I Know Everyone is Wondering...

[AxeElf 787]

...how Axe Elf is doing through the first third of the fantasy season?

I got off to a bit of a slow start in my 15 managed leagues, with only 3 teams starting the season undefeated at 2-0, and 6 teams starting the season winless at 0-2 (leaving 6 teams with a 1-1 start) for a combined record of only 12-18 after two weeks.

But Axe Elf gonna Axe Elf, and I've posted weekly records of 14-1, 12-3 and 9-6 in the past 3 weeks for a cumulative mark of 35-10 over that span.  The current tally of team records stands as follows:

5-0: 1 team
4-1: 4 teams
3-2: 6 teams
2-3: 4 teams
1-4: 0 teams
0-5: 0 teams

Combined overall record through 5 weeks:  47-28

My five Draft Master teams (all 10 team leagues) currently stand 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd (12.4 points out of 1st), and 3rd (3.1 points out of 2nd)--and four of those five teams are hampered by carrying Lamar Miller as 1 of my 5 RBs on each team.

As great as that all is, this past week's 9-6 record felt like a losing week because of one huge blunder in my most important league--the $250 league in which I drafted Greg Zuerlein in the 1st round and the Chicago Bears in the 2nd round.  I was feeling pretty good coming into the week at 3-1, with Melvin Gordon coming back for me earlier than expected, and playing a 2-2 team with Tyreek Hill and Tyrell Williams injured.  I felt even better when the Thursday night game vaulted me to a 48 point lead on the strength of Chris Carson, Tyler Lockett and Greg Zuerlein.  My opponent even did me some favors, benching Juju for free agent Auden Tate (costing him 8 pts), and starting Phillip Rivers (8.55 points) over Dalton (21.6 pts) and Brissett (13.45 pts).

With the injuries to his WRs, he was kind of forced into starting Michael Gallup in his first game back from meniscus surgery, and with Duke Johnson and Sony Michel as his starting RBs, I wasn't expecting him to get more than 20 points from all 3 of them--I figured I could coast to a win.

So I wasn't sweating my starting lineup too much, but I debated back and forth between flexing Melvin Gordon in his first game back or keeping Will Fuller in my lineup.  Fuller had been good for a steady 10 points or so, and I didn't really expect much more than that from Gordon--but with a 48 point lead and my opponent's scrub lineup, I didn't think it would matter even if Gordon laid an egg with 3-5 points.  Would I really need the extra 5-7 points out of Fuller?  Probly not.  So I flexed Gordon just for fun.

ERROR!

Of course Michel, Duke and Gallup combined for over 53 points themselves, and his 3rd WR was Chris Godwin, who balled for another 31.5, ballooning my opponent to over 128 total points for the week.

Meanwhile, my fast start was fizzling out fast.  With Matthew Stafford on bye, I was starting Daniel Jones, who piddled along to a 13.3 day.  (At least that was more than I would have gotten from Derek Carr's 10.3--whom I had dropped for Jones two weeks earlier.)  Then Phillip Dorsett went down scoreless in the first quarter, Darren Waller laid an egg even as the Raiders were killing my Bears' defense, LeSean McCoy seemed to only show up for a critical fumble, and Melvin Gordon posted his more or less expected 7.8.  Three players had given me a 48 point head start; my other six players couldn't even double that and I sputtered to an 84.2 point week--with Fuller's massive 53.7 on my bench.  That's 45.9 more than Gordon got me--and I lost by 44.35.

I mean, that is exactly WHY I drafted Fuller in the first place--because he is capable of massive games that can carry a team to victory in any given week.  THIS was supposed to be Fuller's week to contribute, to earn my team another win, and I frivolously pissed it away on a whim.  I was so mad at myself.

Now, instead of sitting alone in 2nd place out of 12 teams with a 4-1 record, I am buried in a 7-way tie for 2nd place at 3-2, and after taking that hit to my total points, officially in 6th place overall.  On the bright side, my next two opponents have a combined record of 3-7, and I still have AJ Green waiting in the wings, so I should have him and Gordon back up to speed by the time I face another serious challenger--but MAN that was a bad mistake!  I HOPE it doesn't cost me a shot at getting into the playoffs down the road, but 2nd place alone at 4-1 just seems like a huge difference from 6th place at 3-2 right now, and it was a totally preventable error.  I took a huge game lightly.

Axe Elf made the bad decision to bench Fuller after 4 weeks in the flex for Gordon in his first game back.  Enjoy it; it doesn't happen often.

Kind of a funny postscript to that story is that I have another similar league in which I took the two players that everyone thought I "should" have taken in the first two rounds of the K/D league (Davante Adams and Joe Mixon), and that team has been one of my worst performers; it was 1-3 coming into this week.  Simply NOT having Adams and Mixon bogging down my lineup in the other league has been a huge factor in its success, so drafting a K and a D first actually did that team a favor over drafting "right."  I even had Fuller on the bench in this league last week as well, but won anyway, neutralizing my opponent's Amari Cooper with my DJ Chark.  So that team stands 7th out of 12 teams at 2-3, but my next 3 opponents have a combined record of 11-4 after 5 weeks, so the Adams/Mixon team is kind of a long shot at this point to make the playoffs.  I'll have to win 2 of those 3 games to have any chance at all.

Another 2-3 team facing a tough road ahead is one that just came off of an improbable win over an opponent who was sporting Fuller and Kittle--and I even had to overcome Olsen's goose egg.  It's kind of a large league with deep rosters and starting lineups though (2 QB, 3 RB, 4 WR, 1 TE, 2 Flex), so I had lots of players to catch up.  I now stand 8th out of 14 teams, but with the 3rd-most points scored--so there's that.  I am also waiting to unleash AJ Green in this league too (and I've been holding Funchess since he went down in Week 1).  The problem is that I play 6 of the 7 teams ahead of me in the standings in the next 6 weeks (four 4-1 teams and two 3-2 teams for a combined record of 22-8).  I will need all the points I can score, as I will probably need to win 4 of those games to have a shot at the playoffs--but I have a lot of players on byes coming up, starting with Josh Jacobs and Cole Beasley this week.  Being able to unleash AJ Green soon should help, and I hope to get Funchess back at some point as well.

Speaking of deep leagues, my most ridiculously deep league (18 teams, 26 player rosters + 1 IR) is the third of my sub-par teams.  I thought I drafted pretty well, but my long-shot flyer was Michael Crabtree, and I was hoping I'd only have to carry Trent Taylor on IR for a few weeks before he could contribute.  Then when Derrius Guice and Devin Funchess also went down in Week 1, I went from being fairly stacked to having to scramble to field a full team most weeks, with a waiver wire as barren as Betty White's uterus.  So guys like C.J. Uzomah, Jakeem Grant, Damion Willis, Cody Latimer, Steven Sims, and even Jordan Matthews this past week have graced my starting lineups at various points this season.  My team now stands 11th out of 18, and I'll have to move up to at least 6th to make the playoffs, but the good news is that there are only 2 teams currently standing higher than 6th on my remaining schedule--so it will be difficult, but not impossible to get to the postseason (especially if I get back Guice and Funchess).

If I DO make the postseason, my one drafting weakness may become a strength.  You see, I did not count on some teams hoarding three or four DSTs, but with 12 bench slots on the roster, some teams did--so I got stuck with the Giants and the Bengals as my 2 DSTs, and of course there are none on the waiver wire.  However, the Giants and Bengals also happen to be Miami's opponents in Weeks 16 and 17, so I might get the last laugh there.

The last of my 2-3 teams is the only one that did not start out 0-2.  It stands in 6th place out of 12 teams, but it also has the 3rd-most points scored in the league (and I've been without Damien Williams since Week 1).  I lost last week facing Dak, Cooper, Ekeler and Cook--but I could have won had I not benched Watson for Winston at QB and shelved Edelman for Evans at WR.  I should have stuck to alphabetical order at each position.  My next two opponents are a combined 1-9, however, so better times are coming.

But enough about the stragglers, back to my other ten winning teams, starting with the other five 3-2s...

The first two are normal, 12-team PPR leagues.  I'm 3rd in one and 5th in the other, with the 2nd- and 3rd-most points scored, respectively.  I could be 4-1 in the second one, but for a 5 point loss in Week 2.  Both teams won this week; I got into third place by winning a squeaker over the 3rd-highest scoring team featuring Russell Wilson and Michael Thomas with my own 2nd-highest scoring team, and I got into 5th place with a win despite having Mike Evans in the lineup.  That 5th-place team has a 1-4 team next week, and then faces the 1st and 2nd place teams (in both record and points) in consecutive weeks after that.  The 3rd-place team is getting Gallup back, but I may not need him with my other 5 WRs being Kupp, Edelman, Fitzgerald, McLaurin and Juju.

My final three 3-2 teams are in larger leagues--of 14, 16 and 20 teams.

The first one has roared back after an 0-2 start to stand at 5th overall out of 14 teams, with the 2nd-most total points scored, following an easy Week 5 win over a winless team.  I'll need to keep roaring, though, because as the 3rd-place team in my division, I somehow play the 1st-place team in my division (4-1, 2nd place overall) TWICE in the next three weeks, with the 2nd-place team in my division (4-1, 4th place overall) sandwiched in between those two games!  Fortunately, it looks like I might be getting Tyreek Hill back for this critical stretch.

There have been a lot of weird scoring discrepancies in the 16 team league.  I currently stand 2nd in my (8 team) division and 4th overall--but I have the most total points scored by 35.  The team with the 2nd-most points scored is 5th in my division and 8th overall, and the team with the 3rd-most points scored (another 40 points back) is 1st in my division and 2nd overall, having gone undefeated since he lost to me in Week 1!  Meanwhile, I just lost a close game in Week 5 to the undefeated #1 overall team (which is 7th in total points scored) who was starting Bridgewater (superflex), Thielen and Lindsay--but I get the 12th- and 10th-place teams over the next two weeks.

My final 3-2 team, in the 20-team league, just lost by 3.4 points to Deshaun Watson's huge game, and McCoy's clunker on my ledger didn't help--if I'd started Peyton Barber over McCoy, I would have won.  I had also just traded Will Fuller for Corey Davis in the past week, to avoid having 3 WRs with a Week 10 bye, so that was awesome--but I don't know if I would have started Fuller over DJ Moore anyway, so I can't worry too much about that.  The loss dropped me to 7th place (and 7th in points scored), but on the bright side, my next 3 opponents are 0-5, 1-4 and 1-4, so I should be looking at 6-2 by the time I get Devin Funchess back from IR.

My 4-1 teams are all standing in either 1st or 2nd place in 12-team leagues.

In the first, I am in 2nd place with the 3rd-most points scored.  I lost in Week 1 with Tyreek Hill getting hurt, and the Winston/Evans connection being a bust--but I have been dominating ever since with an average margin of victory of 38 points per week.  This past week I won by overcoming 0s from Evans and Dorsett (but my opponent posted a 0 of his own with Watkins).  I have a showdown with the 1st-place team this week (he has Fournette, Ingram and Kupp), but he was already forced to start OJ Howard for Evan Engram, and I got off to a good start with Julian Edelman's 20.3 last night.  Chark will be my 2nd WR; for my Flex I'll have to choose between Tyreek Hill if he's back, Mike Evans in London, or Terry McLaurin against the Dolphins.

In the second, I am also in 2nd place, with the 2nd-most points scored by a margin of 24.5 points.  To put that in perspective, we start 11 players in this league (1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE and 5 Flex) and the scoring for rushing and receiving yardage is--get this--ONE POINT PER YARD!  So that means that being 24.5 points out of first place represents my 10 skill position players amassing 25 total yards less than the team in 1st place over the course of 5 weeks!  The team with the 3rd-most points is some 590 points behind me!  I just took my first loss in this league in Week 5, facing Chark, Dalvin and Juju, behind the clunkers of McCoy, Waller, and Keenan Allen.  It doesn't get any better next week in another showdown with a 1st place team; he's sporting McCaffrey and Kelce while I have Dorsett out, Adams probly out on Monday night as well, and Gore, Waller, Beasley and John Brown all on bye.  Ugh.

The third 4-1 team is another 2nd place team, but only by a margin of 5.8 total points behind 1st.  This team suffered one of only three Week 4 losses among all my teams--and it was one of those bad beats where I lost with the 2nd-highest score of the week--so I'm just a whisker away from being undefeated with the most points scored.  I balanced that loss I didn't deserve in Week 4 with a win I didn't deserve in Week 5, though, as I squeaked out a win over the Christian McCaffrey team with another lineup sporting Mike Evans' goose egg and a lukewarm 6.8 from the returning Damien Williams.  My opponent's QB (Baker Mayfield) putting up -2 pts helped a lot, though.

The last 4-1 team is in 1st place overall (thanks to a narrow 2-pt victory in Week 2), with the 2nd-most points scored.  Week 5 was yet another win with Evans in my lineup.  My next 3 opponents are a combined 6-9, so I don't really face any serious threats again until Week 9.

And finally, my 5-0 team stands 2nd out of 14 teams, with the 3rd-most points scored.  This is another league of deep sleepers, starting 2 QB (superflex), 3 RBs, 4 WRs, 1 TE and 2 Flex.  Week 5 was another solid performance, beating the 3rd-highest score of the week (on a team that included Will Fuller and the Eagles DST) with the 2nd-highest score of the week for my team.  My next opponent is 3-2 somehow, but he is also dead last of all 14 teams in total points scored (by 28 points).  Hopefully his incredible luck comes to an end this week against me.  After him, my next two opponents are a combined 3-7, so I should be looking at 8-0 by the time I get Devin Funchess back.

No applause, please...  Just throw money and undergarments.

[RabidSeaCows 99]

Wow! TMI!

[Byrdman5 104]

So are you starting Fuller over Gordon this week 

[AxeElf 787]

1 hour ago, Byrdman5 said:

So are you starting Fuller over Gordon this week 

Good question!

I'm starting them both; LeSean McCoy to the bench.

[AxeElf 787]

After another 14-1 week, Axe Elf's 15 managed teams have a cumulative W-L record of 61-29 (67.8%) on the season, and 49-11 (81.7%) since Week 2.

Being Axe Elf and all, I'm used to winning, but this season I'm not just winning, I am DOMINATING--even by Axe Elf standards.  My average margin of victory in 14 wins this week was 63.8 points.  Most of my teams could have taken zeros from three players and still won.

13 of my 20 teams posted the highest score of the week in their leagues, and not by just a little, but by an average of 17.7 pts--it's like I'm starting one extra stud player more than any other team.  A 14th team was in a virtual tie for the highest score of the week--1.25 less than #1, and 33.95 more than #3.  There was one more 2nd, two 3rds, and a 4th.  Only 2 of my 20 teams did not post a score among the top 4 in the league this week.

I have the most points scored in 11 out of 20 leagues, and I am 2nd or 3rd in five of the remaining nine.  The maximum points scored across all 20 leagues is 23,718.8, and I have scored 22,946.55 (96.7% of the maximum).

6-0: 1 team

5-1: 4 teams

4-2: 5 teams

3-3: 5 teams

2-4: 0 teams

1-5: 0 teams

0-6: 0 teams

After posting the highest score of the week in ALL FIVE of my Draft Master teams (10 team leagues), ALL FIVE of my Draft Master teams currently stand in 1st place overall (and let's not forget that 4 of them are still sporting Lamar Miller).

I am currently in a playoff position in 10 out of 15 leagues, 1 game out of the playoffs in 2 leagues, and 2 games out of the playoffs in 2 more (2 of those 4 non-playoff teams are 2nd and 3rd in total points scored), leaving only the K/D league as a long shot to make the playoffs in its league at this point.

Ah, the K/D league--my one loss this past week.  I didn't even make an error like in Week 5 when I took a loss I should have won because I benched Fuller on his 50 point week.  I just had all my players other than Carson suck at once.  I could have started Jamison Crowder over any of Lockett, Fuller or Westbrook, but the most it would have gained me was 7.5 points, and I lost by 65.25 pts, not even breaking 100.

I posted in another thread that this is rapidly becoming my worst team--and the ironic thing is that it would be even worse if I had drafted Adams and Mixon like I was "supposed" to.  I axually attribute this team's weakness to being drafted in a snake format rather than in an auction draft, so I was unable to draft several of the targets that I drafted in every other league this summer.  I have a ton of Carson, Freeman, Jacobs, Kupp, Thielen, Lockett, Edelman, Evans, Fitzgerald and Hooper in all my other auction leagues, but the only one of my common starter targets I was able to get in this snake draft was Chris Carson.  I'm still hoping that the return of Gordon and Green will give this team a boost into the playoffs, but I have now lost two games in a row that looked like I should have won on paper, so I don't have much of a margin for error any more.

 Since the K/D team was my only loss, all of my 2-3 teams won, of course, so that I no longer have any teams with a losing record.  Two of the opponents taken down by my squadron of 2-3 teams had been 4-1 until running into Axe Elf.  The league where I needed to win 2 of the next 3 games against winning opponents, I now only have to win 1 of the next 2.  The super-deep league where I was 11th, needing to advance to 6th or higher to make the playoffs--I am now in 7th.  My 8th place team is still in 8th place despite beating the 5th place team, and it is still facing five higher-ranked teams over the next five weeks, so fingers crossed there.

Five of my six 3-2 teams advanced to 4-2 (the other being the K/D league, of course).  The two in 12-team leagues moved up from 3rd and 5th to 2nd and 4th.  In the 14-team league, I spanked my division leader by 104.1 points (202.97-98.87), with the new division leader as my next opponent.  By this time next week, I should be the division leader.  The 16- and 20-team leagues were easy wins over cupcake opponents, leaving me in 3rd and 5th place, respectively.

All four 4-1 teams moved up to 5-1.  One of them remains in 2nd place, while the other 3 stand in 1st place.  One strong win was against another 4-1 team, and another was the blowout of the week by 127.9 points (180.7-53.8) but the most important win of the week was probably my win over a previously-undefeated league-leader to put him into 2nd place and usurp the #1 standing from him--and I did it with Adams, Gore, Waller, John Brown, Beasley and Dorsett all out or on bye!

And of course the 5-0 team is still undefeated at 6-0... but in 2nd place some 65.2 points behind the league leader.

Good times...

[oldtimer 84]

Dude, DraftMaster leagues are winnable by anyone who has any knowledge at all.  I posted my stats on RTSports in another thread.  I stopped drafting in them because it's 8 people that don't understand fantasy football, one decent owner, then yourself.  It's what kids play.  I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but c'mon...…  Those leagues show nothing, require nothing and half a brain wins you the league.  I took 17 leagues out of 20.  It's useless information though, so why brag about it? 

I would be impressed if you were winning in real leagues.  You mention your wins, but not the competitive environment of the leagues.  Are these WSOFF leagues?  No.  Are they Championship leagues with only those that have won other leagues?  No.  Competition makes the difference.  Are these high dollar leagues?  No.  I don't see the point in the post.  There are really competitive leagues out there worthy of being bragged about if you win.  DraftMaster leagues are certainly not one of them, nor are leagues where you are playing for free, or with friends.  Some people play strictly for fun, which is great.  Others though, like Axe, play in DraftMasters and unknown leagues, then believe they are the best.  lol  Sorry.  Win a big time league with an entry fee of $500 or more, then people that have been around FF for 20+ years will respect a post like this.  Until then, it's only bringing out your narcissistic tendencies. 

[AxeElf 787]

1 hour ago, oldtimer said:

Dude, DraftMaster leagues are winnable by anyone who has any knowledge at all.  I posted my stats on RTSports in another thread.  I stopped drafting in them because it's 8 people that don't understand fantasy football, one decent owner, then yourself.  It's what kids play.  I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but c'mon...…  Those leagues show nothing, require nothing and half a brain wins you the league.  I took 17 leagues out of 20.  It's useless information though, so why brag about it? 

I would be impressed if you were winning in real leagues.  You mention your wins, but not the competitive environment of the leagues.  Are these WSOFF leagues?  No.  Are they Championship leagues with only those that have won other leagues?  No.  Competition makes the difference.  Are these high dollar leagues?  No.  I don't see the point in the post.  There are really competitive leagues out there worthy of being bragged about if you win.  DraftMaster leagues are certainly not one of them, nor are leagues where you are playing for free, or with friends.  Some people play strictly for fun, which is great.  Others though, like Axe, play in DraftMasters and unknown leagues, then believe they are the best.  lol  Sorry.  Win a big time league with an entry fee of $500 or more, then people that have been around FF for 20+ years will respect a post like this.  Until then, it's only bringing out your narcissistic tendencies. 

LOL

I've got to hand it to you though... you sure do try.

1 hour ago, oldtimer said:

DraftMaster leagues are winnable by anyone who has any knowledge at all.  I posted my stats on RTSports in another thread.  I stopped drafting in them because it's 8 people that don't understand fantasy football, one decent owner, then yourself.  It's what kids play.  I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but c'mon...…  Those leagues show nothing, require nothing and half a brain wins you the league.  I took 17 leagues out of 20.  It's useless information though, so why brag about it?

DraftMaster leagues are winnable by anyone... but only 1 out of 10 people axually win them.  I can post links to my leagues--do you have proof that you won 17 out of 20?  No?  I figured you were just farting in the wind there--like all of your other accusations of "Axe Elf said this" or "Axe Elf said that"--never any links or quotes, never any proof, all hat and no cattle.

If you can flip $100 DM leagues with schoolchildren into easy $600 paydays at will, why would you stop playing?  That makes you look even more stupid than your posts do--and that's not easy!

1 hour ago, oldtimer said:

I would be impressed if you were winning in real leagues.

Good, glad to hear you're impressed.  You should be.

1 hour ago, oldtimer said:

Win a big time league with an entry fee of $500 or more, then people that have been around FF for 20+ years will respect a post like this.

In my 26 years of experience, I have found that the best competition in fantasy football is at the lower entry fee levels, where the money actually means something to the people who play.  When you get over $200 or so, you get trust fund mouth-breathers who see the high entry fees as a status symbol (kind of like what you're suggesting here), but who draft--and manage--like chimps.  If you haven't figured this out by now, you could use a little seasoning yourself, greenhorn.  Being "around" for 20 years doesn't help if you're a slow learner.

And now, back to your regularly-scheduled domination...

[AxeElf 787]

Trying to be smart in the K/D league and avoid the "bad matchup" for Stafford against Minnesota by starting Daniel Jones in the cherry matchup with Arizona, getting Engram and Barkley back.

Stafford has accumulated 173 yards and 3 TDs (20+ fantasy points) at the half, Jones has collected a dead fly and some lint.

I was supposed to be winning this league through team management; but instead that's how I'm losing it.

My opponent isn't doing too great either, so maybe there's still a chance--but man...  I'm also taking a 1.6 out of Will Fuller, so I coulda used the Stafford points.

[AxeElf 787]

5 hours ago, AxeElf said:

Trying to be smart in the K/D league and avoid the "bad matchup" for Stafford against Minnesota by starting Daniel Jones in the cherry matchup with Arizona, getting Engram and Barkley back.

Stafford has accumulated 173 yards and 3 TDs (20+ fantasy points) at the half, Jones has collected a dead fly and some lint.

I was supposed to be winning this league through team management; but instead that's how I'm losing it.

My opponent isn't doing too great either, so maybe there's still a chance--but man...  I'm also taking a 1.6 out of Will Fuller, so I coulda used the Stafford points.

Lost 17.55 points starting Jones over Stafford, lost another 6.1 points when Melvin Gordon's goalline TD at the end of the game was overturned by replay--TWICE--and lost however many points from Fuller leaving in the 1st quarter with 1.6--and I STILL might pull this game out.

I currently have a 4.25 point lead, with Jamison Crowder going tomorrow night against my opponent's Ben Watson.

Sounds promising, but the way my luck in the K/D league is going, Watson will have 100 yards and 3 TDs.

I do appreciate him starting Joe Mixon over Austin Ekeler, however...

[AxeElf 787]

As we enter the final stretch for playoff positioning, the one question in the minds of every fantasy football enthusiast is, of course, "How is Axe Elf doing?"  I shall keep you in suspense no longer...

It should come as no surprise that every single one of Axe Elf's 15 managed teams is still in the playoff hunt (even the lone sub-.500 team)--although some of them have smoother sailing to clinch a berth than others.  Here's the detailed rundown...

League #1 (the K/D league; 12 teams):  I am currently in a 3-way tie for 2nd place in the standings at 7-4, but I am effectively in 4th place, having the fewest points of those three teams.  This is not good, because only the top THREE teams get into the playoffs on the basis of their W-L record; the 4th team is the remaining team with the most points scored over the course of the year--and that's not going to be me.

There is only one more week of the regular season remaining in this league, so, if I am going to realize my dream of cashing in a league where I selected a Kicker and a Defense in the first two rounds, the following things need to happen:  I need to win--and I am facing the first-place 10-1 team!  Then, either the team currently in second place needs to lose to the last-place 2-9 team, or the team currently in third place needs to lose to another team with a losing record (5-6)!  It's a long shot, to be sure, though stranger things have happened.

The most likely outcome, though, is that my gaffe of flexing Melvin Gordon in Week 5 (his first week back) over Will Fuller (who went on to score 50 that week) is going to be the one bad decision that cost me the game that will ultimately keep me out of the playoffs.  But we'll see; if I lose this week and both the 2nd and 3rd place teams win, then it wouldn't have mattered anyway--I'd still have been stuck in 4th place.  I can't be mad, though; that's a pretty good showing for a team that basically forfeited 3 of its first 5 picks (the K and D, and then AJ Green never came back as expected for my 5th round pick either).

League 2 (12 teams):  This is my one team that slipped under .500 this past week, to 5-6.  That puts me in a tie for 6th place in the standings, but I am still alive for the playoffs because 2 teams make it on the basis of total points, and I am currently 3rd in total points.  So my record really doesn't matter; I can lose both of my remaining games.  As long as I maintain my (33 point) lead over the team with the 4th-most points, I'm guaranteed a playoff berth.

League 3 (12 teams):  7-4 record, 5th in the standings, 5th in total points.  My chances are slim.  I need to win my final two games (against the other 7-4 team, and then a play-all week), and I need one of the two 8-3 teams currently in 2nd and 3rd places to lose both of their remaining games.

League 4 (12 teams):  6-5 record, 7th in the standings, 5th in total points.  There is a knot of us at the top in total points; most total points is only 20 points ahead of me (and 4th place in total points is only 6 points ahead of me).  I should make the playoffs on points if I can just get into 4th or better in total points over the course of the next two games.

League 5 (12 teams):  8-3 record, 1st in the standings, 2nd in total points.  Playoff chances are pretty good, although there are two other 8-3 teams.  I should get in on points even if I don't stay in the top seed.

League 6 (12 teams):  8-3 record, 4th in the standings, 2nd in total points.  Pretty much a lock for the playoffs here; there's only 1 team within 2 games of me, and they play the 2nd-place team in Week 13, while my two remaining opponents have a combined record of 3-19 (plus I have 100 more points than they do).

League 7 (12 teams):  10-1 record, 1st in the standings, 1st in total points.  Pretty much a lock for the #1 seed here.  There are only 2 teams within 2 games of me, and I have 200 more points than either of them.

League 8 (12 teams):  9-2 record, 1st in the standings, 1st in total points.  If this team hadn't lost this past week, I'd have 4 teams at 10-1 or better!  Oh well.  I'm still a lock for the playoffs, and probably the #1 seed as well, since there are only 4 teams within 2 games of me, and 2 of them play each other next week, and I have 100 more points than any of them anyway.

League 9 (12 teams):  10-1 record, 1st in the standings, 1st in total points, and have clinched a playoff berth.  Parenthetically, this is my only league that still has 3 more regular-season games before the playoffs start in Week 15.

League 10 (14 teams):  11-0 record, 1st in the standings, 1st in total points, and have clinched a playoff berth.

League 11 (14 teams):  8-3 record, 1st in the standings, 1st in total points, and have clinched a playoff berth.

League 12 (14 teams):  6-5 record, 5th in the standings, 2nd in total points.  Winning out over my last two opponents, who have a combined record of 7-15, will clinch my playoff berth for me.

League 13 (16 teams):  7-4 record, 4th in the standings, 1st in total points.  It seems crazy that I can be leading the league in total points scored, but have a very real chance of missing the (6-team) playoffs!  My final two opponents are both ahead of me in the standings with 8-3 records, and I'd need a little help if I end up 7-6.  So a couple of nail-biters on the horizon here.

League 14 (18 teams):  7-4 record, 6th in the standings, 5th in total points.  My remaining two opponents are both 5-6, and I probably just need to win one of the last two games to cement at least the 6th seed in the playoffs.

League 15 (20 teams):  6-5 record, 9th in the standings, 8th in total points.  I am mathematically alive, but I will need to win my last two games (against teams with winning records) and need some help to squeak into the playoffs.  It's tough to lose a starting RB (Lamar Miller) in a 20 team league before the season even starts and still make the playoffs, but I have a chance to do just that.

My 5 Draft Master teams stand in 1st place (+58.15), 2nd place (-62.40), 3rd place (-23.20), 4th place (-98.35)... and 7th place (-86.65).  That last team featured Ryan and Flacco at QB, so it took a bit of a hit running without any active QB there for a couple of weeks.

So my overall W-L record is 115-50 (69.7%).  The team record breakdown is:

11-0:  1 team

10-1:  2 teams

9-2:  1 team

8-3:  3 teams (7 of 15 teams at 8-3 or better)

7-4:  4 teams

6-5:  3 teams (14 of 15 teams with winning records)

5-6:  1 team

My average league standing is 4th place, and my average total points standing is 3rd place, with all 15 out of 15 managed teams still alive for a playoff berth, and 3 out of 5 best-ball teams either currently cashing or within 24 points of cashing!

And now you know the standard to which you aspire...

[zole2112 5]

I felt your pain, I benched Fuller during his blowup week as well, 1 week too early, and lost....damn you Fuller!!