Week 6 - MOTW

In case you're getting sick of my MOTWs (which by the way, I'm 2-0 on the season, and will now continue to track because it makes me look good), we got some other posts coming in the future. I'll do a look back at the pre-season predictions I made, perform a retrospective of the trades that have occurred, and either do a "best possible draft" or "best pickups of the year" post (or maybe both). So there's some good content coming! Also, since I never seem to actually close out the year on a post, I'm not going to give that expectation going forward. I'll just do a playoff preview, pick my winner, and we'll close out the posts for the year like that.

Without further ado...

MOTW

 8. David Y Team (David Y) vs. 9. Rich’s 삼겹살 Brock Party 🎉🥓 (Rich)

(This MOTW is done assuming David picks his best available replacements for his injured and bye week players)

QB: David ◯ 🟢 ◯ ◯ ◯ Rich

Dak has struggled a bit thus far, not quite having any explosive weeks and posting under 10 points twice. But if there's any cure for that, it's the Chargers defense. The Chargers currently remind me of Colts of the 00's. They have such a great offense and score so easily that even though they have some stars on defense and usually get to play with knowing they can rush the passer, they still give up tons of points, resulting in massive shootouts. Dak gets a chance to participate in that shootout. On the other side, in a vacuum, I think I take Brock over Dak. But Brock has the unfortunate luxury of going in to Cleveland (west coast going to the Eastern time zone) and facing a ferocious Browns defense who are coming well-rested off a bye. Slight edge to Dak this week (probably a sentence I won't be saying much this year)

WR: David ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ 🟢 Rich

Just 3 weeks ago, this matchup would have looked a lot closer. But now that Diggs doesn't rep David's team anymore, This one is clearly a lopsided win for Rich. Kupp is back to doing Kupp things, Davante is matchup and QB proof, and Cooper gets to perform at home after rehearsing routes for 2 weeks with DeShaun (hopefully they didn't go get massages together). While David gets DK back from a bye, AJ Brown will be covered in Sauce on Sunday, and Addison is still a WR3 as the absence of JJ creates more targets but the quality of those targets drops dramatically.

RB: David ◯ ◯ 🟢 ◯ ◯ Rich

Here's an interesting conundrum for David: because he gave up so much for Ford, does he feel pressured to start him in place of  Pierce or Montgomery? DMont has been red hot as the red zone option for a surprisingly well-oiled Lions attack. Pierce has gotten insane volume (averaging 19 carries or 21 total opps per game over the last 3) as the surprising Texans are allowing him to be effective. Ford gets a tough SF defense but will David feel the pressure to start him anyways? Should be an interesting game time call. Swift has been a nice surprise for Rich but he gets a rough matchup against a solid Jets front 7. Mattison is losing opportunities quickly and even in what looks like a plus matchup against Chicago, if the Bears play like they did last week, he may find that running room is hard to find.

TE/K/DST: David ◯ 🟢 ◯ ◯ ◯ Rich

No big surprises or swings here but I think I'm ever so slightly leaning in David's direction. LaPorta has been a target hog, especially in the red zone. Goedert had one blowup game so I think he falls back to earth and posts his typical single digit performance. I always take the best kicker in football over almost anyone else, even though Bass should get plenty of opportunities against the Giants (or will they all be XPs?). And neither defense plays a terrible offense, so I'll take the one with better talent overall.

Winner: Rich

At first glance, it feels like Rich's team should win in a landslide but on closer examination, due to matchups and David's yet to be updated lineup, I think it will actually be pretty close. Both teams are playing to stay alive as 1-5 or 2-4 is a pretty tough hole to climb out of. Unfortunately, I think David will come to rue his his trade as Rich's receivers carry him to the win.

Season MOTW Record: 2-0

Good luck to all!