WEEK 3 RECAPS - PART 1 — Protector Of The League

WEEK 3

Week 3 is in the books and it was a doozy. Kind of funny we spend so much time trying to predict something that is entirely unpredictable, but here we are. Anyways high fives to the 5 of us who earned wins and condolence fives to those of you who took Ls this week (HIMYM). There’s nothing worse than taking an L in fantasy on a week the Patriots lose, so my heart goes out to you. To help take your mind off the pain (re: to make you read about the pain while you’re taking a painful dump), here is the Week 3 GW Bush League Entertainment.

We had a special request this week from Kev and I am more than happy to oblige. He said we should do a S.W.O.T. analysis for each team during which I will identify one Strength, one Weakness, one Opportunity and one Threat. I love the suggestion - any and all are welcome. When you’ve been doing this for 7 years you take all the help you can get. In no particular order, let’s take a look at each team. (Disclaimer: I haven’t taken a business class in 8 years and my graduate degree is an MPAc, not an MBA - judge accordingly.)

DalvinCooKens AfricanRhino: 0-3

Strength:

I’d say Bob D’s biggest strength is his WRs. But how? He doesn’t have a single one ranked in the top 21…. Let me ehSplain. Odell Beckham had one bad game – week 2’s 7.1 point performance. Aside from that he’s averaging 10 catches for 105 yards per game. He’ll be fine, great even. Golden Tate may be a little boring, but he has 20 catches in 3 games and the consistency is comforting. His #3 WR Devin Funchess gained a ton of value with Greg Olsen’s injury and Chris Hogan can’t be any worse than he has been so far. Robby D’s will need to lean on this group all year.

Weakness:

The biggest weakness is his RB group. Despite spending 2 of his first 3 picks on RBs, Ken’s African Rhino only has 1 RB in the top 20 – Chris Thompson. His first round pick Dalvin Cook is RB38 and his 3rd round pick LeSean McCoy is RB59. He made a nice add with Phillip Lindsay and the Gio Bernard pick worked out well, but neither of those guys have long term value. I feel like Lindsay is a flash in the pan and Mixon might come back this week which renders Gio useless. It’s too early to write off this RB group, but it might be the worst in the league.

Opportunity:

Lucky for Rob D we play in a 10 man league, which means there is a chance to improve his team through waivers. There’s a lot of talent to be found on the wire, especially since byes are rolling around and people have to make tough roster decisions. Two years ago Rob D found Jordan Howard on waivers and rode him to the playoffs (I had to pick up a defense FML). I could definitely see something like that happening with Rashaad Penny, Sony Michel, Kerryon Johnson or one of the many mid-round RBs who haven’t worked out yet.

Threat:

The biggest threat is Rob D’s upcoming schedule. Over the next 4 weeks he plays Dylan, Tieg, Frader and Guy. Those are the 5th, 3rd, 6th and 4th ranked teams respectively. All have a record of 2-1 and all would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. Digging yourself out of an 0-3 hole is tough to begin with, even tougher when you have a meat grinder of a schedule staring you in the face.

The GOAT and His Kids: 2-1

Strength:

Strengths can sometimes be defined as “a unique or low-cost resource you can draw upon, but others can’t”. Maybe it’s a cheap labor force, abundant natural resources, something like that. In Kev’s case, it’s the two mid-to-late round picks who could perform as Top 15 players when they return. Kev got Mark Ingram in the 7th round of our draft, which was an absolute steal. Without the 4 game suspension, he would have gone 2nd or 3rd roundt. Ingram is going to come back and be the lead rusher on the #4 offense, which is huge. The door is wide open for Ingram to come back and get 15-18 carries a game (1,500 yards, 12 TD last year). Alshon Jeffery is the other low cost resource – a 9th round pick. He should come back in a few weeks and be the #1 WR for the WR-starved Eagles. Jeffery finished 2017 with 57 catches for 800 yards and 9 TDs (12/200/3 in the playoffs).

Weakness:

I hate to do this, but Kev’s biggest weakness is at QB. Tom Brady has just looked bad this season and you have to wonder if the missed practices this offseason have something to do with it. It’s probably more related to the total lack of talent at WR, but he’s been able to overcome that before. Regardless it’s been an ugly start and Kev lost this week because of TB12. His numbers are skewed a bit by this week’s game against the Lions (8.1 points), but TB12 is QB23 as of press time. Jimmy Garrapolo, Eli Manning and Blake Bortles have all scored more fantasy points than the GOAT.

Opportunity:

I’ll throw a weird one out here – Kev has an opportunity to have two top 10 running backs out of the Steelers backfield. How? If Le’Veon Bell gets traded, that’s how. Conner is clearly the future of Pittsburgh’s offense and the Steelers are comfortable with him going forward. So comfortable in fact, that they are actively shopping Le’Veon Bell. Imagine if Bell is traded to become a #1 workhorse back and Conner continues his production? Sounds like a big opportunity to me.

Threat:

The biggest threat to Kev’s team is simply regression. He’s had such brutal luck through the course of this league’s history and I have an overwhelming feeling that something will go wrong for him. He got off to a really hot start in this league – first by getting the #2 pick and then by starting 2-0. The GOAT took a pretty tough loss this week however…… is that the beginning of the bad luck?

Thanos anal snap: 2-1

Strength:

As with most years, the strength of Tieg’s team lies in his running backs. His top two are studs – Melvin Gordon and Kareem Hunt. Both are unquestioned #1 backs and both play on offenses ranked in the Top 7 in yards per game. Through three weeks they’ve combined for 7 touchdowns. Kinda funny that Tieg wanted to take Leonard Fournette over Hunt and Fournette basically hasn’t played this season (#puretaige). His 3rd RB is Carlos Hyde, currently RB8. The 7th round pick has 61 carries, 203 yards and 4 TDs in just 3 games which…. yep, confirmed, that’s a steal.. Last but not least is James White – no explanation needed, he’s just a really useful player in fantasy. All in all 4 RBs in the top 20, not bad.

Weakness:

The biggest weakness on this team is the WR position. Looking at it now, I’m not sure there’s one guy I’d feel excited about having in my starting lineup. Sure Amari Cooper had that 10 catch 100 yard game, but in his other two games he’s scored a total of 5.2 points. FIVE POINT FUCKING TWO!!! (I have him in another league obviously). Robert Woods is sorta similar – he has the 31 point game this week, but averaged 8.5 points in his other two games. Too many mouths to feed in that offense barring an injury. Larry Fitz plays on the worst team in the NFL, Josh Gordon is an enigma and Tieg doesn’t even carry a 5th WR. While not the worst WR group in the NFL, it’s definitely a weakness.

Opportunity:

Tieg has the opportunity to call off the wedding before it’s too late. TIEG YOUR’E A YOUNG MAN DONT DO IT!!!!!!! Just kidding, Sam is great and you guys will have a wonderful life together. Looking forward to the wedding next week.

Threat:

The biggest threat to Tieg is the possibility that the bottom will fall out on Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jared Goff. Both of them are off to hot starts and are top 10 QBs right now. Fitzpatrick is actually QB1 and I had to double check that about 5 times before I posted this. All that being said, do we think this is going to continue? I’ve heard The Fitzmagic is starting to show cracks and do we really believe Jared Goff has taken the next step? It looks good right now, but there’s a chance the bottom falls out.

SLAMMY TWATSKiNS: 1-2

Strength:

As always the strength of Lamone’s team lies in his team name. You see that on the schedule and you know you have an interesting week on the horizon. The never ending supply of hilarious team names is a feat in and of itself and definitely adds a little je ne sais quoi to the league. Prior team names include: SLAMMY TWATSKiNS, FLACCOPiAN TUBES, RICHARD SHERCUMCiSION, Micro Prawcessahs, Matt Flynn Garbage Bin and ROBOT DiCK. Pure comedy, touche.

Weakness:

Currently the weakness of his team lies in his first 5 draft picks. David Johnson has been a bust/plays on the worst team in the NFL (RB19), Keenan Allen seems to be forgotten in LA and/or he gets too much attention from opposing teams. Regardless he’s WR34 at press time. Jerick McKinnon is out for the season (although Lamone saved that with Breida). Demaryius Thomas seems to be declining and Royce Freeman hasn’t made the expected impact for the Broncos (even after Phillip Lindsay was ejected, Devonta Booker got more snaps/carries last week). I’m sure these guys will go off in Week 4 because I’m playing Lamone, but the early returns from his first five picks have been weak.

Opportunity:

Lamone has the opportunity to win the “Free Agent Add of the Year” award. On 9/3, 2 days after Jerick McKinnon tore his ACL, Lamone picked up Matt Breida for $0. Breida is only leading the NFL in rushing through 3 weeks with 274 yards – averaging about 90 per game. He’s RB11 and has provided excellent production for Lamone thus far.

Threat:

The biggest threat for Lamone is just the quality of the other teams in the league. Scoring is up across the board this year and the average team in our league scores 124 points per week. I checked the standings from last year and the average was closer to 110. Lamone is keeping with that average – currently 109 per game for him – but that leaves him with the 9th most points in our league. While Lamone’s team is good, I’m not sure it’s good enough. (Can’t wait til he scores 150 this week.)

DeAngelo Vickers: 2-1

Strength:

We need look no further than the #1 pick for the strength of Guys’ team: Todd Mixon’s Here Hyde Ya Gurley. Gurley won many a fantasy league last year (re: pretty much all of them) and has picked up right where he left off. He’s the #1 RB through 3 weeks and he AVERAGES 31 points per game. His average stats are 21 carries, 4 catches and 125 yards total yards per week. He’s already scored 5 TDs and is on pace for 25 total this year.

Weakness:

I don’t think Guy has any weaknesses per se, but I guess I’d have to say that his bench is the worst part of his team. Derrick Henry stinks, Allen Robinson has a terrible QB, LeGarrette Blount is ruining Kerryon Johnson’s hopes, Kenny Stills is feast or famine and DeSean Jackson finally came back down to earth. Champagne problems.

Opportunity:

Guy has the opportunity to improve his team by trading for a better WR2. I think if Guy could package Kenyan Drake and Nelson Agholor, he could bring back a great WR2 in a trade. I’m thinking someone like Will Fuller (Keetz), Jarvis Landry (Kev), Julio Jones (Ken) or JuJu Smith Schuster (Frader, longshot though). Trades are tough to pull off, but Guy has the ammunition to do it.

Threat:

The biggest threat would be injury, specifically to his big 3 – Gurley, Cam Newton and Gronk. Gurley gets a ton of work and anyone who touches the ball 25 times per game is at risk. Cam Newton is a selfish sonofabitch and if he doesn’t start handing the ball off on those read-options, defenses are going to knock out his two front teeth

(Surprisingly poor video quality.) Last but not least – Gronk is always an injury concern and Guy’s team would look a lot worse without him.

Kens African Safari: 1-2

Strength:

Ken’s another WR-strong team with Antonio Brown, Julio Jones and Adam Thielen. I don’t need to say much about AB: he’s had a somewhat slow start to the season by his standards, but he will finish in the Top 10. Julio has also taken a step back since Week 1, but he’s WR17 despite not scoring a TD yet. Shockingly Adam Thielen is the best of the three, which goes to show just how good he is. I can’t believe I took Stefon Diggs over him in our draft (I’m a moron). Together these three average 40 targets, 25 catches and 290 yards per week (51 fantasy points per week). When you add Emmanuel Sanders and Edelman from Ken’s bench, this might be the best 1-5 WR group in the league.

Weakness:

What was once a strength is currently a weakness for Ken – the TE position. Evan Engram is a talented young TE and looked to be breaking out after Week 2 when he went 7 for 70 with a TD. Unfortunately he sprained his MCL in Week 3 and is week-to-week. There’s nothing official, but it looks like he’ll miss at least 3 games with this and that just sucks. TEs are an abomination this year and Ken’s gonna have to pick something off the waiver wire poop pile.

Opportunity:

Just like Guy, Ken’s major opportunity comes via trade prospects. He’s not going to love trading Julio, Antonio or Thielen, but the return for one of those guys could be substantial. He needs an RB and can replace one of these WRs with Sanders/Edelman, so I think he should go for it. He could even trade Sanders/Edelman for a lower end RB just to build his depth.

Threat:

The biggest threat to Ken’s team are the number 2 WRs on the teams his top 3 play for. Calvin Ridley took a ton of target share away from Julio last week and he appears to be a potential superstar. He was a first round pick in this past draft so the pedigree is there. As for Antonio Brown – JuJu doesn’t appear to be a superstar, he IS a superstar. The 2nd year receiver from USC has 27 catches for 356 yards already (on pace for 144 catches!). While Thielen is safely the #1 option in Minnesota, I have to think opposing defenses will start giving him the respect he deserves – Diggs is a good player in his own right.