Week 7 Recap

Water always finds its level. Heading into Week 7, Alan suffered his first loss of the year due to terrible roster management, and Weissbard was on a surprise 3-game winning streak without ever breaking 75 points. Over that time, Weiss improved his roster by throwing out some massive Waiver bids, as well as trading AP for Jacquizz Rodgers at precisely the right moment, while Alan traded away Melvin Gordon to sure up his receiving corps, a move that has yet to pay off. Things looked ripe for a potentially huge upset.

But then...

The Masandiassance lives on.


Playoff Odds

After Week 7:
No team has started 7-0
100% (4/4) of 6-1 teams made the playoffs
71% (5/7) of 5-2 teams made the playoffs
50% (5/10) of 4-3 teams made the playoffs
27% (3/11) of 3-4 teams made the playoffs
17% (1/6) of 2-5 teams made the playoffs
0% (0/3) of 1-6 teams made the playoffs
0% (0/1) of 0-7 teams made the playoffs

After Week 8:
No team has started 8-0
100% (1/1) of 7-1 teams made the playoffs
100% (6/6) of 6-2 teams made the playoffs
63% (5/8) of 5-3 teams made the playoffs
38% (4/13) of 4-4 teams made the playoffs
13% (1/8) of 3-5 teams made the playoffs
0% (0/3) of 2-6 teams made the playoffs
0% (0/3) of 1-7 teams made the playoffs
No team has started 0-8

Lots of playoff implications this week. Gutman and Levine have the chance to join Alan in the 100% club (other than NiJo Rule/Division Champ implications). And they play each other. There is a 25% gap between 5-3 and 4-4, so there is also a lot at stake for BAM, Bennett, and Zacherman, with BAM and Bennett facing each other. Big picture: based on the last 4 years of playoff odds, every team still has a chance. However, one more loss for Marco, Bruno or AGD would officially eliminate them, and AGD and Bruno are facing off. Picking Matchup of the Week is gonna be tough.


NiJo Rule Watch

Potential Party Crashers:

• Zacherman - 5th place, 3rd in points
• Barnard - 7th place, 4th in points
• Kumpf - 8th place, 5th in points

Potential Victims:

• Levine - 4th place, 11th in points
• BAM - 6th place, 6th in points
• Bennett - 7th place, 7th in points

Playoff Predictions

1. Alan - BYE - Division Champ
2. Gutman - BYE - Division Champ
3. BAM
4. Zacherman
5. Bennett
6. Kumpf - NiJo rule over Levine

If I don't qualify under the NiJo rule, Levine still wouldn't make the playoffs, as our Division Champ rule would put the top team from Ajay's division into the playoffs. Which right now I'm guessing is Barnard.

Team of the Week - Alan

I know that these posts are all very Alan-centric, but this is the world we're living in. I'm not putting him up here simply because he had the highest score of the week by 30 points, but because it's also important to note how it happened. As I mentioned, he traded away Melvin Gordon two weeks ago. Shady was banged up and glued to the bench. And high-priced receiver Allen Robinson put up a whopping 0.9 points in the starting lineup. Other than those low points, every other player in his lineup put up at least 13.3 points, including another ridiculous week by Jay Ajayi, who honestly should have been dropped after Week 1. Barnard needs a win this week, but with Gurley on a bye, I have a feeling that Alan will be dragging his ass all over Barnard's carpet.


Best Lineup Decision of the Week - Marco starting Kirk Cousins over Matt Stafford

With his season all but over, Marco chose to go down with the ship rather than go against his team. Given the way Stafford has played recently, I'm not sure I would have done the same thing, but Captain Kirk rewarded his faith with a ridiculous rushing TD that proved to be the difference in the game. The Skins may have ultimately lost, but Marco's faith in them kept his season alive, albeit on life support.


Worst Lineup Decision of the Week - Barnard starting Tyler Eifert over Julius Thomas

So many options this week:

• Bennett starting Matt Jones and T.J. Yeldon over Chris Thompson
• Bennett starting Cameron Meredith over Michael Thomas
• Barnard starting Todd Gurley over Matt Forte
• Esco starting Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffrey, and Pierre Garcon over Tavon Austin
• AGD starting DeAndre Hopkins, Mohamed Sanu, Lamar Miller, Christine Michael and James White over Davante Adams

I almost gave this to AGD simply because they had so may opportunities to start Adams, but I think Barnard takes the cake here. Eifert has been hurt for so long, and had so many setbacks, that any intelligent fantasy football owner would have at least waited to see how he looked before starting him. Especially with a backup like Julius going against a porous defense in Oakland. Instead, Barnard made the curious choice of starting Eifert in a game that Cincy was assuredly going to win, and thus not risk injuring their start TE, and he paid for it.

Biggest Surprise of the Week - BAM's no show

I haven't mentioned Billy and Marshall too much this year, but they've put together a roster that's capable of putting up some serious points. The roster also has some terrifying holes. They're over-reliant on the dynamic duo of Zeke and ODB (not necessarily a bad thing), as well as the surprising performances of Marvin Jones (seems legit) and Spencer Ware (Charles' presence is looming like a guillotine). Most importantly, they literally do not have a quarterback. When things are rolling on all cylinders, they can put up 90+, as they've done in their four wins, but when things go wrong, they can go way wrong. This league has inherently shallow rosters, but I don't think any good team is as thin as this one.


Biggest Matchup of Week 8 - BAM vs. Bennett

I really wanted to go with Gutman/Levine, but I feel like Levine is involved here every week, I pick against him, and he benefits from the Kumpf Kurse. So this week I'm going to continue focusing on BAM, and highlight their matchup with Bennett. Bye weeks are wreaking havoc on these rosters, with ODB, Antonio and Ben all out of commission. BAM gets Zeke back, and will likely pick up a QB, but this team is actually going to miss the presence of Kenny Britt. Bennett at least has Matty Ice to fall back on, as well as the seemingly rejuvenated Davante Adams, so I'm gonna go ahead and pick him. Bennett, you've been Kursed.