It was a rough week for The Swami (2-3 in Week 4, and I whiffed on all three of the upsets, including mine) and I am now in hock to the bank and need to make amends in Week 5 to avoid foreclosure.
Jeff Lambert hopes for a repeat effort by RB Kenneth Walker III (three TDs on Monday night) against Bob Garcia and the Band Aids since this week he's decided to start him.
No one could have foreseen the horrors that unfolded last weekend. Both undefeated teams fell, one to the winless Gerbils, for God’s sake! Four upsets.
It only gets tougher from here, boys. Week 5 launches the first of many “bye” weeks and this one, in particular, will hose anyone who did a Detroit or Philadelphia stack on Draft Day. Also sidelined this week are the Los Angeles Chargers and the Tennessee Titans, but who cares about them.
The week begins, as is the case early in the season, with the mandatory Thursday night game – this one featuring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Atlanta Falcons. Added to the mix is the first early start on Sunday as the New York Jets and the Minnesota Vikings start the London series with a 6:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time kickoff. Adjust those lineups Saturday night accordingly.
The Sunday night game features the Cowboys (half of my team) traveling to Pittsburgh, and, thank God, we only have one Monday night game this week as the Kansas City Chiefs host the New Orleans Saints in what might be the highest-scoring game on the docket.
Headlining the “Blue-Plate Special” this week is the winless Pack taking on one of three teams currently tied for the ST Division lead, the Band Aids. Bob is especially vulnerable this week with keeper WR Amon-Ra St. Brown taking the week off. Bob was busy Tuesday morning on the waiver wire and he has to hope the Kenneth Walker III that showed up Monday (3 TDs on the bench for Jeff) does not roll all over the New York Giants at home in Seattle Sunday.
Here's a look at the week five matchups.
Game of the Week
Packers (0-4) vs Band Aids (2-2), Pack favored by 5: We continue to be gobsmacked at the struggles Jeff Lambert and The Pack have had out of the gate this year. Only once in modern JSFL history (read: since we started using ESPN) have the Packers started a season 0-5. Will this be the second time? He has been favored a couple of times and The Swami has even taken the odds on two occasions. Looking at the matchups, it continues to look like a ripe opportunity for The Pack to rise up and notch its first win of the season. We think James Conner will have some tough sledding in San Francisco, and that new acquisition Kareem Hunt will also have some tough sledding Monday against New Orleans. But, the pinheads at ESPN think Conner has the edge over Jeff’s Travis Etienne Jr., but gives Kenneth Walker the edge over Hunt. From there, The Pack is favored at both WR positions (Ja’Marr Chase and Diontae Johnson -- grabbed a millisecond early by the Tirades and kicked back into free agency) and at tight end (Jake Ferguson over new acquisition Tucker Kraft). The Band Aids get the edge at flex (Chubba Hubbard over Jayden Reed) and at defense (the Broncos against Las Vegas over the Chiefs hosting the Saints at Arrowhead). Until Etienne shows he can consistently score again, this one makes me nervous. That said, the short-handed Band Aids are vulnerable. Take the Pack by 1.
The Close Ones?
Rangers (3-1) vs Who Dey (2-2), Rangers favored by 8: If the Rangers were going to lose one early in the season, Week 5 is the week we had circled when John’s QB Jalen Hurts is resting his weary, battered body. From the sidelines steps in Kirk Cousins from Atlanta, and, yet, the Rangers are heavily favored at nearly every other position this week. John gets the nod at both RB positions (Breece Hall with some tough sledding ahead against Minnesota’s stout defense, and Kyren Williams against the equally stout Green Bay defense), and at WR1 Nico Collins and TE George Kittle. Matty gets the edge at QB (Seattle), the flex (D’Andre Swift) and defense (those aforementioned Minnesota Vikings). We think John gets back on his winning ways in Week 5. Take the Rangers by 5.
WTNE (3-1) vs Recliners (3-1), Recliners favored by 13: OK, fess up. Who had the Recliners and WTNE fighting for the division lead in Week 5 on their Bingo card? We sure didn’t. This week, both teams lose four players to the bye, but none is more consequential than RB Saquon Barkely for Jordan’s WTNE. The Recliners will be playing without DeVonta Smith. Moves may still need to be made before the bulk of games kick off Sunday as “questionable” tags hang on three Recliners (Bijan Robinson, Joe Mixon and Taysom Hill) while Jordan has the tag still on Tank Dell and Trey McBride. ESPN still likes a gimpy Bijan over Jordan’s lead back (Rachaad White), both of the Recliners WRs (Garrett Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr.) and the Recliners’ flex (RB Javonte Williams). Take the Recliners by 10.
The Blowouts?
Spread Beaters (2-2) vs Invaiders (2-2), Spread Beaters favored by 19. This has all of the markings of a 30-point blowout for Pringle. ESPN loves every starter he has, except for Invaiders WR Cee Dee Lamb. Pringle has the bigger challenge with “byes” as he loses starter Tony Pollard and bench depth with JK Dobbins and the Chargers defense. The Invaiders may not top 70 points this week as they lost two starters to injury and a third was likely benched for being fumble happy in Week 4 and are scraping the waiver wire for replacements. Take the Spread Beaters and 15.
Tirades (2-2) vs Gerbils (1-3), Tirades favored by 16: We take pride in the fact that the Tirades might have seen the betting edge heavily in their favor last week, and they just tanked. Could they have taken a dive to cash in big in Vegas? Well, here we are again with the Tirades heavily favored, this time against Chuck’s Gerbils. The scoring edges lean heavily Ron’s way at QB (Buffalo, but will the real Josh Allen show up in an odd-numbered week?), both RBs (Aaron Jones against a stiff Jets defense and Jordan Mason), and WR1 Deebo Samuel. The only edge for Chuck comes at tight end with Dalton Kincaid. When Daulton is your only scoring edge, it shapes up to be a long weekend in Gerbilville. Take the Tirades by 15.
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