And just like that we are halfway through the fantasy regular season! Can you believe it? Seven weeks down, seven to go for teams to make their final push to postseason glory.
Nick woke up and chose violence on Sunday, hoping his players would do the same against GalensWinningWinners. 102 points later, the Prairie Dawgs emptied their amazon cart and canceled their order for an alarm clock for Galen. Shoutout to the London Game!
“Do I need to post the one joke meme again”? We still can’t wrap our heads around Lamar Jackson being on Galen’s ‘Do Not Draft’ list. 45 points from Lamar later and the Squatches are back on the trail to the postseason.
As opposed to highlighting the matchups, this week will feature a team-by-team breakdown in order of standings as a halfway point of the season.
On to the breakdowns!
TUNDRA ICECAPS, 5-2
After dropping their first two matchups, the Icecaps have rattled off five straight wins and is set for yet another dominating regular season performance. Key word is ‘regular season’. The only team that has scored over a thousand points through seven weeks with Burrow, Goff, Chase, Henry, Walker III, Montgomery, Hunt and most surprisingly Sam Darnold, it’s hard to point out a weakness on this squad. Having not scored less than 150 points since week 2, the Icecaps are on pace to roll through the rest of the regular season. You can already put this team in the championship mix and it would take some really poor decisions to mess this roster up. But if there is any manager that knows anything about dominating the regular season and choking in the playoffs, it’s Jack.
GALENSWINNINGWINNERS, 5-2
Also sitting at 5-2, GWW have a formidable team, or do they? Having not scored over 150 all season, (scored over 140 three times), you can generally count on them for around 130 points. The exception came last week when they only scored 113, (shoutout Nick’s IR team for trying to compete). With Kyler Murray and Jordan Love leading the way, Jahmyr Gibbs has also been an elite option for the WinningWinners. What hasn’t been elite are the starts/sits, just take a look at this week with Tank Bigsby (26) and Rachaad White (25) both on the bench. GWW opted to start Stevenson (3) and Diggs (3) in the flex. Keep making those decisions and most of the time you will end up losing. This team feels like it still needs something to make a postseason run. Enter Jonathan Taylor. This team is 5-2 without him so just imagine what they could be with him, that’s if they make the right start/sits of course.
TROPICAL THUNDER, 4-3
Let’s not talk about the 64 points they just put up last week against the Icecaps. What was a promising start to the season has taken a brutal turn over the last couple of weeks, all culminating in this atrocious 64-point performance. The Thunder have sneakily had their own injury woes with waiver wire pickups Demario Douglas (1) and Juju Smith-Schuster (0). Now potentially injured star Jayden Daniels, and previously injured players Puka Nacua, Mailk Nabers and Chris Olave made this roster pretty thin quick. Tough stuff for the Thunder. Are there any positives? With an old Alvin Kamara and Jordan Mason about to lose his job once CMC returns, the Thunder should probably look to make a trade in the coming weeks.
EVERGLADE SQUATCHES, 4-3
It’s nice having Lamar Jackson, isn’t it? When he’s the entire team, yes, he is very nice to have. Outside of Bijan Robinson, there has been nobody to help… until now? A change in scenery for Amari Cooper will be good and a change at quarterback might be a great thing for George Pickens. That’s it though, there is no one else of note on this roster. Early round pick Travis Etienne has been a bust to say the least. But you may only need to be slightly better than average to make the playoffs this year. This team will go as far as Jackson, Robinson and maybe even Cameron Dicker (22) will carry them.
SAHARA SANDSTORMS, 3-4
It’s been tough sledding for the reigning champions. Trading for Patrick Mahomes was a good idea if you are getting the football player, but not a good idea if you are getting the fantasy player. De’Andre Swift has been a great addition to the team via trade (thanks Ben!). AJ Brown was welcomed back into the starting lineup and immediately made an impact. Then again, it’s pretty easy to make an impact on this team when the rest of the lineup is so bad. Davante Adams to New York will help right? Nope. What about Nick Chubb coming back? I guess Logan will take those nine points against the Bengals. $26 on Xavier Worthy will be an excellent investment, right? Nope, three points and benched this week. What about Jameson Williams finally being unlocked in Detroit? Try a suspension from the NFL. Everywhere this team turns is bad and it’s looking like a longshot to repeat at Champions. But hey, it could be worse.
AMAZON PIRANHAS, 3-4
TUA WILL SAVE THE SEASON! Josh Allen, Kyren Williams, James Conner, Austin Seibert, end of list. These are the most reliable options for the Piranhas and sometimes they haven’t even been that reliable. Shoutout to the Denver defense (24) for kicking the week off right. Considering all that has gone wrong with this team after week 1, to be sitting at 3-4 is pretty good. What’s even more exciting is that Tua could be coming back, which means Tyreek Hill is coming back into relevance. Are things actually looking up for this franchise? Too early to tell, especially with Andy Dalton’s -3 points and Mike Evans reaggravating his hamstring injury. With Mark Andrews finally coming along and Brian Thomas Jr. being a decent option (most of the time), the Piranhas have a chance. A chance to make something happen.
HURTS SO GOOD, 3-4
Trading for Amon Ra-St. Brown and Joe Mixon has to be the best trade this team has ever accomplished. Paired with Breece Hall and Jalen Hurts, there’s a solid foundation here. The 138 points last week would have beaten seven other teams in the league, so no reason to panic after losing to the Squatches. Left for dead a couple of weeks ago, Tim catapulted his way back into the mix with some wheeling and dealing. Bad news though, Chris Godwin will be out indefinitely with a gruesome injury from Monday night. Some better news is that Cooper Kupp may be coming back this Thursday. Similar to the Piranhas, being at 3-4 considering the state of the league is actually pretty okay. Things are looking up for Tim.
ALPINE AVALANCHE, 3-4
Last year at this point, Erk was 1-6, so it’s been a much better start this season. Justin Fields being benched did not help the cause, as Tyler Snoop Huntley got the call for the Avalanche. Justin Jefferson, Garrett Wilson and Drake London have been the wheels that kept this squad moving through the first seven weeks. Let’s not forget about Josh Jacobs who just had his first ever receiving touchdown on Sunday (shocking I know). Brian Robinson has also been a nice late round draft pick contributing in a big way some weeks. Javonte Williams had been a no show except last week (25) when he was left on the bench. Getting Dak Prescott back should help (will it though) but losing Brandon Aiyuk hurts. If anyone is getting screwed by the yahoo schedulers it’s Erk, who has beaten the median five out of seven times. If they can come back from 1-6 last year anything is on the table for the next seven weeks.
PRAIRIE DAWGS, 3-4
Trips to Europe, injuries and just lucky yahoo schedulers have given the Prairie Dawgs a 3-4 start in their first year back into the league. But actually, if we take a look at the median, Nick has been playing quite well and perhaps the schedulers are on his side with those low scoring wins to help combat the other weeks in which he should have won. CMC, Isiah Pacheco, and Rashee Rice was a tough start to the season but Brandon Aubrey was surely their best pick in August. Arguably carrying this team to 3 wins, Aubrey has been the one stable option in this ever-changing lineup. Caleb Williams has been playing better and now with Russell Wilson starting, that could be a decent duo of quarterbacks. Who would have thought I would be saying that in week 7? I think the question we are all asking though is, where is Marvin Harrison? After one elite week, Harrison has not been very helpful for the Prairie Dawgs. You know who has been helpful? Chuba Hubbard. A running back for the Panthers is one of the most consistent scorers on this team, which says a lot. Extremely lucky to be 3-4, we shall see if the Yahoo schedulers are this kind to Nick going forward.
MISTREATED MISFITS, 2-5
Well, we’ve already addressed the tough return on investments for this squad in a prior article and that’s why they are 2-5. At one point in time (not all at once) this team had Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, Amon Ra-St. Brown, De’Andre Swift, Joe Mixon and Chuba Hubbard. This team is just… not very good. The best draft pick of the team was Baker Mayfield who hasn’t been traded yet. I will say trading for Saquon Barkley was great, but they traded away St. Brown and Mixon. Verdict is still out on that one. Anytime you have to start two Giants players (Tyrone Tracy and Wan’dale Robinson) it’s going to be tough. Maybe the next seven weeks will be better for this team.
POWER RANKINGS THROUGH WEEK 7
While I stopped making Instagram graphics for power rankings (who has time for that), I have opted to include the first edition of the power rankings in this article! Remember, power rankings main influence is points scored while also slightly factoring in record.
Jack, 176.53
Galen, 160.75
Logan, 153. 19
Jordan, 151.72
Tim, 148.60
Ezra, 148.52
Book, 148.11
Nick, 141. 76
Erk, 139.25
Ben, 124.68
BUT WHAT IF WE HAD A MEDIAN
Great question.
Records against the median,
Jack, 5-2
Erk, 5-2
Galen, 4-3
Ezra, 4-3
Nick, 4-3
Book, 3-4
Logan, 3-4
Jordan, 3-4
Tim, 3-4
Ben, 1-6
So, your total league standings WITH a median would be,
Jack, 10-4
Galen, 9-5
Ezra, 8-6
Erk, 8-6
Book, 7-7
Nick, 7-7
Logan, 6-8
Jordan, 6-8
Tim, 6-8
Ben, 3-11
Fascinating, isn’t it? It sure is.
CONCLUSION
On to week 8!
Cheers!
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