For three straight weeks Dawnieo started Trevor Lawrence and benched Drake Maye. In Week 6 she started Maye. Lawrence scored 35.34 on the bench, and the best possible lineup would have won by 0.06. Also: the desk's analytics department won its argument and lost its game, BrennaLynne posted the week's high score, and the desk owes the league an issue.
The accounting first. Week 5 never got a recap. One late file is an accident, two is a schedule, and a missing file is a staffing matter that the desk is handling internally. What Week 5 did get was a preview, and all five of its picks won, the second straight 5–0 week. The desk is 18–7 on the season. No Week 6 preview was filed, so there is nothing to grade this week. The desk is choosing to call it a clean week.
The preview's headline was five starters on a bye. Every one of them was fixed before kickoff. jsdivine spent $8 at 3am Thursday on Brenton Strange, Matt Gay and the Denver defense, set a perfect lineup, and lost his first game, 158.14 to 143.30, to divinethought (Jared Goff 34.94, Parker Washington 30.40). mmcatee01 started Joe Burrow (32.60) and posted the week's low anyway, 90.80, with Hunter Henry and Woody Marks combining for 25.90 on the bench, and lost to jgirsby, 157.20. The chair started Matthew Stafford (33.32) over Brock Purdy (20.16) and was right a third straight week.
BrennaLynne set a perfect lineup and won her first game, 137.60 to 94.80, over ITouchd0wnThere, who had Emeka Egbuka's 17.20 on the bench. The desk picked her, noting that somebody had to say it first. sammyyy29 started Isaiah Likely at tight end, and Likely scored 32.40. sammyyy29 still lost, 168.64 to 152.92, because Dawnieo scored the week's high while Drake Maye scored 47.46 on her bench. That was the third straight week Lawrence started over Maye. Hold that thought. alyssagenther beat the desk's own franchise 165.04 to 121.86 behind Jaylen Warren's 36.80. Tyler Shough scored −0.16 on her bench, so the quarterback room got one right. The desk left 1.20 on its bench and lost by 43.18, which is the only kind of near-perfect it managed.
For three weeks this desk reported the same screen: Lawrence starts, Maye sits. Maye scored 32.16 on the bench in Week 4 and 47.46 in Week 5. This week the screen changed. Maye started and scored 29.80, a perfectly good number. Lawrence scored 35.34 on the bench, with four touchdowns. Dawnieo lost by 5.48, and the swap was worth 5.54. Her best nine scores 104.64 to mmcatee01's 104.58. Three weeks the carousel held still on the wrong quarterback. In Week 6 it moved, onto the wrong quarterback. The desk has no advice. The desk is not sure advice exists.
mmcatee01 won while Brandon Aubrey kicked for 1.00 and Cam Little kicked for 10.00 on the other side. The belief system's run against opposing kickers ended in Week 5 (5.00 to 7.00) and has now lost two straight, and mmcatee01 split those games. George Kittle (17.90) and Hunter Henry (14.80, at FLEX) both started at tight end and both delivered. Stefon Diggs scored 16.40 on the bench. 2–4.
Disclosure: the desk's own franchise. Before kickoff, the analytics department and the gut had an argument. The gut wanted Dalton Kincaid at tight end and Khalil Shakir at FLEX. Analytics read the weekly rows and started Tyler Higbee and Germie Bernard instead. The rows won the argument: Bernard caught 11 of 12 targets for 25.70, and Shakir scored 13.40. Higbee caught four balls for 22 yards, lost a fumble and scored 4.20, and Kincaid scored 10.80. Net result, analytics 29.90, gut 24.20, game lost. The department would like the record to show it was right on aggregate.
The rest of the bench case is worse. Rachaad White, released on October 7 so the franchise could pay $10 for Austin Ekeler, re-acquired for $2 on Sunday after Ekeler was released, scored 15.70 on the bench. Derrick Henry started, lost a fumble, and scored 5.00. White over Henry and Kincaid over Higbee is 17.30 points. The margin was 12.08. Terry McLaurin left on Washington's second possession Monday night and is covered in the Injury Report. Even with his slot left as it was, the desk's best nine was 146.30. Kenneth Walker (27.90), Jayden Daniels (25.00) and DeVonta Smith (20.50, in his first game back) did their part.
BrennaLynne put up the week's high, and it is her second straight win. C.J. Stroud, a Thursday free agent, scored 28.98. Malik Nabers scored 28.50 and Jaxon Smith-Njigba 25.40, and Matthew Golden started and scored 22.40. She also started Cam Skattebo, who played six snaps for the Giants and scored 0.00, with Omarion Hampton's 7.90 on the bench. She won by 12.08 regardless, and the desk is in no position to discuss anyone's running backs.
The week's lowest score belongs to divinethought, who lost Jared Goff to the Detroit bye and handled it correctly: Aaron Rodgers, a Thursday free agent, started and scored 20.02. The trouble was everyone else. DK Metcalf caught 11 balls for 20.30 on the bench. Tetairoa McMillan scored 14.60 on the bench. Rhamondre Stevenson started at FLEX for 3.60, and Harold Fannin scored 1.90 at tight end. Since his 45.20 at FLEX in Week 4, McMillan has not started a game. The desk reported the screen, the screen replied, and the screen has now been turned off. Even the best nine, 107.82, loses this game. Grief is the only appropriate response, and the desk offers it.
ITouchd0wnThere played without Justin Jefferson (Minnesota bye) and didn't need him. Bhayshul Tuten scored 24.70, Emeka Egbuka started this time (17.80), and Chase McLaughlin kicked for 17.00. RJ Harvey scored 14.60 on the bench. 3–3, and the win snapped a three-game slide.
The thermostat is back on "title." jsdivine is 5–1 with 875.16 points, 66.72 clear of the next team, and he left 13.50 on the bench getting there. Alvin Kamara scored 14.90 and Xavier Worthy 14.30 on the bench. Brenton Strange, the $3 claim that replaced Travis Kelce for the bye, was benched for the returning Kelce and outscored him 9.40 to 9.30. Jordan Love scored 22.24 on the bench, which makes five straight weeks Love has cleared 17 for a team that does not use him. Josh Allen scored 22.30, so this week the bench lost by 0.06.
The chair was right for a fourth straight week: Stafford 20.88 started, Purdy 19.36 sat. The chair has been fixed long enough to stop being a story. Carnell Tate scored 19.00 on the bench while Michael Wilson started for 7.20, and Tyler Loop, the $2 kicker brought in for the Cincinnati bye, kicked for 3.00. 3–3.
sammyyy29 won her first game of the season, and she did it with a perfect lineup. The tight end file gets its final entry: Likely (23.90) and Dalton Schultz (7.30) both started, and Jake Ferguson, the one on the bench, scored 3.30. That is two straight weeks without a benched tight end outscoring a starter, and the file is closed with honors. Bryce Young started over Kirk Cousins and won that call by 1.32. 1–5.
alyssagenther lost Tyler Warren for the week and spent Sunday morning working on tight end. She released Shough to add Darren Waller, who started and caught neither of his two targets. Jalen Coker scored 15.70 on the bench while Denzel Boston started for 2.50. Christian McCaffrey's 30.70 kept it close. She is 4–2.
No jokes in this section. Status is as of Wednesday and will move; check the official reports before setting a lineup.
The desk wishes every one of them a quick recovery.
Movement is measured against the Week 4 rankings, the last ones published.
Two weeks of business since the last issue: $88 in winning bids, which takes the league to $232 for the season. D1LLIGAF accounts for $40 of that, across a dozen transactions the desk will not list one by one. The highlight is the Rachaad White round trip covered above: $10 to replace him with Ekeler on October 7, Ekeler released a week later, White back for $2 in time to score 15.70 on the bench. This morning's run added Omar Cooper ($6, for McLaurin's spot) and Bo Nix ($5), with Washington on bye and its kicker, Drew Stevens, released to make room.
alyssagenther released Shough on Sunday morning for Waller, then paid $6 Wednesday to get Shough back. In the same run she let Waller go for Pat Freiermuth ($0). That makes the quarterback she had for free on Sunday her most expensive move of the month. jgirsby spent $16 Wednesday: $11 on Colston Loveland, $5 on J.K. Dobbins, and $0 on the Cleveland defense to replace the San Francisco defense he paid $2 for a week ago. Dallas Goedert, 12.10 on the bench Sunday, was released for Dobbins. jsdivine made his $8 bye fix in Week 5. Dawnieo paid $7 for Will Shipley and picked Keon Coleman off free agency (15.90, started). sammyyy29 released Caleb Douglas, the receiver who replaced Montorie Foster, for Kendre Miller; the shortest arc in the file now has a sequel. mmcatee01, sammyyy29 and BrennaLynne are still at $0. Trades: none.
ITouchd0wnThere (3-3) vs jsdivine (5-1) — Jefferson is back from the bye. Jordan Love stays on the bench, presumably, and scores 20.
jgirsby (3-3) vs Dawnieo (3-3) — a chair that is always right against a carousel that never is. Both quarterback rooms are healthy, and only one manager can be trusted with his.
D1LLIGAF (3-3) vs divinethought (4-2) — the desk's franchise loses Daniels, Kincaid and Shakir to byes and gets Bo Nix. The analytics department and the gut are being kept in separate rooms.
alyssagenther (4-2) vs mmcatee01 (2-4) — a quarterback bought back for $6 against a kicker with nothing left to prove.
sammyyy29 (1-5) vs BrennaLynne (2-4) — the two hottest teams in the bottom three. The desk did not expect to write that sentence either.