Dynasty League 2026 Week 9: Not Yet a Masterpiece
The playoff picture at least got a little clearer. No one has been eliminated yet. But three of the teams that lost this week have a significant uphill battle if they are going to sneak into the playoffs, and that’s due to the first tiebreaker for the three wildcard spots, points! Anyone can get hot and go on a run though, and it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen that, so don’t lose hope. Also, I was wrong last week, Nathan didn’t need Rob and Joel to both lose in order to lock up a playoff spot. He officially has a playoff spot secured, because the best we could hope for out of the 6th seed at this point is 8-wins. That’s due to remaining games between Trey, Curt, Matthew, Rob, Bryar and me. Here are your week 9 results:
Kade’s Dawgs 99.50 over Michael Style 93.66
Up just 10 going into Monday night Alex needed the Vikings offense to get completely shut down (they almost did), and Buffalo’s offense to blow-up (they did not). Curt had the game locked up at half after Reichard hit that 50+ yarder, the Vikings defense already had 3 sacks and 1 interception at that point which guaranteed they finished with at least 2 points. Four straight wins for Curt and he’s taken over sole control of the West. That’s back-to-back duds for Alex, but this one resulted in a mark in the loss column. Are the wheels coming off?
Fear Itself 131.66 over Shadow Legion 116.90
Nathan only got 26 out of the Allen-Gibbs duo, but it didn’t matter cause he got 55 combined from Nacua and Golden. It came at a price though, as Nacua is supposed to be heading to IR, which will put him out for at least 4 weeks with just 5 left in the regular season. Speaking of, what was that trade? I think an anonymous coach put it best, “That’s the kind of trade you make if you think it will win you this season and you plan to leave the league this summer.” Losses suck, but Anthony can find the silver lining in two spots, one, he scored over 110 despite the loss, and two, Concepcion put up his second double-digit game in the last three weeks. Always good to see the young talent stepping up.
NUKEM 98.48 over Ferocious Felines 78.40
Rob’s team, other than leaving the injured Tyler Loop in, wasn’t bad, they just weren’t good either. Lots of middling efforts, and then San Fran’s defense thrown in for a nice boost to the morale. But a win is a win. Fred got another huge effort out of Bucky Irving, but no one else on his team wanted to aid in those efforts. He’s currently on pace to threaten the record for lowest points in a season in our new scoring era (set last year by Rob at 1353.40).
ay_Bilat 131.08 over Storm Surge 92.66
Great all-around effort by Trey’s team. Solid win. Now that that’s out of the way I want to point out something that popped into my head when I saw that Bryce Young outplayed Mahomes this week. Trey has three QBs on the roster, with one of them being Patrick Mahomes so things should really not be going this way, but he has left his highest scoring QB on the bench in every week this year except week 5 when Mahomes and Young were both on bye. According to Gemini, the chances of that happening are roughly 3.9%, just crazy. Even with all the picks Drake Maye was still the leading scorer for Storm Surge, which should sum things up nicely on that end. At least Coleman’s fresh legs are continuing to carry the load in Denver!
Bolt Battalion 128.78 over Fantasy Fairies 74.00
Is Matthew’s team starting to heat up? Back-to-back big point totals, and back-to-back wins. If that is the case, it couldn’t have started at a better time. Christian Watson and Brock Purdy both led the charge for the Battalion this week, and they are making runs at being the Breakout Player of the Year award. Ryan, it’s times like these that you just focus on how the youth are playing and keep trudging forward.
Space Rangers 156.44 over The Empire 81.10
Despite all the scoring, and the way most of these games went, this is the only matchup to make any of our top ten lists, it comes in at 7 on the all-time biggest blowouts list. Kenneth Walker took home Player of the Week honors, becoming the first player this year to win the award twice! Bryar, I know your backside has got to be sore after the beating I gave you. I hope you at least have a comfortable office chair for work these next few days, or maybe some sick time you can use.
Here’s a look ahead at next week:
Feat Itself (9-0) vs Space Rangers (4-5)
Nathan owns the series 12-4, which is the most wins any coach has against another. Here we are again though. Four years later Nathan is once again in the throes of a run towards infamy. Seeking the league’s first undefeated season. Just like he was four years ago when I shattered those hopes in week 8. Can I do it again?
Michael Style (7-2) vs Bolt Battalion (5-4)
Alex is 3-0 against little bro. If Matthew wants to make a run at winning the Central it starts right here. A win would pull him within a game of Alex for overall record and division record. He’d need help down the stretch, especially since Alex holds the points tiebreaker if it were to come to that, but focus on what you can accomplish first, then worry about the rest.
Kade’s Dawgs (5-4) vs NUKEM (4-5)
These two are all knotted up at 6-6. As of right now Curt leads the West due to his overall record. However, Curt is 1-2 in the division while Bryar and Rob are both 2-1. Our first tiebreaker for the division champs is division record. A win here would give Curt a two-game lead over Rob in the West and tie them up for division record.
ay_Bilat (5-4) vs Fantasy Fairies (3-6)
Trey has dominated Ryan 6-1. A loss here for Ryan would put a significant dent in his remaining hopes to make the playoffs. He currently has the third lowest scoring team in the league (and is behind two of the current 4-5 teams), meaning a loss against Trey and a win by either of those two teams would essentially put Ryan three games back with just four to go.
The Empire (4-5) vs Shadow Legion (3-6)
Anthony has swept Bryar to date, 3-0. With how knotted up the West is this year a loss would hurt a little (Anthony more than Bryar obviously), but a win would do wonders for either of these two as we head to the final four weeks. With that in mind, a loss for Anthony and a win for Curt might be too much for Anthony to overcome.
Storm Surge (3-6) vs Ferocious Felines (2-7)
Fred is up 3-1 in this series. These two still have the peripheral of one eye looking at the playoffs but they’ve definitely shifted more of their focus toward the 2027 draft. Could this be the game that ultimately determines the Jeremiah Smith sweepstakes?
That’s all for this week, good luck to you all in week 10!