Near defeat sends Mayfield back to the streets

In the words of the great George W. Bush, “There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.” And just as nonsensical as the quote is the decision for the Horsemen to reacquire Baker Mayfield and continue starting him.

With a 6.3 point lead going into Monday Night Football, the Electric Horsemen could have just benched their awful quarterback to solidify a week 5 victory. Maybe add Jimmy G. and at least get a real floor play. Baker Mayfield has no floor. At one point during the game he would have -4 points, eeking out 100 yards before getting benched to raise his total to -2. His negative two points would tie Dak Prescott’s record for least points by a non defense. Through 5 weeks, the quarterback position for the Electric Horsemen is now averaging 10.48 – edging out 2015’s worst mark of 17.4. If not for a franchise best 15.6 PPG from their wide receivers, the season could be much more out of hand than it already is.

Michael Thomas singlehandedly held it together this week, showing up with the 4th best wide receiver performance in franchise history. The 132.3 points scored by the Horsemen was the best of the young season – and 5 points below the 2018 season average. The Aces would also bring their best total of the year, bringing their season average to 107.4 – and their record to 1-4. At 3-2, and with their worst start through 5 games, the Horsemen look to get things back on track against another 1-4 team in week 6.

Legs With Holes comes into week 6 with a 1-4 record, the 11th most points in the league, and as the number 12 team in the standings. In 2018 after 5 weeks they were 1-4 with the 10th most points. In 2017 after 5 weeks they were 1-4 and the 10th highest scoring team in the league (there were 10 teams in 2017). Needless to say, there has been a sort of pattern to their terribleness. They’ve missed the playoffs 4 of the last 5 years, with their last appearance a 2016 appearance in the championship where they lost to the Horsemen. They would score the least points in a championship game in league history and the 20th least points of all-time.

The first 4 games of the series would go the way of the Holes, defeating the Horsemen in each of them – and by an average of 16.75 points. But that was enough. In the four games since the start of 2016, the Horsemen would go 4-0, winning by no less than 25 in any of them, an average of 42.6, and including a 78 point margin (the 11th most in league history) in week 10 of ’16.

The past probably doesn’t matter that much. But, according to Legs With Holes, the present doesn’t either – as they continue to prepare for their championship run of 2020. They could be setting up well for it, as they are projected to battle it out for the top pick with the Heavy Pistols.

This one really comes down to Patrick Mahomes – with him they have a small chance every week to pull off an upset. Otherwise, they’ll likely need the Horsemen questionables to miss week 6 to end their skid… but do they even want to end it?

The Horsemen have a 54.8% chance of victory from ESPN and are favored by 11.8. Fantasypros has the Horsemen with a 69.8% chance of victory.

Week 5 saw few surprises with each 1-3 team falling to 1-4. The only upset came as the Dangerous Angels would put up big numbers in their defeat of Straight Laced – implanting themselves firmly in the playoff chase. The Angels would shoot up 26 percentage points in playoff odds, meanwhile, Straight Laced would fall 17 to post the largest loss.

Week 6 will do a lot to reshape the playoff picture, as a plume of middling teams will seek to send the other down the standings and the 1-4 teams will likely find themselves eliminated without a victory – none of the 8 teams that have gone 1-5 have made the playoffs.

  • Heavy Pistols @ Straight Laced – In back to back games against expansion teams, the Laces should have a pretty easy path to victory in this one. The Heavy Pistols management has been embarrassing to fantasy football players across the world. With Saquon already listed as out and Sammy Watkins not practicing, he failed to utilize the IR spot and add the beneficiary of Sammy’s injury who crushed it last week… if not him, add anyone. He’s also got three players on bye and his tight end is also not practicing. He does not have another tight end on the roster. Just awful.
  • Strictly Southern @ Bumpy’s Berries – The defending champs run into a few bye issues this week. They also have 5 players going in the London game, which is never good. If McCaffrey can’t go this could be a complete disaster. Berries have a huge opportunity to take the top spot in the standings, a 5-1 start would be their 2nd .500+ start in team history – and the last time they went 5-1 (back in 2015) they would make their lone trip to the championship game.
  • Closet Hillbilly @ Drunken Aces – Injury concerns and talent concerns are mounting for the core of the Hillbilly lineup – James Conner is playing on a terrible offense, David Johnson’s back pain could cause him to split time with Hillbilly handcuff, Chase Edmonds, and Davante Adams has been recovering from a toe injury for two and a half weeks. Aces have a real shot for the upset if they can figure out which players to start.
  • 3rd and Unpredictable @ Pork Shanks – The only team worse than Pork Shanks is the Heavy Pistols. They have absolutely no chance and may not win another game this year.
  • Nosebleeds @ Dangerous Angels – Dangerous Angels are soaring. Godwin and Chark may be elite receivers whereas the Nosebleeds have no elite talent, whatsoever. The Nosebleed losing streak likely goes 5 games into his week 9 matchup against the Drunken Aces.

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