Week three did not disappoint in the NFL and the BBL! Around the NFL, Christian McCaffrey is out for a couple of weeks with a strained hamstring, Ben Roethlisberger forgot how to play football, Justin Tucker proved why he is the best kicker in the league, Aaron Rodgers needs only 37 seconds to win, and Ezekiel Elliot certainly looks cut and explosive.
Multiple BBL matchups came down to the Monday night game and had exciting endings. Tropical Thunder highlighted one of the more improbable comebacks stealing a win from All I do is Winston late Monday night, while the Squatches picked up their first win on the year despite scoring the second least points this week.
On to the recaps!
Tropical Thunder 141.70 – 138.51 All I do is Winston
The most exciting ending of the week, Tropical Thunder earned a late Monday night comeback from Ezekiel Elliot to steal a win from All I do is Winston. Going into the Monday night game, the Thunder were down 16 points and had Elliot, while Winston had Miles Sanders. Elliot exploded for two touchdowns and over 24 points to give the Thunder the come from behind win. Other notable starts for the Thunder included the Denver defense who shutout the Jets (24) and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (16). This lineup was not without fault though, as Jared Goff (9), Stefon Diggs (7) and T.J. Hockenson (1) did not perform well for this team. Either way, a huge win for the Thunder to move to 2-1.
You really cannot make this up for All I do is Winston who suffered yet another heartbreaking loss. Winston was primed to earn their first win of the season after being ahead after the conclusion of the Sunday afternoon games. Winston had Deebo Samuel and Miles Sanders yet to play and a 10-point lead. After six points from Samuel, Winston was up 16 points going into Monday night and still had Miles Sanders to play. Blake might be sending an email to the Eagles Head Coach Nick Siriani this afternoon, because whoever decided to give Miles Sanders two caries on the night will certainly get an earful from this manager. Otherwise, this unimpressive roster was carried by Josh Allen (45) who single handedly tried to will this team to its first victory. Half of Winston’s starters scored in single digits, and it certainly was the cause of the third loss this year.
Tundra Icecaps 147.94 – 143.42 Philly Special
In another exciting matchup this week, the Icecaps had a come from behind win of their own against Philly Special. Being down 13 points going into Sunday night, DaVante Adams rattled off 21 points to give the Icecaps an eight-point lead into Monday night. All he could do was watch kicker Greg Zuerlein and hope that he scored less than eight points to secure a win. Zuerlein scored four points and sealed the win for the Icecaps, their second on the year. Highlighting the Icecaps efforts were Matthew Stafford (37), DeAndre Swift (18) and free agent acquisition kicker Daniel Carlson (12). Thankfully, they got that solid kicker performance or else they could be looking at a loss this week. Either way, 2-1 feels good considering how the day started.
And on the flip side, Philly Special had an opportunity to win this game, but could not finish. Leading for most of the afternoon, he saw his lead dwindle as Matthew Stafford tore apart the Bucs defense and saw it completely evaporate after DaVante Adams destroyed the 49ers secondary. Hoping Zuerlein would score nine points Monday night, he scored four which sealed Philly’s fate on the week. Philly got a great performance from his quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes (29) and Kirk Cousins (31) and also got a strong start from Kareem Hunt (23). But 1 point from Noah Fant and an injury to AJ Brown (0) sent Philly home with their first loss of the year.
Hurts so Good 130.79 – 120.91 GalensWinningWinners
This matchup also featured a come from behind win, with Hurts so Good erasing a ten-point deficit on the back of Jalen Hurts on Monday night to move to 3-0 on the year. A Jalen Hurts pick-6 gave GWW hope late in the second half, but once Hurts threw another touchdown, HSG essentially clinched the win. HSG got 19 points from both Justin Jefferson and kicker Justin Tucker. HSG still had half their roster score in single digits but 3-0 has a nice ring to it.
After not embracing the villain title and rather defend the trade he made last week, GWW missed projections and scored 120 this week after scoring over 160 last week. Half of his roster also scored in single digits with wide receivers Robert Woods, Julio Jones and DeAndre Hopkins combining for 12 points. Better starts for this team included Ryan Tannehill (28), Austin Ekeler (17), Aaron Jones (16) and newly acquired for pennies on the dollar George Kittle who had 11 points. This team will look for a little more consistency as their first three weeks of scoring has been 113, 167 and 120. GWW is 1-2.
Everglade Squatches 114.81 – 102.65 Amazon Piranhas
Easily the most uninteresting matchup of the week, the Squatches scored a measly 114.81, which is actually a season high for this squad after scoring 108 and 77 in the first two weeks. The 114 points was the second least points in the league this week after the pedestrian showing once again from this team. With all that in mind, the Squatches should be thanking the league office for their schedule, as luckily they faced the lowest scoring team and are walking away with their first win on the year. Having no business winning this matchup, the Squatches opted to start a player who was declared out before the game even started in Josh Jacobs and tacked on an additional six players who scored in single digits. Perhaps this manager was too busy at the Firefly Music Festival to make sure he was starting a competitive lineup of starters. The two bright sides for this team were Justin Herbert (39) and Dak Prescott (26) which gave the Squatches a come from behind win. Even though it’s a win, I am severely concerned with this roster construction going forward.
Based on the Squatches writeup above, you can only imagine the words we could use to describe the performance the Piranhas put forth this week. To put it simply, it was terrible. The Piranhas also had seven starters score in single digits on the week. Aaron Rodgers scored 22 points while kicker Brandon McManus scored the second most points for this team at 16 points just to give a glimpse of what this roster looked like. The Piranhas had every opportunity to win this matchup and could quite be one of the easiest wins on the year. Instead, they threw it away. They are 1-2.
Sahara Sandstorms 167.12 – 116.49 Hipple’s Heroes
Wow, this team looks good. The Sandstorms took it to the Heroes this week dismantling them for 167 points. Consistently scoring well, the Sandstorms have built a strong roster. This team has balance, as eight starters scored above 11 points, with six of them scoring more than 18 points. To highlight just a few of the great starts, Mike Williams (27), Cleveland defense (24) and Cooper Kupp (22) dominated for them. Looking like one of the stronger teams in the league, they are quickly silencing any critics with their recent performances. Going into week 3, they are 2-1 and have a showdown with the Icecaps.
Quickly showing the immediate effects of the trade, Hipple’s Heroes put up a lowly 116 points this week. Half of the starters scored in single digits, with three players scoring less than 3.10 points. This team is clearly lacking depth and shows why we don’t make crazy trades with no purpose. To add insult to injury, that newly acquired Buccaneers defense scored one single point. They were also without Dalvin Cook this week who was declared out with an ankle injury. I really hope this team has a plan going forward, because it certainly doesn’t look that way. The loss drops them to 1-2.
Week 4 Matchups
Sahara Sandstorms 2-1 vs. Tundra Icecaps 2-1
Hurts so Good 3-0 vs. Philly Special 2-1
Tropical Thunder 2-1 vs. GalensWinningWinners 1-2
Everglade Squatches 1-2 vs. Hipple’s Heroes 1-2
Amazon Piranhas 1-2 vs. All I do is Winston 0-3
News from around the league
Be on the lookout for the first edition of the Power Rankings this week!
Cheers!
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