Week 3 is always make or break time in fantasy football. Then again, so might be Weeks 1 and 2. And 4 through, well, the end of the season.
Will Justin Herbert's fractured rib cartilage (who knew you could even fracture that?) hamper the Saddles against the defending champion Invaiders? Sandbagger Vern says "nope."
For the two teams staring at potential 0-3 starts – the Band Aids and Packers – OK, is anyone else gleeful about two Shit Talkers being 0-2? Just checking ... this week could determine if there is still hope to salvage the season, or whether they need to start fire sales and begin building for 2023.
Fall to 0-3 and you need a Hail Mary to climb back into contention. At 1-2 you are, at worst, just one game out of a playoff spot with two long months to recover.
By no fault of their own, Jeff and Bob have dug themselves into a deep hole. Injuries account for most of the blame. But both teams face uphill battles in Week 3 to get that elusive first win of the season.
On the other end of the ledger, the Saddles and Recliners are the only unbeaten teams in the league and both look to have an inside track to getting a third straight season-opening win this week. The rest of the league is mired in the 1-1 muck and hope to break free and keep pace with the two division leaders.
Without further stalling, let’s take a first look at the Week 3 matchups. Three interleague battles loom, and two conference battles (one in each division) are on the docket.
Game of the Week
Blazing Saddles (+1) vs. Invaiders: For some crazy reason, ESPN has the Invaiders favored for the third straight week. Have they not looked at this team? Blayze should win this one by 20, but we have to assume the powers at ESPN know something we don’t, or we need to find out what they heck they are smoking. They’ve been wrong the last two weeks, and I don’t expect that trend to suddenly change now. The Saddles should take a battering ram to the Invaiders with RBs Jonathan Taylor and Aaron Jones likely to score 30 to 40 points between them. Justin Herbert’s ribs, however, are the only question mark for Blayze this week as he took a beating at the hands of the Kansas City defense last week. It was a wonder he finished the game at all. If you missed it, here is the video of Herbert getting crushed:
Without Herbert, this will be a lot closer, but with Herbert figure it will be the Saddles by 15
The Rest of the Best
Recliners (-11) vs. Gerbils: The undefeated Recliners look to finally get TE George Kittle on the field this week, and Chris looks to have the slight edge in what might be a very tight battle going into Monday night. There, the Recliners have the only potential player on the scorecard (Saquon Barkley). If he scores enough Sunday, he may not need anything from Barkley in the week’s final game. Recliners by 5
Tirades (+3) vs. Packers: Whenever we are about to put a dagger in Jeff’s heart, he usually responds with the biggest upset of the season and starts a 5-game winning streak. The Packers enter this contest as the favored team, and this game likely has the poster QB matchup of the season in Patrick Mahomes (Tirades) facing off against Josh Allen (Packers).
ESPN gives a slight edge to the Tirades backfield of Dalvin Cook and Miles Sanders (James Conner’s injury be damned) and the Packers have a slight edge among the receiving corps. The Packers will have to replace injured TE Dalton Schultz and maybe RB Conner. Stay tuned. We hate to deviate from ESPN’s projections but we will anyway. Tirades by 3
Rangers (-2) vs. Band Aids: ESPN puts this as the tightest game on the schedule to pick.
With all of the question marks on these two teams, we can understand the problem.
Does Bob continue to let Russell Wilson cook this week at home against the 49ers? Do the Band Aids get anything from Najee Harris or Clyde Edwards-Helaire? Does Michael Williams have another Week 2 explosion in him with a banged-up Justin Herbert at center and do Rashaad Bateman and Mark Andrews go over or under their projections? The same questions simmer for the Rangers. Does Matthew Stafford post another big game? Do Chase Edmonds and Travis Etienne still have a scoring pulse between them? Does Justin Jefferson have anther Week 1 explosion in him facing the Lions this week? And does Davante Adams post another big game? We can’t answer any of these questions either. Band Aids by 5
Spread Beaters (-14) vs. Pillow Biters: The only Silent Conference battle can be found in Manhattan Beach this week. Head-to-head battles all seem to be leaning Pringle’s way. Bet the house. Beaters by 11
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