Hahn (5–1) vs. Tony (3–3)
The highest winning percentage matchup of the week has us looking at Hahn’s team of zombie’s vs Tony’s Tough Luck crew. Hahn has miraculously put together a 5–1 team despite facing some of the most injuries of any other team this year. Hahn had a monster performance from Tannehill last week and saw 6 total players exceed their projected points in his win over Johnson. His RB underperformed but I think he will take that with Carson/Hyde on bye. Kittle and Samuel came to play and despite the 49er’s only putting up 24 points in their win over the Rams, Kittle and Samuel were the primary beneficiaries.
Tony did not have as much luck as he came just 4 catches short of beating Colin and it dropped him to an even .500 record on the year. Looking at Tony’s team I can’t say I would have made any other different moves with his roster as James White was one bright spot that sat on his bench for 15.3 points. 4 of Tony’s players underperformed including Aaron Jones and Cam Newton. The bright spot was Kirk who went almost 13 points over his projection and while it was good, I’m not sure if we can expect that again as he did everything through two catches (1 end around shovel pass in the red zone, and one big fly play.
Hahn:
Tannehill will get his first true test of a solid defense as he lines up against the Steelers this week. The Steelers defense ranks in the top 3 of so many defensive categories that even with losing Devin Bush they are still going to be a big problem. We’ve seen what they have done to opposing running backs, but not all running backs are Derrick Henry. I think there will be some additional pressure on Tannehill and with Tennessee losing their starting left tackle to an ACL injury last week, Tannehill could be seeing a lot of Bud Dupree on Sunday. Tannehill has only thrown two picks all year, but if that pressure gets in his face early and often, he may double those numbers this weekend. Love Carson in the matchup with Arizona and Mike Davis should continue to dominate the line of attack facing New Orleans. Ridley and Brown have favorable matchups this week too. Brown has had back to back 20-point performances, which I think ends this week, but I think he will find the endzone against the Steelers. Hahn’s team is very reliable on the Titans and the 49ers on a weekly basis. Tannehill/Brown/Smith are his Titans and Kittle/Samuel/Mostert/Wilson are his 49’ers. Unfortunately for Hahn, Mostert is the latest injury for his team. This factored with the Titans toughest matchup of the year defensively has me a little concerned for him.
My Projections:
Tannehill-24
Carson-18
Davis-18
Ridley-15
Brown-12
Kittle-19
Samuel-10
Smith-8
Bucs D-6
Final Projection: 130
Tony:
The biggest storyline on Tony’s team is the stashing of Tua Tagovailoa who has been thrust into the starting job, but they are on bye so no talk of that yet. Tony will roll Cam back out against San Fran this week which isn’t that exciting, but I am interested to see what Aaron Jones will do against Houston. A mediocre game for Jones last week should lead to a breakout game this week. James White is going to get the nod as Jonathan Taylor has a bye and the matchup isn’t pretty unless he can catch some passes. DJ Moore won’t have a breakout game but Hockenson could be a surprise TE play this week in that high scoring game against Atlanta. Godwin is going to need to have a big game for Tony on Sunday night, but if the 4 pm games don’t play well for him, Godwin will be a non-factor. Kirk could be in line for another good game too in that Seattle/Arizona game. Tony does have the other defense in play tonight in the Giants. Again, these two teams turn the ball over a lot so a double-digit score for the Giants could happen but I will say it’s unlikely since even in garbage time the Eagles kept the Ravens D to single digits last week.
My Projections:
Cam-20
Jones-24
White-11
Moore-13
Chark-14
Hockenson-14
Godwin-12
Kirk-15
Giants Def-7
Final Projection: 130
Shit it’s the same total projection. I want both of these teams to lose since I could bypass Hahn eventually, and Tony would provide more separation for me, but my initial thought was that Hahn was going to win. Tony is projected for more bench points and that is the tiebreaker. Tony lays down a new floor in his house and another one of Hahn’s players gets hurt using the hammer while helping.