The BEN Fantasy Football Newsletter - Week 4

NOTE: Any rankings appearing before names in this edition refer to ESPN power rankings, not my own rankings nor the actual fantasy standings. Additionally, last week’s ranking will be used to recap the below matchups, and the new rankings will be used near the bottom where the Power Rankings and the preview for this week’s matchups are.

Before we get to the normal stuff, I want to let you guys know that I am currently still thinking of potential prizes for the regular season winner (whoever has the most wins, or tiebreaker in case of tie). As we all know, we voted to change the winner of the league from the regular season winner to the playoff winner. I also promised to award the regular season winner with a prize because I believe that’s still a big accomplishment.

Obviously the jersey paid for by league dues and the ring are now awarded to the winner, but the regular season winner prize has yet to be determined. I’m having trouble finding a good prize for it. Previously, the playoff winner got the award of asking whoever lost the league (and therefore catered the Super Bowl party) a specific food of their choice just for them. In hindsight, this was a lame award, and I don’t believe it should just be switched to the regular season winner.

I’d like the regular season winner to recieve something more significant than that, but not as significant as the main prize, of course. A refund of their league dues of $15 isn’t worth it, no one looks forward to getting $15 in 3-4 months. So I am still thinking of potential prizes that will be worth it. Rest assured I will come up with something. But if any of you have any ideas, feel free to let me know because I could actually use the help.

ALSO, I have already said this but just in case you haven’t seen it already: If you are considering changing your team name at any point this season, please REFRAIN from doing so unless you let me know ahead of time. I have set up Python code that helps me automate the Lucky Rankings, speeding up the process. But it’s reliant on team names, so if one of you changes your name the code breaks and I have to go back and manually change it. So please let me know ahead of time if you ever want to change your name.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the normal newsletter…

Week 3 has come and went, let’s recap what happened.

Carson did end up getting the win, but it wasn’t because of TE Brock Bowers. Sure he got almost 10 points, but it was the efforts of RBs Christian McCaffrey and Omarion Hampton, along with WR Nico Collins. They put up 24, 22.4, and 24.9 points respectively. QB Jordan Love only had 11.12 points, but through the modest efforts of the other players on his team, it was enough to get into the win column for the first time this season!

And a tough loss for Sudais. A week after winning the matchup of the week in dominant fashion, he failed to cross 100 points (thanks to Ravens Defense scoring -6 points) and was let down by his team. WR Deebo Samuel scored a very low 4.9 points after back-to-back weeks of convincing performances. WR Ja’Marr Chase only scored 8.9 points. Is that a sign of times to come for the #1 pick in the draft with QB Jake Browning instead of Joe Burrow? I bet Sudais is hoping not. Outstanding performances by K Chase McLaughlin (21.6) and WR Jaxson Smith-Njigba, along with RB De’Von Achane scoring 16.1 points, were not enough to carry Sudais to a win. And the toughest news for him, RB James Conner scored 6.7 points before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. The good news is that Sudais does possess his handcuff, RB Trey Benson. If he believes in him enough, the easiest choice is to replace Conner with Benson. But if not, does Sudais hit the trade market for a RB? One thing is for sure, Sudais will have to speak to the press this week as a result for scoring the lowest amount of points!

What a win for Ryan to get on board for a win. He had double digit performances from everyone on his team except RB Chase Brown and TE David Njoku. QB Drake Maye dropped 19.22 points as the first appearance at QB for Ryan, and that’s all you can ask from him (maybe even more), unless if its to not throw an interception that costed 2 points. RB Bijan Robinson was able to score 16.1 points despite not getting a single touchdown. The more interesting development is several of Ryan’s bench pieces having great performances. WR DeVonta Smith with 20, TE Dalton Kincaid with 17.6, and RB Cam Skattebo with 24.1 points. With regards to Skattebo, RB Tyrone Tracy is expected to miss time, so Skattebo becomes a lot more interesting. There may be a glimmer of hope for Ryan to start competing in this league again.

On the other hand, a shocker of an upset for Mohit. The two pieces that kept fustrating him the most fustrated him again. RB Ashton Jeanty and WR Ladd McConkey dropped 6.3 and 8.1 points respectively. Even though its only week 3, patience is wearing thin. Mohit does possess Charges WRs Keenan Allen and Quentin Johnston. Should he start either one of them over Ladd, or mix-and-match a package between all 3 WRs for another starting WR? DBut after QB Jalen Hurts drops 29, RB James Cook with 20.8, and WR Ricky Pearsall with 19.7 points (despite not having a touchdown), along with Seahawks Defense scoring 17 points, Mohit found himself only needing a little less than 7 points from WR Malik Nabers Sunday night to secure a victory. And there’s the biggest story. WR Malik Nabers had 1 TARGET in the entirety of the first half, and finished the game with 2 receptions for 13 yards, giving 3.3 points. It gives Mohit his first loss, but is it time for him to hit panic mode? With a 2-1 record (and QB Jaxson Dart coming to save the day for Malik Nabers with his first start), probably not.

Another week, another win for Isaac. QB Caleb Williams continues to impress with 29.12 points, despite the Bears struggles. But the explosion by RB Jonathan Taylor with 32.8 points stole the show, thanks to his 3 rushing touchdowns. Newly acquired WR Puka Nacua picked up where he left off with 22.8 points, and WR Garrett Wilson had 24.4 Points. He won by a big margin, so much so he probably didn’t even notice WR Zay Flowers socred only 3.3 points despite the Ravens scoring 30 points in a loss! Isaac continues to win at a high level and stays undefeated.

Another instance of it not even being close for Johnny. QB Josh Allen had 23.02 points and RB Jordan Mason dropped 23.6 points, proving to be an effective pickup from waivers for Johnny. RB Kenneth Walker III also dropped 18 points. But there’s no where else to look for silver linings. RB Derrick Henry was not impressive with only 10.7 points. WRs Drake London and Tetairoa McMillan only had 15.7 points combined. K Ka’imi Fairbairn only had 2.7 points. WRs Courtland Sutton and George Pickens had 23.8 and 17.8 points respectively, but they were left on the bench. Would it had make a difference this week? Probably not, but it does provide some food for thought for Johnny.

You know, its funny. I started prewriting this edition a few days ago to get a head start on this newsletter. It takes longer than you think making these every week, so this week I decided to try to save myself some time and start working on some of it earlier. I had penciled in a loss for Caden going into Monday Night Football and prepared it as such. And well? An epic win for Caden is instead the result, as this one went right down to the WIRE. Therefore I had to rewrite this entire matchup. It was neck-and-neck until one of the final plays of Monday Night Football where RB David Montgomery rushed for a 31 yard touchdown that capped off a 29.4 point performance and delivered the late night dagger to Luke. With double digit performances by everyone else except WR Tee Higgins (who dropped a poor 2.5 points) and K Chris Boswell, it was just enough to overcome Luke and get Caden his first win this season after back-to-back unlucky losses. But even if it was a win, the unfortune for Caden continues. WR CeeDee Lamb was injured early in the game, failing to record a single point. It was later revealed that he will miss some time. Whether that be long-term or short, it’s a tough blow for Caden, who is now without his best player. But at least he can thank the Vikings Defense with 32 points for the victory!

And for every winner of a nailbiter, there’s also a loser. Despite getting 20+ points from both RB Jahmyr Gibbs and TE Jake Ferguson, it was not enough. WR Jerry Jeudy continues to disappoint dropping only 2.7 points. And when the Lions score 38 points, seeing WR Jameson Williams only have 6.3 points is dissapointing. However, Caden also had his fair share of bad luck with performances (and injury) and therefore I believe Luke just has to make some adjustments to his lineup, tip his cap, and move on. It was great entertainment for the rest of the league, if that’s any consolation.

This was also another close matchup, but Patrick remains the only other unbeaten with Isaac with a win. He continues to mask the limited ceiling (so far) of RB TreVeyon Henderson, who only scored 7.7 points, with top tier performances from other players. QB Lamar Jackson had 27.02 and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown had 20.7 points. Maybe the only other dissapointing performance was WR Marvin Harrison Jr. with 7.4 points, but sometimes you’ll have to gut it out in Fantasy Football, and that’s the case here.

A second loss for Eric means he has a losing record for the first time in his history of being in the league! Quite the streak. But the loss here can be attributed to the RBs. RB Alvin Kamara only getting 6.6 points despite being heavily involved in the passing game which is beneficial for PPR. RB Saquon Barkley only had 9.5 points despite the Eagles scoring 33 points. All you have to do is look at WR A.J Brown scoring 22.9 points for Eric (even though he had only 1 target in the first half) to see which the direction the Eagles wanted to take. Another game where you just have to tip your cap and move on.

Week 3 of the Lucky Rankings are here. As a reminder, this is a ranking that tries to quantify how “lucky” is team over a season. As the season moves on, the more refined and accurate this data becomes. A reminder that if you end up being the most lucky team, you will infact get a trophy for it.

The farther away from 0 you are, the more lucky/unlucky you are. Alternatively, the more greener/redder you are, the more lucky/unlucky you are. 0 is the baseline, meaning your record is exactly what is expected at that point.

Let’s take a look at the ESPN Power rankings after Week 3.

Wow, ESPN erratically boosted Carson up in the power rankings. I think it’s an overreaction, here is the Commissioner’s Power Rankings:

Here’s a visual of the ESPN Power Rankings so far:

As we move on to Week 4, let’s see the matchups:

I understand that #1 Patrick vs #5 Sudais might sound more enticing, but Sudais already had back-to-back MOTWs (which is my mistake, I’m trying to not have anyone go back to back in these.) So I went with this battle, two teams trying to find their footing. Caden is coming off his first win, and Johnny is coming off a loss. Caden will have to pray to the gods that his WR2s in Cooper Kupp (starting in the absence of WR CeeDee Lamb) and Tee Higgins can produce higher than what they’re projected. On the other side, Johnny will hope that WR Drake London can finally have a boom performance and that RB Derrick Henry returns to form. But he does have questions, like should he start WR Courtland Sutton over one of his other WRs? Does he do the same with WR George Pickens? At the time of writing this, Johnny is favored to win by 52%.

The other matchups include:

#3 Mohit (2-1) vs. # 7 Luke (1-2)#2 Isaac (3-0) vs. #10 Ryan (1-2)#1 Patrick (3-0) vs. #5 Sudais (1-2)#4 Carson (1-2) vs. #6 Eric (1-2)

Make sure you submit a question for Sudais to answer in his Press Conference! Each manager can submit a question, and the more people that send a question, the better. You’re limited to one question. You can send it in the fantasy group chat, or directly to me if you want it to be a surprise question (to be clear, Sudais will know who sent what question, but the questions will not be revealed to him until close to when its time to answer them, giving him little to no time to prepare answers).

If you haven’t read last week’s edition,

Thank you for being in this league.

By participating in this league, you agree to follow the rules. The commissioner reserves the right to issue rulings regarding league matters so long as they don’t conflict with pre-existing rules or previously proposed, but rejected, amendments. These rulings include, but are not limited to: vetoing trades despite public vote, collusion, tanking, and inactivity.