Horsemen return to form, smash Baby Throwers

Stretchers dominated the fantasy football landscape in week 4, and the Extreme Baby Throwers had the first player to fall. In a Thursday night performance that was more or less the inverse of last week’s Todd Gurley explosion, Ty Montgomery came in flat and left broken. He attempted to play through the pain of broken ribs, but it was not to be. And the Horsemen got a huge boost early in the week – sending percentage chance of victory screaming into the 80s.

They wouldn’t ever look back.

The next step was another London game – last week’s poor showing still haunts the Horsemen – and it would imperative that the defending champions not collapse in another early morning game.

They didn’t.

Michael Thomas, getting the start over Lamar Miller after the demotion of Old Man Turtle, canceled out Drew Brees’ mediocre game with ease.

Despite scoring 30 points less than their optimal lineup would have netted, the Horsemen demolished the Baby Throwers. The 69 point margin of victory would be the largest blow out in a week 4 contest in league history and the 2nd largest in the series (the Horsemen won by 93 in week 9 of 2015).

The now 3-1 Baby Throwers may have already tied their win total for last year, but the road to the playoffs is a long one. They could well be headed for the same fate as 2013 where they started 3-1 and threw it all away, finishing 4-9 and in 9th place. Either way, this is an improvement from the last two years – as the Throwers finished last both times.

The only negative takeaway for the Horsemen from week 4 is that Justin Tucker is on the hot seat and may soon lose his starting role as he also did midway through the 2015 season.

Next up is the resurgent Strictly Southern. After going 1-2 to start the season, they saw an offensive explosion in week 4 and upset the lead point scorer, Bumpy’s Berries. The scoreboard wasn’t all that exploded, though. Other things to explode were various parts of their players’ legs. They would lose two of their promising young starting running backs to season ending injuries in the same day.

With Carson and Cook now officially out of the lineup – Bilal Powell (a former Horseman traded to Southern in the offseason) finds his opening beside known hooligan Ezekiel Elliott in the backfield.

Strictly Southern has plagued the Horsemen for years. In their 6 meetings the Horsemen have only come out victorious once (1-4-1), as Southern has averaged a league high 106 points.

This week seems like an opportune time to face such a tough opponent. The Horsemen, on top of having a head of steam from their big win against the Baby Throwers, have only lost one game in week 5 in the history of the franchise. And despite a strong week 4 – Strictly Southern couldn’t put up more than 80 in any of the first 3 weeks. The losses of Dalvin Cook and Chris Carson pile on top of the unlikelihood they’ll be able to unseat the champions. Perhaps it’s this most recent hardship that will bring Southern to their full potential, though.

The Horses, too, will be without some key contributors on offense. The majority of the wide receiver corps will be taking the week off, as Emmanuel Sanders, Michael Thomas and Julio Jones are all on bye. This gives Chris Hogan (currently the #3 WR in the league) an opportunity to seize some playing time. Charles Clay will also look to increase his stranglehold on the TE position over Kyle Rudolph – who has been a shell of himself since the loss of Sam Bradford.

The Horsemen are favored by only 5.5 points (the smallest line of the season) and have a 63.6% chance of victory according to ESPN.

The 5-7 record did not get better last week. The total comes to 6-10 after a 1-3 week 4.

This week…

• Despite being overmatched, Closet Hillbilly will send the Nosebleeds deeper into despair with a big win.
• Extreme Baby Throwers will follow the momentum of their first loss into their second loss, an upset by the hands of the Drunken Aces.
• Bumpy’s Berries regroup after a tough week 4 and trounce Legs With Holes. That team is horrible.
• Straight Laced, the lowest scoring 3-1 team ever (by 77 points), will face an opponent that will score more than 75 points. They lose to 3rd and Unpredictable.