Week 5 Recap

Pack Attack (166.45) vs Starrfavrerodg (132.68)

Finally! Who knew it would take Lamar Jackson going down and someone Pack Attack grew up watching A Rodgers to get thrusted into a starting spot and then who promptly went for 23.10 points. Sometimes the old guy still has it. And then P Nacua (35.50) went out and showed everyone why he is the best receiver in fantasy football when he is actually on the field. 166.45 points, the highest score in the league this week, a 13-0 record against the field, and Pack Attack (2-3) is off the mat.

It was a good day all over. B Allen (19.73), M Golden (19.15) and J Williams (16.35) all showed up, and P Freiermuth went for 19.27 — one week after their two tight ends combined for 3.57. It was also a big day for Packers players on both sides of this matchup, with M Golden for Pack Attack and C Watson (30.15), T Kraft (8.33) and T Smack (5.50) for Starrfavrerodg.

It is worth mentioning that Starrfavrerodg (2-3) deserved better. 132.68 would have beaten ten of the other thirteen teams this week, J Cook III (23.75) was excellent, and N Landman, the defender they picked up this week, went for 18.55. They just ran into a Pack Attack team in desperate need of a win. The KFFL AI had this one at 50.4% for Pack Attack and for once it was right about Pack Attack.

16hrs Ahead of You!! (166.24) vs Sportsfreak (102.70)

166.24 points, and here is the strange part — six of their starters scored seven points or fewer. The Lions D (7.00), M Wilson (6.24), S Darnold (6.23), D Schultz (4.50), D Kincaid (3.35) and R Odunze (3.00). Six players combining for barely thirty points and they still put up the second highest score in the league. That is what happens when three guys go off at once.

J Gibbs (39.87) is showing every week why he went #1 overall in this draft. B Irving (35.50) was right there with him, and G Pickens (26.50) made it a hundred points from three players. I said in the preview I expected Gibbs to get back to his usual twenty plus. He nearly doubled it. 16hrs (3-2) also left K Murray (13.98) on the bench while S Darnold started and managed 6.23, which I flagged last week, but when you score 166 nobody asks about the quarterback.

Sportsfreak (1-4) came back down to earth, just like I thought they would. J Daniels (29.85) was terrific in his return, which is the good news, but without T McMillan, X Worthy and B Young on bye there was nobody to help him. C Brown (4.65), O Hampton (3.50) and A Kamara (2.50) combined for under eleven points. 160 one week, 102 the next, and they are 1-4 with a 5.0% chance at the playoffs.

teamAlaska (109.42) vs Big Papa (82.44)

teamAlaska (3-2) won this game with nine players. K Monangai and J Addison were both ruled out and both left sitting in the lineup at 0.00. Two empty spots, and Big Papa still could not get there. That has to sting if you are Big Papa — losing by 27 to a team that was effectively playing short handed.

The reason is D Maye (44.15), who answered my question from the preview about whether he would keep moving forward or slide back to his first three weeks. Forty-four points. That is the highest individual score anybody put up in the league this week, and a fairly emphatic answer. S LaPorta (15.40) and Z Flowers (11.52) helped, and that was enough.

Big Papa (2-3) went 1-12 against the field. J Goff (29.49) did his part despite my concern about him on the road, and the Broncos D (12.00) chipped in. But T.J. Hockenson (1.35), R Sanders (1.85) and C Loveland (2.95) combined for six points, and with B Hall and S Barkley both hurt there was simply nothing there. 82.44 was the second lowest score of the week.

BIGBOY! (134.57) vs pack slayer (99.03)

Could this be the start of another one? In the preview I pointed out that the last time BIGBOY! came in as reigning champion and started 1-3, back in 2018, they went on to win it all again. This week they scored 134.57, went 11-2 against the field, and moved to 2-3. J Brissett (24.46) took advantage of that Detroit defense exactly like I expected, G Wilson (23.20) and D London (18.50) were both excellent, and J Jefferson (15.22) was back and productive.

But the name that needs a paragraph is S Shrader (21.30). Since BIGBOY! picked him up two weeks ago he is averaging 19.35 points a game from the kicker spot. The next best kicker in this league is W Reichard at 14.86. That is a four and a half point gap at a position where everybody is usually separated by a field goal. It gets sillier, because Shrader ranks 11th out of every rostered player in this league in points per game. He is out-averaging J Jefferson, J Chase, C McCaffrey, A St. Brown, D Adams, M Nabers and G Kittle. From the kicker spot! It is only two games, but this type of production from the kicker spot is VERY rare!

pack slayer (2-3) was injury riddled from start to finish. K Walker III was on bye, and then W Shipley (7.75) and T Harris (2.80) both went down during the game. G Dortch started and scored nothing. M Stafford (30.66) was terrific and the Texans D (15.00) helped, but there was no supporting cast left by the end of the afternoon. They lead this league in being unlucky and this time it was the injury report rather than the schedule.

HHH (131.52) vs Bossman (130.05)

The Game of the Week came down to Monday night, and it came down to a kicker. T Bass (13.70) did everything he could to carry Bossman over the line and came up just short — 1.47 points short. HHH (4-1) hangs on and joins DaUnderdog at the top of the standings.

Bossman (3-2) did plenty right. J Burrow (28.47), J Smith-Njigba (22.77) and D Henry (21.70) did the heavy lifting, and they put up 130 points while missing both M Pittman and T Kelce. They are 51-14 against the field on the season, the best mark in the league by a long way, and they are 3-2. Losing by a point and a half with the best all-play record in the league is about as cruel as this game gets.

HHH won it despite D Montgomery getting hurt and finishing with 0.73, and despite starting D Boston (11.30) over D Douglas (19.25), a 7.95 point miss that was bigger than the final margin. M Nabers (28.05) and J Love (26.74) were both excellent, J Chase (22.45) played through the concussion concern and delivered, and T McBride (18.30) chipped in. But HHH is now 4-1 while sitting 29-36 against the field. There is a team every year that keeps winning while everyone else scores more, and right now that team is HHH.

DaUnderdog (124.13) vs U Don't Know (119.53)

DaUnderdog (4-1) keeps it rolling and stays on top of the league. D Adams (19.55) came through on Monday night to close it out, B Bowers (22.50) continues to impress since coming back, and A Jones Sr. (19.73) and T Warren (17.22) were both excellent.

And here is the number of the week: T.J. Watt scored zero. In a game U Don't Know (3-2) lost by 4.60. A defensive player who is usually good for six or seven points every week picked this one to disappear entirely. It gets worse — U Don't Know started G Kittle (6.20) over I Likely (27.70), a 21.50 point miss, also in a game lost by 4.60. Either of those breaks the other way and they win.

I owe something here too. I picked U Don't Know, I said J Allen would have a big game (29.27, which he did), and I said DK Metcalf was in for his biggest output of the season (4.33, which he was not). I also said I was not convinced T Higgins would play. He played. He scored 3.10. So I was right for the wrong reason and wrong for the right one.

Now, about this DaUnderdog start. 703.10 points through five weeks is the most DaUnderdog has ever scored to open a season, the best of their twenty-three years in this league! But I went back and looked at the other times DaUnderdog started 4-1 or better: 2015, 2022, and 2024 — when they started 5-0. They missed the playoffs all three times. In 2024 they went 5-0 and then 1-8. Their championship season, 2021, started 3-2. So congratulations to my brother on the best start of his life, but I might suggest we hold off on the celebration for a bit longer.

Rapids Plungers (108.40) vs PackerFANatic7 (80.46)

PackerFANatic7 (1-4) is in real trouble. 80.46 was the lowest score in the league this week and they went 0-13 against the field. One week after C Lamb went for 42.05, he scored 2.45. And only two players on the entire roster reached double figures — J Warren (34.08), who was carrying the team on his own, and D Prescott (13.32). Everybody else combined for 33. This team is not very good right now, and if you have not gotten a trade offer from PackerFANatic7 yet, you probably will.

Rapids Plungers (3-2) continues to find ways to win. They went 4-9 against the field and won anyway, which is the second week in a row a lucky win has landed somewhere on this board. P Washington (29.20) led them and B Purdy (16.18) and R Stevenson (14.32) chipped in. As I said in the preview, they have scored over 100 points every single week this season, and against this opponent that was all it took.

Odds and Ends

The all-play table. Bossman is 51-14 against the field and 3-2. HHH is 29-36 and 4-1. That is the whole season in two lines. DaUnderdog is 46-19. At the bottom, Sportsfreak and PackerFANatic7 are both 19-46. Pack Attack's 13-0 week moved me up to 24-41, which still is not good, but it is less bad.

Benches. U Don't Know left 56.72 on the bench including the I Likely miss, and lost by 4.60. HHH left D Douglas sitting and still won by 1.47. DaUnderdog started B Nix (7.13) over T Lawrence (23.29), a 16.16 point miss, and won anyway — which is what being in first place feels like.

Playoff odds after five weeks. Every team's chances, from 20,000 simulations of the 63 games still left. Six make it, and the dashed line is the cut. Monday night's finish mattered: the narrow loss left Bossman at 71.7%, while HHH climbed to 68.0%. Pack Attack climbed to 40.1% off one good week, which tells you how much a single Sunday is worth in October.

And the ledger. I agreed with the KFFL AI on all six games I picked this week, so the only thing separating us was my own game — and it took Pack Attack and got it right. It went 5-2, I went 4-2, and we both missed U Don't Know and the Bossman game, which came down to the final kick on Monday night. Five weeks in it is the KFFL AI 20-15 and me 18-12. It has more wins. I have the better percentage. I am choosing to focus on the percentage.