DEFEND YOUR MOVES 2018 WEEK 12!!!!!!!!!!!!
RIVALRY WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS, SPECIAL ED!!! What a week we got going on here! We got Thanksgiving, DYM Award Season (vote here) , AND it’s RIVALRY WEEK - with DYM facing The Commish! But ours is far from the most interesting match-up in Special Ed this week. Every playoff spot is up for grabs and ALL NINE real teams in this league are still contending for the post season. It goes like this: Gentrifiers and snickers still control their own destiny – they can win twice (finishing 7-6) and lock everybody else out. BUT neither of them can clinch with a win this week. Teams finishing with 6 wins get in if either of Gentrifiers or snickers lose this week or next. 5-win teams will reach the playoffs if either Gentrifiers or snickers loses out AND Polk High and Randall lose one of the next two each. There’s even a scenario where we end the season with five teams tied for fifth place at five wins. That’s fifty five fives for yall muthafuckas out there, nah mean? We’ll break down all the scenarios in AMERICAS GAMES OF THE WEEK. LET’S GO!!!!!!!!!!!! MASTER YODA’S PPR RB OF THE WEEK For week 12 Theo Riddick my favorite pass-catching RB pick-up is. A knee injury Kerryon Johnson has. Out for some time could he be. LeGarrette Blount the hand-cuff may seem, but the most effective RB he will not be. Committed to the run game are the Lions but sense the power within the pass-catching RB they do. Great trust in Riddick has the Lions coaching staff. When traded was Golden Tate, Kenny Golladay in the slot many expected to see. But instead, Riddick it was running Tate’s slot routes. Now missing are two more offensive weapons, inefficient this offense may become. But even if abandon the run they do, still turn to Riddick they will. WHOS HOT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! In an absolute shocker Que Lastima is the HOTTEST team in the league and is still ALIVE for the playoffs although they remain tied for last in the standings. During this recent Drew Brees hot streak they are 2-1, averaging 126 per game. Believeland has had the league’s highest score two weeks in a row now. Another 150+ score this week should move them to the top spot heading in to the regular season finale. Despite two straight stinkers, Polk High Panthers is the highest scorer of and under .500 team this season, they’re still alive too. Unless Gurley is injured, then they’d be fucked. FOOD BEEF 2018 SANDWICH TOUR!!!!!!!!!!!! Hickory Tree Deli 650 Shunpike Rd, Chatham We don’t want to use the word “perfect” too loosely here, so we’ll say Hickory Tree Deli is really really really good. We had The Maulbecks ride along this weekend so with the 2 guest reviewers we had the opportunity to get reviews on 5 different sandwiches. It’s a good thing we did too, because the range of different sandwiches they do very well was the most impressive part. Every single one was excellent and none of us had any complaints. We had an Italian sub with banana peppers (above). It could have had more meat, but it was enough, and the flavor was FLAWLESS. Oil, vinegar and spices were just right, and the meat was much higher quality than we got from Fratellis or C&J. Cynthia had chicken salad with bacon, tomatoes and banana peppers. Chicken salad was tasty, it had roasted red peppers in it, which is a nice touch. The tomatoes were big and juicy, no idea where they get them from this time of year. The bacon was thick-cut, wavy and crispy; Bacon was the star of every sandwich we had it on. Amari had a juicy grilled chicken with tomatoes, guacamole and cheddar, on a DELICIOUS herbed ciabatta role. Maybe the best bread we’ve had on this tour. Dave gave his Turkey Club a 10/10. The bacon and tomato take it over the top. MB gave the Turkey Joe a 9/10. Could have had more dressing but the slaw was very good. GREAT JOB, HICKORY, WE’LL SEE YOU IN THE PLAYOFFS! SCORE: 9/10 AMERICAS GAMES OF THE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!! Prediction Record: 9-3 IN SAQUON WE TRUST vs HEISMAN HOUSE What’s at stake: DYM could take over 1st place(?) It’s #1 vs #2 in the Special Ed Superbowl Preview!!!!!!!!!!!! The Commish holds a two game lead over DYM with two games left to play. But with 160 points separating us, DYM taking over 1st is actually the least likely of all the wild playoff scenarios at stake this week. These two teams are among the first teams to clinch, and it’s no coincidence they’ve been two of the splashiest recent move makers. The Commish has made some great moves recently but none that will impact his starting line-up. Donta Foreman is potentially washed coming off an Achilles tear; and although we like both his new WRs, they’re both rookies, so there’s a good chance he replaces all three again next week. This is still a highly flexible roster. We ought to have given ourselves Dumpster Diver of the week for our deft handling of the multiple debacles in Tampa, but this is Defend YOUR Moves not Defend MY Moves. Instead we'll just give you all this one little insight into our process: As you know, the DYM research department consumes a LOT of fantasy-related content throughout the week. Last week we were surprised at how staid the fantasy media-sphere was in discussing Lamar Jackson’s upcoming NFL debut. Most fantasy analysts were able to avoid Lamar questions until Sunday when Flacco was “officially” ruled out. By midday the chatter was getting a bit louder. We put a search in twitter for “Fitzpatrick AND Lamar”. We read dozens of start/sit questions from people with the same QB decision we were making - but of course our mind was already made up. And do ya wanna know how many “Fantasy Experts” recommended starting Lamar over Fitz? ZERO. Not a single fucking one. Not the Guru, not the Late Round QB, not the Oddsmaker, not even the maniacs at RosterWatch. We said “fuck that shit” and we kinda feel invincible right now. DEFEND YOUR MOVES WINS!!!!!!!!!!!! EAT A SNICKERS BITCH vs JEFFERYS TEAM What’s at stake: A snickers loss keeps the door open for 8-loss teams (like Ertz) We know what you’re thinking: “THIS is the least likely scenario.” Ertz making the playoffs with 8 losses seems very unlikely in a vacuum, but the fact that he’s also dependent on a [REDACTED] win makes this look nigh impossible. But the reality here is that this is a very tough spot for snickers. He enters this game coming off the second lowest score of the week. Their roster now sports two banged-up QBs, no good RBs, and possibly no TE at all. Doug may once again find himself making high-pressure roster moves on a holiday weekend. The really crazy part about this is Jeffery’s Team might actually be tough this week. The Eagles play the Giants who they ran roughshod on back in week 6. That was Wentz’s best game of the year (25 pts) and Ertz, Agholor and Elliott each got at least 10. Plus, Mark Ingram with the smash match-up against Atlanta and a rejuvenated Larry Fitzgerald, and this all of a sudden looks like a good team. At least for one week. JEFFERY’S TEAM WINS!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 – 28 vs GENTRIFIERS What’s at stake: A Gentrifiers loss also opens the door for 8-loss teams The next step to creating that 5 team pile up is Gentrifiers losing to the RED HOT Golden Richards. Of course Gentrifiers is the one team that’s trying to avoid that situation above all else. As the lowest scoring contending team, Gentrifiers holds no tie-breakers. The only way to avoid all tie-breaker scenarios is for them to win out. They’ll have to do it this week without their two best players who get a much needed breather after that epic Monday Night shoot-out. Old man Brady gets the call to start at QB. We don’t blame Dave, there are not a lot of QB options left out there. We know, we checked. But we’ve been picking against Brady’s fantasy team all year and we’re not gonna stop now. GOLDEN RICHARDS WINS!!!!!!!!!!!! POLK HIGH PANTHERS vs TEAM MEH What’s at stake: Polk High moves into 6th with a win and snickers OR Gentrifiers loss Polk High Panthers will not be eliminated with a loss, and with a 6-win ceiling they’ll need to get into a tie-breaker scenario to get in. Right now they are the highest scoring under .500 team so as soon as Dave or Doug slip up Matt is right in there. POLK HIGH PANTHERS WINS!!!!!!!!!!!! RANDALL CUMMINGHAM vs QUE LASTIMA What’s at stake: Ertz Elimination Ertz is the only team that can be eliminated this week. There are two ways for Ertz to be OUT this week: (1) Loss to Randall, or (2) Gentrifiers and snickers win. But with a win and help they could be on their way to a spot in the five-win Royal Rumble, and that win should give QL the tie-breaker over both Randall and Gentrifiers. Randall has the same 6-win ceiling at PHP and also will not be eliminated with a loss. They’ll be looking to put up a big score win or lose because they will definitely need tie-breakers to get in. ¡QUE LáSTIMA WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!! AND DON’T FORGET TO VOTE FOR THE DYM AWARDS!!!