Drew Richardson's perfect start finally cracks
His unbeaten run ends, and a waiver kicker gets the credit.
Drew Richardson's The Snap went into week 5 at 4-0, his best start in 6 seasons on file. Kevin Gaffney's Mean Machine ended it, riding a waiver-wire kicker to the win. 6 teams, including Richardson's, now sit within one game of seed 4, the last playoff spot — this was the week that race stopped being theoretical.
🏆 WINNER OF THE WEEK — Greg Leite (YAC_all_day)
Greg Leite's YAC_all_day snapped an 0-4 start with the week's best number everywhere you look. Drake Maye went off for 39.46 points and a Spencer Shrader waiver pickup debuted with 21.
The final line, 170.86, is a season high — still short of the league's all-time mark of 215.24, but 46.7 points over Greg Leite's own projection. Genuinely: that first win was earned.
💀 LOSER OF THE WEEK — Steven Ginter (The Empire Strikes Backfield)
Steven Ginter's The Empire Strikes Backfield posted the week's toilet bowl at 70.94, 46.5 points under projection. The Empire Strikes Backfield started a freshly added Cowboys D/ST that returned -2 — its 4th different defense in five weeks — and has started the league's most zero-point starters, 2 all season. Steven Ginter, that defense spot isn't cursed. The process is.
| Final | Margin |
|---|---|
| YAC_all_day 170.86, Don't Sweat The Technique 138.22 | 32.64 |
| Hail Mary Poppins 150.14, Redcoats 132.26 | 17.88 |
| Mean Machine 143.3, The Snap 127.6 | 15.7 |
| Chase to Witch Mountain 134.74, 4*TOWN AND GOAL 121 | 13.74 |
| For The Birds 94.42, The Empire Strikes Backfield 70.94 | 23.48 |
Every game this week was decided by double digits, from Chase to Witch Mountain's 13.74-point squeaker to YAC_all_day's 32.64-point rout — and Drew Richardson's 15.7-point loss fit right in the middle of that crowd.
Drew Richardson's First Loss
Drew Richardson's The Snap opened 2-0 for the second time in 6 seasons on file and rode it to 4-0 for the first time. Kevin Gaffney's Mean Machine ended that run this week, and Richardson still finished second in the league at 4-1. An unbeaten record is gone, and 5 other teams within one game of the cut line are watching closer now.
The Jefferson call was sound: starting him over Marvin Harrison Jr. was worth 18.8 points, more than the final margin. The backfield call wasn't. TreVeyon Henderson started and scored 4.8 while Blake Corum (16.2), Ollie Gordon II (14.8), Jacory Croskey-Merritt (14.2) and Woody Marks (12.5) sat on the bench. Seven running backs on one roster, and he started the one who scored 4.8 — roster construction as performance art.
The problem was the other sideline. Kevin Gaffney's free find at kicker, Will Reichard, scored 16 points in his debut, enough to cover the 15.7-point margin and hand Mean Machine its first win after an 0-4 start. Four losses deep, Gaffney earned that one.
Add the twist: Jared Goff, the quarterback Richardson dropped two weeks ago, put up 28.94 for Steven Ginter's Empire Strikes Backfield elsewhere on the slate. Drew Richardson, the 4-0 start was real, and so was the loss. Whether it's a blip or the start of something is next week's question.
Jim Gascon's Self-Inflicted Loss
Jim Gascon's 4*TOWN AND GOAL made 8 separate lineup edits this week, 16 player-slot changes, and still benched the one that mattered. Emeka Egbuka scored 17.2 in the slot handed to Romeo Doubs's 2.6; swap those two and a 134.74-121 loss to David Andreassen's Chase to Witch Mountain becomes a win.
The one call Gascon got right — starting Davante Adams over Cam Skattebo for a 15-point swing — wasn't enough to cover for it. A round-6 keeper price on Egbuka only pays off with Egbuka in the lineup; this week he scored his 17.2 from the bench. The loss also hands David Andreassen's Belt a 4th straight defense. Jim Gascon, you had this one in your own hands and let go.
Dylan McGinty's Daylight Robbery
Dylan McGinty's For The Birds, want to explain the bench? Jayden Daniels, his round-2 keeper, sat for 32.26 points — the single highest total benched anywhere in the league this week — while Monday's Matthew Stafford (27.32) erased a 67.1-68.94 deficit and turned the game.
For The Birds won anyway, 94.42 to 70.94, the week's second-worst score beating the week's worst: fully legal, daylight robbery. His keeper bet on Daniels is the one to watch: a round-2 price is supposed to buy a weekly starter, and this week it bought a 32.26-point bench seat.
The Monday Comeback
Kristen Ginter's Hail Mary Poppins trailed 92.84-132.26 with only Monday left to play; Puka Nacua (37.7) and Kyren Williams (19.6) turned that into a 150.14-132.26 win over Mathew Clark's Redcoats, Hail Mary Poppins's third straight.
Clark's week was a string of bad breaks he mostly built himself: a round-11 flier in Chris Godwin Jr. (7, benched) outscored his round-4 keeper Tee Higgins (4.2, started), and the Redcoats have started 5 different defenses this season. ESPN's own projection nudged him from rank 6 to rank 7. Mathew Clark, the defense streaming is officially a bit, and the bit isn't funny yet.
| # | Team | W-L | GB | PF | Streak | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chase to Witch Mountain | 5-0 | — | 704.5 | W5 | — |
| 2 | The Snap | 4-1 | 1 | 676.7 | L1 | — |
| 3 | For The Birds | 4-1 | 1 | 616.8 | W3 | — |
| 4 | Hail Mary Poppins | 3-2 | 2 | 637.9 | W3 | — |
| 5 | 4*TOWN AND GOAL | 2-3 | 3 | 593.9 | L3 | — |
| 6 | Redcoats | 2-3 | 3 | 591.6 | L1 | — |
| 7 | The Empire Strikes Backfield | 2-3 | 3 | 495.2 | L2 | — |
| 8 | YAC_all_day | 1-4 | 4 | 651.5 | W1 | ▲1 |
| 9 | Mean Machine | 1-4 | 4 | 538.8 | W1 | ▲1 |
| 10 | Don't Sweat The Technique | 1-4 | 4 | 535.6 | L3 | ▼2 |
6 teams sit within one game of seed 4, and David Andreassen's Chase to Witch Mountain, 5-0, is the only club not sweating any of it.
- 🏆 Top Score: YAC_all_day — 170.86
- 🚽 Toilet Bowl: The Empire Strikes Backfield — 70.94
- 🔨 Beatdown: YAC_all_day over Don't Sweat The Technique by 32.64
- 😰 Photo Finish: Chase to Witch Mountain over 4*TOWN AND GOAL by 13.74
- 📈 Overachiever: YAC_all_day, +46.7 over projection
- 📉 Faceplant: The Empire Strikes Backfield, -46.5 under projection
- 🪑 Bench of the Week: For The Birds left Jayden Daniels (32.26) on the bench
- ⭐ Player of the Week: Drake Maye (39.46) — started by YAC_all_day
- 🥊 The Belt: Chase to Witch Mountain — defended against 4*TOWN AND GOAL, 134.74 to 121 (4 straight defenses)
The awards board reads like a mirror of the stories above: Greg Leite's big week at the top, Steven Ginter's rough one at the bottom, and David Andreassen's Belt still unclaimed by anyone else.
Next week has a real climax: David Andreassen's Chase to Witch Mountain defends the Belt against Steven Ginter's Empire Strikes Backfield, losers of 2 straight. If the Belt holds, David Andreassen keeps both streaks alive; if Steven Ginter pulls it off, he ends the run and his own skid in the same afternoon.
Drew Richardson gets an immediate answer too, facing Dylan McGinty's For The Birds in a series tied 2-2, with McGinty on a 3-game winning streak. Drew Richardson, no time to sulk: win, and the cut-line race resets; lose, and one bad week starts looking like a trend.
Hail Mary Poppins gets a rematch as well — Greg Leite's YAC_all_day leads that series 2-1, and Hail Mary Poppins arrives on a 3-game streak of its own looking to flip it. Redcoats-Mean Machine has no history on file, and Don't Sweat The Technique against 4*TOWN AND GOAL pits two 3-game losing streaks against each other.
Same time next week. Set your lineups.