We finally had more than two teams break 100 points! But it came at the expense of the fourth least-competitive week ever (link)... so we still have work to do before Blingaleague X lives up to our usual level of excellence.

Week Three Recap

https://blingaleague.com/week/2017/3/

Babel def. Schertz, 109.77-105.09:

We had only one close game this week, and it tried it's damnedest to make up for the other six matchups. Schertz looked to be in big trouble early, as the Ravens defense put up an "perfect" -7.00 while Babel got 14.70 from Leonard Fournette in the early London game.. That changed quickly, however, as Stefon Diggs (35.07), T.Y. Hilton (26.40), and Antonio Brown (20.67) all went off in the noon time slot. Babel charged back thanks to early-season fantasy MVP Kareem Hunt (24.67) and Tyreek Hill (17.57), and took a small lead into Monday night. When Dallas got a Dez Bryant (7.60) touchdown instead of a Dan Bailey (4.00) field goal, Babel got some breathing room he never relinquished, and got his first win of the year.

Pulley def. Kevin, 146.27-49.78:

These

Richie def. Matt, 118.90-73.28:

games

Rob def. Pat, 108.17-78.02:

do

Rabbit def. Mike R., 104.61-61.00:

not

Dave def. Derrek, 127.83-68.02:

merit

Ed def. Allen, 93.50-68.17:

recaps.

Current Standings

https://blingaleague.com/standings/

1. Pulley, 3-0, 359.94

2. Dave, 3-0, 345.61

3. Rob, 3-0, 300.34

4. Schertz, 2-1, 312.00

5. Rabbit, 2-1, 257.95

6. Babel, 1-2, 307.78

7. Ed, 1-2, 281.73

8. Derrek, 1-2, 261.52

9. Richie, 1-2, 258.37

10. Pat, 1-2, 258.23

11. Mike R., 1-2, 244.69

12. Allen, 1-2, 241.51

13. Kevin, 1-2, 225.76

14. Matt, 0-3, 228.59

Weekly Awards

Team Blangums: Pulley's 146.27 is the new high score for the year.

Slapped Heartbeat: Kevin's 49.78 is the new low score for the year. The Pulley/Kevin game was only the 13th Blangums/Slapped Heartbeat combination ever; Pulley's score is the third-highest in such games, and Kevin's is the third-lowest (oddly, they trail the same two games on each end) (link).

Weekly MVP: Tom Brady put up 37.00 points for the Pullman.

Dud of the Week: Mike was within shouting distance of Rabs going into the Sunday night game, but Derek Carr's 4.40 sealed his fate.

Start of the Week: Babel pretty much played his chalk players, so not even he gets this award.

Misplay of the Week: Schertz sat Ted Ginn, Jr. (13.37) on his bench, opting for Tyrell Williams (2.00) instead.

Week Three Preview

Game of the Blingaweek

Chili Right Away (Dave, 3-0, 2nd) vs. Rob for Today (Rob, 3-0, 3rd):

Dave leads all-time series, 6-5 (link).

Dave has been our most consistently strong team this year, and he looks primed to have a strong week four. Odell Beckham, Jr. (@TB) and Jordan Howard (@GB) bounced back with huge games last week, Devonta Freeman (vs. BUF) and Golden Tate (@MIN) have been solid all year, and Travis Kelce (vs. WAS) is always a threat to explode. If Marcus Mariota (@HOU) does to the Texans what Tom Brady did last week, Dave is probably looking at Team Blangums (finally).

Rob's also put up consistently good scores, albeit not at Dave's level. Drew Brees (@MIA) is always a great QB to have, but will the London game affect his production? (It certainly doesn't hurt Blake Bortles, but historically, teams not from Jacksonville don't travel that well). Brandin Cooks (vs. CAR) had a huge week three, and Jarvis Landy (vs. NO) has a juicy matchup (but the same potential London issues). Christian McCaffrey (@NE) is the wild card here; you can realistically see anything from 3 to 33 points from him.

This game ensures at least one of our three undefeated teams will fall.

Pick: Chili Right Away.

Other Blingamatches

The Chocolate Donuts (Kevin, 1-2, 13th) vs. Pralines & Dick (Rabbit, 2-1, 5th):

All-time series tied, 5-5 (link).

BlingaWoj (link) was one of many who circled the Blingabowl IX matchup on his calendar when the schedule was released, but it's lost some of its luster since then. Kevin is 1-2, coming off a sub-50-point game, and not in last place primarily due to Matt's historically-awful start (more on that later). And while Rabs might be 2-1, he's scored his fewest points through three games since 2008 (link); it's kind of a reverse of last season, where he was 3-0 with a strong point total. Last year, his point total predicted his finish; will this year be the same?

Pick: The Chocolate Donuts.

Pullman's MondoSquad (Pulley, 3-0, 1st) vs. Harrison Hammers (Matt, 0-3, 14th):

Pulley leads all-time series, 6-4 (link).

This is another game that one might have circled before the season. That was before Matt became one of three teams ever to have an expected winning percentage below .200 through three weeks (link). The good news for Matt is that the previous two teams finished 4th and 7th overall, so there's certainly a chance for him to bounce back. Pulley's start to the season remind us of Matt's start last year - two Team Blangums awards in the first four weeks, but sub-80 point scores otherwise (link). Matt fell all the way to 10th place last year; should Pulley put up a dud this week, should he be seriously worried?

Pick: Pullman's MondoSquad.

Inconceivable (Richie, 1-2, 9th) vs. Bernie's Bullies (Mike R., 1-2, 11th):

Richie leads all-time series, 4-1 (link).

Richie saved some hope for his season with a very strong score last week, pulling out of the cellar all the way to 9th place. He's got some iffy matchups this week - Julio Jones goes against the Bills and Carlos Hyde against the Cardinals, though Bernie's got a machup issue of his own as Derek Carr plays at Denver.

Pick: Bernie's Bullies.

Live Commish (Ed, 1-2, 7th) vs. D's Nuts (Derrek, 1-2, 8th):

Ed leads all-time series, 7-5 (link).

Like Rich, Ed got a huge win to avoid 3-0 last week. He's scored between 88 and 100 points every week, which isn't really that bad in this low-scoring season, but he really could use a few players putting up big weeks in tandem. Russell Wilson plays the stinky Colts, while Mike Evans goes against the maybe-stinkier Giants. Derrek's failed to crack 13% win expectancy (link) in two of the three weeks so far, but at least put up a 120-pointer in week two; if Le'Veon Bell can't put up good numbers at Baltimore, he could be sunk.

Pick: Live Commmish.

Keep Calm & GordOn (Babel, 1-2, 6th) vs. Noodles and Vistas (Pat, 1-2, 10th):

Pat leads all-time series, 5-3 (link).

Add Babel to the list of teams-that-avoided-0-3-last-week. Like Ed, he's avoided putting up a stinker, but he's also scored high enough to where he actually had a 62% chance of winning two or more of his games (link). With Jameis Winston (vs. NYG) and Leonard Fournette (@NYJ) with good matchups, he has to be licking his chops... but is this the week Kareem Hunt (vs. WAS) comes back to Earth against a strong defense? Pat has to feel confident that Aaron Rodgers will put up his usual fantastic game against the Bears, so Babel might need every point he can get.

Pick: Noodles and Vistas.

Optimus Prime (Allen 1-2, 12th) vs. schertzopotamus (Schertz, 2-1, 4th):

Schertz leads all-time series, 4-1 (link).

JuJu has also avoided bad weeks, and might actually be the person whose record most closely matches his expectations based on his points scored each week. This week is scary for him, as not only is Ben Roethlisberger (@BAL) on the road, but he's also playing against a defense that looked amazing in the first two weeks. Then again, they also gave up 44 points to the Bortles-led Jaguars in London, so that game could go either way. Allen has a solid-looking team on paper, but Ezekiel Elliott (vs. LAR) has been a bit disappointing, and faces a defense that also looked good, but only for two weeks.

Pick: Optimus Prime.

Closing Thoughts

Check out some of the new changes on blingaleague.com! An easier to use game finder! Graphs of expected win distribution for a given team!

LiveCommish

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