Week 3 recap: It comes down to the wire!

 Usually whenever I’m writing these posts, some kind of theme emerges from the week. For example, that theme can relate to the real NFL, such as #Chiefsaregoodatfootball, and we see that as multiple Chiefs players go off for their teams. It can also relate to fantasy, and that is definitely the case this week. The theme for this week was “It ain’t over until it’s over.” We had one game decided by 1.64 points, another decided by 0.6 points, and Goin’ In Blind led the Reindeer Gamers by 40 points after the Sunday night game. While this would seem like an easy victory for Goin’ In Blind, the Reindeer Gamers had four players in the Monday night game, including Lamar Jackson. In fact, it was supposed to be an easy victory for Reindeer Gamers, not Goin’ In Blind. Unfortunately, the Ravens laid an egg on Monday night, leading to a 20-point loss for the Gamers. Crazy stuff happens in fantasy, so even when you think a loss is inevitable, there is always still some hope. Because until the sun rises on Tuesday morning, it ain’t over until it’s over.

A surprise contender this year has been Team Glo(ry), who after three weeks is the only undefeated team! With solid fantasy output each week, and good team management (who starts Joe Burrow??) she’s playing like a fantasy veteran. Her best move this week was playing the Indianapolis Colts’ defense, who were up against the putrid Jets offense. Sam Darnold is bad, every Jets receiver is injured, the Jets “star” running back is hurt, and their coach is on the hot seat. What does all this mean? Two pick sixes, three total interceptions, and seven points allowed for the Colts defense, leading to 27 fantasy points. Dalvin Cook also remembered that he’s one of the best running backs in the NFL, rushing for 181 yards and a touchdown in the Vikings’ close loss to the Titans. Oh Snap! Thanos Got Me had the unfortunate pleasure of playing Team Glo(ry), and simply couldn’t keep up. She had solid contributions across the board, with Kenny Golladay finally returning from injury and scoring his first touchdown of the season, and the New England defense sacking the Las Vegas QB in the endzone and recovering the ensuing fumble for an immediate touchdown, leading to 13 fantasy points. Still, Team Glo(ry) cruised to victory, 123.78-93.52.

I feel like I gave away this lede in the intro, but Goin’ In Blind and the Reindeer Gamers played this week. After Christian McCaffrey went down with an injury, and George Kittle remains sidelined, things were looking bleak for GIB, particularly with Lamar Jackson on the other side. However, Aaron Rodgers continues to outperform the “washed” projections from the beginning of the year, as he scored 24.52 fantasy points that belie how dominant his performance was. The Cleveland defense even showed up, with 13 fantasy points and five turnovers in their victory against the Washington Football Team. The Reindeer Gamers got solid production from Nick Chubb, as he rushed for 108 yards and two touchdowns against that same Washington Football Team, good for 23 fantasy points. Everyone else, however, underperformed, with Lamar Jackson scoring less than 15 fantasy points and Dallas Goedert, who had such an encouraging first game, catching one ball for seven yards and subsequently leaving his game with an injury. Goin’ In Blind won this matchup surprisingly easily, 84.72-63.28.

I am the Goat and Low Fat Greek Goedert were one of the matchups that went down to the wire, but it was the way it went down to the wire that was truly remarkable. Low Fat Greek Goedert finished her games by Sunday night, with the entire roster performing admirably. Derrick Henry emerged as one of the premiere running backs, with 25 fantasy points, Allen Robinson finally had an actual QB throwing his way, leading to 123 yards and a touchdown, and Keenan Allen has built a great rapport with Justin Herbert, scoring 17.2 fantasy points. Low Fat Greek Goedert, as a result, led all teams with 128.1 fantasy points. I am the Goat, however, still had the Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill connection on Monday night, and that combo is scary for anyone facing it. But, with Low Fat Greek Goedert’s 56.8-point cushion, things seemed like they would be okay. Instead, Mahomes and Hill hooked up for an early score, worth ten points for I am the Goat without the yardage, and Mahomes showed why he’s the best there is. 4 passing touchdowns, a fifth rushing touchdown, nearly 400 yards passing, and no turnovers led to a 40-point night from him. With two minutes left in the fourth quarter, Low Fat Greek Goedert held a 0.6 point lead over I am the Goat, but the Chiefs had the ball on third down, and needed a first down to end the game. Pat Mahomes needed to either a) throw a pass of over 15 yards, b) rush for six yards, c) throw the ball five yards to Tyreek Hill, or d) hand the ball off to Tyreek Hill for six yards. Pat Mahomes took the snap, rolled to his right, saw Travis Kelce along the sideline, lofted the ball to him…and the ball fell incomplete. Low Fat Greek Goedert won the week by the skin of her teeth, 128.1-127.5, with a crushing loss for I am the Goat.

Provo Go Fish and Provo Cougars Go Cougs had a distinctly Utah feel about them. Both teams did well, one just happened to do better. Provo Cougars Go Cougs overcame the loss of Saquon fairly well, as Tyler Lockett was the beneficiary of three touchdown passes from Russell Wilson, leading to an awesome 28 fantasy points for him. Dak Prescott also showed up in that game, with nearly 500 yards passing and three touchdowns, enough for 27.48 fantasy points. Kyler Murray came through again for Provo Go Fish, however, providing 21.7 fantasy points despite three interceptions. Alvin Kamar is also seemingly the only offensive weapon on the Saints, with Michael Thomas out and Drew Brees not throwing the ball the way he used to, which lead to heavy volume for Kamara, totaling 197 yards and two touchdowns, hitting 31.7 fantasy points. That was more than enough for Provo Go Fish to beat out Provo Cougar Go Cougs, winning 115.7 to 104.18.

Jerry Jeudy’s Pontiac Bandits Took on Team John’s Winners, with neither team getting much production from their players. Cam Newton crashed back to earth fantasy-wise, only throwing for one touchdown, and interception, and 11.18 fantasy points. While Russell Wilson was awesome for Team John’s Winners, with 36.8 fantasy points, Darren Waller only caught one ball for nine yards, and the Buffalo defense scored zero points. By Monday night, the Pontiac Bandits led Team John’s Winners by 3.5 points, with Justin Tucker, Baltimore’s kicker, remaining for the Winners. That was more than enough for the Winners to win, as Tucker hit two field goals and two extra points, leading to nine fantasy points and a six-point margin of victory, 86.2-80.58.

Our final close matchup was between Sandlot Aaron It Out! And Links Dawg Pound, both of which were searching for their first victories of the season. Jared Goff provided some surprising contributions to Link’s Dawg Pound in the close loss to the Bills, with three touchdowns and over 300 yards passing. Calvin Ridley also proved that he is for real with 110 yards against Chicago and 11.7 fantasy points. This was in an attempt to overcome James Robinson’s 24.9 fantasy points from Thursday’s game, and Link’s players had him ten points ahead of Aaron it Out! Going into Monday’s game. Unfortunately, Clyde Edwards-Helaire still had his game against Baltimore, and he had more than enough yardage to clear the ten-point mark, achieving 13.4 fantasy points for SandLot Aaron it Out! It was just enough for Aaron it Out! To push past Links Dawg Pound, 102.86-101.24.

For the week, Low Fat Greek Goedert’s 128.1 points were the high mark, barely beating out I am the Goat’s 127.5. Team Glo(ry) came in third, and Provo Go Fish, Provo Cougars Go Cougs, Sandlot Aaron it Out, and Links Dawg Pound all cleared 100 points. Team Glo(ry) is the lone undefeated team in the league at 3-0, and I am the Goat and John’s Winners are in second and third. Have a good week, everyone!

Week 1 2020: Fantasy Football in the middle of a pandemic

 

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the newest season of fantasy football! I was very fearful that, given COVID and how everything else has been limited or shut down, we would not have football and therefore fantasy football. Despite my reservations about the NFL’s ability to handle a crisis in an intelligent manner, they have made it possible for us to have a season and have a distraction during these crazy times. Thanks to all for participating, and let’s get to the recaps!

The Reindeer Gamers had a seemingly indomitable season last year, scoring over 100 points several times during the year and easily sliding into the playoffs. Reindeer Gamers picked up right where he left off in this season, with Lamar Jackson blowing away the Browns with 275 yards and three touchdowns, 45 rushing yards, and 27.5 fantasy points. Adam Thielen also showed his stuff as an undisputed No. 1 wide receiver, catching two touchdowns and 6 receptions for 110 yards, culminating in 25 fantasy points. Reindeer Gamers got strong contributions across the board, which was the difference in his matchup with Links Dawg Pound. The Dawgs had Tom Brady, Zeke Elliott, and Calvin Ridley all go for over 20 points, but Philip Lindsay’s 3.5 points and Rob Gronkowski’s 1.7 points doomed the Dawg Pound. Reindeer Gamers wins 136.9-93.36.

Team Glo(ry) is a new team to the league, and was matched up against the runner-up in last year’s contest, the rebranded SandLot Aaron it Out! This was a close game, SandLot had a monstrous Thursday Night Football, with Deshaun Watson and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (CEH) scoring 40 points before most of the games started. Glo(ry) punched back on Sunday with Dalvin Cook’s two touchdowns and 20.8 fantasy points, and Mark Andrew’s two touchdowns and 17.8 fantasy points. Both teams had to wait until Monday night, though, as Glo(ry)’s QB and SandLot’s TE and RB1 were playing that night. SandLot really should have had this matchup, but James Conner was quickly injured and pulled from the game, scoring only 1.7 fantasy points, while Daniel Jones threw two touchdown for Glo(ry), scoring 17.4 points. This let Team Glo(ry) squeak out the victory by the slimmest of margins, 1.34 points, as Noah Fant On SandLot had a great game that went into Tuesday morning, but wasn’t quite enough. Team (Glo)ry scores the upset, 89.56-88.22.

Provo Cougars Go Cougs and Low Fat Greek Goedert both came in with high hopes of replicating some solid fantasy success from last year. Carson Wentz seemed destined for a great day for Greek Goedert early in his game, with 112 yeards and a TD before the end of the first quarter. Unfortunately, he threw two interceptions and lost a fumble as the game progressed, and only threw one more touchdown, leading to a letdown of 13 fantasy points. Prove Cougars also suffered from no room for Saquon Barkley to run, who did not live up to his hype as a top-five pick, only hitting 6.6 fantasy points. While Derrick Henry still left the door open for Greek Goedert to win the week, Henry struggled to gain any traction, leading to an overall weak performance from Greek Goedert’s team. Provo Cougars Go Cougs wins, 79.24-67.7.

Team John’s Winners felt really confident coming out of the draft, despite needing to autodraft due to his having to deliver babies. You know, whatever. ;-) And it turned out that confidence was well founded! Josh Jacobs crushed it in his new digs as a Las Vegas Raider, scoring three times and carrying the ball for 93 yards and 31.9 fantasy points. Russell Wilson also blew out Atlanta, with four touchdowns and over 300 yards passing, which led to another 31-point day. Oh Snap! Thanos Got Me, on the other hand, had some severe struggles, as multiple contributors like Odell Beckham Jr., Kerryon Johnson, and Devin Singletary combined for 10 total points. Matt Ryan and Robert Woods were their productive selves, but were unable to overcome the problems the rest of the team had. Team John’s Winners blew out Oh Snap! Thanos Got Me 131.98-776.

Goin’ In Blind and Provo Go Fish went at it this week to kick off their respective football seasons. Goin’ In Blind was willing to beg, steal, borrow or barter to get Christian McCaffrey at the beginning of the season, and landed the first overall pick in the draft, allowing her to draft, in her words, her “boi Christian.” He showed her faith in him was well-founded, with 25.4 fantasy points. Combined with David Johnson’s 16.9 points in his new Texans uniform, it was a strong showing for GIB’s running backs. While Provo Go Fish had one running back show up in Alvin Kamara, who scored twice and collected 18.7 fantasy points, Joe Mixon started the season off slow, with 5.1 fantasy points. That, combined with Cam Akers relative no-show in the flex spot, was too much for Kyler Murray or Juju Smith-Schuster to make up with their own solid fantasy performances. Goin’ In Blind cruises to a relatively easy victory, 120.26-97.1.

I am the Goat was an unsure participant to the league this year, but seemed off to a good start with the Pat Mahomes-Tyreek Hill connection in mid-season form during the Thursday Night game. Todd Gurley also showed he was competent in his first start with the Atlanta Falcons, and solid contributions from the rest of the team filled out the week’s total. Jerry Jeudy’s Pontiac Bandits got two superstar performances from Josh Allen, with 28.18 points and Davante Adams’ 27.6 points, but little else from the roster. Michael Thomas injured his ankle and ended with 1.7 points, while Dallas’s defense did nothing in its loss to the LA Rams. The Pontiac Bandits had a chance on Monday Night, but I am the Goat polished off the victory behind Pittsburgh’s defense and kicker on Monday Night. I am the Goat wins 87.24-83.58. 

We had quite a few high scores this week, with the Reindeer Gamer’s high score of the week leading with 136.9 points. Team John’s Winners also broke the 130-point mark, and Goin’ In Blind hit 120 points. These three lead the league based on tiebreakers, but we expect to see some striation among the league moving forward. As always, check the waiver wire, think about potential trades, and feel free to ask me any questions. Thanks for sticking with this, have a good week!