Nine weeks complete in the MSB Fantasy Football league, whose got the edge?
Week nine in the NFL is complete meaning your week nine in Fantasy Football is complete. The NFL has made it’s way through a roller coaster ride of upsets, stars rising, injuries piling up, and close battles in your fantasy matchups. The Maryland Sports Bloggers have been battling for nine straight weeks, but this week was one of the biggest in the MSB Fantasy league. The match ups in their ten team half point ppr league were close and almost saw the last undefeated team fall. The craziness and trash talk has continued in the fantasy league, this week especially. The league has a wide range of outcomes right now. One undefeated team, a bunch of strong teams close by, and a bunch of teams still all alive for that sixth and final playoff spot. Here is how the ninth week ended on the score sheets, along with the week ten schedule.
- Matt Bachota (9-0) took on (5-4) Chris Cleveland in what ended up being the closest battle of the entire 9 week season. On what ended up being the last offensive play of the game for the Patriots, Julian Edelman won this matchup for Matt Bachota on a 7 yard rushing attempt giving Matt a .5 point (5 yard) victory by a score of 164.3-163.9. The Mahomes to Travis Kelce combination combined for four touchdowns ( 2 passing/2 receiving), Melvin Gordon, and the Vikings defense led the way for Matt. The entire Diggs in a blanket team of Matt’s was in double digits. The only player to be under double digits was running back Aaron Jones who ended up with 8.6 points. IF Jones wouldn’t have fumbled the football midway through the fourth quarter, Jones would have had 10.6 points. Chris’s team of Saints players blew up for him. Brees, Kamara, Thomas, and Will Lutz have all been on Chris’s team since the beginning. Brees, Kamara and Thomas all had over 30 points. This week Chris adding Benjamin Watson as well. Watson added a touchdown for the team as well. Adrian Peterson lost two offensive linemen for the season this past week costing him opportunities to add yardage for the Redskins and for Chris’s team. Both Matt and Chris will be tough teams as they both look for playoff births. Matt with his victory this week officially is the first team to clinch a playoff position. He still has a matchup with Wes and Alex so the division is still technically up for grabs for atleast one more week.
- Wes Hoffmaster (5-4) took on Alex Benda (4-5) in week nine action. Wes and Alex basically batting for second place in the division with Chris as division leader Matt pulled out a .5 point win to go to 9-0 on the season. Wes and Alex both has bad quarterback points that cancelled each other out as Wes has 5.6 points from Stafford, and Alex got 7.6 points from Trubisky. Alex did get a huge week from the Chicago Bears with 29 points setting him up for a big victory right? Unfortunately not as Lamar Miller, Austin Ekeler, Rudolph, and Landry all left Benda needing more with under or just at 10 points. Alex ended with 109.5 points which is a respectable score, but Wes got big weeks from just a few players pushing him to 150.2. Zeke, McCaffrey, Cooks, Olsen, and Coleman all gave double digit fantasy points to Wes. Final score Wes 150.2 Alex 109.5.
- The J-Train Jeremy Train at 5-3 took on Sam Smith (3-6) in a battle of teams who started the season at two completely different ends of the spectrum. Jeremy dropped to 5-4 after an underwhelming week that saw just one of his players, Cam Newton hit the 20 point plateau at 20.3 points. Jeremy also only 3 total players hit double digit fantasy points. Evans had just one reception, Jared Cook had a big chance against the 49ers on Thursday Night Football and failed, Mason Crosby had just 5 points. Such a tough week for Jeremy led to a nice week for Sam Smith to capitalize. Sam Smith who was pushed to starting Joe Flacco at quarterback and receiving just 8 fantasy points, Isiah Crowell who ended with 7 ppr fantasy points, and the Steelers defense who ended with 6 points did get a lot of upside points. Kareem Hunt exploded for 33 points with 3 touchdowns, Julio Jones and his 25.1 fantasy points while finally scoring his first touchdown of the season and even got 12 points from kicker Cody Parkey.
- Chanan Rothenberg (2-7) dropped another game, this time to David “Boaz” Edinger who improved to 3-6 this week. Chanan has been scratching and clawing away week to week for victories but has had some unfortunate losses do to injuries mid game, bye week issues and running into hot teams. Chanan this week had a horrible game from Kirk Cousins. Kirk was projected for over 20 points this week. Well that projection was missed by close to 20 points as he finished up with just 6.3 fantasy points. Chanan also started the Ravens D/ST against the Pittsburgh Steelers and ended up with 0 points this week. White, Woods, Coopers, and even the kicker Butker, and running back Richard all had good weeks this week. When you check David’s team Jared Goff lead the way with 28.7 points, Dion Lewis put up 20+ points and did star wide out DeAndre Hopkins. Cohen and fellow running back Carson combined for 6.3 fantasy points, but for Edinger he was able to overcome that this week because of the strong outings by his other team members and the lack of production from members of Chanan’s team. Better luck for Chanan who continues to battle back into a playoff spot with 4 weeks left in the fantasy football regular season.
- Vasillios (5-4) took on (4-5) Josh “the youngster” Sager. Josh, who from his own account had only lost 3 games in his young fantasy football career has now lost 5 games this season falling to 4-5 after a 116.4-95.5 loss. Josh who had wasted two top draft picks on Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady and can only use one quarterback and hasn’t been able to trade one off in a deal yet, has really been lacking on offensive prowess. Josh was able to get James Conner, however this may be the last full 100% usage week of Conner before Lev Bell returns to muddy up the Steelers backfield. Ingram, Allen, Panthers D/ST, and Gostkowski all had single digit points and held back Josh this week. Vas who improved to a 5-4 record is in a tight race in the West division. With the Jeremy loss, and Josh loss, and Vas’s win he ties Jeremy for the division lead. However because of points Jeremy leads the division. Vas road Matt Ryan who put up a cool 28 points, Antonio Brown who added 15.2 points and both Allen and Kittle put up over 20 points. Vas had added a hot Redskins defense, but lost him points with -4 against the Falcons. It was a tough spot as Vas had to use Matt Ryan at QB going against his defense in Washington.
Here’s a look at week tens schedule for the MSB Fantasy Football League:
Matt Bachota (9-0) takes on (3-6) Boaz Edinger. Will Boazy end the streak of Matt Bachota, or will Matt make it to 10 straight?
Wes Hoffmaster (5-4) takes on Chris Cleveland (5-4) . Will Wes build on a week 9 victory or will Chris return to form after a heartbreaking .5 point loss to division leading Matt?
Alex Benda (5-4) takes on his rival Josh Sager (4-5). The youngest member of the league looks to get on track against Alex who himself is coming off a 48 point loss.
Sam Smith (3-6) gets into a battle against the struggling (3-6) Chanan Rothenberg. Which MSB member will get one step away from being back to a .500 record and stay in the hunt for the 6th playoff position?
Jeremy (5-4) and Vas (5-4) both look to put a hold on one of the 6 playoff spots in the league. Both have a chance this week to get 2 games over .500 and with 4 weeks left in the fantasy football regular season they would put themselves in a really great situation going forward.
Teams at 9-0 = 1 (Matt)
Teams at 5-4 = 5
Teams at 4-5 = 1
Teams at 3-6 = 3
