No one wants to be the outlier, stuck on an island all by yourself. It can be a lonely place when you're trying to find your way and there's no one else around to provide you with a point of reference...or even a little hope.
But that's exactly where Badazz Bri find themselves. After another ho-hum week they're now the lone team without a victory, 0-3. And, if that wasn't discouraging enough, they're also the only team without a 100-point, or better, game this season although week 3 saw their best performance yet, with 96 points.
Still worse is the fact that their games aren't even close. Through the first three weeks, Bri has been outscored by an average of 52.67 pts/gm. They have allowed the most points to opposing teams, 415, and they're the lowest scoring team in the league. That is not a recipe for success.
Sadly, this inability to stop opposing offenses is a recurring theme for Bri. Since they returned to the league in 2014, they've finished in the bottom half of the league for points allowed in five of seven seasons. This includes two years as the 12th ranked team and one year as the 11th ranked team. And we shouldn't forget that they nearly hold the league record for most points allowed in a single season, 1728, in 2019 when they allowed two teams to score more than 200 points against them.
What's that? Oh, you noticed that I said "nearly hold the record..."?
That's because the record holder is Who Is You. Yep, that Who Is You. Way back in 2014, the defending champs allowed 1734 points on the season. I bet you didn't know that fact, did you? Let's just say it was a rough year.
But, I've digressed.
For years, league lore has suggested that the team playing Badazz Bri will be the highest scoring team for the week. Well, I don't think we can consider it mythos any longer. If you took anything away from the above, it's the fact that teams can, and probably will, have the one of the highest scores of the week when they play Bri. It's been statistically proven to be true.
You want another interesting fact? You got it!
How about the fact that Golden Tate Warriors, currently 2-1, are just one fumble and one missed PAT from being on that lonely 0-3 island with Bri?
It's true. If either Justin Herbert or Chris Carson didn't choke up the ball in week 1, Chief Sticky Balls would've won that game. And, if Daniel Carlson doesn't miss that PAT attempt last week, Tate loses that game too.
The fact is that Golden Tate has won both of their games by the slimmest of margins, literally. They're average margin of victory is 1 point. One. Point.
Since I just mentioned Chief Sticky Balls, here's a little tidbit from week 3 that stood out to me: they scored 117 points. Why is that interesting? Because that's exactly what ESPN projected they would score. I can't recall a time where I've ever seen that happen.
And another team in the Close-But-No-Cigar category was Los Perros Locos who came up 4 points short against the defending champs. If it could've gone wrong for the dogs this week, it did. They started the game without Dalvin Cook & Diontae Johnson. Surprisingly, they still had a chance, despite only 2 points from Ty'Son Williams, to pull off the upset if they could have good outings from Miles Sanders and Ezekiel Elliott. Well, Elliot delivered with a pair of TDs and 24 points but Sanders was a no-show. The rest is history.
Although I'm not sure if I'd call it a fact, it does seem that if you name your team after a player, that player will get hurt. Case in point: Christian McCaffrey.
If memory serves me correctly, years ago, when Baby Got Dak actually had Dak, he was injured mid-season and missed several games. Rewind a few years past that to All Day Gone who saw their namesake, Adrian Peterson, go down for most of the season with a knee injury after crafting that clever name.
And now, for the second season in a row, it appears McMingle will suffer the same fate. Hopefully, for their sake, this injury will come and go unlike McCaffrey's lingering injuries last season.
It's still in the hypothesis stage of testing, but we'll certainly follow along closely and see if this is another piece of league legend that we can move over to the scientifically factual column.
On a side note, one thing I do know for sure is that if McMingle is going to be without McCaffrey for more than a McMinute, they'll need their other starters to step it up. This week, all of their starters other than Dak Prescott failed to reach their projected scores. And Dak only scored 1 point more than his projection. That'll McMake for a long season if it continues.
And before I wrap things up, I should give a nod to the newbies in our league. I realize that they're not setting any records, but over the first three weeks, neither of them have dipped below 106 points. Plus, they've also scored 137, or more, three times. Scoring consistency like that is going to lead to a fair share of victories...even if your kicker misses the game winning PAT.
DEFEAT THE COMMISH
I won. Plain and simple. I beat all of you in just three weeks. Did it happen sooner than I thought it would? Sure, but I had no doubts that it would happen.
Fortunately for all of you, and in keeping with my kindhearted, compassionate personality, I offered the option to the six teams I defeated this week to continue the contest and, amazingly, they took me up on it. So, we'll leave those teams in the contest and I will not select any players to add to my roster. It's as if the week never happened. It'll be our little secret.
And while some may look at this as good fortune, don't forget that it means I get to defeat those six teams a second time...which I will do in short order.
SURVIVOR CHALLENGE
This week's victim was Christian McMingle, the team that scored 160 points in the first week of the season. With just 63 points in week 3, McMingle makes the earliest exit from this contest in their team history.
The high-score, and immunity, goes to Golden Tate Warriors who scored 138 points. If you haven't already noticed, Golden Tate has continually scored more points each week as we've progressed through the season. That's the kind of trend line you need to be on to win this contest.
PIGSKIN PICK'EM
Who Is You and Christian McMingle continue to build on their lead over the rest of the league with 14 and 13 correct picks, respectively. Sitting six games off the lead are Los Perros Locos, Golden Tate Warriors, and Badazz Bri who all have 30 correct picks on the season.
At the bottom of the list is Do Not Panic who still sit at 1-0 after three weeks. While I'm not sure they'll be able to catch the leaders at this point in the contest, I'm a bit surprised to see them skipping their picks each week. Maybe someone should remind them that if you pick every game correctly, each owner in the league has to pony up $10 for a perfect card. That a $110 prize...almost as much as winning the entire contest.
COMMISH'S PICKS
We're getting better, gang. After a rough couple of weeks to start the season, my 4-2 record this week is certainly an improvement. The problem children in this bunch appear to be Los Perros Locos, Baby Got Dak, and Pork Chop Express. Among these three, I have not picked a single game that they've played in correctly. The one team that seems to understand how this works is Golden Tate Warriors who've done exactly what I predicted each week so far. The rest of you could learn a thing or two from them.
Good luck in week 4!
-- Commish
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