2023 Week 9 Dynasty Recap: A Boring Monday Night
Every game was decided before Monday night. It would have taken a miracle performance by Austin Ekeler, an impossible performance by the Jets defense, or a really bad outing from Breece Hall, to change that storyline. Here are your week 9 results:
Michael Style 67.10 over Shenron’s Wish 57.34
Breece Hall fell 0.24 points short of making this the third straight week with every game in the league finishing in a double-digit blowout. Kmet (17.75) was a great bye week fill-in for Michael Style, and good thing too since five of his six RBs and WRs tallied less than 7 points. Stevenson (14.45), Collins (10.20) and Musgrave (10.05) tried to carry Shenron’s Wish to the finish line, but the rest of his team was dead set on dragging their feet (his next highest scorer was Jackson with 5.74).
Ferocious Felines 91.97 over ay_Bilat 76.35
In two out of his first four seasons Fred used late season surges to get into the playoffs. Year 1 he went 3-1 in his final four games, and in year 4 he went 5-0 to close out the season. It looks like that’s his plan for this season too, he’s just starting it a little earlier. As a bonus to go with the win, Jacobs and Henry both showed up in the same week for the first time since week 4! This was just a big disappointment for Trey. It was his worst week of the season so far with none of his big names (Mahomes, Adams, Hill, Kelce or Chase) scoring double-digits. Rachaad White (19.95) did his best CMC impression but it wasn’t enough. It will be interesting to see if his team can rebound next week with Mahomes, Kelce and Hill all on bye.
Space Rangers 87.46 over NUKEM 70.03
Tank Dell blew up for his best week of the year (20.80) and it was enough to earn Player of the Week honors! Deshaun Watson (11.48) was a solid sign and start this week for NUKEM following the injuries/bye week fallout, but he and Ekeler (16.50) weren’t able to do it alone. As a bonus for NUKEM, Josh Dobbs looked good for the Vikings on Sunday, so Addison and Jefferson’s stock may not plumet after all!
Kade’s Dawgs 104.71 over Fantasy Fairies 69.94
This was Kade’s Dawgs’ best game all season! Tua and Kupp were pretty quiet, but Olave (11.3), Mixon (11.9) and Devonta (10.05) played well, and of course Ferguson (14.05), Koo (19) and Cleveland’s defense (17) dominated. This was the third time all season that the Fairies scored less than 70 points, and two of them have now come in the last three weeks. Time to panic? Not really. Hurts, Brown and Mostert remained toward the top of his scoring, but Davis and Thomas putting up absolutely nothing could mean trouble should one of those top performers go down.
Fear Itself 106.97 over Noobmaster69 55.05
A pair of solid bye week pickups for Nathan, Taysom Hill (14.31) and the Las Vegas defense (15), paired nicely with Allen (17.36) and Diggs (15.30) to lead the way to victory! That did not work out the same for Simon. With Goff and Lawrence both on bye, he picked up Garoppolo to fill in, Jimmy G was benched later that same day, so Simon brought in Daniel Jones who suffered a knee injury early in his game Sunday. Between that and Flowers/Kamara/Pacheco all having their worst games of the season, this game was never in Simon’s favor.
Playoff Outlook:
1st seed: Fear Itself
Coach: Nathan
Record: 7-2
Remaining opponents: Fantasy Fairies (5-4), Ferocious Felines (4-5), ay_Bilat (6-3), Michael Style (5-4), NUKEM (3-6)
Outlook: He’s guaranteed the East title if he wins four of his remaining five. As the weeks continue that will change based on the Space Rangers, Fantasy Fairies and Kade’s Dawgs outcomes, but all he has to do is finish with the same record as any of us and he wins the East. His biggest remaining game may be week 12 against ay_Bilat, that could be the determining factor in who gets the #1 seed.
2nd seed: ay_Bilat
Coach: Trey
Record: 6-3
Remaining opponents: Michael Style (5-4), Shenron’s Wish (2-7), Fear Itself (7-2), Kade’s Dawgs (5-4), Space Rangers (6-3)
Outlook: Trey has the hardest remaining schedule based on record, but the second easiest based on points, so barring an epic collapse he should be in line for his second straight West title. Same as with Nathan, that week 12 game could be the game that decides who gets the #1 seed.
3rd seed: Space Rangers
Coach: Lance
Record: 6-3
Remaining opponents: Kade’s Dawgs (5-4), Michael Style (5-4), Fantasy Fairies (5-4), Shenron’s Wish (2-7), ay_Bilat (6-3)
Outlook: Easiest way for me to guarantee a spot in the playoffs would be to win my next three games. That would put me at 9 wins, and with Kade’s Dawgs and the Fantasy Fairies both playing a game against the Ferocious Felines that would guarantee at least two of them could finish no better than 8-6, locking up a playoff spot for me. The only way I can take the East at this point is to finish with a better record than Nathan.
4th seed: Fantasy Fairies
Coach: Ryan
Record: 5-4
Remaining opponents: Fear Itself (7-2), Noobmaster69 (2-7), Space Rangers (6-3), Ferocious Felines (4-5), Shenron’s Wish (2-7)
Outlook: Same boat as me when it comes to winning the East. One of the easiest schedules remaining bodes well for his chances of getting into the playoffs. His biggest week is this upcoming one against Nathan. He’ll need to win to give himself a chance at the East and a first-round bye in the playoffs.
5th Seed: Kade’s Dawgs
Coach: Curt
Record: 5-4
Remaining opponents: Space Rangers (6-3), NUKEM (3-6), Shenron’s Wish (2-7), ay_Bilat (6-3), Ferocious Felines (4-5)
Outlook: Tied for the second easiest schedule based on record, but that doesn’t tell the entire story, as he has the 3rdmost difficult based on points. In reality his two most important games are Week 11 vs NUKEM and Week 14 vs the Ferocious Felines, those are the two teams that pose the biggest threat of knocking him out of the playoffs. If he can win both of those, the chances of him missing the playoffs would be slim.
6th seed: Michael Style
Coach: Alex
Record: 5-4
Remaining opponents: ay_Bilat (6-3), Space Rangers (6-3), NUKEM (3-6), Fear Itself (7-2), Noobmaster69 (2-7)
Outlook: Arguably the hardest remaining schedule. Record-wise he’s tied for second hardest, but points-wise he has the hardest. Given how his team has not been putting up points he will either need most of his remaining opponents to play down to his level in order to continue to make a run at the playoffs, or he’s going to need his players to do a 180.
Name: Ferocious Felines
Coach: Fred
Record: 4-5
Remaining opponents: NUKEM (3-6), Fear Itself (7-2), Noobmaster69 (2-7), Fantasy Fairies (5-4), Kade’s Dawgs (5-4)
Outlook: From here down the rule of thumb is to win. You control your destiny by winning. So, pretty much every game is important, though the final two against the Fantasy Fairies and Kade’s Dawgs could end up being games that determine at least two of the final three seeds.
Name: NUKEM
Coach: Rob
Record: 3-6
Remaining opponents: Ferocious Felines (4-5), Kade’s Dawgs (5-4), Michael Style (5-4), Noobmaster69 (2-7), Fear Itself (7-2)
Outlook: The easiest schedule based on points gives Pastor Dad a chance to make a late season run, but it’s this upcoming week’s matchup against Fred that’s potentially the most important. Those next two games vs Kade’s Dawgs and Michael Style are a close second.
Name: Noobmaster69
Coach: Simon
Record: 2-7
Remaining opponents: Shenron’s Wish (2-7), Fantasy Fairies (5-4), Ferocious Felines (4-5), NUKEM (3-6), Michael Style (5-4)
Outlook: Step one, win out. Step two, have Fred lose all but one game with that one win being against either Ryan or Curt (as a backup scenario just in case). Step three, have Pastor Dad win two games, one against Fred and one against either Alex. Step four, have Alex lose out. That’s the most straight shot Simon has at making the playoffs. Option B is to lose out and secure the #1 pick for the first time ever! Side note, Simon has the easiest schedule remaining when looking at the records, and the third easiest when it comes to points, so if you’re looking for a sleeper…
Name: Shenron’s Wish
Coach: Bryar
Record: 2-7
Remaining opponents: Noobmaster69 (2-7), ay_Bilat (6-3), Kade’s Dawgs (5-4), Space Rangers (6-3), Fantasy Fairies (5-4)
Outlook: Basically, the exact same scenario as Simon. I’ll also add here that whichever team loses this week’s matchup is eliminated from the playoff race if three of the four 5-4/4-5 teams (Fred, Alex, Curt and Ryan) win this week.
Here’s a look ahead at next week (since I’m covering the playoff outlook above, I’ll only note interesting matchup facts below):
Fear Itself (7-2) vs Fantasy Fairies (5-4)
Nathan leads this young series 2-1, including a win in their week 3 matchup.
ay_Bilat (6-3) vs Michael Style (5-4)
Trey is up 7-3 over Alex. Alex forced a split in their matchups last season. Trey won back in week 3, so can Alex do it again?
Space Rangers (6-3) vs Kade’s Dawgs (5-4)
We are all tied up at 5-5. Last season Curt won both regular season matchups, two seasons ago I won both, I won back in week 5 so can I keep the regular season sweep trend going?
Ferocious Felines (4-5) vs NUKEM (3-6)
Pastor Dad is dominating this series 8-3 including a win back in week 1. The Felines seem to be heating up though, just as NUKEM is dealing with injuries and inconsistent play. Can Fred’s team take advantage?
Noobmaster69 (2-7) vs Shenron’s Wish (2-7)
Bryar is up 4-3. However, Simon has won their last two games, including their week 6 matchup this year. A win by Bryar would cause a split in their games this season, so if they both were to finish with the same record it would come down to points to determine who gets the #1 pick.
That’s all for this week, good luck to you all in week 10!