The Slaughter of TC Jester

It doesn’t seem right to call what was once the most heated rivalry in the league “The Battle of TC Jester”. It doesn’t seem to be much of a battle anymore. The beginning of the 5th installment looks to be starting much like the last.

Year	Week	Wes Score	O Score	W/L
2012	4	109	97	W
2012	13	91	108	L
2013	4	119	96	W
2013	13	87	92	L
2014	4	110	91	W
2014	13	118	134	L
2015	2	113	67	W
2015	13	139	79	W
2015	14	95	84	W
2016	2	89	73	W

The Nosebleeds haven’t won a game in the rivalry since November of 2014 and have been averaging a shameful 76 PPG during their streak of 4 consecutive losses. This week, though, it was a product of overthinking and thereby sabotaging their own roster. Plus Adrian Peterson has a bum knee.

Despite spending high draft capital on the Denver Broncos D/ST – they were benched for the Baltimore Ravens so as not to be playing against franchise savior, Andrew Luck. The Broncos outscored the Ravens by 13.  Andrew Luck scored 11.  It’s also worth mentioning that the ‘bleeds considered starting Kirk Cousins over Luck so he wasn’t playing Denver against himself… Cousins scored 20. He was dropped for the Ravens.

The running back the Nosebleeds drafted first in the 2015 draft that scored 2 touchdowns last week? He was left on the bench, too. He outscored the combined total of his starting RBs and FLEX by 11. The combined total.

It was simply magical.

The Horsemen enter week three scoring the least points in franchise history and still haven’t even scored 100 points, yet are still 2-0 and tied atop the division. It seems strange considering 3 of the top 11 WRs and a top 5 QB reside on the roster – but they have yet to pick an optimal flex. This cost them 9 points in week 1 and 17 in week 2.

Positive regression should be in order for week 3.

	PPG 1-2
2012	102
2013	126
2014	96
2015	122
2016	93.5

Roster battles continue into this years matchup against Strictly Southern (one that ended in a tie last year). Stefon Diggs earned his keep last week and pushed into the starting lineup at flex, aside Julio Jones and Antonio Brown.

The real struggle remains at RB2 and who will lead the charge aside Lamar Miller. Charles Sims emerged in Tampa with Doug Martin’s hamstring injury, LeGarrette Blount continues to hog carries without Garoppalo and Brady, and Old Man Gore just keeps trucking along. It looks to be a gametime decision for Thursday night – a decision that will be up to Old Man Turtle in his first offensive coordinator roster decision since his suspension after the Carr/Roethlisberger decision in the 2015 championship game.

Strictly Southern also enters week 3 as one of the three undefeated teams and have similarly scored very few points, averaging 92.5 to the Horsemen 93.5. The roster is littered with talent, it’s just that most of it hasn’t been realized yet in 2016. They, too, could be a prime candidate for some positive regression and a point explosion in week 3.

The Horsemen are an 11.9 point favorite heading into Thursday night with an ESPN insider 66.1% chance at victory.

Game of the Week
Closet Hillbilly over Nosebleeds

Other Picks
3rd and Unpredictable over Straight Laced
Bumpy’s Berries over Legs With Holes
Drunken Aces over Extreme Baby Throwers

Last Week 3-1
Overall 5-3