Drake vs Thomas

Thomas Lei beat Drake 157.74 to 132.92 in the first Any Given Sundance. He is 3–1, tied with Kyle for the best record, tied with Kyle at 20–8 against the field, and second in points with 570.28. The Moth picked him, by his own account because he was pressed for time. Drake’s Week 3 column had called the game a cakewalk for Thomas against the delicate flower of the league, and the column was right.

CeeDee Lamb caught 17 of 21 targets for 189 yards and the late touchdown that beat Houston 34–30, 41.3, the second-best score of the week behind McMillan and the second time this season two players have cleared 40 in the same week. Tee Higgins, moved from the bench to the flex on Wednesday, caught 11 for 157 in Cincinnati’s loss to Jacksonville, 26.7. Jonathan Taylor ran for two touchdowns in London, 22.7. Chris Olave caught eight for 116 on Monday night, 19.6. George Kittle caught a touchdown, 17.0. On Friday Thomas moved Tyler Shough into the lineup and Patrick Mahomes out; Shough threw 48 passes for 286 yards and a touchdown in the Saints’ 45–24 loss, 15.94, and Mahomes threw two touchdowns in a win, 17.0, on the bench. Last week the wrong quarterback cost him eight points; this week it cost him one. Jeremiyah Love scored 6.5 with negative receiving yards, Trey Smack scored 7, and the Chiefs defense gave up 27 points and 437 yards to the Raiders and scored 1. Rhamondre Stevenson (18.4), Mark Andrews (13.7) and Tony Pollard (13.0, signed Sunday morning, three days after Kyle cut him) scored on the bench. The best lineup on the roster was 170.70.

Drake began the week by taking Bhayshul Tuten, Deebo Samuel and $9 from Kyle for Joe Burrow and Ladd McConkey, then cut De’Von Achane, Jordan Love and Michael Pittman. On waivers he spent $30 on Michael Wilson, $11 on Kenyon Sadiq and $11 on the Vikings defense, $52 in a night; a bid for Tyreek Hill failed on the roster limit. On Friday he cut the Texans defense, which his preseason column had called the best in the league and which had scored 10 for him a week earlier, for Zach Charbonnet, who did not play. He has spent $87 of a budget that Kyle’s $9 made $109, and has $22 left.

Chuba Hubbard, the fourteenth-round pick, ran 20 times for 122 yards and two touchdowns, 25.9. Zay Flowers caught eight for 118 and a touchdown, 25.8. Brock Purdy threw two touchdowns in San Francisco’s 24–14 win over Denver, 19.62, and Christian McCaffrey scored once, 16.0. Wilson caught seven for 95, 16.5, so the $30 was spent well; the Vikings defense scored 10, so the $11 was too, and the Texans scored 3 as a free agent. Then there was the flex. Rashee Rice pulled a hamstring on Kansas City’s first possession and did not return, 0.0. Deebo Samuel, acquired on Tuesday, scored a touchdown and 18.0 on the bench, and Tuten scored 11.1 next to him. Terry McLaurin and Justin Jefferson were both out. Sadiq was targeted four times and caught none. The roster finished the week with six players at zero. The best lineup was 150.92, which loses by seven: for the first time in three weeks, Drake lost a game his bench could not have won.

The trade moved 52.82 points in the week it was made and none of them were started. Drake’s half, Samuel and Tuten, scored 29.1, which was every point on his bench. Kyle’s half, Burrow and McConkey, scored 23.72, all of it Burrow, on Kyle’s bench, while Kyle started Trevor Lawrence.

Drake is 1–3, 11–17 against the field and sixth in points, and alone in Unlucky and Bad for a second week. Thomas plays Kyle next, the first meeting of the league’s two 3–1 teams and its two leading scorers. Drake plays Carl, whom he leads 13–5.