WaxOnWaxOff
won for the second time in three weeks and are now within striking
distance of first place in the standings and have scored the most total
points in the PQBFL with an average of 143.7 pts per week. This
week was definitely above average for Wax with 166 pts although not as
good as week #4 when Wax scored 180.25 pts. Wax continues to
perform well despite a shit show at the RB position. Abdullah
only scored 4.5 pts and CJ Anderson was even worse with a paltry 1.25
pt against the previously winless Giants, at home to boot. Wax
has been waiting in the wings for E Elliott (Bas) to finally be
suspended so that McFadden can take the field - he will certainly do
better than what Wax has to offer right now. Wax has been able to
put points on the board mostly because the receivers are lighting it up. A Brown, M Evans, and Gronk all scored long TDs
and combined for 333 receiving yards. Wax started the correct QB
once again, but it's a worry that much of the QB scoring has come in
garbage time when the game was out of hand. Stafford only got the
job done after his team was already down 45-10.
At the opposite of Wax, FE did some damage on the ground this week and
was able to finish second. FE is also only one rank-point from
first place in the standings and must be taken seriously. L Bell
had a big day with 179 rushing yards and a short TD. J Howard did
not score, but he was a work horse with a whopping 36 carries for 167
yards on the road against a decent Ravens defense. While he has
not been flashy this year, Howard is nonetheless 7th best RB so far in
the PQBFL and he has been very serviceable for FE despite the emergence
of T Cohen. Rookie McCaffrey was the other runner on FE's team to do well,
although his TD and most of his yardage was in the air, not on the ground. Not many
RBs can claim more than double the receptions (10) than rushes (4) but
that was the case this week. At QB, FE has not been tremendously
affected by D Carr's struggles because Cousins has been filling in
nicely. Cousins scored 27 pts in a cup cake matchup at home vs
the 49ers this week. Cousins has quietly moved up to 4th best QB so far
this year.
The BeaudoinBrothers got beat by close challengers Wax and FE, but at
least was able to distance Old and Adm in the standings. Rookie D
Watson "slowed down" with 25.5 pts and led the Bros in scoring this
week. His task was easier this week because he was playing the
winless Browns at home but he was not flawless, notably he threw a
pick-6. However Beaud will take 3 TDs from any rookie day in day
out. The Bros had otherwise a decent week on offense but nothing
spectacular. Brady was so-so with 17.5 pts against the
Jets. J Nelson scored 10 pts but no TD and was affected by A
Rodgers's injury. Z Ertz scored 2 TDs but they were his only 2
catches of the game so he barely beat his weekly projection.
Ajayi showed some signs of life with 26-130 on the road in an important
win in ATL but no TD. Defense was uncharacteristically
problematic for Beaud this week and it prevented the team from beating
FE. Kuechly went down early to a concussion which was
costly. K Mack did not get a sack and only scored 5 pts.
Shazier only scored 4 pts, which is half of his previous worst game of
the year. Fortunately R Jones saved the day on defense with a key
INT in the 4th quarter to seal the Dolphins win. The best news of
the week for Beaud might have happened on the bench. With D
Johnson's injury, Beaud has been struggling at the RB position all year
but now with Adrian Peterson dealt to Arizona, he exploded for 23 pts
on the bench. If he keeps this up, his days on the Bros bench will be over.
The GloriousBastards finished in the middle of the pack with 140.75 pts
which was a mild disappointment because normally scoring more than 140
pts is better than 4th place. Unfortunately Bas needed a bit more to
outscore FE and Beaud. Anyway, Bas is one week closer to A Luck's
return now, and Mariota was a bit clunky on MNF with 15 pts, most of
those points coming on a single play with a long TD in the 4th
quarter. Prior to that he had little to show for. Bas was
affected by Elliott's bye week and Gillislee was limited to 0.5
pt. Bas needs him to step it up with the pending suspension to
Elliott in the never ending legal saga. Bas' receivers were
adequate with the starting WRs and TE scoring between 9.5 pts and 13.5
pts. The big push this week for Bas came from defense. The
Texans D was dominant against the anemic Browns and they also scored a
TD for a total of 23.5 pts. DL Cameron Jordan did even
better. Not only did he score a short TD on an INT, but he also
sacked Stafford twice to finish with 26 pts. Jordan has scored
double-digits in each game this year except one, which is impressive for
a DL. His big game catapulted him to top DL so far but also top
defensive player, even ahead of the top LB T Smith (FE) by half a point
per game.
The Decepticons got their best scoring week of the season with 133 pts
but it was no better than 5th place and they sunk back to last place in
the standings. It's only been 6 weeks but Dec must be considering
to pack it in and focus on 2018 already. Everything has gone
wrong so far, and barely one week after losing JJ Watt to injury
without being able to replace him, the same just happened to first
round pick A Rodgers who is done but not officially for the rest of the
year so Dec cannot replace him yet. Rivers and Cutler will have
to step in but this is a hit that Dec will not recover from.
Dec's problems do not end there. It has been puzzling but
franchise player Ju Jones still does not have a TD this year and he
lags behind as the 26th best WR. M Thomas has been better, but at
14th best WR more was expected of him, and particularly this week
when the Saints score 52 pts but all Thomas did was 3 catches for 11
yards?
Dec had their highest scoring week because of defense rather than offense.
The Ravens scored 2 TDs, JPP sacked Siemian 3 times, and LB D Jones
scored 16 pts including an INT. Dec could have finished almost
second place if the coach had started COL Lamar Jackson (13.25 pts)
instead of Rosen who did not score and had 3 INTs.
OldNo7 finished in the red for the second time in three weeks but it
was not so bad with 130.25 pts. This was the highest 6th place
score of the season. Old dropped to 5th in the
standings but still not far from first place so the team can still turn
it around. However Old needs more points on the board because
they are
barely ahead of Bas and Dec in total scoring and far below the top 4
teams in the PQBFL. The team leader this week was M Gordon with
22.5 pts in a road win in Oakland. So far he has lived up to his
first round draft pick status as the 2nd best RB behind Gurley
(Adm). The Rams D also topped 20 pts including 2 TDs on special
teams on the road in Jax, filling in nicely for the
Seahawks who were on bye. Old started injured O Vernon for the
second straight week which cost the team one
rank point. Old must not be reading this
column because this fact was highlighted last week. It pays to
read the weekly summary
The Admirals' fall from grace has been swift following an excellent
3-week
start. In the last three weeks, Adm finished 5th, 6th, and
last. Adm now has to look up to 3 teams ahead of them in the
standings and Old not far behind. We all knew rookie Hunt would
not score 50+ yd TDs every week, but 9 rushes for 21 yards is not going
to cut it. Fortunately he caught 5 passes for 89 yards to salvage
the day, but 9 pts is not going to carry the team like it did earlier
this year. The only good news of the week for Adm was that RB
Hyde is not going to fade behind Breida after all. Hyde outrushed
Breida 13 carries to 4 carries and he scored on 2 short TDs.
However he will have
to do better than 28 rushing yards on 13 carries going forward
otherwise one can
see why Breida will take the field. QB Brees was a
disappointment with only 12 pts in a 52-38 shootout against the
Lions. It's not often that the Saints defense / special team
scores more TDs (3) than Brees (2). At TE, M Bennett was already
a
significant downgrade vs injured G Olsen, but A Rodgers' injury will
ding Adm too. Bennett only scored 3 pts this week.
Dec had their highest scoring week because of defense rather than offense.
The Ravens scored 2 TDs, JPP sacked Siemian 3 times, and LB D Jones
scored 16 pts including an INT. Dec could have finished almost
second place if the coach had started COL Lamar Jackson (13.25 pts)
instead of Rosen who did not score and had 3 INTs. 