I was actually favored to win by the projections, and though I had a path to victory all the way up until the final drive of the MNF game, ultimately I settled into the inevitable loss I had coming. That I always have coming.
My team really rises or mostly falls based on the floor of Lamar Jackson's weekly performances. He has had some great games, some gaudy stats, and some head-scratching duds. This week The Ravens managed to pull out the win against their divisional foes from Cleveland but that was despite Lamar throwing
four interceptions versus one TD. He finished with a paltry 11.40 points against a 28.32 projection. I don't have the kind of squad that can dig me out of that kind of a hole very often. If he don't go big I don't get there.
Deebo Samuel continued to amaze. Even though he has become a default running back rather than a wide out he got another two touchdowns and over twenty fantasy points. Of course now Deebo is gonna be out for a couple weeks with a minor injury. Davante Adams had another more-than-solid game in the Packers win, going over a hundred yards on eight receptions...but he never found the endzone to spike his fantasy numbers into the twenties. And now he is on a BYE. Devonta Freeman did OK as Baltimore's defacto number one back, but he did not find the endzone this week either. Jerry Jeudy caught only two passes in the first half as Denver controlled their win with the ground game, and worst of all George Kittle who had three good games in a row caught only one pass on two targets for a lousy 1.80 points.
And yet despite all of that I still kinda had a shot, though a long one, with the Monday Night game. I only had Antonio Gibson left to play while PW had Terry McLaurin, J.D. McKissic, and Russell Wilson. In years past just having Wilson alone would be good for thirty-some points. Certainly not this year. As the game wore on Wilson was pretty ineffective, though he avoided any turnovers, and McLaurin was finding his QB is actually targeting other people in Washington uniforms for once. It came down to McKissic. All year Gibson has been a true workhorse, but when the Football Team gets down near the goal line his teammate McKissic comes in and gets the score. Which is exactly what happened last night. Antonio had 111 yards rushing plus seven short catches for another 35. That added up to 20.10 points! Which is great. But I needed spectacular. McKissic saw far fewer touches for 30 yards on the ground plus five catches for 26...but he scored two TDs. All of that gave him a total of...yup, 20.10 points.
Russell Wilson finally got one long drive at the end of the game. Had he thrown a pick in that drive I might have just had enough points to win. He did miss the two-point conversion that would have sent the game into OT. But even with all of that if Antonio Gibson had just one of McKissic's two scores that 12-or-so-point swing would have given me the victory.
If ifs and buts were candy and nuts then every day would be Christmas. This loss should keep me in twelfth place no matter what happens the rest of the way.