News:

This week in the NFL features season-ending injuries to high profile players, QB changes, speculation on still more QB changes and those tend to lead to speculation on which coaching staffs are ready to move into full “job preservation mode”.

In Clan McDonald it’s noteworthy to see BigPlay atop the leader board at 3 – 1 by virtue of point differential. Granted it’s barely October but still, first is first.

We can talk about the early regular season being an extension of the preseason but the fact remains “the product” isn’t great on the whole. Sure we’ve had some good games but many feature extended periods watching teams that cannot establish a pocket of any kind and cannot move the ball effectively. Joe Burrow paid a high price for this and to a lesser extent, so did Russ Wilson. Running for your life is a young man’s game and the unvarnished truth is it’s easier to turn to fresh legs than it is to overhaul an o-line between Tuesday and Friday.

Random thought of the week:

I was sipping a black lager and assessing the state of my squad on Sunday and as I sometimes do, I looked back to our draft. While wondering where my Ladd has gone, it struck me that a handful of us might have fallen victim to what I’m calling the curse of the second round pick. Nabers, Ladd, Bucky, Thomas, Chase Brown (and now we can throw Lamar in there temporarily), have all failed to be the backbones of our line-ups for various reasons.

Experience has taught us, you don’t always have to “hit” on these picks but when you really “miss” it’s hard to bounce back.

Shark move of the week:

Honourable mention to Brian who reminded us this week what happens when everyone in your line-up simply shows up in some capacity. Those 30 point performances are great but when you can just get everyone solidly into double digits, good things happen.

Weekly scores aside, this week’s award goes to Neil for what I would call being a “shrewd and frugal shopper” in the draft. There are always talented players with question marks surrounding them going into the season. These players are akin to the dented canned goods at the grocery store. You can get a bit of a discount and while it doesn’t pay off every time, once you get the can open, the contents are often just as good as the undented ones.

Players like Garrett Wilson are starting to earn that “QB proof” label and Diggs seems to be making his way back from injury. Swift is another guy in this category. On one hand, he’s a “mid” RB destined to be replaced by a younger or better option. On the other hand, he’s a trusted veteran doing enough to keep his job despite what the armchair coaches think should be happening. It’s still early but so far the “scratch and dent approach” is working out.

Guppy award of the week:

One of the most maddening aspects of this hobby is the fine line between patience and stubbornness (aka repeating the same decisions over and over yet expecting different results). I’m sure a few of you can relate but I’m giving the award to myself this week for the players I’ve stuck by at least a week too long. McConkey has failed to break 50 receiving yards the past three weeks and it’s time to accept he’s the third option in that passing attack. Jeudy is the same guy (results wise) albeit for different reasons. Three catches on nine targets potentially tells two different stories and unfortunately, you’re often predisposed to make decisions on the narrative you most wish to be true rather than the one that is. Looking at box scores, you see targets. Watching football you see a team with no passing game. Regression (or progression) to the mean is real but it doesn’t happen without underlying conditions to make it happen.

Smack talk award of the week:

We had a solid group effort in the chat this week. The Ballad of Sam Hartman proved to be one of the shortest ever written but mostly we had group therapy over the losses of Lamar and Tyreek. My week was bad enough to switch to baseball which proved to be way less disappointing. All that considered, I think I need to give this week’s award to Brandon for an obscure call-out of the Cooper Rush jersey. They say the backup QB is the most popular guy on the team but with all the injuries and crap points, sometimes it’s better to just burn the midnight oil on the Thailand Express…

Welcome to fantasy hell award of the week:

I could weigh the various levels of misfortune caused by losing players like Nabers, Tyreek or Lamar but sometimes you need to zoom out and look at cumulative hell. Ken is now down Lamb, Bensen, Pearsall and possibly Hubbard this week and heading into byes. I think that’s award winning adversity but if you disagree, feel free to make your case for an alternate winner in the chat!