WEEK 9 REVIEW
An insane week in the Pit League has caused a bit of an upheaval in the standings and in the playoff chances for many teams, with 5 teams now having 85+% playoff chances and a number of teams losing ground on the playoffs despite winning their game. The Kitchin Divsion saw Peach rise to the top and all but secure her spot in the playoffs, while contenders SD3 and TripleDeac suddenly feel a little heat behind them. Let's take a look at how it all went down in Week 9.
WEEK 9 STATS
WEEK 9 MATCHUPS
Goon Squad 68.72–65.5 Carolina WacDarnolds
Pick yourself enough times, one of them will pay off. I finally got back to winning ways in the Pit League, although it likely is going to be too little, too late. Matt Ryan finally had the type of performance that would have made me look like a genius for waiting on a QB so long in the draft and Dalvin Cook and Tee Higgins did just enough to get me over the line against a Ph team who was desperate for a win to stay alive in the playoff hunt. Unfortunately for Ph, big days from Hollywood Brown and DeVonta Smith weren't quite enough scoring punch to get to a victory, taking Ph to 4-5 on the season and likely out of serious contention for a playoff spot. Condolences Ph, but a great bounceback season from you nonetheless.
Lone Wolf 66.38–87.8 Barça
In probably the toughest matchup of the week in the Kitchin Divison, Lone Wolf took on league leader Barça and as one would imagine, the season-long difficulties continued for Lone Wolf. Week 9 was a devastating bye week for Wolf on top of continued injuries to Russell Wilson and Derrick Henry, leaving a skeleton squad of has-beens and never-wases to trot out and try to take down Barça. Unfortunately, even though Barça decided to go the zero-QB route this week with Goff on bye and Kyler a late scratch, he had more than enough firepower with the return of CMC and a massive performance from James Conner to take the victory. It really has been a season to forget for Wolf, but despite the continued disappointment, there still is a semi-feasible path forward. It would require pretty much winning out, but the teams on the schedule fortuitously (or not) are playoff contenders as well and thus any gain for Wolf is a loss for a direct rival. It'll be hard going and Wolf is teetering on elimination as it stands, but hope is not totally lost for salvaging what remains of this season.
SD3 56.78–67.1 W-S DeacHawk
This battle between wildcard rivals won't be replayed on ESPN Classic, but it does have significant playoff implications heading into the final stretch of games. SD3's team pretty much across the board had weeks to forget, resulting in a bottom overall Week 9 scoring performance and a loss to DeacHawk. It's a tough loss to swallow for SD3 as he really only had one bye week casualty and got a creditable performance from Trevor Siemian, but significant underperformance from Austin Ekeler and DJ Moore doomed him in an otherwise very winnable week. SD3 is left with the 7th best playoff odds, placing him in the 8th seed spot (shoutout Davis Division) and in a precarious position moving forward. DeacHawk is on the rise with three straight wins and would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, though his tough division continues to pose some problems. Both teams will hope to maintain their current positions, but neither can feel comfortable.
Pitt County Pinfish 63.98–94.88 Jive Turkeys
A top scoring Week 9 performance meant that no one was beating redwing this week, but TripleDeac and his Pinfish will still feel they should have put up a better fight. Only Ivermectin truther Kirk Cousins and his #1 WR Justin Jefferson put up a winning performance for the Pinfish; everyone else really didn't give their all and it showed. Triple came out of the blocks hot and was leading the league after Week 4, but since that high of highs, he has lost 3 of 5 and his last three weekly performances have ranged from abysmal to extremely disappointing. The cushion he had after his hot start has diminished to almost nothing, and he maintains his current playoff position by the grace of those early season matchup tiebreakers alone. But the cracks that started to form a few weeks ago are looking like full blown crevasses now and Triple will have to arrest his decline posthaste if he wants to maintain his playoff spot.
FAMILY CORNER
Deacon Peach 93.18–67.98 Lazy-Eyed Psychos
I didn't have enough faith in myself to put it into my guesses, but I will give myself some credit for calling Peach's performance in the Week 9 preview. Peach took advantage of Dak's return and Jonathan Taylor's matchup against the Jets to put up her fourth straight win and take sole possession of first place in the Kitchin Division. Peach continues to be possibly the most consistent team in the league with only really one week that could be considered subpar the whole year. This consistency has served her well and has allowed her to slowly climb the division standings and even move her into the top 4 season scorers. I don't want to make any bold predictions yet as there is still plenty of season left, but Peach looks strong and with some family strength behind her, who knows where this season might end up going.
GOONER'S GALLANT GUESSES
Another week, another above .500 performance. Just keep swimming, there might be redemption for this season yet.
Congrats to all our Week 9 winners, see you later this afternoon for the Week 10 preview!
