2024 Week 10 Dynasty Recap: Ho-hum
No, the title of the recap is not something dwarves would sing as they march off to mine diamonds. Ho-hum means boring, and that’s what this week was. Sure, there was some craziness on Thursday night, but what happened to the rest of the week?! This was just the third time in league history that a single week had four games end in 30+ point blowouts. The last time it happened was week 2 of season 2. Yawn. Here are your week 10 results:
Fear Itself 112.10 over Fantasy Fairies 95.98
There were a few games that needed Monday night miracles. This was the only one where there was a legitimate chance at a Monday night comeback. Nathan was up by about 4 and had Puka Nacua and Demarcus Robinson left, Ryan had Raheem Mostert left. Unfortunately for Ryan, Mostert only did enough to surpass Nathan’s original point total, and Nacua and Robinson didn’t just take the night off. Jalen Hurts continues to put up monster performances, but the rest of the team isn’t ready to join him yet. I want to give a quick tip of the cap to Chase Brown. We’ve grown very accustomed to one or two drafted Running Backs taking off with the OROY and Top Drafted Player titles, but this year has been very different from that. Brown isn’t a rookie, so he wouldn’t be eligible for OROY, but he has been the best RB from our draft, and he continued to show that this week.
ay_Bilat 109.74 over Ferocious Felines 77.04
Trey started Tee Higgins on Thursday night, apparently just to keep things from looking worse for Fred, cause it really didn’t matter, he had this game in the bag. He can also breathe a sigh of relief; CMC returned to the field and didn’t immediately leave it. And with the Felines’ performance, every team in the league has officially had a scoring week under 100 points in the new system. Although, he and Joel became the 3rd and 4th teams to score under 80. One last note, in Bucky Irving’s first game action for Fred he led the team in points, so that’s pretty exciting.
Michael Style 141.24 over The Empire 97.70
Alex told his team all week long, “if you want to win this game you’re going to have to score, and score again.” Of course he didn’t know Bryar’s team was thinking, “we only have to put in half effort this week.” And that’s how these two reversed roles. I kid, mostly. Michael Style has had 5 games under 110 points, and Bryar has had 5 games over 130 points, but this isn’t their first week on the opposite ends of that spectrum. Kyler Murray bounced back in a big way for Alex. I thought last week was the Call of Duty effect starting up, but it looks like he snapped out of it. For everything that went wrong for The Empire, at least Jackson’s MVP run was spared.
Space Rangers 149.72 over Kade’s Dawgs 105.98
Curt and I played back in week 5 and my team had a monster week back then too, led by Burrow to Chase, who combined for 66 points. They decided they wanted more of that, and combine for nearly 80 points, with Chase (49.90) taking home Player of the Week honors, and the most points scored by a player in a single game in league history! They also combined with Bijan Robinson to make up 72% of my scoring, and the three of them outscored five teams this week. Curt, if you’re looking for that silver lining, Tyrone Tracy has had four double-digit point totals in his last 6 weeks and has fully taken over as the starter for the Giants, so it looks like you may have found your answer for your third back in the rotation.
NUKEM 127.28 over Storm Surge 76.14
It has been a crazy climb in the last five weeks for NUKEM, but this marks their first blowout win of the season. It’s also their third straight game (and third game all season) over 125 points, and puts them at 5-1 in their last six weeks. This may be the team you don’t want to play down the stretch, outside of The Empire’s high flying attack. Storm Surge needed 13 points out of Fairbairn on Sunday night to avoid having the lowest scoring game of the new season, and he came through for them! Team MVP for the week in more ways than one. Every team has had a down week, and given Storm Surge’s lead in overall record over the rest of the league they could afford one or two of these as the season winds down, just don’t make it a habit.
**New additions to this section are the “SOS” categories. By record is the combined winning percentage of your remaining opponents. By Points is the average points-for of your remaining opponents. That’s what you’ll find in the parentheses, next to that is a 1st to 10th, with 1st being the easiest and 10th being the hardest**
Playoff Outlook:
1st seed: Storm Surge Coach: Joel Record: 8-2
SOS Remaining by Record: 1st (0.375)
SOS Remaining by Points: 4th (1127.91)
Remaining opponents: Fantasy Fairies (0-10), Ferocious Felines (4-6), ay_Bilat (5-5), The Empire (6-4)
Outlook: That loss this week set you back, but only a little. Nathan and I would still have to beat you in overall record to take the division, and the best we can finish is 10-4. Win two of you remaining games and you don’t have to worry about what happens with us. Win one game and you’ll need each of us to lose one. Lose out and you’ll need each of us to lose two games. Based on everyone’s remaining schedules, the best the 6th and 7th seeds could hope to finish is with an 8-6 record, and that’s if everything breaks absolutely perfectly. So, win any of your remaining games and you’re locked into the playoffs.
2nd seed: Michael Style Coach: Alex Record: 6-4
SOS Remaining by Record: Tied 6th (0.525)
SOS Remaining by Points: 9th (1184.50)
Remaining opponents: NUKEM (5-5), Fear Itself (6-4), Kade’s Dawgs (4-6), Space Rangers (6-4)
Outlook: The West is far from settled, but if you win out it’s all yours. If you were to lose one game you absolutely don’t want it to be against NUKEM. If you do lose that one, you will also need The Empire to lose to ay_Bilat in week 11 in order to keep your division record tiebreaker. If you lose that tiebreaker, you’ll need to beat Bryar by a game in overall record cause the nearly 200 point difference in your guys’ points-for might be too much to overcome in 4 weeks.
3rd seed: The Empire Coach: Bryar Record: 6-4
SOS Remaining by Record: 10th (0.625)
SOS Remaining by Points: 8th (1172.23)
Remaining opponents: Space Rangers (6-4), ay_Bilat (5-5), Fear Itself (6-4), Storm Surge (8-2)
Outlook: Let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way, every team from the 2nd seed to the 9th is fighting for a playoff spot, and it’s such a tight race that every team in the 2ndto 9th seed range, except Fred (more on that below), control their own destiny by winning out. So, Bryar, win out and you’re locked into the playoffs. Given your points lead, win three games and don’t completely tank in your points scoring, and you’ll be locked in. As for the division, hope Alex loses this week and you win next week and that will really put you in the driver’s seat, which means your week 12 matchup is your biggest remaining game.
4th seed: Space Rangers Coach: Lance Record: 6-4
SOS Remaining by Record: 3rd (0.425)
SOS Remaining by Points: 2nd (1117.44)
Remaining opponents: The Empire (6-4), Fantasy Fairies (0-10), NUKEM (5-5), Michael Style (6-4)
Outlook: Points tiebreaker favors me over most everyone else. But, I still have to win, and every one of the remaining games is important. Bryar and Alex are the favorites to win the West, which means I could beat one and lose to the other and still hurt my playoff seeding if I lose to the one that doesn’t win the division. Rob is a game behind me and while the points tiebreaker is very much in my favor, that matchup is three weeks away and a loss to him could put him a game, or maybe two, ahead of me. And the Ryan matchup theoretically would be the game you would say, “you absolutely cannot afford to lose this one,” but that’s also the week that my four biggest scorers are on bye (Burrow, Chase, Robinson and Wilson). It could get very dicey down the stretch for me. Of course, if I can win three games with one of those wins coming against Pastor Dad, then I’m playoff bound.
5th Seed: Fear Itself Coach: Nathan Record: 6-4
SOS Remaining by Record: Tied 6th (0.525)
SOS Remaining by Points: 7th (1168.49)
Remaining opponents: Ferocious Felines (4-6), Michael Style (6-4), The Empire (6-4), ay_Bilat (5-5)
Outlook: One of three teams from the 2-9 seed range that has every remaining game against a team that’s currently in the 2-9 seed range. That means every game matters, at least until you create some separation. Here’s the biggest key though, win three games with one of those wins coming against Trey and you’ll lock up a playoff spot.
6th seed: NUKEM Coach: Rob Record: 5-5
SOS Remaining by Record: 2nd (0.400)
SOS Remaining by Points: 5th (1130.31)
Remaining opponents: Michael Style (6-4), Kade’s Dawgs (4-6), Space Rangers (6-4), Fantasy Fairies (0-10)
Outlook: You currently have the edge over Trey because of the 13 points-for lead you have. That’s not a lot, and as a matter of fact, it’s because of how this week just went that you have the lead, prior to that Trey had a 1 point lead. Winning out would still get the job done. Lose one game and things are going to be very close, lose two games and you may be looking at a points-for tiebreaker, so overall goal, besides winning, should include scoring a lot of points.
Name: ay_Bilat Coach: Trey Record: 5-5
SOS Remaining by Record: 9th (0.600)
SOS Remaining by Points: 10th (1209.74)
Remaining opponents: Kade’s Dawgs (4-6), The Empire (6-4), Storm Surge (8-2), Fear Itself (6-4)
Outlook: See above. Pretty much the same exact boat, you’re just currently sitting on the wrong side of the points tiebreaker.
Name: Ferocious Felines Coach: Fred Record: 4-6
SOS Remaining by Record: 4th (0.450)
SOS Remaining by Points: 3rd (1124.33)
Remaining opponents: Fear Itself (6-4), Storm Surge (8-2), Fantasy Fairies (0-10), Kade’s Dawgs (4-6)
Outlook: I mentioned under Bryar’s outlook that you are the only team in the 2-9 seed range that doesn’t control their own destiny and that’s because of your remaining schedule. Every other team in that range plays at least three other teams also in that range, except you. So, winning out would put you at 8-6, but you may need a little additional help from some other teams in order to knock someone down to 7-7, or a lower scoring team down to 8-6 to give you the edge in the tiebreaker. But for now, just focus on winning, especially this week against Nathan and week 14 against Curt.
Name: Kade’s Dawgs Coach: Curt Record: 4-6
SOS Remaining by Record: 5th (0.500)
SOS Remaining by Points: 1st (1110.82)
Remaining opponents: ay_Bilat (5-5), NUKEM (5-5), Michael Style (6-4), Ferocious Felines (4-6)
Outlook: Winning out would put Fred below you, and at the very least it would even things out record wise between you, Trey and Rob. Bonus, you currently hold an 83+ point lead in the points tiebreaker over both of them. You might be sitting in the 9th seed, but you’re fully in control of your own destiny here.
Name: Fantasy Fairies Coach: Ryan Record: 0-10
SOS Remaining by Record: 8th (0.575)
SOS Remaining by Points: 6th (1164.66)
Remaining opponents: Storm Surge (8-2), Space Rangers (6-4), Ferocious Felines (4-6), NUKEM (5-5)
Outlook: Officially eliminated from playoff contention. However, you are in a perfect spot to play spoiler. Beat Joel and you put him one step closer to losing control of the East. Beat me, Fred or Rob and you could significantly hurt our playoff chances. Also, the #1 pick in the 2025 draft is yours with one exception, should Fred lose out, he would take it from you. So, go ahead and buy that Ashton Jeanty jersey now, or sell the pick for a Rams type haul (when they traded the #2 pick for RGIII), either way, enjoy!
**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
1) QB Lamar Jackson (The Empire) 236.56
2) RB Derrick Henry (Ferocious Felines) 210.60
3) *QB Jalen Hurts (Fantasy Fairies) 199.84
4) QB Joe Burrow (Space Rangers) 191.18
5) QB Josh Allen (Fear Itself) 186.34
6) WR Ja’Marr Chase (Space Rangers) 183.00
7) RB Alvin Kamara (The Empire) 181.10
8) *RB Saquon Barkley (Storm Surge) 175.40
9) QB Kyler Murray (Michael Style) 170.42
10) RB Bijan Robinson (Space Rangers) 170.40
Here’s a look ahead at next week:
Storm Surge (8-2) vs Fantasy Fairies (0-10)
Joel leads 1-0. Their showdown earlier in the season was a 60 point obliteration that landed itself at 7th on the league’s all-time blowout list. While Ryan looks for blood, Joel will be looking to officially lock up his playoff spot.
The Empire (6-4) vs Space Rangers (6-4)
Bryar leads our series 4-2. The two highest scoring teams in the league squaring off, and at relatively full strength, so hopefully this game doesn’t disappoint.
Michael Style (6-4) vs NUKEM (5-5)
Rob is up 7-4 over his tie-for-second favorite son-in-law. But Alex has won the last three matchups. Will Alex’s head to head momentum carry him through, or will Rob ride his current wave to victory?
Fear Itself (6-4) vs Ferocious Felines (4-6)
This series is split 4-4. Given these two teams’ playoff history, I’m surprised that they haven’t played more than 8 games, especially since only two of those matchups were in the playoffs. Now Nathan is fighting to stay ahead in the playoff race, and Fred is fighting to stay alive in it.
ay_Bilat (5-5) vs Kade’s Dawgs (4-6)
Trey is up 7-2 in the series. This matchup will always have its roots in the first league championship. This season, five years later, has definitely not gone the same way as that first one, as these two perennial playoff teams find themselves fighting for a spot with just four games to go. At least things haven’t gotten so bad that you’re fighting for the #1 pick…yet.
That’s all for this week, good luck to you all in week 11!