Week 7 I was traveling and this resulted in me forgetting to post a preview for week 7 (and week 8) and also forgetting which players were playing on which day. Thankfully it didn't cost me in the end but boy was it close!
The game this week swung back and forth like a pendulum, I started off out in front with two players involved in the Thursday night match-up, then the first glut of Sunday games reached the end of the first quarter and I was behind. By halftime I was back in front thanks to a Michael Crabtree TD, but as the games wound to a close I found myself quite a way behind with only a RB and a K to play. Freeman started off slowly but a few nice runs in the second half proved to be game winning (for me if not for the Falcons) and I sneaked over the line ahead of my opponent. This was the closest game in the league this season, with a winning margin of only 1.88 points.
The Teams:
In three out of the last four weeks DeMarco Murray has been my leading points scorer, he is Mr. Consistent although he really should not have had to carry the team this week. There were a couple of real difference makers that I left on the bench, although we will cover that later. I really felt for my opponent Michael after this one as he had two brilliant performances (Andrew Luck and the Philly Defence) wasted by the fact that the rest of his team failed to step up in any way, but at least I still got the win!
QB:
JDD 12.40 / SWN 27.82 (- 15.42)
It was another disappointing week for Derek Carr, his early season promise is foundering on the rocks of a slightly more difficult schedule. However, this week he was up against Jacksonville and really should have been able to put them away. What really stung about this one though was the fact that I had Jameis Winston in as starter until about 30 minutes before kickoff, at which point I had a crisis of confidence and fell back on old faithful. Next week Winston and Carr face off and right now I just don't know who I will pick as starter.
RB:
JDD 28.70 / SWN 3.80 (+ 24.90)
DeMarco lead the way and Freeman managed to pick up his game in the second half of the Falcons/Chargers game to really win me this tie. Before the season started there was a lot of talk about the "zero RB" draft strategy but this position has managed to save me more times than I think the advocates of that strategy would like to admit. When I review the season next year it will be interesting to see just where the RBs fall in terms of overall points, would a more WR or RB centric strategy have served me better? Right now I am just glad that these guys are on my team, especially with Doug Martin still nursing a hamstring injury.
For Michael, neither Terrance West nor TJ Yeldon managed to step up in any meaningful way in this game, managing a grand total of 34 yards on the ground and one reception of 4 yards. OUCH!
WR:
JDD 20.10 / SWN 12.30 (+ 7.80)
TDs can really change a fantasy match-up and that was the case in our WR battle. For the first time since week 4 Marvin Jones managed to pick up more than 40 yards for my opponent, but his yardage contribution was matched by Michael Crabtree who also picked up the sole passing TD for the Raiders. Crabtree's performance was a double whammy for Michael as it limited his second WR, Amari Cooper, to only 29 yards which was surpassed by Allen Hurns for me.
Crabtree has been almost as consistent for me as DeMarco Murray with only last week's awful performance eating into his overall reliability. This time out he was back to his usual 3+ catches and 10+ points, I just hope that he can keep it up for the remainder of the season.
TE:
JDD 4.00 / SWN 1.60 (+ 2.40)
The Tight End position has really stunk this year, unless you have someone playing for New England (or Greg Olsen) then they have really failed to contribute anything to your team on a consistent basis. Zach Miller added an average 4 points to my eventual total but Hunter Henry, who had started to look like a breakout option in the previous 3 weeks, only managed 1.6 points in week 7 for my opponent. New England may start to look for ways to exploit their two TE sets over the remainder of the season, especially with Brady back under center, and hopefully I can exploit this with a sneaky pick up of Bennett who has somehow found his way into Free Agency in the Limey League.
Flex:
JDD 3.30 / SWN 5.10 (- 2.80)
Ah, the point where my forgetfulness nearly cost me. Alshon Jeffery has been arguably the biggest fantasy disappointment of the season. In all honesty, at the start of the week I looked at the match-ups and decided that Jeffery probably had the easiest go of it. Hopkins and Matthews were at Denver and Minnesota respectively and my faith in Travis Benjamin is at an all time low, if he could just stop fumbling the ball... Then I picked up Jay Ajayi on the waiver wire. He had a tough match-up against the Bills but there was some magic happening in South Florida and I was tempted to start him. As it turned out this would have been the smart move and when I went to make it I was annoyed to see that Chicago had played on Thursday night. I decided against putting him in ahead of Freeman who had been pretty decent up to this point in a high powered Atlanta offence and decided to wait a full two weeks to give him his "debut". I hate bye weeks...
Kicker:
JDD 12.00 / SWN 10.00 (+ 2.00)
Matt Bryant had another strong game, and it could have been even better if he had made the game winning field goal! Once again Atlanta gave him the opportunity to put up points and the veteran didn't disappoint, well except for that missed game winner. He has been a decent pick up for my team and if Atlanta can keep things rolling he should continue to put up points in bunches.
Defence:
JDD 6.00 / SWN 24.00 (- 18.00)
LA continue to be undermined by a weak offence and now the injuries are taking their toll as well. This week saw a bend but don't break effort against the Giants and things could have been so different in London for them if they had just had a little bit of support on the other side of the ball. The Eagles defence really did a number on Minnesota for Michael, picking up points in every available category. They have been quietly going about their business this year and they have put up very strong numbers week in, week out with only Minnesota ahead of them. I will need to find some similar production over the next few weeks if I want to have any hope of making the playoffs.
Bench:
I have already mentioned Winston and Ajayi as two players who should have started for me. The final starter who I benched was Travis Benjamin who managed to avoid fumbling the football this week on his way to picking up 54 yards. Dropping Hopkins and Matthews was the right call as neither put up good numbers against two of the best defences in the league and Doug Martin continues to sit out with a hamstring injury rounding out my bench.
Best Possible Lineup, week 7:
QB: Jameis Winston (20.66)
RB1: Jay Ajayi (27.60)
RB2: DeMarco Murray (18.70)
WR1: Michael Crabtree (15.60)
WR2: Travis Benjamin (5.40)
TE: Zach Miller (4.00)
W/R: Devonta Freeman (10.00)
K: Matt Bryant (12.00)
DEF: LA Rams (6.00)
Total: 119.96 (- 33.46)
Table:
Results:
So there were some big scorers this week, with CFL Sensation leading the way. A couple of the teams lower down the table had big weeks, with 1pt21 JJ Watts really throwing a spanner in the works for 4th and Goal. Next up for my Dolphins are the undefeated Fireballers. Hopefully we can put that first blemish in the loss column for them to keep ourselves ahead of the chasing pack, especially as week 9 sees us take on CFL Sensation who have bounced back from their blip over the last two weeks to revert back to their early season strong performances.
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