2022 Week 11 Preview

Winners

Batavia (7-3), North Point (7-3), Cleveland (6-4), Bestine (3-7), Madtown (8-2), Holley (4-6)

Break up the Holley Hawks!

Prediction Record

Last Week: 2-4

Overall: 37-23

Totally biffed it last week.

2023 Divisions (if they were made today)

North Point has entered the chat.

Week 11 Matchups

We’re entering the home stretch with just four games left. We’re also celebrating Thanksgiving this week. Woohoo! One of my favorite holidays. Doesn’t hurt that I have the ENTIRE WEEK OFF. I’m thankful for that.

In the Gold Division the Colliders and Chitons have probably already punched their tickets to the playoffs. I’m too lazy to check the tiebreakers. The real battle is going to be between Marshfield (5-5) and Fransburg (3-7) for that last playoff spot. Fransburg has more points on the season than Marshfield, but have been much unluckier. To wit, they lost to the Colliders by 0.18 points in a week they would have defeated every other team in the league save Oregon. When the played the Colliders again last week, Batavia dropped 214 points on their heads. It’s tough to be in the same division as someone as cool as Josh.

Culver City and Cleveland are in the driver’s seat for the two playoff spots in the Silver Division, though that could change by the time the season is over. Cleveland has been surprisingly effective, and it’s easy to overlook them because they are Cleveland. They’ve been scoring a lot of points and could make some noise should they make the playoffs.

The one spot in the Bronze will almost assuredly go to the Marauders, unless they lose their last four and the Holley Hawks (lol) win their last four. Even then, the Hawks would have to outscore the Marauders on the season since they’d be even in head to head. For that to happen, the Hawks would have to score about 250 more points than the Marauders over four games. Will they outscore Madtown by 60 points per game every week? Probably not!

I’ve seen enough. Let’s give the division (and the playoff spot) to Madtown.

Batavia (7-3) @ Oregon (4-6)

The Collders looked impressive last week, with their three wide receivers finishing with 23 points or more. That ruled. They are a bit undermanned this week, with the bye hurting their chances. They’ll have to start Mac Jones at quarterback with league hero Geno Smith out. They’ll also be missing Devin White, who scored 17.50 last week (fucking finally.)

That crumb bum David Montgomery draws another start with Rachaad White and Christian Kirk sidelined with byes. But Derrick Henry put up 20 points on Thursday night like the beast he is. That gives Batavia a nice little lead to work with.

Oregon missed out on starting Ryan Tannehill Thursday night, so they’ll be rolling with Jacoby Brissett. Seems like a rookie mistake, but listen man, we’re all busy. It happens. Brissett plays the Bills, so it might not be a good day for him. He’ll still outscore Mac Jones though.

The big matchup will be between Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell, who are apparently sharing time in San Francisco. Love to pay $65 for a RB platoon. Hopefully McCaffrey will establish himself as the clearly superior option and Mitchell will stay mad on the sideline. Or Mitchell can get hurt again, he likes doing that.

Deebo Samuel has been mad pedestrian this year, and he’s going to need to underperform again for Batavia to win. I don’t see the Colliders sniffing 200 again with all the byes, but hopefully Justin Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb can do enough to secure the win. GO COLLIDERS!

Marshfield (5-5) @ Madtown (8-2)

Madtown is a little weak at running back with Etienne and Mostert on the bye. They are forced to start backup Alexander Mattison. There’s a million things he hasn’t done, including scoring double digits in any game this year.

Meanwhile, Marshfield rolls out with Saquon Barkley, Alvin Kamara, Jonathan Taylor, and Jamaal Williams at running back. While many of those guys (save Barkley) have underperformed this year, Taylor seems to be getting back to his stride with 17.45 points last week, and Jamaal Williams annoyingly scores in double digits pretty frequently. If they all get in sync, it could spell trouble for the Marauders.

Also, Madtown only scored 124 points last week. Do they suck now? Easy first round out in the playoffs? Maybe!

I’m going to pick Marshfield in this one because A) I think they’ll win, and B) When I pick them they lose.

North Point (7-3) @ Tooz Town (3-7)

I need someone to slow down the Chitons, who are on a 7-game tear and breathing down my neck in the Gold Division. They draw the GIMB this week. *sighs forever*

The GIMB are starting not one but two Jets running backs. They still roster two other running backs who are not on NFL teams. *sighs forever*

The Chitons scored a ton of points last week to prove they belong in the conversation about best team in the league. They won’t need to score that many points this week to win, though they probably will put a bunch on the board as they are largely unaffected by the bye week. No joke, I think the Chitons are going to win by 100 points.

Fransburg (3-7) @ Bestine (3-7)

These two teams are #1 and #2 in average points allowed. That’s unlucky!

The Banthas got a surprising win last week despite having the Bengals (and therefore 40% of their roster) on the bye. The Bengals return to action this week against the Steelers. Last time the Bengals played the Steelers, Joe Burrow threw 4 interceptions. That was weird!

Ezekiel Elliott is listed as questionable and hasn’t played since Week 7. That didn’t stop the Banthas brain trust from throwing Elliott into the starting lineup last week! Their other running back is Latavius Murray.

BUT – they have the Burrow-Boyd-Higgins stack, which could be good.

Fransburg is scraping the bottom of the barrel with their Jaylen Williams start, which is due to the fact Tyreek Hill and DK Metcalf are on the bye. However, I think I like the idea of Kirk Cousins going apeshit (to Justin Jefferson, of course) as the Vikings and Cowboys battle it out through the air (obviously all the Cowboys scores will be via CeeDee Lamb.) That shootout will propel the (r)EvoLUtion to victory!

Or it won’t. I really don’t know how to pick this game, but it’s really hard to pick Ryan’s team with a straight face. He will no doubt be grateful as I picked against him last week and had it blow up in my face.

Cleveland (6-4) @ Holley (4-6)

I admired the Holley Hawks for blowing up their bad team and acquiring as many first round draft picks as possible. It was a true rebuild, and there are some promising early returns. To wit, their second round WR Christian Watson has scored five touchdowns in the last two games. Chris Olave has been pretty good, and should be even better next year. Kenneth Walker has been a huge bright spot, though he’s out on the bye this week.

Most of their rookies have panned out, save James Cook and Isaiah Spiller, who both get the start this week (not a good look for Holley.) I think the Hawks future is bright, and it’s pretty cool to see them build a foundation. It’s rather incredible they have won four games; seems like they should have won zero.

The Battery keep plugging along, winning games under the radar, scoring enough points each week to be slated for the Gold Division next year. Incredible.

I think they’ll have enough to overcome the Walker-less Hawks, even with Christian Watson’s scoring explosion this week.

Culver City (7-3) @ Linn County (3-7)

I think I talked enough trash about James Conner last week to convince the Krakens to remove him from the starting lineup. Then that mf’er scored 20 points on the bench. LOL.

He’s back in the starting lineup this week, joining the underwhelming Aaron Jones whose sole purpose is to be the prevent AJ Dillon from being fantasy relevant. Jerk move if you ask me.

Linn County had to start Derrick Henry’s backup once again, and he salvaged the start by scoring a receiving touchdown. Treylon Burks had a decent 10-point game, so you have to say the Lumberjacks got more than they could have reasonably hoped for out of their Titans players. Still, is it enough to overcome the Krakens?

I think not, dear reader. Patrick Mahomes is crushing it and any Josh Allen scoring is likely going to be muted by the Krakens’s Stefon Diggs catching the ball. The Krakens are so confident in their chances they aren’t even bothering to sign a punter to replace their bye week guy. Some might call that hubris, but I think it makes sense. There are a handful of very good teams this season and Culver City is one of them. Look for them to bounce back from their surprising loss last week.

In Closing

Where does the time go? We already have 10 games in the books. The fantasy season goes by too quickly if you ask me.

Hell, 2022 is almost over. My kids have started asking me about Christmas presents. The days and weeks just fly by, and suddenly you’re old and feeble. Not cool.

(I’m thinking about this primarily because I am VERY SORE after making the mistake of playing a basketball game against some fourth graders at recess yesterday. Did I win? Of course, they’re like 9. But at what cost? AT WHAT COST?)

Anyway, enjoy the games everyone, and hopefully you’ll have some much deserved time off this week.

© 2022, Josh Hammond. All rights reserved.