Progress, Allegedly

sp1cycurry requests favorable coverage, Bowers finally delivers, and SteelerIDKher benches McLaurin at exactly the wrong moment.

SteelerIDKher finally changed the lineup. Parker Washington started, Terry McLaurin sat, and McLaurin immediately scored more. aemmar finally started Jared Goff, and that actually worked. Brock Bowers produced real, countable points. Week 3 was about personal growth, except for the part where everyone still found a way to leave points in the wrong place.

Last week's undefeated club had three members. Now only sp1cycurry and aemmar have won all three head-to-head matchups. gwaman picked up a first head-to-head win, while BiNG438 and Arianajonas stayed in that particular basement to argue over the thermostat.

The Matchups

We spent two issues questioning aemmar's first-round Caleb Williams pick and admiring the 14th-round quarterback gathering dust behind him. Goff finally got the keys and scored 19.36. Caleb scored zero on the bench. Michael Wilson added 25.9, George Kittle 26.2 and Harold Fannin 24.1. The league's supposedly ungradable draft just delivered the week's highest score. At some point the newspaper has to admit the newspaper might be the problem.

There is still material. The third-round Seahawks defense started and scored 2 while the 11th-round Vikings scored 17 on the bench. That's three straight weeks of Minnesota watching Seattle take its job. But sixth-round kicker Chase McLaughlin added 12, taking his season total to 39. aemmar has won with 124.56, 100.52 and now 156.76. Apparently the plan is simply to score more than the other person.

InelvatableBeerMile brought Bijan Robinson's 35.3 and Jaylen Warren's 20.6 and still lost by 26.02. Last week Deebo Samuel started over Warren and lost that comparison. This week Warren started and Deebo's 15.4 stayed on the bench, while De'Von Achane scored 1.7. The Packers defense contributed -2. Even the best available lineup, 155.04, falls short. Elva put the beer mile in the team name. The roster appears to be taking that as an instruction.

SteelerIDKher has now won two straight without becoming a reliable source of lineup advice. After two weeks of McLaurin over Washington, the manager reversed it. Washington scored 13. McLaurin scored 19.7 on the bench. Tetairoa McMillan, also starting, scored 3.7. This is less a learning curve than a revolving door. TreVeyon Henderson got his chance and scored 3.9 while Aaron Jones's 14.2 stayed seated.

Fortunately, the first tight end drafted finally appeared. Bowers, the third-round pick with two zeroes, started and scored 27.6. Jaxon Smith-Njigba supplied another 35.36 and Kyren Williams added 21.8. New kicker Evan McPherson scored 11, a welcome change after Chad Ryland's 1 last week. SteelerIDKher left 26.3 points unused and won by 43.88. The result has once again declined to punish the decision-making.

Arianajonas went from Week 1's Best Loser to three head-to-head losses. This time the lineup left just 3.5 points available, so the coaching staff gets a pass. Saquon Barkley matched his opening week's 9, Zach Ertz scored 1.9 and the Steelers defense slid to 5. Chris Boswell's 13 led the team. A Jonas Brothers fan deserves a band. This lineup sent a solo act.

sp1cycurry apparently only likes the Gazette when we're nice to him. Last week's apology is hereby withdrawn. You named the team spicy curry and ordered the coverage with no seasoning. This is a fantasy recap, not the complimentary mint on your pillow.

Stafford scored 22.9, Adams 20.7 and ninth-rounder Watson 22.6. Only 1.6 points separated the lineup from its best possible score. Congratulations on locating the Start button after leaving Watson's 32.7 on the bench in Week 1. Three weeks to master the central feature of fantasy football, and now the franchise wants a commemorative plaque.

That 133.1 was the fifth-best score in a ten-team league, just 0.98 above the median. Even gwaman outscored you, and we spent the last two issues checking that team's pulse. You won by 16.96 because kimchi6769 gift-wrapped 37.04 points and left them on the bench. That's a scheduling favor with a victory speech attached. Three head-to-head wins, fifth in weekly scoring, first in demands for a gold star. The only thing this operation runs up is the compliments bill.

kimchi6769 lost for the first time with 37.04 points left unused, the week's biggest gap. Brock Purdy scored 31.28 on the bench while Mahomes started for 16.94. Luther Burden's 19.8 watched Dontayvion Wicks score 5.2. Juwan Johnson's 23.3 was an excellent addition, but fellow starting tight end Terrance Ferguson managed 1.9. A better lineup wins this matchup. The former table leader found plenty of points and then stored them incorrectly.

Editorial correction: underscore11's manager joined after Week 1 and inherited the bot's roster, including that five-running-back draft. The robot built the league's points leader. The other managers attended the draft voluntarily. This week Hall finally started over Love, then lost that comparison 8.5 to 21.9. Gibbs supplied 41.4, Henry 21.9 and Garrett Wilson 26.7. The human has found the controls. The bot would like a producer credit.

tylikestushpushes got 24.8 from Ja'Marr Chase and 20.2 from CeeDee Lamb, but Dalton Kincaid dropped from 22.5 to 3.8. Trevor Lawrence beat starting quarterback Justin Herbert, 20.78 to 13.74, on the bench. Even the best lineup reaches only 141.98, short of underscore11's 151.74. Unlike the opening-week squeaker, this one wasn't hiding behind a single lineup change.

gwaman is free. After consecutive league-low scores, Drake London delivered 28.4, Joe Burrow 22.58 and Christian McCaffrey 21.6. Cameron Dicker and the Chiefs defense each scored 9 after each scored 1 last week. That's a support staff. Jayden Reed still started for zero while DK Metcalf scored 12.1 on the bench, but the escape committee voted to celebrate anyway.

BiNG438 finally avoided leaving a winnable game on the bench and lost regardless. Matthew Golden and Tee Higgins scored 21 apiece, James Cook added 19.4 and Josh Allen scored 19.46. Just 3.02 points were left available. After two weeks when better decisions would have changed the result, this week the decisions were mostly fine. The outcome declined to notice.

Draft Receipts, Still Open

Bowers finally gave SteelerIDKher a return on pick 30. aemmar's pick 132, Goff, now has 65.58 points against pick 9 Caleb's 45.98. Meanwhile, ninth-round Watson has 69.4 for sp1cycurry. Please clap, apparently that is now a league requirement. Three weeks in, the late rounds are still writing checks the early rounds would prefer we didn't mention. The problem is no longer finding value. It is convincing managers to put that value in the lineup before it scores, a task the league keeps treating as optional.

The Awards

Standings

Records include head-to-head games and the weekly game against the league median. Earlier issues showed head-to-head records only. This week’s median was 132.12 points.

Next week: SteelerIDKher gets aemmar, giving the much-questioned draft another chance to answer its critics.