Phil's Weekly Awards 2020 - Week 8

I believe this is how it stands after week 8 but after my awards snafu last week, I’m not taking anything I do as certain!

The Seahawks drop out of the bye slot to be replaced by my Eagles and the Beavers and the Fireflies flip position in the next best record places. The Pythons claim the 6th place HPS spot and that would result in a Oxford derby playoff game!

The Chargers now have a clear lead for the 1st overall pick, it’s just a shame that it belongs to Olly and Jason owns the 9th and 11th pick as it stands.

Every team, apart from the Chargers (Sorry Jason), are still in with a chance of making the playoffs as both the 6th team, and the 11th team have 3-5 records and there is only just over 100 points between the PF column.

There are only 5 weeks of the regular season left which makes this weeks round of divisional games even more important. If things break a certain way, a Bandits win and a Spartans loss, the Bandits will have all but wrapped up the North with a 4 game lead with 4 to go. The same can be said in the Midlands if my Eagles beat the Chargers and the Otters beat the Fireflies. The South would have to wait another week in their case.

The Buzzsaw: Chippenham Beavers

In a week where the scores were fairly low, there was one team who didn’t get the message! The Beavers scored 163.74 points which was 58 points better than the second placed Spartans and was so good that if the Sandslashers and the Seahawks joined forces they would only have won by 2 points. I mean if they played ALL of their starters, not pooled them! If Tom had given Dalvin Cook the week off, he still would have won the Buzzsaw!

This score also makes them the highest average scorers of the season so far but just two weeks ago they scored just 66 points and so the bye week is very, very important for the Beavers as it reduces the chances of one of those off weeks. To do that, they have to catch up to the Seahawks who have a 2 game lead in the South and guess who they have in week 9…?

Gateshead Spartans - 🏆
Chippenham Beavers - 🏆🏆🏆
Nottingham Bandits - 🏆
Flitwick Fireflies - 🏆
Oxford Pythons - 🏆
Andover Sandslashers - 🏆

Highest Point Scorer - Chippenham Beavers

Wasn’t the Packers defense meant to be good? Dalvin Cook rushed for 163 yards, caught 63 yards and combined for 4 TDs for a crazy 47.6 points in week 8. Tom’s faith in Dalvin is paying off this season as he is the 2nd highest RB, had his bye week and staying healthy. Upcoming games against the Lions, Bears, Cowboys, Panthers and Jags means that this score might not be beaten, but he could get close and that can carry the Beavers towards the playoffs. A problem might be Dalvin’s playoff run is against the Buccs, (Bears) and Saints who are better against the run but I’ve said it multiple times, Championship winning teams do it on the back of a standout running back.

CORRECTION FOR WEEK 7

Sorry Scott, I have no idea what bastardised version of the player stats page I had loaded up last week but the true winner was Josh with Tyler Lockett with 45.5 points. Even Russ Wilson and Mayfield were between Jeff Wilson and Robinson, so I still can’t figure it out.

Wigan Wombats – 🏆
Chippenham Beavers – 🏆🏆
Nottingham Bandits - 🏆🏆
Lurgan Leopards - 🏆
Flitwick Fireflies - 🏆
Oxford Pythons - 🏆

Unluckiest Loser - Oxford Pythons

Back to back awards here for Olly and the Pythons. Last week was a difficult loss to the Oxford rivals with the 4th highest score of the week and this week was an improvement with the 3rd highest score of the week but this time the opponent Spartans got the 2nd highest score. The Otters win with the 8th highest score to match the Pythons record but do you want to know how unlucky the Pythons have been this season?

The Pythons have outscored the Seahawks four times and been outscored 4 times and overall have scored 1 point more overall, yet the Seahawks sit atop the South with a 6-2 record and the Pythons have a 3-5 record and only making the playoffs as the highest point scorer.

Another example but this time showing the differences between the divisions?

Chippenham Beavers - 🏆
Gateshead Spartans - 🏆🏆
Coventry Eagles - 🏆
Andover Sandslashers - 🏆
Wigan Wombat - 🏆
Oxford Pythons - 🏆🏆

Closest Matchup - Gateshead Spartans

You want to win this award? Play the Pythons!

The Seahawks edged the Pythons last week and this week the Spartans won by just 0.34 points! If Nelson Agholor had caught a single pass at the line of scrimmage, the Spartans lose but this is the game we play and weirdly the win keeps the Spartans in the race for the North at 4-4 but the Pythons are the ones making the playoffs even though they are 3-5.

It was a week of close results (apart from the Chargers vs Beavers) my Eagles won by 6.5, the Seahawks won by 15.7, the Wombats won by 5.56 and the Otters won by 12.7

Congratulations in advance to the Sandslashers for winning this award next week.

Oxford Seahawks – 🏆🏆
Coventry Eagles – 🏆🏆
Flitwick Fireflies – 🏆
Oxford Pythons - 🏆
Gateshead Spartans - 🏆🏆

Most Impactful Injury - Nottingham Bandits

This is a week which seemed quieter than most on the injury front but that didn’t mean that everyone escaped unscathed.

My WR corp took another blow with TY Hilton leaving the game early with a groin injury but to be honest if you looked at his stat line for the season, you might not have been able to tell!

The Oxford Seahawks lost Kenny Golladay to a hip injury and that is a blow as he has been a consistent double digit scorer since his return to the Lions in week 3. Having Hopkins come back off a bye and the “emergence” of Davis, Moore and Mooney means Dan can survive until Kenny G comes back as Gallup might be thrown to by Cooper Rush this week.

The biggest injury this week was so impactful that the Bandits dealt with it before waivers even cleared! George Kittle’s fantasy season is over after going on IR, what is it with Jimmy G throwing him balls that leave him exposed (although this one wasn’t as bad as the last one!)? This would have left the Bandits with just Jordan Akins, who is the TE21, so they pulled off a trade with the trying-to-tank-but-just-keep-winning Wombats sending Kittle and OBJ over for Davante Adams and Noah Fant.

The award goes to the Bandits, not because the Kittle injury will make them suffer but because it forced them into a trade which I think makes them not just better now but also in the long term.

Gateshead Spartans – 🏆🏆🏆
Coventry Eagles – 🏆
Oxford Pythons – 🏆
Chippenham Beavers – 🏆
Lurgan Leopards - 🏆
Nottingham Bandits - 🏆

Worst Decision - Oxford Pythons

Which QB would you rather start? The one averaging 21 points per week and up against the Steelers 7th ranked defense or the one averaging 25 points per week and up against the Broncos 16th ranked defense? Olly chose Lamar Jackson over Justin Herbert and it cost him the win against the Spartans. Jackson hasn’t stormed the league like he did last year and Herbert is the flashy new thing, so I understand the resistance to chase the points and it is hard to bench and MVP, but Herbert would be getting wins for the Pythons right now. This reason gets the award.

Michael chose to start a Vikings running back but unfortunately Dalvin didn’t let Mattison see anything more than a couple of touches and only 0.8 points. Zach Moss followed up his good week against the Jets with an even better week against the Patriots and the running back on the other side of the field, Harris would have also gotten the points the Fireflies needed to get the win.

The Wombats weren’t just lucky with their opponents roster, they had some luck of them own as they still started Tim Patrick even though he was added to the inactives list before the game. That zero didn’t end up costing them the win and to be fair, the pickings on the bench were slim!

Chippenham Beavers - 🏆
Gateshead Spartans - 🏆
Andover Sandslashers – 🏆🏆
Lurgan Leopards – 🏆🏆
Oxford Pythons - 🏆🏆