Anish (76.10) [4-8] vs Kishan (87.70) [3-9]
Even winning the lottery and choosing his opponent couldn’t help Anish this week, as once again, his team shit the bed. This is now the 6th time that Anish’s team has failed to clear 90 points, and all the momentum built up from the previous 3 weeks has evaporated. Anish gets a little bit of an excuse as this week he had to compete without Kamara, Conner, or Clyde, but to be fair everyone (besides the Sitarams) is dealing with undermanned rosters. At this point, Anish has gotta just be playing for pride because if I’m being honest, this is one of the most pathetic fantasy seasons I’ve ever seen. He’s only scored above league average twice! And has been bottom-2 in league scoring 6 times! Incredible. This loss essentially closes the book on Anish’s playoff hopes, and now he’ll be competing to avoid getting a first-round bye in the toilet bowl.
After failing to show up at all the first 10 weeks of the season, Kishan somehow has found a way to win back-to-back matchups, and even though his playoff hopes went to shit a long time ago, he still has a chance to avoid a bye in the toilet bowl. Don’t get it twisted, I’m not complimenting his team - Kishan is now bottom-4 in scoring at every position besides WR and QB, and he’s failed to clear 100 points in any of the last 6 weeks, only winning the last two weeks because he faced the lowest scorer in the league - but it is quite interesting that he finally started to find some luck this late into the season. Fantasy doesn’t make much sense 🤷♂️
Shivang (82.24) [4-8] vs Akshay (84.92) [6-6]
After barely squeaking out a win over Akshay in their last matchup, Shivang now finds himself holding the short end of the stick losing by just 2.7 points. Ngl, it’s pretty funny because just a few weeks ago, Shivang was absolutely tweaking out in the chat over losing a close game to Akshay even though he ended up winning. Looks like his worst fears came true. Poetic justice. The absence of Kelce in this matchup was a killer for Shivang, as Kelce’s replacement only scored 0.8 points. However, Akshay was down Mahomes, so I guess it evens out. Even though this was a close matchup, Shivang by no means deserved a win this week. This is Shivang’s 6th time scoring under 85 points, and even though he sits 2 games back of a playoff spot with 2 games left, his paltry points scored for the season render his playoff chances nil, and he’ll be competing in the toilet bowl with Anish and Kishan.
Clutch win for Akshay who’s gotta be breathing a massive sigh of relief after Heinecke barely got the 10 points he needed on Monday night. He won despite receiving the lowest points from his running backs all year - before this week, they never combined for less than 17 points, but an injury to Swift and a blowout of Pittsburgh absolutely killed the fantasy production there, but luckily for Akshay, Jaylen Waddle was there to save the day with a massive 24 point effort. Waddle is quietly the #11 receiver on the season. This was a badly needed win for Akshay who’s managed to keep his playoff hopes alive despite scoring over 100 just 1 time in the last 6 weeks. He’s clinging on to the #5 spot right now, but needs to keep winning with 2 5-7 teams right on his heels ready to take his spot.
Varun (79.50) [5-7] vs Jeffrey (136.30) [9-3]
Oh boy. Varun went out of his way to challenge Jeffrey this week, and after only beating Varun by 3 points in their last meeting, Jeffrey left no room for doubt in this one, crushing Varun in one of the largest blowouts of the year. Pretty disappointing tbh, I was hoping for a matchup worthy of all the trash talk that went into it and this one didn’t even come close to that. Varun’s 3 biggest studs Lamar, Chubb, and Metcalf all choked big time in one of the most important matchups of the year for Varun, combining for only 16 points, leaving Hunter Renfrow as the highest scorer on Varun’s team. That’s certainly not a recipe for success. Sitting at 5-4 and holding on to the 5th seed after Week 9, Varun has completely let the season slip away, going 0-3 and averaging 71 points per game since then. He still has time to get back into the playoffs, but he needs to start making a move fast.
Another impressive showing for Jeffrey who’s now been the highest weekly scorer for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. Yes I still think his team blows, but right now he’s getting contributions from everywhere across his lineup starting from his superstar RB Joe Mixon ranging to his one-two Patriots combo of Mac Jones and Nick Folk. Now at 9-3, Jeffrey is within striking distance of a first-round bye, sitting just 30 points behind the Madurais. With the return of Gronk and Saquads and the impending return of Kyler, somehow his team has figured out a way to get back to full health. Definitely not trying to jinx anything here. Lol.
Ishan (108.98) [4-8] vs Anant (117.78) [5-7]
Stinger of a defeat for Ishan who lost because of (in my opinion) the ill advised decision to trust Cam Newton over Matthew Stafford. After solid back-to-back performances the last two weeks gave him a glimmer of hope for the playoffs, this loss virtually guarantees him a spot in the toilet bowl. Right when his stars were starting to click too. Ouch. Too little too late I suppose, it’s tragic that his season started with under-performances from his studs but ended with him letting his studs down with poor managerial decisions. Somewhere in the universe, Diggs is demanding a trade from Ishan’s team for once again getting let down by a quarterback who was both incapable and unwilling to push the ball down the field.
This was a monumental win for the program as Anant was finally able to shake off a 3-game losing streak to keep his playoff hopes alive. And once again he does it with stellar waiver wire picks, receiving key contributions from Matt Breida, Van Jefferson, and the Dolphins defense helping overcome duds from Ja’Marr Chase and Chris Godwin. Amazing. No matter how down he his, his team continues to show remarkable fight and resilience. And what’s his reward for overcoming the league’s toughest schedule till date? A do-or-die matchup against the Sitarams. How’s that for a birthday present? Best of luck my friend.
Madurais (126.60) [9-3] vs Aman (79.30) [6-6]
After dropping two in a row following the loss of Derrick Henry, the Madurais have found their mojo once again and have rattled off two impressive wins in a row. This was a spectacular all-around performance from the team as only their defense scored less than 11 points, led by Daniel Carlson dropping a 21 point nuke on Aman’s team from the kicker position. Yeah their team is solid, but holy hell have the Madurais once again been getting enormous help from a generous schedule. They have yet to face an opponent who’s been a top-3 weekly scorer (Anant’s faced 6 top-3 weekly scorers), and there’s not a single team in the league that would have less than 6 wins with the Madurais schedule. They haven’t faced a team that’s scored over 100 points since Week 6. I guess elite fantasy defense is a thing.
The roller coaster ride continues for Aman as his team laid an enormous egg after an encouraging performance last week. Aman now has 4 scores over 120 points and 6 scores under 95 points on the year. His team has been the definition of boom or bust, which I guess is to be expected since he’s riding both the Brady/Evans stack and the Cook/Jefferson stack. Last week they all went off, this week they all combined for 35 points. Just the way she goes sometimes. Now without Dalvin Cook probably for the rest of the year, Aman’s going to have to find a way to cobble together some points at the RB position, but in my eyes this does decrease the volatility of his team quite a bit. This definitely lowers the ceiling of his team, but hey who knows this could raise is floor too with Jefferson likely commanding more touches. We shall see what happens.
Sitarams (126.52) [10-2] vs Methis (118.16) [7-5]
I can’t really bring myself to write about this team which finds new ways every week to get bailed out. They were in line for a pretty disappointing week with none of their players going for over 20 points, on track for a measley 100-point showing. But of course Brady paid the refs to keep calling bullshit PI after PI to put their team at the 1 yard line to get Leonard Fournette free TDs, eventually getting up to 30 points. If he just stopped there, I would’ve still won. But no, the motherfucker had to get a 40-yard garbage time TD just to rub salt in the fucking wound. The Sitarams have shown absolutely zero managerial talent with below average special teams scores and the majority of their production coming from flukey draft picks, and I am convinced that will bite them in the ass in the playoffs. This is my Chuck guarantee - they’re going to lose in either the 2nd round or the championship either because 1) they picked a shitty kicker / defense or 2) they started the wrong players. Eli Manning is coming for your asses.
The deck was stacked completely against us. We were down Kareem, Amari Cooper, and all the players we lost due to injury early in the year, but our team has never backed down from a fight and our players pulled through big time for the program. Elijah Mitchell and Patterson proved they’re worth their weight in gold, and Mark Andrews, Darnell Money, and Damien Harris all had solid weeks to support the program. Hell, we were even able to overcome a bad Jalen Hurts game to put together a solid score. But the one thing we weren’t able to overcome was yet ANOTHER injury to motherfucking Christian McCaffrey, who for the 478392739210th time this season let our team down once again, scoring only 3.5 points. He’s the Kyrie Irving for our team, a perpetual distraction, and that’s shown this year - we’re 3-4 with him starting in our lineup, and 4-1 without him starting. AHHHHHHH. FUCK. Fuck you CMC. We’re better without you anyways.
Power Rankings
Tier 1
Sitarams (10-2) 🟡 11 weeks
Tier 2
Jeffrey (9-3) 🟡 3 weeks
Tier 3
Madurais (9-3) 🟢 UP 3
Ishan (4-8) 🔴 DOWN 1
Methis (7-5) 🔴 DOWN 1
Anant (5-7) 🟢 UP 1
Tier 4
Aman (6-6) 🔴 DOWN 2
Akshay (6-6) 🟡 2 weeks
Tier 5
Anish (4-8) 🟡 2 weeks
Kishan (3-9) 🟢 UP 2
Varun (5-7) 🔴 DOWN 1
Shivang (4-8) 🔴 DOWN 1
Playoff Picture + Week 13 Preview
What a thrilling week of action last week. We’ve got 3 playoff spots locked up, a 4th one (virtually) locked up, and 2 playoff spots that are firmly contested between Aman, Akshay, Anant, and Varun. But based on the matchups this week, we could have all 6 playoff spots locked up if either 1) both Akshay and Aman win, or 2) both Varun and Anant lose. The fact that all 4 are in separate matchups makes this all the more exciting, and it means that Akshay and Aman control their own destiny while Varun and Anant are at the mercy of others. Besides that, we should have exciting contests for the byes for both the toilet bowl as well as the playoffs. The Sitarams have virtually locked one of the first-round byes, and all eyes will be on Jeffrey vs the Madurais to see who can secure the second. For the toilet bowl, we’ve got a resurgent Kishan who’s trying to escape the bye, and both Anish and Shivang seem quite willing to sharpie their names into that bye. So excited to see how this all shakes out, now let’s preview this week’s matchups 🍿
Madurais vs Anish - With the first overall pick in the lottery, Anish played an enormous curveball and chose the #2 overall seed to face in his quest to avoid the toilet bowl bye. Incredible. All things considered, I like the play considering the Madurais are trotting forward an injured Zeke and will be without Davante Adams because of the Packers bye. In the last meeting of these two teams, the Madurais set their season high for points with 147, blowing out Anish who was also close to setting his season high in points with 101. Doubt we’ll see that high scoring of a matchup again, I’m setting the O/U for this matchup at 185. Looks like the Madurais will once again escape facing an elite opponent.
Varun vs Shivang - With the second pick in the lottery, Shivang selected Varun, who as we’ve documented above, is reeling from an incredibly unimpressive series of performances. This may be an uglier matchup than the Madurais/Anish matchup, I’m giving this a 165 O/U. In this one, Shivang has the clear edge as he gets back Kelce while Varun loses Chubb, Dillon, and Melvin Gordon. Their previous matchup was one of the ugliest matchups of the year, with Varun being gifted an 87-61 win. History might repeat itself with the point total, but I’m guessing this time it’ll be Shivang who comes out on top.
Akshay vs Methis - With the 3rd pick, we chose to face Akshay who’ll be without D’Andre Swift in this matchup. However, he gets back Mahomes and has Swift’s backup, so there may not be too much of a loss in production from him. On the other hand, this is Week 1 of post-CMC life for Krish and I as we’ve been scouring the waiver wire for fill ins for our entire team that’s been living on injured reserve. Our last matchup was a heater in Week 3, with Akshay coming out on top 114-107, and I’m guessing that scoreline is going to be pretty close to where we’ll finish this week. Only question is who comes out on top, and at this point I think it’s a toss up.
Kishan vs Aman - With the 4th pick, Kishan chooses Aman. It’s quite interesting that despite Kishan being 3-9, no one wanted smoke with him, and I can see why. He’s already trotting out the 3-headed monster of Mattison / Tyreek / Josh Allen, and he might get back DeAndre Hopkins as well. On the other side, Aman is trying to recover from the loss of Dalvin Cook. He’ll have to hope for a good Brady / Evans game if he wants to beat Kishan this week. Their last matchup was a high scoring heater with Aman winning 125-121, and my gut tells me we could be in for another thriller this week.
Sitarams vs Anant - The Sitarams had the 5th pick, and instead of picking Ishan or Jeffrey, the Sitarams decided to curse Anant on his birthday weekend. It wasn’t enough for the Sitarams to drop a 177 point bomb on Anant a couple weeks ago, they’re clearly looking for more. My man Anant was an advocate of lottery chaos, and he has received it in the worst possible way. Hopefully my gift of Damien Harris will be useful and well received as Anant looks to hand the Sitarams their first loss since Week 5.
Ishan vs Jeffrey - The marquee matchup of the week, this matchup pits two of the hottest teams in the league against us. Ishan has fought his way up to 4th in the power rankings and gets to take on Jeffrey who’s sitting at #2. Jeffrey was able to easily dispatch Ishan in Week 8, comfortably winning 111-90, but he may have a tougher time this week as he has to roll without Deebo. This one should be an exciting high scoring affair as Jeffrey looks to continue to cement his case for a first-round bye while Ishan will be looking to avoid a first-round bye in the toilet bowl.
Best of luck for the week ahead!
-Dhruv