The desk's own franchise started Chris Godwin and Germie Bernard, who scored 12.40 between them. KC Concepcion and Omar Cooper scored 45.70 on the bench, and the best possible lineup beats divinethought by 3.96. Also: mmcatee01 posted the week's high, Jordan Love finally started, and the preview went 3–2.
The grading first. The Week 7 preview went 3–2. It missed jsdivine, who lost by 4.06, and alyssagenther, who lost by 62.00, which is less a miss than a different sport. The desk is 21–9 on the season. For the second straight preview it picked against its own franchise and was right, and the ethics office and the analytics department are each taking credit for that. Only one of them is entitled to.
Disclosure: the desk's own franchise, and this week the desk's own call. With Jayden Daniels and Dalton Kincaid on the bye, Bo Nix started and scored 28.18. That is what he was claimed for. Then the analytics department had two receiver slots to fill and read the rows. It started Chris Godwin, a $3 claim that cleared at 3am Sunday, at FLEX, and Germie Bernard at receiver. Godwin caught four balls for 27 yards, 6.70. Bernard caught three for 27, 5.70.
On the bench, KC Concepcion caught eight of ten targets for 129 yards (23.20), and Omar Cooper caught all five of his for 115 yards and a touchdown (22.50). The franchise left 33.30 on its bench, the most in the league, and its best nine scores 131.08, a win by 3.96. Tyler Higbee, the only tight end on the roster with a game, scored 3.40, and Derrick Henry scored 5.90. Last week analytics won the argument and lost the game. This week there was no argument. The department made the call alone, and the call scored 12.40. Three straight losses, 3–4.
divinethought is 5–2, tied for the league lead, and now leads this series 4–3. Jared Goff came back from the Detroit bye and started this time (22.02), and Aaron Rodgers scored 15.10 on the bench before being released Monday for a kicker. Tetairoa McMillan started for the first time since his 45.20 in Week 4 and scored 8.00. The screen is back on. Quinshon Judkins (23.40) and Rhamondre Stevenson (22.50) scored 45.90 between them on the bench, and the best nine was 148.22. divinethought won by 29.34 without them.
The week's high score and its biggest margin, 62.00. Joe Burrow scored 36.88, Tee Higgins 26.80 and Luther Burden 23.70. Brandon Aubrey kicked for 14.00 while Spencer Shrader kicked for 3.00 on the other side, and the belief system has logged that as a separate win. Patrick Mahomes scored 6.00 on the bench, so the Burrow decision the desk agreed with was correct. Two straight wins, 3–4, and still not a FAAB dollar spent.
alyssagenther's quarterback room got it right this time: Dak Prescott started and scored 29.28, with Tyler Shough at 15.80 on the bench. Amon-Ra St. Brown (24.20) and Christian McCaffrey (22.00) did their part. Nico Collins, Pat Freiermuth, Garrett Wilson, the kicker and the defense combined for 15.20. Ryan Flournoy, added Monday afternoon, scored 11.00 on the bench, and Rome Odunze scored 10.90 there and was released Tuesday. Even the best nine, 122.08, loses by 47.30. Two straight losses, 4–3.
BrennaLynne rebuilt the roster in seven minutes on Thursday evening. Between 7:09 and 7:16 she added Blake Corum for Cam Skattebo, DeMario Douglas for Davante Adams, Dallas Goedert for Zach Ertz and Michael Penix for Jalen Hurts. Corum started and scored 17.10. Penix scored 26.40 on the bench behind C.J. Stroud's 20.52, and Makai Lemon added 19.70 there, so the best nine was 147.42. The bench-beats-the-lineup file stays open, quietly. Jaxon Smith-Njigba scored 31.30. That is three straight wins, 3–4, and every move above was a free agent: still $0 spent.
The week's lowest score belongs to sammyyy29, and the grief paragraph comes with it. Last week Bryce Young started over Kirk Cousins and won the call by 1.32. This week Young started again, threw two interceptions and scored 7.42. Cousins threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns on the bench, for 24.40. Last week the tight end file closed with honors, and this week a quarterback file opens. The Carolina defense, picked up Thursday to cover the Jacksonville bye, scored −3.00. Jameson Williams scored 26.10, and he was the good news. The best nine, 100.80, still loses by 30.92. 1–6. The desk is sorry.
Jordan Love started. For five weeks the desk counted his points on the bench. In Week 7 Josh Allen and James Cook were on the Buffalo bye, Love was the only quarterback on the roster, and he scored 20.96. He was not the problem. Tre Tucker, a Thursday free agent, caught five balls for 103 yards and a touchdown on the bench (21.30). Tucker over Christian Watson (10.70) wins the game by itself. jsdivine lost by 4.06, but he also became the first team past 1,000 points, at 1,002.02. 5–2.
ITouchd0wnThere got 26.12 from Caleb Williams on Thursday night and 27.10 from Trey McBride. Emanuel Wilson, the $1 running back who scored 27.00 on the bench in Week 4, started at FLEX and scored 18.50. RJ Harvey scored 14.00 on the bench, close to his 14.60 there last week. Two straight wins, 4–3, and the desk is next.
The week's closest game. The schedule retired the carousel for a week: Trevor Lawrence was on the Jacksonville bye, Drake Maye started and scored 31.44, and the decision could not be wrong. Dawnieo also fixed every problem the preview listed. Jake Bates came in Thursday for the kicker on bye (9.00), and Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta returned to the lineup. Tony Pollard scored 36.50 at FLEX. The defense was the leak: San Francisco, picked up Thursday in place of Philadelphia, scored −1.00. Devaughn Vele scored 16.40 on the bench, and the best nine, 154.64, wins by 7.14. 3–4.
The chair was right for a fifth straight week: Matthew Stafford 23.50, Brock Purdy 14.00 on the bench. Zay Flowers scored 27.70 and Puka Nacua 21.80. Colston Loveland, the $11 claim, scored 19.90 on the bench while Brock Bowers started at tight end for 13.30. 4–3, and 955.86 points, second in the league. The margin was 3.96, the same number by which the desk's own best nine beat divinethought. The desk does not believe in signs.
No jokes in this section. Status is as of Tuesday and will move; check the official reports before setting a lineup.
The desk wishes every one of them a quick recovery.
Three winning bids since the last issue, for $5 total: Konata Mumpfield ($2, ITouchd0wnThere, for MarShawn Lloyd), the Jets defense ($0, alyssagenther, for Baltimore's), and Chris Godwin ($3, the desk), covered above. The league stands at $237 for the season. mmcatee01, sammyyy29 and BrennaLynne have still not spent a dollar, and it is Week 8.
Free agency was busier. BrennaLynne's seven minutes are covered above, and she added the Kansas City defense Sunday afternoon with Houston's bye a week away. Dawnieo picked up Jake Bates and the 49ers defense on Thursday, released Will Shipley, and on Sunday morning swapped Cam Little for Darius Cooper (2.70 on the bench). jsdivine released Jordan Addison and picked up Tre Tucker, who scored 21.30 on the bench. sammyyy29 swapped Kalif Raymond for the Carolina defense. mmcatee01 released TreVeyon Henderson. alyssagenther released Ladd McConkey and Rome Odunze and added Ryan Flournoy. divinethought released Aaron Rodgers for Jake Elliott, a kicker, on Monday afternoon. The desk released Khalil Shakir on Wednesday. Trades: none.
jsdivine (5-2) vs Dawnieo (3-4) — Josh Allen is back from the bye. Trevor Lawrence is back too, so the carousel has a decision to make again.
ITouchd0wnThere (4-3) vs D1LLIGAF (3-4) — ITouchd0wnThere leads the series 6–1. The analytics department has been asked to show its work.
alyssagenther (4-3) vs jgirsby (4-3) — Brock Purdy is on the 49ers' bye, so the chair gets the week off. jgirsby leads the series 4–1.
divinethought (5-2) vs sammyyy29 (1-6) — first place against last. sammyyy29 won last year's Week 8 meeting by 31.46.
mmcatee01 (3-4) vs BrennaLynne (3-4) — a two-game streak against a three-game streak, with $0 of FAAB spent between them.