A whopping THREE teams broke the 100 point ceiling this third week of the season. I guess that should mean it was a good week? Well - unless your name is Tim, Dustin or Eric anyway. Let's see the highlights... and lowlights.
Bill v. James
Sadly, it looks like we might have to get used to seeing Bill in the top scoring matchup each week. Even when sporting a negative score from Seattle's D (-5) and a big fat goose egg from Week 2 hero JJ Nelson - Bill still put up the highest score in the league this week. The usual suspects (TB12 with 34 points and K.Hunt with 29 points) were at it again, but Bill's use of voodoo magic was evident when Sterling Shepherd (whom Bill could not sub out of his lineup because he's a cheater and is carrying 7 healthy bench players) somehow broke off 133 yards and a TD on 7 catches (24 points) in a game where OBJ and Brandon Marshall both played. Ugh. Do you all realize how miserable our lives are going to be this offseason if we allow Bill to win a championship? Anyway. For his part, James actually did have a respectable week with 86 points. (I mean, it's almost better than his first two weeks combined!) Shout out to Drew Brees (20 points) and also Jordan Howard (28 points) - who scored exactly 28 points more points than he did in week 2. Also a shout out to Eli Manning, who scored 27 points on James' bench and pretty much proved that his drafting app is really smart. (Disregard the fact that James has the lowest scoring team in the entire league through three weeks.)
Bill will DEFINITELY get his fourth win of the season against Kevin this week (jinx.... please, jinx...) while James will hope to maybe win a game... and/or put Corey Coleman on the IR and/or realize that Jonathan Williams still isn't playing in the NFL.
Nick v. Kevin
Our second highest scoring matchup of the week was also an undefeated team against an alldefeated team - and ended up with the same results. Nick put up an impressive 112 points - despite the fact that QB Matt Ryan could only manage 12 points. (And despite the fact that he traded Todd Gurley to Jared.) Luckily, he's still doing okay in the RB department with Dalvin Cook (22 points) and Devonte Freeman (21 points), not to mention the WR department with Doug Baldwin (18 points) and TY Hilton (26 points). Fun fact: Nick would've walked away from with $5 in his pocket this week if he'd started Stefon Diggs (34 points) instead of Torrey Smith (2 points). But he didn't. Oh well. It could be worse - he could be Kevin. Much like James, Kevin had his best week of the season in week three. It just wasn't quite good enough. Still, 22 points from Marcus Mariota and a pair of matching 19 point scores from WR Chris Hogan and AJ Green give some hope that Kevin might win a game some time this year. (You know, if he can maybe wish two actual running backs into existence on his bench.)
Nick will try to stay undefeated in week 4 against slightly stiffer competition in the form of last year's luckiest player (Andrew). Kevin, on the other hand, will likely stay winless whether he tries to or not as he meets this year's obviously luckiest player (Bill).
Jeremy v. Earl
Okay, I don't want to alarm anyone here - but Jeremy is only one game back from first place. (I know, I know. It's only week 3 - but still.) HE'S GOT A WINNING RECORD! Can he count on getting 33 points from Russell Wilson every week? Probably not. Can he count on getting 24 points from Sammy Watkins every week? Doubtful. Can he count on getting 2 points from Nelson Agholor every week? Probably. Can he count on benching his best TE every week? Definitely! I kid, I kid. It was a good week from Jeremy to fend off Earl - who had a decent week going with Le'Veon Bell (15 points) actually show up along with decent 13 point weeks from both Davante Parker and Leonard Fournette. But a pair of big ole' zeroes from TE Kyle Rudolph and (shockingly) QB Derek Carr were just too much to overcome - even with Larry Fitz pouring on 22 points on Monday night. A few more disappointing outcomes like this and Earl will go from Upper Decker to down the drain in short order.
Jeremy has decent odds of continuing his winning ways in week 4, since he only has to play Tim. Earl probably isn't far behind as he matches up with Eric - who's looked more like a pretender than a contender since his big week one showing.
Tim v. Jared
Jared, like several other owners in week 3, started things off with a bang on Thursday night as Todd Gurley (34 points?!) once again looked like the biggest trade steal our league has ever seen. He kept up the magic on Sunday afternoon with Brandin Cooks (30 points) finally living up to the hype and posting a 131 yard, 2 TD gem against the usually decent Houston Defense. But past that, a couple of 17 point outings from QB Carson Palmer and WR Jordy Nelson were the only other high points on Jared's roster. (Week 2 hero Travis Kelce recorded one catch for one yard!) Seeing as how he only needed Cooks and Gurley to beat Tim's pitiful scored, though, we won't fault him on it... not this time, anyway. But how shall we fault Tim? Let me count the ways. QB Cam Newton was projected at 17 points but only managed 3, thanks to four interceptions against arguably the worst defense in the league. RB Jay Ajayi was also projected at 17 points against the pitiful NY Jets but managed only 16 yards on his eleven carries, good for just one point. That'll definitely put you behind the eight ball - but then again, so will getting just 7 points a piece from all three of your "good" WRs. (I'm looking at you Dez Bryant, DeAndre Hopkins and Emmanuel Sanders!) Through three weeks, Tim has only scored 184 points - which puts him ahead of only James the weak. Yikes.
Looking ahead to week 4, Jared faces off against Dustin and is either a favorite or an underdog - depending on which Dustin shows up. Tim matches up with Jeremy and will almost certainly wind up on suicide watch if he loses.
Eric v. Matt
Some days even a blind squirrel finds a nut... especially when that blind squirrel has Aaron Rodgers (20 points) and Antonio Brown (19 points) on his roster! Yes, Matt is somehow the fourth highest scoring team in the league despite the fact that he couldn't even be bothered to show up for the draft. The good news - Rodgers and Brown looked like Rodgers and Brown. Plus, Golden Tate (12 points) and Robert Woods (12 points) looked like serviceable team members. The bad news? LeSean McCoy (6 points) got outscored by Frank Gore (11 points). So it's kind of a crap shoot which way Matt's team will go. But for the time being - he's in second place in his division! Eric on the other hand is pretty clearly trending southerly. After scoring 114 points in week one, he's not managed to total half of that in either of the subsequent two weeks. Ouch. Although it's not exactly a shocking turn of events when you have three (3) zeroes in your starting lineup (Jeremy Maclin, Amari Cooper, Jack Doyle) and also bench a guy who scores 22 points (Demarco Murray). Still, the fact that keeper Michael Thomas finally found the end zone in week three is a hopeful sign. I mean, right? Right?! RIGHT?!?! Yeah, I don't buy it either. But only time will tell.
Matt draws a bye week in week four as he matches up with James while Eric will face fellow underachiever Earl in a battle to see if either of them is still even close to relevant in this league.
Andrew v. Dustin
And that brings us to the bottom of the barrel where we find Andrew and Dustin. Well, not so much Andrew this week. He was actually pretty decent thanks to Kirk Cousins (30 points!) finally showing up, Melvin Gordon scoring 13 points for the third week in a row, Carlos Hyde continuing to break out (until he gets hurt - which he will) with 21 points and Odell Beckham jack-assing to way to 19 points. Not to say that Andrew shouldn't be a little worried about that zero put up by Kelvin Benjamin (who might be hurt again) and the fact that his bench looks like a hospital ward with one player on IR, two more who didn't play this week due to injury and Darren McFadden who's been a healthy scratch for two weeks in a row now. (Maybe he was just visiting the other guys?) But, truth be told, Andrew didn't have to try very hard this week to beat Dustin. Just one week removed from a breakout 106 point score - Dustin couldn't even manage half of that with 48 total points. You know who scored more points than that this week? Everyone. Including Dustin's bench (69 points.) Highlighted by Chris Thompson (26 points) there was definitely lots of... uh... help available for Dustin, had he made some better choices. In fact - an "optimized" roster for him could've scored as many as 102 points! But Dustin was in "Mexico" so his roster wasn't "optimized" and he "lost again".
Andrew will need some magic if he wants to continue his winning ways against undefeated Nick in week 4 while Dustin will need his WR1 and WR2 not to be injured if he hopes to even up his record at 2-2 against Jared.
1-888-F-SPORTS.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Week 2
Another pretty underwhelming week in general for the NFL in week 2. At least there were a few high scoring players to make it not totally suck. So see the lion's share of those players - we don't have to go much further than our hands down highest scoring matchup of the week:
Bill v. Dustin
I know, I know - don't make Tom mad. Blah, blah, blah. But Tom Brady set the pace for Bill this week for sure. After an underwhelming week one, TB12 threw for over four hundred yards and three TDs in week two - good for 34 points after bonuses are added in. 116 of those yards (and one of those TDs) went to Gronk, good for another 22 points. Then Kareem Hunt went for 25 points - which wasn't quite as impressive as his 45 in week one, but was still pretty dang good. And, oh yeah, J.J. Nelson with 21 points. Wait - who? John Brown sitting out opened the door to the depth chart in Arizona and Bill got another infusion of points - like he really needed it. But actually, he DID need it. Because Dustin had some players break out in their own right. Draft day head scratcher Michael Crabtree grabbed three TDs against the Jets for an impressive 26 points and C.J. Anderson somehow became the best RB in a game against Dallas (and Zeke Elliott) - rushing for over 100 yards as well as recording both a rushing and receiving TD. Pretty ridiculous, to tell you the truth. Unfortunately, that was all the impressive that Dustin could muster and he took the loss despite scoring enough points to beat LITERALLY ever other team in the league this week. (Oh, and he also took the biggest loss of the week (31 points) since all the crappy matches were really close. Good times!) Just for good measure, we'll put the But Hurt Monday award on top of the cake for Dustin. I mean, I would've been butt hurt too - but luckily it wasn't me who ran into Bill this week! Bill will look to run over James in week three, which may or may not be as easy as it sounds since half of his roster got hurt this week. Dustin, meanwhile, will hope he can score a lot of points against Andrew and actually have it mean something.
Andrew v. Earl
Our second highest scoring match was between Earl and Andrew. And just like their love affair: it was really close, tense and we weren't sure who would end up on top until it was over. Uh... I mean... let's look at the numbers. Earl had a great week from QB Derek Carr (21pts) and "high" flier (get it?) Martavis Bryant (15pts) but recorded just 2 points from AARP card holder Larry Fitzgerald and 3 points from week 1 standout Adam Thielen. If Earl had put Allen Hurns (14pts) or Rex Burkhead (10pts) into his lineup instead of one of those busts, he would've taken the win this week. But he didn't. For his part, Andrew almost made a similar bonehead mistake. Heading into the weekend, Andrew was actually starting two TEs with Zach Ertz and Greg Olsen due to OBJ's questionable status and MNF game time. At the last minute, he decided to roll the dice and bench Ertz in favor of OBJ. He needed one point to tie, two to win, going into Monday night and princess Beckham managed to put it "over the top" with a whopping three points. A real nail biter that could've been averted if Andrew had just started Ertz (9pts). Luckily for Andrew - he won't have to debate on whether to start Ertz this week, because Greg Olsen hurt his foot, had surgery and is now on the IR until at least week 10. So anyone with an open IR spot should keep an eye out for John Brown or Greg Olsen on the waiver wire, because Andrew probably won't be able to justify holding onto both! Er... I mean, congratulations on being 1-1 Andrew!! Andrew will hope to continue his winning ways against Dustin's whining ways in week three while Earl will hope to prevail against Jeremy in a battle of the A/V producers.
Kevin v. Jared
Game number three was another close scoring game that could've been swayed one was or another by some different roster choices. Kevin had 15 points from Davante Adams, thanks in no small part to the fact that Jordy Nelson was pulled from the Green Bay game during the opening drive and never returned. (Which sucked for Jared, since Nelson put up a big fat goose egg for him as a result.) Some recent trade acquisitions paid big dividends as Chris Hogan netted 13 points for Kevin and Todd Gurley put up a huge 23 points for Jared... but I don't want to talk about how Jimmy Graham put up a big zero for Kevin and now might be hurt. Except that I have to. Because if Kevin had started Jason Witten instead of Graham, he would've gotten fifteen points from his TE instead of zero - and he wouldn't be tied with James for worst place at 0-2. Oh well. At least he gets the BBB this week! Jared moves to 1-1 and matches up with Tim in week 3 to see who will be a winning team and who will be a losing team by next Tuesday. Kevin, meanwhile, faces off with Nick in a game that looks way more mismatched when you judge by record instead of projected score.
Tim v. Matt
Through the early games on Sunday, Tim was definitely in a pit of despair. Cam Newton managed just 5 points, supposed wunderkind Christian McCaffrey managed just 7 and Matthew Berry's sweetheart Ted Ginn put up just 3 points in a "guaranteed shootout" against the Pats. It was looking pretty grim. But then the late games came around. Jay Ajayi put up 14 points (and looked like he might actually have been worth a first round pick), Emmanuel Sanders survived a lightning delay (is that a thing now?) and scored two TDs to finish with 18 points and Tyler Lockett started to look like he could maybe be a good pick by putting up 10 points - Tim's first three starting players to score double digits this season! Still, Matt looked like he could easily put this one away anyway. But lackluster days from Shady McCoy (3pts) and Antonio Brown (6pts) did him no favors and A-aron Rodgers losing almost all of his decent targets on Sunday night sealed Matt's fate. Tim eeks out the win and sent both teams to 1-1 on the season. He'll hope for some actual QB production in week three as he takes on Jared - who also will hope for QB production. And just to make it a threesome (eww) - Matt will hope for some improved QB play of his own as he faces off with "rival" Eric.
Eric v. Nick
While we're the topic of Eric - what the heck happened? Eric went from being the highest scoring team in the league for week 1 to the second lowest scoring team in the league for week 2. The Jacksonville D that got him 30 points in week 1 got him a big fat goose egg in week 2. He flat out dropped other week one hero Sam Bradford and managed just 10 points from "QB1" Jameis Winston in week 2. Really, the only positive thing about week two for Eric was Ty Montgomery getting 22 points (and probably a heavier workload since almost all of the Green Bay WRs are injured now). Nick, meanwhile, did slightly more than just enough to win. Devonta Freeman looked like the RB1 he alleges to be with 21 points, but week 1 standout Dalvin Cook looked pretty meh. And recent trade acquisitions Doug Baldwin and Austin Hooper managed a cumulative 4 points. (I guess we don't need to ask whether Jared or Nick made out better on that one, eh?) Still - a win is a win, and this win keeps Nick undefeated at 2-0. He'll hope to keep it that way in week three against Kevin, while Eric will hope to recapture some of that week one magic as he takes on Matt in a projected dead heat.
Jeremy v. James
I know this will come as a shock - but the lowest scoring match of the week was between James and Jeremy. Yes, for a second consecutive week James managed to score less than 50 points. And that was with Drew Brees scoring 23 points! It was bad. A zero from first round pick Jordan Howard, who looks like he might either be injured or, worse, just in a full blown time share with Tarik Cohen and a negative two from the Pats defense? The even worse news was that there's not much help to be found on James' bench with just 13 point there. Good news - Samaje Perine might be the new lead back in Washington after Rob Kelley suffered a rib injury. Not so good news - Corey Coleman broke his hand (again) and was placed on IR (again). Other news - RB Jonathan Williams still hasn't been on an NFL roster since September 3rd. But I digress. Jeremy had a good first day from Mike Evans (15pts), another decent week from Mike Gillislee (12pts) and uh... that was about it. Russell Wilson could only manage 11 points thanks to his dreadful offensive line, Tyler Eiffert might be hurt (again) and Tyreek Hill followed up his massive 24 point week one with a measly 4 points against the Eagles. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win a game with the third lowest score in the league. Barf. Jeremy plays Earl in week 3 while James might still think we're in the preseason.
Sports?
Andrew v. Earl
Our second highest scoring match was between Earl and Andrew. And just like their love affair: it was really close, tense and we weren't sure who would end up on top until it was over. Uh... I mean... let's look at the numbers. Earl had a great week from QB Derek Carr (21pts) and "high" flier (get it?) Martavis Bryant (15pts) but recorded just 2 points from AARP card holder Larry Fitzgerald and 3 points from week 1 standout Adam Thielen. If Earl had put Allen Hurns (14pts) or Rex Burkhead (10pts) into his lineup instead of one of those busts, he would've taken the win this week. But he didn't. For his part, Andrew almost made a similar bonehead mistake. Heading into the weekend, Andrew was actually starting two TEs with Zach Ertz and Greg Olsen due to OBJ's questionable status and MNF game time. At the last minute, he decided to roll the dice and bench Ertz in favor of OBJ. He needed one point to tie, two to win, going into Monday night and princess Beckham managed to put it "over the top" with a whopping three points. A real nail biter that could've been averted if Andrew had just started Ertz (9pts). Luckily for Andrew - he won't have to debate on whether to start Ertz this week, because Greg Olsen hurt his foot, had surgery and is now on the IR until at least week 10. So anyone with an open IR spot should keep an eye out for John Brown or Greg Olsen on the waiver wire, because Andrew probably won't be able to justify holding onto both! Er... I mean, congratulations on being 1-1 Andrew!! Andrew will hope to continue his winning ways against Dustin's whining ways in week three while Earl will hope to prevail against Jeremy in a battle of the A/V producers.
Kevin v. Jared
Game number three was another close scoring game that could've been swayed one was or another by some different roster choices. Kevin had 15 points from Davante Adams, thanks in no small part to the fact that Jordy Nelson was pulled from the Green Bay game during the opening drive and never returned. (Which sucked for Jared, since Nelson put up a big fat goose egg for him as a result.) Some recent trade acquisitions paid big dividends as Chris Hogan netted 13 points for Kevin and Todd Gurley put up a huge 23 points for Jared... but I don't want to talk about how Jimmy Graham put up a big zero for Kevin and now might be hurt. Except that I have to. Because if Kevin had started Jason Witten instead of Graham, he would've gotten fifteen points from his TE instead of zero - and he wouldn't be tied with James for worst place at 0-2. Oh well. At least he gets the BBB this week! Jared moves to 1-1 and matches up with Tim in week 3 to see who will be a winning team and who will be a losing team by next Tuesday. Kevin, meanwhile, faces off with Nick in a game that looks way more mismatched when you judge by record instead of projected score.
Tim v. Matt
Through the early games on Sunday, Tim was definitely in a pit of despair. Cam Newton managed just 5 points, supposed wunderkind Christian McCaffrey managed just 7 and Matthew Berry's sweetheart Ted Ginn put up just 3 points in a "guaranteed shootout" against the Pats. It was looking pretty grim. But then the late games came around. Jay Ajayi put up 14 points (and looked like he might actually have been worth a first round pick), Emmanuel Sanders survived a lightning delay (is that a thing now?) and scored two TDs to finish with 18 points and Tyler Lockett started to look like he could maybe be a good pick by putting up 10 points - Tim's first three starting players to score double digits this season! Still, Matt looked like he could easily put this one away anyway. But lackluster days from Shady McCoy (3pts) and Antonio Brown (6pts) did him no favors and A-aron Rodgers losing almost all of his decent targets on Sunday night sealed Matt's fate. Tim eeks out the win and sent both teams to 1-1 on the season. He'll hope for some actual QB production in week three as he takes on Jared - who also will hope for QB production. And just to make it a threesome (eww) - Matt will hope for some improved QB play of his own as he faces off with "rival" Eric.
Eric v. Nick
While we're the topic of Eric - what the heck happened? Eric went from being the highest scoring team in the league for week 1 to the second lowest scoring team in the league for week 2. The Jacksonville D that got him 30 points in week 1 got him a big fat goose egg in week 2. He flat out dropped other week one hero Sam Bradford and managed just 10 points from "QB1" Jameis Winston in week 2. Really, the only positive thing about week two for Eric was Ty Montgomery getting 22 points (and probably a heavier workload since almost all of the Green Bay WRs are injured now). Nick, meanwhile, did slightly more than just enough to win. Devonta Freeman looked like the RB1 he alleges to be with 21 points, but week 1 standout Dalvin Cook looked pretty meh. And recent trade acquisitions Doug Baldwin and Austin Hooper managed a cumulative 4 points. (I guess we don't need to ask whether Jared or Nick made out better on that one, eh?) Still - a win is a win, and this win keeps Nick undefeated at 2-0. He'll hope to keep it that way in week three against Kevin, while Eric will hope to recapture some of that week one magic as he takes on Matt in a projected dead heat.
Jeremy v. James
I know this will come as a shock - but the lowest scoring match of the week was between James and Jeremy. Yes, for a second consecutive week James managed to score less than 50 points. And that was with Drew Brees scoring 23 points! It was bad. A zero from first round pick Jordan Howard, who looks like he might either be injured or, worse, just in a full blown time share with Tarik Cohen and a negative two from the Pats defense? The even worse news was that there's not much help to be found on James' bench with just 13 point there. Good news - Samaje Perine might be the new lead back in Washington after Rob Kelley suffered a rib injury. Not so good news - Corey Coleman broke his hand (again) and was placed on IR (again). Other news - RB Jonathan Williams still hasn't been on an NFL roster since September 3rd. But I digress. Jeremy had a good first day from Mike Evans (15pts), another decent week from Mike Gillislee (12pts) and uh... that was about it. Russell Wilson could only manage 11 points thanks to his dreadful offensive line, Tyler Eiffert might be hurt (again) and Tyreek Hill followed up his massive 24 point week one with a measly 4 points against the Eagles. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win a game with the third lowest score in the league. Barf. Jeremy plays Earl in week 3 while James might still think we're in the preseason.
Sports?
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Week 1
What a terrible, dreadful, disgusting week one.
Tim v. Eric
So it looks like Tim's return yards experiment was a little too experimental. He didn't score half of what Eric did. Yikes. His only double digit starter was QB Cam Newton (13pts). Jimmy Graham didn't score a single point. Oh yeah. Good times. Perhaps the only (sort of) highlight was Kenny Golladay (whom Tim drafted, then dropped, then picked up, then dropped, then picked up again) and his 19 points / 2 TD day. But none of this is enough to overshadow the loss of unquestioned team MVP David Johnson for some or all of the season. For Eric's part, he didn't need to do much to beat Tim. But I don't know if even Eric and his black magic could've predicted that the Jacksonville D (30pts?!) and hurricane fill-in Sam Bradford (26pts?!) were all he'd need to secure the win. It made the 5 points put up by his first pick Demarco Murray and 4 points by keeper Michael Thomas not even seem that bad. For now. Eric takes home the first $5 Strong Like Lincoln award of the year as well as lays claim to the Mark Henry award... for now.
Matt v. Kevin
A tale of two autodrafted teams. One decent turnout, one decent-er turnout. Matt got 20 points out of Antonio Brown (duh) and 17 points out of LeSean McCoy (duh again) but also had enough supporting players to get him to 93 points - almost 20 more than he'd need to down Kevin in their first meeting ever. Matt could've topped 100 points if he'd been dumb enough to start Matt Stafford (26pts) against Arizona instead of Aaron Rodgers (14pts) against Seattle. Oh well, it didn't end up mattering. Kevin, on the other hand, made the most out of the mess Fenstermacher (and/or fate) dealt him. Keeper Marcus Mariota paid off fairly well (17pts) and hurricane fill-in Jason Witten (11pts) was good enough. The RB landscape looks even bleaker now that sort of okay RB2 Danny Woodhead is hurt... again. Kevin better hope for some waiver wire magic!
James v. Earl
After a down season in 2016, it looks like Earl might be back to reclaim his rightful spot as third place finisher! He got bonuses from both Leonard Fournette (20pts) and Adam Thielen (17pts) and coupled with an enormous 30 points from the LA Rams under the new defensive points structure - that was all he'd need to topple a hapless James. James came very close to being the lowest scoring team of the week. He eeked out Andrew by just one point to avoid that honor - though he did take the biggest loss of the week/year. It probably would've helped if he'd not started DeSean Jackson - who's game was postponed due to Hurricane Irma. Though, even if he'd subbed Corey Coleman's 11 points from the bench for Jackson's zero he still would've lost big. (Just not BIGGEST!)
Nick v. Jared
Somehow the schedule gods (ie: randomized) saw fit to have these two former greats square off for the second year in a row. Nick looks like he might be set to return to championship form while Jared... didn't. Nick had a strong day from both his starting QB (Matt Ryan - 20pts) and bench QB (Carson Wentz - 21pts), as well as a matching pair of 15's from RBs Todd Gurley and Dalvin Cook. But the real story (in my mind) was a breakout performance from Stefon Diggs (21pts) on MNF. If Nick can solve some smaller issues on his team - a second championship might not be out of the question. But Jared... he'll need some more help. Eddie Lacy put up a big fat zero as Jared's RB1 - that's less than ideal. Austin Hooper's 23 bench points would've be helpful to Jared's cause - but he still would've lost. (At least he won him the BBB!) Somehow just one of the heads of Jared's four headed WR beast (Baldwin/Cooks/Pryor/Nelson) managed double digits. Maybe it's time to trade a couple of them for a starting RB?
Bill v. Andrew
Our second lowest scoring matchup was the rematch of last year's championship. I think someone forgot to tell Andrew he had a game this week. Just nine months removed from winning the Sports Champion Winner Trophy (and a sweet windbreaker) Andrew could only manage 42 points. Forty two. He had one starting player in double digits: Melvin Gordon (13pts). So he wouldn't have come close to beating Bill even if Odell Beckham HAD played on Sunday night. Sad. Bill scrapped together 103 points even though he only had three starting players in double digits: Buffalo D (11pts), Zeke (15pts) and - oh yeah, Kareem Hunt with 45 points. Sorry. I could've summed this matchup up in four words: Kareem Hunt beat Andrew.
Jeremy v. Dustin
Our lowest scoring matchup didn't actually involve any of our lowest four scoring teams - just two very mediocre ones. Jeremy came out of the gates on fire with Mike Gillislee (22pts) and Tyreek Hill (24pts) on Thursday night... and that was about it. The only other double digit scoring players on his roster were a pair of matching 11 point TE's on his bench - Coby Fleener and Charles Clay - who each scored exactly 11 points more than the TE Jeremy started - Tyler Eifert. And so it was that Dustin pulled off a week one win with three players who managed a double digit score: Ben Roethlisberger (15pts), Legarette Blount (10pts) and the Pittsburgh D (20pts). Yup. That's really it. A player with two zeros on their starting roster won a game this week and we're only just getting started!
Sports.
Tim v. Eric
So it looks like Tim's return yards experiment was a little too experimental. He didn't score half of what Eric did. Yikes. His only double digit starter was QB Cam Newton (13pts). Jimmy Graham didn't score a single point. Oh yeah. Good times. Perhaps the only (sort of) highlight was Kenny Golladay (whom Tim drafted, then dropped, then picked up, then dropped, then picked up again) and his 19 points / 2 TD day. But none of this is enough to overshadow the loss of unquestioned team MVP David Johnson for some or all of the season. For Eric's part, he didn't need to do much to beat Tim. But I don't know if even Eric and his black magic could've predicted that the Jacksonville D (30pts?!) and hurricane fill-in Sam Bradford (26pts?!) were all he'd need to secure the win. It made the 5 points put up by his first pick Demarco Murray and 4 points by keeper Michael Thomas not even seem that bad. For now. Eric takes home the first $5 Strong Like Lincoln award of the year as well as lays claim to the Mark Henry award... for now.
Matt v. Kevin
A tale of two autodrafted teams. One decent turnout, one decent-er turnout. Matt got 20 points out of Antonio Brown (duh) and 17 points out of LeSean McCoy (duh again) but also had enough supporting players to get him to 93 points - almost 20 more than he'd need to down Kevin in their first meeting ever. Matt could've topped 100 points if he'd been dumb enough to start Matt Stafford (26pts) against Arizona instead of Aaron Rodgers (14pts) against Seattle. Oh well, it didn't end up mattering. Kevin, on the other hand, made the most out of the mess Fenstermacher (and/or fate) dealt him. Keeper Marcus Mariota paid off fairly well (17pts) and hurricane fill-in Jason Witten (11pts) was good enough. The RB landscape looks even bleaker now that sort of okay RB2 Danny Woodhead is hurt... again. Kevin better hope for some waiver wire magic!
James v. Earl
After a down season in 2016, it looks like Earl might be back to reclaim his rightful spot as third place finisher! He got bonuses from both Leonard Fournette (20pts) and Adam Thielen (17pts) and coupled with an enormous 30 points from the LA Rams under the new defensive points structure - that was all he'd need to topple a hapless James. James came very close to being the lowest scoring team of the week. He eeked out Andrew by just one point to avoid that honor - though he did take the biggest loss of the week/year. It probably would've helped if he'd not started DeSean Jackson - who's game was postponed due to Hurricane Irma. Though, even if he'd subbed Corey Coleman's 11 points from the bench for Jackson's zero he still would've lost big. (Just not BIGGEST!)
Nick v. Jared
Somehow the schedule gods (ie: randomized) saw fit to have these two former greats square off for the second year in a row. Nick looks like he might be set to return to championship form while Jared... didn't. Nick had a strong day from both his starting QB (Matt Ryan - 20pts) and bench QB (Carson Wentz - 21pts), as well as a matching pair of 15's from RBs Todd Gurley and Dalvin Cook. But the real story (in my mind) was a breakout performance from Stefon Diggs (21pts) on MNF. If Nick can solve some smaller issues on his team - a second championship might not be out of the question. But Jared... he'll need some more help. Eddie Lacy put up a big fat zero as Jared's RB1 - that's less than ideal. Austin Hooper's 23 bench points would've be helpful to Jared's cause - but he still would've lost. (At least he won him the BBB!) Somehow just one of the heads of Jared's four headed WR beast (Baldwin/Cooks/Pryor/Nelson) managed double digits. Maybe it's time to trade a couple of them for a starting RB?
Bill v. Andrew
Our second lowest scoring matchup was the rematch of last year's championship. I think someone forgot to tell Andrew he had a game this week. Just nine months removed from winning the Sports Champion Winner Trophy (and a sweet windbreaker) Andrew could only manage 42 points. Forty two. He had one starting player in double digits: Melvin Gordon (13pts). So he wouldn't have come close to beating Bill even if Odell Beckham HAD played on Sunday night. Sad. Bill scrapped together 103 points even though he only had three starting players in double digits: Buffalo D (11pts), Zeke (15pts) and - oh yeah, Kareem Hunt with 45 points. Sorry. I could've summed this matchup up in four words: Kareem Hunt beat Andrew.
Jeremy v. Dustin
Our lowest scoring matchup didn't actually involve any of our lowest four scoring teams - just two very mediocre ones. Jeremy came out of the gates on fire with Mike Gillislee (22pts) and Tyreek Hill (24pts) on Thursday night... and that was about it. The only other double digit scoring players on his roster were a pair of matching 11 point TE's on his bench - Coby Fleener and Charles Clay - who each scored exactly 11 points more than the TE Jeremy started - Tyler Eifert. And so it was that Dustin pulled off a week one win with three players who managed a double digit score: Ben Roethlisberger (15pts), Legarette Blount (10pts) and the Pittsburgh D (20pts). Yup. That's really it. A player with two zeros on their starting roster won a game this week and we're only just getting started!
Sports.
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