Week 11 Preview

Winners

Tooz Town (5-5), Culver City (3-7), Cleveland (8-2), Batavia (7-3), Oregon (5-5), Madtown (3-7)

With intra-division games last week, the Gold and Bronze teams actually got a chance for some Ws.

Prediction Record

Week 10: 2-4

Overall: 33-27

Just another mediocre white male with a platform.

2022 Divisions (if they were made today)

Not much movement, just a Bestine/Tooz Town swap. Bestine is in some trouble because they don’t have a great chance of making the playoffs in the Silver Division, and if they wind up in the Bronze next year it will be even harder. They need to score some points this week. The Colliders might not go to the playoffs, but they have a decent chance of making the Gold Division, which would help their playoff chances next year. Of course, the 2 times they were in the Gold Division they finished in last place, so…

Week 11 Matchups

Tooz Town curiously gave up a flotilla of players for Aaron Jones, right before kickoff of the trade deadline. Aaron Jones is famously on a one-year deal, so this is a 4 game-rental unless the GIMB plan on franchising him next year. Jones was outperformed by AJ Dillon last week, and he’ll be out in week 11 as Dillon gets the start. Given the GIMB history, I’m sure we’ll see Jones in the starting lineup.

Cleveland (8-2) @ Fransburg (5-5)

Rhamondre Stevenson had a nice, albeit surprising game for the Battery last week. He gets the start again, right in Fransburg’s Damen Harris eye. Harris is going through the concussion protocol, so there’s a chance he could be back, which would blunt the impact of Stevenson.

Fransburg has most of their impact players available this week, however, including Tyreek Hill, who will surely benefit from the Mahomes renaissance. Both Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams are typically great against the Vikings, so this might be a week where the (r)EvoLUtion can run up a high score.

The Battery start Derek Carr, who quarterbacks a rudderless ship in Las Vegas now that Gruden is gone. Gruden has filed a lawsuit against the NFL, which should be a great way to air all the dirty laundry and spill all of the tea. This will be me:

While Devonta Smith has been a nice surprise for the Battery, it’s never good when you have to start the dreaded two-TE set. Look for Fransburg to capitalize on a weakened Cleveland lineup. Thanks Adam!

Tooz Town (5-5) @ Batavia (7-3)

It is unclear if Alvin Kamara is going to play this week, but the Colliders catch a break with AJ Dillon getting a rare start in Green Bay. David Montgomery will be back for the Bears, and will hopefully return to his pre-injury form, something he didn’t do in a rusty week 9 outing. Mike Williams continues to SUUUUUUUUUCCCCK, and a couple of 25-point games early this year make it hard to take him out of the lineup. Mac Jones got the start last week and didn’t disappoint. He earned himself another start over Daniel Jones, who’s all like, “WTF, I was just on the bye, you can’t bench me.” Yes I can, Daniel Jones. Yes, I can. (EDIT – Mac Jones burned the Colliders for 8 feeble points on Thursday night.)

With the Giants returning from the bye, the Colliders get a boost to their defense. Austin Johnson returns to play defensive tackle, replacing Christian Covington, who saved his one goose-egg on the season for his one start. Jag. Then he got Covid, which is the cool thing to do as we start yet another wave of it. Fun times.

Tooz Town has surprisingly decided to field a full lineup this week, and on paper it doesn’t look too bad. Kyler Murray returns, but will he return to form? Against the Seahawks? Yeah, probably.

AJ Brown, Mike Evans, and DJ Moore have the ability to keep pace with the Colliders receivers (especially since one of them is that suckbo Mike Williams) so this game will be competitive. James Robinson had a double digit game last week as he returned from injury, and Michael Carter got a garbage time touchdown to do the same. D’Andre Swift is quietly having a strong season, so the GIMB have the advantage in the RB department, especially since Kamara will probably have to sit again. This game has all the makings of an upset.

The Colliders need Devin White to go crazy again, like he did last week. If they can get a boom game out of him and maybe one of the safeties, that could carry them over the top. But that’s a lot riding on chance, so I’m going to grit my teeth and predict the upset here – the GIMB have finally logged on and will get the win.

Culver City (3-7) @ Madtown (3-7)

Culver City is in pretty good shape, getting 8.50 points out of their kicker on Thursday night (aka the rough equivalent of QB Mac Jones.) Madtown is riding high on a 2-game winning streak, but the Krakens are a much better team by nearly every metric. Mark Ingram took advantage of the Kamara injury, scoring 14.80 points. It is looking like he’ll get another start this week. Mahomes probably won’t score 30 again, but Culver City has to be hopeful that he’s back to his old ways. 20 points is likely.

Madtown starts Justin Herbert, who’s had 4 boom games and 6 bust games so far this season. Mercurial, amirite? Dalvin Cook had his 2nd best game of the season after it was revealed that he violently assaults women. We can only hope the fates intervene and he suffers a career ending injury on the first play of the game. And then goes to jail.

The Marauders are probably hopeful that their defensive end, Josh Allen, will return to form, but it is highly unlikely that he’ll find success against ace quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, whose name I can never spell right the first time. It’s two p’s. I want to double the r’s, p’s, and l’s. Anyway, Josh Allen notwithstanding, the Marauders probably don’t have enough to overcome the Krakens, since they seem to be maybe getting their shit together.

Marshfield (4-6) @ Linn County (4-6)

The big story here is that Linn County is getting Rob Gronkowski back, who started the season posting insane numbers only to get hurt yet again. I feel bad for his post-football life. I mean, not super bad, since he’s rich, but I’m sure he’ll have some permanent disabilities to deal with.

Marshfield got off to an auspicious start on Thursday, with both defenders posting 10 points. As a fantasy owner you love to see it. They also get Joe Mixon back from the bye. I did a lot of trash talking about Joe Mixon so of course he’s having a career year, scoring 9 TDs already. Does that equal his career best for a season with the Colliders? Yes, yes it does. Christian McCaffrey makes up the other half of the $125 backfield, and he returned to form last week with Cam Newton at the helm. Sure, Cam might snake a few TDs, but overall he’s a boost for McCaffrey over that bum Sam Darnold.

With Dak Prescott being the type of QB that can hang with Josh Allen, it’s looking pretty good for Marshfield in this one. Just about every team is still in the thick of it with only 4 teams left, so Marshfield surge here at the end is not out of the question. Linn County might be starting to fade. You heard it here first. Or maybe you didn’t. I don’t monitor your media consumption.

Holley (3-7) @ Bestine (6-4)

Holley is just so bad. Once again, good on them for realizing this and stacking draft picks for the rebuild. Bestine actually scored fewer points than Holley last week, but to be fair Bestine is heavily invested in Cincinnati players and they were on the bye. Look for them to rebound this week.

There’s not much to say about this matchup, other than the Banthas get a reprieve from playing against a Silver Division foe. They aren’t out of the playoffs yet, but it’s definitely tough sledding. They obviously need this gimme win here, and they will get it.

I don’t want to short shrift Holley and Bestine in my coverage, but there isn’t really anything to see here, so there isn’t anything to say here. I predict the score will be Bestine: 141.56, Holley: 87.99

North Point (7-3) @ Oregon (5-5)

This game is actually more compelling than I thought it would be. North Point lost a tough one to Cleveland and forfeited first place in the Silver Division. They are still in playoff position for now, but Oregon won’t go down quietly. Just ask Fransburg, a high scoring, razzle-dazzle squad that got punched in the mouth last week.

North Point only got 3 points out of first round pick Kyle Pitts on Thursday. Pitts seems to be allergic to the end zone. He will likely get better, but TE is the position that seems to take the longest to learn in the NFL. I figured that wouldn’t be the case for Pitts, because he’s essentially a WR, but he’s no Justin Jefferson. He’ll get there, but I’m sure Tom is wishing he could pick up the pace a little bit.

Tom Brady had an off game last week, but still scored 10 points, which is more than we can say for Mac Jones on Thursday. Will he “get his” as the kids say, now that Gronk is back? Yes, though I think I speak for everyone when I say that I hope he gives up at least one pick-six to Xavier McKinney. The Dream Team counter with the aggressively adequate Ryan Tannehill, who gets a tasty matchup against Houston this week. What’s more, they don’t have Derrick Henry to just run for 300 yards against them, so Tannehill should pile up the points. He’ll probably get a rushing TD as well.

Najee Harris is one of the most consistent players of the season. He’s scored in double digits every week, starting in week 2. And Deebo Samuel is a top fantasy wide receiver. That’s great news for Niners fans and better news for the Dream Team. And a matchup against the Jags is the cherry on top this week.

Last week I said that Hollywood Brown sucks (accurate) which means that he’s going to go off this week. A matchup against the Bears seemingly sets the table for that.

On the other side of the ball, the Chitons roll out D’Ernest Johnson again, who scored in double digits last week. They’ve got a couple decent running backs in James Connor (really?) and Austin Ekeler. Things unravel a little bit at receiver, where Darnell Mooney gets the start and they have to run the 2-TE set, half of which underperformed already. Can the Chitons overcome it?

NO! The Dream Team is going to win! Suck it, Tom!

Enjoy the games this week. And don’t forget to get lineups in before the Thanksgiving madness begins. To those of you traveling next week, be safe. May your travel plans go off smoothly, and I hope you avoid traffic, storms, and flight delays. We’ll be staying put for a low-key Thanksgiving with our home unit of 5. I’ll still be cooking a 25-lb turkey though. Some traditions have to continue. We’re looking to see extended family over winter break, but this year we face the reality of living in a different state than the rest of the family. Hopefully all of you will have a relaxing holiday and get some well-deserved time off.

I’ve got next week off, so I might even have time to update all the transactions! Sorry about that!

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