Draft redo

Lets revisit some of our late August/ early Septemebr opinions. Among the top 40 players drafted, 12 have missed at least 1 game due to injury. We drafted all of the top 7 QBs but also drafted the QB19 (Fields) and 22 (Burrow) in the first round. We only drafted 4 of the top 12 RBs and only 10 of the top 45. WR was a little better with 6 of the top 10, and 14 of the top 45. Of course injuries and bye weeks as well as scoring consistency affect overall standings, but this is a neat look 8 weeks deep. My moral of the story is don’t tune out after the draft (unless you nailed it).

Being a 10 team league with 6 playoff teams, its possible 6-8 nabs the final playoff spot (currently, 4-4 is the cutoff). Also, at 3-5, Team Tallman has a shot at a first round bye, being in the bad division. Our points for spread has widened to nearly 300 points while my superior fantasy defenses have kept my points against at 881.58; less points than the Steagles have scored all year.. thats not many points.

Matchups

Alan’s Six Win Weiners (114.46) pulled off a Monday night miracle against Token Female (110.32). Things did not go great for the Weiners on Sunday as their runningbacks combined for 11.6 points (Pierce/Rhamondre). The Tua-Hill stack dropped 46.96 and the WR8 Adam Thielen train (15.2) hasn’t broken down yet, but the Derek Carr Chris Olave (9.6) train has derailed. Over the last 3 week, the two have only connected on 55% of their attempt for <100 yards each game and 0 TDs despite team total scores of 38,31, and 20 points. Token Female drew a promising lead on Sunday with a trio of big games from Herbert (24), Etienne (25.9), and Michael Pittman Jr. (18). She left DeAndre Hopkins (34.8) on the bench but that was far from a controversial decision with Tennessee’s starting QB injured. Heading into Monday night, Token Female was down 9.14, but had both Jakobi Meyers and Davante Adams remaining. Her projected total? 143 points and an ESPN projected 95% chance at victory. Jimmy G for the Raiders had an historically bad night, consistently missing wide-open WRs. It was so bad that days later, the owner would fire both the head coach and offensive coordinator as well as bench Jimmy. As the clock ran out, Meyers and Adams combined for 5 points, and The Weiners’ superior fantasy defenses prevailed.

The Underperformers (149.06) were named ironically this week against Im a Tool (126.56). Sure two of their players were well below their projections (Pollard - 6.5; Puka - 7.3), but the rest of the squad balled out. Javonte Williams (18.8) saw a positive game script for the first time this year to the tune of 27 carries. DeVonta Smith (22.9) also had the pleasure of facing the Commanders again. Outside of that matchup, Smith has scored >15 points only twice. The Underperformers bested Im a Tool’s TE advantage (LaPorta - 19.7 vs. Kelce - 11.8). I’m a Tool had several underperformances headlined by Lamar (11.98), Zay Flowers (6.9.. nice), and James Cook (8.3). Special shoutout to Im a Tool for starting Tyson Bagen (11.18) over Dak Prescott (28.06). I guess Steve likes watching his guys in prime time.

Da Bearers (118.02) squeaked out a victory of Jesus Christ Superstars (117.56). With a matchup this close, every player performance and decision matters. Notably, however, Da Bears saw only 5.64 points from Mahomes thanks to a combination of the flu, cold weather, and three turnovers. The Cowboys DST (16) had an explosive day, recording a safety, pick six, and a blocked kick. The Superstars benefited from QB1 on the week Sam Howell (30.98). They also started 2 Giants players (Saquon/Waller) in a game where they were down to the 3rd string QB Tommy DeVito. If I told you this QB would target JCS’s players on over half his pass attempts and Darren Waller would receive over 50% of the team’s passing yards it may seem like a decent day for that pair. Well DeVito ended up with 7 pass attempts (3 to Barkley, 2 to Waller), and -1 total passing yards (4 to Waller, 0 to Barkley despite 3 catches). Da Bearers were down just 9.04 points with DJ Moore playing with a backup QB. Moore saw a slow trickle of targets throughout the game, but pulled ahead of the 9 point mark late in the 4th quarter on his final target of the game, leaving Da Bearers with the victory.

Team Tallman Urgent Care (151.04) was breifly let out the retirement home to smell victory this week against The Steagle (135.12). The Steagles scored their highest total of the year despite a goose from Miles Sanders and 2.5 points at the TE position (Dalton Schultz). AJ Brown continued to bully NFL DBs (33) while Joe Burrow (27.62) finally looks healthy. Tallman, however, one-uppped The Steagles with a 3-TD performance from Gus Edward (29.4) and a typical performance from CMC (29.8). Rookie TE Dalton Kincaid (17.5) and Austin Ekeler (23.3) also contributed despite a -3 from the Eagle DST. The Eagles DST now have their two lowest scores of the year against the Commanders, but their next 5 opponents are Dallas twice, KC, Buffalo, and SF. Steagles fun fact! The Steagles’ leading WR Tony Bova was blind in one eye and partially blind in the other.

Bill’s Bitch (174.76) secured the auto win this week against Cody hates America (156.66). This was a heavyweight bout that saw 7 20+ point games. The true difference in this matchup was an alltimer from CeeDee Lamb (41) who was streaking wide-open on nearly every play in the Cowboys’ beatdown of the Rams. George Kittle (23.9) was also forcefed targets with Deebo Samuel injured. Jalen Hurts (27.36) now has scored 19.8 or more points in every game outside of week 1. Cody hates America scored over 50 points with their top 2 RBs (Gibbs - 29.9; Kamara - 27) thanks to a combined 299 yards, a mark the Steelers offense has only cracked 3 times this year. 156.66 points will help in the standings but there was no beatin Bill’s “boom or bust” Bitch who has scored >145 in half their games.

Trades and Waiver Wire

There was one trade this week but apparently Cody hates America.

Wednesday’s waivers were full of $0 bids as the only players added for >$1 were Will Levis to Im a Tool for $9 and Logan Thomas to Bills Bitch for $4. Thursday’s waivers were nearly as busy as Wednesdays… and as I type this out I now see its because Steve dropped his whole team and added it back for $0.

Sit Your Superstar

Last week’s SYS was Travis Etienne Jr, who was the RB5 on the week. Outside of his 56 yard TD (and subsequent 2 point conversion), however, Etienne would have finished as the RB19 with 11.3 points… so half a victory? I was right about Evan Engram having a great game though.

This week’s Sit Your Superstar is Kenneth Walker. I think Kwalk is still injured from a practice injury last week which is why Zach Charbonet saw 56% of the snaps last week. Its not a great matchup against Baltimore away this week and I think that game will hit the under as well.

Weekly predictions

We went 3-2 this week for 22-18 overall. ESPN projections went 1-4 18-22. This week’s winners are: Alan’s Six Win Weiners, Token Female, Da Bearers, Bills Bitch, and Jesus Christ Superstars

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