Drew Richardson needed a long kick just to survive
A fifty-yard field goal was the entire game-saving margin
One game this week turned on a single lineup slot: the 4.74-point gap between The Snap and The Empire Strikes Backfield. Win that margin and the record keeps climbing, lose it and it's on you. Ask Drew Richardson, saved by a kicker. Ask Steven Ginter, sunk by his own bench.
🏆 WINNER OF THE WEEK — Kristen Ginter (Hail Mary Poppins)
Kristen Ginter buried the projection. Hail Mary Poppins was projected for 121.8 points and delivered 165.58, the week's top score, in a 41.42-point win over Kevin Gaffney's Mean Machine (124.16). Gaffney's week had its own quiet mess: round-five keeper Quinshon Judkins scored 21.6 from the bench while Jeremiyah Love started instead — a keeper bet already in trouble, even though it wasn't why he lost.
💀 LOSER OF THE WEEK — Steven Ginter (The Empire Strikes Backfield)
Steven Ginter has no one else to blame. The Empire Strikes Backfield lost by 4.74 after Ginter started Courtland Sutton (1.4) over T.J. Hockenson (24.9) in the flex. Swap those two and the loss is a win.
Steven Ginter, that flex spot has one job: start the higher scorer. Denzel Boston's unused 12.9 sat right next to it, and Rashee Rice — his round-two pick — has 38 points through four weeks, 33rd of 50 tracked receivers. The lineup card was the problem, not the roster.
| Final | Margin |
|---|---|
| Hail Mary Poppins 165.58, Mean Machine 124.16 | 41.42 |
| Chase to Witch Mountain 148.4, YAC_all_day 129.86 | 18.54 |
| For The Birds 149.18, 4*TOWN AND GOAL 99.32 | 49.86 |
| Redcoats 131.22, Don't Sweat The Technique 92.78 | 38.44 |
| The Snap 105.32, The Empire Strikes Backfield 100.58 | 4.74 |
Every other final had room to breathe — Dylan McGinty's 49.86-point beatdown of Jim Gascon, Kristen Ginter's rout, David Andreassen's third straight Belt defense. Richardson and Ginter were the only two decided by a single bad slot.
Drew Richardson's Margin for Error
The photo finish hardware undersells it. Brandon Aubrey's fifty-or-more-yard field goal was worth five points by itself — strip it off the board and The Snap loses. Richardson was projected for 130.42 and finished at 105.32, helped by Monday night: the score sat 85.72-100.58 before Chris Olave's Monday turned it into the 105.32-100.58 final.
Richardson's own lineup didn't help. Swapping TreVeyon Henderson in for Ollie Gordon II cost him — Henderson scored 4.2 while Gordon sat for 18, a 13.8-point swing the wrong way. Drew Richardson, that one was a choice, and it nearly cost a 4-0 start.
And for pride alone, round-thirteen find Kyle Monangai put up 28 on the bench, outscoring round-two keeper Ashton Jeanty's 18.6 in a game The Snap won without him — this week's Bench of the Week. Across the field, Jared Goff scored 20.48 for Ginter a week after The Snap cut him loose — from Ginter's bench, behind Kyler Murray's 11.48. The lineup card let him down at quarterback too.
The Belt Stays Put
David Andreassen's Chase to Witch Mountain defended The Belt for a third straight time, 148.4-129.86 over Greg Leite's YAC_all_day, with Tetairoa McMillan's 45.2 points earning Player of the Week. Jim Gascon gets the next shot.
For Greg Leite, this loss didn't look like the first three. It dropped YAC_all_day to 0-4, ranked 9th, after falling 129.86-148.4 to David Andreassen, this season's points leader. The thread stays open all the same: 480.7 points for is more than four of the eight teams above him have scored.
| # | Team | W-L | GB | PF | Streak | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chase to Witch Mountain | 4-0 | — | 569.8 | W4 | ▲1 |
| 2 | The Snap | 4-0 | — | 549.1 | W4 | ▼1 |
| 3 | For The Birds | 3-1 | 1 | 522.4 | W2 | ▲1 |
| 4 | Hail Mary Poppins | 2-2 | 2 | 487.8 | W2 | ▲3 |
| 5 | 4*TOWN AND GOAL | 2-2 | 2 | 472.9 | L2 | ▼2 |
| 6 | Redcoats | 2-2 | 2 | 459.4 | W1 | — |
| 7 | The Empire Strikes Backfield | 2-2 | 2 | 424.3 | L1 | ▼2 |
| 8 | Don't Sweat The Technique | 1-3 | 3 | 397.4 | L2 | — |
| 9 | YAC_all_day | 0-4 | 4 | 480.7 | L4 | — |
| 10 | Mean Machine | 0-4 | 4 | 395.5 | L4 | — |
Two teams sit at 4-0 — Chase to Witch Mountain and The Snap — and Chase to Witch Mountain holds the league's most points, 569.76, the only thing separating them right now.
Mathew Clark's Patchwork
Mathew Clark's Redcoats beat Harold Jimenez's Don't Sweat The Technique, 131.22-92.78, a 38.44-point margin built on a free-agent find: Emanuel Wilson scored 27 after Clark picked him off a roster that had just cut him loose. It's the fourth different defense Clark has started this season, and the churn hit his keeper class too.
Mathew Clark's two keeper bets just split. He kept Amon-Ra St. Brown at a round-one price and De'Von Achane at a round-two price — and in week 4, Achane is the one he cut loose. St. Brown's side keeps paying: 91.3 points across four weeks, third among tracked receivers. One leg of that wager is gone; the other is cashing.
Harold Jimenez's toilet bowl finish makes it two straight losses, with Greg Leite's own four-game skid waiting next week.
Dylan McGinty's Quiet Machine
Dylan McGinty's 149.18-99.32 beatdown of Jim Gascon moved For The Birds from fourth to third and made it two wins in a row. Javonte Williams led the way with 31.3, part of a keeper class doing exactly what it was kept to do.
Dylan McGinty, this is what paying up for keepers looks like when it works. Kenneth Walker III — the pick McGinty says in his own interview he got right — has 110.1 points through four weeks, second among tracked running backs. Zay Flowers has 67.2 and Williams 81.8 on the season. Gascon finished 29.4 under projection, this week's Faceplant, and has lost two straight.
- 🏆 Top Score: Hail Mary Poppins — 165.58
- 🚽 Toilet Bowl: Don't Sweat The Technique — 92.78
- 🔨 Beatdown: For The Birds over 4*TOWN AND GOAL by 49.86
- 😰 Photo Finish: The Snap over The Empire Strikes Backfield by 4.74
- 📈 Overachiever: Hail Mary Poppins, +43.8 over projection
- 📉 Faceplant: 4*TOWN AND GOAL, -29.4 under projection
- 🪑 Bench of the Week: The Snap left Kyle Monangai (28) on the bench
- ⭐ Player of the Week: Tetairoa McMillan (45.2) — started by Chase to Witch Mountain
- 🥊 The Belt: Chase to Witch Mountain — defended against YAC_all_day, 148.4 to 129.86 (3 straight defenses)
The hardware says the same thing the games did — this week's best and worst extremes, both earned.
Next week brings two real tests. Drew Richardson's four-game run meets Kevin Gaffney's four-game skid, and the all-time series favors Gaffney, 3-1. If Richardson's streak holds, The Snap stays unbeaten; if it doesn't, Gaffney's four-game skid finally ends.
The Belt climax lands too: Jim Gascon challenges David Andreassen's three-game reign. Win, and the title changes hands; lose, and Gascon's two-game skid continues.
Dylan McGinty has never lost to Steven Ginter in their recorded meetings. Harold Jimenez's two-game slide meets Greg Leite's four-game skid, and Mathew Clark meets Kristen Ginter with no recorded history between them — just her two-game winning streak walking in.
Same time next week. Set your lineups.