GWBL - 2022 - Week 2 Pulse Check (Part 2)
Welcome back for some more GWBL pulse checks. Now that we’ve been through our healthy patients, it’s time to dig into the unhealthy patients. Let the triage begin:
6th Place: Hill Bill - DMO (1-1)
After tripping out of the gates, Hill Bill put up a strong performance to earn the Week 2 win. It was a 8 point win over Tieg, 167-159 which is huge for the squad. It’s going to take me some time to recalibrate the score expectations with our new scoring this year. I used to think 159 was a guaranteed win, but everything has changed.
Moving on and sticking to the theme - Darren has been carried by one of his WRs. Namely Tyreek Hill, who is WR3 and put up 44 points against the Ravens this week. He already has 19 receptions through 2 games, on pace for 161. Speaking of that Dolphins-Ravens game, DMO also has Lamar Jackson - who put up a modest 52.55 points in Week 2. One NFL game with 2 players got DMO 96+ fantasy points this past week. If that Dolphins-Ravens game wasn’t such a ridiculous shootout, DMO may be 0-2.
An item of note is DMO’s RB group. I thought it was a big strength to start the year, but now I’m not so sure. Dalvin Cook is coming off a 9 point output and Najee Harris looks to be a bust this year. He’s relying completely on volume with terrible efficiency. Devin Singletary is coming off a 5 point performance and while it was caused by gameflow, it’s still concerning. Miles Sanders and James Robinson played well, but they’re both in the RB3 range. Overall DMOs team looks strong despite a few question marks.
7th Place: Tuna Tungyamotha - Lamone (1-1)
Hilarious name by Lamone as always. Touche. I’d probably go with TUA Tungyamotha but I digress. As with most of the 1-1 teams, it’s been one good week and one bad week for Lamone. Week 1 he scored 131 and got the W. In Week 2 he didn’t even put up 100 and got the L. He actually forgot to pull Kamara out of his RB2 spot before Sunday’s games which is a tough look. It didn’t matter as he played the future champ, but not ideal in any case. Suboptimal as they say.
Speaking of suboptimal, Lamone is getting hit by the injury bug already. Kamara, Jeudy and Kittle are all dealing with injuries to some extent. (I think they were all top 6 picks)
On the flip side, Kyler Murray is balling and Drake London is falling. Had to rhyme that, no ragrets. Anyways Murray is taking a break from PS3 to score fantasy points and he put up 30 this week. He needed an OT period to do it but it was promising. As for London - the rookie WR is already the Falcons #1 option in the passing game and scored his first career TD in Week 2. Note: lamone didn’t start him, but it’s always nice to get some unexpected production off your bench. Speaking of unexpected production, Antonio Gibson has been a nice find for Lamone in the 9th round. It took a teammate of his getting shot for it to happen, but Gibson is firmly back in the RB2 conversation.
8th Place: Henry Hurts - Tieg (0-2)
Tieg is the yin to Frader’s yang. After winning the league in 2021, he’s off to an 0-2 start in 2022. His team crapped out in Week 1 with 118 points - not good enough to win in this climate. Then he faced the buzz saw that is Hill Bill in Week 2 - scoring 158 and losing. Through 2 weeks that’s the highest point total of any team that lost, so that’s just some shit ass luck. A title bad luck is expected coming off a title, but damn that blows.
One area of concern is Tieg’s first round pick - Derrick Henry. Henry has 23.5 combined fantasy points through 2 weeks and is RB28 on the season. After 4-5 years of dominance, it’s fair to wonder if Henry is starting to slow down. That or if the Titans are so bad that Henry will suffer. (Note: when he rushes for 250 yards in Week 3 I will take this all back.)
Ending on a positive note: Jalen Hurts is playing his way into the QB1 conversation. The Eagles QB is QB3 on the year with a total of 72 fantasy points. He went OFF in Week 2, with 43 fantasy points on 333 yards passing, 57 yards rushing and 3 total TDs.
9th Place: The Washington Sentinels - Commish (0-2)
I predicted that my team would finish in last place, but that doesn’t take the sting of it away. It’s been a rough start to the season and at this point it’s almost time to give up hope. The most frustrating part is that it’s happening in a totally unexpected way. For starters, I lead the league in points against. A total of 330 against as my opponents have scored 152 and 177 against through 2 weeks. I lost week 1 when I scored 144 and lost by fewer than 8 points, which is just cruel. Not quite as bad as Tieg’s loss in Week 2, but not far behind (Keetz also suffered a brutal Week 2 loss). You can’t predict points against but here we are.
Aside from that, the guys who are killing me are guys I expected to contribute. Ceedee Lamb - 2nd round pick - is not even a top 40 WR. The Dak Prescott injury killed all Ceedee Lamb owners, but somehow didn’t impact the Dak Prescott owners (see Rob D). Another bum on my team - Russel Wilson. He’s QB18 and couldn’t even muster 11 points this past week.
No one deserves more blame than Kyle Pitts though. My third round pick (#27th overall) has scored 3.9 and 3.9 points through 2 weeks. He’s not even a top 35 TIGHT END. TIGHT FUCKING END. THE WORST POSITION IN ALL OF FANTASY SPORTS AND HE’S NOT EVEN TOP 20. What a fucking joke.
The funny thing is that I anticipated the Great WR Rush of 2022. I specifically drafted a lot of pass catchers to account for our change in scoring. I went WR-WR to start, then took WRs in Round 5 and 6. Four of my first 6 were WRs and another was a TE. I also drafted pass catching RB Kareem Hunt. I steered into the skid and still ended up in a ditch. Unbelievable. It’s going to be a longggggggg season.
10th Place: Austin Massa-choochoo - Ken (0-2):
Let’s finish with the only team that’s as bad as mine - Kenny Peabs. It’s actually eerily similar when you look at the box scores - we both lost in Week 1 despite scoring 140+. We then both lost in Week 2 when our teams didn’t show up (112 for Ken, 120 for me).
What’s not eerily similar is the “why”. Ken went heavy on RBs to start, taking Ekeler and Swift with his 1-2 picks. Ekeler has been fairly quiet and like Najee, is surviving purely on volume. Swift has been amazing, but he’s not getting the volume. Ken also lost Elijah Mitchell to injury in Week 1.
Things don’t look much better at WR - Mike Evans scored 9 in Week 2 and is suspended for Week 3. AJ Brown went off in Week 1, but only scored 11 in Week 2. DK Metcalf isn’t even startable right now - a 5th round pick down the drain. Darnell Mooney hasn’t hit his stride yet, Chase Claypool has been bad and Rondale Moore/Michael Gallup are still hurt.
It’s still early, but it’s hard to feel good about the squads Ken and I put together. Hopefully things look a bit more promising next time I get to GWBL entertainment.
