The Belt survives on a two-point conversion
David Andreassen's title holds after a frantic Monday comeback
Week seven came down to a single two-point conversion. David Andreassen's Belt survived by less than that: Dak Prescott's third-quarter two-point run was the difference between defending the title and losing it to Drew Richardson. Harold Jimenez quietly climbed out of the bottom half while nobody watched, and four teams are within one game of the last playoff spot. Every margin this week mattered.
🏆 WINNER OF THE WEEK — Mathew Clark (Redcoats)
Mathew Clark posted the week's best score, 144.82, and buried Greg Leite's YAC_all_day by 43.08 — the week's biggest beatdown and 26.7 points over his own projection. Mathew Clark has started six different defenses this season, a streaming habit that would embarrass most managers; this week it didn't matter, because everything else clicked. Mathew Clark, defense roulette shouldn't work this well.
💀 LOSER OF THE WEEK — Kevin Gaffney (Mean Machine)
Kevin Gaffney scored 77.42, the week's Toilet Bowl entry, 55.1 points under his own projection. He benched Bo Nix's 26.18 for Bryce Young's 5.42 at quarterback, and benched keeper Quinshon Judkins's 23.4 for Aaron Jones Sr.'s 3.6 at running back. Two bench calls, two double-digit swings, one bad week. Kevin Gaffney, pick a lineup and trust it.
| Final | Margin |
|---|---|
| Chase to Witch Mountain 131.18, The Snap 129.72 | 1.46 |
| Hail Mary Poppins 142.28, 4*TOWN AND GOAL 105.48 | 36.8 |
| Redcoats 144.82, YAC_all_day 101.74 | 43.08 |
| Don't Sweat The Technique 126.7, The Empire Strikes Backfield 93.56 | 33.14 |
| For The Birds 118.5, Mean Machine 77.42 | 41.08 |
One of those five finals was decided by a margin a single play could erase, and one play did.
David Andreassen's White-Knuckle Defense
Entering Monday night, David Andreassen trailed Drew Richardson, 107.9 to 115.72. Dak Prescott's two-point conversion was part of the comeback that got Chase to Witch Mountain to 131.18, edging The Snap's 129.72 for a sixth straight Belt defense. Strip out that conversion alone and Drew Richardson is holding the title right now.
He isn't, and his own bench is a big reason why. Drew Richardson sat Ollie Gordon II's 17.3 points for Woody Marks's 9.1 — a swap that alone flips the result. He also started Titans D/ST, fresh off the waiver wire, to a zero, his third zero-point starting slot of the season. Jaxon Smith-Njigba's 31.3 points, nearly a quarter of the team's total, deserved far more help.
David Andreassen needed his own rescue, too: Chris Boswell's eleven points were the entire margin on his side of the ball. Pull the kicker and the Belt still changes hands. Drew Richardson, that's three straight losses now — the bench call stings more than the schedule does.
- 🏆 Top Score: Redcoats — 144.82
- 🚽 Toilet Bowl: Mean Machine — 77.42
- 🔨 Beatdown: Redcoats over YAC_all_day by 43.08
- 😰 Photo Finish: Chase to Witch Mountain over The Snap by 1.46
- 📈 Overachiever: Redcoats, +26.7 over projection
- 📉 Faceplant: Mean Machine, -55.1 under projection
- 🪑 Bench of the Week: Mean Machine left Bo Nix (26.18) on the bench
- ⭐ Player of the Week: Tony Pollard (36.5) — started by Don't Sweat The Technique
- 🥊 The Belt: Chase to Witch Mountain — defended against The Snap, 131.18 to 129.72 (6 straight defenses)
Nearly every line on that board already has its story above — the Belt, the Photo Finish, the Bench of the Week — proof that this week's margins were as unforgiving as the games themselves.
Harold Jimenez's Quiet Climb
While the top of the standings traded haymakers, Harold Jimenez just won. Don't Sweat The Technique beat Steven Ginter's Empire Strikes Backfield, 126.7 to 93.56, a margin of 33.14, behind Tony Pollard's 36.5 points — the league's Player of the Week. The win is Harold Jimenez's second straight, and it moved him from seventh to sixth.
He's doing it without much help from his round-one pick, either: Saquon Barkley has managed just 17.1 points across his last four tracked games, 35th among 43 running backs in that stretch, and Harold Jimenez benched him anyway. Harold Jimenez, keeping a first-round pick glued to the bench while Tony Pollard carries you to sixth — are we sure that's an accident?
Kristen Ginter Feasts, Jim Gascon Panics
Kristen Ginter's Hail Mary Poppins has won five straight, and this one barely needed the new additions: a 142.28 to 105.48 win over Jim Gascon's 4*TOWN AND GOAL, a margin of 36.8. Geno Smith, plucked off the wire days earlier, scored 23.48 in his debut. Kristen Ginter also cut keeper Jalen Hurts loose this week, closing the book on a round-three investment with no reason recorded beyond the move itself.
Jim Gascon's week explains the loss better than Kristen Ginter's explains the win. He logged ten lineup edits for this single week, part of a pattern that includes six roster moves after his last loss — churn that looks like strategy and plays like panic.
He started Christian Kirk for zero while his own round-five keeper, Cam Skattebo, stayed on the bench. Having already benched Emeka Egbuka through one breakout, he's now sitting Skattebo's 19.1 through another. Jim Gascon, what exactly is a keeper bet for if the keepers never leave the bench?
| # | Team | W-L | GB | PF | Streak | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chase to Witch Mountain | 7-0 | — | 951.4 | W7 | — |
| 2 | For The Birds | 6-1 | 1 | 836.7 | W5 | — |
| 3 | Hail Mary Poppins | 5-2 | 2 | 932.1 | W5 | — |
| 4 | The Snap | 4-3 | 3 | 907.7 | L3 | — |
| 5 | Redcoats | 3-4 | 4 | 825.4 | W1 | — |
| 6 | Don't Sweat The Technique | 3-4 | 4 | 776.4 | W2 | ▲1 |
| 7 | 4*TOWN AND GOAL | 2-5 | 5 | 774.8 | L5 | ▼1 |
| 8 | Mean Machine | 2-5 | 5 | 713.9 | L1 | — |
| 9 | The Empire Strikes Backfield | 2-5 | 5 | 686.6 | L4 | — |
| 10 | YAC_all_day | 1-6 | 6 | 870.3 | L2 | — |
Four teams are within one game of the fourth and final playoff spot — Kristen Ginter, Drew Richardson, Mathew Clark, and Harold Jimenez — which makes every one of these results a seeding fight, not just a box score.
David Andreassen's Boogeyman
The Belt's real test arrives next week. David Andreassen's unbeaten Chase to Witch Mountain defends against Dylan McGinty's For The Birds, a team that leads their all-time series 6-0 and has won five straight of its own against David Andreassen's seven. If David Andreassen wins, the streak and the Belt both survive; if Dylan McGinty finally breaks through, both change hands in the same game.
Drew Richardson and Harold Jimenez play a cut-line game dressed up as a rivalry — both sit within one game of the fourth seed, and Harold Jimenez already leads that series 3-1 with two straight wins of his own. Jim Gascon gets a clean slate against Mathew Clark's Redcoats, no history on record, which is about the only thing going right for a five-game losing streak.
Same time next week. Set your lineups.