Week 9, or "That was a weird one"

So Week 9....

It sure was. For the second straight week, we only had 3 teams top the 100-point mark. And we also had an absolute pillow fight at the bottom of our league, where neither team broke 80! Oh, my goodness.

RECAPS?

Bishop Sycamore Centurions takes out Hardcore Sacks, 121.5-91, takes over first place

It was BS's second Tidwell this season, and 15th all-time. He's the all-time leader in Tidwell's...and it's not close; in fact, the second most Tidwell's is actually Hardcore, who's got 10. This week, it was the Lamar Jackson/Patriots D show for BS. It's also kind of an escape for BS, since Chase Edmonds is now injured, but he got David Montgomery back. These two teams seem very likely to make the playoffs.

The Jeff Fisher Effect topples Utah Falco, 116.5-90

It was the Justin Herbert/Nick Chubb show for JFE this week, each player putting up 30+ points. (And then Nick Chubb got COVID). These are two more teams likely to make the playoffs. For Falco, Kirk Cousins was his top scorer, which always makes me want to say: 

Released Dix On Boobies pops Team Provost 115-73.5

Boobies (heh) brought out the balanced scoring attack this week, with only two starters that didn't work into double figures; Joe Mixon led the way with 24.5. Provost, by contrast, had ONE starter get into double figures. As the great John Madden would say, "it's tough to win when you don't score many points." (Though as we'll learn later, it's possible.)Major concern for Boobies (heh) going forward is what will the league do about the new Dalvin Cook news. It's less a concern because he's got Alexander Mattison.

Iron Ryan wins Banville Bowl, beats Death Valley Driver, 87-79

Remember at the draft when we all were thinking "Man, I-Ry's got that Mahomes-Tyreek stack, we're screwed."? Well, that hasn't really happened. The Chiefs haven't been able to put up points like they used to, but this week it didn't matter. DVD had the highest scoring player of the week in Johnathan Taylor, who netted 34 of his 79 points (or 43%). You could add ANY two of I-Ry's players scores together and they wouldn't match Taylor's output. But it's a sum of all parts thing, and DVD had basically no other parts this week.

Hamilton Rod and Gun wins (I guess?) over Pedro Pickles, 74-71.5

Actual footage from this matchup:

A couple weeks ago, I forgot to write about two teams. This week, I wish that were the case. It's interesting to me that both of these teams had scorers in the high-teens, but lacked any sort of depth. Pickles had a starter score 1 point (Khalil Herbert) and one who scored 0 points (Kadarious Toney). HRG had two starters score 0 points (Greg Zeurlein, Cowboys D). 

Playoff Update

The current top 4 seeds (Sycamore, Hardcore, JFE and Falco) seem very likely to make the playoffs with only 5 weeks left. Right now, the 5 and 6 seeds are HRG and Boobies (heh). ESPN's playoff percentage doesn't like HRG's chances ultimately; his bench scored 0 points this week, partly because none of the players on his bench played (only 2 because of a bye week, the other 4 because of injury). Without Derrick Henry or Calvin Ridley, it sure doesn't look good. 

Boobies (heh) is currently the 6 seed, thanks to being the second-highest scoring 4-5 team. He's the only team outside the top 4 with a playoff percentage higher than 50% (he's at 67%). It's still WAY early to lock anything in, but the race for those last two spots looks like it's going to be interesting.

What's Next

So we're off to Week 10. Don't walk...RUN! Just not like Justin Jefferson.

I'm no football expert, but I don't think that's what they're talking about when they say the d-lineman "swam" the blocker. I think usually you "swim" to get OUT of the block, not just before making the block.