Week 4 of the Audacy Pittsburgh Fantasy Football League brought us some of the closest games we’ve seen yet. The contenders are starting to separate, the rest are starting to feel the pressure to turn it all around before the season is lost. Let’s check out the action…
HIGHLIGHTS
Heartbreak Hotel- Riding high on a 2-game winning streak, the Sunday Grinders were looking to make it 3 in a row and assert themselves as one of the league’s top teams in the standings. They got 24.70 points from RB Derrick Henry. Another 20.30 from QB Matthew Stafford. Their only real dud of the week came from WR Odell Beckham Jr. who only posted 4.10 points. But it was enough to keep them from victory, as Amanda Cubed beat them by a mere 1.12 points, 119.12-118.
What’s worse? The answers were on the bench. A simple start of Kansas City RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who ended up with 18.40 points, would have gotten them the win rather handily.
“It’s difficult to lose one that way, especially with the way we’ve played the past few weeks,” said Sunday Grinder Josh Taylor. “I thought we did a great job with our preparation but at the end of the day, you still have to make plays and we just fell short. But I have faith in our staff and our team. We’ll get back to work and get back on track.”
“It came down to the wire literally during rainy Sunday Night Football,” said regional promotions director Amanda Silay of Amanda Cubed. “Thank goodness for a shootout in Atlanta for 27 points from Terry McLaurin and a subpar Tom Brady performance giving Mike Evans just 11 points.”
With the result, both teams are 2-2 with the Sunday Grinders just ahead of Amanda Cubed in the standings due to an advantage in total points scored.
Overcoming Mistakes- We had a day part battle this week. The PM Team came in favored to beat The Fan Morning Squad by just 2 points, so the decisions on who to start were magnified.
Producer Matt Koll was set to start Jacksonville WR Laviska Shenault against a Cincinnati secondary without safety Jessie Bates on Thursday night. Until he didn’t.
“I’m still not even sure what happened,” said Koll. “I remember going to my fantasy football app in the middle of the day to make the change and was horribly surprised when I opened the app later Thursday night to check the score and Laviska was still on the bench. Just an inexcusable mistake by me.”
Shenault racked up 14 points on the bench. The Fan Morning Squad was left to start WR Rondale Moore instead and he only mustered 5.40 points.
But, the 9-point swing didn’t cost them as QB Justin Herbert and K Daniel Carlson couldn’t close the 39-point deficit on Monday night and the Squad won 129.22-113.68.
With the win, they’re back on top of the league standings through 4 weeks.
Zeise Disappears Again- After getting their first win of the season last week, Zeise Is King set their sights toward CBDD, featuring producer Cale Berger and Dorin Dickerson. The Steelers kept Davante Adams in check (one of the few things they did well), D’Andre Swift disappointed after a big game last week, Chase Claypool was out and TE Logan Thomas left his game with a hamstring injury without recording a single point.
Meanwhile, CBDD got 20+ point performances from Aaron Rodgers, Austin Ekeler and Saquon Barkley en route to a 103.42-89.02 victory. The win gets them back to .500 while Zeise Is King falls to 1-3.
Trouble in the Midday- Bishop Sycamore featuring Joe Starkey, producer Joe “Horse” Kapp and sales assistant Andrew Brncic, have now lost 3 games in a row. Despite solid efforts from Patrick Mahomes and Najee Harris, they fell short 113.76-105.82 to the Mean Machine.
Fingers are now being pointed.
“Our team sucks and it’s because Cornelius (Andrew) is coaching like Tom Cable,” said Starkey.
An obvious bold claim.
“I think we’ve had some back breaks but we are looking to turn it up a notch as we head into the mid part of the season,” said Andrew Brncic. “This is a hard league to win in, we had a strong start and we need to just get back to the basics. And Kyle Pitts needs to produce!”
As the third member of the team and hopefully the calming voice, Joe Kapp added, “We are a work in progress and it’s not how we start, it’s how we finish. But it’s not on our leader Cornelius. Players play.”
They’ve got a tough matchup to try to bounce back this week, taking on The Marty Party who’s 3-1.
BEST MATCHUPS THIS WEEK
2-2 Sunday Grinders vs. 1-3 Zeise is King- both looking to avenge Week 4 losses
3-1 Fan Morning Squad vs. 2-2 CBDD- can CBDD bring them to their level in the standings?
1-3 The PM Team…Team vs. 2-2 Beldoon & Falloooon- chance for PM Team to climb out of 12th
STANDINGS
