Running late again this week…apparently we used up all the points in Week 3…so there were not as many left to provide much competition for these awards in Week 4…QB’s need a QC to qualify…It’s Deja-Vu All Over Again for Running Backs…WR’s turn it up to 11…Kickers benefit from the lack of Touchdowns…We get a 20 Pack…A Repeat…slams A 3-Peat…Chump Survivor…and we get streaky with it…lets go…
Philip Rivers (BAT)
3 different Quarterbacks made it to the Quarter-Century mark in Week 4…Sam Bradford got us started at the normal Sunday Kick-Off time completing only 15 of 28 passes (53.6%) for 270 yards…but 3 of those (20%) went for Touchdowns…his 1st 3 score game since 2013…no give-aways left him with the highest QB rating of the 3 at 122.6…and set the bar at 26 points…Philip Rivers took the field in 4pm action for his 1st TBFL start this season with Brady benched…Thrashers saw no drop in performance as Rivers managed to go 23 of 38 (60.5%) for 358 yards and 3 Touchdowns of his own…he stayed give-away free for the 1st time since November of 2014 to take the lead with 29 points…After missing Week 3 to injury…Drew Brees took the field for the Sunday Night game…things seemed mostly average until the final 4:31 when Brees starting throwing deep to stay in the game…rounding out Regulation Time at 32 of 39 (82.1%) for 279 and 1 Touchdown…Overtime saw a quick incompletion…then an 80 Yard strike to CJ Spiller for the game winner to lead the others with 359 yards passing…1 Touchdown less left him at only 25 points…but the Overtime Winner marked his 400th Career Touchdown…it is the 1st Quarterback of the Week award for Rivers…the 2nd Quarterback Award and 3rd overall trophy on the year for Bay Area Thrashers…
Devonta Freeman (UOG)
After setting Grandmaster and Season records in Week 3…Devonta Freeman decided to take it easy in Week 4…he caught the same 5 passes on 6 short field targets to pile up 81 yards in the air…but took only half as many carries (14 vs 30)…while increasing his average from 4.70 to 4.85 yards per carry to reach 68 yards on the ground…most importantly…he matched his 3 Rushing Touchdown performance from Week 3 (21.4% Touchdown Rate) to finish with 37 points…only 5 points shy of his Week 3 score…but a full 10 points better than the next Running Back on the list (Bell…27)…Freeman is the 1st player to rack up 3-Rushing Touchdown games in consecutive weeks since LaDanian Tomlinson 9 years ago in 2006…7 Touchdowns scored over the last 3 weeks is more than any Falcons Running Back has scored in a single season since 2012 (10…Michael Turner)…It is the 1st Back-2-Back award this year from a skill position…the 2nd Running Back of the Week award for Freeman…the 3rd Running Back award in a row and 4th trophy overall for UO Grandmasters
Vincent Jackson (FUD)
Week 4 Wide receivers must have been hanging out with Kickers between possessions as 11 factors into all the top results…DeAndre Hopkins hit 11…2x…with a league leading 22 targets…he only managed to haul in 9 of those (40.1%…yech) but still led the league with 157 yards to cap out at 24 points…Jeremy Maclin tied for the reception lead in Week 4 by grabbing 11 of his 13 targets (84.6%) for 148 yards…giving him a 1 point edge on Hopkins at 25 points…Martellus Bennett matched Maclin with the exact same 11 catches on 13 targets…his catches were all short gains however with only 83 yards gained (7.55 ypc)…but 1 was a 5 yard Touchdown grab to tie the score with Maclin at 25 points…Vincent Jackson got the memo late…getting just 10 Catches on 15 Targets piling up 147 yards (14.7 ypc) against the Texans…but he Added 1…Touchdown…to reach 30 points and claim the top spot…It is the 1st Wide Receiver of the Week award for Jackson…it is the 1st Wide Receiver award and the 2nd trophy overall for Fudgie Whales…
Chandler Catanzaro (WAR)
Along with those Receivers…3 Kickers reached our Milestone score of 11 points in Week 4 (and another 7 Free Agents the rest of us Coulda Had…Danny…)…Brandon McManus remained perfect on the year…following the Golden Path exactly with 2 Extra Points and 3 Field Goals to reach 11 points…Justin Tucker also had 5 Kick Opportunities…he personally scored the final 10 points of the game for the Ravens with his 2nd Extra Point…2 4th Quarter Field Goals to force overtime…and then to add insult to injury…the final 52 yard bonus earner to win the game in Overtime and reach 12 points for the week…Chandler Cantanzaro got 6 Kick Opportunities…the Cardinals kept getting stopped short of the Red Zone…giving Chandler 5 Field Goals and just 1 Extra Point to win the week with 16 points…The score ties as the 4th Highest score recorded by a Kicker…and ties the Warriors team record (Matt Bryant…2012 Week 1)…it is the 1st Kicker of the Week award for Cantanzaro…the 1st Kicker award and 2nd overall trophy on the year for the Warriors…
Green Bay Packers (RNT)
Week 4 saw several Top Ranked Defenses playing against sub-par offenses…but only 1 managed 2-Digit scoring for their team…The Green Bay Packers drove over to the San Francisco 49ers house and knocked on the door…when Colin Kaepernick answered…they proceeded to beat him up…took his lunch money…and laughed at him…well at least Ha Ha did (7 Tackles)…the 49ers coughed up 3 Fumbles that they recovered themselves…but Kaepernick did succomb to the pressure of being Sacked 6 times…managing to go only 1 for 5 on balls over 10 yards including an Interception…They did manage success on 1 drive of 6:20 in the 2nd Quarter to put up 3 points…but were otherwise shut down for their other 17 minutes of possession…giving the Packers an even 20 points…It is the 1st Defense of the Week for the Packers…and the 1st player of the week trophy on the year for Runs N Throses…
Team of the Week
After ending the longest Team of the Week slump in the league in Week 3…Eric’s Grandmasters managed to hit 100% Roster Efficiency in a week they did not really need it…and found a way to make me dig even deeper into the archives…507 Points after 4 Weeks is a new Team Record for the Grandmasters (450 points…2013)…Playground Legends were the last team to claim this title in Back-2-Back fashion…taking down Weeks 10 & 11 of the 2014 Season (6 Games Ago)…and it has been 96 Games (2007…Week 12) since the Grandmasters have won 2 Team of the Weeks in the same season…but we have to go back 199 Games to their Innaugural Year to find when they last won the award Back-2-Back…actually 3-Peating in Weeks 12 thru 14 of the 1999 Season (yes we played 14 games that 1 year)…it is their 2nd trophy on the year and the move into a tie with Warriors for 6th Place now winning the award 15½ times as a Franchise…
Chump of the Week
I don’t know if that graphic is going to work anymore…need to find 1 with even more damage to it…prior to Week 3…Money Inc had never taken Back-2-Back Chump scores in their history…and now they have set a new Team Record getting the 3-Peat…the last team to 3-Peat this award was Husslers with a run in 2012 thru Weeks 8 to 10…That 3-Peat scored 198 points…while the current run has only 137…I only have charts built for the current teams when I make these articles…so I hope next week I do not have to check all of the former teams to verify there has never been a 4-Peater before…As an additional slap in the face…it is their 105th All-Time Loss…and the 2nd time in 3 Weeks (and 24th overall) for the Chump of the Week to play the Team of the Week…the 93 point loss is not as bad as Week 2…but it is the 1st time since the 1999 Pokemon Pimps that the same team has been on the wrong side of that action 2 times in 1 Season…the Money Men have now tied with Bay Area Thrashers for the 3rd most Chump Scores with 17…taking 13 fewer Regular Season Games played to reach that mark (9.14% Chump Rate)…
Chump Survivor
Compared to last week’s monumental scoring festival…Week 4 seemed quite barren…with Average Scoring dropping 22 points to 93…the lowest Average Scoring Week since Week 7 of 2011 (93 points)…the Week 4 drop off came down to the game between Playground Legends and Runs N Throses…as Josh beautifully pointed out on the Message Board…Danny chose to ride a Bye Week kicker instead of grabbing any of the Top 7 Free Agents available…ALL of which scored 10 or better and would have allowed him to Survive and steal a Win from Shawn…
Notes & Numbers
The No-Kicker loss for Playground Legends is their 3rd in a row to Runs N Throses…who now have their 125th Regular Season Win…and move back into a tie with Bay Area Thrashers for 1st with 132 All-Time Wins…
X-Factor is on a 5 Game winning streak going back to Week 13 of 2014…the 2 Point victory over Bubba Army has them on a 3 Game losing streak…with their 3rd ‘Coulda Won’ game in a row…
Fudgie Whales have now won 4 games in a row against Hurricanes…their 5-2 record vs Hurricanes is their best Win Rate (.714) against any other team in the league…
The Seahwaks have now won their last 10 Monday Night Football games…it is the 2nd longest Monday Night stretch trailing the 1975-1981 Oakland Raiders who won 14 in a row…