2022 Week 10 Dynasty Recap: Magicians, an Escape Artist, and Disappointments

Fred, Ryan and Curt reached into their bag of tricks to dazzle us this week. Nathan shimmied free of his chains and broke out of the locked box. And then there were a few disappointments including but not limited to me and Kupp and Ertz’s injuries. Here are your week 10 results:

Fear Itself 83.45 over Noobmaster69 82.33

It looked like Nathan had this one locked up before Josh Sweat decided to bring Simon all the way back only to force him to lose in a more heartbreaking fashion. This was Simon’s best chance to beat Nathan since week 6 of 2019. Now he’ll either have to make the playoffs to try and get another shot this year, or wait until next season.

Kade’s Dawgs 84.15 over Space Rangers 78.39

Major heartbreak for me. I had FOUR guys going into Monday night, Curt had two. It was clear line of sight to a win for me and instead Heinicke only threw to McLaurin, and Hurts decided this was the perfect week to stop passing to Brown. Brutal. Much needed win for Curt though, it gives him a chance to tie with Nathan for best division record, and he’ll have that tiebreaker over me should it come down to us for the East.

Fantasy Fairies 102.75 over Shenron’s Wish 94.07

Ryan officially owns Bryar having beaten him twice this year. He’s also trending toward a win streak. And this week the win came from a couple of players I’m sure we all expected to be leading a team to victory in week 10, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and D’Onta Foreman. Bryar’s team put up a fight, and a pair of pickups earlier this week almost helped him pull out the victory on Monday night (Hargrave [12.5] and Gardner-Johnson [10.25]).

NUKEM 111.79 over Michael Style 90.69

This game featured the Offensive Player of the Week, Justin Fields (27.69), and the Defensive Player of the Week, Devin White (19.25). Lots of fireworks and excitement, but for the most part all of Alex’s excitement came from Fields (and that includes Kmet). While Pastor Dad had Justin Jefferson (21.4) popping off, and Jonathan Taylor (15.15) showing a semblance of what he demonstrated last season.

Ferocious Felines 126.71 over ay_Bilat 105.02

Lamb and Kirk led the way for Fred, combining for 46.75 points and finishing 2nd and 3rd for Offensive Player of the Week. The point total seems a little out of the ordinary for the Felines this year, but it’s what we had come to expect over the last two years. Perhaps this is a return to normal? It was a disappointing outcome for Trey who prior to this week had scored over 100 points in all 7 of his wins and under 100 points in both of his losses.

Playoff Outlook (X - Playoff spot locked, Y - Division Locked, Z - #1 Seed Locked):

1st seed: Fear Itself - X

Coach: Nathan

Record: 8-2

Remaining opponents: Ferocious Felines (4-6), NUKEM (7-3), Michael Style (3-7), ay_Bilat (7-3)

Outlook: He’s got a five game lead over 7th place with four games to go, which means Nathan is the first and so far only team to officially have a playoff spot locked up. The East is far from over though. And he can’t sleep on the Ferocious Felines or Michael Style, as either one could be his undoing.

2nd seed: ay_Bilat

Coach: Trey

Record: 7-3

Remaining opponents: Space Rangers (7-3), Michael Style (3-7), Fantasy Fairies (3-7), Fear Itself (8-2)

Outlook: He bookends two teams with winning records around two with losing records. A win secures a playoff spot and could make him the first team to do it in all four seasons (Curt and Fred can follow suit just a little later in the year). It’s a two man race in the West and his matchup against Michael Style will be a key game, the importance of which will depend on the outcome of the NUKEM/Shenron’s Wish game this week.

3rd seed: NUKEM

Coach: Rob

Record: 7-3

Remaining opponents: Shenron’s Wish (2-8), Fear Itself (8-2), Space Rangers (7-3), Kade’s Dawgs (6-4)

Outlook: Very tough schedule remaining which is why this upcoming week is a must win for him. Given the point difference between him and Trey he’ll either need to win one more game than Trey does, or beat Bryar this week, hope Trey loses to Alex the next week and then ensure he finishes with the same record as Trey the rest of the way. Regardless, one win locks up a playoff spot for him.

4th seed: Space Rangers

Coach: Lance

Record: 7-3

Remaining opponents: ay_Bilat (7-3), Shenron’s Wish (2-8), NUKEM (7-3), Ferocious Felines (4-6)

Outlook: Like Trey and Pastor Dad, I just need one win to get back to the playoffs for the first time since year 1! Of course a loss by Simon, Alex and Ryan would accomplish the same thing, but a win is easier. It’s not going to be an easy path though, I’ve got a losing record against each of my remaining opponents except Fred.

5th Seed: Kade’s Dawgs

Coach: Curt

Record: 6-4

Remaining opponents: Michael Style (3-7), Noobmaster69 (3-7), Shenron’s Wish (2-8), NUKEM (7-3)

Outlook: Curt is tied for the easiest Strength of Schedule remaining and if he can get hot and win three in a row heading into the final week he could put himself in position to steal the East title. Two wins locks him into the playoffs.

6th seed: Ferocious Felines

Coach: Fred

Record: 4-6

Remaining opponents: Fear Itself (8-2), Fantasy Fairies (3-7), Noobmaster69 (3-7), Space Rangers (7-3)

Outlook: He did himself a huge favor pulling the upset off over Trey, but now he needs to hope he can get another one over Nathan. Even if he does win this week, his playoff hopes may come down to how well he does against Ryan and Simon.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

Name: Noobmaster69

Coach: Simon

Record: 3-7

Remaining opponents: Fantasy Fairies (3-7), Kade’s Dawgs (6-4), Ferocious Felines (4-6), Shenron’s Wish (2-8)

Outlook: On the bubble and tied for the easiest schedule remaining. He’ll need that backfield of his to really step up, and that week 13 matchup with Fred is a must win. As a matter of fact, so is his game this week against Ryan.

Name: Fantasy Fairies

Coach: Ryan

Record: 3-7

Remaining opponents: Noobmaster69 (3-7), Ferocious Felines (4-6), ay_Bilat (7-3), Michael Style (3-7)

Outlook: He needs to continue this start of a win streak (he’s won two straight), and extend it out two more. If he can beat Simon and Fred, we could be looking at the biggest turnaround in league history (back to back #1 picks to making the playoffs? Yea, that would be massive).

Name: Michael Style

Coach: Alex

Record: 3-7

Remaining opponents: Kade’s Dawgs (6-4), ay_Bilat (7-3), Fear Itself (8-2), Fantasy Fairies (3-7)

Outlook: Toughest schedule remaining holds true and losing last week to NUKEM didn’t help matters. He’ll need to dig deep and pull off some major upsets if he wants to make the playoffs. More than likely he could be looking at a top two pick.

Name: Shenron’s Wish

Coach: Bryar

Record: 2-8

Remaining opponents: NUKEM (7-3), Space Rangers (7-3), Kade’s Dawgs (6-4), Noobmaster69 (3-7)

Outlook: Bryar still has a shot at the playoffs, but he’d need a lot of surprise upsets and a few things to fall his way. Two losses will remove him from the playoff race. Four losses guarantees he gets the #1 pick, but I think he may be able to lock it up with just three.

**Every two weeks I’m going to post the top ten here. Players only accumulate points if they’re in your starting lineup**

TOP TEN OFFENSIVE PLAYERS

1) *QB J. Allen (Fear Itself) 150.96

2) *QB P. Mahomes (ay_Bilat) 148.47

3) *RB A. Ekeler (NUKEM) 136.80

4) QB J. Fields (Michael Style) 133.23

5) *WR S. Diggs (Noobmaster69) 127.25

6) WR T. Hill (ay_Bilat) 124.65

7) *WR C. Kupp (Kade’s Dawgs) 123.20

8) *RB N. Chubb (ay_Bilat) 123.10

9) *WR J. Jefferson (NUKEM) 121.36

10) *QB L. Jackson (Space Rangers) 120.26

TOP TEN DEFENSIVE PLAYERS

1) *LB M. Parson (Michael Style) 91.05

2) LB D. White (NUKEM) 85.50

3) LB I. Simmons (ay_Bilat) 73.55

4) *LB R. Smith (Fantasy Fairies) 67.10

5) *DB D. James (Kade’s Dawgs) 63.00

6) *DL A. Donald (Fear Itself) 60.00

7) *LB J. Hicks (NUKEM) 59.20

8) LB R. Gary (Fear Itself) 56.75

9) *DB T. Diggs (Michael Style) 53.25

10) LB F. Oluokun (Fear Itself) 52.25

*Means they’ve had their bye week already

Here’s a look ahead at next week:

Fear Itself (8-2) vs Ferocious Felines (4-6)

This series is tied 3-3. It started with Nathan winning both regular season games over the first two years, but Fred upset him in the playoffs in year two before beating him in both regular season games last year and then Nathan knocked him out of the playoffs last year ending his chances at repeating as champion. Will Nathan be able to pull off the regular season win this time around? And will these two get a chance to meet in the playoffs for a third year in a row?

ay_Bilat (7-3) vs Space Rangers (7-3)

Trey leads our series 4-1. When was my one win you ask? Oh, that was back in week 6 of year 1. I would lose to Trey in the playoffs later that year which would send him to the championship, me to the third place game and my team into a spiral that we finally seem to have pulled ourselves out of, so it’s time to end this losing streak.

NUKEM (7-3) vs Shenron’s Wish (2-8)

Series is tied 4-4. Important note, Bryar has only won one of the last five games these two have played.

Kade’s Dawgs (6-4) vs Michael Style (3-7)

Series is tied 2-2. Alex took the fifth place game over Curt to end last season.

Fantasy Fairies (3-7) vs Noobmaster69 (3-7)

These two met for the first time back in week 5 and it ended up being Simon’s first win of the season. Now they both desperately need this win to keep their playoff dreams alive. They are the only two active coaches to have not made the playoffs (I know it’s Ryan’s first season, it doesn’t make the statement untrue).

That’s all for this week, good luck to you all in week 11!