Week 3 Recaps - Matchup 2 and Matchup 3 — Protector Of The League

Matchup 2: Can I Diggs It? Yes You Can won 124.6 to 105.9

Next we’ll move on to the game of the week, Frader vs. Guy. It’s hard to say that any game in week 3 is a “must-win”, but when you’re 0-2 you’re pretty much in “must-win” territory. Your season isn’t over at 0-3, but 0-3 looks about as good as Umbro shorts in 2016. Also, the difference between 0-3 and 1-2 is just staggering. If you’re 1-2 then you’re “right there”. If you’re 0-3, you’re likely in last place. As you can tell by the box score, Frader’s team is now “right there”.

I talked about how much the Pats game screwed me, so let’s look at how awesome it was for Can I Diggs It. Frader's squad only had one player going, but it was the one player you would really want to own from this game. In fact, the one player Frader had outscored all three of the players I had. Awesome. Who was that player? None other than Legarrette Blount. Coming off of a 27 point outing in week 2, Blount carried 24 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns on Thursday Night – total of 30.3 points. In a week of high scoring RBs, he was the sixth highest scoring running back of the week. A lot of those points (12 or so) came from a junk-time 40 yard TD run, but points are points. If only Legarrette could get extra points for posing with the Minutemen…….

Another tangent coming here – I always thought that Shea McClellin was the guy Legarrette Blount punched after Oregon was upset by Boise State. The same Shea McClellin who the Patriots acquired this offseason. Is that awkward that they’re on the same team now? It actually wasn’t McClellin, but he was on that Boise State Team. Does that make it awkward anyways? “Hey, remember that time when you punched my teammate?” Or is it cool now because they are both on the Pats and it was 5 years ago? I don’t know, just something to think about.

Back to the point. Philip Rivers, Shane Vereen and Michael Crabtree all had nice weeks for Frader, totaling almost 50 points between them. I’m not going to go into that, but I will talk about the Vikings D here. I mentioned ten times that my defense got me 1 point. Playing a rookie QB in his first start, without Rob Gronkowski, the Texans got 1 point. So how do you think the Vikings D did playing against the MVP caliber Cam Newton, in his home stadium, with his full complement of weapons? How do you think they did? If you said 22 points, then you were right! Are you kidding me? The Vikings get 22 points in the most unfavorable matchup possible, yet the Texans get 1 point in the most favorable matchup possible? Only in fantasy football. Anyways, the Vikings have now scored 53 points on the season, which is more than notable players such as AJ Green, Doug Baldwin, Stefon Diggs and Latavius Murray. They may be the best defense in the league, better than the Broncos.

Overall this was a huge win for Frader. He gets Le’Veon Bell back this week which will be monumental. Unfortunately Thomas Rawls is injured, but Gronk should be back to full health. Is this the start of a run, or just one misleading week? We’ll see next week when he plays the Zeke-A-Virus.

Matchup 2: Marty Huggins lost 105.9 to 124.6

Will Guy join Tone as the only teams in league history to go from first to worst? At 0-3, you have to wonder. Technically Tone was given the death penalty, so he just went from first to out of the league. I don’t think it will happen, Guy’s team is too good. However, if it does, Guy would be the first person to go from Champ to Chump in this league. Sadly, I’m actually in a similar position in another league. I ran through everyone in that league last year and beat Robby D in the title game. I felt good about my draft, but I’m sitting at 0-3 after three weeks. I don’t want to say my season is over, but it needs to turn around and turn around fast.….. it’s pretty much over.

Anyway, Marty Huggins just had a mediocre week. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t great. I’m not feeling too creative right now, so let’s just look at some of Guy’s players. Matthew Stafford was his highest scorer, getting 32.7 points on 385 yards and 3 TDs. The Lions defense is really really bad, so Stafford should put up fantasy numbers all year. After scoring 52.7 points in the first two games, CJ Anderson came back to Earth with a 7.4 point stinker. I don’t think we expected that run to last, but 7.4 points is tough. It’s especially tough when you consider the fact that Trevor Semen threw for 4 TDs. That whole Bengals/Broncos game was a fuckin mess. IT’S A MESS!!! Okay, did have one joke in there to fall back on.

Okay, let’s discuss the elephant in the room – Odell Beckham. So much to talk about, so little time. First, his hair is so stupid. Even if you’re a Giants fan you have to shake your head when you see the bleached jerry curl lookin thing he has going on. Second, how has he not scored a TD this year? Not one! There are 101 NFL players who have caught a touchdown pass this year and Odell Beckham is not one of them. Third, that was hilarious when he hit himself with the field goal practice net. When it rains it pours. Lastly though, you CANNOT cry on the NFL sideline. COMEONNNN MANNNN. I don’t care what anyone says, he cried. Cannot win with a guy like that. (Mike Singletary quote anyone?)

The last thing I’ll mention is that Guy’s bench points are absolutely hysterical. He had 128 points this week, which would have beaten SEVEN of the teams in our league. SEVENTY SEVEN STRAIGHT SEVENS!!! This was the second time in three weeks that Guy’s bench outscored his roster. I’m laughing as I type this, because it’s just so unbelievable. Through three weeks, Guy has scored 314.5 points against his opponents. Through three weeks, his bench has scored 324 points. As Don King once said, Only in America… I mean fantasy football.

Guy plays Ken, the only other 0-3 team this week. The loser of this matchup is likely done, while the winner still has a chance. To steal one from Barstool – Guy is the Mortal Lock of My Lifetime in this matchup. Any takers?

Matchup 3: Gurley Gone Wild loses 116.3 to 152.9:

Speaking of 0-3 teams, let’s throw on the VHS and watch some Gurley Gone Wild. Still think he should name his team GurleyS Gone Wild, but what do I know. Stubborn bastard. Speaking of Gurley, Todd Gurley finally had a game! The former Georgia/Bryant Bulldog ran for 85 yards on 27 carries with 2 touchdowns and 25.9 fantasy points. This is probably more of an exception than the rule, but Ken has to be encouraged. The fact that the Rams put up 37 points is yet another baffling item from this week, but I won’t even get into that.

The Bucs vs. Rams game was great for Ken as he had both Gurley on the Rams and Charles Sims of the Buccaneers. And you know what? Sims had a better game. Gurley outscored him, but Sims definitely had a better game. Would you rather have Gurley with 28 touches for 80 yards and 2 TDs, or Sims with 19 touches for 124 yards and a TD? Let’s put it another way – would you rather have the guy who averaged 2.85 yards per touch, or the guy who averaged 6.52 yards per touch? Exactly. Sims was big for Ken and will continue to produce while Doug Martin is out. Not bad for a player that Ken sniped in the 11th round.

Changing gears, let’s look at the trade acquisitions Ken made during the week. You didn’t think I was gonna skip over this did you? Comeon meow. Last Tuesday, Ken traded me Eddie Lacy and Julian Edelman for Jeremy Maclin and Spencer Ware. Everyone gave Kenny shit, but I still refuse to call it a bad trade. Yes, Eddie Lacy scored more than Maclin and Ware combined this week. Yes, Jeremy Maclin put up just 5.5 points this week. Yes, Tom Brady is back in a week (fuck yes), but I still don’t think it was a bad trade. Spencer Ware had a goal line fumble this week, which was about an 8 point swing. If Ware had the 18 as opposed to 10, he woulda outscored Lacy. Add in Maclin/Edelman’s scores and the point total would have been about the same. Going further, Edelman is going to be worthless until Brady is back and Maclin will definitely bounce back and outscore him this week.

Last and certainly not least, Jeremy Hill. That’s all I have to say – Jeremy Hill. True love is hard to find. Sometimes you think you have true love, but then you sit Jeremy Hill against the best defense in football and he breaks a 50 yard TD run on the first drive and ends up with 25 points on your bench. I mentioned it above in Guy’s recap that the Bengals/Broncos game was a mess and here is reason #1. How the fuck did Jeremy Hill do this? He had 20 carries for 53 yards in his first two games. He then goes for 17 carries and 97 yards (with 2 TDs) against the best defense in the NFL???? WHAT THE FUCK!!? I actually read that Hill was started in only 28% of the leagues he’s owned in this week (ESPN leagues). Thus, he completely fucked over the 72% of people who played it safe. Which includes me and that 0-3 team I referenced earlier. AWESOME. Almost as awesome as Willie Snead getting Ken 0 points as his WR1. Awesomeeeee.

Matchup 3: Pure Taige won 152.9 to 116.3:

Here it is boys, here is the best team in our league. Pure Taige has now won his first three games and leads the league in total points scored (430.6). He actually has almost 30 more points than the second highest scoring team, Broke Back Caleb. In week 1 he was the high scorer and in week 3 he was the high scorer. His average margin of victory is over 33 points and he has yet to score fewer than 117 points in any game this year. Here it is boys, here the best team in our league.

So how is he doing it? Well, Antonio Brown for one. Through three weeks, Brown is the #3 WR in fantasy with 59.5 points. He’s pretty much averaging 20 points per week including his 22 point outburst this week. The best part? Even in a game where the Steelers scored 3 points, he still managed to catch 12 passes for 140 yards. That Steelers/Eagles game was a joke. How does Big Ben score 8 points when Antonio gets 22? I of course have Big Ben in my 0-3 team, along with Jeremy Hill. Back to the point - in Guy’s draft recap I said that Odell would outscore Antonio this year, but I’m currently losing that bet by 20 points. Having said that, it’s closer than it looks. Antonio has 24 catches, Odell has 19. Antonio has 305 yards, Odell has 280. Pretty close, but the TDs is where Antonio has him beat. Still too early to tell, but I still think Odell has a better season when it’s all said and done. As long as he doesn’t hurt himself on the sidelines that is.

Tieg’s running backs carried his team to victory this week as he got almost 70 points from DeMarco Murray, Lesean McCoy and DeAngelo Williams. DeMarco has been a savage this year and has scored over 20 points in every single game. He’s clearly the workhorse I thought I drafted last year and is an absolute steal as a 4th round pick. Tieg’s butt buddy Lesean McCoy has also been really good and had his best game of the year behind 2 rushing touchdowns. The Bills game was another ridiculous one this week as they dominated the Cardinals. I didn’t think McCoy would do much against them but Kenny was the only one who foresaw that game going that way. DeAngelo Williams had his worst game of the season in what will likely be his last relevant game of the season (8 points). Le’Veon Bell is back, so Tieg will have to look elsewhere for his RB3.

I told you this would be full of negatives, so let's find some on Tieg's near-perfect squad. I mentioned DeAngelo Williams above, which obviously hurts. I'll also mention Jamaal Charles, who has yet to play a down this year. He may play in Week 4, he may not. Either way Spencer Ware will be a part of that backfield. In terms of WRs, Randall Cobb has been a colossal bust. He's now opened his season with 3 games of ten points or fewer and the only reason he got to 10 points in week 1 is because we reward points per carry. In standard scoring, Cobb has put up single digits every single week. Guess what? I also have him on the 0-3 team I keep mentioning. HOOOORAAYYYY BEEERRR. Oh well, Cobb will be riding Tieg’s bench all year long. Lastly, let's talk about the tight end transactions Tieg had last week. Picking up Kyle Rudolph and getting 16.5 points out of him was good. Dropping Coby Fleener and watching him score 22 for Kev’s team was not good. Why wouldn’t you have dropped Jack Doyle rather than Fleener? SMDH (See gif below). Oh well, it didn't cost Tieg the week and Rudolph will be huge this year.