The John Brown Saga and Other Oddities from Week 8

Infatuation is a cruel mistress, John Brown and The Mallrats have proven that this season, and it’s quite possible that they reunite again at some point, but for now, in the interest of Roster Management, Brown sits unclaimed and waiting.

As for the games to this point – Tan and Matt probably have the most exciting, and that tells you something about where scoring was this week. Either Chris or Matt will be the highest-scoring team of the week according to projections, and Yahoo has them both finishing under 2300. With only MNF left to play, 10 of the 12 teams in the SCL are under 2000 so far, and odds are that’s not gonna change too much. In contrast, Week 7 saw only two teams under the 2000 mark.

It’s an odd week, but it’s about to get odder. The Bucs appear to be contenders this year, but the Giants are horrible. Despite the apparent lopsided nature of tonight’s matchup on ESPN, only CTan, QAnon, and Nacho don’t have any one left going tonight, and more odd, every game is still in question. Sure, we can see decided advantages going in a few matchups, but the truth is there are still nine teams putting up points tonight, and no game is out of reach.

Between the 12 Bucs and 6 Giants going tonight, there are likely more than 2000 points to be had. So what could the league look like tomorrow? The standings are still pretty bunched up, but let’s start with projections. Based on current Yahoo game predictions, we have W’s going to Dutch, DECK, HOGAN, QAnon, Nacho and the Tim Bradys. Here’s how the standings look if that’s the way it goes;

1. The Tim Bradys (7-1)
2. C Tan vs. the World (5-3)
3. Red Bank Mallrats (5-3)
4. Sc4_Skippers (5-3)
5. BE A MAN HOGAN (4-4)
6. Flying Dutchmen (4-4)
7. TIMMO! (4-4)
8. QAnon (4-4)
9. SECOND DECK (3-5)
10. The Quasars (3-5)
11. Nacho Team (3-5)
12. Murphy Inn-ines (1-7)

So, not as much movement as I was expecting. Steve would drop from 7 to 10, and Trigger would jump from 8 to 6. Nacho Team, on a 3 game Winning streak, would still sit in 11th, but be positioned to make a jump with another win. The Top 4 teams, despite 3 losses wouldn’t change, but the Tim Bradys would take a commanding lead.

But what happens if the projections fail? Or at least some of them? Here’s what needs to happen for an upset…

Mallrats v Dutchmen

So it’s Sterling Shepard (+148) going against Mike Evans, Gallman and Barrett. Assuming Shepard can hit his projection of 89 points (which is unlikely given the NYG O-Line issues this week), that means Trigger’s trio of players would need to average less than 80 points each. For the year, those guys are averaging 50 (Gallman), 109 (Evans) and 143 (Barrett). If they all hit their averages, it’ll be a Dutchmen win.

BUT – A Mallrats win could look something like this;

• S. Shepard – 147 points (ie; 5 catches, 72 yds, 1 TD)
• M. Evans – 59 points (His average over the last 3 games)
• Gallman – 100 points (Double his Season Average)
• Barrett – 130 (His Total from Week 7)

Then the final score would be a slim 6 point lead for the Mallrats, in essence putting it in the hands of the Stat Correction Gods on Thursday.

C Tan v SECOND DECK

Chris is putting up a 360 point lead against Matt’s 4 players. Chris is likely only still alive here because of Golloday’s injury, but SECOND DECK’s projections actually look low to me, on Defense at least.

BUT – A C Tan win could look something like this;

• L. Fournette – 57 points (Brady goes ham and keeps the ball in the air)
• E. Engram – 62 points (Hits his average for the year right on the nose)
• D. White – 200 points (His Season Average)
• J. Dean – 40 (His Total from Week 4)

We’d be looking at 2241-2240, with advantage to the Commish.

Gronk could go off, or Brady could shit the bed. Maybe Logan Ryan and Blake Martinez accidentally kill Tom on a vicious sack? Or Scotty Miller becomes the next Wes Welker and Trigger’s head explodes. We should have a clearer picture of everything in a few hours…