Ben: the Megatron deactivation surprised us all. But its rough to not have a viable backup plan on the bench, especially with a a DPer on BYE. Note to the CKL: players can cramp up or pull a muscle late during warmups, even AFTER FAAB runs. Prepare accordingly.
Look at me, all smug on my Sunday mid-day soap box. To be fair to myself, nothing I said was blatently wrong. But I was pointing out the wood shaving in Ben's eye while missing the two by four in my own: when you're willing and able to get creative, you don't have to start a player who is inactive.
Ben immediately went into CKL über-coach mode, sending out trade feelers to ensure he had someone to start in place of Calvin. And he managed to work something out with Rookie. And he managed to get a startable wideout in Terrance Williams. I echo Kendall's smack board sentiment: Coach of the Year type shit, Ben. Really, really well done.
Performance: Williams thrived in the Cowboys/Broncos points party to the tune of 4/151/1 for a total of 23.2 points. When you win by 7.3 after the helter skelter afternoon of FF saavegery Ben endured, nah conquered, you have to realize that Ben completely manufactured a win. Bravo.
Alan: Ginn over Royal maybe. What a mess.
Alan had nothing working for him on his bench. At the end of the contest, he had two BYEs, two inactives, a Dallas Clark doughnut, and a Johnathan Franklin one tenther sullying the screen. Its not like he really had an option. He could've Two-Faced for the Ginn/Royal decision. Perhaps he just used Kendall's FAAB Ginn picture as the deciding factor. Its an unenviable position, no doubt.
 |
| The Animated Series is my favorite Batman. |
Performance: Royal gets the FLEX start and goes for 5.2, while Ginn slightly out earns him with a 7.8. No matter when you get Glitter bombed by 25-plus.
Paul: not benching Boldin?
There has to still be a bit of manlove for Q after last year's postseason with the Ravens. But he's hurting you man. At least you have the team around him to more than make up for it. I would've considered Thompkins, Brown, and Blackmon over him this week, but it wasn't a no-brainer by any stretch of the imagination. I'm guessing we'll see more Blackmon than Boldin going forward.
Performance: Two catches, 21 yards, 2.1 points. Thompkins would've been worse, but both Brown and especially Blackmon would've been significant upgrades. No matter, you still won going away. Plus you had a ton of points on your bench. You've got to be feeling pretty good about the total squad you've developed.
Norris: any thoughts about starting Blount over Powell?
The Garrette has been averaging double digit carries for the Patriots decent run game. Powell is similarly just a guy, but he has more, and more consistent carries. You made the right call leaving Bilal in the FLEX spot over Blount.
Performance: 12 carries, 38 yards, 4.7 points for Powell. 12 carries, 51 yards, 4.1 points for Blount (he must've fumbled). Both pretty meh-to-below-average. Spiller would've been the correct call, but I get leaving him on the bench with his injury and the TNF early week time frame. Betcha you won't leave him on the bench again, though.
Nathan: seriously conflicted about Kerley over Wright.
Two considerations ultimately won me over: 1) Kerley was likely to see a bump from his already very Wright-esque numbers due to Holmes and Hill being out and/or limited. 2) I thought Atlanta would score a bunch, causing some potential catch up/garbage time bumps to Kerley's point total.
Performance: Kerley gave me all he had: 5 for 68 and a touch. Wright was a decent 6 for 74, but I ultimately make the correct decision. You have to trust the process. Unfortunately, Kerley was my lead point scorer, which obviously mean a loss for T-BEAR.
Kirk: no good FLEX options. Roll dem bones.
The FLEX spot is one of the more truly interesting calls each week in CKL 12. This has been triggered by the 14 team league, with less talent available, but also by the severe downturn in quality RB starts this season. The NFL is noticeably more pass happy this year. Which puts the teams with two legit RB starters with a great advantage. Of course, if you happen to have three starter worthy WRs, you probably aren't far behind. Kirk's options were Sidney Rice, Mike Wallace, DHB, and Delanie Walker. At least Wallace has shown something this year. But dice were probably the right method for picking someone out of this skeleton crew.
Performance: Rice: 1 catch, 8 yards, 0.8 points. I'd ALMOST rather have a player score negative points, because at least that is comical. Wallace would've been the correct call, with 10.5 points. DHB 0.7 and Walker 4.3. Pretty brutal.
Kirk: I heard Bruce Carter might've been replaced by Ernie Sims.
I'm only including this because I'm a completionist. This is one of my dumber thoughts. Both Carter and Sims played plenty.
Performance: Carter 4.2 points. Sims 4.4. I feel like such a schmoe.
Joe: love that you're rolling with Durham and Stacy. Back against the wall, do something about it, right!
And they came through for you! Durham with 3/30/1 and Stacy with 14/78. Better than anything on your bench. This is how you use the waiver wire. And you won by 2.5 points, so these guys were critical. Nice job.
Great stuff as always, Nathan. Important to point out that The Garrette is Norris' redshirt. So that probably played into the decision to start Powell.
ReplyDeleteCompletely missed that one. I'll have to start factoring that in. Another variable for the machine.
ReplyDelete