The Arizona Cardinals are a good football team. They didn’t need Kyler Murray, DeAndre Hopkins, AJ Green or Chase Edmonds to score 31 points and total over 430 yards of total offense to eliminate the 49ers. In other news around the NFL, the Cowboys did not show up and got beat by the Broncos and the Browns trounced the Bengals without Odell Beckham. Finally, if you would have told me before the games that the Bills would hold the Jaguars to three field goals, I would have agreed with you. What nobody saw coming was that those nine points would be enough to win the ballgame 9-6. That’s why we play the game!
Also, only five weeks to go in the fantasy regular season!
On to the recaps!
All I do is Winston 132.37 – 105.74 Sahara Sandstorms
Winston- Working out perfectly, our survivor pool showdown featured the two teams left as they battled this week, with Winston bringing home the matchup win as well as the survivor pool win. But they can thank Ezra Gorman for James Conner who erupted for 36 points this week. Winston traded Terry McLaurin for James Conner as a bye week fill and Conner proceeded to carry Winston to a win, along with Joe Mixon. Other than those two, this lineup was filled with holes. Six players scored in single digits and superstar Josh Allen scored a season low 10 points. 132 points has generally not been enough to beat the Sandstorms in the past month, but it was enough this week.
Great Starts: Joe Mixon (24), James Conner (36)
Bad Starts: Deebo Samuel (7), Emmauel Sanders (7), Boston Scott (4), Indianapolis defense (8)
Sandstorms- In their lowest scoring week in the last month, the Sandstorms faltered in prime time against Winston and scored just north of 100. Generally strong at the quarterback position, they were planning to start Tagovailoa since Kyler Murray was planning to sit out. Then when Sunday morning came and Tagovailoa was declared out, Colt McCoy was the lone quarterback left on the waivers for the Sandstorms to pick up. Now what’s actually great about that is McCoy beat projection and scored a reasonable 19 points. It was Joe Burrow’s three points coupled with four other single digits starters that sunk the Sandstorms. Red hot Cooper Kupp scored a cool 11 points this week and Henderson only scored six, which is something that the Sandstorms do not typically get from their Rams players. Overall, it was a tough outing and a down week for the Sandstorms who drop to 6-3.
Solid Starts: Colt McCoy (19), Alvin Kamara (17), Najee Harris (14), Matt Gay (12)
Tough Starts: Joe Burrow (3), Dionte Johnson (7), Darrell Henderson Jr. (6)
GalensWinningWinners 123.28 – 93.07 Philly Special
GWW- GWW took down Philly Special this week to move to 4-5 on the year. Trending in the right direction, this week was a crucial win for any playoff hopes moving forward. They leaned on Lamar Jackson, and Pat Freiermuth who put up great weeks. Six players still scored in single digits though. Derek Carr underperformed along with Aaron Jones and Darrel Williams for this team. In other housekeeping news, GWW traded Ryan Tannehill and Robert Woods late last week and received Teddy Bridgewater, Tyler Lockett and Leonard Fournette. They did not start any of those players this week (two were on bye) but they will be helpful in any potential playoff run going forward.
Good Starts: Lamar Jackson (38), Pat Freiermuth (16)
Tough Starts: Aaron Jones (6), Darrel Williams (8)
Bad Starts: Derek Carr (8), Tee Higgins (8), Julio Jones (4)
Philly- Philly Special could not score more than 100 points this week and lost to move their record to 5-4. Kirk Cousins was a solid start and that was about it. Mahomes, Brown, Pollard and Chase all underperformed and sent Philly home with another loss. They still won’t get injured Saquon Barkley back this week because the Giants have a bye. So be prepared for more Myles Gaskin unless he makes a trade. Philly will need to change something up next week if they want to get back on the winning track.
Solid Starts: Kirk Cousins (25)
Tough Starts: Patrick Mahomes (12), AJ Brown (4), Ja’Marr Chase (3)
Bad Starts: Tony Pollard (4), Nick Folk (6)
Hurts so Good 144.80 – 78.46 Amazon Piranhas
HSG- HSG snapped their five-game losing streak after scoring over 144 points to take out the noncompetitive Amazon Piranhas. HSG achieved balance in their roster, with nine out of ten starters scoring in double digits. Nick Chubb dominated on the afternoon and showed what he is capable doing on any given day. Their only tough start was Dallas Goedert in the flex position as they opted to start two tight ends on the day in addition to Travis Kelce. It was a much-needed win for HSG, who hasn’t won in over a month.
Great Start: Nick Chubb (29)
Good Starts: Justin Jefferson (14), Robert Woods (11), Justin Tucker (11)
Tough Start: Dallas Goedert (4)
Piranhas- Another week and another loss for the Piranhas who drop to 2-7. The problem with this week is they didn’t even give them a chance to win, scoring south of 80 points. Half the roster scored in single digits including Toney, Lamb and Zuerlein to name three. The entire quarterback room was decimated this week as Brady was on a bye and Rodgers contracted the novel coronavirus-19 virus. Forced to start Jordan Love and early Sunday morning pickup Jacoby Brissett, they scored a combined 23 points. They also started the 49ers defense over the Cardinals defense which was a 12-point swing. However, I can’t fault the Piranhas for that because who knew Colt McCoy would lead the Cardinals to over 430 yards of offense. Christian McCaffrey also came back this week but even he could not save this team. Zuerlein also scored a big zero points in the kicker position. Just another forgettable week for this team. The Piranhas are in win now or be eliminated going forward.
Bad Starts: Jordan Love (13), Jacoby Brissett (10), Kadarius Toney (0), Greg Zuerlein (0), 49ers defense (5)
Benched: Arizona defense (17)
Everglade Squatches 166.17 – 90.51 Tundra Icecaps
Squatches– The Squatches dominated the Icecaps this week moving to 5-4 on the season. You kind of got a sense of how the week was going to go on Thursday night after Jonathan Taylor scored over 30 points in a rout against the Jets. This matchup as well was a rout as the Icecaps stood no chance. The Squatches had a lot of balance this week as eight starters scored in double digits. Justin Herbert, DeVonta Smith and Brandon McManus put up solid performances on the week. They didn’t have to do much to beat the number one team in the league, but nonetheless a convincing win for the Squatches.
Great Starts: Justin Herbert (36), DeVonta Smith (18), Cordarrelle Patterson (14), Jonathan Taylor (33), Brandon McManus (12)
Icecaps- Not used to losing, injuries caught up with the Icecaps this week. Barely scraping above 90 points, six starters scored single digits. They as well had a solid start on Thursday with Michael Pittman Jr., but that was short lived. Javonte Williams had a good outing in addition to an excellent output from the New England defense. Otherwise, they were let down by their quarterbacks who combined for 16 points, as well as Zach Ertz, Tyreek Hill and DaVante Adams who did not produce on a solid level. With players getting healthier, I wouldn’t be concerned if I was the Icecaps.
Great Starts: New England defense (23), Michael Pittman Jr. (13), Javonte Williams (12)
Tough Starts: Matthew Stanford (11), Tyreek Hill (4), DaVante Adams (5)
Bad Starts: Tyrod Taylor (5), Zach Moss (2), Zach Ertz (2)
Tropical Thunder 140.55 – 81.66 Hipple’s Heroes
Thunder- Tropical Thunder finally showed some promise after a month of terrible weeks. Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan combined for 60 points at the quarterback position and carried the Thunder to a win. Out of the other eight starters, half scored in double digits including Keenan Allen and waiver wire pickup Devonte Booker. Otherwise, the other four starters were unimpressive. The Thunder are now 5-4.
Great Starts: Carson Wentz (30), Matt Ryan (32)
Solid Starts: Devonte Booker (13), Keenan Allen (11), Carolina defense (11)
Bad Starts: Brandin Cooks (6), Tyler Bass (6)
Heroes- No amount of words can describe this team and the lack of competitiveness it brings week in and week out. There lone highlight was swapping out Jakobi Meyers for Tim Patrick early Sunday morning. Patrick was the highest scorer this week. Eight starters scored in single digits. While not mathematically eliminated, they are certainly done this year.
Great Sunday Morning Start: Tim Patrick (15)
Terrible Starts: Mac Jones (9), D’Ernest Johnson (4), David Johnson (1)
Week 10 Matchups
Tropical Thunder 5-4 vs. Amazon Piranhas 2-7
Philly Special 5-4 vs. Hipple’s Heroes 2-7
Everglade Squatches 5-4 vs. Hurts so Good 4-5
Tundra Icecaps 7-2 vs. All I do is Winston 5-4
GalensWinningWinners 4-5 vs. Sahara Sandstorms 6-3
Around the League
Here’s some background. We are approaching week 10 and Jordan and Galen like to make numerous transactions by adding and dropping players constantly. For reference they have made 72 & 62 transactions respectively on the year (League average is 33). Early Sunday morning Tagovailoa was declared out and immediately Jordan Huhn picked up backup Jacoby Brissett (who he went on to start). And I mean immediately picked up on his roster. We received the notification from sleeper and Brissett was already on Jordan’s roster. This was not received well by Logan and gave us a quote in our league chat, which was then reiterated by Ezra.
This leads into our new segment for this week, “Quotes from around the League.” Enjoy this direct quote from Ezra, with the exact same premise as Logan’s quote.
“Jordan and Galen are the fantasy rats. Annoying but nothing to worry about”
With five weeks to go in the regular season, the stakes are certainly heating up.
Cheers!
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