Week 9 Observations

We’re halfway through the season already, just like at 51, I’m halfway through my life. (I tell my friends who turn 50 they’re a third of the way through theirs to make them feel better, but with myself I’m realistic. Maybe I’ll get to 110 or 115, but no chance I’ll hit 150.)

Week 9 was mostly good to me, but there’s always that one thing I did wrong that eats at me like the one rat ate at Robert deNiro in Heat, and he had to turn around the car to go back and kill him. He couldn’t let it go.

For me it was actually two things. One, as I mentioned Saturday, I had picked the Texans +13.5, but neglected to hit “save” on the CBS website, so that registered as a no-pick and a loss. As it turns out, I’m tied for first at 9-2 on the week with two other people in my pool, which will cost me a modest $55 payout if either of them has the Saints. Our rule is in the case of a tie, the pool doubles the following week for everyone. So that’s annoying.

Even worse, in the 14-team Steak League where my team is struggling (Two of my three biggest purchases were Javonte Williams and Ja’Marr Chase), I started Aaron Rodgers over Justin Fields for the second straight week. I thought the Dolphins defense with Bradley Chubb might show up and figured Rodgers could get it done against the Lions. That cost me 22.5 points that I absolutely could not afford to lose. It didn’t help that Romeo Doubs got hurt on his first catch, and that I used him in my Primetime too.

Otherwise, it was a great week — I went 3-0-1 so far in the Circa Millions (Taylor Heinicke’s senseless, soul-crushing pick in the fourth quarter up 10 kept me from 4-0), and I’m at least 4-1 in my NFFC leagues (and possibly 5-0 if Devin Duvernay and Isiah Likely combine for 27 points), despite having Saquon Barkley on bye in all of them except the one where I picked first and took Jonathan Taylor. So it was a good week, but I’m still annoyed because it could have even better.

• Malik Willis threw for 80 yards, while Patrick Mahomes had 446, and the game went to overtime. Maybe running the ball effectively actually matters too!

• Chig Okonkwo, who I picked up in a couple leagues, had a 48-yard catch on the Titans first play from scrimmage. Willis had only 32 passing yards the rest of game including overtime. Okonkwo looked awfully fast for a TE on that play.

• Derrick Henry (17-115-2) is himself, but the Titans are not using him in the passing game anymore. Maybe it’s because Willis rarely attempts a forward pass.

• The Chiefs aren’t a good running team, and they don’t make many plays down the field. Plus, Harrison Butker is shaky. I don’t see them coming out of the AFC.

• Tyreek Hill has a good chance to set the all-time receiving yardage record if he plays all 17 games.

• Justin Fields is a top-five fantasy QB. He just set the single-game record for rushing yards for a QB with 178, and Chase Claypool’s eventual integration into the offense should help.

• Dave Gettlechad made his share of mistakes as the Giants GM, but he was unfairly maligned by the “analytics” bros, as he made good moves too (Leonard Williams, James Bradberry, trading OBJ, drafting Andrew Thomas, avoiding Sam Darnold for Saquon Barkley at pick 2, taking Daniel Jones at No. 6 over the more highly rated Dwayne Haskins, e.g.) But it might turn out his worst move was dealing the No. 11 pick (the Bears used it on Fields) for the picks that yielded Kadarius Toney, Aaron Robinson, Evan Neal and Daniel Bellinger. It’s ironic because trading down is typically what the “analytics” crowd encourages. The moral here is he should have stuck to being the Gettle-Chad rather than the analytics Virgin.

• I had the Bengals -7.5, and that was the easiest game of the week. I love buying decent teams off embarrassing losses, especially when they’re facing doormats, and especially ones coming off heartbreaking losses like the one Carolina suffered last week to Atlanta. It was a near perfect setup. Unfortunately, my 12:1 Panthers ticket is finally drawing dead.