J LUV-ing IT!!

Three weeks in and we have our third different Weekly High Score winner!  It is amazing how frequently we have had a multi-week winner within the first 3 weeks of the season.  Since 2009, there has been a team to win 2 Weekly High Scores by Week 3 six times, nearly 38% of the time.  By Week 4, that percentage jumps to 75%, meaning we have a repeat high scorer in 3 of 4 seasons by the 4th week. Three times we've had the season start with back-to-back high scores by the same team (2010, 2015 and 2020).  The 2009 season set the record by opening up with 7 different Weekly High Score winners for the first 7 weeks.  Last season was one of the 75%ers, where American BadAss won the high score in Week 1, then did it again in Week 4.

The big congratulations this week go to Mr. Shawn Martin whose J LUV U LONG TIME was the only team to score in triple digits, putting up an impressive 114 points!  Shawn did it in spite of virtually no help from his wide receivers who combined for only 2 points.  But who needs wide receivers when you have Jalen Hurts (29 pts), Jordan Mason (23 pts), the Indianapolis defense (19 pts), James Cook (17 pts) and Matt Gay (14 pts).  This is Shawn’s first Weekly High Score since Week 8 last season.  Nice work muchacho!

In other games this week, we are down to only one undefeated team, Big Sack No TDs, and one winless team, Luck of the Irish.  Jens got a win in spite of only scoring 78 points, and John lost despite scoring 87 points, as he has had the misfortune of playing the top scoring team for the last two weeks.  The South division leads in number of wins (8 to 7), while the North division leads in points scored (1267 to 1230).  And boy are the injuries starting to pile up… CeeDee Lamb, James Conner, Mike Evans, Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels… lot of significant players have already missed time or will continue to do so.  Make sure you double check your starters each week.

BIG TIME

• Minnesota, DEF – Worst to 1st – 33 pts – The last time a defense was the top scorer in a given week was in Week 1 2023 when the Dallas Cowboys scored 41 points.  That one and this one were the only instances I found in the last five years.  The Vikings humiliated the Bengals this week, logging 5 turnovers, 4 sacks, 2 TD’s and only giving up 10 points.
• Tre Tucker, WR – Free Agent – 32 pts – The guy was only on 5% of rosters heading into Sunday.  I’m guessing we’ll see that number jump after he went off with 145 yards and 3 TD’s.  This was the highest single game score for a wide receiver so far this season.
• David Montgomery, RB – J LUV U LONG TIME – 31 pts – Montgomery ran through the Ravens defense as if they were just out there doing blocking drills.  On just 12 attempts, he had 151 yards and 2 TD’s.
• Jalen Hurts, QB – J LUV U LONG TIME – 29 pts – Hurts just does so much damage on the ground.  Already this season he has 117 yards rushing and 4 TD’s, after adding 40 yards and a TD this week on the ground.  Add to that 226 yards passing and another 3 TD’s, and well, you’ve got a solid week of fantasy.
• Jonathan Taylor, RB – Joe’s Pats – 29 pts – Nothing like following a 30 point week with a 29 point week.  Mr. Taylor is now the top ranked runningback in fantasy, a solid 11 points ahead of 2nd place James Cook.
• Caleb Williams, QB – Luck of the Irish – 28 pts – Best way to boost a young QB's confidence?  Have him play the Dallas Cowboys.  He didn’t get sacked or turn the ball over, while racking up 298 passing yards and 4 TDs.

COME ON MAN

• Calvin Ridley, WR – J LUV U LONG TIME – 2 pts – Ridley was targeted 7 times, but only managed one catch, which he took for 27 yards.  Not great.
• Tee Higgins, WR – Big Sack No TD’s – 1 pt – One catch for 15 yards.  One lowly catch.
• Zay Flowers, WR – Big Sack No TD’s – 1 pt – The 20 point game in Week 1 feels like a distant memory at this point.  All he got this week was 13 yards on 2 catches.  Eck.
• Malik Nabers, WR – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 1 pt – If you average his last two weeks, he has scored 16 points per week.  31 points followed by 1 point.  What in the heck?
• Baltimore, DEF – Wyld Ass Monkeys – -2 pts – The lowest point total for any player so far this season.  The Ravens defense provided little resistance to the Lions, recording no sacks, no interceptions, no fumble recoveries, and no blocked kicks, while giving up 38 points.  Yeah, that’s pretty bad.

KEEPER CHECK

Three weeks in so it seemed like a good time to check in to see how everyone’s keepers are performing.  The way these were ranked was by taking the total scores of each team’s keepers, plus adding the rounds which were spent on the keepers, for a “Total Keeper Value” metric.  

Here is the current list:

Joe’s Pats leads the way with Jonathan Taylor and Drake Maye as 2nd and 15th round keepers.  Worst to 1st had the highest round keepers (Jayden Daniels - 7th, and Brian Thomas Jr - 13th), and is currently 7th overall.  Wyld Ass Monkeys loaded up on the Bengals (Ja’Marr Chase – 1st, Joe Burrow – 7th) and so far it has not panned out.  Ultimately this shows, at least to this point in the season, there is really no correlation between the rounds spent on keepers and how well they will do.  I’ll continue to track this and will check in periodically through the season.

ALL UNWANTEDS

No roster moves for the Unwanteds this week, and it was their weakest showing so far this season:

With an average league score of 84.3, the 73 points posted would have only defeated two teams this week.  So this goes down as the first loss of the season, moving their record to 2-1.

BEST BENCH

One year and one week ago, J LUV U LONG TIME accomplished the rare feat of snagging the Weekly High Score and taking home the Best Bench.  And wouldn’t you know it, Shawn Martin has done it again!!  With a solid 32-point-improvement-possibility, the Week 3 Best Bench goes to J LUV U LONG TIME!  The Best Bench in Week 2 last season was Shawn’s last time taking the crown, which was also the longest active streak without one.  

JLULT needed three roster swaps to get there:  D. Montgomery for J. Cook +14, D. Smith for C. Lamb +12 and D. Moore for C. Ridley +6.  Time to change out those wide receivers Shawn.  (The team now with the longest non-Best Bench streak is yours truly…my Scottish Rebels.  I probably just jinxed myself… d’oh.)

Alright get those waiver claims in and get your rosters ready for Week 4!!