Week 3: Just Under the Week 4 Deadline

Game Recaps

Skyler vs Brady: In a battle of two of the four undefeated teams, this game started tight on Thursday with Deebo helping Skyler pull away late in the game.  Brady was worried that the 12-point swing would come back to bite him, but it turned out that the game only got further and further apart as Sunday went on. Skyler managed to get the win despite Derrick Henry only scoring 2 points.  Each team had 8 of 9 members score in the double digits.  Skyler was able to get the win behind Lamar Jackson, Deebo Samuel, Justin Jefferson, and the Browns DST joining the 20+ point bunch. Brady ended up having a bunch of 20+ rejects -- 9 rejects to be specific as none of his team made it to 20+.

Tommy vs Scott: In a battle of two of the defeated teams, Tommy led wire to wire to get his first win this season. He started out strong with CMC on Thursday night and then rode his Bills players to victory.  In the end, Tommy had four members of the 20+ point Avengers -- CMC, Josh Allen, Adam Thielen, and the Bills DST.  Outside of the Bills, those 3 guys were in the same club last week as well.  I'm not sure how long that run will last, but it could be a good foundation to build on. Scott was let down by most of his team, as 6 of them ended up in single digits. Jalen Hurts was the only member of the 20+ point dance party -- it was his own little corner where there was lots of tush pushing.

Matt vs Trevor: This game had some potential to be close, but Matt put it away in the end.  He took the lead midway through Sunday and then held on through Trevor's attempt to make a comeback Monday night. Again, it wasn't too close, but Matt was the highest scorer, and Trevor had a solid score, and this ended up being the weekly bonanza. What was interesting about this match is Matt had three people in the 20+ point yurt, and Trevor also had three people in the 20+ point mansion (Matt gets a yurt while Trevor gets a mansion because of their different jobs.  Sorry, Matt.  If I were in this analogy -- mine would be a rat-infested location -- anyway, moving on). They also both had 6 out of 9 people scoring double digits.  The biggest difference was Matt getting a 45+ point scorer and 30+ point scorer, while Trevor had a 35+ point scorer, and the other two were in the low 20's. This win keeps Matt in the 3-0 group.

Rob vs Brandon: This was the weekly and nightly nail-biter, it was the battle of ineptitude, but it was a fun game to watch because it was also the Monday nightmare/miracle with Rob sneaking out the win. Brandon started hot with Tyreek and led until Monday night once Rob's DST started, and with Kyren Williams, Jake Elliot, and Tee Higgins chipping in a few points.  Brandon tried to take the lead back with Godwin and Goedert (and mostly hoping the Ram's DST would drop points), but it wasn't meant to be. Rob's only member of the 20+ point league was Mike Williams (who ended up getting hurt in the game), while Brandon had two people in the 20+ point organization (they actually both scored 30+).  The biggest difference was Brandon had three people in double digits while Rob had five people there.  It also didn't help that Brandon had someone in the negative scores.  I don't want to pile on, but there were 23 DST's who scored enough points that would have gotten Brandon the win -- 12 of them were free agents last week from the look of it.  I think I know my LVP for the week.

TJ vs Kyle: TJ was the 4th undefeated team of the week looking to stay on top. He started out strong with Kittle, but then Kyle came in Sunday morning to take the lead, which TJ then retook – and it went back and forth several times until TJ took the lead early in the afternoon.  Kyle tried to make a game of it at the end, but TJ’s lead was too much to overcome, and Kyle stayed in the defeated ranks. TJ only had two people in the 20+ point squad in Kenneth Walker III, and Keenan Allen --  they combined for 78 points. Kyle had only one person on the 20+ point team – Justin Herbert. That big gap between the 78 of TJ’s team and the 35 of Kyle’s team made up for Kyle having 7 people score double digits while TJ had 6.  Seems pretty unlucky (that’s called foreshadowing). 

Jordan vs Tyler: These two 1-1 teams came in to battle to try and get a winning record – and only one team showed up this week. This was almost the blowout of the week thanks to Tyler bringing the heat, and Jordan just squeaking over 100 for the week. Tyler put the hurt in spite of only having two people in the 20+ point hip-hop duo of Adams and Watson.  Jordan tried to get there with AJ Brown being the solo member of the 20+ point assembly, but one of Tyler’s guys (Adams) gave him a big boost by scoring 42 points.  They both had 6 people score double-digit points, so it all came down to Tyler’s studs this week. And Tyler’s studs help him lead from start to finish, though Jordan made it look close Sunday night, but that’s when Adams went crazy and shut the door on Jordan. 

Award Season 

MVP: Keenan Allen dropped 47 points in the second-closest game of the week. Keenan’s previous best this (short) season was 31.  So had Keenan still set a season high at 35 points, Kyle would have won. 

LVP: In the closest game of the week, the Jags DST got Brandon negative points when 3 points would have been enough to get the win. 

Unluckiest Team of the Week: As mentioned above, Kyle had a great score, and was the highest-scoring loser.  At 139 points it feels like he should have won, but he was also the 6th highest scorer – so it’s not like he was completely screwed here. 

Luckiest Team of the Week: There were 3 teams Rob could have beaten this week, and he was lucky enough to be matched up with one of them. 

Lowest Scorer of the Week: Scott -- come on down, you’re the next winner of the lowest scorer of the week. 

Highest Scorer of the Week: In a week of high scores all around, Matt was the overall high scorer. 

King of the Court: Matt kept it again and will continue to keep it until he leaves the undefeated club. 

Golf Hold - Tommy wins it again this week, one stroke over Kyle

	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Total
Tommy	9	8	9	10	9	9	9	63
Kyle	9	9	9	10	9	9	9	64
TJ	9	8	11	10	9	9	10	66
Matt	11	9	10	10	9	9	9	67
Skyler	9	9	10	11	10	10	10	69
Brandon	9	10	13	10	8	12	8	70
Rob	11	10	12	11	9	11	11	75
Scott	11	10	12	10	12	13	17	85
Trevor	12	11	11	12	11	13	18	88
Brady	12	11	12	12	12	13	18	90
Jordan	12	11	14	12	12	13	18	92

Game Previews 

Skyler (2) vs Brandon (11): Skyler has 0 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. Brandon has 0 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime.  The rankings are giving this blowout potential, but the projected standings have it within 5 points. 

Brady (5) vs Jordan (9): Brady has 2 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. Jordan has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime.   

Scott (12) vs TJ (1): Scott has 0 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. TJ has 1 player on Thursday and 1 player in primetime.  The rankings are giving this blowout potential, but the projected standings have it within 5 points. 

Tyler (4) vs Matt (3): Tyler has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. Matt has 1 player on Thursday and 2 players in primetime.  Right now this looks like the bonanza for the week -- it's easily the best game based on combining the two rankings into one number 

Rob (6) vs Kyle (10): Rob has 1 player on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. Kyle has 0 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime.   

Tommy (7) vs Trevor (8): Tommy has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. Trevor has 2 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime.   

Good luck to everyone but Brandon this week. Also, don’t forget that there is Sunday morning football this Sunday.  If you have someone questionable, sit them the night before, set an early alarm, or deal with taking a 0.  I will not retroactively fix anything for the London game. 

Week 2: Scores Are Up, Defenses Are Down

The median score of week 1 was 109.78, and the unders in the NFL were 12-4.  This week the median score was 118.  That's only a 9 point boost, but there were 4 teams to score under 90 points in week one, and the lowest score this week was 102.68, and the overs were 13-3 this week.  Let's hope the run of offense continues so that we can continue to have some fun fantasy football scores.

Game Recaps 

Scott vs Skyler: This game started out hot on Thursday with Jefferson vs Hurts, but ended up being about which players didn’t end up hurt. Scott started with thin a lead thanks to his QB, but ended up giving it away later in the week no thanks to Zay Jones leaving injured and getting 0.  Not be totally outdone, Anthony Richardson started hot, but then decided to leave injured as well, and the Giants once again looked terrible. Fortunately for Skyler, the rest of his team helped shoulder the load and gave him a comfortable enough lead that law firm of Sanders and Shaheed couldn’t make a miracle comeback on Monday Night Football. Skyler was able to sneak out a gritty win behind the Griddy King, Justin Jefferson and Deebo Samuel both joining the 20+ point squad. Scott also had two people in the 20+ point union, with Hurts and B Robinson (not the good B Robinson, the one that was shot last year). Skyler only made up the difference by having 7 of 9 being in double digits, while Scott only had 5 of 9 

Tommy vs Brady:  This was the second closest game of the week, and was also the bonanza of the week, but it lacked a little drama.  There was some slight back and forth early on, but Brady essentially led this game wire to wire. Thielen tried to make a game of it, but the Steel Curtain did just enough to keep Brady in the lead. Given that it was the bonanza of the week, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to hear that they each had some great individual efforts. Brady had 3 players in the 20+ point click with Goff, the good B Robinson, and Mike Evans each qualifying. Tommy had 3 members of the 20+ point klan with Josh Allen, Run CMC, and Adam Thielen.  I’m not saying Tommy’s racist, but all those guys are white, so I called them a klan to try and encourage diversity on the Who Gives a Pit team. 

Brandon vs Matt: This game had a lot of back and forth and was decently close midway through the 4^th quarter on Sunday night when Raheem Mostert broke off a 10 point play with a 40+ yard touchdown run to essentially seal the win for Matt.  Brandon had Olave on Monday night, who put up a solid 14+ points, and Matt allegedly had someone named Najee Harris playing, but it wasn’t enough for Brandon to make a comeback. Brandon had one 20+ point individual in Justin Herbert, while Matt had 3 people on the 20+ point team in Mahomes, D. Smith, and Mostert. Despite the higher fire power, Brandon kept it close because he had more people with 10+ points, though not enough to get him the victory.  

Rob vs Trevor: The stank (swindle + tank) worked for Rob as new players Higgins (swindle) and Kyren Williams (Tank) combined for nearly 57 points.  Rob was also the highest scoring team this week at 153 – and that was without a kicker.  Also, the 28 points Kyren Williams got was actually on Rob’s bench!  This season stanks!  Anyway, this was the biggest blowout of the week as the new prematurely crowned champion Rob put a stomp on last weeks prematurely crowned champion Trevor by 33 points.  Rob was able to do that with 4 people in the 20+ point kinfolk with Daniel Jones, Rachaad White, Tee Higgins, and Ceedee Lamb, with Jones also breaking the 30 point threshold. Trevor only had one player carry the 20+ point yoke in Saquon Barkley.  To add insult to injury, Barkley’s injury will mean Barkley is out this Thursday against the 49ers. 

Tyler vs TJ: This game had a little bit of back and forth with Tyler taking and early lead, and then TJ catching up, and then Tyler taking the lead back for a brief moment before TJ took it back and slammed the door shut. TJ got that door shutting win with 6 of 9 players getting double digits, while only one player joined the 20+ point league in Keenan Allen – and let’s give him his due, it was actually 30+ points. Tyler had two people with that 20+ point energy in Davante Adams and TJ Hockenson, but he was let down by his 49ers (Mitchell, Aiyuk, and the DST combined for 13.3 points). 

Jordan vs Kyle: Last but certainly not least was my favorite game to watch of the week -- it was the nail-biter of the week as well as the nightly nail biter and Monday Nightmare/Miracle.  Jordan and Kyle went back and forth until Kyle had a solid lead going into Monday night. Sure, it was the battle of ineptitude this week, but it was still a ton of fun. It’s what a Giants vs Cowboys game felt like in the early 2010’s – everyone else was watching it because there was nothing else on, and it was entertaining, but it wasn’t high quality football. Jordan thought about taking a page out of Rob’s book and tanking, but he picked up the Pittsburgh DST and K, and ended up coming from behind for the win, despite Kyle and Nick Chubb’s best efforts. Jordan only had one 20+ point performance with his DST, while Kyle’s only member of the 20+ point parade was also his DST. 

Award Season 

MVP: For the late win with a 50+ FG and a strip sack for a touchdown, the Pittsburgh DST/K get the MVP this week. 

LVP: This award will go to Josh Jacobs who had negative rush yards in a winnable game for Brandon 

Unluckiest Team of the Week: Tommy would have only lost to 3 teams this week, and unfortunately he matched up against one of them.  That’s the cold, harsh reality of life in the North. 

Luckiest Team of the Week: Jordan wins it this week for how the game ended, and for being the lowest scoring winner. 7 teams would have beat him this week, but in the South, he was the second highest scorer in the division and played against the…. 

…Lowest Scorer of the Week: Kyle. 

Highest Scorer of the Week: Rob went from the lowest last week to the highest this week.  Can I mention the stank again? 

King of the Court: Matt keeps it again this week 

Golf Week Review 

	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Total
Tommy	10	10	10	8	8	11	7	64
TJ	10	10	10	9	9	10	10	68
Kyle	10	10	10	9	9	11	10	69
Skyler	10	10	10	9	10	12	10	71
Brandon	11	11	10	9	8	14	11	74
Matt	10	10	16	20	10	17	9	92
Trevor	16	13	17	9	11	21	12	99
Brady	11	10	17	21	13	21	12	105
Scott	14	12	17	21	12	20	11	107
Rob	17	13	17	21	13	21	12	114
Jordan	17	13	17	21	13	21	12	114

Tommy runs away with it this week, being the high scorer each day except Sunday

Game Previews

Skyler (2) vs Brady (3): Skyler has one player on Thursday night and two players in primetime. Brady has one player on Thursday night and one player in primetime. This could be the bonanza given they are two of the top 3 teams.

Tommy (9) vs Scott (12): Tommy has two players on Thursday night and one player in primetime. Scott has no players on Thursday night and two players in primetime. This is looking like the early favorite for the battle of ineptitude.

Matt (4) vs Trevor (5): Matt has no players on Thursday night and three players in primetime. Trevor has no players on Thursday night and two players in primetime. This feels like a dark horse contender for the bonanza as Matt is undefeated and Trevor's team had a great week 1. This contest has 5 people on primetime and is the leading contender for the Monday Nightmare/Miracle.

Rob (8) vs Brandon (10): Rob has no players on Thursday night and two players in primetime Brandon has no players on Thursday night and two players in primetime.

TJ (1) vs Kyle (11): TJ has one player on Thursday night and no players in primetime. Kyle has no players on Thursday night and three players in primetime.

Jordan (7) vs Tyler (6): Jordan has no players on Thursday night and two players in primetime. Tyler has two players on Thursday night and two players in primetime.

Good luck to everyone but Brady this week.

Week 1: Football is Fun

It was October 13, 2021 when the blog either hit its highest high or lowest low (depending on how you feel about ‘whose line is it anyway’ and the irish drinking song game), but today, on the recap of week 1, I will work to outdo it. It’s the tune of Beauty and the Beast -- and just in case you need a reminder on the tune (or want to watch Emma Watson), here is a link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQtHCeabAR8 

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even flopped
Then somebodies dropped
Very expectedly 

Just a little change
Games not close to done
His team has started bad
The rest of the league is mad
Rob tanked week one 

Ever just the same
Always a big pain
Ever as before
And ever just as sure
As the commissioner will complain
Oh
Oh 

Mmm, oh-oh-oh 

Ever just the same
Always a big pain
Ever as before
And ever just as sure
As the commissioner will complain 

Oh, oh, oh 

Tale as old as time (ooh-ooh)
Tune as old as song
This move does reek
Giving Matt an early bye week
Learning your draft went wrong 

Certain as the West
Certain as the West
Being the worst division
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Rob tanked week one  

Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Rob tanked week one 

Oh, oh, oh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh 

Rob tanked week one 

Weird Al and Lin Manuel Miranda ain’t got nothing on me. 

Anyway, now that all of that stuff is out of my system, here is the stuff you came here for: 

 

Game Recaps 

Skyler vs Tommy: This game started out close, Skyler separated for a little while, and then tommy brought it back to an uncomfortable level before Skyler’s kicker scored enough to help him and hurt Tommy’s DST. Skyler had Justin Jefferson and Michael Pittman in the 20+ point bunch, while Tommy only had CMC as a 20+ point individual.  Tommy could have had Pittman, but Skyler sniped him one pick before. The big kicker this game was that Skyler had 7/9 in the double digit club, while Tommy only had 3/9. 

Scott vs Brady: Scott has had a rude awakening to the league with Kupp going on IR before the season started, Dobbins going on IR mid-game, Andrews being a Sunday morning inactive, and Higgins getting 0 points because why not? He had a 20+ point team as the whole Jets DST had a good game.  Brady only had one person in the 20+ point club with Bijan squeaking in.  He also had 6 people in the double digit group while Scott had 5.  The biggest issue was Scott only getting 3 points combined from Lockett, Andrews, and Higgins.  Even if he had subbed in his 3 highest scorers, he wouldn’t have been able to beat Brady this week.  It’s not much consolation, but at least he doesn’t have to beat himself up for sitting the wrong guys. Brady led wire to wire as he had Monty and Butker on Thursday night and maintained such a large lead that the 20+ points from the Jets was never a concern. 

Matt vs Rob: Speaking of sitting guys, welcome to the battle of ineptitude. These guys combined for less points than the High Scorer of the Week got (TJ). Matt had Mahomes and ETN in the 20+ point house. Rob had no one in the 20+ point assembly, but (Rob and Chief staple) Travis Kelce was inactive, and would have likely gone past the 20 point threshold had he played. 

Brandon vs Trevor:  This was probably the best game of the week from a scoreboard standpoint – they had the second closest scoring margin, and the second highest score.  However, it was only that close because Diggs had a really good game on Monday night, but he was never going to put up enough points to help Brandon Catch Trevor.  Joining Diggs in the 20+ point superfriends was Kirk Cousins. Trevor only had two people in the 20+ point squad with Tua and Ridley – though Tua also scored 30+. Trevor had 6/9 in the double digit range, while Brandon had 5/9, so that was close as well.  Unfortunately Brandon got 0 help from his TE, because he scored a 0.  Just to add more fuel to Trevor’s flame right now, he got the second highest score of the week, while Barkley was his 3^rd lowest scorer and didn’t crack double digits, and his bench would have beat Rob’s starters by 20 points.  I’m not saying he finally gets his name on the trophy, I’m just saying… 

TJ vs Jordan: Before I say too much more about the last matchup, I should probably pump the breaks to make sure I call out TJ as the highest scorer of the week, and basically dragged Jordan into the Bonanza all by himself.  TJ accounted for the majority of the 250+ points they scored this week.  Despite this being the bonanza, it was also the biggest blow out of the week as TJ won by 38+ points. With a score that high, you would have probably expected more than just 3 people in the 20+ point ring, but TJ had a fairly normal team and week, with only the Cowboys at 43 points being the massive outlier. I can’t find how they did last year because the nfl.com website is garbage, but whatever.  Jordan had little to write home about as his TE and K combined for 1.4 points, and only Tony Pollard joined the 20+ point order from his team. 

Tyler vs Kyle: This was the nail biter of the week on paper given that it was the closest score.  It certainly didn’t help that Rodgers got hurt with Tyler needing only a few points from G Wilson, and he became dependent on Z Wilson to throw the ball.  In the end, Tyler and the Jets were saved by an incredible touchdown catch.  This game was back and forth all Sunday, so it was fitting that Tyler got his Monday Night Miracle and came back from behind to get the narrow win.  Tyler was led to victory by Deshaun “Allegedly a serial predator” Watson, and Aaron Jones, who were his members of the 20+ point band. Kyle didn’t technically have anyone score 20+ points, due to Tyreek scoring 44+ and the rest of his team scoring below 17. He was the most fun person to watch on Sunday.  

Award Season

MVP: The Cowboys DST were the highest scoring player on the highest scoring game, so they'll get the award.  Runner up is Garrett Wilson for getting Tyler across the finish line late last night.

LVP: Joe Burrow only scored 3 points in a game where Kyle lost by 13.  If he scores 20, which is pretty normal, Kyle get's the week 1 win.

Unluckiest Team of the Week: Brandon was the 5th highest scorer, but ended up losing.

Luckiest Team of the Week: Defending league champ Matt gets the lucky win. He was the 10th highest scorer, but managed to get a win that I'm sure won't affect the standings at the end of the year.

Highest Scorer of the Week: Big Defense TJ put up 144.84 points this week to get the shout out.

Lowest Scorer of the Week: Rob's team scored under 55 points and was the worst team of the week.  His starters would have lost to half of the benches (including his own) this week.

King of the Court: I stopped tracking this after a while last year, but it turns out Jordan had it most of the year, but then Matt took it from him in the championship.  Matt kept it this week despite his best efforts at losing.

Golf Week Review

	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Total
Skyler	12	10	8	10	10	10	11	71
Matt	13	9	9	9	10	10	11	71
Kyle	11	10	9	10	11	9	12	72
Tommy	14	8	8	7	11	10	15	73
Brandon	13	12	9	8	9	9	14	74
Scott	12	10	9	10	9	9	16	75
TJ	15	10	10	8	10	9	14	76
Rob	14	9	9	11	12	13	16	84
Brady	16	11	11	13	12	13	16	92
Jordan	16	13	11	12	12	12	16	92

As you can see from the scorecard, Matt and Skyler tied for the week at 71.  Green highlights mean you were the winner that day. Yellow means you didn't play that day, so I took the worst real score and gave you one additional stroke.

Special Shout Out (because I can)

This last week saw Skyler get his 100th regular season win.  He is the first to hit that mark.  Next on the list is Jordan at 91 wins, and Rob and Brady tied at 89. If Jordan finishes the season at 10 wins, and Rob and Brady finish at 12 wins, they will hit 100 wins this season as well.

Game Previews

Skyler (5) vs Scott (10): Skyler has 1 player on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. Scott has 1 player on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. 

Tommy (11) vs Brady (4): Tommy has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. Brady has 0 players on Thursday and 3 players in primetime. 

Brandon (7) vs Matt (6): Brandon has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. Matt has 2 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. The winner will be the King of the Court

Rob (12) vs Trevor (2): Rob has 0 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. Trevor has 1 player on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. This looks like the lead candidate for the blowout of the week.

Tyler (3) vs TJ (1): Tyler has 1 player on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. TJ has 0 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. This is the clear front-runner for the bonanza and maybe even the nailbiter

Jordan (9) vs Kyle (8): Jordan has 1 player on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. Kyle has 1 player on Thursday and 3 players in primetime. Here is another option for nail-biter given that Kyle has the most players on MNF as well as the potential for this to be a close game.

Well, that's all for this week, good luck to everyone but Scott this week.