Week 4 Recap

Sportsfreak (160.03) vs Pack Attack (110.88)

Well. Pack Attack finally got P Nacua back, he went for 26.38, L Jackson (17.77) was fine despite not playing the entire 2nd half, J Williams (16.10) chipped in and C Little (14.70) had a monster week from the kicker spot — and they still lost by 49 points. 110.88 is the most Pack Attack (1-3) has scored all season and it was not remotely close to enough, because Sportsfreak picked this week to wake up in the loudest possible way.

T McMillan (45.60) is the story and it is not close. That is the highest individual score anybody has put up in this league all season, and it came from a team that had scored 61, 84 and 64 in its first three weeks. Add B Young (23.78) and those two combined for 69.38 between them, which is more than Sportsfreak's entire roster managed in two of their first three weeks. A Kamara (20.28) came off the bench to add another twenty. Sportsfreak (1-3) scored 160.03, went 13-0 against the field, and finally looks like the team their roster said they were. It is the twentieth best week in their 23 year history and it arrived in a week they had to have it!

For Pack Attack this is the cruelest version of a loss — healthy at last, scoring a season high, 2-11 against the field, and beaten by 49. Pack Attack is 1-3 with the fewest points in the league and 11-41 against the field on the season, which is the worst mark anybody has. Moving on....

HHH (111.11) vs 16hrs Ahead of You!! (97.45)

J Chase left early with a concussion, finished with 4.35, and HHH (3-1) won anyway. That is the sort of week that tells you something about a roster. C Hubbard (26.48) and M Nabers (22.60) carried it, J Love (13.41) did his part, and D Boston (9.05) got them on the board Thursday night.

But let's be honest about how this happened, because HHH went 3-10 against the field. Ten of the other thirteen teams would have beaten 111.11 this week. They are 20-32 against the league on the season and sitting at 3-1. There is a team every year that scores nothing and keeps winning, and right now that is HHH, and they will not apologize for it because the standings do not have a column for this.

16hrs (2-2) went the other way entirely — 97.45 and 0-13 against the field, the only team all week that would have lost to everybody. J Gibbs (14.62) was solid without being great, and the real question is whether this team needs him to be great, because the answer through four weeks appears to be yes. W Reichard (20.00) outscored every position player they have. They also left D Kincaid (1.35) in the lineup over M Mayer (12.10). HHH is tied for first. 16hrs is .500 with the second most points in the league.

Bossman (130.21) vs Big Papa (116.25)

S Barkley got hurt early, finished with 1.63 and never came back, and you have to wonder what this one looks like if he plays the whole afternoon — Big Papa (2-2) lost by 13.96 and their best running back gave them a point and a half.

Not that they went quietly. J Williams (28.18), J Goff (24.24) and T.J. Hockenson (23.95) gave them 76 points between the three of them, and 116.25 would have beaten six other teams this week. They also started J Nailor (0.00) over K Shakir (9.10) and left 42.64 on the bench, which in a fourteen point loss is the kind of thing you think about on Monday.

Bossman (3-1) wins it and here is the part that should scare everyone: they did it with J Smith-Njigba (8.80) having by far his worst game of the season after 44.75 and 33.68 in previous weeks. When your best player has his worst day and you still win by fourteen, you are a good team. J Burrow (26.96) was excellent, Q Judkins (17.68) and C DeJean (16.50) delivered off that Thursday night trio, and Bossman is now 43-9 against the field on the season. Best in the league by a distance, and they are 3-1.

teamAlaska (150.12) vs BIGBOY! (113.13)

Tough, tough start for the reigning champ. BIGBOY! (1-3) picked up E Wilson off waivers and he rewarded them with 22.95, which was the single best thing that happened to them all day, and they still lost by 37. J Jefferson was out again. And look at the shape of that roster: eight of their eleven starters failed to score more than eleven points. Eight! G Wilson (4.35) managed four, G Dulcich (0.00) managed nothing, and outside of E Wilson, S Shrader (17.40) and D Samuel Sr. (15.23) there was simply nothing there.

Nobody in 22 years has won three championships in a row and BIGBOY! is 1-3 with 13-39 against the field. I suppose this is what it looks like when you get everybody's best shot every single week. Although I will keep saying it until it stops being true: this exact team started 0-4 in 2024 and won the whole thing.

teamAlaska (2-2) meanwhile had their best day of the year by a mile. D Maye (24.98) finally produced after scoring negative points a week ago, which was overdue and welcome, and then K Monangai (27.93) came out of nowhere to lead the team — a player who was projected for 6.93 and sitting on their bench. Z Flowers (24.90) was excellent in his return and S LaPorta (18.20) and J Taylor (19.43) both showed up. 150.12 points and 12-1 against the field. From 58.69 to 150.12 in one week, I would call that a nice rebound!

DaUnderdog (121.44) vs PackerFANatic7 (103.80)

DaUnderdog (3-1) is in first place and they got there the way good teams do, with production nearly everywhere. T Higgins (28.85) led them, helped considerably by J Chase leaving the Cincinnati game early, which is the sort of thing that is nobody's fault and still decides a fantasy week. B Bowers (16.30) continues to look amazing since coming back, C McCaffrey (13.37) and A Jones Sr. (11.97) were steady, and they are up to 88.6% to make the playoffs with the most points in the league.

PackerFANatic7 (1-3) cannot find the combination. L McConkey came in with a foot injury, re-aggravated it and finished with 0.00. K Sadiq also scored nothing. And here is the number that tells the whole story: C Lamb went for 42.05 and the other ten starters combined for 61.75. Forty-two points from one player and barely sixty from everybody else. That's tough to swallow but at least the 40 point effort made this respectable!

pack slayer (120.13) vs U Don't Know (117.32)

The undefeated run is over, and it took until Monday night to finish it. J Johnson (8.95) sealed it for pack slayer (2-2) in a game decided by 2.81 points.

This was two players and a prayer. K Walker III (34.90) and N Collins (29.90) combined for 64.80, which means the other nine starters managed 55.33 between them. Getting N Collins back was worth exactly what I thought it would be and then some. They also started DJ Moore (1.95) over C Tate (19.25) and still won, which after three weeks of losing while scoring a pile this has got to feel good!

U Don't Know (3-1) loses for the first time and the warning signs have been there for two weeks. J Allen (15.33) has now had back to back ordinary games after that monstrous start, and 117.32 was actually a perfectly respectable score — they went 7-6 against the field. The brutal part is the bench: 72.97 points left sitting, the most of anybody this week, including O Gordon II (19.67) while J Croskey-Merritt (4.75) started. Fifteen points right there in a game lost by under three.

Starrfavrerodg (119.79) vs Rapids Plungers (113.16)

Exactly the Monday night finish I wrote about in the preview, and it very nearly worked. B Robinson (27.77) and C Olave (18.80) combined for 46.57 on Monday and Rapids Plungers (2-2) still came up 6.63 short. I guessed Starrfavrerodg would need a lead of about 27 going into that game and that Bijan and Olave would beat it. They did beat it. It just was not quite enough.

And the reason it was not is R Rice (0.00), who went out early with a hamstring and failed to register a single point. In a game decided by under seven points, losing a starter to injury in the first half is the whole ballgame. B Purdy (18.29), R Stevenson (15.48) and RJ Harvey (15.07) all were solid.

For Starrfavrerodg (2-2), K Williams (31.28) was outstanding and ten catches out of a running back is a genuinely absurd stat line. T Kraft (14.90) came through from that Packers stack, even if C Watson (5.35) did not. They are 2-2 and up to 42.0% to make the playoffs.

Odds and Ends

The standings and the all-play table have stopped speaking to each other. Four teams are 3-1: DaUnderdog, Bossman, U Don't Know and HHH. Bossman is 43-9 against the field, DaUnderdog 39-13 — and HHH is 20-32. Meanwhile pack slayer is 37-15 against the league with a 2-2 record. Somebody is going to get found out and somebody is going to get rewarded, and we are only four weeks in.

Benches. U Don't Know left 72.97 and lost by 2.81. Pack Attack left 48.30. Big Papa left 42.64 in a game they lost by 14. PackerFANatic7 left 34.95 including D Vele (14.70) while L McConkey started and scored nothing on a bad foot. Rapids Plungers left 9.48, the tidiest lineup of the week, and lost anyway.

Playoff odds after four weeks. DaUnderdog 88.6%, Bossman 78.7%, U Don't Know 71.2%, Rapids Plungers 61.5%, HHH 53.4%. At the bottom it is Sportsfreak at 9.3% even after a 160 point explosion, BIGBOY! at 15.8% and PackerFANatic7 at 18.8%. Pack Attack sits at 23.3% and that is being generous.

And the ledger. We disagreed on two games this week and split them — the KFFL AI took HHH and was right, I took teamAlaska and was right. I went 3-3, it went 3-4. Four weeks in it is the KFFL AI 15-13 and me 14-10.