GWBL - 2022 - Week 4 Updates (Part 2)
Let’s wrap this up with a quick look at the bottom 5 teams:
6th Place: Henry Hurts - Tieg (2-2):
Things were looking pretty bleak for Tieg the last time we checked in - he was 0-2 and had just lost 158-166 in Week 2. Since then he’s been riding the gravy train and has evened his record at 2-2. He got a nice W in Week 3 over Keetz (146-139) and then got the free space bye-week against my clown show team in Week 4. Of course he put up a season high 162 against me in Week 4, of course he did.
So what changed? First things first - Derrick Henry finally got on track. He combined for 23 points in Week 1+2, but then scored 24 in Week 3. His season high of 31 obviously came against me in Week 4, obviously. Speaking of season high, Rashaad Penny decided week 4 would be a good time to have his season high score as well. In the first three games of the season, Penny rushed for 141 yards, 0 TDs and 24.5 fantasy points. In Week 4 against my team - 151 rushing yards, 2 TDs and 35.1 fantasy points. Lovely.
Deebo Samuel also broke out for the first time this year. He’d been solid through 3 weeks with outputs of 14-15-14, but he topped off my Week 4 misery with a season high 26 points on MNF.
You want more season highs? Zach Ertz scored a season high 16.7 points against me in Week 4.
One last observation - Clyde Edwards Helaire is on Tieg’s bench right now? Seems really odd considering he’s RB7 on the year, but maybe Tieg knows something we don’t…. I guess the TD rate is unsustainable.
Anyways things are looking up for Tieg, but unfortunately he doesn’t get to play my cupcake squad every week. #notbitteratall
7th Place: Aiyuk Talkin to Me? - Frader (2-2):
Let’s flip things upside down for this next team - Frader has gone from 2-0 to 2-2 since the last time we checked in on him. After scoring 152 vs me in Week 1 and 154 against Ken in Week 2, Frader has sputtered to losses of 111-152 and 131-175.
Michael Pittman has been especially concerning these past few weeks. After bukakeing on my team for 29 points in Week 1, he missed Week 2 and scored just 21 points in Weeks 3/4. This past week the Colts threw for 300+ yards and Pittman only had 31 yards receiving. Really weird, but I don’t think this trend will continue. We wont have to wait long to find out since he plays on TNF this week.
Joe Mixon is another area of concern. While he’s putting up points, it’s mostly due to volume. His efficiency has been terrible, and he’s averaging 2.7 yards per carry and 6.8 yards per reception. Like with Pittman I think better days are ahead, but this is noteworthy given his age, previous usage and their O line problems.
Frader got hit with the injury bug a bit - losing Hunter Renfrow in Week 2 and Cordarrelle Patterson in Week 4. We’re coming up on bye weeks so this is something to keep an eye on.
Overall I’m not too worried for his squad. He still has talent and he’s due after two down weeks.
8th Place: Austin Massachoochoo - Ken (1-3):
A huge Week 4 win kept Ken’s season alive and it was a doozy of a win to boot. A 171-121 drubbing of Rob D in a battle of former roommates. (These Bryant references are becoming few and far between, we’re SO OLD.) Anyways it was his namesake Austin Ekeler who provided the boost when Ken needed it most. After a quiet start to the season, Ekeler put up 37.5 points behind 3 TDs. (Bad luck for Rob D to face Ekeler that week, I don’t only point out my own bad luck.)
Ken’s WRs came to play in Week 4 as well - Mike Evans with 32 points off his suspension and DK Metcalf with 24 points in a shootout between the Seahawks and the Lions. Has there ever been a more ridiculous game between two mediocre teams? Fuck rashad penny right in his ass. Anyways.
AJ Brown continued to provide a stabilizing presence with 14.5 points in Week 4. He’s WR9 on the season and has shown good chemistry with his new QB (Jalen Hurts).
Ken should be feeling good, but his team is not without warts. He’s got a headache every week picking between Waller and Friermuth at TE. Both are solid players but good luck picking which one to start each week.
The biggest wart of all is the inuries. Deandre Swift (2nd round pick) is out for a few weeks and he already lost Eli Mitchell (7th round) for half the season. Behind Ekeler his RBs are Michael Carter, Damien Harris and some bench fillers. Carter is the RB2 for the Jets. Without a Breece Hall injury he probably won’t provide much. (At least this is a full PPR league.) Damien Harris had a nice week vs the Packers, but he’s completely TD dependent. He’s not a bad bet for TDs but he’s going to have some bad weeks. Ken’s team has potential but the RBs are a concern.
9th Place: Tuna Tungyamotha - Luma (1-3):
It’s been a rough few weeks for Lamone since he opened the season with a 131-119 win over Tieg. He’s dropped 3 straight and has combined for 320 in those 3 matchups. That average of 106 is why he’s dead last in points scored. Keetz just scored 208 in one single week. It’s extremely convenient that Lamone is playing my team in Week 5….. extremely convenient… He’s not due for a big game or anything.
So what’s going on? For starters, Alvin Kamara has missed 2 of 4 games this year. Even when he plays he hasn’t been good - 9 points in Week 1 and 10 in Week 3. Wouldn’t it be really convenient if his breakout game comes in Week 5 against my team? Wouldn’t it be convenient if he was playing the 31st ranked run defense who just let Jamal Wiliams run for 31 fantasy points? Convenient.
Jamar Chase has been pretty underwhelming as well. He went for 31 points in Week 1, but has combined for 26 since then. It would be a real shame if he blew up in Week 5 against my team. A real shame.
Jamar Chase aside, WR has been a tough nut to crack for Lamone this year. Olave seems to be a stud, but he’s got Dalton for a QB. Adam Thielen seems to be back on track, but he got off to a slow start. Drake London looks like a super star, but has a terrible QB who kills all his pass catchers’ fantasy value (more on this later). Jerry Jeudy SHOULD be a stud, but he got hurt and has one of the biggest disappointments so far as his QB (Russel Wilson, guess whos team he’s on - this guy).
While things don’t look good for Luma right now, he’s got a realllyyy favorable schedule coming up. He’s got an auto win, free space, bye week in Week 5 vs my team. He then faces another 1-3 team in Week 6 (Ken). Week 7 brings Frader’s team and it’s not until Week 8 that he plays a team with a winning record (Kev). This stretch may be exactly what the doctor ordered for Tuna Tungyamotha.
10th Place: Zero-Point Zero - Loser Clown (0-4):
Ohhhh mannnn where do I start with this one? I know most of you aren’t reading still and I know most of you don’t care, but I have to get some venting out. I’m just an angry little man punishing his keyboard over a stupid ass game of chance that we call FANTASY football.
Anyways let’s throw up the road flares, call in the ambulance and investigate this mess. This car crash inside of a train wreck inside of a plane crash inside of a (GOT SPOILER) Great Sept of Bailor wild fire explosion. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?
Easy pickings to start - I have the 2nd most points against. The only reason I’m not leading the league is because Keetz just put up 208 on Lamone. Despite that I’m still only 4 points behind Lamone in points against. All four of my opponents have scored 134 or more and 3 of the 4 have 152 or more. How am I supposed to win when my opponents are putting up 152, 162 and 177?
Now for the specifics of the crash. I can’t go any further without talking Kyle Pitts. Holy shit what a bust. The Jamarcus Russel of the 2022 season. Sure I took him a little early - 27th overall when his ADP was 32. But has there ever been a bust quite like this? He is currently TE 20 on the season. A short list of scrub TEs who have more fantasy points: Evan Engram, Taysom Hill, Mo Alie Cox, Will Dissly, Tyler Conklin. He’s scored fewer than 4 points in 3 of 4 games. We are in full PPR scoring. 2 catches for 20 yards is what he’s giving me each week. This is a guy who was taken with the 4th pick in the NFL draft 2 years ago - THE HIGHEST PICK EVER USED ON A TE. He had 1000 yards receiving in his rookie season and is 1 of only 2 players to ever do that in NFL history. The other, Mike Ditka, is in the Hall of Fame. The preseason reports were good, the upside is there andddddddd it’s all been for nothing. Absolutely nothing. FUCK MARCUS MARIOTA.
Aside from that I’m just getting some unlucky breaks with player performances. Gabe Davis was a stud in Week 1 and scored 19 points. Since then he’s missed a game and combined for 9 points in his other two. The injury occurred in practice, we talkin bout practice. Kareem Hunt isn’t doing shit after a great week 1. David Montgomery has been hurt midway through 2 games. Russel Wilson is a complete bust despite the offseason hype. Ceedee Lamb lost his QB. On and on and on.
Rambling now, but Week 3’s loss made me LOL. I lost that matchup by 17 points. Two hilarious stats come to mind from that:
David Montgomery got hurt and scored 3, while his backup put up 38 points. That’s fun.
I played Rob D that week - he has Chubb, I have Kareem Hunt. Hunt had 2 goal line carries stopped on the one yard line. Chubb came in and scored on the third try, giving Rob D a 12 point swing.
Then I get to Week 4 and Tieg puts up a season high 162 on me. This was 2 weeks after Kev put up a season high 177 against me. WHAT THE FUCK.
I’ll close this with “matchup luck”. One question I ask myself when I’m having a down season like this is - am I even putting up enough points to win? Well…. yes actually. In Week 1 I would have beat 6 other teams. In Week 2 I had a bad game (120), but still would have beat 2 other teams. In Week 3 I would have beat 3 other teams. In Week 4 I would have beat 4 other teams. So it’s not like I’m a bottom feeder every week. I just cannot catch a fucking break and as a result, my season is over before Columbus day. Fuck fantasy football, fuck this season. Goodbye.
