Fantasy League 2022 -- week 10 recap

One week after the Buccaneers and Seahawks played in Germany, the NFL will host a game in Mexico City between the Cardinals and 49ers next week. That will be the fourth different country to host an American football game this season (fifth if you admit that Buffalo is actually part of Canada and not the U.S.) in the league’s effort to attract a worldwide audience.

But there are still so many more foreign markets the NFL could explore. Here’s a look at some potential venues for next season:

** Japan — American baseball already has a huge following there. Why not see if they’d like to give American football a try too? Plus, have you seen their game shows? Those people will watch anything.

** Antarctica — Everybody loves football in the snow. Why not pick a location where it’s guaranteed? Getting spectators there may be a problem, so be sure to include the Packers in this contest. They seem to have frontrunner fans everywhere.

** Qatar — The country is going to need to do something with all of those soccer stadiums after the World Cup is finished, and the government would be willing to pay handsomely for the good publicity of having a U.S. sport come in. And the NFL has never turned down blood money before…

** France — There probably isn’t a groundswell of local fan support for this plan, but the NFL might need to do it for diplomatic reasons. After all, with England and Germany getting NFL games, the U.S. might have include the French in the package just to keep everybody’s feelings safe.

** Brazil — One word: TOUCHDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOOOWN!

** Cleveland — Given the long historic ties between the city and the league. NFL execs should consider sending a real football team to play there one of these years.

QB: Justin Fields, 43.38 pts — started by Joel
WR: Christian Watson, 27.13 pts — on the wire
RB: Jonathan Taylor, 22.77 pts — started by Ant
TE: Cole Kmet, 18.93 pts — on the wire
K: Joey Slye, 19.00 pts — on the wire
DEF: Tennessee, 13.00 pts — started by me
D: Eric Kendricks, 11.50 pts — on the wire

At least we got three? Ugh.

Fields over the last four weeks has nine passing TDs, five rushing TDs, 1,365 yds of total offense, 36 more fantasy pts than the next closest player and … a 1-3 record. Might be time to start finding some other good players to put around him, Chicago.

Watson, the rookie Green Bay WR, had 10 catches for 88 yds and zero TDs coming into Sunday’s game. He finished the day with eight catches for 107 yds and three TDs. As Fox analyst Greg Olsen astutely observed: “That’s probably the biggest game of his young career.” Probably. But his one catch for one yard game against the Giants four weeks ago is certainly in contention too.

“Skill players” edition

3rd place: Jody Fortson, -0.86 pts — on the wire
2nd place: Amari Rodgers, -1.74 pts — on the wire
1st place: Malik Willis, -2.40 pts — on the wire

All three of these guys were on teams that won, somehow.

Willis — the highly touted Liberty University QB drafted by the Titans last spring — had his second negative scoring game of the season on Sunday thanks to a -4 yard rush where he fumbled the ball. In four games this season, he has amassed 6.54 fantasy pts. And two of those games were starts. Ouch.

Rodgers had one catch on Sunday and a fumble on a punt return, but that’s not what I want to talk about. How is this guy allowed to play in Green Bay? You already have a very well known A. Rodgers on the team. You can’t have a second one, especially if he’s a special teams player. How many times can the fans hear “A. Rodgers is back to receive the punt” without suffering a heart attack caused by confusion?

Alas, Amari was cut by the Packers on Tuesday afternoon. No word if they signed punt returner Bobby Favre as his replacement.


** Ohio State was leading 28-7 late in the second quarter when RB Miyan Williams suffered an ankle injury on a second-down run. Williams had to be helped off the field, and the team looked emotionally shook as they resumed play. On third and two, the Ohio State backup Dallan Hayden ran up the middle for one yard. So, on fourth down and one from the Indiana 17 yard line, the Ohio State coaching staff opted to … skip the easy FG and run up the middle again. You know, behind the offensive line that was upset that their leading rusher just got carted off the field a few minutes ago.

Surprisingly, it didn’t work. The Buckeyes lost a yard on the play and turned the ball over. And the Hoosiers defense ran off the field celebrating, with several players flexing and pointing at the Columbus crowd, taunting them.

My friends in Indiana: The Ohio State decision was stupid, but overcelebrating when you’re trailing by 21 points is more stupider, as they say in the SEC. Even without their lead back, the Buckeyes hung up another 28 points on Indiana in the second half for an eventual 56-14 win. But the defense will always have that one play…

** Sports Illustrated’s Brian Murphy wrote this after Vikings WR Justin Jefferson posted 10 catches for 193 yds and a TD in his team’s win over the Bills on Sunday:

“Jefferson cemented his status as the NFL’s most dynamic receiver, an unstoppable game-breaker who is performing Moss-like tricks for the franchise that introduced the world to Randy.”

Unstoppable? Really? Because I remember Jefferson having six catches for 48 yds against the Eagles and following that up with a three-catch, 14-yard performance against the Lions. But I guess we only count the good games.

** ESPN’s fantasy football advice column on Sunday morning had Dallas RB Ezekiel Elliott as the 16th-ranked running back on the week, one spot ahead of Miami RB Jeff Wilson. Wilson ended up with 119 yds and a TD, making him the sixth-best back on the week.

The fantasy rankings are always complete crapshoots, so the fact that the ESPN “experts” were that far off is no surprise. Still, it’s worth noting that Elliott missed his previous game due to injury, then was questionable all week, then was ruled out of playing in the morning, and ESPN … never bothered to update their rankings.

Not sure what the point of having any rankings is if you don’t pay a little attention to the players’ health. But, with that in mind, I’m picking RB Barry Sanders as my fantasy play of the week next week. Last time I saw him in uniform he looked great, and that’s good enough research for me.

New NFL power rankings based on the Eagles surprise loss on Monday night:

1 — Minnesota Vikings
An 8-1 record and a come-from-behind victory over the legendary Buffalo Bills makes the Vikings the clear best team in all of football. Who cares if the Eagles beat them earlier this season? You can’t just look at one game on the schedule.

2 — Buffalo Bills
Sure, they’re not even first in their own division, but don’t they feel like they belong here? That’s what’s really important. Despite their 6-3 record, they still have the best odds in Vegas to win the Super Bowl. Because.

3 — Dallas Cowboys
Sure, they’re not even second in their own division, but don’t they feel like they belong here? Dak Prescott is an explosive, exciting QB, even if he has shown no signs of that all season. You just know it’s true.

4 — Kansas City Chiefs
They have the actual best record in the AFC, but they lost to the Bills back in October, and sometimes you just have to look at one game on the schedule to determine how good teams are.

5 — New Jersey Giants
They beat the Houston Texans by a more convincing margin than the Eagles, so you have to rank them above the division leading birds. That’s just simple math.

6 — Maryland Commies
They just beat the undefeated Eagles! So they’re a better team than them. Sure they lost to the Eagles earlier this year, but you can’t just look at one game on the schedule. You need to pay attention to the recent trends.

7 — Philadelphia Eagles
They’re tied with the Vikings for the best record in all of football, but look at the weak opponents they’ve beaten so far: The Cardinals, the Commies, the Cowboys, the Vikings. Now look at who the Vikings had to play: the Commies, the Eagles. Clearly, they have a better schedule. Honestly, I’m not even sure the Eagles belong in the top 10 anymore…

Cowboys Coach Mike McCarthy this week made his first trip back to Wisconsin since he was let go as the Green Bay coach in 2019. The event was billed as a chance for the Super-Bowl winning McCarthy (while he was with the Packers, not with the Cowboys, obviously, since they haven’t won anything of consequence in 25 years) to enact a measure of revenge on his old team. 

But instead, the Packers notched a surprising 31-28 victory, which everyone would have seen coming if they had just looked more closely at the letters in McCarthy’s name:

Cowboys Mike McCarthy appears at Lambeau again
** Aha! A comic aroma beat ya — Packers win by glam upset

I’d say scoring 17 unanswered points in the 4th quarter and overtime counts as a glamorous upset. Dallas now sits at 6-3 on the season, a record that would mean first place in four different divisions but sadly for them means third place in the NFC East.

** I scored another win against Dad this week in our picks, which puts me up five on the season. Special thanks to the Broncos, who seem to be the only reliable team in the NFL right now. If there is a chance for them to lose, they grab it without hesitation.

** As of right now, the Eagles are tied for the best record in the NFL and the #4 overall pick in next year’s draft. Thanks, New Orleans!

** Looks like TE Dallas Goedert is out for an extended stretch after he was injured on a play Monday night where his head totally wasn’t ripped off on a blatant facemask penalty, because if it was the refs would have called it or acknowledged a mistake later, right? So weird he got hurt on a nothing play.

** Mets manager Buck Showalter won baseball's NL coach of the year after guiding his team from a 22-29 record at the start of the season to 65-46 record in the second half without the 2021 MVP , leading them to their first postseason berth since 2011 and first World Series since 2009. Oh, no, wait, that was another guy. Why did Showalter win again? 

Week 10 standings

Garrity Family Throwdown

1 — Del-marvelous Diva (Eileen), 7-3/1309.72 pts
2 — Jimmy's Chicken Shaq (Jim), 6-4/1266.96 pts
3 — Stacked Dead Achterts (Carl), 6-4/1242.10 pts
4 — Mary Alice's Primo Team (Mom), 6-4/1190.20 pts
5 — Chief Little Owl - JJG (Uncle Jim), 5-5/1287.90 pts
6 — Always Runny in Philly (Capt. Awesome), 5-5/1254.68 pts
7 — Mailata Man or Beast? (Dad), 4-6/1215.48 pts
8 — America's Losers (Dak Prescott), 1-9/704.50 pts

We’re five weeks out from the playoffs and only one team has been mathematically eliminated (news flash, it’s the joke team at the bottom of the standings). Eileen has started to pad her lead over the rest of the field, but a three-game win streak by Dad could still get him into first place.

Meanwhile, Uncle Jim and I have more total points than the two teams in front of us, meaning we’d both hop ahead of them in the case of a tied record. Buckle up, the final third of the regular season is gonna be exciting.

Awesome Cup Standings

1 — Ouch! It Hurts (Mom D), 1281.86 pts
2 — JJaw dropping skillz (Capt. Awesome), 1273.31 pts
3 — Champ For Life (Jo), 1247.01 pts
4 — More Honey Bunches of Goats (Jonathan), 1154.11 pts
5 — Blue Collar Killers (Jeff), 1086.32 pts
6 — Mailata's Size 18 Shoes (Dad), 1082.69 pts
7 — Crumb Bums (Ant), 1078.18 pts
8 — Patriots Secret Cam (Joel), 1075.92 pts
9 — No One Likes Us We Don't Care (Bob), 998.01 pts
10 — Room Temperature Icers (Sam), 972.37 pts
11 — Murder Hornets (Mike), 951.82 pts
12 — Let's Go Iggles! (Paul), 911.04 pts

A league-winning week from Mike (130.24 pts) and a terrible week from Paul (78.88 pts) swaps the bottom of the standings in convincing fashion. At this point, it’s just a battle for pride, but Mike could still overtake a handful of teams in the next few weeks if WR Jamarr Chase ever comes back.

At the top of the standings, a so-so week from Mom D allows both Joanna and I to get within striking distance of first place. Jonathan is only 127 pts back, and after that it gets difficult. Like, Green-Bay-making-the-playoffs difficult. But they upset the Cowboys this week, so who knows anymore.

Next week the Eagles play a Sunday afternoon game (remember when they used to do that?) and the league has a relatively normal schedule. But there’s still a dumb Thursday night game to worry about, so get your rosters set early.