Murky Middle & NFL trade deadline

We are getting close to our beloved parity. Eight teams are at 0.500 or better and even the league’s worst PP Hurts is three games back with six to go. In the Red Bull division, Los Gatos Kitties (2-6) even still has a shot at a first round bye (mathematically at least). Our fantasy trade deadline lies four full weeks away (Friday December 1st, hours after week 12’s TNF game). The recent NFL trade deadline was relatively exciting. Mostly defensive players were shipped, and seemingly the only transaction affecting fantasy football was Joshua Dobbs heading to the Minnesota Vikings to replace Kirk Cousins. The Cousins injury itself was enough of a bombshell to the Vikings offense but Dobbs might salvage some of their value. Dobbs often throws to tight ends and runningbacks, but has made Hollywood Brown relevant as well (WR21). Non-trades were also relevant as Derrick Henry remains in Tennessee and no Broncos players moved.

Matchups

RIP Kirko Chainz (139.14) ripped off a win against The Buzzsaw (110.08). The Buzzsaw was off to a hot start on Sunday as Lamar connected with Mark Andrews for a first quarter TD. Thats where the heat ended however as the Ravens racked up 31 points from 3 Gus Bus rushing TDs (more on him later) leaving the duo with only 25.98 combined points. Javonte Williams (18.8) and Brock Purdy (20.3) had solid days, but a total of 110.08 points is nothing special. Cody’s team were mostly carried by the Tua Waddle stack (57.86 combined) and a normal game from CMC (29.8). Their “RB2 problem” saw Roschon Johnson score 6.1 points for a combined 35.9 at the runningback position. That is the 5th highest combined total in the league this week and above the average of 33.63 points for teams that won this week.

Hamas Rockets (159.26) exploded this week against Fields of Dreams (123.28). I think I made that play on words already but with “Rockets” in your name and a score of 159 I cannot resist. Dak Prescott (29.06) led the was with an absolute beatdown of the LA Rams throwing for 304 yards and 4 TDs. The only other massive scores came from Kittle (23.9 - 11 targets), DeVonta Smith (22.9), and Cole Kmet (17.9). Shoutout the Rockets for starting two tight ends instead of Tee Higgins (11.9) or Josh Downs (14.2) and having it pay off. Fields of Dreams had been scratching their way back into relevance but encountered the wrong opponent this week. The Justin Fields injury seems to be hurting more than just their superflex spot (Bagent - 13.8) but also didn’t amount to much for DJ Moore (9.5). I’m surprised they went with the Falcons TE1 (Jonnu - 2.3) over free agent acquisition Taysom Hill (22.46). Taysom, listed as a TE, is actually playing that position at a higher rate than in years past. However, this year he’s added goal line runningback to the portfolio, carrying the ball 9 times for 2 TDs this week. Even superscoring for FoD this week wouldn’t have made a difference though.

Token Female (142.98) coasted to victory against Los Gatos Kitties (115.36). Token Female rose this week with the Buffalo Bills Thursday night starting James Cook (8.3), Diggs (16), Gabe Davis (23.7), and the Bills DST (5). A combined 53 points from those four along with a monster game from DeAndre Hopkins (34.8) set her up for victory this week. Hopkins has now caught the first career TD pass for four different quarterbacks (Will Levis, Case Keenum, Tom Savage, Deshaun Watson), tied for an NFL record with Marvin Harrison. Two of Hopkins’ 3 TDs were very impressive, but the 1st was a wildly underthrown ball that D-Hop adjusted to while the DB stopped defending to complain about OPI while the ball was still in the air. The Kitties were a pile of mediocrity this week with all players outside the defense scoring between 9.6 (Olave) and 19.7 (LaPorta) points. DK Metcalf (11.7) catching only 5 passes on 14 targets is an apt analogy for the Kitties this week. LaPorta continues to make a difference at least, but second round pick Bijan Robinson (12.2) hasn’t topped 20 points since week 2.

Zach White Commanders (162.14) dashed the hoped of PP Hurts (136.88). PP Hurts put up the league’s 7th highest score this week and the 2nd highest among losing teams. Their kryptonite must be colored purple, as their two players in purple jerseys were the only duds (Zay Flowers - 6.9… nice; Alexander Mattison - 4.3). Flowers fell with the entire Ravens offense against the Cardinals who put up 31 teams points on only 268 offensive yards. Mattison meanwhile saw only a single target and was highly inefficient in the run game (1.9 yards per carry). Otherwise, waiver acquisitions Kareem Hunt (13.7) and Joshua Dobbs (24.92) were efficient and superstar Jalen Hurts (27.36) performed to expectation. PP Hurts even saw a 7 point advantage at DST this week (Lions - 15 vs Fins - 8) but it wasn’t enough. The Commanders started the week up big with 21.38 from Baker, 30.06 from Josh Allen, and 17.9 from Rachaad “dump off” White (17.9 - 7 catches). White catches a lot of heat in fantasy communities for an apparent lack of talent but in my opinion he’s an above average pass catcher and looks good in the open field. Big games were also put up from the ZWC’s pair of Vikings (Hock - 20.8; Addison - 21.4). As mentioned in the introduction, the Cousins injury hurts the Vikes’ offense but I think Dobbs will still be able to support Hock and Addison (until JJ returns).

Team Jeff (146.88) fended off Mr. Big Chest (144.82) this week. Team Jeff held the week’s highest fantasy scorer in CeeDee Lamb (41) who had 9 catches for 122 yards and 2 TDs… in the first half. All of that production, however, came at the expense of Team Jeff’s Tony Pollard (6.5) who was largely uneccesary on Sunday. Patrick Mahomes also had a down game (7.64) and was reported as having the flu, which is wild that its acceptable for him to just be around everyone because the flu is highly contaigous, no? MBC saw high scoring games from Breece Hall (21.3), Cousins (19.86 before getting hurt), and Tyreek Hill (25.2). Heading into Sunday night, MBC was down 33.76 with both Keenan Allen and ARSB still to play. Both teams were playing significantly worse opponents, and got out to massive leads, spelling an anti-passing game script. Allen reeled in a couple of catches late in the game to salvage 14.9 leaving 18.86 necessary for ARSB. On 9 targets, he racked up 108 yards, but only caught six total passes without a TD and doubling Team Jeff’s win total.

I Pickens Boogies (126.38) was one kneeldown away from a heartbreaker against Bidet to Be Gay (126.3). BBG started the wrong QB this week, opting for Stafford (12.38) instead of Sam “who knows if I’m good or not” Howell (31.98; QB1 on the week). On the other side of that shootout, IPB started AJ Brown (33) who against the Commanders this season has 21 targets, 17 catches, 305 yards, and 4 TDs. Speaking of scoring multiple TDs, the Gus Bus rolled on Sunday for 3 rushing TDs. Edwards had all the answers on Sunday as Ravens were handed short fields and converted quickly. Remember your excitement when Derrick Henry was rumored to the Ravens? I legit think Edwards might produce what Henry would have in Baltimore as he’s been given double digit carries every week since week 2 and has only been fantasy relevant when scoring TDs. Heading into Monday night, BBG had Gibbs and a 13.4 defecit against Goff and Jakobi Meyers; heavily unfavored by ESPN’s win probability. No matter the game script, it was bound to benefit either Goff or Meyers. However, the beatdown of the Raiders was so great that Jimmy G didn’t get many chances to pass to WRs, leaving Meyers with 2.9 points. Furthermore, Gibbs had a career night, totaling 189 yards, 5 catches, and a TD. Late in the game, Gibbs needed just one more carry in the final Lions possession to take the lead, and the Lions needed one first down to ice the game. The first two plays were runs with Craig Reynolds and the third a pass from Goff. Up 2.8, IPB may have lost on kneeldowns, but only 2 were required, and IPB left with another surprising win. To add to the heartbreak, BBG started the Eagles DST for a -2. They could have not played a DST, played the Browns on their bench (5), or picked up any waiver defense beside the Colts (-5).

Trades and Waiver Wire

Mr. Big Chest is in charge of trades this week.

MBC RIP Kirko Chainz
CMC D’Andre Swift
CMC handcuff Breece Hall

Great trade for both parties in my opinion.

MBC Bidet to Be Gay
Sam Howell Kyler Murray

Will Levis was the top waiver add for I Pickens Boogies ($26). He goes right into the QB1 spot as they have Goff on bye, Kenny Pickett as questionable before waivers ran, and Desmond Ridder being sat. Isaiah Pacheco was also added for $12 by Mr. Big Chest.

Sit Your Superstar

I don’t think I updated this last week. I should really finish this column in a single sitting; proofreading is hard.

This week’s SYS is Drake London. This one is mostly injury related as I think the groin injury is much worse than we’ve been led to believe.

Power Rankings

  1. Zach White Commanders (6-2) - Josh Allen? Still good at football. Dropped the most points this week and is atop the good division.

  2. Mr. Big Chest (5-3) - CMC counts as 2 players. I trust one of Dave’s 5 handcuff RBs will be productive each week.

  3. The Buzzsaw (5-3) - You lose, you gotta drop in the power rankings. But I am still the best.

  4. Token Female (6-2) - 6 wins is a lot. Relies heavily on the Bills, but the Bills are good.

  5. Bidet to Be Gay (4-4) - Kyler for Howell is a huge upgrade… eventually.

  6. Cmac at #9? (4-4) - TE is the only weak spot.

  7. I Pickens Boogies (7-1) - 7 wins is a lot, but Will Levis is QB1 so I can still justify ranking him this low, right??

  8. Los Gatos Kitties (2-6) - Quit losing, its a decent team.

  9. Team Jeff (2-6) - Mahomes scores 7 points and Jeff still drops 146. Still 2-6 though.

  10. Hamas Rockets (4-4) - Bryce seems to have improved in the bye week and I think Higgins has some boom games comin (stealing Chase’s TDs).

  11. Fields of Dreams (2-6) - Finally starting Taysom Hill. Should trade away Naj if you aren’t starting him.

  12. PP Hurts (1-7) - Win next week and you won’t be last.

Picks

We went 2-4 (wrong side of both close ones) for 26-22 total. ESPN projections also went 2-4 and sit at 28-20. This week winners will be: The Buzzsaw, Fields of Dreams, Los Gatos Kitties, ZWC, Bidet or Be Gay, and RIP Kirko Chainz

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