BOYS we are shaping up for a fantastic finish here. 7 teams are squarely in the playoff hunt, just one week's results away from being in or out of the postseason. Honestly, shoutout to Austin, Ryan, and John Luke (the Trash Pile, if you recall from last week) for letting everyone else rack up wins on them to give us this thrilling ending. Four weeks left, and lots of matchups to go. I told you guys I would consider doing playoff scenarios for this week, but I forgot that the possibility of Top5s makes the outcomes like a trillion times more variable so I'm still not doing it for this week. Bascially... Jake Tmo Mike and Collin need to win to be in. That's the gist of it. ESPN seems to think that Ryan and John Luke are mathematically eliminated but I couldn't work that math out (though they basically are, let's be real). This week we have a couple key matchups that I'll cover here:

GAMES TO WATCH

#T5 Tyler vs #3 TK

TK can't fall farther than a tie for 4th this week, but joining that mess would be... not ideal. Tyler is in a fight with Collin, Jake, and Mike to keep the dream alive, and to break out of his funk. Tyler is on a 4-week down streak, going 1-7 in that frame after starting the year 11-3. TK is in a similar boat, on a 4-6 run after a 10-2 start. Both of these teams will be looking for a big win to right the ship and get things in order before the postseason.

#2 Tyler vs #T5 Jake

Garrett squeezed out a miracle win against TK and gains ground on Nathan for the top seed, and is averaging almost 16 PPG more than Jake. This should be a breeze, but Jake has had a knack this season for keeping scores low. Jake has averaged only 112.4 points against per game this season, second only to Collin for the lowest in the league. Garrett comes in at third for that same metric, so this may be a low-scoring affair. Jake will have to go from beating the #1 team to immediately try and beat the #2 team.

King of the Hill

A few key points to pay attention to here. One, Mike is out and Tyler is on the brink with two strikes. Two, Garrett has had two strikes since Week 3 and has held on so far. Three, Nathan remains clean, and if he fumbles this bag he doesn't deserve a playoff run. Four and finally, there will be only one strike per week moving forward. Would love to see this go all the way to Week 15 but TBD if yall can make that happen.

PREVIEWS

John Luke 123.94 - 81.34 Ryan

You know, you may say "well SOMEONE had to win this game" and while you'd be right, you're overlooking a pretty significant part this game played in the grand scheme of things. John Luke beat out Jake for a Top 5 by 1.16 points, keeping Jake at 1-1 on the week and in a tie for 5th instead of 4th. While these two teams have had bad seasons and spirits may be low, playing spoiler like that can (and does) still have a huge impact. I don't have anything else to say about these teams... because fuck you JL for taking my point, but I had to bring that up.

Austin 155.66 - 98.4 Tyler

Tmo, you know I want to be happy to see you stumble becuase I don't want you winning another trophy (Tyler has a 60% win rate in postseason games, that scares me), but it woouuullllddd be nice to see you not go out with such a whimper. Now, Austin put up big numbers this week so the loss itself is one of those "eh, win some lose some" things, but you're averaging under 100 PPG in the last three weeks. Shape up, I need you to beat TK and Collin (not me though pls). Austin, is you're team actually better without Lamb? Two straight weeks of over 130+ with wins, and Nathan just lost with him. Maybe he's a bad luck charm, after all in the last 4 years he's never even made the AFFL playoffs, let alone any hardware. Really makes you think, huh? (Nathan if you want to get rid of your back luck charm just text me I'll do my commish duties and facilitate it).

Mike 109.68 - 166.68 Collin

Collin with a STATEMENT. 166 points, SIX players over 20 points headlined by a 35.8 point game from Saquon Barkley. When you can have a TE score literally 0 points and still put up 160+, you've had some dogs come out to eat. Even the Texans D got in on the action with 20 points. The big points are not just good for wins and Top 5s, if there's a mess of teams tied at the end of the year, points scored is a tiebreaker after H2H, so these big outings are important. Mike lost, 0-2 on the week, but its not a nail in his coffin. He sits at 7th, 1 point behind Jake and Tmo and 2 behind Collin, but he's got Austin and Ryan due up next to hopefully get him on the right track. He ends the season with TK and Nathan, so getting some wins now and putting himself in a more stable position will be huge. Also, Collin alone has accounted for 3 of Mike's 6 losses this season. Get fucked Mike.

Nathan 120.54 - 122.78 Jake

In an improbable result, Jake held off Nathan by a hair on Monday night, as CeeDee Lamb couldn't quite bring it home for Nathan in the 4th quarter of the Cowboys blowout loss. While Alvin Kamara (12.9) and Lamar Jackson (15.88) didn't explode, Jake saw some promising return to form from Tyreek Hill and a surprise performance from Jauan Jennings to get jjuuusssssttttt enough to hold an equally-underperforming Nathan at bay. Ravens man... did us both dirty this week. While its never good to lose, Nathan has nothing but blue skies ahead, facing both John Luke and Ryan in his last four games on his way to his first playoff appearance. Jake... well the hits keep coming for Jake. Garrett this week, Tmo next week, rival Austin and TK to finish off the year.

Garrett 145.48 - 143.68 TK

Wow yall WHAT a game. Garrett was down 35.5 entering MNF with only Joe Mixon left, and he sure did deliver. 109 yards and 3 tuddies for 37.3 points made what looked like a sure win for TK a heartbreak, and a blow to the playoff dreams. TK still got a top 5, not a total loss, but its sad to put up 140+ and lose, we've all been there. Brock Bowers (31.3) and Ja'Marr Chase (26.5) are still elite, Herbert is reliable. James Cook is reliably strong, TK doesn't have to lose sleep, but man oh man that one hurts. The win for Garrett is huge, and he now sits only 1 point behind Nathan with JL and Ryan both left on the schedule. While TK only has Austin to breathe easy on.

Are You Better than the Georgia Bulldogs?

Damn boys the DAWGS were rolling in real life and on the fantasy gridiron this week. Only Austin and Collin escaped without another loss. Go mf Dawgs baby.