The Sanderson Gazette - 2023-10-18 - Upsets

Week six featured six of seven games where the team ranked lower in the standings won. This is the eleventh time that only one favorite (going by place in the standings) won in a single week.

There have been three all-upset weeks:

Week 6 Recap

Mike R. def. Pulley, 127.94-113.91

"I hate jinxing myself, but my god, Thielen's return to the Bullies has been lovely. He's 100% in the Bullies Ring of Honor, for whenever that is added to blingaleague.com. - Mike R.

Amon-Ra St. Brown (22.53) and Adam Thielen (21.33) led the way for Mike as he improved to 5-1. Raheem Mostert (31.77) went off for Pulley.

If this recap seems short, don't worry; there's enough content about this game in the rest of this week's Gazette.

Richie def. Ed, 79.89-76.75

We'll move from our highest scoring game of the week to our lowest, where Richie "earned" his first win of the year. Tua Tagovailoa (25.10) led the victor in this one, overcoming injury-driven duds from Deebo Samuel (1.10) and David Montgomery (3.93). Ed got 16.00 from the Chiefs defense, but had big disappointments from Josh Allen (15.55), Bijan Robinson (9.43), and Austin Ekeler (7.37, and more on this later).

Pat def. Babel, 90.72-86.28

Pat handed the Justin-Jefferson-less Babel his first loss of the year thanks to a balanced showing. While only Chris Olave (12.80) and the Lions defense (12.00) outperformed their Yahoo projections for Pat, Davante Adams (3.87) was his only truly flat performance. Meanwhile, Babel suffered through just 9.55 from Kirk Cousins, 3.47 from Puka Nacua, and 3.40 from Dameon Pierce, though Keenan Allen's 17.33 at least made it close on Monday night.

Dave def. Rabbit, 113.32-86.02

Unsurprisingly, A.J. Brown (17.47) and Travis Kelce (16.53) led Dave to a well-deserved victory. More surprisingly - for 2023, at least - Justin Tucker (16.70) was among his high scorers. Rabbit, after an impressive 4-0 start, lost his second in a row due to sub-standard performances from Geno Smith (12.15), Sam LaPorta (4.80), and - gasp! - Christian McCaffrey (11.50), who also might miss some time with an injury.

Kevin def. Rob, 111.58-83.82

Kevin must be glad to have Cooper Kupp back. The Rams WR scored 25.73 to get Kev his first win of the year. Dalton Schultz (14.13) and Rhamondre Stevenson (13.80) both helped, too. Rob's injury-riddled team was led by Harrison Butker's 18.20.

Matt def. Scott, 107.46-78.28

Matt pulled back to .500 on the year behind - who else? - Tyreek Hill (27.73). Scott got 17.10 from Breece Hall and 14.40 from Amari Cooper, but Brock Purdy's 7.45 left him little hope of winning.

Derrek def. Schertz, 92.96-66.01

Schertz's worst-case scenario was realized, as Justin Fields's (3.50) mid-game injury crippled his Bear-heavy roster. It also didn't help that Jahan Dotson and Tyler Bass both scored zero. Derrek benefitted from Schertz's bad week only so much, as he had a good enough score of his own thanks to his special teamers; Brandon McManus scored 18.80 and the Bengals defense put up 14.00.

Trades

Trade between Ed and Richie

Ed received:

  • Austin Ekeler - from Richie - keeper cost: 1st
  • Antonio Gibson - from Richie - keeper cost: 7th

Richie received:

  • Josh Jacobs - from Ed - keeper cost: 2nd
  • George Pickens - from Ed - keeper cost: 6th

Ed found another team looking for keepers, as Richie took on George Pickens's future value, along with Josh Jacobs's present (and possibly future value as a late second), in exchange for Austin Ekeler.

But don't fret, we're not in some End Days scenario! Instead, we're back to normal, with this trade directly leading to Ed's loss. While Ekeler (7.37) got off to a good start on Monday night, getting stopped at the one yard line late mean that Jacobs's 9.83 in Richie's lineup led the latter to victory.

Standings

  1. Babel, 5-1, 712.85
  2. Mike R., 5-1, 675.60
  3. Pulley, 4-2, 726.94
  4. Rabbit, 4-2, 643.12
  5. Schertz, 4-2, 582.77
  6. Matt, 3-3, 704.36
  7. Rob, 3-3, 601.41
  8. Pat, 3-3, 580.93
  9. Ed, 3-3, 562.38
  10. Dave, 3-3, 561.73
  11. Derrek, 2-4, 537.83
  12. Richie, 1-5, 572.13
  13. Scott, 1-5, 500.54
  14. Kevin, 1-5, 463.75

Blingalytics Ratings

Matt and Pulley are both among our all-time top ten in expected winning percentage through six weeks. Kevin and Scott both show up on the opposite list.

  1. Matt, 765
  2. Pulley, 738
  3. Babel, 709
  4. Mike R., 688
  5. Rabbit, 601
  6. Rob, 514
  7. Pat, 465
  8. Richie, 432
  9. Schertz, 427
  10. Ed, 410
  11. Dave, 409
  12. Derrek, 356
  13. Scott, 280
  14. Kevin, 203

Weekly Awards

Team Blangums

Mike R. takes home his second Team Blangums of the year with 127.94.

Slapped Heartbeat

Schertz's 66.01 was our low mark this week.

Weekly MVP

Without a real standout, this will go to the best player on the top team: Amon-Ra St. Brown scored 22.53 for Mike.

Dud of the Week

George Kittle (0.13) followed up his huge week five with just a single yard for Pulley. Logan Thomas (0.27) had double that for Kittle's former team (Ed).

Start of the Week

Richie and Pat won the two close games this week, but both didn't really have any choices to make (and had some of their bench players score more than starters).

Misplay of the Week

Ed stuck with Jerry Jeudy (1.87) over Curtis Samuel (11.60) and lost by just over three points.

Pickup of the Week

Richie traded for Josh Jacobs (9.83) and earned a victory because of it.

Blessed Cahoots

Richie had the third lowest score of the week, but won, because Ed's team was even worse.

Pryor Play of the Week

Justin Tucker scored 16.70 for Dave. That's what he expected when he made Tucker the first kicker drafted, finally.

D'Ernest D'oh

Ed made a trade. Ed lost because of it. Ed should have learned by now.

Week 7 Preview

Game of the Blingaweek

Pralines & Dick (Rabbit, 4-2, 4th) vs. schertzopotamus (Schertz, 4-2, 5th)

Rabbit leads all-time series, 8-4.

This is the only matchup of current playoff teams, but boy did it look juicier a week ago.

Through four weeks, Rabbit was averaging 122 points per game. The past two weeks, he's failed to break 90. The #1 reason for the change is Christian McCaffrey (@MIN), who went from averaging nearly 27 points per game to scoring less than that total over the past two. And now he's dealing with an injury. A trio of Seahawks (vs. ARI) - Geno Smith, DK Metcalf, and their defense - will need to step up to get Rabbit back on track, especially with Tony Pollard on his bye.

Schertz is best represented by D.J. Moore (vs. LV). Despite his 4-2 record, his only two triple digit scores have been when Moore's broken the 20-point barrier. And now with Justin Fields out at least this week, some others on schertzopotamus will have to up their production. Is it time for Saquon Barkley (vs. WAS) and Najee Harris (@LAR) to live up to their draft cost?

Pick: Pralines & Dick.

Other Blingamatches

Rob for Today (Rob, 3-3, 7th) vs. Live Commish (Ed, 3-3, 9th)

Ed leads all-time series, 10-7.

Jaylen Waddle (@PHI) is a great representation of Rob's team. Coming into the year, it looked like high highs would be the norm for Waddle and Rob's WRs (which include CeeDee Lamb (bye), Tee Higgins (bye), and Calvin Ridley (@NO)). But Waddle's been consistently just OK, and Rob sits at 3-3 with injuries mounting (add QB Trevor Lawrence (@NO) to the list) and some ill-timed byes to navigate this week.

Ed looks in the mirror and sees Christian Kirk (@NO). Outside of one 120-point outburst, Ed's been pretty average. Kirk's been the same, except for an outlier on the low end. Compared to Rob, Ed should be a bit more optimistic, though. Austin Ekeler (@KC), Bijan Robinson (@TAM), and Josh Allen (@NE) all should be among the very best at their positions; if they can live up to their potential, Ed could go from mediocre to contender quickly.

Pick: Live Commish.

The Vistas are Back (Pat, 3-3, 8th) vs. Double Digits (Dave, 3-3, 10th)

Dave leads all-time series, 9-6.

The second matchup of .500 teams features Pat, whose roster looks a lot better on paper than it's performed this year. That sounds like Ja'Marr Chase (bye) to me. D'Andre Swift (vs. MIA) has been Pat's best player, and Alvin Kamara (vs. JAC) has been solid, if not spectacular, since returning from his suspension. Like Ed, Pat will need a couple of underperformers - Lamar Jackson (vs. DET) and Davante Adams (@CHI) - to hit preseason expectations if he wants to make a playoff splash.

Speaking of splashes, Dave just added two new starters to his roster in the form of Jonathan Taylor (vs. CLE) and Marquise Brown (@SEA). But it's a player already on his roster, Michael Pittman, Jr. (vs. CLE), that best represents Dave. Pittman's been OK, and so has our 2021 champion.

Pick: The Vistas are Back.

Harrison Hammers (Matt, 3-3, 6th) vs. D's Nuts (Derrek, 2-4, 11th)

Derrek leads all-time series, 11-9.

Matt is just 3-3, but arguably the best team in the league this year. It's less arguable that Tyreek Hill (@PHI) is the best fantasy player this year; the Dolphins WR has twice as many games with 25 or more points (4) than he does games with less than 15 (2). Jalen Hurts (vs. MIA) will also stand to benefit if the Eagles-Dolphins game turns into a shootout, and Kenneth Walker III and Tyler Lockett (vs. ARI) both have good matchups.

Derrek is on a two-game winning streak just like Matt, but his most representative player is not a huge positive like Hill. No, it's Patrick Mahomes II (vs. LAC), who has been quite disappointing compared to expectations this year. Outside of that, D has a couple of clear starters, but not stars, at RB in the form of Isiah Pacheco (vs. LAC) and Alexander Mattison (vs. SF).

Pick: Harrison Hammers.

Keep Calm & Dameon (Babel, 5-1, 1st) vs. The Chocolate Donuts (Kevin, 1-5, 14th)

Kevin leads all-time series, 8-7.

Babel is 5-0 when Justin Jefferson (IR) plays and 0-1 when he doesn't. That's the kind of narrative Gazette gimmicks like this were built upon! Keenan Allen (@KC) has been stellar as a second WR for Babel, and Brandon Aiyuk (@MIN) and Puka Nacua (vs. PIT) have also been good, if less consistent. On top of that, Kyle Pitts (@TAM) is coming off of two straight double digit games.

Kevin got a win last week, but remains in last place. He's been starting the Denver defense (vs. GB), who are like him in that they're the worst in the league.

Pick: Keep Calm & Dameon.

Bernie's Bullies (Mike R., 5-1, 2nd) vs. Slap it Again! (Scott, 1-5, 13th)

Scott leads all-time series, 4-1.

Mike is quietly in bye position, and he's been reliant on Derrick Henry (bye), who's quietly a top ten RB yet again. This week could be rough, though, as in addition to Henry, Mike will also be without DeAndre Hopkins and Adam Thielen due to byes. Justin Herbert (@KC) showed last week he can still put up strong fantasy games despite having poor real-life ones, though, and Amon-Ra St. Brown (@BAL) has been steady as a rock.

Scott's best player, Breece Hall, will also be on bye. But he's most accurately described by keeper Rachaad White (vs. ATL): not notably bad, but just kind of there.

Pick: Slap it Again!

Pullman's Mondo Squad (Pulley, 4-2, 3rd) vs. Ed Gross (Richie, 1-5, 12th)

Pulley leads all-time series, 9-3.

Raheem Mostert (@PHI) has been outstanding this year, even though no one saw his elite production coming. That's a pretty good analog for Pulley, as it stands. Add in Stefon Diggs (@NE) and Travis Etienne, Jr. (@NO), and you have one of the top contenders for Blingabowl XVI.

Richie did just enough to get his first win last week, and that's in part due to Darren Waller (vs. WAS) doing just enough to get him there (despite being below average all year). Josh Jacobs (@CHI) and Tua Tagovailoa (@PHI) give Richie a pretty solid floor, especially for a 1-5 team, and George Pickens (@LAR) and Gabe Davis (@NE) are both capable of exploding for big games. Richie isn't one of our best teams, but he can be scary to face.

Pick: Pullman's MondoSquad.

Closing Thoughts

The Game of the Blingaweek delivered, producing our two highest scores of the week. That means Pulley became just the 17th team to lose despite having the second highest total.