Images courtesy CBS Sports
Guided Reflection Protocol
by Jack Cherico
Week 9
Throughout his NFL career, Tom Brady has been New England fans’ Superman, an indestructible hero for the region that can beat any challenger. With his sojourn to Tampa Bay, Brady has looked great, throwing for 20 touchdowns and 2,400 yards, respectable numbers for a 43-year-old QB, especially one who is learning a new system for the first time in 20 years. Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians has made his name around the league by calling an offense of long-developing plays, like a seven-step drop, that require a big-arm quarterback. This is not at all similar to what Brady did in New England, as most of his passes were short, and within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage. Brady has adjusted well to Arians’ offense, but Superman has had one kryptonite this season.
The New Orleans Saints, led by electrifying running back Alvin Kamara, have stifled Brady and Tampa Bay’s thunder, with Brady throwing for a total of five interceptions to New Orleans, making up 71% of his INT’s for the season (7). In the Week 9 game against the Saints, Brady had a 3.8 quarterback rating, and 2.36 fantasy points, laughable for a player of his caliber. He and the Bucs look to bounce back next week against the Carolina Panthers, who almost pulled out a win against Super-Bowl candidate, the Kansas City Chiefs. With the return from injury of running back Christian McCaffrey, the Panthers only lost 33-31, off of McCaffrey’s 148-yard game and two touchdowns.
- View Week 9 Reflection Paper.docx from COMMS 101 at Edgewood College. Kay Weeden Barlow Speech 21 November 2020 Week 9 Reflection Paper Chapter 12: 1. How does language help create our sense of.
- Universalist Religions. Readings & Assignments. Mar 13: Doctrines and Institutions. McNeills, Chap IV, pp 82-108 Buddhist Texts Christian Texts Islamic Texts. Mar 15: Geographies of Faith. Conversion Documents Essay #3A Due!
- With this schedule, I will be able to discuss 2 poems per week. During guided reading time, my students and I are reading plays. I wasn't sure if I would like doing it this way, but thought I'd give it a try. I had to review it sometime, and this allows me to do guided reading and still discuss drama.
- Week 8 Recap: Not going to lie, after the early games last week, I thought it could be my worst Sunday in years. We were 3-8 heading into the afternoon slate of games and I considered packing my bags, leaving the country and moving to the mountains in South America where you’d never hear from me again. Both players I doubled down on (A.J. Brown and Jonathan Taylor) were four quick losses.
The Buffalo Bills, coming off a win against the directionless Patriots, took care of business in Seattle, with Josh Allen, an MVP candidate, outplaying Seahawks QB Russell Wilson with 415 yards and four total touchdowns. Wilson, who started off the season strong, had 390 yards and two touchdowns, but 2 interceptions and 2 fumbles sank the Seahawks, who couldn’t keep up with the Bills fast-paced offense. Seattle ended up losing 44-34 and are currently only winning the NFC West division by one game, with the Arizona Cardinals knocking at the door. The Cardinals, however, couldn’t take advantage of the Seahawks’ stumble, losing to the Miami Dolphins 34-31, off of Tua Tagovailoa’s second game in charge. Tagovailoa had two touchdowns and almost 250 yards, keeping Miami on Buffalo’s heels for the division title.
In his fourth year with the team, Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn finds himself on the hot seat, after a 2-6 start. Rookie QB Justin Herbert is doing all he can to keep LA in the game, but the Chargers defense has allowed 4 30+ point games, with only 7 turnovers on the year. Letting up 31 points to their division rivals the Denver Broncos and the Las Vegas raiders has put a damper on Herbert’s rookie year, where he is the 9th ranked fantasy quarterback on ESPN. LA had a big offseason, signing tackle Bryan Bulaga, cornerback Chris Harris Jr., and defensive tackle Linval Joseph, so they were expecting big things going into the season. If the Bolts can’t turn the season around, Lynn will be looking for a new job.
This past week, was both eye-opening and frustrating. On Wednesday, we had a teacher from another school district come to our campus to show us how to conduct guided reading groups. This teacher has trained personally with Jan Richardson, who wrote the book The Next Step in Guided Reading, so I would consider her an expert on the subject.
Week 10
On Sunday night, the Patriots faced off against the Baltimore Ravens, a matchup I highlighted at the beginning of the year. I was proved right; the game was worthy of watching, but not because of the reasons I thought. The matchup between the teams’ quarterbacks, Lamar Jackson and Cam Newton, was great to watch, but Newton only had one touchdown and 118 total yards. Jackson had a better night, with two touchdowns and 249 yards, but he mishandled multiple snaps from center Matt Skura in the rainy weather. The Patriots’ run game was the real winner, with Damien Harris running for 121 yards and Newton with a rushing touchdown. Patriots cornerback JC Jackson also extended his streak of 5 games in a row with an interception, which was enough to sink the Ravens 23-17.
The Josh Allen-led Buffalo Bills went into Arizona expecting to take care of business before their bye week, but the 5’,10″ phenomenon Kyler Murray had other plans. Allen threw for 284 passing yards, two passing TD’s, and a TD reception, while Murray had two rush TD’s, one passing TD, and threw for 245 yards. The game was back and forth the entire time, but in the fourth quarter with 36 seconds left, Allen threw a touchdown pass to Stephon Diggs that they thought would ice the game. However, Murray marched Arizona down the field and threw up a prayer into the end zone with no time on the clock. Between Bills defensive backs Jordan Poyer, Tre’davious White, and Micah Hyde, Cardinals receiver Deandre Hopkins caught the rainbow from Murray, winning the game for Arizona 32-30.
For an update on the NFL coaching hot seat, Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia has joined Anthony Lynn in being scared for his job security. Detroit squeaked by Washington on a 51-game winning field goal from kicker Matt Prater, but Detroit blew a big lead to let the Football Team back into it. Detroit has started out 4-5, and last place in the division. Patricia, a former Patriots defensive coordinator, has struggled with his time in Detroit, posting a 10-25-1 record. If he doesn’t pick up some steam going into their game against the Carolina Panthers.
It was a big few weeks for the NFL, and with the playoffs around the corner, some teams are about to punch their ticket for a chance at Super Bowl glory, while others have to look to the draft board.
Quickly jump to any page for specific intel
Week 9 Reflectionguided Reading 101 Lesson
Projected starting pitchers for the next 10 days
Hitter matchup ratings for the next 10 days
Week 9 hitting ratings
Week 9 pitcher rankings and two-start pitcher rankings
Guided Reading Workbook
So it has come to this: The final week of the 2020 Major League Baseball regular season, and with it, the fantasy baseball season. It's another busy week, 102 games in total, and it begins with a 4:10 p.m. ET Monday game between the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels at Los Angeles' Angel Stadium, and ends with that playoff-race-heightening gimmick of all 15 teams beginning their games within 10 minutes of one another (3:05 p.m.-3:15 p.m.). As MLB teams learn their playoff fates on Sunday, so shall we in real time on Sunday mid-afternoon.
Week 9 includes five rescheduled games: Philadelphia Phillies at Washington Nationals, Tuesday doubleheader (one game makes up Aug. 27 postponement); Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks, Friday doubleheader (one game makes up Aug. 27 postponement); Milwaukee Brewers-St. Louis Cardinals at St. Louis' Busch Stadium, Friday doubleheader (one game makes up Aug. 2 postponement, each team will play as home team once); San Diego Padres-San Francisco Giants at San Francisco's Oracle Park, Friday doubleheader (one game makes up Sept. 12 postponement, each team will play as home team once); and Seattle Mariners-Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum, Saturday doubleheader (one game makes up Sept. 3 postponement, each team will play as home team once). As things currently stand, the Detroit Tigers and Cardinals also still have a pair of games, originally postponed Aug. 4-5, that haven't formally been announced on the schedule. As the Cardinals don't have an open date remaining on their calendar, the games will be made up as a doubleheader at Detroit's Comerica Park on Sept. 28, only if they are relevant to either team's standing in the postseason (including for seeding purposes).
As MLB has not yet announced specific plans for those Cardinals-Tigers games or any other makeup game necessary to determine playoff races, including whether they'll be made up at all, stay tuned to your league announcements as far as how ESPN will handle those games. MLB has, however, said that there will be no tiebreaker games to decide any spots or seeding, as any ties will be worked out mathematically, so keep that in mind with your planning.
Having playoff-motivated players is a key part of your final-week fantasy baseball strategy. The Los Angeles Dodgers were the first team to clinch a postseason berth, and they have a magic number of two to clinch both the National League West title as well as the league's No. 1 overall seed, so it's no surprise then that they've already begun resting regulars and tinkering with their playoff rotation. Similarly, the Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays have all punched their tickets to the postseason and might be more concerned now about getting aligned for the Wild Card Series than specific playoff seeding. The Rays, Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs are all close to clinching their divisions as well. Near-eliminated teams such as the Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Rangers might shut down players with injuries and/or audition youngsters for 2021 roles. Ultimately you'll want the teams most in the thick of the playoff race. This year, that list appears to include the Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, Miami Marlins, Brewers, New York Mets, Phillies, Cardinals, Giants and Mariners, all of whom enter Sept. 21 within three games of a playoff spot.
Take careful note of the MLB postseason schedule, because in addition to the playoff races themselves, as mentioned above, they'll have a bearing on teams' Week 9 planning, particularly their rotations. With the AL wild-card series set to begin Tuesday, Sept. 29, and the NL wild-card series beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 30, and all games within those series being played on consecutive days (i.e., no days off), teams will almost assuredly shorten or skip the starts of prospective members of their playoff rotations during the Week 9 weekend series. Keep this in mind, especially if your league has innings minimums, as it's risky to count on those second starts from some two-start pitchers. As things currently stand, these pitchers are scheduled to make starts between Friday and Sunday that almost assuredly will either be rescheduled, shortened or skipped altogether: Jose Berrios, Shane Bieber, Carlos Carrasco, Aaron Civale, Mike Clevinger, Yu Darvish, Zach Davies, Cole Hamels, Clayton Kershaw, Dinelson Lamet, Jon Lester, Jesus Luzardo, Charlie Morton, Aaron Nola and Michael Pineda.
A pair of virtual playoff locks -- that adversely influencing their likelihood of playing their 'A' teams during the Week 9 weekend -- have among the best schedules: The Atlanta Braves, the likely NL East champions, play seven home games, four against the Marlins and three against the Red Sox, who have baseball's second-worst team ERA (5.62). The New York Yankees, who are likely to be the AL's No. 4 or 5 seed but have an outside chance at the AL East title, play four games at homer-friendly Buffalo's Sahlen Field against the Toronto Blue Jays and three back home against the same Marlins, missing Sixto Sanchez in the process. Those hitting-friendly schedules alleviate worry that either team could significantly rest regulars, and keep in mind that the Yankees are trying to work recently activated outfielders Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton up to full speed in advance of the playoffs.
The Minnesota Twins play the majors' only five-game week, and they might begin it with the knowledge that they're locked into a 4-5 seed, diminishing any chance that they'd want to push any regulars. Their rotation isn't set up especially well for the playoffs, but their Monday and Thursday off days afford them the luxury to do that, but it'd also mess with fantasy managers' planning.
Speaking of players working their way back from injuries in time for the postseason, the Dodgers' Walker Buehler (blister) threw a simulated game during Week 8 and is expected to be ready to make a final regular-season start on Thursday.
Among the teams scheduled to face a greater-than-usual number of left- or right-handed starting pitchers are the Athletics, who are scheduled to face four left-handers; Rockies, Royals, Marlins, Mariners, Rangers and Blue Jays, who are scheduled to face three left-handers; and Braves, Cubs, Cleveland Indians, Brewers, Giants and Nationals, who are scheduled to face six right-handers. Among the hitters you should activate accordingly: Luis Garcia (96% available in ESPN leagues), a .333/.362/.485 hitter against righties this season; Teoscar Hernandez (27% available), a .302/.362/.698 hitter against lefties; Matt Kemp (97%), a .289/.360/.489 hitter against lefties; Tyler Naquin (97%), a .304/.323/.543 hitter against righties; Kevin Pillar (69%), a .313/.361/.567 hitter against lefties; and Daniel Vogelbach (97%), a career .223/.349/.441 hitter against righties.