Playoff picture; This one’s for the underdog

Every winner this week had the same or a worse record than the team they beat.

Four 8-4 teams have clinched the playoffs. Congrats to ZWFT, Afghanistan Feminists, BooBoo SmithShloopster, and Meme Team. The fight for a bye is tight in both divisions still.

The last two spots are wide open with 5 teams at 5-7 or 6-6. Given H2H is the first tie-breaker the two 4-8 teams (Handcuffs and Token Female) aren’t mathematically eliminated though ESPN puts their chances at <1%. We should have a much clearer picture after this week.

Handcuffs hitin a lil too late (126.5pts) beat Mount Fijiwiji (80.3pts). It was the first time in a month Alan’s team broke 100. Heading into the week, Mount Fijiwiji traded away Christian McCaffery to stack the entire Chiefs’ offense. With the Chiefs on bye, they decided to not start a QB and call it a week. Handcuff’s team put together a complete effort with the highest scorer AJ Dillon (20pts) only scoring 9 pts more than the lowest scorer Browns DST (11pts).

Los Gatos (130.9pts) took down the Zach White Football Team (126pts) in a close matchup. Both teams’ Thanksgiving day running backs busted (Swift 3.9pts; Montgomery 10.4pts) and it was a close matchup heading into Sunday night. ZWFT had about a 5pt lead with Rashod Bateman against Mark Andrews. Promising early, Lamar Jackson seemed to only throw interceptions when targeting Andrews (4 interceptions total when targeted), but Lamar kept at it and a third quarter TD to Andrews was the difference in this matchup.

Titty Tickler (122.75pts) got the best of Meme Team (108.45pts) this week. Both teams had strong showings from their DSTs (Patriots 17pts; Bengals 19pts). Titty Tickler survived the loss of Christian McCaffrey (3.5pts) this week thanks to a dud from Najee Harris (6.7pts). Antonio Gibson’s season best performance (23.6pts) came at an ironic time to defeat Meme Team who drafted Gibson 14th overall. I don’t think Meme Team is phased much though as they prepare for the playoffs.

Inverted PPs (109.45pts) got their first win in over six weeks as they defeated Token Female (98.75pts) for the second time this season. Inverted PPs third win came against Cody’s team, so it seems and Inverted PP is the Meyer family kryptonite. Also ironically, Nick Chubb had a bad performance (5.9pts) against the PPs. Heading into Monday night, Token Female had about a 24pt lead against Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett. The two connected on a deep shot early and though the Seahawks’ offense struggled against the WFT, 24 points wasn’t an insurmountable lead as Wilson finished with 21.95pts and Lockett with 12.6pts.

Team Jeff (53.45pts) took a week off giving Dimes Szn Danny Juice (123.6pts) the free W. The good news is the spread from Team Jeff’s highest scoring to lowest scoring player was 9pts, similar to Handcuffs hitin a lil too late’s team. The bad new is their highest scorer was Jalen Hurts who finished with 11.15pts. Even if Team Jeff added their bench points to their score (70.9pts), they would only have beat Dimes Szn’s team by less than a point. Dimes Szn got a huge game from Leonard Fournette (44.1pts) and only needed to start Lenny and Saquon (9.3pts) to pull out the win.

Afghanistan Feminists (133.6pts) nearly doubled up BooBoo SmithShloopster (70.35pts). SmithShloopster’s team have now lost 4 of their last 6 after starting 6-0. The injury to Derick Henry didn’t help as the pair of RBs this week (Devin Singletary and Ty Johnson) combined for only 10pts. I don’t know what possessed SmithShloopster to start Big Ben but I am impressed he finished with 13.15pts in this game. Afghanistan Feminists continues to roll with another week as the highest scorer. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s recouped more than his entry fee in weekly high scoring bonuses.

Trade recap / Waiver Wire

There were many trades in this league. I will try my best once playoffs begin to call winners and losers of some trades, but I probably won’t be able to cover them all.

Waivers in most leagues were very competitive this week as Christian McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook, and D’Andre Swift were injured, but two of those three handcuffs were already rostered. Chubba Hubbard was therefore the hottest commodity, but knowing that, I think teams with <$30 FAB didn’t even waste their time. Los Gatos scored Chubba bidding $51 though Token Female was close with $45. Shoutout to Mount Fijiwiji for at least attempting with a $1 bid on Chubba.

Predictions update

For every matchup this season, I will pick a winner and keep track of ESPN’s projected winner. ESPN’s projected winner will be updated after the week in case of last minute substitutions, but I will make my picks based on starting roster each Wednesday.

Week 6 I went 3-3 for a total of 16-20. Here are my Week 13 winners: “Handcuffs hitin a lil too late”, “Los Gatos”, “ZWFT”, “Token Female”, “Team Jeff”, and “Dimes Szn Danny Juice”

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