Week 3 offered a test of “who is really best right now?” in the Audacy Piitsburgh Fantasy Football League and it also allowed one team to fend off the criticism and finally get things going. Let’s check out what all went down this week…
HIGHLIGHTS
Fan Morning Show Squad Goes Down: The featured matchup of the week was The Fan Morning Show’s 2-0 squad against Kosher Nostra (ad executives Jeff Martin, Jen Halle, Anthony Fontana) who also came in undefeated. It was scrap between top dogs to see who is the league’s best so far.
The result? A resounding 115.82-89.94 victory for Kosher Nostra.
Josh Allen came alive for 5 total touchdowns and a season-high 37.22 points. Justin Jefferson also had a big day with 22.30 points and remarkably, Kosher Nostra got a combined 36 points from their kicker Brandon McManus and the New Orleans D/ST.
On the other side, The Fan Morning Squad swung and whiffed on starting Cardinals WR Rondale Moore (1.40 points) in Bengals WR Tee Higgins’ absence due to injury. Jonathan Taylor and Deebo Samuel let them down with disappointing single-digit performances as well.
“I won’t point any fingers. I’ll instead point the thumb back at myself,” said Chris Mack. “My suggestion of starting Rondale Moore clearly didn’t work out, so I’ll get back to the drawing board this week. I really believe there’s not this one big glaring thing wrong.”
As of now, despite all the sports “experiments” on staff, it’s a team from the sales department that’s leading the league standings.
Zeise Is On The Board!: Let’s be real…the pressure was on this week for Paul Zeise and Audacy Pittsburgh market manager Michael Spacc. The office chatter was growing louder.
Team leadership and drafting abilities were beginning to be called into question. Morale? It was low. Exclamations of “we suck right now” could be heard inside the 93.7 The Fan facility.
But, Mike Tomlin would be proud. They rose up in the face of adversity to the tune of the biggest upset of the week. A 125.88-74.94 beatdown of the PM Team…Team. Green Bay’s Davante Adams was their top point scorer at 25.20, followed by a hefty 20.20-point showing from Detroit’s D’Andre Swift.
“I had no doubt we would win the game when I saw we were playing those guys,” Zeise said. “I mean, do you listen to their show? They don’t know if a football is blown up or stuffed!
“It is hard being me. People don’t like me because, well to quote Jeff George, ‘I’m good looking and I’m good…it is lonely here at the top!”
Obviously, Paul is feeling pretty good about things and riding the victorious high. It is worth noting, however, that this was their first win of the year and they are pretty far from “the top” right now.
The PM Team…Team got burned by an AJ Brown midgame injury, Baltimore’s Ty’Son Williams and New York’s Evan Engram being virtually invisible, as well as a fat goose egg from the San Francisco D/ST vs. the Packers. Their 74.94 was the lowest total of the week.
The PM Team...Team did not publicly respond to Zeise's comments as of this writing.
Underdog Bites: Coming off a big win last week, the Sunday Grinders of Josh Taylor, Shelby Cassessee and Greg Finley came in as 2-point dogs to Dorin Dickerson and Cale Berger’s “CBDD.”
The grind is still strong. They were 126.42-103.24 winners.
Matthew Stafford and Kareem Hunt both posted 20+ point performances and Denver’s D/ST chipped in another 19. Don’t look now, but they’re hot heading into Week 4.
Meanwhile…
Horse! What’s Happening Here?: After a win in Week 1 to kick off the season, Joe Starkey, producer Joe “Horse” Kapp and sales assistant Andrew Brncic’s “Bishop Sycamore” dropped another one. It was a meager 86.50 point showing, 2nd-lowest in the league.
BEST MATCHUPS THIS WEEK
2-1 The Marty Party vs. 2-1 Suba’s Sackers- the #2 and #5 teams go head-to-head
2-1 Fan Morning Squad vs. 1-2 The PM Team…Team- mornings battle afternoons
1-2 Zeise Is King vs. 1-2 CBDD- Zeise riding high, Dorin/Cale need consistency
STANDINGS
