I sat stunned on my couch Sunday evening as the New York Jets kneeled out an improbable victory over my Eagles, noting sensations in my body that hadn’t been there since we lost the Super Bowl. I watch the Sixers during the playoffs, and the Phillies (my first sports love) have me on a bit of a roller coaster this week, but there’s something distinct about a late-window loss in the fall when you haven’t fully accepted the shortening of the days and now it’s dark outside and your team stunk and quite possibly your favorite fantasy team did too and none of the things in life that need to be done care at all about your football feelings.

There are too many other things to worry about for football to factor in too heavily to the “Sunday scaries,” and (I imagine some readers will relate to this) it was years ago that I reached a critical mass of fantasy action where it was no longer possible to tilt too much over a particular team or player or check fantasy scores throughout the afternoon because I had exposure to or was playing against so many different guys in different formats. If you keep clicking and scrolling to check on what’s happening you’re not actually seeing the sport, which is not only fun (hopefully, most weeks) but I think helpful for understanding what is happening and what may happen next, even for people like me who don’t make any sort of claims about knowing how to “watch film.”

Anyway, whether you feel great or terrible about your teams, it’s important to take note that we are indeed reaching the end of the first half of the fantasy season — tough admissions and decisions have to be made to adjust to the realities of the second half. On the other hand, it is also only the first half that is ending. To the Jets’ credit, they didn’t play along with what could have been considered the natural halftime narrative — they’re doing an admirable job battling to keep it close but will still be put away over the course of the next two quarters. That was lazy thinking I guess. Bad as we all may believe he is, Zach Wilson has now presided over second-half comebacks against the Bills and the Eagles, while Robert Saleh’s defense has held those two juggernauts plus the Chiefs to a total of six second-half points!

Some of your leaguemates way out in front may ease off the trades and waivers and see if they can coast to playoff byes, and others in the middle to bottom may despair and stop working as hard to either claw back into it or shift their objectives to the future. You, dear RotoViz reader, will not fall into either of those categories. You’re consuming the content you need to get the most points into your lineup — (Dave Caban’s passing matchup column has become a go-to for my flex decisions) and of course I’m staying in tune with all the vibrations across the Zero RB Universe. This week dynasty players get several servings of goodness, with Curtis Patrick’s Dynasty Command Center offering a simple template for classifying your teams and moving forward strategically, and Shawn and Colm further discussing how to think about your teams at this point on the calendar in the latest episode of Overtime.

I spent a little while on Tuesday rounding up my teams’ results, and with my lineups mostly locked in for the week, I now get to piggyback off these great dynasty minds as I review the portfolio and game plan for the second half of the season. Naturally, I’m making moves at all positions, but there’s only one that I’m churning most weeks, so my focus here as usual will be on the ever-changing dynasty RB landscape. Let’s dive in.