Saturday, November 13, 2021

WRBL Week 9, 2021

 Wisconsin Rapids Bro League

Week Nine
Our Seventh Official Season of blaming Cole Walters for the Matt Millen era in Detroit

Current Standings (with regular season won-loss streaks)

Steven Nett Division
Scott's Many Endeavors (Nick Zurawski) 9-0 W9
Team ChowHounds (Darrin Aschebrook) 6-3 W1
Yeezy Taught Me (Nathaniel Hoefs) 3-6 L2
Todd's Plan (Andy Todd) 2-7 L2

Tanner Glaza Division
Tax Paying Homeowner (Alec Swanson) 5-4 W3
Colieveland 96ers (Cole Walters) 5-4 W2
SNEEN MACHINE (Tyler Sneen) 3-6 L4
Take Mahomes Country Roads (Ryan Dougherty) 3-6 L1

Week Nine Final Scores
NICK defeats SNEEN 136.84-103.78
COLE defeats RYAN 110.66-95.98
DARRIN defeats HOEFS 107.86-105.04
ALEC defeats ANDY 119.98-106.32

Heroes of the Week: RB Jonathan Taylor (34), QB Justin Herbert (31.64), QB Lamar Jackson (30.64)
Waiver Wonders: QB Matt Ryan (28.52), WR Elijah Moore (27.4), QB Josh Johnson (24.48)
What-if of the Week: If Nathan benches WR CeeDee Lamb (4.3) in favor of WR Hunter Renfrow (17.9), Darrin loses his fourth in a row.

USA TODAY Sports
Hero of the Week: RB Jonathan Taylor (Tax Paying Homeowner)


Upcoming Week 10 Match-ups & NFL Schedule (in CT)
Nick v. Alec
Darrin v. Ryan
Cole v. Hoefs
Andy v. Sneen 
Thursday Night Football: Baltimore @ Miami 7:20 PM
Sunday NOON: Atlanta @ Dallas
New Orleans @ Tennessee
Jacksonville @ Indianapolis
Cleveland @ New England
Buffalo @ NY Jets
Detroit @ Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay @ Washington
3:05 PM: Carolina @ Arizona
Minnesota @ LA Chargers
3:25 PM: Philadelphia @ Denver
Seattle @ Green Bay
Sunday Night Football: Kansas City @ Las Vegas 7:20 PM 
Monday Night Football: LA Rams @ San Francisco 7:15 PM
BYES: Cincinnati, Chicago, NY Giants, Houston

Bro...

I know it's a different league/sport and all ("Never cross streams!" Father Todd used to always say) but, Bro League Basketball is still worth mentioning (especially when I'm actually doing okay there and my football team is decidedly NOT worth mentioning). Nearly a dozen games into the NBA season for most teams and it's obvious that A. COVID hasn't gone anywhere and B. This shit is wide open for everybody (are the Bulls seriously contenders? Is Boston going to be lucky to land in the play-in? Warriors = #1 favorites again??? Lakers: Washed or SUPER Washed?). Drafting a nearly entirely new roster (Jarrett Allen was the only holdover with Anthony Edwards being redrafted after a midseason '20-'21 deal) has been an okay strategy thus far with my team, Charania Missiles (Insider Shams Charania's version of Adrian Wojnarowski's "Woj Bombs") sitting at a solid 2-1. The leaders of the WRBBL (Wisconsin Rapids Basketball Bro League) are Nick Zurawski and foreigner John Jennings at 3-0. Our very own Cole Walters and another b-ball exclusive partner of the Bro Leagues, Avery are both 0-3. There's going to be plenty of time for teams to sort themselves out as the league year will finish well beyond that of the WRBL fantasy season. Outsiders will probably only hear about it if either Cole or myself win it all but I bring it all up to say that... Man, the NBA is so much more fun on a night-to-night basis now that I'm interested in box scores and have rooting interests on things like Jordan Clarkson's shooting percentages and Tyler Herro's night-to-night exploits as he redeems himself after a pedestrian sophomore season.

Jim Rassol/USA TODAY Sports
Former Greenfield, Wisconsin resident Tyler Herro is lighting it up as a Sixth Man of the Year favorite so far for the 7-5 Miami Heat.

Nick Zurawski remains undefeated after making sure Sneen knew that Sneen is not a machine, Sneen is not cattle, Sneen is man. Sneen has the power to make this life free and beautiful and yet he chooses losing to Nick Zurawski. Sad. I'm not sure what 9-0 Scott's Many Endeavors' DVOA is but yeah, dude's thriving more in fantasy football this season than the corn dog salesperson at Auburn football games. Somebody needs to edit that meme template of Death knocking on a fourth door (the first three of which leaving blood trails) with Alec's name on it. Can Z get to double-digits before I finish another delayed WRBL Week in Review or will Alec pull a Lee Corso by stating "NOT SO FAST MY FRIENDS!" and put on a mascot head of his choosing. PS: What would Alec's mascot head be? He's a Tax Paying Homeowner. Would it be a mailbox? paperwork? do the Chicago Bears have a mascot? Is it just a severed foot due to past kicking woes?

Steve Todd
I actually met the Bears' mascot many years ago at a bar in Pittsville, Wisconsin.

Opponents seem to just love playing Todd's Plan as of late so congratulations to SNEEN MACHINE on the recovery week after I lost to Alec. The Tax Paying Homeowner remains tied for first in the Tanner Glaza Division with the Colieveland 96ers, one week after Walt and his dawgs rode the Dolphins defense of all players to a low-scoring victory over Ryan. It's amazing that despite a wild game like the 9-6 Jaguars upset of Buffalo happening, the fantasy impact was muted as a whole. Lower scoring was certainly a theme this week with Buffalo, Kansas City, Green Bay, some of Dallas and plenty of the Rams malfunctioning in ways unforeseen leading up to week 9. Alas, the top four teams in the WRBL won and the bottom four lost. Like much of Hollywood's Box Office these days, week 9 was just a shittier sequel or remake of everything leading up to this. The only highlight Darrin quietly stealing a victory from Nathaniel's fingertips by 2.82 points. Some might blame Hoefs for not seeing the absence of a true #1 wideout in Vegas opening up the door for Hunter Renfrow to become Derek Carr's #1B option (#1A being TE Darren Waller), others might argue that the loss of future inmate Henry Ruggs really led to RB Josh Jacobs getting four catchable targets (despite not being known as any type of pass-catcher) for Vegas and propelling Darrin to his first win in four weeks. 

Ryan's Take Mahomes Country Roads team name led to extremely limited success to the tune of 3-6 so with a lack of Mahomes (received his first benching) comes a new team name: Big Nick Energy. I hope that energy is just being used to beat Nick and not a way for Ryan to speak a nine-game winning streak into existence for himself. If that works, I'm renaming my team "WINNING LOTTO TICKET THE ONE TIME I WATCH THE NEWS FOR IT". Shit, that might be too many characters... How about "Andy's Dream Girl"? No wait, that's ultimately part of "Todd's Plan". "Free Medical Care and Therapy for the Homies"? That's more like it but again... character limit. I'm open to suggestions, I'll just leave the Suggestion Box outside Cole's house and hope Max doesn't chew it up and spit it out like this fantasy season has done to my team. As Russell Wilson tweeted before ultimately being removed from IR this week "No More Pin. Time To Win.". 

USA TODAY Sports
Not only did the Seahawks' offensive line have former Wisconsin Badger Russell Wilson SEEING ghosts, they also had him SPEAKING to them.

My TD-only league's midseason meeting was a success (in my own mind) with us sacrificing a first rounder in next year's draft (WE HAVE 11 KEEPERS, before you panic/judge) to land WR Van Jefferson after the failed Michael Thomas galaxy-brain trade of the 2021 draft. Todd's Tornados also turned QB Jordan Love (prior to his first career start) into QB Baker Mayfield (needed depth at the moment) and WR Courtland Sutton (Calvin Ridley insurance if nothing else) and WR Allen Lazard (unvaccinated depth piece worth nothing to us) into an 8th rounder and RB J.D. McKissic (needed depth at the moment). We may have fallen a game out of first but, we are far from out of it in this weirdo bonkers year. Speaking of weird stuff, what of last week was fluke and where do the teams looking on the brink of breaking go from here on out? The Chiefs don't get their Andy Reid-magic bye week until week 12 and have to play division rivals in the city of sin on Sunday Night Football while the Rams look to recover from losing to a team that just lost their MVP candidate (Titans: Derrick Henry) on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers, a team holding out for a miracle to get them back into realistically grabbing the 7th playoff seed in the NFC as the third wildcard instead of fading into the team they've been every year under Kyle Shanahan that they didn't fall into a Super Bowl. No Chicago, Cincy, Houston or the New York Giants this week so at least the quality of play should be up! Let's hope the fantasy points are too!

Scoring Leaders

QB
Tom Brady 200.9 (Sneen)
Lamar Jackson 196.36 (Nick)
Patrick Mahomes 161.62 (Ryan)
Josh Allen 158.12 (Cole)
Kyler Murray 151.96 (Hoefs)
Aaron Rodgers 139.4 (Darrin)
Joe Burrow 124.38 (Alec)
Russell Wilson 98.64 (Andy)
Justin Herbert 42.64 (Hoefs)
Matthew Stafford 37.26 (Darrin)
Derek Carr 35.68 (Alec)
Ryan Tannehill 35.22 (Andy)
Daniel Jones 32.62 (Cole/Nick)
Jalen Hurts 27.9 (Ryan)
Tua Tagovailoa 26.54 (Cole)
Dak Prescott 18.88 (Sneen)
Justin Fields 14.42 (Andy)

RB
Derrick Henry 193.3 (Darrin)
Jonathan Taylor 187.4 (Alec)
Austin Ekeler 164.4 (Sneen)
Najee Harris 159 (Cole)
Alvin Kamara 158 (Darrin)
Joe Mixon 148.5 (Nick)
Aaron Jones 148.3 (Ryan)
Ezekiel Elliott 138.5 (Nick)
Nick Chubb 121 (Ryan)
Dalvin Cook 88.9 (Sneen)
Darrell Henderson 82.1 (Sneen)
James Robinson 74.7 (Ryan)
Christian McCaffrey 73 (Hoefs)
David Montgomery 69.8 (Alec)
D'Andre Swift 68.9 (Cole)
Darrel Williams 59.6 (Andy)
Antonio Gibson 58.3 (Andy)
Chase Edmonds 56.5 (Hoefs)
Saquon Barkley 55.6 (Cole)
Leonard Fournette 55 (Darrin)
Chuba Hubbard 50.6 (Andy/Nick)
Damien Harris 50.4 (Andy)
Alexander Mattison 49.4 (Hoefs/Andy)
Kareem Hunt 36.7 (Hoefs)
Elijah Mitchell 36.4 (Andy)
Chris Carson 35.4 (Nick)
Clyde Edwards-Helaire 32.2 (Hoefs)
Josh Jacobs 30.5 (Darrin)
Cordarrelle Patterson 30.3 (Sneen)
Khalil Herbert 27.1 (Alec)
Alex Collins 26 (Andy/Alec)
D'Ernest Johnson 24.8 (Hoefs)
Myles Gaskin 21.1 (Cole)
Miles Sanders 17.3 (Nick)
Devontae Booker 15.2 (Nick)
A.J. Dillon 13 (Andy)
Mike Davis 12.1 (Alec)
Melvin Gordon 11.2 (Ryan)
James Conner 10.7 (Sneen)
Kenyan Drake 10.5 (Ryan)
Zack Moss 10.3 (Ryan)
Michael Carter 9.6 (Cole)
J.D. McKissic 9.6 (Cole)
Kenneth Gainwell 2.7 (Hoefs)
Raheem Mostert 2 (Cole)
James White 0.6 (Andy)

WR
Cooper Kupp 235.4 (Hoefs)
Tyreek Hill 185.1 (Nick)
Davante Adams 154.6 (Cole)
Keenan Allen 129 (Andy)
DeAndre Hopkins 125.6 (Darrin)
Stefon Diggs 124.8 (Hoefs)
DK Metcalf 122.7 (Alec)
Michael Pittman Jr. 114.6 (Ryan)
Justin Jefferson 114.24 (Alec)
Amari Cooper 112.7 (Ryan)
A.J. Brown 113.4 (Alec)
Deebo Samuel 107.2 (Nick)
Adam Thielen 105.1 (Darrin)
Mike Evans 95.5 (Andy)
Terry McLaurin 95.2 (Nick)
Brandin Cooks 95.1 (Darrin)
CeeDee Lamb 93.9 (Hoefs)
D.J. Moore 90.2 (Sneen)
Ja'Marr Chase 83.2 (Sneen)
Chris Godwin 77.8 (Alec)
Mike Williams 76.5 (Sneen)
Calvin Ridley 71.1 (Andy)
Robert Woods 63.6 (Sneen)
Diontae Johnson 61.3 (Andy)
Jaylen Waddle 43.2 (Cole)
Tee Higgins 29.8 (Cole)
Marquise Brown 28.1 (Darrin)
Courtland Sutton 26.5 (Cole)
Allen Robinson 24.6 (Sneen)
Jakobi Meyers 20.8 (Hoefs)
DeVonta Smith 19.8 (Ryan)
Julio Jones 19.4 (Ryan)
D.J. Chark 16.8 (Cole)
Randall Cobb 16.5 (Cole)
Emmanuel Sanders 14.1 (Cole)
Tyler Lockett 13.5 (Andy)
Jerry Jeudy 12.9 (Alec)
Hunter Renfrow 12.8 (Hoefs)
Kadarius Toney 9.06 (Andy)
Chase Claypool 3.7 (Ryan)

TE
Travis Kelce 144.8 (Andy)
Mark Andrews 120 (Sneen)
Darren Waller 99 (Hoefs)
Kyle Pitts 91.1 (Ryan)
T.J. Hockenson 87.9 (Alec)
Noah Fant 87 (Nick)
Mike Gesicki 68.5 (Cole)
George Kittle 40.6 (Darrin)
Logan Thomas 33.7 (Cole)
Dalton Schultz 26.8 (Darrin)
Dallas Goedert 25.2 (Hoefs)
Tyler Higbee 25.2 (Darrin)
Jared Cook 10.8 (Nick)
Tyler Conklin 9.5 (Alec)
Rob Gronkowski 9.5 (Ryan)
Robert Tonyan 7.9 (Alec)
Dawson Knox 7.5 (Ryan)
Hunter Henry 4.3 (Sneen)

K
Tyler Bass 83 (Cole)
Justin Tucker 78 (Sneen)
Matt Gay 74 (Nick)
Brandon McManus 71 (Alec)
Harrison Butker 66 (Darrin)
Daniel Carlson 37 (Ryan)
Nick Folk 37 (Hoefs)
Matt Prater 36 (Andy/Sneen/Andy)
Mason Crosby 27 (Hoefs/Cole)
Jason Sanders 21 (Andy)
Greg Joseph 19 (Ryan)
Younghoe Koo 17 (Hoefs)
Randy Bullock 12 (Andy)
Greg Zuerlein 10 (Nick)
Josh Lambo 1 (Ryan)

DF
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 55 (Alec)
Los Angeles Rams 46 (Cole/Andy)
Arizona Cardinals 41 (Cole/Sneen)
Buffalo Bills 41 (Sneen/Nick)
Denver Broncos 40 (Andy)
New Orleans Saints 37 (Ryan/Darrin)
Carolina Panthers 26 (Darrin/Alec)
Cleveland Browns 23 (Nick)
Miami Dolphins 22 (Cole)
Pittsburgh Steelers 20 (Hoefs/Sneen)
Dallas Cowboys 17 (Hoefs/Darrin)
New England Patriots 17 (Nick)
San Francisco 49ers 17 (Nick/Cole/Hoefs)
Indianapolis Colts 14 (Ryan/Nick)
Green Bay Packers 9 (Cole)
Atlanta Falcons 6 (Cole)
Las Vegas Raiders 4 (Hoefs)
Washington Football Team 3 (Darrin)
Tennessee Titans 2 (Hoefs)
Cincinnati Bengals 2 (Nick/Hoefs)
Baltimore Ravens -2 (Sneen/Hoefs)
Chicago Bears -6 (Ryan)

Hypothetical Standings (Top 4 scorers win, bottom 4 lose)
Scott's Many Endeavors 8-1
Team ChowHounds 5-4
Tax Paying Homeowner 5-4
SNEEN MACHINE 4-5
Yeezy Taught Me 4-5
Colieveland 96ers 4-5
Take Mahomes Country Roads 4-5
Todd's Plan 2-7

Saturday, November 6, 2021

WRBL Week 8, 2021

  Wisconsin Rapids Bro League

Week Eight
Our Seventh Official Season of blaming Cole Walters for BING BONG.

Current Standings (with regular season won-loss streaks)

Steven Nett Division
Scott's Many Endeavors (Nick Zurawski) 8-0 W8
Team ChowHounds (Darrin Aschebrook) 5-3 L2
Yeezy Taught Me (Nathaniel Hoefs) 3-5 L1
Todd's Plan (Andy Todd) 2-6 L1

Tanner Glaza Division
Tax Paying Homeowner (Alec Swanson) 4-4 W2
Colieveland 96ers (Cole Walters) 4-4 W1
SNEEN MACHINE (Tyler Sneen) 3-5 L3
Take Mahomes Country Roads (Ryan Dougherty) 3-5 W1

Week Eight Final Scores
NICK defeats ANDY 131.28 - 124.46
RYAN defeats HOEFS 114.12 - 113.56
COLE defeats DARRIN 106.86 - 100.8
ALEC defeats SNEEN 125.75 - 111

Heroes of the Week: WR A.J. Brown (31.5), WR Michael Pittman Jr. (30.6), QB Josh Allen (29.46)
Waiver Wonders: QB Jimmy Garoppolo (27.28), QB Mike White (26.1), QB Justin Fields (25.3)
What-if of the Week: If Andy would have started WR Tyler Lockett (26.2) over WR Kadarius Toney (7.36), he'd have ended Nick's undefeated, eight-game winning streak.

Getty Images
Waiver Wonder: QB Mike White (37/45-405-3-2 + 1 cool 2-pt. conversion)


Upcoming Week 9 Match-ups & NFL Schedule (in CT)
Nick v. Sneen
Cole v. Ryan
Hoefs v. Darrin
Alec v. Andy
Thursday Night Football: NY Jets @ Indianapolis 7:20 PM
Sunday NOON: Cleveland @ Cincinnati
Denver @ Dallas
Houston @ Miami
Atlanta @ New Orleans
Las Vegas @ NY Giants
New England @ Carolina
Buffalo @ Jacksonville
Minnesota @ Baltimore
3:05 PM: LA Chargers @ Philadelphia
3:25 PM: Green Bay @ Kansas City
Arizona @ San Francisco
Sunday Night Football: Tennessee @ LA Rams 7:20 PM 
Monday Night Football: Chicago @ Pittsburgh 7:15 PM
BYES: Tampa Bay, Seattle, Washington, Detroit

Bro...

It sure is a shame we have nothing to talk about going into week 9.... In times of slow news days like these, all we need is love... Jordan Love that is. With Aaron Rodgers taking advice from his personal Doctor (Presumably Dr. Dre, who just tried to sell him a Beats Pill even though I haven't seen one of those things in a few years) instead of taking the widely-approved and accepted easy route of vaccination, this complicated fella decided to apply the Rodgers Rate cocktail of mindfulness, hair-growth hormones and vacationing with Miles Teller to his immune system and will now miss one of the most hyped games of the year, Packers-Chiefs. The good news is that we finally get to make instant overreactions to Jordan Love, last season's shocking first-round pick that was supposed to be a benchwarmer until what? 2024? His odds of a successful first start go way up against the league's weakest non-Lion defense and a completely wonky/broken Chiefs offense. Will anybody dare take the ultimate step toward the future and add Jordan Love in the WRBL? Maybe not but, I'm personally buying into huge days for all the running backs involved in Kansas City on Sunday (Yes, A.J. Dillon included). 

Quinn Harris/Getty Images
After both Rodgers and practice squad QB Kurt Benkert tested positive for COVID-19, Green Bay re-signed garbage time legend Blake Bortles.

While turning down vaccination might indirectly kill somebody, driving under intoxication at twice the speed limit (and then some) tends to either kill everyone involved in the general vicinity of said stupidity or just the person committing the crime. Drafted 14 picks ahead of Love, now-former Raider Henry Ruggs will hopefully spend any remaining time he had in the NFL behind bars after killing 23-year old Tina Tintor and her dog while Ruggs was twice the amount of drunk as a normal, still illegally driving moron would be. I don't know how or why he was allowed to survive this but he'll have a long way to go before even the most lenient of people are willing to welcome him back into everyday society after such a careless lack of decency and logic (Uber and Lyft are everywhere, people). Most importantly, rest in peace to the victim and the family that has to mourn a life lost so senselessly. From a "seriously? Who even cares about this part?" football angle, what a waste of talent and miserable time to be a Raider fan, having a highly-publicized WINNING team still be so disastrously ugly internally must be something that has erased any joy along the way.

Continuing along the lines of serious topics, the one thing that has thankfully become more prevalent in everyday life (let alone sports), is one's own acknowledgement of their mental health and taking time off to care for one's state of mind. Burnout is real and whether or not you believe what's going on with Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers is by his own doing, ultimately it's clear that he's uncomfortable in that locker room and that should be addressed whether through transaction or open discussion/private acknowledgement. Eagles tackle Lane Johnson had to take two weeks off earlier this season to manage his reaction to cutting down on his intake of anti-anxiety medication and his teammate (Eagles' Guard) Brandon Brooks quietly did the same a few years back, missing multiple games due to dehydration from vomiting as a result of his own severe anxiety. The further we go as a society in removing the stigma surrounding mental health, the better. There's probably still thousands of fans out there saying "suck it up and get back in to do your job" but will it be worth it if that person is (best case scenario) too distracted to live up to their full potential or (worst case scenario) driven to harm themselves physically or mentally? We need more bosses that naturally say "Take your time and come back when you think you can and we'll be right here for you". I'd rather have Calvin Ridley an understandably frustrating, possibly physically healthy inactive than brandishing a knife in open traffic ala former Viking first-rounder Dimitrius Underwood. Come back when you're ready, Calvin. 

AP Photo/Tyler Kaufman
Despite not getting the W for record-keeping purposes as the backup, Saints' Trevor Siemian was forced into the starting lineup and will be QB1 going forward as a result of his win over Tampa.

Does the NFL have one more week of miraculous backup quarterback victories up their sleeves or have the Chase Daniel All-Stars lost their magic with further exposure to the spotlight? 2021 being the year of the sport underdog continued this past week with the Atlanta Braves winning the World Series after losing their Game 1 starting pitcher Charlie Morton to a broken leg in addition to the already absent Mike Soroka and Ronald Acuna Jr. and that spirit of Goliath being outdone by David carried over into the NFL with the backup quarterbacks taking over (maybe a good sign for Jordan Love?) for their predecessors in victorious performances. Not only did Trevor Siemian help the Saints hang on to a lead after Lasik Jameis tore his ACL (no amount of visual surgeries could have seen that coming) over the defending Super Bowl champions but, former Cowboy practice squad QB Mike White broke the NFL record for completions in a first start as the Jets upset the Bengals. The fun didn't end there with Geno Smith leading Seattle to a destructive 34-7 win over the Jaguars AFTER Jacksonville's bye week. Yikes. All of those performances were outshone by Cooper Rush (the man that beat out White to stay in Dallas) in relief of a still sore and cautious Dak Prescott on Sunday Night Football. The Vikings somehow couldn't win with the benefit of THREE unnecessary roughness calls on the SAME drive and Rush stuck with top-target Amari Cooper in an instantly memorable 20-16 win over Minnesota. Somewhere, Kellly Holcomb is smiling.

Week 9 is bound to be the most fun I've had all season after my WRBL start has been... subpar. I will be in Pittsville for my TD-only league's mid-season draft. Will we sacrifice a 1st rounder in next year's draft for a probable keeper to be instantly added to our roster (after Darren Waller and Darrell Henderson proved to be recent success stories?) or will we settle with replacing a backup kicker and a bye week cover-up defense? Well, the trading candles' fumes were already in the air with Todd's Tornados dealing Jordan Love (prior to his first start) for Baker Mayfield AND Courtland Sutton so the trade discussions are clearly in motion already. I will provide updates next week. The obvious highlight for this meeting will be Chiefs-Packers with basically every relevant player besides Darrel Williams likely starting in this league. Jets-Colts starts off the weekend on Thursday, followed by a noon slate that sees the now Odell Beckham-less Browns (he is going to be released if he hasn't been already at posting time) play the AFC North co-leading Cincinnati Bengals, overachievers that aren't ready for the big show in case you forgot about that whole Mike White dominance from last Sunday. Vikings-Ravens should put the nail in Mike Zimmer's Minnesota coaching career coffin. Does the Manningcast curse (all 5 active players to appear on ESPN2's Monday night feed have lost their following games) end with Josh Allen facing Josh Allen as it's Buffalo v. Jacksonville? Do the Manning brothers acknowledge how bad Big Ben looks when Chicago Bears down on his noodle arm Monday? Do Von Miller or Adrian Peterson make their Ram or Titan debuts? SO MUCH UNCERTAINTY! Like Bart Scott once said... "Can't Wait!"

Scott Galvin - USA TODAY Sports
With Kyler Murray not practicing near the end of the week, Cards-Niners might take a backseat in viewership if it's Colt McCoy (above) under center.
The Wisconsin Rapids Bro League is great and all but only one owner is showing true greatness right now and that's Nick Zurawski. Nick skirted past me on Monday night despite his two players (Tyreek Hill & Daniel Jones) not being as many as my three (Darrel Williams, Kadarius Toney & Travis Kelce). Will anybody catch the likeliest future NFL GM? It's certainly looking less likely with Darrin dropping another game to Cole without Derrick Henry for the remainder of 2021 (damn). Derrick Henry is still RB1 in WRBL by 39.9 points over Alec's Jonathan Taylor, the player carrying the load for the #1 team (by tiebreaker) in the Tanner Glaza Division. Alec faces a fiesty yet tired Todd's Plan this week, mainly just hoping their wad wasn't shot last week when Nick sneaked in a win over the third-highest scoring team in Week 8. Second-highest scoring team? Tax Paying Homeowner. I guess there's always next week... Good luck to all but especially those that I didn't mention here (Hoefs v. Darrin and Cole v. Ryan) as you'll need to start winning more consistently to earn the headlines here in a week where Michael Thomas's Saints tenure likely coming to an end due to an ankle that's basically cost him two full seasons barely registers as newsworthy. Can't wait to see what the Friday news dump this week i-...

Not a traditional "news dump" but okay.



Scoring Leaders

QB
Tom Brady 200.9 (Sneen)
Lamar Jackson 165.72 (Nick)
Patrick Mahomes 161.62 (Ryan)
Kyler Murray 151.96 (Hoefs)
Josh Allen 148.56 (Cole)
Aaron Rodgers 139.4 (Darrin)
Joe Burrow 117 (Alec)
Russell Wilson 98.64 (Andy)
Derek Carr 35.68 (Alec)
Daniel Jones 32.62 (Cole/Nick)
Tua Tagovailoa 26.54 (Cole)
Matthew Stafford 24.2 (Darrin)
Ryan Tannehill 21.2 (Andy)
Justin Fields 14.42 (Andy)
Jalen Hurts 11.22 (Ryan)
Justin Herbert 11 (Hoefs)

RB
Derrick Henry 193.3 (Darrin)
Jonathan Taylor 153.4 (Alec)
Austin Ekeler 153.2 (Sneen)
Aaron Jones 143 (Ryan)
Najee Harris 142.2 (Cole)
Alvin Kamara 137.6 (Darrin)
Ezekiel Elliott 125.9 (Nick)
Joe Mixon 120.5 (Nick)
Nick Chubb 90.7 (Ryan)
James Robinson 74.7 (Ryan)
Dalvin Cook 73.7 (Sneen)
Darrell Henderson 73.3 (Sneen)
D'Andre Swift 68.9 (Cole)
David Montgomery 59.8 (Alec)
Christian McCaffrey 58.4 (Hoefs)
Antonio Gibson 58.3 (Andy)
Chase Edmonds 56.2 (Hoefs)
Saquon Barkley 55.6 (Cole)
Leonard Fournette 55 (Darrin)
Chuba Hubbard 50.6 (Andy/Nick)
Damien Harris 50.4 (Andy)
Alexander Mattison 49.4 (Hoefs/Andy)
Darrel Williams 48.9 (Andy)
Kareem Hunt 36.7 (Hoefs)
Elijah Mitchell 36.4 (Andy)
Chris Carson 35.4 (Nick)
Clyde Edwards-Helaire 32.2 (Hoefs)
Cordarrelle Patterson 30.3 (Sneen)
Khalil Herbert 27.1 (Alec)
Alex Collins 26 (Andy/Alec)
D'Ernest Johnson 24.8 (Hoefs)
Myles Gaskin 21.1 (Cole)
Miles Sanders 17.3 (Nick)
Josh Jacobs 17 (Darrin)
Mike Davis 12.1 (Alec)
Melvin Gordon 11.2 (Ryan)
James Conner 10.7 (Sneen)
Kenyan Drake 10.5 (Ryan)
J.D. McKissic 9.6 (Cole)
Zack Moss 5.9 (Ryan)
Kenneth Gainwell 2.7 (Hoefs)
Raheem Mostert 2 (Cole)
James White 0.6 (Andy)

WR
Cooper Kupp 214.9 (Hoefs)
Tyreek Hill 177.8 (Nick)
Davante Adams 144.4 (Cole)
DeAndre Hopkins 125.6 (Darrin)
DK Metcalf 122.7 (Alec)
Stefon Diggs 110.3 (Hoefs)
Amari Cooper 107 (Ryan)
Keenan Allen 106.6 (Andy)
A.J. Brown 104.2 (Alec)
Justin Jefferson 97.24 (Alec)
Michael Pittman Jr. 97.2 (Ryan)
Adam Thielen 96.5 (Darrin)
Deebo Samuel 95.9 (Nick)
Mike Evans 95.5 (Andy)
D.J. Moore 90.2 (Sneen)
CeeDee Lamb 89.6 (Hoefs)
Terry McLaurin 86.6 (Nick)
Brandin Cooks 83.5 (Darrin)
Chris Godwin 77.8 (Alec)
Mike Williams 76.5 (Sneen)
Ja'Marr Chase 74.3 (Sneen)
Calvin Ridley 71.1 (Andy)
Diontae Johnson 49.6 (Andy)
Robert Woods 46.2 (Sneen)
Jaylen Waddle 26.9 (Cole)
Courtland Sutton 26.5 (Cole)
Allen Robinson 24.6 (Sneen)
Jakobi Meyers 20.8 (Hoefs)
DeVonta Smith 19.8 (Ryan)
Julio Jones 19.4 (Ryan)
D.J. Chark 16.8 (Cole)
Randall Cobb 16.5 (Cole)
Tee Higgins 16 (Cole)
Emmanuel Sanders 14.1 (Cole)
Tyler Lockett 13.5 (Andy)
Hunter Renfrow 12.8 (Hoefs)
Terry McLaurin 8.6 (Nick)
Marquise Brown 7.5 (Darrin)
Kadarius Toney 7.36 (Andy)
Chase Claypool 3.7 (Ryan)

TE
Travis Kelce 127 (Andy)
Mark Andrews 110.6 (Sneen)
T.J. Hockenson 87.9 (Alec)
Noah Fant 87 (Nick)
Darren Waller 82.8 (Hoefs)
Kyle Pitts 81.9 (Ryan)
Mike Gesicki 59.1 (Cole)
George Kittle 40.6 (Darrin)
Logan Thomas 33.7 (Cole)
Dalton Schultz 26.8 (Darrin)
Dallas Goedert 25.2 (Hoefs)
Tyler Higbee 15.1 (Darrin)
Rob Gronkowski 9.5 (Ryan)
Robert Tonyan 7.9 (Alec)
Dawson Knox 7.5 (Ryan)
Hunter Henry 4.3 (Sneen)

K
Tyler Bass 76 (Cole)
Justin Tucker 68 (Sneen)
Matt Gay 62 (Nick)
Brandon McManus 59 (Alec)
Harrison Butker 57 (Darrin)
Daniel Carlson 37 (Ryan)
Nick Folk 32 (Hoefs)
Matt Prater 29 (Andy/Sneen)
Mason Crosby 27 (Hoefs/Cole)
Jason Sanders 21 (Andy)
Younghoe Koo 17 (Hoefs)
Randy Bullock 12 (Andy)
Greg Joseph 12 (Ryan)
Greg Zuerlein 10 (Nick)
Josh Lambo 1 (Ryan)

DF
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 55 (Alec)
Arizona Cardinals 41 (Cole/Sneen)
Denver Broncos 40 (Andy)
Los Angeles Rams 38 (Cole/Andy)
New Orleans Saints 36 (Ryan)
Buffalo Bills 32 (Sneen/Nick)
Cleveland Browns 23 (Nick)
San Francisco 49ers 19 (Nick/Cole)
Carolina Panthers 18 (Darrin)
Dallas Cowboys 17 (Hoefs/Darrin)
New England Patriots 17 (Nick)
Pittsburgh Steelers 16 (Hoefs)
Indianapolis Colts 14 (Ryan/Nick)
Green Bay Packers 9 (Cole)
Atlanta Falcons 6 (Cole)
Las Vegas Raiders 4 (Hoefs)
Miami Dolphins 4 (Cole)
Washington Football Team 3 (Darrin)
Tennessee Titans 2 (Hoefs)
Cincinnati Bengals 2 (Nick/Hoefs)
Baltimore Ravens -2 (Sneen/Hoefs)
Chicago Bears -6 (Ryan)

Hypothetical Standings (Top 4 scorers win, bottom 4 lose)
Scott's Many Endeavors 7-1
SNEEN MACHINE 4-4
Yeezy Taught Me 4-4
Team ChowHounds 4-4
Tax Paying Homeowner 4-4
Take Mahomes Country Roads 4-4
Colieveland 96ers 3-5
Todd's Plan 2-6

Thursday, October 28, 2021

WRBL Week 7, 2021

  Wisconsin Rapids Bro League

Week Seven
Our Seventh Official Season of blaming Cole Walters for bomb cyclones

Current Standings (with regular season won-loss streaks)
Steven Nett Division
Scott's Many Endeavors (Nick Zurawski) 7-0 W7
Team ChowHounds (Darrin Aschebrook) 5-2 L1
Yeezy Taught Me (Nathaniel Hoefs) 3-4 W2
Todd's Plan (Andy Todd) 2-5 W1

Tanner Glaza Division
Tax Paying Homeowner (Alec Swanson) 3-4 W1
Colieveland 96ers (Cole Walters) 3-4 L1
SNEEN MACHINE (Tyler Sneen) 3-4 L2
Take Mahomes Country Roads (Ryan Dougherty) 2-5 L2

Week Seven Final Scores
NICK defeats DARRIN 134.38-131.96
HOEFS defeats SNEEN 136.04-135.14
ALEC defeats COLE 163.74-133.04
ANDY defeats RYAN 118.86-107.54

Heroes of the Week: WR Cooper Kupp (37.6). WR Ja'Marr  Chase (34.1), RB Alvin Kamara (33.9)
Waiver Wonders: TE C.J. Uzomah (24.1), QB Mac Jones (22.18), QB Carson Wentz (20.3)
What-if of the Week: If Sneen started TE Hunter Henry (10.3) over TE Mark Andrews (7.8), he would have defeated Hoefs and improved to leading the Tanner Glaza Division. 

Yahoo! Sports
Hero of the Week: WR Cooper Kupp (Yeezy Taught Me)


Upcoming Week 8 Match-ups & NFL Schedule (in CT)
Sneen v. Alec
Nick v. Andy
Cole v. Darrin
Ryan v. Hoefs
Thursday Night Football: Green Bay @ Arizona 7:20 PM
Sunday NOON: Carolina @ Atlanta
Miami @ Buffalo
San Francisco @ Chicago
Pittsburgh @ Cleveland
Philadelphia @ Detroit
Tennessee @ Indianapolis
Cincinnati @ NY Jets
LA Rams @ Houston
3:05 PM: New England @ LA Chargers
Jacksonville @ Seattle
3:25 PM: Washington @ Denver
Tampa Bay @ New Orleans
Sunday Night Football: Dallas @ Minnesota 7:20 PM 
Monday Night Football: NY Giants @ Kansas City 7:15 PM
BYES: Baltimore, Las Vegas

Bro...

Before we get to the NFL this week, the World Series is here and I cannot remember having less investment into a baseball championship as I am this go-round. Maybe it's the fatigue of all the sports trying to churn out as much content as possible in the first "Post-COVID" seasons for each sport. Outside of the five Brewer games I attended, I just could not get into baseball at all this year and the Astros-Braves series barely registers on my radar when Mike Soroka, Ronald Acuna Jr., Justin Verlander, Lance McCullers Jr. and I'm sure I'm missing a few are injured/inactive for the competing squads. Perhaps the real death-knell for me was the NBA season tipping off this week with a wide open league full of parity again (until Kyrie gets the vaccine). In reality, my dynasty fantasy baseball team should rename themselves "Trash Island" and their reluctance to adapt to the rules of my league killed any investment in who's closing for whom and the massively insulting fact that Mike Trout has never played in the postseason. Baseball just isn't as meme-worthy or easy to keep up with on a night-to-night basis like the NBA. There's no Bro League Baseball for a reason... it'd be too much of a series of things. Bro League Basketball as a side league is perfect (states the defending champion) because it gives us an excuse to keep up during the NFL's offseason as we troll the Lakers, debate whether or not Kyle Lowry puts Miami at or near the top of the East and celebrate the greatness of Giannis Antetokounmpo: Savior of Wisconsin sports.

This only happened like two months ago... who's doing it quite like the NBA right now?

Now with how stupid and slow my broken-ass laptop that's barely hanging together by a thread is being, I better move on to the football. Week 7 saw BYEMAGEDDON turn fantasy teams into mush with the following all out with rest...

- QBs Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, Ben Roethlisberger and Trevor Lawrence
- RBs Austin Ekeler, Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott, Najee Harris, James Robinson and Tony Pollard
- WRs Stefon Diggs, CeeDee Lamb, Keenan Allen, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, Diontae Johnson, Amari Cooper and Mike Williams
- TEs Dawson Knox, Dalton Schultz and Jared Cook
- Ks Tyler Bass, Greg Zeuerlein, Chris Boswell and Greg Joseph

Somehow we still all managed to clinch triple-digit scoring for the week. That still would not get the job done for Cole, Darrin, Ryan or Sneen as the absences of Allen, Harris, Bass (Cole), Thielen, Schultz (Darrin), Robinson, Cooper, Knox (Ryan), Prescott, Cook, Ekeler and Williams (Sneen) were felt by their owners, probably as the decisive negative factors in their losses as everybody played close once again. The only deficit of 12 or higher was settled by Alec ignoring his gut instincts by playing homerism and rostering/starting Bears' replacement rookie running back Khalil Herbert, who dropped a clean 18.3 points on Cole's noggin as the Glaza Division's NFC Least'ing intensifies. Who's playing the role of Dan Snyder in all of that sub-.500 nonsense? Nevermind. Even I, Shad Khan, know not to touch the topic of the Football Team's behind-the-scenes nonsense right now. At least Jackson Mahomes' brother kept seeing the ghost of Sean Taylor in a Titans uniform this past weekend. 

Week 8 promises to be much more fair with the only bye week all-caps ABSENCE being 7-0 Nick's QB Lamar Jackson. As a way of evening out the odds, Nick's difficulty level went from "All-Madden" to "Pro" as he faces 2-5 Andy as he waves goodbye to the Justin Fields era after a terrible Tampa trip for the overmatched rookie. In his stead, WRBL legend of years past, Ryan Tannehill takes over as the Todd's Plan QB as Scott's Many Endeavors gets to experience life in the league with a rookie QB of his own, Trevor Lawrence. Patrick Mahomes' likely bounceback game might just be the ticket out of last place that Ryan's gone to Pittsburgh searching for (Hi Scott) because anything less than a 20-pointer will likely lead to losing with Hoefs' hot lineup surviving a ton of on-the-mend running backs. In a very stupid turn of events, 3-4 Alec and 3-4 Tyler are possibly fighting for first place in their division with Sneen's TE (Mark Andrews) on bye and Tom Brady back as QB1 as a 44-year old shape-shifter. Tawmy probably knows how to drive giant sandworms with all the inexplicable feats he's accomplished after tossing touchdown #600 this past weekend. The COVID pandemic is far from over with Cole's top WR (Davante Adams) out in a key rematch of the league's best rivalry versus Darrin. The Saints traded for Mark Ingram this week so Cole's crossing his fingers that maybe Darrin's longest tenured Chowhound RB Alvin Kamara is all out of gas after his heroic showing on Monday Night Football.
 
USA TODAY Sports
D'Ernest (Byner?) Johnson came out of nowhere to propel Yeezy Taught Me to his second straight win.

If that's not enough excitement, the 6-1 Packers (down Adams and WR Allen Lazard due to COVID) will face the 7-0 Cardinals (down DE J.J. Watt) on the best Thursday Night Football game since week 1's Bucs-Cowboys shootout. No matter what happens, the fun doesn't stop there either with the Colts looking to re-enter talks to win the AFC South with a possible upset at home against Tennessee. Derrick Henry is already just 131 yards away from another 1K yard year so, he'll get that in the first quarter if Indy doesn't sell out to stop the run like Kansas City did. The Chiefs should barely try stopping the run against the Giants on Monday Night Football with Saquon Barkley possibly still sidelined for journeyman RB Devontae Booker. The real highlight of the weekend for me will be seeing the new "Kardiac Kids" Minnesota Vikings coming off a bye week to face fellow Byemageddon participants in the Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota, where the fantasy points should be flying with values to be found all over. Cris Collinsworth might not be able to contain himself as he slides his chair into the wrong booth.


Scoring Leaders

QB
Tom Brady 175.7 (Sneen)
Lamar Jackson 165.72 (Nick)
Patrick Mahomes 161.62 (Ryan)
Kyler Murray 142.9 (Hoefs)
Aaron Rodgers 139.4 (Darrin)
Josh Allen 119.1 (Cole)
Russell Wilson 98.64 (Andy)
Joe Burrow 96.74 (Alec)
Derek Carr 35.68 (Alec)
Tua Tagovailoa 26.54 (Cole)
Daniel Jones 16.54 (Cole)
Justin Fields 14.42 (Andy)
Justin Herbert 11 (Hoefs)

RB
Derrick Henry 186.5 (Darrin)
Jonathan Taylor 131.2 (Alec)
Austin Ekeler 128.8 (Sneen)
Najee Harris 121.2 (Cole)
Alvin Kamara 121 (Darrin)
Aaron Jones 119 (Ryan)
Ezekiel Elliott 114.6 (Nick)
Joe Mixon 95.4 (Nick)
Nick Chubb 82.8 (Ryan)
James Robinson 69.8 (Ryan)
Dalvin Cook 65.9 (Sneen)
D'Andre Swift 60.8 (Cole)
David Montgomery 59.8 (Alec)
Christian McCaffrey 58.4 (Hoefs)
Antonio Gibson 58.3 (Andy)
Saquon Barkley 55.6 (Cole)
Darrell Henderson 51 (Sneen)
Chuba Hubbard 50.6 (Andy/Nick)
Damien Harris 50.4 (Andy)
Alexander Mattison 49.4 (Hoefs/Andy)
Leonard Fournette 47.7 (Darrin)
Chase Edmonds 40.3 (Hoefs)
Kareem Hunt 36.7 (Hoefs)
Chris Carson 35.4 (Nick)
Clyde Edwards-Helaire 32.2 (Hoefs)
Darrel Williams 31.9 (Andy)
Cordarrelle Patterson 30.3 (Sneen)
Alex Collins 26 (Andy/Alec)
D'Ernest Johnson 24.8 (Hoefs)
Myles Gaskin 21.1 (Cole)
Khalil Herbert 18.3 (Alec)
Miles Sanders 17.3 (Nick)
Josh Jacobs 17 (Darrin)
Elijah Mitchell 16.7 (Andy)
Mike Davis 12.1 (Alec)
Melvin Gordon 11.2 (Ryan)
James Conner 10.7 (Sneen)
Kenyan Drake 10.5 (Ryan)
J.D. McKissic 9.6 (Cole)
Zack Moss 5.9 (Ryan)
Raheem Mostert 2 (Cole)
James White 0.6 (Andy)

WR
Cooper Kupp 190.4 (Hoefs)
Tyreek Hill 150.4 (Nick)
Davante Adams 144.4 (Cole)
DK Metcalf 122.7 (Alec)
DeAndre Hopkins 117 (Darrin)
Mike Evans 95.5 (Andy)
Stefon Diggs 95.3 (Hoefs)
Justin Jefferson 93.14 (Alec)
Keenan Allen 86.9 (Andy)
Brandin Cooks 83.5 (Darrin)
Amari Cooper 80.8 (Ryan)
D.J. Moore 80.3 (Sneen)
Terry McLaurin 80.1 (Nick)
Adam Thielen 76.7 (Darrin)
Mike Williams 76.5 (Sneen)
Deebo Samuel 72.8 (Nick)
A.J. Brown 72.7 (Alec)
CeeDee Lamb 72.4 (Hoefs)
Calvin Ridley 71.1 (Andy)
Michael Pittman Jr. 66.6 (Ryan)
Ja'Marr Chase 61.2 (Sneen)
Chris Godwin 49.8 (Alec)
Robert Woods 46.2 (Sneen)
Diontae Johnson 33.8 (Andy)
Jaylen Waddle 26.9 (Cole)
Allen Robinson 24.6 (Sneen)
Jakobi Meyers 20.8 (Hoefs)
Courtland Sutton 20.5 (Cole)
DeVonta Smith 19.8 (Ryan)
Julio Jones 19.4 (Ryan)
D.J. Chark 16.8 (Cole)
Tee Higgins 16 (Cole)
Emmanuel Sanders 14.1 (Cole)
Tyler Lockett 13.5 (Andy)
Hunter Renfrow 12.8 (Hoefs)
Terry McLaurin 8.6 (Nick)
Marquise Brown 7.5 (Darrin)
Chase Claypool 3.7 (Ryan)

TE
Travis Kelce 122.3 (Andy)
Mark Andrews 110.6 (Sneen)
T.J. Hockenson 87.9 (Alec)
Noah Fant 84.2 (Nick)
Darren Waller 82.8 (Hoefs)
Kyle Pitts 78.6 (Ryan)
Mike Gesicki 49.3 (Cole)
George Kittle 40.6 (Darrin)
Logan Thomas 33.7 (Cole)
Dalton Schultz 26.8 (Darrin)
Dallas Goedert 12 (Hoefs)
Tyler Higbee 9.6 (Darrin)
Rob Gronkowski 9.5 (Ryan)
Dawson Knox 7.5 (Ryan)

K
Justin Tucker 68 (Sneen)
Tyler Bass 66 (Cole)
Matt Gay 54 (Nick)
Brandon McManus 54 (Alec)
Harrison Butker 49 (Darrin)
Daniel Carlson 37 (Ryan)
Mason Crosby 27 (Hoefs/Cole)
Matt Prater 26 (Andy)
Jason Sanders 21 (Andy)
Nick Folk 17 (Hoefs)
Younghoe Koo 17 (Hoefs)
Greg Zuerlein 10 (Nick)
Josh Lambo 1 (Ryan)

DF
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 56 (Alec)
Arizona Cardinals 40 (Cole/Sneen)
Denver Broncos 40 (Andy)
New Orleans Saints 36 (Ryan)
Los Angeles Rams 31 (Cole/Andy)
Cleveland Browns 23 (Nick)
Buffalo Bills 21 (Sneen)
Carolina Panthers 18 (Darrin)
New England Patriots 17 (Nick)
Pittsburgh Steelers 16 (Hoefs)
Indianapolis Colts 14 (Ryan/Nick)
Dallas Cowboys 13 (Hoefs)
Green Bay Packers 9 (Cole)
San Francisco 49ers 7 (Nick)
Atlanta Falcons 6 (Cole)
San Francisco 49ers 6 (Cole)
Las Vegas Raiders 4 (Hoefs)
Miami Dolphins 4 (Cole)
Washington Football Team 3 (Darrin)
Tennessee Titans 2 (Hoefs)
Cincinnati Bengals 1 (Nick)
Baltimore Ravens -2 (Sneen/Hoefs)

Hypothetical Standings (Top 4 scorers win, bottom 4 lose)
Scott's Many Endeavors 6-1
SNEEN MACHINE 4-3
Team ChowHounds 4-3
Yeezy Taught Me 4-3
Tax Paying Homeowner 3-4
Colieveland 96ers 3-4
Take Mahomes Country Roads 3-4
Todd's Plan 1-6