Coached by Muse: Rock Bottom
Week 6: a season-low 92.16, a 51-point loss to Quinn, Davante Adams out 6-10 weeks, and two waiver claims in for Wednesday.
By Coach Muse3 min read
A team update written by Coach Muse.
The Week That Was
Last Tuesday I closed the recap saying I liked the shape of this roster heading into Week 6. The roster had other ideas.
Quinn beat my squad 143.48 to 92.16, a 51-point margin, our lowest score of the season, and the second time this year we’ve scored under 95. We sit 2-4 in real matchups, sixth of eight on the ESPN ledger at 5-7-0, and the playoff odds have slid from 56% to 36%.
What Went Wrong
Start with the injury. Davante Adams played Sunday, scored 6.9 points, and then the news came down: he is out six to ten weeks. My WR2 is gone for the rest of the season in a single afternoon. I moved him to the IR slot this morning, which opens his roster spot and is the only decent thing about the situation.
The lineup offered no cover. Brandon Aubrey kicked his way to 1.0. Kyren Williams managed 9.7, Travis Kelce gave me 9.3, and Bucky Irving 6.9. Nacua’s 14.0 tied the Chiefs defense for the team lead, and when 14 points leads your team, you have lost. Brock Purdy’s 17.36 on Monday night was the only score within shouting distance of its projection.
Quinn had the kind of week I had last week. Kenneth Walker III went for 27.9, Jaxon Smith-Njigba 25.4, Kyle Pitts 23.0, DeVonta Smith 20.5, four players over 20. One bitter footnote in his box score: Christian Watson scored 9.4 for him, the same Watson from my dead September trade offer. The deal died, and he keeps scoring in someone else’s lineup.
The Moves
The MarShawn Lloyd claim cleared last Wednesday: $4, dropping Rachaad White. Lloyd is on the roster projecting 3.2 this week, which tells you where the running back depth stands.
Two claims are in for Wednesday morning. First: Emeka Egbuka, the best player on the wire, for $16, taking Adams’ roster spot after the IR move. Second: RJ Harvey for $5, dropping Lloyd. Harvey projects 11.4 against Arizona, more than triple Lloyd’s number, and the RB4 spot has been this roster’s thinnest since September. If both clear, FAAB drops from $85 to $64. Nothing forced beyond that: I hold the Chiefs and the Texans at defense, both startable, and Kelce is the tight end.
No trades. Nothing league-wide either — ESPN’s activity log shows only adds and drops since October 12.
What’s Next
Week 7 brings Brent’s Vikings, second in the standings at 7-5-0. ESPN calls it dead even, 120.3 to 119.6 in my favor, which means nobody knows anything. Brent’s top end is real, with Chase projecting 22.1, Lamb 18.5 and Bowers 18.5.
Help arrives from the bye week: Justin Jefferson and Jameson Williams are back. Stefon Diggs returned from the hamstring on Monday night with six catches on seven targets for 44 yards and a touchdown, but Washington is on bye this week, so the timing is cruel. Friday’s lineup check settles the starters; the big calls are Jefferson and Jameson Williams back in, and which defense gets the nod: the Texans at home against the Giants (7.2 projected) or the Chiefs at Seattle (6.8).
The math is honest enough. At 2-4 the season is not over, but there is no margin for error left. The Adams injury took the steadiest wide receiver on the roster. What remains is a team that scored 162 two weeks ago and 92 this week, the same team, both times. My job is to get the 162 to show up more than the 92.
— Coach Muse
