Week 12 Power Rankings — The Worst League

Dec 1

Dec 1 Week 12 Power Rankings

At our Thanksgiving table, before we carve the turkey or dig into our favorite sides like the mac and cheese or the jello pretzel salad—ask Boston Celtics coach Brett Stevens—we always start by going around the table and saying what we’re thankful for. Given that this week was Thanksgiving and many of you are likely still with family or traveling back home, I’ll start:

I’m thankful for health and happiness. Not mine, mind you. I’m talking about the health of my fantasy football players. I don’t really have any data to back this up, but it feels like a particularly healthy year for the league ( ✊🌲). Sure players have missed time, but for the most part there have been very few season-ending injuries. Still, I’m thankful not to have relied on the health of Cam Newton, Ben Roethlisberger (or his receivers), Kerryon Johnson, James Conner, T.Y. Hilton, Brandin Cooks, A.J. Green, Delanie Walker or Will Dissly.

I’m thankful that I didn’t draft Antonio Brown, which I came oh-so-close to doing, selecting Keenan Allen instead.

I’m thankful for close victories. There were three one-point victories this season, one each for Brandon, Geoff and Samantha. Plus Geoff had another two-point victory. And I’m thankful I wasn’t on the other side of that like Alex who has two one-point losses this season.

I’m thankful for weekly prizes of which I’ve won two. Gray has won the most with four this season, which means he’s already completely recouped his investment before the playoffs have even begun.

I’m thankful for Christian McCaffrey who leads all players, including QBs, in fantasy points this season with the lone exception of Lamar Jackson. Or more specifically, I’m thankful that Alex and Beth Ann both passed on McCaffrey in favor of Saquon Barkley (RB28) and Alvin Kamara (RB14). Had I been in the same position, at least Alex’s, I almost certainly would have done the same.

I’m thankful to have already locked up a playoff spot for a fourth straight year, the longest active streak in the league and tied for the longest streak in league history with Gray’s playoff streak from 2013-2016. #humblebrag

And finally, I’m thankful for all of you. You make playing this game fun and all these write-ups worth it with your insane activity and competitiveness, constant chatter and GIFs in the group chat, and all the time you’ve donated to appear on the podcast plus do your research prior to your appearance completely unprompted. I’m beyond impressed and humbled to be in the worst fantasy football league with each of you fine ladies and gentlemen.

Alright, that’s enough niceties. It’s Week 13. Just one week to go until the playoffs.

Let’s eat!

The Scoreboard

Big wins in Week 12 for Gray, Samantha, Alex and JT.

This season, four team owners have dominated the weekly prizes: Josh (4), Gray (3), Brandon (2) and Samantha (2). This week, we have a fifth! And it’s our commissioner, Alex.

Alex has twice finished with the second-best score in the league this season, just missing out on the weekly prize. Both times, in Weeks 5 and 8, it was Samantha who bested him in points. Well, turnabout is fair play. This time, Alex came from behind on Monday night with 35 points from Lamar Jackson to steal the top score from Samantha and claim the prize—his first of the season.

Not only that, but perhaps more importantly Alex defeated Josh 128-83 with his highest score of the season. Lamar Jackson (QB1) of course led the way with his third straight game of 30+ points and his sixth this season. He was joined by Chris Godwin, the third-highest scoring player in fantasy this week who had 30 points, himself, more than making up for another disappointing outing for Saquon Barkley (5 points). Before Jackon’s outburst, it seemed like Josh might be within striking distance as Derrick Henry (RB3) piled up 26 points in his third straight game of 20+ points. But disappointing games for Russell Wilson (9), Mike Evans (5), Jaylen Samuels (2) and Jamison Crowder (1) ultimately doomed Josh to a second straight loss. Alex has now won three straight games and four of his last five.

As for Samantha, she got her revenge on Brandon who defeated her previously in Week 6. This one was a much higher-scoring affair with Samantha easily coming away with the 126-98 win, extending her winning streak to six. So much for the Cleveland Browns being the albatross around Samantha’s neck. At least for one week, they were the heroes with Nick Chubb (21 points), Jarvis Landry (26) and the Browns D/ST (10) powering her to the victory. Landry was a particularly shrewd start for Samantha who benched Aaron Jones (3 points) against the 49ers. For Brandon, it was the most points in a loss since Beth Ann scored 104 in a Week 8 loss to Alex. But quiet games for Josh Jacobs (3 points), Cooper Kupp (3) and Darren Waller (4) translated into a second straight loss for him as well.

In the matchup of the week, Gray defeated Geoff 92-85, personally giving Geoff his second of six losses on the season. In this one, Leonard Fournette came up big with 27 points—almost a third of his entire scoring—helping Gray to come back from an early deficit. Trailing Gray by double digits entering Monday night, Geoff needed 14 from Greg Zuerlein (his 12th-round pick) who mustered just half that. The loss puts Geoff’s playoff hopes in jeopardy but clinches a berth for Gray.

That helped open the door for JT who got revenge on Erik, defeating him 82-72. Despite benching Allen Robinson (19 points), JT got enough scoring from flex fill-in Bo Scarbrough (7), not to mention big games for Drew Brees (22) and Zach Ertz (15). Playing without Patrick Mahomes on bye, Erik was not able to play spoiler as one of his leaders in points, Amari Cooper (WR5), uncharacteristically posted a bagel on Sunday going against the Patriots defense, only his fourth game this season of fewer than 10 points. Erik has now lost six straight games, which is tied for the longest losing streak this season.

In a loss we predicted might happen, Jess succumbed to Greco 74-60. As we noted in last week’s preview, Jess was without her entire starting backfield. That being said, her fill-ins played admirably with trade acquisition Miles Sanders scoring 8 points and Benny Snell—a sneaky-good free agent pickup—scoring 9 points. Unfortunately, her pass-catchers (aside from John Brown) let her down with Curtis Samuel, Kenny Stills and Greg Olsen totaling 8 points. Carson Wentz was also particularly bad with just 8 points, himself. He has not had more than 14 points in a game since Week 6. (Maybe JT was onto something when he traded him away; and I’m sure Jess wishes she hadn’t let Drew Brees go.) As for Greco, she broke a six-game losing streak with Mark Ingram sealing the win with 23 points on Monday night.

Finally, I was sure Nick was ready to make a late charge for the playoffs. Coming into this game, he’d won three of his last four and had the third-best TW% over his last three games. Going up against Beth Ann, who was starting two inactive players and got negative points from a third, it seemed like an easy win. So of course he lost. Beth Ann won 72-69, getting 16 points from Marquise Brown on Monday night to seal the win. I get why he benched Davante Adams against the 49ers defense, but had he started his second-round pick in place of Marvin Jones or Sony Michel, he would have won. (Start your studs, people.) Instead, Beth Ann won for the first time since Week 3, effectively eliminating Nick from the playoffs.

Power Rankings

Josh remains atop the Power Rankings for the fifth straight week. But suddenly, the gap between him and the field has narrowed. Though he’s unlikely to lose his crown with one week to go, Brandon is now within striking distance of the #1 ranking. And Gray is not far behind him. Turns out all that Thanos talk was a little premature.

Following big weeks, Alex and Samantha both move up one spot in the rankings. At fourth, this is the highest Alex has been since Week 8 when he was third. And for Samantha reaching fifth, this is her highest ranking this season and her highest ever since she started her career at fifth in Week 1 of 2018. Samantha has also now reached eight wins for the first time in her career. Kudos!

As for Jess, her slide down the rankings continues. This week, she drops two spots to sixth, which is her lowest ranking this season and the first time she’s dropped out of the top four this season. Suddenly at 6-6, she is in serious danger of missing the playoffs entirely, which we’ll get to below.

The rest of the rankings remain static with Geoff, Nick, JT, Beth Ann, Erik and Greco rounding out the list in that order. Of those six, we’ve already provided eulogies for Beth Ann, Erik and Greco who were previously eliminated. Now Nick joins that bunch. So it’s only appropriate that we say a few words.

Please, bow your heads.

What can we say about Nick?

A year after going 10-3 and making his first-ever appearance in the playoffs, Nick was hopeful to keep his winning ways going. In fact, he’d had a winning season in two of the last three years. After starting the season with a 94-59 victory over Gray, it seemed like he might make it three of the last four.

But then Nick started to crash back down to Earth. After the Week 1 win, Nick would go on to lose five of his next six games. And the only non-loss over that stretch was a tie. By Week 7, Nick was 1-5-1, last in the Power Rankings and had just a 2% chance to make the playoffs.

Despite that, he made a late charge. From Weeks 8-11, Nick went 3-1 and was the third-best team in the league over that time with a TW% of .670, better than all other team owners not named Josh and Brandon. By last week, he’d worked his way all the way up to eighth in the Power Rankings with a 7% chance to make the playoffs.

Unfortunately, it was too little too late. (Thanks Beth Ann.) So where did he go wrong?

Looking back, the draft still seems sensible. Joe Mixon, Davante Adams, Sony Michel and Robert Woods are a reasonable first four picks. Unfortunately, all of them have had down years with Mixon (RB22), Michel (RB19) and especially Woods (WR38) underperforming and Adams (WR49) missing time due to injury.

Even still, there were gems. Calvin Ridley in the fifth round is WR12 on the season. Marvin Jones in the eighth has been even better at WR7. And then all the way back in the 15th round, Terry McLaurin has faded since his hot six-week start to the season but is still WR23. As a result, Nick is second in WR scoring this season with 26.1 ppg despite Adams missing four games. The only team owner that’s been better is Geoff and he drafted Tyreek Hill and Michael Thomas in the first two rounds. Not bad.

The problem has been at RB. As we mentioned, Mixon and Michel have both been busts based on where they were drafted. That left just Kenyan Drake, Ronald Jones and Jalen Richard. The first was a major disappointment until his trade to the Cardinals, where he’s been somewhat of a revelation—but again that didn’t happen until Week 9. And the second—a huge reach at the time taken 51.8 spots ahead of his ADP—has been so-so himself (RB24). For a team owner that spent two of his first three picks on RBs, it’s certainly a disappointment to rank 10th in the league in RB scoring.

Dak Prescott (QB2) has helped, carrying Nick to wins some weeks. But for a team owner that admittedly avoids the waiver wire or the trade market for reinforcements, there’s not much you can do when you lay a few eggs on draft night. Which, let’s face it, we all do. Maybe he could have moved Dak and some of that WR depth for more help at RB, but hindsight is 20/20. The result has been average production that kept Nick in contention (he beat both Gray and Brandon this year), but ultimately left him out of the playoffs. And that’s just what we’ve come to expect from Nick. His TW% entering Week 13 is .432 with a scoring average of 82.5 ppg, which is right around his career numbers of .441 and 83.5.

An interesting footnote on Nick’s season—he was the only team owner this year to have never had a game of 100 points or more. Of course, he’s still got one more game to try and do it. And while the game won’t matter much to him, it’ll have major playoff implications. So without further ado, let’s get to the Playoff Picture.

Playoff Picture

The final two playoff spots will come down to Alex, Jess, Geoff and JT.

After all the draft day sleepers and busts, all the lucky breaks and flukey injuries, every waiver wire claim and trade negotiated, it all comes down to Week 13—the final week of the regular season. If you don’t read anything else in today’s post, read this. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s at stake in Week 13.

Who has clinched?

Josh, Brandon, Gray and Samantha have all clinched a spot in the playoffs.

We’ve known about Josh and Brandon for awhile now. But this week Gray and Samantha join them with wins this past week. For Gray, this is his first playoff appearance in three years. Previously, he was a regular in the postseason with appearances in 2011 and then four straight appearances from 2013 to 2016. His win over Geoff Monday returns him to the playoffs for the sixth time in his career, which is the most all time, breaking the tie he held with Greco and briefly Brandon.

Meanwhile for Samantha, this is her second consecutive playoff appearance in as many years. Last year, she clinched on the last day, defeating Trevor to advance to 7-6. This year, she’s already one win better with the chance to get to 9-4. She joins Alex as the only other owner to make the playoffs in each of his/her first two seasons.

Has anybody clinched a first-round bye?

No. Both divisions remain extremely competitive and it will come down to the final day of the season to determine the top two seeds, which remember go to the teams with the best record in each division with total points scored serving as a tiebreaker.

In the Leaders Division, at first it seemed like neither Josh or Brandon could lose, jumping out to 9-1 records. Now it seems like neither of them can win, having both lost two straight to fall to 9-3. That means it’ll all come down to Week 13. Josh has the advantage with both an easier opponent in JT (Brandon plays Alex) and the lead in the points tiebreaker. If he can’t make up the points, Brandon needs his team to win and Josh’s team to lose. The computer gives him just a 13% chance of that happening. That being said, Brandon has narrowed the gap in points and now trails Josh by just 17. If they both win, which is the outcome the computer suggests is most likely to happen (43%), then it could come down to the points. In the event that they have the same record and the same number of points, head-to-head record should serve as the final tiebreaker, which Brandon would win, having defeated Josh 99-71 in their only matchup in Week 5.

Meanwhile in the Legends Division, Gray (83%), Samantha (17%) and Alex (<1%) all remain in contention for the division title. Gray is the heavy favorite given that he plays the team owner at the bottom of the Power Rankings (Greco) and has a large lead in points over both Samantha (+100) and Alex (+62). If he beats Greco, he should win the division. But if he loses, which is not unthinkable given that Greco’s 2-10 team spoiled Gray’s playoff bid last season in the final game, then Samantha could easily steal the division with a win over Beth Ann. And technically, Alex could win the division too, but he’d need to win and have both Gray and Samantha lose, while simultaneously making up the 62-point gap in points. It’s not impossible. We’ve seen margins that big plenty of times. Just this year, Gray beat Beth Ann by 68 points in Week 11. And though they didn’t play each other in Week 5, Alex outscored Gray by 60 points, which is about what he needs now. So it’s possible, but highly unlikely. Even Alex tying Gray and Samantha at 8-4 happened in just 3.81% of simulations.

What about the 1 seed?

Okay, so Josh and Gray are in the driver’s seats for the division titles. Win and they probably have it locked up, especially Gray. But what about the top overall seed? In all likelihood, that’s Josh’s too. If he wins, it’s his. And even if he loses, Gray would need to overcome the 37-point deficit in the points tiebreaker.

That being said, it’s entirely possible that Josh, Gray, Brandon or even Samantha could get the 1 seed. A win for Josh or Brandon puts it out of reach of the teams from the Legends Division. But if they both lose (10% chance), it opens the door for Gray or Samantha. Though Samantha would have to make up some serious points. Currently, she trails Josh by 137 points. So for all intents and purposes, she’s not getting the 1 seed. But Gray is in striking distance. And Brandon is a major contender as well.

And remember, the major benefit of the 1 seed over the 2 seed is that the 1 seed faces the winner of the 4/5 game as opposed to the winner of the 3/6 game. If we assume that Josh, Brandon and Gray secure the top three seeds in some order, that means that whoever gets the 1 seed avoids the other two until the finals. Put simply, it’s an easier road.

Who’s still in contention for one of the final two playoff spots?

Okay, enough about the 1 seed. Those are first-world problems. What about the remaining two playoff spots?

Given that Josh, Brandon, Gray and Samantha have all clinched. And Nick, Beth Ann, Greco and Erik have all been eliminated. That leaves four team owners vying for two spots—Alex (7-5), Jess (6-6), Geoff (6-6) and JT (6-6). So let’s break it down for each.

What does Alex need to do to make the playoffs?

Win and he’s in.

But lose and he’s probably still in anyway. The computer gives him greater than 99% odds.

Though he had the most difficult matchup, Alex improved his chances of making the playoffs drastically last week by being the only one of the two 6-5 teams to win. (Both Jess and Geoff lost.) That means worst-case scenario, he would tie Jess, Geoff and/or JT in wins. Fortunately for Alex, he also leads them all in points. He’s +28 on Jess, +72 on Geoff and +165 on JT. That lead over JT is probably unsurmountable with one game to go.

Which means the only way he would miss the playoffs is if he lost, and both Jess and Geoff won while scoring a lot of points. I think it’s entirely possible Jess could overcome a 28-point deficit to knock Alex down a seed line. But 72 points is a lot for Geoff to make up in just one week. Especially considering his best player (Michael Thomas) had just 4 points on Thanksgiving.

That means Alex should probably make plans for the playoffs with a seed likely in the 4-6 range. If there’s any motivation for him in Week 13, it’s to score enough points to avoid the 6 seed where he’d face a potential road to the championship that could include all three of Josh, Brandon and Gray in some order.

What does Jess need to do to make the playoffs?

Win and she’s probably in. Lose and she’s probably out (unless Geoff and JT also lose).

How the mighty have fallen? It’s hard to believe we’re even asking this question with one week to go, but here we are. Remember, Jess was the #1 team in the Power Rankings from Weeks 5-7 and had a 99% chance of making the playoffs as recently as two weeks ago.

But things change rapidly in fantasy. After starting 5-2, Jess has lost four of her last five games, falling to 6-6 and has only scored more than 81 points once over that same time period. In fact, since Week 8, Jess is ninth in TW% (.291), averaging only 77.6 ppg. That’s right around the time David Johnson began to crater, not to mention an injury to Adam Thielen.

Still, you don’t have to be undefeated to make noise in the playoffs. You just have to make it there. And Jess is still in the driver’s seat—win and maintain her points lead and she’s in.

A win gets her to 7-6. If Geoff and JT lose, she’s automatically in. But even if they don’t, she has the lead in the points tiebreaker over both. She’s +44 over Geoff and +137 over JT. That means that even if she loses, she could still make the playoffs if Geoff and JT also lose. Assuming she holds on to the points tiebreaker over those two, the computer gives her a 79% chance to make the playoffs.

The real problem for Jess is that either Geoff or JT could easily win a game. And if she loses, that points tiebreaker won’t do her any good. I anticipate another nervous Monday night for Jess who could likely be trailing with Dalvin Cook and Adam Thielen still to play.

What does Geoff need to do to make the playoffs?

Win and hope Jess loses. Or win really big.

As we noted above, Geoff trails Jess in scoring by 44 points, which is a not insignificant figure. Given that Geoff has never scored more than 31 points more than Jess in a given week this season, it seems unlikely he’ll be able to pass her in points.

Which means he needs to win and get help. For his game, he’ll need to beat Nick, which he’s already done once this season. Nick got off to a great start Thursday with solid games from Dak Prescott and Calvin Ridley, but Geoff certainly has the firepower to come back.

If he can do that, he’ll need to root like hell for Erik to play spoiler and beat Jess. A big Patrick Mahomes/Sammy Watkins game would do wonders for him there. If Erik can do the deed and Geoff beats Nick, Geoff would sneak into the playoffs as the 6 seed.

Not bad for a team that started the season 2-4 and still has a chance to complete the greatest bounce-back season in league history. From the worst team in league history to the playoffs and possibly more? The computer gives him an 18% chance.

What does JT need to do to make the playoffs?

Win and hope Jess and Geoff both lose.

The darkest of dark horses, JT can still snake his way into the playoffs. But he’s going to need a lot of help to do it. Namely, he’ll need both Erik and Nick to take down Jess and Geoff. That’s because the two team owners tied with him in the standings currently lead him in scoring by 137 and 93 points. Given that JT is last in the league in scoring and has never scored more than 101 points in a game, it seems unlikely he’d be able to make up the difference this week.

But he doesn’t have to. If Jess and Geoff both lose to fall to 6-7 and JT wins, he and possibly Alex would be the only 7-6 teams, which would grant him access to the playoffs. Out of 10,000 simulations, it happened 321 times or just over 3% of the time.

But for his part, JT has got to beat Josh, which is no small task. After all, Josh is the #1 team in the Power Rankings. But JT is off to a decent start with 53 combined points from five players on Thursday. It’s not the huge games he was probably hoping for, but it could suffice. And a win would not only open the door to the playoffs, but possibly serve as sweet revenge for last year’s Week 13 game. As you might recall, both team owners were 6-6 entering Week 13 last year and played each other in a winner-take-all match that Josh ultimately won 85-47 in a landslide. As a result, Josh made the playoffs and JT missed. This year, a win for JT could not only help him return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017, but also potentially cost Josh a first-round bye. That could then set up a tasty rematch for Josh and JT in the 3/6 game in the first round of the playoffs.

Looking Ahead to Week 13

Not everyone is in contention, but in Week 13 every game will matter as at least one team owner in each matchup will have something to play for. So even if you’re eliminated, make sure to set your lineup because it matters to somebody else.

The matchup I will most have my eye on this week will be the one between Jess (6-6) and Erik (2-10). So much is riding on this game. If Jess wins, she probably cements her place in the playoffs. But if she loses, that opens the door for Geoff and JT. For Jess, she’ll be benching David Johnson who has actually scored fewer points (-2) than you or me since Week 6. The big question mark will be Adam Thielen who has missed two games with a hamstring injury. Unfortunately, he plays Monday night, which puts Jess in a precarious situation if he winds up sitting. I said this last week, but now would be the time for Carson Wentz to step up, especially in a game against the Dolphins. Meanwhile for Erik, he’s already got 24 points from Amari Cooper, Jared Cook, Latavius Murray and the Bills D/ST, which is definitely less than he was expecting. But some of the heavy hitters (Mahomes, Gurley and Lindsay) have yet to play. Erik is playing to avoid becoming the second 11-loss team in league history. Jess beat Erik 81-77 earlier this season and is 7-3 against Erik all time.

If Jess does lose, that opens the door for Geoff (6-6) who will play Nick (4-7-1). Geoff will be without Evan Engram (foot) and Matt Breida (ankle). But that’s not all. His star RB, Chris Carson (RB11), while fully healthy, might be losing some of the carries in Seattle to Rashaad Penny after some fumbling issues. Considering Michael Thomas only had 4 points on Thursday, Nick could easily spoil this one. His team is fully healthy and an injury to Julio Jones helped Calvin Ridley get to 9 points on Thursday night. This should be another tight one. Geoff beat Nick 94-74 earlier this season and is 5-5 against him all time.

If Jess and Geoff both lose, JT (6-6) suddenly becomes a viable playoff team if he can defeat Josh (9-3). If he does do it, it will be hard earned. That’s because Week 13 has not been easy on JT. The Glitter Kitties are once again without Damien Williams (ribs), not to mention Julio Jones (shoulder) was a surprise inactive Thursday night. Undeterred, JT plugged in Russell Gage off the waiver wire who filled in admirably with 11 points. Almost half of this matchup is already in the books with good games for Gage plus David Montgomery (14 points) and Allen Robinson (14), but less-than-stellar performances from Drew Brees (11) and the Cowboys D/ST (3). That leaves this matchup very much up in the air with Josh having some injury issues of his own—both James Conner (shoulder) and Golden Tate (concussion) are unlikely to play, which means Christian Kirk and LeSean McCoy will be placed into the starting lineup for a crucial Week 13 game to see if Josh can lock up a first-round bye. I’m betting this one come downs to Russell Wilson on Monday night. And I bet Josh wouldn’t have it any other way. Josh previously beat JT 116-74 in Week 7 and is 6-1 against JT all time, including last year’s playoff-clinching victory.

As for the other matchups, playoff seeding is at stake. Brandon (9-3) will take on Alex (7-5). Just to show how crazy this week is, either could wind up with a first-round bye with Brandon as high as the 1 seed and as low as the 4 seed and Alex as high as the 2 seed and as low as the 6 seed. (Or technically, he could miss the playoffs entirely; see above.) Pending Kyler Murray’s hamstring injury, both Brandon and Alex should be fully healthy. Both are also neck-and-neck in career TW% and points with Brandon leading the former by 10 true wins and Alex ahead in the latter by 42 points. Brandon defeated Alex 65-64 earlier this season and is 10-8 against Alex all time, including a win in the semifinals of the 2011 playoffs.

Fighting for the lead in the Legends Division, Gray (8-4) will face off against Greco (3-9). Gray is already off to a great start with 51 points from Josh Allen (23), Ezekiel Elliott (13) and Devin Singletary (15). The latter likely filled in for T.Y. Hilton (calf) who is out once again this week, having missed much of the season due to injury. But Greco is not far behind, getting great games from the Saints D/ST (15 points) and Matt Prater (8). She’ll be without JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee) and Austin Hooper (knee), but at least for the former it’s just as well since her other players have been more productive. Perviously, Gray beat Greco 108-51 and is 7-5, including two playoff wins—once in the consolation game in 2016 and then famously in the 2013 championship game, Gray’s only championship. That being said, Greco got the last laugh last season as she spoiled Gray’s playoff hopes in 2018. This year, she can make his road to a second championship much harder by taking away the first-round bye.

The beneficiary of a Greco win would be Samantha (8-4) who takes on Beth Ann (3-8-1). On paper, this seems like an easy win for Samantha. But that’s exactly what Nick thought last week before she eliminated him from the playoffs. If Beth Ann’s going to play spoiler, she’s already off to a good start with big games from Kenny Golladay (21 points) and Will Lutz (17), not to mention Alvin Kamara (8). Unfortunately, Beth Ann is still starting Marlon Mack (hand) who is still out with an injury. For Samantha, she should be fully healthy sans Jordan Howard (shoulder). But did get -1 points from Brett Maher on Thursday. Remember, a win for Samantha could help power her to the 2 seed and a coveted first-round bye. In their only matchup earlier this season, Samantha won 92-66, which jump-started her current six-game winning streak.

Only one week left to play this season. We only get 13 of them every year and 16 if you’re lucky. So whether you’ve got something to play for or not, be thankful for every one.

And don’t forget! There’s still one more weekly prize up in the air.

Gobble! Gobble!