WEEK 3 RECAPS - PART 2 — Protector Of The League

The West Canaan Coyotes: 2-1

Strength:

As of this morning the strength of my team was my running backs. Saquon Barkley is a special talent and has scored 20 or more points in every game. The Giants offense holds him back a bit, but his volume is great and he’s broken two big runs for TDs. Christian McCaffrey was my 2nd round pick and he’s another top 10 RB. He’s already caught 22 passes and rushed for 184 yards last week. My third RB Lamar Miller is a clear cut starter and has held down my flex all year. Miller isn’t a great RB in real life, but the volume makes him a good fantasy RB. Adrian Peterson was my 4th RB and has had two monster games in the first three weeks (more on this later).

Weakness:

While my RBs have been strong, my WRs have been brutal. Well… there’s only one thing I can say about my WRs…..(microphone cuts outs) Stefon Diggs is my best WR….. he isn’t even the best WR on his own team……. Diggs scored 3.7 points last week…… on 4 catches….. on 10 targets…. when the Vikings lost 27-6…….

That’s all I have to say about that.

Opportunity:

Fortunately I have an opportunity to improve my WRs through trade and waivers. Over the last 24 hours I have attempted to do just that. I added Calvin Ridley for $25 FAAB this morning and I’m hoping he can be a worthwhile WR2. He was shut out in Week 1, but scored 17 and 39 points the last two weeks. He’ll probably score 5 points this week, but the upside is there. I also made a trade for Emmanuel Sanders today – giving up Adrian Peterson to do so. AP has had two huge games, but they both came against awful defenses. He still has to play the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles twice each and is currently on a bye. Sanders seems to be the Broncos #1 WR and has been good three weeks in a row. (Whatever helps ya sleep at night commish!)

Threat:

The biggest threat to my season is the late season slump I tend to go through every year. For whatever reason my team always slumps in the later weeks of the year. Maybe I’m too conservative, maybe the Commish just can’t have nice things. I don’t know what it is. If I keep improving my team and stay aggressive on waivers I’m hoping I can avoid it this year.

Zeke – a – Tyreek: 1-2

Strength:

Unlike my team, the strength of Keetz team is his WRs. He currently has 5 wide receivers in the top 26 of WR scoring and that is most in the league. Frader has 4 in the top 26, but no one else has more than 3. Tyreek Hill disappointed this week, but he’s still WR2 and a threat to score on every play. Will Fuller missed Week 1, but has scored 20+ in both of his games. The connection between him and Deshaun Watson is unstoppable. Brandin Cooks plays in a crowded offense, but he has 5 or more catches and 87+ yards in every game. He’s WR23 despite not scoring a TD yet. On his bench he has Mike Williams at WR26. The former first round pick is having a breakout year and has scored in consecutive games. Tyler Boyd is another breakout WR, currently WR16 with 15 catches, 250 yards and 2 TDs. Anything else? You bet – Keetz will get Doug Baldwin back soon. Yikes for the rest of us.

Weakness:

The weakness here is at QB. Andrew Luck has been a disappointment so far and it’s clear he’s not fully healthy. We all saw Jacoby Brissett on the field for the Colts Hail Mary last week. Despite being in competitive games, Luck has failed to score more than 16 points in each of the last 2 weeks (QB18). Alex Smith has been decent, but 4 touchdowns to one interception in 3 games is pretty vanilla. If it weren’t for our scoring Smith would be putting up 14-15 points a week (points per completion for the win). Smith just refuses to throw the ball down the field and doesn’t have good WRs. He’s not gonna win you any weeks by himself.

Opportunity:

The opportunity here is for Keetz to add a better QB through trade or free agency. With byes coming up, people are going to be dropping their backup QBs and he could grab someone. He could also turn one of those wide receivers into a QB via trade – I’d be willing to part with Williams, Boyd or Baldwin for a good starter. He can’t start all those WRs, so why not? Current backup trade targets include Big Ben (Guy), Deshaun Watson (Dylan), Carson Wentz (Frader), Jared Goff (Tieg) or Russel Wilson (Bob D).

Threat:

The biggest threat to Keetz is PARITY. Parity, Parity, Parity, Parity, Parity, Parity, Parity, Parity, Parity. Sorry, had to do it. Anyways Keetz went on an unprecedented run the last year when he didn’t lose a matchup for nearly 365 days. That is easily the most absurd thing I’ve seen in fantasy football and while Keetz is a great fantasy player, I just don’t think it’s sustainable. Call it parity, call it regression, call it unsustainable, whatever you want to call it. Parity/regression always win in this league. We’ve already sort of seen it since he has the most against through three weeks. I’m not saying Keetz is doomed, he’ll still make the playoffs. I’m just saying it’s hard to sustain that kind of success in fantasy football. The house always wins.

You Done Messed Up, A A Ron!: 2-1

Strength:

Hate to do it again, but here’s another really strong WR group. Frader went WR-WR with his first two picks and they’re definitely the top duo in the league. Hopkins has been somewhat disappointing to start the year, but he’s still a top 20 WR and has scored 11 or more each week. The floor is 6 catches for 80 yards and that’s all you can ask for from a #1. Michael Thomas on the other hand – he’s the best WR in the league (for fantasy purposes at least). The Saints use him all over the field and other than Kamara he has no competition for targets. He’s currently on pace to catch more than TWO HUNDRED passes which would shatter the current record of 143. I’ve written 7 sentences and haven’t even gotten to JuJu Smith-Schuster. He’s currently WR5 and plays on the #2 offense in terms of yards. He’s also on pace to beat the receptions record, but only by 1. His bench includes Tyler Locker (WR10) and Marvin Jones (WR38).

Weakness:

I think Frader is a top 3 team, so hard to find a weakness here. I guess I’ll have to say RB? Jordan Howard is a stud, but the Bears run a middle school offense (#ToddGurley #trubitchsky). Howard will get his touches, but he’s averaging 3.4 yards per carry. Frader might have found an RB2 in Chris Carson, but the 32 carries he got this past week aren’t likely to be repeated. He’s good, but I don’t think he’s 29 points per game good. He only has two other RBs – Sony Michel and Tarik Cohen. Cohen’s value is inversely related to Howards and Michel is a wild card. Sony looked pretty good the last two weeks, but the Pats offense is in shambles. Big news for him is that Rex Burkhead is on the IR though.

Opportunity:

Like with the other WR heavy teams, Frader has the chance to pull off a trade. I doubt he’ll want to trade one of those top 3 guys, but the return could be HUGE if he did. More likely he could trade one of Jones/Lockett for a lower end RB with upside. Alternatively, he could trade one of his 2 QBs for a depth piece. Rodgers is a little sketchy right now, but he’s still Aaron Rodgers. Wentz had an uneven debut, but he’ll be better moving forward. Plenty of trade pieces here.

Threat:

This is a tough one, but for the sake of the exercise I’ll say the biggest threat to Frader is the makeup of his team. This is an RB-driven league and an RB-driven game, so having RBs as your weakness is generally risky. I’m not saying it’s impossible for him to win the league – Guy won with a WR heavy team in 2015. All I’m saying is it would be out of the ordinary.

skErtz skErtz w Mahomiez: 2-1

Strength:

The strength of Dylan’s team is his QB-TE combo. Between Mahomes and Deshaun Watson he has arguably the best QB room in the league. Mahome has thrown 13 TDs and 0 picks and has 30+ points in every single game. Deshaun Watson had a slow start, but he’s scored 29+ each of the last two weeks. Having Hopkins and Fuller at your disposal will do that. At TE he has Zach Ertz, who is a top option in the passing game. He’s TE 6 despite not having a TD yet and he has 5 or more catches in every game. TEs stink this year so that’s a definite advantage.

Weakness:

Currently Leonard Fournette is his weakness. The 2nd pick in the 2nd round has basically not played this year and is RB71 as of press time. He played well in 1 quarter of Week 1 action before going out with a hamstring injury. He didn’t play in Week 2, but was supposed to play in Week 3 – that didn’t happen. Overall Fournette has been a bust so far.

Opportunity:

Dylan has the opportunity to improve his bench as the season goes on. Currently he has at least 3 players who are barely even rosterable. Peyton Barber stinks and has scored 22 fantasy points in 3 games. He earned the starting job in Tampa, but is quickly losing it. Randall Cobb is another guy on the outs – if you take away the 75 yard TD he had in Week 1, he’s scored 22 points in 3 weeks. Last but not least – Marquise Goodwin. The loss of Jimmy G leaves his value in a crumpled heap which is really disappointing. Luckily for Dylan we’re in a 10 man league and he has the chance to build his depth on waivers.

Threat:

The biggest threat is that his WR group could let him down this year. TY Hilton is good, but Andrew Luck stinks. Hilton only goes as far as his QB does. Cooper Kupp is also talented, but he hasn’t exceeded 15 points in a game despite scoring twice. I like Kenny Golladay, but he’s also in a three man WR group. I think Golladay will be fine, but it’s definitely possible opposing teams start focusing on him. I already touched on Marquise Goodwin above – his value is at a low right now. I also mentioned Randall Cobb who isn’t worthy of a roster spot on most teams. If Dylan doesn’t get better production from this group it’ll be hard to make a deep run.

WEEK 3 INTERVIEW – The GOAT and His Kids

1) Hey Kev, how’s it going? Did you enjoy the summer?

Hey Commish. Happy for it to be football season and fall. Had a great summer attending your wedding amongst others. Gearing up for the NYC Marathon in November - summer training was tough, but the cool weather is here and I love it.

2) How’s fantasy going for you so far this year? Are you in any other leagues?

Fantasy is going swell. Only 1 League this year, so hopefully, with this league garnering all of my attention, I'll be able to pull out a playoff run. We'll see...

3) Obligatory NY Jets Question: Even though you're a Pats fan, you have a unique insight into the minds of Jets fans. How are they feeling about Sam Darnold and this season in general?

Actually really funny question, love it. After conversing with some of the flight crew down here, I've heard things like "Now that we have our QB situation figured out..." And " This could be our year" - after winning Week 1.

It got quiet after a Week 2 loss against the Dolphins and then even quieter after giving the Browns their first win in 2 years. I always look forward to watching their souls get crushed by week 6 when there is a 0% chance of them making the playoffs.

Commish Note: I don’t want a video of them reacting to a tough loss, I need one.

4) Now let’s get to your fantasy team and the elephant in the room. What’s your take on the Le’Veon Bell situation?

It’s very selfish of him to want to prolong his career by putting this burden on the backs of fantasy owners who drafted him 1st or 2nd this year. But really just stupid that he and the Steelers cannot get something worked out. He has really been a huge part of their offense the past few years, you’d think the Steelers would respect the amount of work he’s put in. And for him to forfeit $2.5 Million dollars..crazy.

Commish Note: If he sits out 10 weeks it’ll be more than 8 Million

5) What do you think will ultimately happen with it? More importantly, what do you WANT to happen with regards to your team?

I've heard the rumors today of him getting traded, but I'm not sure thats going to happen. Ideally I would like him to quit this nonsense and join the team. While it is nice to have James Conner producing, getting 0 from a completely healthy 1st round pick is getting frwustrating.

6) As for the rest of your team – are you looking to make any moves (trades/adds) to improve the roster?

For the first time in a while, I am very happy with the rest of my team. Ingram and Alshon on my bench and both are coming back soon (week 4 and 5 hopefully). I’ll have some decisions to make week to week so I’ll try to play the matchups and not make any stupid choices. I’m happy with the production through 3 weeks, but we all know the fantasy season isn’t won in these first few weeks.

7) Taking a wide look at our fantasy league, who do you think are the contenders this year? Pretenders?

Contenders: West Canaan Coyotes (JKJKJKJLOL), You done messed Up Aaron, Skertz Skertz w/ mahomies

Pretenders: Thanos Anal Snap, Deangelo Vickers

The Commish putting up the most points thru 3 weeks is impressive. Barkley is likely going to be a stud for the next few years. Michael Thomas is putting up crazy numbers, him and Drew Brees really have something going there. I think Mahomes is the real deal and will have a great season. He's got some great complements on his team - we need to watch out for KC.

8) Last one here: some people, myself included think this is the year your luck changes. What do you think?

I really hope so. The luck seemed to have started after getting the 2nd pick in the draft. I hope that it wasn’t a premature ejaculation of luck, I need that to stick around for the whole season