The BEN Fantasy Football Newsletter

NOTE: Any rankings appearing before names in this edition refer to ESPN power rankings, not my own rankings nor the actual fantasy standings. Additionally, last week’s ranking will be used to recap the below matchups, and the new rankings will be used near the bottom where the Power Rankings and the preview for this week’s matchups are.

Week 11 came and went, so let’s recap what happened.

DOWN GOES #1! Johnny grabs a huge win over the best team in the league, and in dominant fashion. Scoring 174.68 points sets the record for the highest score in any week this year. Josh Allen had an amazing 42.68, Derrick Henry returned to form with 20.2, George Pickens exploded for 29.4, and Tetairoa McMillan scored a career high 33! Outbursts anywhere! The only blemish was Kyle Pitts Sr. only scoring 3.4 points. Drake London also had 18.9 points, but the unfortunate news is that he will miss at least one week with an injury, and with Michael Penix Jr. going down for the season for the Falcons and Kirk Cousins taking his place, he might have to wonder if Drake London comes back the same way he’s been playing. But no time to wonder, beating #1 this way is always a cause for celebration.

You’re bound to lose one week. It happened to Mohit last season after going on an 8-game winning streak. This will put an end to 7-game winning streak. Patrick Mahomes only had 13.34. Playing Nick Chubb caught up to him this week, only dropping 1.7 points. Ja’Marr Chase had 6 points. Chargers Defense scored one negative point. On the other hand, Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 20.6 unsurprisingly, Travis Kelce had 20.7, De’Von Achane had 21.5 (despite being projected for 27.9!), and Jason Meyers the kicker had 13.8. Now 120.74 points is nothing to panic about but when you run into a buzzsaw, you don’t come out the other side alive. And for many weeks Sudais was that buzzsaw, but this week he got a taste of his own medicine (to the greatest degree). And to add to all that, Ja’Marr Chase is now suspended for next week’s game, so Sudais will have to manage that in a critical matchup next week versus Carson all while Luke is looking over his shoulder for the #1 spot.

Mohit gets back into the winning column in a low-scoring affair. James Cook III bounced back this week, scoring 20.4 points. But that might have been the only great thing that happened for his team. Jalen Hurts disappointed with 14.5, and Jaylen Warren disappointed even more with 8.7 points despite being projected 19 against the Bengals D-line, a running back’s dream right now. Now part of that is due to an injury mid game, so Mohit will have to monitor that going forward. Ladd McConkey only had 4.3 points, which would have mattered a lot had it not been for Justin Herbert being the opposing QB Mohit was facing. But on the bright side, Evan McPherson made his debut for Mohit’s team after finally parting ways with Wil Lutz (who, on cue, scored a season high 19 points, go figure), and scored 9 points. A win is a win, especially at this stage of the season.

After winning two weeks in a row, he has now lost in the worst way possible. Caden’s team only scored 76.04 points, the lowest he has scored this season. Kyren Williams did have 16.6 points and Tee Higgins followed with 15.3. Dalton Schultz also had 11.1 points. But the other performances were just awful. Justin Herbert must have forgotten about his game, as he only scored 3.34 points! Emeka Egbuka only had 9, Rachaad White was overshadowed by Sean Tucker and only scored 8.2, and the Falcons defense scored a negative point (Editor’s note: I saw that coming from a mile way). And worst of all, Josh Jacobs only scored 4 points before suffering an injury, and he will at least be questionable going into next week. For scoring the lowest amount of points this week among all managers, Caden will have to answer to the press this week!

A close scoring affair here, but Patrick is able to outlast this week. The difference was definitely TreVeyon Henderson, as he continues to prove he is the guy in the absence of Rhamondre Stevenson, with 32.3 points! And we can’t forget about Trey McBride, who at this point should just be considered a receiver, scoring 27.5 points. It’s a miracle he was able to claim a win despite Lamar Jackson only scoring 4.72 points!

Another close margin loss for Ryan. He had his own game-changing performer with Bijan Robinson returning to form with 30.3 points. And Chase Brown also had 18.7 points. But that is the extend of good news for him. Drake Maye had 15.44, and everyone else failed to cross double-digit performances. Ryan still shares last place with Eric at this point with a loss.

It was a great week across the board for Carson. Christian McCaffrey continues to be CMC with 35.1 points, Nico Collins had 24.2, CeeDee Lamb had 17.6, Brock Bowers had 14.2, and Stefon Diggs looked like his old self with 19.5 points! Eddy Pineiro the kicker also had 16.2 points! The only disappointing performances were the 49ers Defense with only 1 point and Breece Hall only scoring 8.4, but there’s nothing else to complain about! This was a critical win for Carson as he enters a critical stretch if he wants to compete for a top 2 finish.

Not much went right this week for Isaac. George Kittle had 24.7 points, but that’s really the only player to brag about this week. Caleb Williams only had 10.32, RJ Harvey predictably struggled in his first stint at lead back versus Kansas City, scoring only 8 points, Quinshon Judkins has appeared to slowed down, only scoring 5.9, and Kimani Vidal only had 3.2 points. Everyone else had modest contribtions, including Puka Nacua with 14.3, but Isaac’s team was no where close to competing this week.

Luke. Carter. Has won 5 straight weeks, and with Sudais losing, he’s now tied for first, with the only thing holding him back from the #1 spot is the Points Forward stat. Dak Prescott had 24.32, Jahmyr Gibbs bounced back with 19.6, Travis Etienne Jr. had 19.3, and Jameson Williams had 19.7. Those were the difference makers. With modest contributions from everyone else, including 11.3 points from the kicker Tyler Loop, Luke currently has a bye in the playoffs and is eyeing the #1 spot!

Eric got away from not doing a press conference last week due to the Commissioner’s error, but he did not get away from a loss this week. Not much went right for Eric either. The highest performer was Matthew Stafford with a measly 13.2 points. And the biggest disappointments had to have been Ashton Jeanty with 9.4 despite facing the Cowboys Defense and Davante Adams with 7.1. Rashee Rice also only scored 9.8. Another loss keeps him tied for last place with Ryan.

Let’s take a look at a trade agreed upon this week. By the time this newsletter is released, this trade will be official.

Eric receives…

Johnny receives…

Commissioner’s Opinion: I’m leaning towards Johnny winning this trade.

Week 11 of the Lucky Rankings are here. As a reminder, this is a ranking that tries to quantify how “lucky” is team over a season. As the season moves on, the more refined and accurate this data becomes. A reminder that if you end up being the most lucky team, you will infact get a trophy for it.

The farther away from 0 you are, the more lucky/unlucky you are. Alternatively, the more greener/redder you are, the more lucky/unlucky you are. 0 is the baseline, meaning your record is exactly what is expected at that point.

Let’s take a look at the ESPN Power rankings after Week 8.

There is a new #1! And here is the Commissioner’s Power Rankings:

Here’s a visual of the ESPN Power Rankings so far:

The All-Play Record is a record that shows what your cumulative record would be if your team played every other team each week.

This is an indicator that removes some of the luck involved in a head-to-head scheduling, where you play one team a week, and gives a more accurate picture of each team’s performance.

With that being said, these are the cumulative All-play Standings so far this season:

The fiery rematch is here, and the stakes are bigger than they were in Week 3. Can Carson, with his full strength roster, take advantage of the plethora of players on bye week and Ja’Marr Chase being suspended for Sudais? Or can Sudais rely on Jaxon Smith-Njigba to pull off a miracle and will Sudais a win?

The other matchups are as follows:

#7 Mohit (5-6) vs. #10 Eric (3-8)
#5 Patrick (6-5) vs. #6 Isaac (5-6)
#8 Caden (4-7) vs. #1 Luke (8-3)
#9 Ryan (3-8) vs. #4 Johnny (6-5)

Make sure you submit a question for Caden to answer in his Press Conference! Each manager can submit a question, and the more people that send a question, the better. You’re limited to one question. You can send it in the fantasy group chat, or to me if you want it to be a surprise (to be clear, Caden will know who sent what question, but the questions will not be revealed to him until close to when its time to answer them, giving him little to no time to prepare answers).

Thank you for being in this league.

By participating in this league, you agree to follow the rules. The commissioner reserves the right to issue rulings regarding league matters so long as they don’t conflict with pre-existing rules or previously proposed, but rejected, amendments. These rulings include, but are not limited to: vetoing trades despite public vote, collusion, tanking, and inactivity.