Guest Blog - Marco

Editor's Note: Marco submitted this post, apparently worked with Weissbard, and I lightly edited. As always, anyone can submit a post.

Kevin ain't got a job and he's still making the browns do all his work. I would say Texas has changed him, but I guess he's always been like this. With that being said, what a predictable unpredictable start to the NFL and fantasy football season. I guess there's two things you can always count on though in the NFL and Falafel - the Commanders getting blown out at home and Barnard's team being an absolute JOKE... but I digress. 

I'll lead off by saying I don't have the data to support this and it's solely based on feeling, but it feels as though this has been one of the highest scoring starts to the season in Falafel history with 13 instances of teams scoring over 110 and over 4 instances of breaching the 120 mark all within three weeks.

There's a lot of interesting teams to discuss (and some not so interesting ones, lol Bernard) and a couple of potential juicy matchups so let's hop right into Korrupt Kommish Kevin's tried and true format of power rankings and matchup of the week. I'll exclude myself from these, but y'all know where I stand:

Editor's Note: Marco apparently thinks of himself as a perpetual underachiever whose glory days were nearly 20 years ago.

Writers note: I was going to do this for every team, but I honestly lost steam after Nijo. So for now I'm just going to include my predicted playoff teams. 

Week 4 Power Rankings:

The "Ins":

1) ZBALL:
Zball's earned it. After making us watch a Jets preseason game with Rodgers to see him promptly get shelved 4 plays into the season, he deserves some good news here. His team is stacked from QB all the way down to his defense with some long shots stashed as well. He's below average (in points scored) and comes first (in points against), but fantasy football is a game of luck as we all know. He's got some critical matches coming up against some perennial contenders (Levine, myself, Dan) (Editor: One of those things is not like the other) and some perennial pretenders (Bennett) and if he takes 2 out of the 4 I think he stacks up REALLY nicely for a first week bye in the playoffs.

2) Nijo:
Nijo comes in at second in the power rankings, sitting second in total points scored and a record of 2-1. He's had a light schedule so far with his opponents only amassing 3 total wins between them (with one of them being against himself) and has faced the 3rd fewest amount of points in the league but sometimes you just need things to fall your way. It's a little bit odd when you look at this team as he only has one player who's top ten in their respective positions, but somehow is managing a way to throw up high scoring weeks. I don't think he stays here but he's earned the nod for the week, if only so I can enjoy the fall from grace later in the year.

3) Dan

Dan sits 2-1 in the middle of a competitive division - while 3 out of the 5 members are 1-2 there is some quality riddled throughout the division with an always strong Levine team, and a Gutman team that IMO is ready to bust. Dan has three solid RBs, and is strong all around at every position. Amazingly, he has the third lowest scoring point total in the league but has grinded out a  2-1 record (when have we seen this happen before?????). He doesn't have anyone to me that looks as though they can take over a game, but Bijan has certainly shown flashes. Definite playoff contender. 

4) AJAY

Ajay has the benefit of sitting in a pretty weak division aside from Nijo. Third in points scored throughout 3 weeks is nothing to scoff at, however that comes along getting dunked on for almost 300 points through the same time period. Ajay looks mediocre across the board but Connor has proved to be a reliable starter with his other options at WR/RB all having the ability to blow up again and drop 25+. The good news is that Ajay has already played Levine and Dan, the bad news is he lost to both of them.  I see some good breaks coming his way and think he sneaks into the playoffs. 

5) Esco
Adam #1 settles in at #5 for the first power rankings of the year, you can't deny the league's top scorer sitting at a 2-1 record unfortunately. While I don't think you can continue to rely on three Dolphins players consistently, you've set yourself up nicely from an 0-1 start to take control of your playoff destiny. If Mostert keeps getting 6+ YPC and the goalline work, that $4 pick looks beautiful. Unfortunately the rest of your roster doesn't look like it benefited from the extra auction dollars but you do have a little bit of depth and if Saquon comes back healthy, you have the team for a good playoff push.

6) Gutman

Adam #3 settles in at #6 for the first power rankings of the year. Now hear me out, does Gutman have the least points scored in the league - yes. Is Gutman 1-2 in possibly the strongest division - yes. Did Gutman start the season 0-2 - yes (what are the stats on 0-2 starts making playoffs I know we have this somewhere). But when I look at his roster it is capable of putting up points with almost every player in the top 15  positionally this year in points scored. He's going to need an amazing streak of wins, and now that I'm looking at the division he's going to need to catch up quickly to Zball and Dan, but sometimes you just gotta believe. 

The "just missed":

7) Levine

8)Bennett

9)Alan

10)AGD

The "Never had a shots":

11) Lutz

12) Kevin

The "Bernards":

13) Bernard

FMOTW:

Zball vs Levine

Huge Matchup between Zball and Levine - Zball can all but cement his playoff spot with a win here going 4-0 and Levine's season could easily be sunk starting 1-3 (possibly his worst start to a season ever????? Does Levine even read this?????  Miss you buddy, fuck your laptop) Lets get right into the matchups:

QB Mahomes (ZBall) vs Wilson (Levine):

Not even worth discussing. Both have juicy matchups, but you gotta give the nod to Mahomes even though I LOVE all the Wilson memes:

Yuge Advantage: ZBALL

RBs Kamara, Breece (Zball) vs Williams, Mattison (Levine)

On paper looks like a landslide, Kamara and Breece I have at 14 and 11 due to Kamara rust and matchups (Jets gonna get smoked and throw all day), while i have Williams and Mattison at 6 and 12. To me it all really depends on the game script here for Williams - if the Broncos can keep it close and they feed him, I'm going to give a slight advantage here to Levine.

Slight Advantage: Levine

WRs  Allen, Moore (Zball) vs Olave, Evans (Levine)

Really close matchup here. I like Allen more than Evans this week but on the other hand i like Olave over Moore. I think it boils down to liking Allen only slightly more than Evans, but liking Olave A LOT more than moore. 

Advantage: Levine

TE Kelce vs Andrews:

Two of the league's premier tight ends going head to head. While there would normally be a huge advantage here against every other team, I think the advantage here is minimal. Going with taytays boo this week

Slight Advantage: Zball

Flex Thomas (Zball) vs Lockett (Levine)

Lockett could be most teams WR1 and I seem him absolutely getting volume and yards this week against the shitty Giants. Saints vs Buccs this week just looks like a grindy divisional game thats gonna suck, so I don't see Thomas gettin volume here with Olave getting most of the targets.

Advantage: Levine

Defense 49ers vs Saints

Defense is dumb advantage no one.

Marco's Pick of the week:

Levine to save his season here with a nailbiter. He'll be down 8 with MNF left and Lockett will secure his win, and breathe life into his season.

Thanks for the collab on this dan. couldn't have done it without you.