Nine weeks into the Soleil Fantasy Football season, and things are getting interesting. The AFC has a Pigskins problem, the NFC has a Jim who apparently forgot how to lose, and somewhere in the league, Eric is still trying to find an extra 0.53 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With 24 teams battling for bragging rights, Week 9 delivered everything we love about fantasy football: dominant performances, heartbreaking losses, impressive winning streaks, and a few managers who might want to avoid checking their scores until next Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s a new sheriff atop the overall standings, and his name is Jim Meeder<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jim’s 2-Min Drill<\/strong> improved to 8-1<\/strong>, claiming the No. 1 overall ranking with 1,123.96 season points<\/strong> and an impressive eight-game winning streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But don’t start engraving the trophy just yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diane’s Pigskins<\/strong> are also 8-1<\/strong>, sitting second overall after posting a league-leading 138.64 points<\/strong> in Week 9. Diane now has three consecutive victories and remains firmly in control of the AFC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two conference leaders are separated by just 41.48 season points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jim may have the throne, but Diane is standing nearby with a football and a very convincing argument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And let’s not forget Eric’s Buzzing Jackets<\/strong>, sitting third overall at 7-2<\/strong> while leading the entire 24-team league with 1,154.50 points scored<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s right. Eric has scored more points than anyone in Soleil, yet somehow finds himself looking up at two teams in the standings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fantasy football has never been particularly interested in fairness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Week 9 had a signature moment, it belonged to Carol and Eric<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol’s Ground & Pound<\/strong> defeated Eric’s Buzzing Jackets<\/strong> by the microscopic score of 121.74 to 121.22<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A difference of 0.52 points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol didn’t just win the closest game in either conference. She also posted the NFC’s highest score of the week and snapped Eric’s four-game winning streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine scoring 121.22 points, feeling pretty good about your lineup, and then discovering that Carol found an extra half-point hiding somewhere in the couch cushions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eric probably would have preferred a 40-point blowout. At least then he could have turned off the television and gone to bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, he’ll spend the week wondering whether one more receiving yard could have saved his Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol improves to 7-2<\/strong>, joining the crowded group chasing Jim for the NFC lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eric remains 7-2<\/strong> as well, although his blood pressure may have a considerably worse record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Carol and Eric were arguing over decimal points, Diane<\/strong> was busy putting up the biggest number in Soleil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pigskins scored 138.64 points<\/strong>, defeating Steve’s Let’s Go!!<\/strong> squad, 138.64 to 92.38<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s 46.26 points<\/strong> of separation and another reminder that Diane is not particularly interested in close games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steve, meanwhile, has now lost five straight and sits at 1-8<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diane’s performance earns her the Week 9 Soleil Scoring Crown<\/strong>, with Carol’s 121.74 and Eric’s 121.22 rounding out the week’s top three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two managers apparently missed the memo about keeping games competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the AFC, Touchdown Dance Denise<\/strong> crushed Brian’s Brown Paper Baggers<\/strong>, 120.26 to 64.16<\/strong>, producing the largest winning margin anywhere in Soleil this week: 56.10 points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over in the NFC, John Fowler’s FowlBall<\/strong> handled Dan’s Waddle We Talking About Here<\/strong>, 100.66 to 54.42<\/strong>, a 46.24-point<\/strong> victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brian and Dan combined for 118.58 points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To put that into perspective, Carol scored 121.74 all by herself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s right. One manager outscored two entire teams combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brian may need a stronger paper bag, and Dan might want to check whether his players knew there was a game scheduled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Denise improves to 6-3<\/strong>, while John moves to 7-2<\/strong> with six consecutive victories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both are looking dangerous. Brian and Dan, meanwhile, are looking for answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few managers are making winning look suspiciously easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jim Meeder<\/strong> leads the way with eight consecutive victories, followed by John Fowler<\/strong> with six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the AFC, Deb’s Gray-t Gridiron<\/strong> has won five straight, while Jim Kappes’ Fantasy Force<\/strong> has won four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n David McCleskey’s Senior Football<\/strong> has quietly put together three consecutive victories and improved to 6-3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then there’s Dave<\/strong>, whose five-game winning streak ended courtesy of Jim Kappes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apparently, Out of My Way<\/em> doesn’t work when Jim refuses to move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With both conferences tightening up, these winning streaks are becoming more than bragging rights. They’re shaping the race toward the postseason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not every close game involved Carol and Eric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overtime RICHARD<\/strong> edged Rick’s Motor City Cats<\/strong>, 100.30 to 96.56<\/strong>, a margin of just 3.74 points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In most weeks, that would be the kind of finish everyone talks about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately for Richard, Carol and Eric decided to settle their matchup with the fantasy equivalent of a photo finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, a win is a win. Richard improves to 5-4<\/strong>, while Rick drops to 3-6<\/strong> after a third consecutive loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Richard gets the victory. Rick gets another week of wondering what went wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For once, the AFC and NFC agree on something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kenneth Walker III<\/strong> earned Best Performing Player honors in both conferences with 34.3 fantasy points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s the kind of performance that can make a fantasy manager feel like a genius, even if the decision to start him was simply because everyone else was injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the opposite end of the spectrum, the AFC recognized Adonai Mitchell<\/strong> for a score of 0<\/strong>, while the NFC featured Mike Washington Jr.<\/strong> at -0.3 points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Negative points deserve special recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s one thing to contribute nothing. It’s another to actually subtract from your team’s total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some players help you win. Others make you wonder whether leaving the roster spot empty would have been a better strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the leaders are dreaming about championships, several teams are having a very different kind of season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brooke View Trailblazers (Sheila and Mitch)<\/strong> sit at 1-8<\/strong> and occupy the No. 24 spot overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan’s Waddle We Talking About Here<\/strong> is also 1-8<\/strong>, sitting 23rd after scoring the league’s lowest Week 9 total of 54.42 points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris on 3<\/strong> and Steve’s Let’s Go!!<\/strong> round out the other two 1-8 teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is still time to finish the season with some pride, spoil somebody else’s playoff hopes, and remind everyone that even a struggling team can ruin a contender’s Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides, somebody has to keep the waiver wire interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Week 9 in the books, Soleil has two 8-1<\/strong> conference leaders: Jim Meeder in the NFC and Diane in the AFC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the chasing pack isn’t exactly small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eric, Deb, Jim Kappes, Carol, and John<\/strong> are all 7-2<\/strong>, waiting for an opportunity to move up. Denise, David McCleskey, and Dave aren’t far behind at 6-3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One upset could shake up the entire top ten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One missed catch could change a playoff race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And as Eric learned this week, sometimes half a point is all that separates celebration from staring silently at your phone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Week 10 is coming, and nobody is safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Except perhaps the managers facing Brian or Dan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But even they should probably set their lineups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until next week, may your starters stay healthy, your bench stay quiet, and your opponents forget to check their injury reports.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two Jims, One Throne, a Half-Point Heartbreaker, and a Paper Bag Full of Problems Nine weeks into the Soleil Fantasy Football season, and things are getting interesting. The AFC has a Pigskins problem, the NFC has a Jim who apparently forgot how to lose, and somewhere in the league, Eric is still trying to find…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","iawp_total_views":15,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-around-the-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sffleague.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sffleague.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sffleague.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sffleague.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sffleague.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sffleague.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":429,"href":"https:\/\/sffleague.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions\/429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sffleague.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sffleague.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sffleague.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Half-Point Heard Around Soleil<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Diane Wins the Weekly Scoring Crown<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Denise and John Bring the Wrecking Balls<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Streaks Are Getting Serious<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Richard Wins the AFC Nail-Biter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kenneth Walker III Steals the Player Spotlight<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Other End of the Standings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Looking Ahead: The Race Is On<\/h3>\n\n\n\n