Kyle vs Mitch

Mitch beat Kyle 136.20 to 89.98 in the Moth vs. the Curse. Kyle came in 3–0, first on all eight Coaches Poll ballots for the second straight week, first in the commissioner’s rankings, and 20–1 against the field. He scored the fewest points in the league by 16.60, went 0–7 against the field, and lost by 46.22. The best lineup on his roster was 154.32, which beats Mitch by 18. The 64.34 points he left on the bench are the most anyone has left this season and the second most ever left by the team leading the league in points, behind Jordan’s 72.20 in Week 3 of 2023.

The week began on Tuesday with a trade: Bhayshul Tuten, Deebo Samuel and $9 of waiver money to Drake for Joe Burrow and Ladd McConkey. On Thursday morning Kyle signed Trevor Lawrence, for the second time in eight days, and cut Tony Pollard. On Thursday evening he signed Alvin Kamara and cut Dak Prescott, his tenth-round pick, who had started every game and scored 14.4, 29.76 and 18.94. That left three quarterbacks on the roster and one in the lineup, and the one was Lawrence: 18 of 23 for 227 yards and a touchdown, sacked four times, in Jacksonville’s 22–17 win at Cincinnati, 13.08. Burrow was on the other sideline of the same game, throwing 54 passes, completing 39 of them for 428 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions, and running for a score: 23.72 on Kyle’s bench. Kamara scored two touchdowns on Monday night, 22.8, also on the bench. Pollard, signed by Thomas on Sunday morning, scored 13.0 for the Memorial.

Prescott was a free agent for about two days. On Sunday morning Mitch cut Isaiah Likely for Sam Darnold, then cut Darnold for Prescott within the hour and started him over Jalen Hurts. Prescott completed 32 of 45 for 335 yards and a touchdown in Dallas’s 34–30 comeback at Houston and scored 18.1 against the man who cut him. Hurts threw for 93 yards in Philadelphia’s 24–20 loss to the Rams, 13.52 on the bench. Darnold scored 13.32 and Likely caught seven passes for 66 yards, 13.6, both as free agents. Mitch had also cut Emanuel Wilson on Wednesday to make room for Juwan Johnson, his $16 tight end; Wilson ran for 81 yards and a touchdown and caught another for Seattle, 27.0, which would have been the second-best score on Mitch’s roster.

Javonte Williams, the fourth-round pick, carried 19 times for 62 yards and three touchdowns and caught five passes, 31.3. Puka Nacua, back after two missed games, caught nine for 125 and ran one in, 27.7. The Moth Observer had written that Mitch would need 30 from Nacua and 14 from DJ Moore to have a chance; he got 27.7 and 2.7 and won by 46. Ashton Jeanty had 126 yards from scrimmage, 18.6. Derrick Henry scored against Tennessee, his old team, 15.9 in the flex. Johnson, the fifth tight end Mitch has owned this season and the fourth he has started, caught six passes for 59 yards on Monday night, 11.9; Harold Fannin, cut in Week 3 and re-signed on Wednesday, caught a touchdown on the bench, 11.7. The Jaguars defense, signed Thursday, intercepted two passes and scored 4. The best lineup on the roster was 144.90.

James Cook was Kyle’s top starter at 16.3, with 75 yards and a touchdown in Buffalo’s 29–26 loss to the Patriots. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught eight for 75, 15.5. Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught five for 76 in Seattle’s 30–23 win over the Chargers, 12.6. Trey McBride was targeted 12 times and turned them into seven catches for 31 yards, 10.1. D’Andre Swift ran 15 times for 58 and lost a fumble, 7.4. Parker Washington, the ninth-round pick, caught one pass for seven yards in the flex, 2.0. Will Reichard, Jordan’s kicker, scored 19, more than any player Kyle started. On the bench, Kyle Monangai, whom Mitch drafted in the 13th round and cut two days later, carried 30 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns in Chicago’s 23–12 win over the Jets, 28.0. Sam LaPorta caught eight for 84 and a touchdown, 22.4. Bucky Irving scored 6.1, and McConkey, in his first week as an Obliterator, caught none of his two targets.

The 89.98 is the third-lowest score ever by a 3–0 team. The other two were Drake’s 86.70 in 2020 and Cliff’s 87.56 in 2022, both also in Week 4, both also by the team leading the league in points. Kyle is still 3–1, still first in points at 584.74, and still first in all-play at 20–8, tied with Thomas. Mitch is 2–2 and 11–17, and has won four of the last five meetings. The series is tied 8–8 after ten seasons. The Moth, who picked Kyle, is 3–1 for the week and 10–6 for the season. Kyle plays Thomas next, in the first meeting of the two 3–1 teams. Mitch plays Cliff, a series tied 9–9.