Wisconsin Rapids Bro League
Bro...
Shooter McGavin Division... So hot right now. Alec with his one-game lead being driven by four consecutive weeks without a loss during Raider RB Josh Jacobs' contract season and me (Andy) with my unreal 5-game turnaround starring the beefiest non-Jacobs running backs around. Our division is filled with such star power right now that defending champion Nick Zurawski's tough luck (the immediate injury of trade acquisition TE Darren Waller and the October silencing of former studs like QB Lamar Jackson and RB Najee Harris) has been bad enough to anchor his team, Scott's Many Endeavors at the bottom of the standings. Scott may have too many endeavors to deal with the Bro League this season but, at least he dodged the lethal tornado that is fantasy football in 2022. Even rookie Brett Weinfurter has made his presence felt by the lethal duo of WRs Davante Adams and Ja'Marr Chase. I know what the numbers say (pretty evenly split hypothetical standing with a Steven Nett team in first and a Shooter McGavin team in last) but in this dimension, the Steven Nett Division has one winning team and Cole's luck is starting to run out with RB Breece Hall tearing an ACL (corrupting a pretty solid Rookie of the Year case) after RB Javonte Williams suffered the same fate a few weeks back. In case there was still proof needed as to which division is superior at this very moment, just look at this week's results where Alec blew out Cole by 44.5 points, I defeated Gabe as he begins to play the Quarterback carousel, jumping from Russell Wilson to Geno Smith with Mr. Unlimited Disappointments still being the end result and Brett got an interdivisional W thanks to an impressive performance by the Dallas Cowboys' #1 (again???) defense. The only thing keeping things somewhat balanced between the dueling divisions right now is that the #1 QB (Josh Allen), #1 RB (Austin Ekeler) and #1 WR (Stefon Diggs) are all keeping Sparky and Cole in matchups whether their teams can make it through a full weekend or not.
In Week 8, the explosiveness of QB Patrick Mahomes, TE Travis Kelce and the Chiefs offense are one of only two teams on bye. The other team being the somewhat conservative Chargers' offense that is really only highlighted by Austin Ekeler's quest to break the record for receptions in a season by an NFL Running Back. Ekeler currently sits at 53 catches and is on pace to break the record currently held by Rule of Law RB Christian McCaffrey (who had 116 in 2019). McCaffrey is noteworthy this week as the former consensus #1 fantasy pick (from 2019 & probably 2020) was dealt by the Carolina Panthers (a team one game out of first in their division) to the San Francisco 49ers (a team one game out of first in their division) for a bunch of day 2 draft picks in 2023. CMac's debut went about as well as it could have for somebody with one practice on the roster as he looked very enticing for future fantasy weeks in very limited action on my bench. Shout out to Kenneth Walker III on being the hero we were promised, though maybe not the one I deserve after all the previous years of tank-adjacent trade proposals. I'm getting better at this fantasy thing and I think it has a lot to do with defenses not accruing points (and to that same point, NEGATIVE points) as easily as they have in the past due to some minor ESPN standard scoring changes that I have yet to fully decipher.
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| John Cordes/Icon Sportswire Kenneth Walker III's 28.7 points in Andy's flex position were the difference in a loss for Gabe. |
With no KC and no LA (at least, not the good one), we're stuck with the disappointing Browns, Packers and Buccaneers all in primetime games. I'm actively looking to avoid watching primetime games this season because A. Fuck Amazon, B. Fuck these boring ass teams and C. Imagine all the non-football, productive things I COULD accomplish in those three hours instead? (okay but seriously though, NBA League Pass is coming in clutch this year). The only two winning teams playing this week are the 6-1 New York Giants at the 4-3 Seattle Seahawks and we all know that even with seven teams ending the regular season postseason-eligible, one of those teams is going to turn out to be absolute frauds. It's a very strange time in the National Football League, made all that much stranger by Matt Ryan's supposedly permanent benching for Sam Ehlinger in Indy and Jameis Winston getting a quiet boot for Andy Dalton after an injury led Dalton to throw four touchdowns last Thursday. Who said Thursday night games didn't have flourishes of offensive competence? Stay tuned for the Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, two wildly unpredictable YET feasibly decent offenses playing this week that might be the difference makers in fantasy matches afar.
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| David Becker/Associated Press Hero of the Week: RB Josh Jacobs (Tax Paying Homeowner) |
