Week 4 Not So Serious Recap

Each week we'll dive into the 150,000+ teams synced on Fantasy Genius & dig up interesting & funny tidbits. We'll find the best & worst teams of the week, figure out how many matchups were swung due to weird stuff like Adonai Mitchell inexplicably dropping the ball at the 1 yard line, and bring you the silliest/most bizarre content we came across for the week.

If you're new around these parts, we are mainly here to point out stuff that we thought was interesting/funny. There's people that know more ball and are better at fantasy if you're looking for hard hitting stuff to give you an edge over your teammates. In short, we're just here for a good time.

Sankeys

Every Tuesday, I do my best to identify the most painful fantasy losses from the prior week. Not being a great fantasy manager myself, the only way I can find joy in this game is through other managers' pain. Without fail, every week there is something that would be absolutely gut-wrenching to lose on and this week was no exception.

Standard sankey disclaimer: Yes, you never really lose on just one play. The points scored on Sunday at 1PM are just as consequential as Monday night. But emotionally....you lost on THAT play.

Daniel Jones is the subject of our Week 4 sankey. For those that missed it, Danny Dimes completed a pass to receiver Adonai Mitchell who made 99% of an amazing play. Until he got to the 1 yard line. That's when he let the intrusive thoughts win and stuck out the ball in celebration. Remember in Madden 64 when you could celebrate by "hot dogging" it? Your guy would literally hold the ball up like his hand was the bun and the ball was the wiener. I can't find anything on the internet that proves this was a real thing but I definitely remember it.

Anyways, you probably guessed that it didn't go well for Adonai here -- no, the ball wasn't knocked out of his hand by a defender. It looked as if God himself decided to teach him the fastest lesson of all time about pride.

The Colts ended up losing by 7. More importantly, 425 fantasy teams in our dataset lost due to Adonai's hot dogging.

Garrett Wilson is an interesting player -- he seems to have about as much talent as any receiver in the NFL. Unfortunately, he also has played for the Jets his entire career. Things weren't looking great from a fantasy perspective for Wilson until late in Monday night's game. He had an amazing TD catch wiped off for a phantom OPI call:

But with less than 2 minutes left in the game, Wilson caught a 23 yard TD pass to put the Jets mathematically in striking distance. The real fun for me, though, came on the final play of the game. The Jets were on their own 1 yard line with 2 seconds left and Garrett Wilson caught a pass as part of a last-second desperation play. He made some pretty nifty moves to pick up 17 yards before lateraling. That play won 417 managers in our dataset their matchups.

Top Week 4 Winners

Each week, we'll pull in the players with the top win rates on the week. The team I was playing against had 4 of these guys. I am a huge Ashton Jeanty fan/believer so it was brutal to see him find his stride against my squad this week. Happy for you but...wish you would have waited a week.

Ashton Jeanty to everyone posting memes about him only being good because he went to a potato college:

Top Week 4 Losers

David Montgomery went from the #3 win rate player in week 3 to number 1 loser in week 4. Brutal turn of events for "Frankenstein"...

Best Team

Each week, we pull out the best and worst team performances we can find out of the 150,000+ teams synced with us. I'm not sure exactly the algorithm the unpaid intern uses to calculate these -- it can get tricky with all the weird league settings folks have. But this team was unreal despite having Ladd as a starter.

Worst Team

This looks a lot like a team I would draft. A ton of college ball talent here. I, too, locked in my opinions on NFL defenses in 2002. The Ravens will always have a good defense to me.

Thomas Morstead Got That Dawg In Him

If you want to get technical about it, Thomas Morstead gave up an 87 yard punt return for a touchdown. Some might say that's the worst possible result when you're a punter. But folks, look at the athleticism and effort displayed by him running after a guy 16 years his junior. This man is 39 years old and was HAULING. SOME. ASS. I was certain that we would see his hamstring visibly tear in half during this play.

Tigers only go 30-40 mph and can only maintain that speed for a short burst. If Thomas Morstead had the angle on a tiger, non-zero chance he catches it.

Thomas 100% needs to drop a stretching routine on YouTube. To do what he did at his age and not obliterate your hamstrings takes a rigorous and consistent stretching regimen.

Morstead also was the main character in one of my other all-time favorite NFL plays: The Butt Punt. To be able to come back from that humiliation to accomplish something like what he did on Sunday says a lot about the man. I have not looked up his Wikipedia page so I do not know if there is a "Legal Issues" or "Controversies" section. That said, if he releases a self-help book tomorrow, I am buying. This is my new favorite player in the NFL.

Worst Effort Possible

Newton's third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Not every punter giving up a touchdown does so honorably. I have a second example from the weekend of a truly pathetic level of effort, talent, and athleticism. This is exactly what I would do if I were a punter in the NFL. And I mean that as the worst kind of insult possible. Observe.

Great Weekend For Guys Diving For No Reason

It's rare that a consequential play during a game that I really care about makes me laugh. But this play with just over 2 minutes to go between Alabama and Georgia had me howling. I love that you can see the wheels in motion here.

"Oh, I've got an idea!"

And then he just lets the devil on his shoulder take over. It ended up not mattering anyways because Bama picked up the first down but GOSH I wish that would have been the deciding play. If there's a funnier 15 yard penalty in the past few years*, I don't remember it. (May have to go directly to YouTube to watch it)

(Obviously, not counting the all-time number 1 and number 2 funniest 15 yard penalties...)

There was another beautiful play in this game for lovers of Big Dudes Carrying The Ball.

In another case of Guy Not Really Thinking Through A Dive, Fred Warner thought he'd try to yeet himself at Trevor Lawrence and uhh...that's as far as his thought process got. Immediately gets put on his ass because there is a very large man in front of Trevor Lawrence whose entire job it is to protect him. Was it worth a shot? Debatable. But you can't knock the hustle.

The Dolphins Don't Seem To Like Tyreek Hill All That Much

In Tua's post-game interview he thanked Jesus for the victory and for "keeping us safe......for the most part". This came just an hour or so after Tyreek Hill tore his ACL and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. Definitely just a slip of the tongue from Tua here but funny nonetheless.

-Mike