So, things are trending in the right direction now and I seemed to have bucked the curse that has plagued me in the pick ’em for much of the season. However, things were looking very dire in a few of those situations.
| Nick W | Nick L | Nick T | ATS W | ATS L | ATS P | O/U W | O/U L | O/U P | Christen W | Christen L | Christen T | Rids W | Rids L | Rids T |
| 12 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 1 |
| Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous |
| 111 | 68 | 1 | 91 | 85 | 4 | 78 | 87 | 2 | 106 | 72 | 1 | 95 | 84 | 1 |
| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| 123 | 70 | 2 | 97 | 94 | 4 | 84 | 96 | 2 | 119 | 73 | 2 | 104 | 89 | 2 |
As it turned out, I actually had my best week of the season going 12-2-1 and that got me back into 2nd place in the big league and returned sole possession of 1st place to me in the home league. However, that still wasn’t good enough to overcome Christen’s 13-1-1 mark for the week and Ridley came in with a respectable 9-5-1 record. I had a couple of sub-.500 marks against the spread and the over/under going 6-9 as my primary focus has shifted to regaining ground in the pools that pay out.
I recorded the Monday game and wasn’t even really that interested in it. The last 8 minutes or so was pretty riveting and I can’t help but feel absolutely terrible for Andy Dalton, ultimately losing 17-16.
(Photo: Buccaneers.com)
After the Bucs’ opening drive that looked decent but stalled in the red zone, the Saints went on a 16-0 from he start of the 2nd quarter up until the final three minutes in the 4th. “Domination” may seem like a strong word but the Saints were in complete control and Tampa Bay could do almost nothing until their final two drives of the game.
Tom Brady legitimately played like garbage for the vast majority of the game. He was slow, inaccurate, and (most uncharacteristically) he was making the wrong read far too often. I had to Christen vocalize to Christen during the game, that it was some of the worst football I have ever seen him play and that his time might just be at hand. If you look at their scoring drives to book end the game, 21 of his 36 completions came on those 3 drives. The entire game in between he was 15/33 with an interception and it actually should have been two. The Saints defense was playing their butts off and it showed.
However, the he stepped up when it mattered and Tampa looked like a completely different team with their backs against the wall. This game script has played out for the Bucs many times this season. Have a good first drive that results in points, then go in the tank only to emerge with a shot to win at the end. They struggled to actually get Ws in many of those games, but it’s a trend. That said, their whole gameplan was different at the end of the game and the Saints defenders were very tried from controlling the whole game until that point.
(Photo: Buccaneers.com)
As the camera kept cutting to Andy Dalton on the sidelines, I couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He played a really solid game against a good defense in their own right, but the implication was that it was somehow his fault. We saw a lot of Taysom Hill on camera as well who dropped a 3rd & 17 that would have all but closed out the game, but he got absolutely blasted on that play and not too many players could have held onto it. I get that we instinctively look for someone to blame, but I don’t think it’s on either of them.
I didn’t get a chance to watch the majority of the Sunday night game as we opted for for some much needed massages and spa time. That’s right! Self care is important. It was close in the early going that I got to see and I could have sworn my fantasy playoff hopes were doomed when the Cowboys opted to hand it off to Pollard instead of Zeke from the 2-yard line, but then the second half happened. Dallas absolutely mauled the Colts, 33-6, in the second half en route to a 54-19 win.
The afternoon was where the real juicy action was at, featuring good matchups and plenty of seeding and playoff implications. I’ll start with the most high-profile game as the Bengals downed the Chief 27-24. It’s the thrid straight time that Cincy has beaten KC and they didn’t even have to comeback from a double digit deficit this time. In a close game between two of the best teams in the league, all the little stuff matters and it was the Chiefs who fumbled and missed a long FG late in the game. The Bengals just played an angry brand of football and it was enough to force that key takeaway.
In a clash of division leaders, the 49ers defense held it down against the Dolphins even after Jimmy G was feared to be lost for the season. Miami struck first on a 75-yd TD pass but the Niners mostly dominated down and distance. Even with a 33-17 final, make no mistake that the Fins were a real threat still in that 4th quarter. Nick Bosa just had a monster game when it mattered most. It also looks like Jimmy G won’t need surgery and could be back in the playoffs.
The AFC West got a whole lot more interesting with the Raiders’ 27-20 win over the Chargers too. They were one of the curse teams that I would pick wrong every week and after an early pick six by the Bolts defense I was feeling a bit nauseus. However, Vegas didn’t panic. I thought they would dominate the ground which they did, but Davante Adams 8/177/2 line made my fantasy matchup a nightmare.
In completely expected news, the Seahawks beat the Rams but LA wasn’t going to lay down just because the vast majority of their Super Bowl talent was out. They made things very tough on the Hawks and picked on that crappy run defense. However, Geno Smith led the drive that mattered when it mattered most and came away with the 27-23 win to stay firmly in that Wild Card range.
I won’t give this one too much attention because you know why, but the Browns beat the Texans 27-14. Cleveland’s QB played like garbage but their defense stepped up.
Speaking of garbage, the Broncos continue to limbo their way to new lowest scoring losses. Even though they led all the way up until they lost, Russell Wilson managed 9 points against a Ravens defense that gives up quite a lot. The Broncos defense did their job only giving up 10, and even knocked Lamar Jackson out of the game, but the 10-9 loss may be the worst of the season. Denver was one of my other curse teams so thank you Baltimore for setting that right.
A.J. Brown’s revenge game went well. I thought the Titans would put up a better fight against the Eagles and early on they did but, once Brown got away with an absolute mugging of Kristian Fulton, there was no stopping the Eags. They went on to win 35-10, completely shutting down the Tennessee offense.
Elsewhere in the refreshingly tough NFC East, the Commanders and Giants played to a 20-20 tie. Despite all the injuries for the G-Men they still came out and played their asses off against one of the hottest teams in the league. It was just one of those games where the defenses had the advantage and trading punts in overtime ended with a missed FG by New York.
The other “New York” team, the Jets, made a valiant comeback effort against the Vikings but fell short, 27-22. Right as the Mike White hype train was getting reved up again, he opened the game with an interception. He didn’t look good for a lot of the game but then found his groove and threw for 369 yards and ran TD in, but then he bookended his day with another pick to end the game. Minnesota is 10-2 now with some very good wins.
In what started as an even-money game, moved to a 1-point game in favor of the Lions and ended with a 40-14 beatdown of the Jaguars. Clearly, the Thanksgiving Day loss to the Bills did more for Detroit than a last-second win over Baltimore did for the Jags. The Lions are in Wild Card territory in the NFC playoff picture and could be a very scary team to play in the first round.
One of my other curse teams was the Packers and they too had to rally from early game floundering at the feet of Justin Fields. They were even down 19-10 in the 4th quarter and looking listless, but they exploded for 18 points to win it 28-19. This Christian Watson kid just scores TDs and it seems like the Pack finally found their guy.
Lastly, the Steelers survived a late rally by the Falcons to win it 19-16. Pittsburgh is in the Wild Card hunt, surprisingly, and so are the Falcons even with the loss. Atlanta was moving into curse territory but it the lack of Kyle Pitts has made them more one dimensional and easier to pin down.
And of course, the Bills handled the Pats on Thrusday night.
A lot of people won’t put Minny as high as #2, but they have earned it. Meanwhile, the Rams, Bears and Broncos are racing the Texans to the bottom. Maybe I am being a biased towards the Bills, but I have them lower than a lot of rankings.
| 1. Eagles 11-1 (=) |
| 2. Vikings 10-2 (+1) |
| 3. Bills 9-3 (+3) |
| 4. Chiefs 9-3 (-2) |
| 5. Cowboys 9-3 (-1) |
| 6. Dolphins 9-3 (-1) |
| 7. Bengals 8-4 (+2) |
| 8. 49ers 8-4 (-1) |
| 9. Ravens 8-4 (+1) |
| 10. Titans 7-5 (-1) |
| 11. Giants 7-4-1 (-3) |
| 12. Commanders 7-5-1 (+1) |
| 13. Jets 7-5 (-1) |
| 14. Seahawks 7-5 (-2) |
| 15. Buccaneers 6-6 (+2) |
| 16. Chargers 6-6 (=) |
| 17. Patriots 6-6 (-2) |
| 18. Lions 5-7 (+1) |
| 19. Browns 5-7 (+1) |
| 20. Steelers 5-7 (+1) |
| 21. Raiders 5-7 (+3) |
| 22. Packers 5-8 (+4) |
| 23. Falcons 5-8 (-5) |
| 24. Saints 4-9 (+1) |
| 25. Colts 4-8-1 (-3) |
| 26. Jaguars 4-8 (-3) |
| 27. Cardinals 4-8 (+1) |
| 28. Panthers 4-8 (-1) |
| 29. Rams 3-9 (+1) |
| 30. Bears 3-10 (+1) |
| 31. Broncos 3-9 (-2) |
| 32. Texans 1-10-1 (=) |
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