The Sideline Report Fantasy Review – Mother Nature’s Vengence

I’m going to let you in on a little secret…when I’m drafting I look for dome kickers only. Why? Because 8 games out of the year they won’t be affected. Bonus points if you can pick up my super secret kicker weapon in Atlanta, Matt Bryant, who plays 9 games in a dome per year with New Orleans in the division. After this past weekend I’m not convinced I should even carry a kicker anymore.
 
How do you miss 12 FGs/PATs? It was remarkable to watch the Sunday night game as the balls literally flew in multiple directions without the wind seeming to shift. Crazy pants.
 
Ok it’s been a while. I’ve been busy and had no time to dedicate to writing about what was a very entertaining few weeks in fantasy. There have been games decided by as few as 1 point and a few that were decided by considerably more. We’re going to start in the D League.
 
D League
 
Dud’s Studs started off strong winning the first 8 games of the season, but since Dud got over confident and smarmy he’s been handed 3 losses in a row. Last week it was to Gurley, and this week he was pummeled by White Walkers 182.16-113.68. This game was looking great for Dud after the 1pm Line up on Sunday but by Sunday night Dud was dead in the water. Walkers scored nearly 80 points in one game with all the Packers and Redskins on his roster. Voodoo’s Walker’s now moves into 4th place as the season winds down and he’s fending off Put Your drake on my and Evil Corp as they try to catch up. Despite the poor performances by Dud’s Studs they remain in the playoffs in 3rd place albeit in a 3 way tie at 8-3 with Juggernaught and Liquor Box.
 
The closest match up this week was a battle near the bottom with Direwolves Pups squeaking out a 3 point win over Brady’s Deflated Balls 142.88-139.92. This win comes in spite of the poor performances by Cam Newton and Allen Robinson. Newton posted his lowest score of the season and Robinson was below his average. Neither of these things matter when Le’Veon Bell scores 34 points. Brady’s Balls did what they could but Houston getting hosed on MNF dropped the defense score to the point it cost them the victory. If they had swapped in Detroit vs. Jacksonville (which pretty much should have happened…) they would have carried the day.
 
With 3 weeks left before the playoffs there are still a lot of moving pieces including the formerly I Love Boobs team who has a bunch of huge players walking into each matchup as a zombie. Eventually, it’s going to catch someone. It could be Dud this week, White Walkers, next, or Evil Corp in week 14. All these teams have playoff hopes and could be undone by a team without an owner.
 
Dynasty League
Now I have been joking for a long long time about my undefeated streak in Dynasty and how close I was to going an entire calendar year without losing. Joke’s over! Tuck a Buck Express has finally defeated Down With ODB by the final score of 146.14-115.20. This game was basically in the bag after Sunday night when Express had Lamar Miller and Amari Cooper going Monday night and only had to get 5 points to win. While it took until the second quarter, it definitely happened. ODB was done in by under performing stud WRs who usually carry the day, but all 4 of the WRs started amounted to 42.30 points. This combination can and has scored upwards of 80 or more. The combined bench WRs scored more and there were only 3 of them. ODB still sits comfortably on top in 1st place at 10-1, while Tuck a Buck gets a feather in their cap as they are solidly in place in the losers bracket at 3-8.
 
Archer’s FSociety got a big scare going up against the hapless Home Run Darby by a mere 1.4 points. With Darby using Fozzy Whittaker, and the injured Jeremy Maclin and Torrey Smith one is made to believe he’s really trying to emulate the Browns and achieve the perfect no win season. To add insult to injury, the normally reliable Matt Prater scored a -1 on PATs which would have made this match up the closest in the league’s history. FSociety truly lucked out this week. With only 3 players scoring double digits there is no way this should have landed in the win column but all that matters is it did. Archer remains in second place as the playoffs approach, and Link has called interior decorators to make sure his basement is nice and cozy for the remainder of the year.
 
Injuries/Waiver Wire
While I wasn’t here, there was a week in the NFL that had no major injuries to major fantasy stars. That was last week, and this week has made up for it in spades.
 
First off, Andrew Luck is in the concussion protocol. That means you’re not going to have him available for Thursday night against Pittsburgh. You can either pick up Scott Tolzien and roll the dice, or try to find a waiver pick up. Shockingly Marcus Mariota is available in some leagues (including the D league COUGH COUGH) and he’s got a much better match up going against Chicago. If not for the fact that I have Rodgers/Cousins I would have picked him up myself.
 
Now add into this headache AJ Green, CJ Prosise (who just got rollin’ man…), LeSean McCoy, Ryan Matthews, Darren Sproles, Robert Woods, Giovani Bernard, Zach Miller you’re looking at devastation through the core of your potential line up. Look to your waiver wire for players like Theo Riddick, Wendell Smallwood, Tyler Boyd (really try to find him!), and Mike Gillislee. Also look for Brandon LaFell. Someone has to be available for Dalton to throw to now that Green is down. You could also snag the returning from injury Dion Lewis and Thomas Rawls. Those would be good stash options leading into the playoffs.
 
That’s it this time. Apologies for no fantasy write ups in the last couple of weeks. I mean…I’m not really, but since I grew up in Canada-adjace it feels like something I have to do.