Week 11 is in the books. I lost, but am taking comfort that there was nothing I could realistically do to beat him. Will keep saying this 'til I retire from fantasy life and take up street luging (look it up): Regret is the most painful fantasy emotion.
My best loss ever was a roughly 100-point defeat in the finals seven years ago to my co-worker, Rachel. I was driving back from a short trip with my wife and asked if she could share occasional updates on how I was doing. "You're down 14-to-1," she said at about 1:10pm. Then about five minutes later, "22-1." By 2:00pm, Rachel was up about 40 points. And I believe we both had the same number of players playing in the 1:00pm games. So, yeah, I just had to laugh and accept defeat.
Hopefully today you're laughing with joy or accepting defeat. Because man, regret stings. It stays with you. "If only . . ." is the worst thing to think about in fantasy.
Speaking of "If only . . .," in 2018 the Giants drafted Saquon Barkley a few spots ahead of Josh Allen, and then OL Will Hernandez one spot before Nick Chubb. Then they reached for Daniel Jones in 2019, and the rest is history. Injuries have destroyed this team's chances in 2021, but we can't ignore draft decisions that led up to it. The franchise is a mess. They haven't won more than six games since 2016. They're on their fourth head coach in five years.
Fantasy-wise, Saquon Barkley was eased back in and should return to his normal weekly startable self as long as he stays healthy. And of course, fantasy managers will continue to hold their breaths each week. Elsewhere, Kadarius Toney turned 12 targets into 40 yards, while the $40-million-guaranteed Kenny Golladay saw only two balls thrown his way--only one more than third-string TE Chris Myarick. And that pretty much sums up the Giants' season.
For Tampa Bay, a methodically executed victory on both sides of the ball. Nice to see Ronald Jones get some run, and make the most of it. Rob Gronkowski rewarded patient managers. Although I didn't predict Tyler Johnson would do anything last night, I *did* predict he'd be streamable the previous two weeks. So last night he proved, again, how wrong I had been. Breshad Perriman's four targets and Cameron Brate's six reinforced that the Bucs apparently are not trying to groom Johnson into an offensive asset in 2021.
Now to MNF score predictions. Who came closest to 30-10? Checking my notes here . . . one second . . . OK, before we get to that, I predicted 38-10, which helped inform my recommended MNF DFS 50/50 lineup on the PFN website. With game script favoring the Bucs, I suggested loading up on Brady, Leonard Fournette, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin. The final slot went to Mike Glennon in case he replaced Daniel Jones in a blowout. Those four Bucs were four of the top five DFS fantasy scorers last night. So yeah, using likely game script to craft 50/50s is useful when games play out roughly as expected. This year I've done worse than in previous years on multi-game 50/50s, but in single-game this strategy has worked really well, and I recommend it for anyone looking for a higher-percentage approach.
Anyway, predictions. But before I get to it (hear me out; this is interesting): Justin Koplin (you see him commenting on this page sometimes) and I went to school together: first grade through high school. He can back me up on this. We had 42 classmates in high school. Four of them had the same birthday. Seriously. Same day, month, and year. And no, they weren't quadruplets. What are the odds? Still blows my mind.
Anyway, this is relevant because yesterday five of you predicted the same final score: 31-13 Bucs. So honorable mentions go to these five: Jimmy Overholt, Mike Hoff, Chris Polen, Jason Siltala, and Tim Boville. Another pair of honorable mentions goes to Rick Merritt (30-13) and C.J. O'Neil (33-9).
And the winner? None other than Doug Pastor, who predicted 31-10. Doug, I know you must be kicking yourself for being one point off. But don't do it. You won. That's all that matters now. Years from now, no one will remember that you missed by a point. But we will remember you won. So embrace this moment. Share it with loved ones. Pop in every now and then in Comments and reintroduce yourself as the 2021 Week 11 MNF winner. We'll all say, "Doug!" And then Jimmy Overholt will say, "What about me? I was an honorable mention that week?" And we'll say, "Jimmy, this is Doug's moment."
Congrats to Jimmy and all the honorable mention winners. And a big congrats to Doug.
---
- PFN fantasy site -- www.profootballnetwork.com/fantasy-football/
- PFN fantasy podcast -- podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-the-mood-for-fantasy-football/id1580114372
- Free fantasy advice newsletter -- www.getrevue.co/profile/pfnfantasy
My best loss ever was a roughly 100-point defeat in the finals seven years ago to my co-worker, Rachel. I was driving back from a short trip with my wife and asked if she could share occasional updates on how I was doing. "You're down 14-to-1," she said at about 1:10pm. Then about five minutes later, "22-1." By 2:00pm, Rachel was up about 40 points. And I believe we both had the same number of players playing in the 1:00pm games. So, yeah, I just had to laugh and accept defeat.
Hopefully today you're laughing with joy or accepting defeat. Because man, regret stings. It stays with you. "If only . . ." is the worst thing to think about in fantasy.
Speaking of "If only . . .," in 2018 the Giants drafted Saquon Barkley a few spots ahead of Josh Allen, and then OL Will Hernandez one spot before Nick Chubb. Then they reached for Daniel Jones in 2019, and the rest is history. Injuries have destroyed this team's chances in 2021, but we can't ignore draft decisions that led up to it. The franchise is a mess. They haven't won more than six games since 2016. They're on their fourth head coach in five years.
Fantasy-wise, Saquon Barkley was eased back in and should return to his normal weekly startable self as long as he stays healthy. And of course, fantasy managers will continue to hold their breaths each week. Elsewhere, Kadarius Toney turned 12 targets into 40 yards, while the $40-million-guaranteed Kenny Golladay saw only two balls thrown his way--only one more than third-string TE Chris Myarick. And that pretty much sums up the Giants' season.
For Tampa Bay, a methodically executed victory on both sides of the ball. Nice to see Ronald Jones get some run, and make the most of it. Rob Gronkowski rewarded patient managers. Although I didn't predict Tyler Johnson would do anything last night, I *did* predict he'd be streamable the previous two weeks. So last night he proved, again, how wrong I had been. Breshad Perriman's four targets and Cameron Brate's six reinforced that the Bucs apparently are not trying to groom Johnson into an offensive asset in 2021.
Now to MNF score predictions. Who came closest to 30-10? Checking my notes here . . . one second . . . OK, before we get to that, I predicted 38-10, which helped inform my recommended MNF DFS 50/50 lineup on the PFN website. With game script favoring the Bucs, I suggested loading up on Brady, Leonard Fournette, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin. The final slot went to Mike Glennon in case he replaced Daniel Jones in a blowout. Those four Bucs were four of the top five DFS fantasy scorers last night. So yeah, using likely game script to craft 50/50s is useful when games play out roughly as expected. This year I've done worse than in previous years on multi-game 50/50s, but in single-game this strategy has worked really well, and I recommend it for anyone looking for a higher-percentage approach.
Anyway, predictions. But before I get to it (hear me out; this is interesting): Justin Koplin (you see him commenting on this page sometimes) and I went to school together: first grade through high school. He can back me up on this. We had 42 classmates in high school. Four of them had the same birthday. Seriously. Same day, month, and year. And no, they weren't quadruplets. What are the odds? Still blows my mind.
Anyway, this is relevant because yesterday five of you predicted the same final score: 31-13 Bucs. So honorable mentions go to these five: Jimmy Overholt, Mike Hoff, Chris Polen, Jason Siltala, and Tim Boville. Another pair of honorable mentions goes to Rick Merritt (30-13) and C.J. O'Neil (33-9).
And the winner? None other than Doug Pastor, who predicted 31-10. Doug, I know you must be kicking yourself for being one point off. But don't do it. You won. That's all that matters now. Years from now, no one will remember that you missed by a point. But we will remember you won. So embrace this moment. Share it with loved ones. Pop in every now and then in Comments and reintroduce yourself as the 2021 Week 11 MNF winner. We'll all say, "Doug!" And then Jimmy Overholt will say, "What about me? I was an honorable mention that week?" And we'll say, "Jimmy, this is Doug's moment."
Congrats to Jimmy and all the honorable mention winners. And a big congrats to Doug.
---
- PFN fantasy site -- www.profootballnetwork.com/fantasy-football/
- PFN fantasy podcast -- podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-the-mood-for-fantasy-football/id1580114372
- Free fantasy advice newsletter -- www.getrevue.co/profile/pfnfantasy