (Scott)

JuJu Smith-Schuster 74 (Sneen)

Keenan Allen 71 (Nick)

T.Y. Hilton 61 (Andy)

Demaryius Thomas 62 (Darrin)

Jarvis Landry 52 (Scott)

Emmanuel Sanders 43 (Cole)

Brandin Cooks 38 (Nick)

Cooper Kupp 33 (Alec)

Golden Tate 29 (Ryan)

Chris Hogan 27 (Sneen)

Larry Fitzgerald 19 (Cole)

Robert Woods 19 (Sneen)
Allen Robinson 18 (Alec)

Will Fuller 17 (Sneen)

Nelson Agholor 13 (Ryan)

Keelan Cole 12 (Andy)
Jamison Crowder 9 (Andy)
Amari Cooper 1 (Alec)

TE

Zach Ertz 89 (Sneen)

Travis Kelce 84 (Nick)

George Kittle 55 (Cole)

Jimmy Graham 50 (Darrin)

Rob Gronkowski 43 (Sneen)

Trey Burton 39 (Alec)

Kyle Rudolph 39 (Ryan)

Jared Cook 37 (Scott)
Jordan Reed 33 (Scott)

Eric Ebron 31 (Ryan)

Evan Engram 24 (Andy)
David Njoku 12 (Alec)

Benjamin Watson 10 (Andy)
Delanie Walker 9 (Cole)

Greg Olsen 5 (Ryan)

K

Justin Tucker 56 (Scott)

Wil Lutz 52 (Alec)

Harrison Butker 45 (Andy)

Mason Crosby 45 (Sneen)

Matt Bryant 39 (Cole)

Stephen Gostkowski 38 (Nick)

Robbie Gould 29 (Darrin)

Matt Prater 26 (Ryan)

Greg Zuerlein 16 (Ryan)

Chris Boswell 2 (Darrin)

DF

Los Angeles Rams 41 (Scott)

Jacksonville Jaguars 38 (Alec)

Baltimore Ravens 30 (Darrin/Andy)

Chicago Bears 28 (Andy)
Philadelphia Eagles 26 (Ryan)

Green Bay Packers 25 (Sneen)

Cleveland Browns 19 (Nick/Darrin)
Minnesota Vikings 16 (Cole)

Los Angeles Chargers 15 (Nick)

Houston Texans 13 (Sneen)

Carolina Panthers 9 (Cole)

New England Patriots 7 (Nick)

New York Jets 1 (Darrin)
Denver Broncos -2 (Nick)

New Orleans Saints -4 (Andy)

Hypothetical Standings

Tax Paying Homeowner 4-1

Team ChowHounds 4-1

Team Easy Breesy 3-2

Colieveland 96ers 3-2

The Scottfather 3-2

Perfectly Balanced 2-3

Crazy Todd's Driveway Band 1-4

SNEEN MACHINE 0-5