What I Think about Week 9 2015

So, I beat Tom.  Take that loser!  Yeah, you’ve got a better record than me.  Yeah, you’ve beaten the Duoviri and I’ll probably be 0-2 against them after this weekend.  So what! YOU LOST!  TO ME!  What really sucks?  You probably don’t even read this.  My 2015 season is not all lost, even though it looks like I’ll come in the bottom 5 for sure. 

WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?

So, I decided to go through and see how the top players are at each position at Week 9.  Some are obvious, others are shockers.  Here they are:

QB

1. Brady
2. Rivers
3. Rodgers

WR

1. Julio Jones
2. DeAndre Hopkins (seriously!)
3. Odell Beckham, Jr.

RB (Can you believe this?)

1. Devonta Freeman
2. Danny Woodhead
3. Mark Ingram

TE

1. Gronkowski
2. Eifert
3. Branidge

And now, on to the important shit …

• Congrats to Barry on scoring the highest weekly point total in EW History this weekend!  A monster weekend of 172.78 points (more on that below), impaired only by Lacy’s horrible performance that cost him his starting job.  Don’t forget Barry left Eifert’s 25.65 points on the bench.  Barry has benefited greatly from the inspired (lucky?) choices of Walker and Crabtree the past few weeks.  This weekend also brought Barry the ninth biggest blowout against Tony P, whose 103.17 points would have been enough to beat half of the rest of the league.  Congrats Barry!
• Tom, really, leaving 2 slots on Bye in the most important matchup of the season?  Sad.
• So the monster matchup this weekend was between the Duoviri and Kevin.  They kept it close, right up to the last game.  Kevin benefitted greatly from the huge week between Cam and Greg Olson, while the twins had a weak FF showing by the Patriots to keep it close.  In the end, it was a KICKER who really made the difference.  Still glad you have one, Nathan?  You should be.  Congrats to Dos Evans on securing the first playoff position of the season!
• Speaking of the twins, if you’re their RB be careful.  They’ve lost 2 RB to the IR in the past 2 weeks.  Don’t worry, they’re okay thanks to the trade from me.  I’m sure you were worried.
• Berk powers up, but still not enough to beat Mike.  He finally started McCoy in time for a huge week and then his injury.  Congrats, Berk … I guess.  Mike is quietly making a case for a repeat championship.  Will be fun to see what happens.
• Speaking of Mike, time for James Starks to hit your starting lineup.
• Rich, I haven’t said it for a while, but good call picking up the TE Rodgers.  Keep playing him.
• Marshall, I wouldn’t ditch the Packers DEF just yet.  I know they’ve hurt you the past few weeks, but with a stretch of games in the NFC North ahead, you should get better performance.  That’s going to be true of all Packers (except Lacy, I suppose).
• Julius Peppers, that was a dick move taking the sign down.  Bigger dick move to deny Cam the ball to give to the kid.  Losing sucks, no question, but don’t forget you’re a Packer and you act differently than the others.
• Detroit, it’s time to look beyond Stafford.  Remember Joey Harrington?  Yeah, your fans do too.
• Dallas fans are saying the same thing about Tony Romo … and hopefully Jerry Jones.
• Saw an interview with Ray Rice this past week.  Unlike Greg Hardy, he is actually working to make amends for his past mistakes.  I don’t know if he’ll ever get full public forgiveness, but at least he recognizes that there was once a time when he knew kids wanted to be like Ray Rice.  He is ashamed to know that kids are now being taught they should not want to be like Ray Rice.
• Seriously, Nebraska fans?  Booing your own team?  No, that’s not us.  Knock it off.
• My favorite part of that win?  The NE offensive staff correctly identifying that Cross was the RB getting the work done and kept him in. 

PONTIFICATION OF THE WEEK = The new team scores

I got a message from Nathan this past week asking if we should put an asterisk next to EW records thanks to the new slot spot.  I’ll be honest, I think the * is an abomination in sports.  Putting a * on a record diminishes it, hell it ruins it.  If the record wasn’t earned, it shouldn’t be a record.  Plus, the game changes over time, so the records have to change with them.  How many MLB records would be broken if they increased games to 10 or 11 innings?  I understand Nathan’s point, but the records will stand as they are.  You might say that Barry’s monster week might not have been possible last year, but I’ll only remind you that he got the record with one of the key positions scoring –1.5 points.  The game changes, and now EW teams have the potential to score more points than ever before in our 10-year history.  So be it.  Enjoy it friends.  And for those of you who had records, enjoy them while you can too.

For what it’s worth, 9 out of 10 teams are projected to score more than 100 points in Week 10 (Tom was projected around 98).  Times they are a changin’.  Enjoy!

 

Good luck to everyone except the twins in Week 10!  For those of you fighting for a playoff spot, plan hard and good luck.