So long, old friend: Amir’s season won’t be forgotten anytime soon - though maybe not for the reasons he’d hoped. Week after week, he kept us captivated, somehow skating by without ever surpassing 10.4%. In fact, he never fluctuated more than 5% in back-to-back weeks. Who needs the top of the leaderboard when you can thrive all year on the edge of disaster? Here’s to Amir’s incredible balancing act and truly unforgettable 2024 FEP season. Amen.

League of Titans: The FEP is no longer a two-competitor race. Since Week 4, Pop and Emer/Jemer had dominated the top, holding at least a 24% point buffer between themselves and third place every week but one. However, after the Eagles’ win over the Cowboys, there’s just 27% points separating the entire top five on the weighted leaderboard. Buhduh, Sarah, and Jacob have guessed 4-of-the-last-5 correctly, propelling them back into the trophy race. Things have officially gotten interesting.

A season for the dumpster: Sure, we can debate winners and losers, but let’s be real: everyone’s losing a little this season. After ten weeks, the average correct guesses among competitors is just 4.2. By this time last year, it was a solid 7.5. That’s quite the tumble in competitiveness this season. Well, in reality, I guess when everyone sucks things are still competitive - just a little depressing.

Other storylines:

• A noble caboose: Hanan may be in last place, but he’s holding his own with a solid 23.5% on the weighted leaderboard - a floor most competitors would envy.

• Wedding fever: Buhduh is heating up right alongside her wedding plans. She has launched herself into third place on the weighted leaderboard, passing Pop, the FEP’s other resident grandparent, who has stumbled into 5th place after leading the pack for much of the season.

• Fraud alert?: Jacob currently ranks #6 on the weighted leaderboard…but somehow #1 on the straight leaderboard. What gives? Well, as it turns out, a handful of his remaining picks this season are pretty unique…and pretty improbable. These dark horse picks are helping his straight standing, but the weighted algorithm isn’t buying it.

• Jemer holds on: The powerhouse duo may have missed this week’s pick, but it hardly dented their standing. They only dropped 4% points on the weighted leaderboard, still holding a commanding 15% point lead over Buhduh in third.

The newsletter will be off next week as everyone picked the Eagles to beat the Commanders. We’ll be back in the thick of it in Week 12, which was dubbed one of the season’s Key Games in the preseason. As the Eagles face the Rams, our active competitors are split down the middle:

• Picked a Win: Buhduh, Jemer, Pop

• Picked a Loss: Hanan, Jacob, and Sarah

The stakes are high, and this game could be the tipping point in the race for the FEP trophy. I, for one, am ready for some chaos.