Welcome to Week 17

I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday season so far. We still have our final sweats falling on New Years so lets start 2024 off with a bang!

I want to take a moment to discuss a couple hot topics. If you spend anytime on fantasy football twitter two prevailing topics have seen an abundance of attention these past couple weeks; pod luck in best ball and women in fantasy sports. As an avid female best ball player, I feel I can speak to both these topics.

First off in regards to the best ball pods, stop with the complaining and take some accountability, educate yourself on what you are signing up for despite how +EV of a drafter you believe you are. These lotto contests are hard, advancing any teams to the finals is hard. If you happen to advance any teams to week 17, be happy and grateful you get shots on goal, but understand these are still large finals and the majority of the time you will not walk away a millionaire. If you want more realistic odds of winning learn more about contest selection.

But hey I get it, playing these giant lotto contests with life changing money is fun, so have fun! Stop agonizing that your top scoring team would advance in any other pod, or whining how certain individuals have all the pod luck. The truth is if you play any volume of best ball over multiple seasons you should see both sides of the coin here. I have snuck a team through that was lucky to make it and had many strong teams fall short because they were facing off against other alpha teams for the week. As Pete Overzet astutely points out in his P.O. Box newsletter “This variance is a feature, not a bug.” I highly recommend checking out this piece for a fresh realistic perspective on the matter.

Now to discuss the elephant in the room, which as a female with a platform in the fantasy community, I feel some obligation to at least address this topic. Here are my words of caution and advise to any women out there who want to get more involved in the fantasy football community. Believe people when they show you who they really are and be careful who you choose to surround yourself within the fantasy space. There should not be this big unsurmountable gender mountain to climb, things should not be that hard… when you find your voice, your people, your community it should feel easy and natural.

I am not looking to harp on the negative here, and refuse to expend my energy in a back and forth with any individuals who don’t see women as belonging or lesser than. What I will say as I begin to delve deeper into the fantasy space as a content creator is that I want to be a representative of a strong female voice and open the door for more women out there who are passionate about fantasy sports. All the people I have worked with in the fantasy football community have been amazing, and have never once questioned my ability and intelligence because I am a woman.

Now let’s check out these high stakes teams!

A Look at Week 16

Heading into the final stretch it is easy to get caught up in all the feelings. Looking at some of these teams there are huge expectations for some, while others may already feel a bit like a lost cause.

How far up the leader board is it possible to climb in a week? This tweet from fantasymojo gave me a glimmer of hope… time to channel my inner sun runner and repeat the mantra “Week 17 is all that matters.”

NFFC Primetime

Buckeye Boomers 93rd Place 438.27 pts (+44 spots)

The Boomers had a solid week that could have been spectacular. Several fantasy assets that put up huge scores the week prior busted, while some season long busts went off on benches everywhere (yes, George Pickens is on the bench). Sam LaPorta, Davante Adams, and Travis Etienne were big time busts this week, while Bijan Robinson and Breece Hall were big time bounce backs. This team has all the ingredients we just need them to come together for Week 17.

Waiver Chasing 92nd Place 439.47 pts (+111 spots)

I am very proud of this team, we were pretty big underdogs in this fight and have clawed our way up the leaderboard. Our running backs went off in a big way for us Breece Hall. Jahmyr Gibbs and D’Andre Swift both had drives where they were tackled at the one-yard line and could have done even better (yes, it hurts). Having down weeks from Deebo Samuel and Travis Kelce really hurt as well. Heading into week 17 I do think there is a huge potential for this team to go boom. The Jets have a difficult matchup against the Browns, but I love this as a big bounce back spot for Deebo against the Commanders. I am holding out hope that this is the week we see a glimpse of the old Kelce, as the Bengals give up an average 15.6 fantasy points to the TE position (2nd most). What an epic story this team would be with a top finish.

NFFC Super 12 Team

Shark Jumping 1st Place 466.41 pts (no change)

Shark Jumping held onto its first place spot through week 16, however the gap did get much closer where the second place team is only 15.4 pts behind. This team has several 49ers (Purdy, CMC, Aiyuk) and Sam LaPorta, so it is not surprising it had a bit of a down week in scoring. I love the 49er matchup this week with Washington and I think Detroit/Dallas game could shoot out as well boasting the highest total on the week with 53.5. I feel all the good vibes for this team heading into the final week.

NFFC Silver Bullet

Ship Chasing Single Bullet 16th Place 448.49 pts (-9 spots)

The Single Bullet team took a big hit this week, but a top finish remains a very achievable outcome with a strong week. This team features many players who have been boom/bust all year but Lamar Jackson and Ravens defense feels like a strong combo. It does not feel far fetched at all to imagine coupling this start with the right combination of WRs in Cooper Kupp, Nico Collins, DeVonta Smith, Chris Godwin, and maybe Keenan Allen to put up a huge score and bring home a top prize.

FFPC Main Event

Chasin’ Go Bills 192nd Place 448.97 pts (-163 spots)

I discussed in the opening my feelings that too many people make excuses and cannot accept accountability, however, there are those times that people have a legitimate reason to feel cheated and unlucky. This team personifies bad beats and heart break…what could have been is a haunting melody. The first round of the playoffs this team hung onto the 29th spot despite not having a quarterback. We thought CJ Stroud would return last week, but we were wrong and had to play a second straight week without a QB. This week the team was not so lucky and the other players could not carry the load and now could lose Jaylen Waddle and could struggle to fill the flex position. Now for optimism, Stroud should return and the team is not so out of reach that it couldn’t still make some noise in Week 17.

SC (Mini Episodes) 162nd Place 454.53 pts (-99 spots)

After agonizing over decisions to decide if we should start Geno and DK Metcalf over Tua and both 49ers, and how to parse through Deebo/Aiyuk, ultimately the correct decision was made. The other huge decision point of the week was between Jaylen Warren and Raheem Mostert, blissfully unaware it was James Cook who deserved the axe in this one. The mini episodes team is a bit further back than we would like, however is setup for a strong finish as previously discussed 49ers play Commanders this week, and Dallas has the highest game total of the week setting up Ceedee Lamb beautifully. The Eagles should be very motivated here and also have a great matchup against the Cardinals. Let’s make some noise boys and set off some fireworks!

Five Horsemen 404th Place 420.23 pts (+232 spots)

The Horsemen were the most improved team of the week, climbing more than 200 spots up the leaderboard thanks to a 43 point alpha Breece Hall performance. Unfortunately, Brock Purdy and Sam LaPorta were huge disappointments in a week they were needed the most. Can this team make a late rally in the sprint… anything is possible if you believe.

StephWuGee 170th Place 453.54pts (-14 spots)

My main event team dropped a couple spots, but ultimately feels close to same position as the previous week. We were so close to having a bigger week but lost Jordan Addison to a season ending ankle injury and sat Miami kicker, Jason Sanders, who kicked 5 field goals (3 were 50+ yds)! I have to give my teammates a bit of a hard time on that leverage piece, but its all in fun. The team still feels very strong and could finish with a bang, despite losing some players the last 2 weeks. We still have strong a strong wide receiver room with Amon Ra, DeVonta Smith, Nico Collins, Jakobi Meyers, and maybe Keenan Allen; solid RB options with Chubba Hubbard, Jaylen Warren, Ken Walker, and Chase Brown, and a break out TE in David Njoku. I can feel this is a team of destiny LFG!

Scott Fish Bowl 13

Stephmiller40 201st Place 314.42 pts

This is the end of the road, parting is such sweet sorrow. I had a great run but could not overcome DJM, Davante Adams, and Brock Purdy, but hey I finally started Tee Higgins in the right spot. I had a lot of fun this year participating in the live draft event and making new friends and reconnecting with others in our 3s strategy chats. I hope to attend another live event next year.