Jordan vs Kyle

Kyle beat Jordan 171.18 to 74.32, a margin of 96.86 that is the fifth-largest in the ten-year history of the league, three weeks after he set the largest. He is 6–1, first in points by 175, 41–8 against the field, and his 1086.62 through seven weeks is the most anyone has scored at this point in any season; the old mark was his own 1055.60 from 2018, when he was 7–0. Jordan is 2–5 with 905.08 points, which is the most any 2–5 team has ever scored, and leads the series 11–10. ESPN has scheduled this game in Week 7 every year since 2021, and this is the first time it has been over by the early window.

Kyle’s lineup was perfect, which the template defines as every starter outscoring every reserve, and which Kyle achieved by leaving almost nothing on the reserve. Sam LaPorta caught one pass for 18 yards, 2.8. James Cook, Jayden Daniels, Trevor Lawrence and Parker Washington were on bye and Kyle Monangai did not play, so the bench scored 2.8 and the starters scored the rest. Joe Burrow completed 22 of 30 for 292 yards and four touchdowns in Cincinnati’s 35–13 win at Baltimore, 28.88. Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught nine for 150 and a touchdown in Seattle’s 20–3 win over Kansas City on Sunday night, 31.3, the best score in the league this week. Trey McBride caught ten for 111 and a score, 27.1. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught nine for 153, 24.2. Bucky Irving ran 24 times for 106 and two touchdowns in Tampa Bay’s 43–13 rout of Carolina, 24.0. D’Andre Swift ran for 78 and a touchdown on Thursday night, 19.0. Jason Myers 8. The Broncos defense 3. Germie Bernard, claimed on Wednesday for forty dollars, the largest waiver bid of the season, caught three passes for 27 yards, 5.7, and the other eight starters scored 165.48. It is Kyle’s fourth score of 170 or more this season, which ties the single-season record, also his, from 2021, with ten weeks to play. The four best scores in the league this year are all his.

Jordan scored 74.32, the lowest total in the league this week and the third-lowest of his career, and left 60.8 on his bench. Josh Allen was on bye, so on Wednesday Jordan signed C.J. Stroud and cut Emanuel Wilson to make room; Stroud completed 17 of 28 for 153 yards and two touchdowns in the Texans’ overtime loss to the Giants, 16.52, and Wilson ran 24 times for 100 yards and a touchdown for Seattle on Sunday night, for nobody. Jameson Williams caught five for 91 and two touchdowns in Detroit’s 20–17 win over Green Bay, 26.1, the third-best receiver score in the league, on Jordan’s bench. Cam Skattebo ran 17 times for 124 and a touchdown in the same game Stroud lost, 19.1, on the bench. Jaylen Waddle caught four for 48, 8.8, on the bench. In the lineup: Nico Collins caught two passes for six yards, 2.6; Denzel Boston, whose promotion over DeVonta Smith cost Jordan the Week 6 game, caught three of eight targets for 27 yards, 5.7; Isaiah Likely, the top tight end in the league two weeks running before this, caught two for 12, 3.2; the Jets defense, claimed Wednesday, allowed 28 to Malik Willis and scored 0. Tucker Kraft caught a touchdown, 14.8. Will Reichard, a five-dollar claim, kicked three field goals, 12.0. Kenneth Walker 9.7, Chase Brown 9.8.

Late on Saturday night Jordan moved DeVonta Smith to injured reserve and Boston into the lineup, so the one decision from Week 6 the Tribune had flagged was repeated with the other man unavailable. His best lineup was 116.82, which loses by 54.36, and so for once there is no lineup story; the loss was on the field. Jordan has the third-most points in the league and the most points allowed, 1005.54, which is the fifth-most anyone has given up through seven weeks. He is 26–23 against the field, Unlucky and Good, and his second 0–7 week of the season puts him seventh in the standings with a roster that has outscored five of the six teams above him. The one Week 6 Coaches Poll ballot in by Sunday, Dite’s, ranked him second in the league.

Kyle has allowed 705.70 points, the fewest in the league, and has now benched 444.0 for the season, which was the most in the league until Dite passed him on Sunday. The Moth picked Kyle, and wrote that if fantasy had a sense of humor Bernard would catch two passes for 18 yards; he caught three for 27. Kyle plays Cliff next in Pronamel vs. Power Rankings, a series he leads 11–8. Jordan plays Mitch in the second Battle of the Bandwagons; Jordan leads that series 11–8, Mitch won the first meeting in Week 1, and both men’s Patriots lost on Thursday night to a quarterback on Carl’s bench.