The BEN Fantasy Football Newsletter

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.

It was National Tight End Day last Sunday, and some tight ends really showed out for the occasion. Let’s recap what happened in Week 8.

What a nailbiter! Terry McLaurin sealed the deal and delivered the win for Carson with 14.4 points in Monday Night Football! Jordan Love was incredible with 28.3 points, Breece Hall had the performance of his life with 32.86 points, CeeDee Lamb had 14.6 points, and Dallas Goedert had 17.8. Surprisingly, Christian McCaffrey had only 9.8 points, the 49ers Defense scored negative 3 points, and Eddy Pineiro the kicker only scored 1 point. But with close margins, every point matters, and it was all enough to push Carson over the edge of Johnny’s point total and move to 5-3.

A heartbreaking loss for Johnny, and he may only have Jordan Mason to blame. The return of Aaron Jones Sr. stifled Mason’s production, only scoring 1.6 points, 10.3 points lower than his projection! Besides Will Reichard, everyone else on the team scored double digit points, including 18 points from the Bill Defense, 23.22 points from Josh Allen, and 19.1 from Derrick Henry (who looks to be returning to form). Tetairoa McMillan and George Pickens had great performances too! And on National Tight End Day, Kyle Pitts Sr. did his job with 14.9 points. This one is a tough one to swallow, but all you can do is move on to the next week.

Mohit’s team bounced back from a loss in a big way! 155.06 points was the second highest total this week, and it was enough to outlast a strong performance from Isaac. There were two big time performances, starting with James Cook III dropping a whopping 33.6 points that consisted of 216 yards and 2 touchdowns. And Tucker Kraft did not trail much behind, dropping 33.3 points of his own! He was the highest scoring Tight End this week. What a performance on National Tight End day! Jalen Hurts added 25.36 points, D’Andre Swift continued his TD streak with 15.1 points, Ladd McConkey had 20.8 points, and Wil Lutz had a better game with 9.2 point! With modest contributions from Keenan Allen and Jaylen Warren, Mohit could ignore the fact that the Falcons Defense dropped a donut against the Miami offense.

That’s 4. Straight. Losses. For Isaac. He was 4-0, and now he is 4-4. He chose to try to ride out his injuries to Puka Nacua and Garrett Wilson and could not get any luck to go his way in stealing a game. This week, it was actually a great performance, as his team did put up 132.72 points. Jonathan Taylor heroics made this matchup interesting heading into Sunday Night Football, as he scored an amazing 37.4 points. Jaxson Dart had 19.42 points, Zay Flowers had 14.1, George Kittle had 14.3, the Patriots Defense had 12 points, and Ka’imi Fairbairn had 15.4 points. But Keon Coleman only had 6 points. And the toughest news, Quinshon Judkins only had 4.7 points before getting injured. Puka Nacua and Garrett Wilson are both close to returning, so Isaac can look forward to that. But the morale must be very low.

Fireworks were going off in this matchup, but Ryan’s team delivered in a big way to get his second straight win! And more importantly, it pushes Caden down to having sole possession of last place. You might be assuming that Bijan Robinson must have something to do with it, but you’re wrong! He only had 5.8 points that included a fumble. Every other player on Ryan’s team scored double digit performances, with 4 of them scoring 20+ points. Drake Maye had 26.28 points, Jaylen Waddle had 20.9, Chase Brown finally showed promise with 25.5 points, and the Buccaneers Defense took advantage of the Saints and scored 25 points! Cameron Dicker added on 15.2, David Njoku had 13.7 points, and DeVonta Smith had 14.4 points. But there is some bad news with this performance, as Cam Skattebo scored 10 points before suffering a gruesome ankle injury. He is now out for the season. He was having a great season after Tyrone Tracy Jr. went down, but Ryan will again have to search for answers after already losing Joe Burrow.

Eric built momentum going into this game, but he ran into a buzzsaw this week and couldn’t make it out alive, although he almost did. Eric’s All-play record this week was 7-2, but he played one of those two teams that gave him a loss. Saquon Barkley had 33.4 points, Rashee Rice had 25.5, DK Metcalf had 16.5, and Bo Nix had 23.78. Only Hunter Henry and Brandon Aubrey had single digit performances. On his bench, Khalil Shakir and Kimani Vidal had over 19 points, so he must be left wondering what could’ve been if he had started one of them. You just gotta tip your cap to Ryan and move on.

Sudais just keeps on winning. On National Tight End day, Travis Kelce exploded with 21.9 points. De’Von Achane had 20.1 points. Ja’Marr Chase continues to heat up with 21.1 points. Malik Washington, of all people, was able to salvage his performance with 13.6 points despite being projected for 9. Chase McLaughlin with 18.1 points, and the Chargers Defense had 13 points. It didn’t even matter that Deebo Samuel had only 4.2 points or that Nick Chubb had 8.9 points. There’s just not much to say, Sudais’ team is dominant right now.

Caden fell to an all-time low this week. He scored only 82.28 points, marking his lowest point total this season. Only two of his players crossed double-digit point totals. Tee Higgins had 11.4, and Chris Boswell the kicker had 22 points. Vikings Defense had negative 2 points, Baker Mayfield was not a factor with 4.08 points, Rachaad White had 8 points, only half of his projected, and the standout Tyler Warren was unable to show out on National Tight End Day with 9.3 points. Emeka Egbuka had only 6.5 points! Caden now finds himself in sole possession of last place in the league, and for his lowest point total of the week (and his season), he will have to answer to the press!

That’s Luke’s second straight win, albeit in an interesting way. Luke had an All-play record of 2-7 this week but still registers a win in the win column. The difference makers were Joe Flacco with 24.32 points and Michael Pittman Jr. with 23.5, who is turning out to be one of the steals of the draft as he is now WR7! Tyler Loop also had 13.2 points. For reference, Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Rico Dowdle combined for a puny 7.9 points. And on National Tight End Day, the TE1 of Fantasy Football Jake Ferguson dropped 0 points (and still is TE1 after that donut)! Marvin Mims Jr. had 1.8 points. But a win is a win, and with how tight the league is, it’s an important win.

For Patrick, that’s his third straight loss. I’m just going to immediately point out that Josh Reynolds was ruled out prior to the game, but he still made the start for Patrick. Interesting, he must’ve gotten caught snoozing. The waiver wire could’ve been a friend to him, and probably would’ve gotten him a win this week considering Luke only scored 88 points. C.J Stroud had 21.72 points, Javonte Williams had 17.9, but not much else to brag about. It might be time to panic for Patrick’s squad.

Week 8 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 8.

And here is the Commissioner’s Power Rankings:

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

The All-Play Record is a record that shows what your cumulative record would be if your team played every other team each week.

This is an indicator that removes some of the luck involved in a head-to-head scheduling, where you play one team a week, and gives a more accurate picture of each team’s performance.

With that being said, these are the cumulative All-play Standings so far this season:

Isaac is riding on a 4 game losing streak, and he desperately needs a win. But he’s most likely getting his main weapon back: Puka Nacua. If he indeed does play, can he lead Isaac back to the win column? Will Jonathan Taylor continue to put up insane numbers? Will George Kittle boom against the Giants? On the other side, can Luke continue his good fortune? Does Michael Pittman Jr. continue his campaign as a top wide reciever? Will Jake Ferguson drop more than 0 points this week?

The other matchups are as follows:

#6 Mohit (4-4) vs. #1 Sudais (6-2)
#8 Ryan (3-5) vs. #2 Carson (5-3)
#10 Caden (2-6) vs. #9 Eric (3-5)
#4 Patrick (4-4) vs. #7 Johnny (4-4)

Make sure you submit a question for Caden 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, Caden 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).

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.