Much like my team, my PR game was better last year too.
We’re at the halfway point, so it’s a good time to stop look around and see where we’ve been and where we’re going. Last year 6-6 was good enough to make the playoffs, and good enough to miss them too
(All Play standings in parenthesis)
Would take a disaster to miss the playoffs - These two teams are going to be in the post season and can start trying to maximize their rosters to be ready to fight for the belt
1. (1) Elkins - I don’t know how he’s doing it, (2nd fewest points against), but as long as my Chinese-made Jonathan Stewart jersey shows up in the mail I don’t care. Other than Gronk the rest of this team is full of perennial under-achievers (Ingram, Stewart) and old men having a throwback seasons (Fitz). Will it be enough to make the playoffs? Yeah. Enough to win it all? Who knows? (no)
2. (3) Tim - After pretending to fully embrace Mitch’s observation about always finishing .500 in every league, Tim has decided to prove Mitch wrong. Tom Brady in Eff You mode, Matt Forte delivering as a top 2 RB, Ronnie Hillman taking over in Denver and Lamar Miller having a breakout game under a new coach give Tim an amazing backfield. Add a solid WR corps and you have my favorite to win the belt this year.
Probably in
3. Eric - J/K, Eric’s team is all smoke and mirrors definitely not the 3rd best team
In the Hunt - All of these team have some flaws but are right in the hunt for the playoffs
3. Drew (2) - Drew has the best QB and the best RB and Seattle’s D and that’s about it, but somehow he is number 2 in All Play record and maybe Matt Stafford will have more weeks like the 339 points he scored against the Bears after only having 550 total in the 5 weeks leading up to it. With Dalton, Bell, and Seattle it’s hard to see how Drew misses the playoffs if he can get a little help from the the likes of Emmanuel Sanders and Dion Lewis.
4. Cha (4) - Cha has the largest discrepancy between his record and place in the standings and his All Play record. We’ve seen since introducing All Play a few seasons ago that once you have enough data it usually is a good indicator of a team’s true strength and where they will finish the season. Cha’s only stars are Aaron Rodgers, Carson Palmer and OBJ, but the rest of his players are all in the 10-20 range of PRK so it’s a solid supporting cast that should be enough to carry Cha to the playoffs. PS, how good would this team be if Cha hadn’t traded the number 4 fantasy back for Philly’s back up RB?
5. Eric (7) - I wanted to put Eric lower. I really did. He is starting the power house back field of Ameer Abdullah and Charcandrick West this week! But he did set the season high in points last week, and DeAndre Hopkins is somehow the number 1 WR even though the Houston QB situation has been worse than the Reds bullpen this year. I don’t think Eric will finish the season this high, he’s probably closer to his All Play of 7, which would put him right outside the playoffs, which is where I think he’ll finish.
6. Mitch (5) - another year, another case of time-traveling Mitch using his powers to rip-off someone in the league instead of buying us all a powerball ticket, or stopping Boeing and George Bush from doing 9/11. The two best players on his team are Devonta Freeman and Phil Rivers, I don’t know about you, but that’s not my idea of a championship roster. Of course, right before the trade deadline he’ll time travel again and rip someone off and end up with Brady, Rodgers, Forte and Julio Jones.
7. Dave (6) - Looking at the names on Dave/Dan’s roster you’d think he’d be much closer to the top, but some under performing, some injuries and some bad luck have him in the middle of the pack. If Andrew Luck can actually get healthy, Arian Foster can stay healthy, and Doug Martin can have a few more games like he did 2 weeks ago, Dave should be able to sneak in the playoffs just as Tony Romo comes back from injury and makes Dave a legitimate threat for a title defense
Time is running out
8. Justin (9) - If we forget about Mitch’s time traveling ripoff for a minute, Justin pulled off on of the all time one-sided trades, and that might have been the highlight of the season for him. AP has looked human this year, CJ Anderson decided that he wanted to be terrible now, and QB play continues to be a problem Justin is going to need pull off another trade and hope that Gurley can live up to the promise he flashed before his by week if he wants to make a serious run at the playoffs.
9. Taylor (8) - Drew Brees and Marshawn Lynch have been playing through injuries all year and Alshon Jeffery has an ill-timed bye week coming right after his return from injury. Taylor would have a much stronger team with Freeman, but no one other than a time traveler would have predicted anything like the production he’s gone on to give Mitch. Taylor has made some mistakes in his rookie season, but his team isn’t any worse than fantasy veteran Justin. Taylor probably won’t make the playoffs, but he might be just good enough to stay out of the last place co-owner slot.
Andrew - If Andrew was managing their team he’d probably be in this group. Not in the playoff hunt but at least he’d be playing the number 5 fantasy QB for more than 1 out of the first 6 games. Trash talk is on point though.
NBA is starting soon!
10. Jesse (11) - Jesse and I had 2 of the best teams the last 2 years, but he has been hit hard by injury (Big Ben), and some of his big name players that have been healthy haven’t lived up to expectations (Brown, Cobb). Even with Big Ben coming back I don’t see a way for Jesse to make up enough ground to make the playoffs, but he should be able to do enough to stay out of last place.
11. Jason (12) - Peyton Manning is dead and he took Demarius Thomas with him. I lost this season on draft day when I decided a 400 year old QB with 3 neck surgeries, no feeling in his fingers and tiny arms working with a new head coach and coordinator and a new OL would be a great number 7 draft pick. I should’ve taken Tom Brady and Julio Jones instead, then I might actually have a legitimate team. Hopefully with LeSean McCoy added to my roster I can somehow avoid last place, but I doubt it.
12. Mike (10) - We’ve all see who’s team this really is. Andrew is the PR/spokesperson, but Mike is the shitty owner/GM. He drafted the only player even close to Peyton in disappointing performance this year in Eddie Lacy. Much like the actual Broncos, the only bright spot for Mike is the Broncos D. I would say that Bortles was a bright spot, but Mike has only played him one of the first 6 weeks even though he is the 5th best fantasy QB this year! Even if Mike had good players (he doesn’t) he’d figure out a way to manage them into last place and drag Andrew through another year of co-owning. if Mike didn’t over value his players like Gollum does the ring he could probably make a few deals to make his team better, but he won’t.