Week 7 Recaps - Matchup 4, Matchup 5 and Interview****

Matchup 4: Zeka-A-Virus wins 139.9 to 99.1:

1. One thing I learned that I’ll share with all of you is that Keetz is a suspect trading partner.

Keetz is a solid roommate, a good friend and overall a great dude. Having said that, he is somewhat suspect as a trading partner. Let me tell you a little story…. I open up trade negotiations with Keetz last week. By that I mean I offered him a trade. We’re through 6 weeks of the season at this point, so I’m trying to shake my team up a little bit. That’s one of the great-yet-annoying things about fantasy football - you can never be satisfied with your team. You always have to keep looking for trades, scouring the waiver wire, adding, dropping, adding, dropping. Fantasy football is like fashion, it’s never “done”.

Long-story-short, we got pretty close to a trade last Thursday. I offered him something he was interested in, but it wasn’t exactly what he wanted. He then side-emails me at noon on Thursday and proposes a different trade, ending the email with “let me know what you think”. I email him back and tell him I’ll take a look. I take a look on my lunch break and email him back a second time – “You got yourself a deal. Just offered it.”

So we made a trade right? Unfortunately no. About 4 hours go by before I get an email that says “I’m not in a rush to push this through tonight”. (Even though one of the players in the trade was playing in the Thursday night game) I guess that’s fair, I don’t mean to rush anyone, I’m not a pushy salesman. The problem was, I spent the afternoon thinking we had made a trade. I started offering trades in my other leagues to re-gain exposure to the people I traded away and texted a few friends asking what they thought. I thought I had made a trade. I mean, he did verbally offer it and I did verbally accept it. So we made a trade right? Unfortunately no.

The main reason I’m mentioning this is of course, because I would have won in the trade. At least for Week 7. I thought it was a fair trade, but it would have worked out better than I could have imagined in the short term. Alas, the trade did not go through, Keetz won his Week 7 matchup and I lost mine.

PS – come to think of it, didn’t Lamone and Keetz plan a trade that never went through? I can’t remember exactly what happened with that, but I think it had something to do with Alfred Morris.

2. In terms of actual players, we learned that Allen Robinson sucks. Sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks. The Jaguars are just SO BAD and it is killing Allen Robinson. I think it’s more of a Blake Bortles thing, but Allen Robinson has been a huge bust so far this year. Through 7 weeks, he is the 47th ranked WR. Given, he had a bye already, but he has only scored 60.6 points in 6 games. The only good game he’s had this year was Week 3, when he scored 21.2 points. The only reason he scored that high is because he had two touchdowns.

If you take away that 21.2 point performance, Robinson has scored 7.88 points per week. The 21 point week was the only time he’s scored more than 14 points on the season and has scored 6.9 points (not "nice" in this scenario) or fewer in half of his games. The stink was accentuated this week with a 1.9 point performance on 2 catches for 9 yards. Do you know how many WRs scored more than 1.9 points this past week? If you guessed 95 WRs, then you were right. NINETY FIVE. There is no prize for guessing that right, other than feeling lucky that you didn’t waste a second round pick on a scrub.

I don’t think that Allen Robinson will be able to turn it around. He exploded out of nowhere last year with no track record prior to that. He also had a ton of big plays and a lot of touchdowns, all things that indicate regression. Regression has ruled the day and Allen Robinson has proven to be a fluke.

3. We have learned that TY Hilton is a top 5 WR. He went off again this week, catching 7 passes for 133 yards and a TD. The TD was his 4th in six games and he had more than 130 yards receiving for the third time already this season. He’s had 6 or more catches in 5 games this season and he has 7 or more catches in in 4 games (season high 10 catches in Week 5). Wanna hear a little known stat? TY Hilton is leading the entire NFL in targets – 76 of them. Check my math on this, but that’s almost 11 targets per game. Eleven per game. Even if he only catches half the balls thrown his way, he’s catching 6 balls for you every week. TY is for real.

The best part of owning TY Hilton is that the Colts have the worst defense in the NFL (or close to it). As a result, they will throw the ball a ton – they’re currently ranked 3rd in pass attempts. The odd part is that teams haven’t started doubling him. The Colts don’t have many other receiving options and they have an average running game, yet TY continues to dominate. All of the other great receivers like AJ Green, DeAndre Hopkins and Dez Bryant face double teams, but Hilton doesn’t for some reason. Maybe that will change, but for now, TY Hilton is a top 5 WR.

Matchup 4: Pure Taige loses 99.1 to 139.9:

1. We learned that Tieg’s running back corps is falling apart. The result? Pure Taige has its lowest output of the year in Week 7. Through 6 weeks, Tieg hadn’t scored fewer than 117 points in any week. This week? Just 99.1 points. Through 6 weeks, he was averaging 139 points per week. This week, he put up just 99.1. So why did this happen? I told you, his running back corps is falling apart. The first blow was LeSean McCoy. McCoy injured his hamstring in practice, the same hamstring he injured last year.

Rex Ryan was dumb enough to press him back into action, so he ended up aggravating the injury. He may not play this week, then they have a bye. So ultimately he’s useless for the next 2-3 weeks. Jamaal Charles is another injury case. It looked like he was working his way back from ACL surgery, until he had a set-back. He’s experiencing swelling in his knee and had just one carry last week. He’ll likely be out this week, as there is no reason to rush him back – Spencer Ware is legit. Moving right along, Terrance West had his worst game of the season – 8 carries for 10 yards and 2.6 points. Sheesh.

It wasn’t all bad, DeMarco Murray did have another monster game. If it wasn’t for Murray, Tieg’s RB corps would look pretty bad right now.

2. Randall Cobb is back! We learned that Randall Cobb may be a useful fantasy asset after-all. After scoring just 21.2 points in his first three games, Cobb has been on fire the last three games. Since the Packers bye, Cobb has 27 catches for 256 yards and two touchdowns. This past week was actually his best week of the season (24 points) and he’s put up 15 or more points every week since the bye.

So is he really back? I would like to think so, but it’s hard to tell. He’ll have to compete with 3 other guys for targets, which is never good. TY Montgomery has come on strong, Davante Adams is coming off his best game of the year and Jordy Nelson still exists despite his AWFUL performance on Thursday night football. Ultimately I didn’t really learn anything from Randall Cobb this week, but I’m trying to make it work. I guess I learned one thing. You can never write off a guy as talented as Randall Cobb. He may screw you sometimes, but he can be big for you other times.

3. We also learned that Antonio Brown is going to be just fine without Ben Roethlisberger. Even in a tough matchup vs. the Patriots, Brown was able to produce. Even with Landry Jones throwing him the ball, Brown was able to produce. Antonio’s Pizza had 7 catches for 106 yards in this game, netting him 17.6 fantasy points. It was a really good sign for Brown owners, since many people were worried he’d suck without Big Ben. No need to worry though, he’ll still have plenty of chances to do one of his awful touchdown dances:

So how do things look for Antonio going forward? Well unfortunately, they have a bye this week. Although that sucks in the short-term, it’s actually better long-term because it gives Big Ben a week of rest. Also, Antonio seemed to hurt his knee this past weekend so he’ll get some rest as well. After the bye he faces Baltimore, Dallas, Cleveland and Indi in his next four games. The first two matchups aren’t great, but they aren’t terrible. The next two matchups are cakewalks, so he should put up big points. Ultimately, Antonio Brown will be fine, with or without Big Ben.

Matchup 5: Harambe Killed My Fantasy Team won 129.3 to 95.3:

1. We learned that Matt Forte is not dead after all. During the off-season, everyone was wondering if Forte still had anything left in the tank and why Chicago let him walk. Forte answered the first question with a resounding yes, scoring 71.7 points in his first three games. He had two 100 yard performances in the first three weeks (rounding up on his week 1 total of 96) and received 67 carries in that same time frame. In weeks 1 and 2 alone he scored 60 points. Unreal. Unfortunately for Forte owners, he would nosedive over the next couple of weeks.

In weeks 4, 5 and 6, Forte combined for just 35 carries, 99 yards and no touchdowns. He scored fewer than 9.4 points in every single one of those games and everyone freaked out. Forte hit a wall, Bilal Powell was stealing his touches and the sky was falling. Well, not so fast. Forte redeemed himself in week 7, rushing 30 times for 100 yards and a TD to go along with 4 catches for 54 yards and a TD. All of that led to 36.4 fantasy points and a huge win for Chylan.

So what does this mean? Will there be lulls in Forte’s usage? Will he have a big week followed by a shit week, only to redeem himself the following week? All I can think of is that it was Ryan Fitzpatrick’s fault. From weeks 3 through 6 Harvard’s finest was one of the NFLs worst QBs and the whole offense suffered. If Fitzpatrick redeems himself, I think Forte will have a lot of value going forward.

2. Speaking of redeeming yourself, how about Jeremy Hill? Right when we thought he was on the cusp of irrelevance, he came out and rushed for a career high 168 yards. He put up 31 points this week on just 9 carries and 2 receptions, highlighted by a 74 yard touchdown run. I had actually thought about dropping him in the league I own him, because he’s just so frustrating. Alas, if I did that, I would have regretted it. To put it in Harry Dunne’s words. “Just when I think, you couldn’t possibly be any dumber (more useless for my fantasy football team), you go and do something like this……AND TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!!!!!”

So what did we learn from this? Well, Jeremy Hill’s gonna Jeremy Hill. This is what he is, this is what he does. He has 4-5 great games a year, but SUCKS the rest of the time. He’ll put up one 20-30 point game and then SUCK the next week. Just look at it. Weeks 1 and 2 he puts up 20 combined points. Then in week 3 he explodes for 25. Weeks 4, 5 and 6 he combines for about 20 points. Then in week 7 he explodes for 31.

It even stretches back to last year, when he did the same thing. Week 1, 18 points. Weeks 2 and 3, combined for 1.5. Week 4 he had 24 and followed that up with 2.5 in week 5. Week 6 he had 12.5, before going bye, 6.5, 5.5, 2.5 and then 16 in week 11. It went on like that the rest of the season. This is what he is, this is what he does.

3. We learned that Dylan’s acquisition of Jordan Matthews may have been a big mistake. If you recall, he spent $33 on Matthews before week 5. Matthews responded with just 8.5 points on 4 catches for 65 yards. He got slightly better in week 6, with 3 catches for 75 yards (9 pts). He had an expected step back in week 7, with just 3 catches for 10 yards against Minnesota’s D – the Purple Reign.

So was it a big mistake? So far yes, but I guess that could change. His schedule does get much better in the near future, so there’s a chance he could Jeremy Hill and redeem himself. Given his production so far – 45th ranked WR – that’s no sure thing. Also, it seems like Carson Wentz is regressing a bit. I actually watched a lot of that Vikings-Eagles game last week, so I saw Wentz live and…… he did not look good. He missed a TON of throws and generally looked off. Again, Vikings D. On other negative - the Eagles do have a ton of weapons between Ertz, Agholor, Josh Huff, Sproles, Dorial Green-Beckham and Ryan Mathews. A lot of mediocre mouths to feed. Time will tell with this, but early returns do not look good.

Matchup 5: Marty Huggins loses 95.3 to 129.3:

Guy is the subject of this week’s interview, so let’s check it out. We talk about fantasy football, virtual reality, and other topics. Here we go:

1) Commish: So Guy, what happened this week? A season low 95 points from your team and a big loss to Dylan. What’s going on?

Guy: A disappointment I suppose. Odell posted a sub 10pt week again and same with Brandon Marshall. Of course, that was a big driver for the low output. Further, I thought I snuck one by everyone with the Cameron Meredith pick up. After having two strong weeks with a solid amount of receptions, they passed the ball to him just one time for 12 yards (resulting in 1.7pts). Had I played any other flex option I would have posted 10+ (ultimately still lost but you get the gist). In the end you can't win games when your WR1 and 2 put up 7 and 9 pts respectively.

2) Commish: After two slow weeks, Isaiah Crowell had a bounce-back game. The rest of your backfield seems to be injured though. How do you feel about your RBs going forward?

Guy: Honestly I'm pretty worried about this. If Carlos Hyde doesn't make a come-back then I'm certainly in trouble. CJ Anderson is having health concerns as well but I don't know that that's long term. I have Tevin Coleman and Matt Asiata (who has actually been productive enough for a flex spot as of late) to mayyyyybe hold me over. But I agree, this is a problem that I'm not sure how to fix seeing all my players have low trade value right now.

(Editors note: CJ Anderson’s injury may be season ending).

3) Commish: I have to mention this, but are you confident that Odell Beckham will turn things around? He’s currently ranked as a top 10 WR, but that’s really only due to his 41 point game.

Guy: I'm not.

4) Commish: Just for fun, let’s play a name game. I’ll name an NFL WR and you tell me whether you’d rather have them, or Odell Beckham

Guy:

Julio Jones – probably take Julio

Ty Hilton – yes, would rather have TY

AJ Green - I dunno

Mike Evans - I think so..

Antonio Brown – likely

(Editor’s note: looks like Guy would take any of those 5 over Odell).

5) Commish: Non-fantasy football question - I saw you were playing some virtual reality video games last weekend (via snapchat). How was it?

Guy: PlayStation VR. It was awesome. Played a bunch of different games, but one of the spaceship fighter games legitimately got me somewhat motion sick (it feels that real at times). As many of you have prophesized, I agree that they will likely package VRs with a flesh light in the cuming years.

(Editor’s note: Guy has motion sickness problems to begin with)

(Editor’s note2: hilarious pun with cuming, touche)

6) Commish: Non-fantasy football question – I’ve asked everyone this, so let’s keep it going. If you got to kill your worst enemy, how would you do it?

Guy: I was thinking either smashing all their teeth out and then making them choke to death on them, or pulling all their fingernails and toenails out and hoping they bleed to death.

7) Commish: Non-fantasy football question – If you could party with one famous person for a weekend, who would it be and why? The person can be dead or alive, of course alive at the time of the partying.

Guy: ASSUMING I WAS SINGLE: most people would probably name a dude, but I'm thinking Margot Robbie. Think about it. But if you say dead or alive and I can go back in time, it may have to be someone like Cesar because I'm sure ruling the world had some pretty serious perks...

(Editor’s note: I may start asking this question more often, this was an interesting response. Personally, I’d go with Leo – duh).