FootSided: Fantasy football kickers league Week 7 update
Week 7 Schedule
Lutz Triples v. Automatica Gramatica
I (Zachary Thompson) am looking to continue the five-game losing streak of Josh Hill this week, but as we’ve seen in our league so far this season anything can happen when you’re counting on fantasy football kickers. Despite his 1-5 record, Hill only has two fewer fantasy points than I do at 3-2-1. I definitely don’t think this will be an easy matchup.
In fact, the ESPN projections give Hill the win since they have Mason Crosby having a big game on Thursday Night Football against the Bears. It’ll be interesting to see if Hill goes with Novak who is kicking at altitude Monday Night or if he goes back to Blair Walsh who comes back off his bye to face the Eagles. If Hill does roll with Novak, he’ll go head-to-head with my starter Brandon McManus of the Broncos in a Mile High Monday Night Football kickoff. I’m also planning on matching his Thursday Night Kicker Mason Crosby, with my other starter as I turn to Connor Barth in place of Wil Lutz who is kicking outdoors in KC this week.
Gano You Gonna Lose v. May the Folk be with you
The other 3-2-1 team in our fantasy football kickers league is Matt Blake who comes off our 20-20 tie to match up with Mike Dyce. Dyce has dropped two straight and will be playing this week without Graham Gano. While there are a few (scary) options on the waiver wire, my guess is that Dyce will roll with Josh Brown and Mike Nugent especially since Nugent gets a good matchup against the Browns.
On the other side, Blake will likely stick with Tucker and Carpenter avoiding the trainwreck that is the Jets offense which is limiting the upside of his bench option, Nick Folk. ESPN gives Dyce a one point advantage in that scenario, but their projections have been far from 100% accurate.
Reach for the Bleach v. The Big Gotskowski
The other owner navigating a bye week this week is Matt Verderame who won’t have Dan Bailey as he takes on Zachary Best this week. Best has two of the highest projections from ESPN and is expected to cruise past Vererame even though he’s just 2-4 compared to Reach for the Bleach’s 4-2.
Verderame is tied for the lead in the West, but with Bailey on a bye he’ll have to go with Matt Bryant and Sebastian Janikowski. Bryant has been exceptional for the surging Falcons this year and is kicking in a dome which should make him a solid replacement. Based on projections, this will be the highest scoring game of the week, but things haven’t been breaking Best’s way lately. He’ll look to turn his luck around and knock off the co-Division leader in the West which would be a big help to this brother. Speaking of Adam…
Beckham With The Good Hair v. Roberto LOLguayo
Was Tyler Brooke‘s win in his first week at the helm a bit of beginner’s luck or was his Aguayo-Dawson switch exactly the spark this team needed? We’ll start to find out this week as he faces a brutal matchup against the other West Division co-leader Adam Best. Ironically, Aguayo and Dawson go head-to-head this week while Brooke will also have Matt Prater kicking indoors in Detroit against Washington.
Best will keep rolling with what works since Adam Vinatieri has been straight-cash this season. He’s the leading scorer in our league and is averaging a healthy 12 fantasy points per week so fart his season. This week, Vinatieri and the Colts visit Tennessee while Best’s other kicker Chandler Catanzaro and the Cardinals host the Seahawks. Best doesn’t have a current third kicker on his roster (Kai Forbath doesn’t count), so he’d have to hit the waiver wireif he wanted to avoid the potential defensive showdown in the desert.
Lin Elliott: Rot in hell v. Team Frank
The last matchup of the week features Patrick Allen‘s Jekyll and Hyde team against “Team Frank” led by Mark Carman. Allen’s team is either the best or the worst every week, but he has to be a little worried about Chris Boswell of the Steelers now that the Pittsburgh offense will be without Big Ben. If he wants to make a change, he does have Caleb Sturgis on his bench who he could plug in next to Cairo Santos if he decides to shake things up. In good news for Allen, despite his two low-scoring weeks he is still perched atop the East with his 4-2 record.
On the other side, Carman has lineup decisions to make as well as he decides whether to stick with Succop or go back to Hauschka. I was surprised he stuck with Succop last week, but it ended up not mattering since both kickers had four fantasy points. This week, Succop hosts the Colts while Hauschka is on the road in Arizona. whoever he decides to start will likely be paired with Josh Lambo who has been excellent lately and is in another good matchup indoors in Atlanta.
To see how all these Week 7 matchups play out, make sure to check back next week for our weekly update on FootSided–the only league where Fantasy football kickers are the deciding factor every single week.