The Kansas City and Buffalo offenses returned to form last week, which helped send one of our members to Miami while driving a number of other high-performing lineups for many of our users. Let’s dive right in.

Main Event Winner: “TooNashty”

Kansas City Quarterbacks: The Kansas City offense was struggling for multiple weeks, but it was only a matter of time before they righted the ship offensively. Patrick Mahomes got back on track against rival Las Vegas last Sunday night, who is an opponent the Kansas City offense has routinely torched in recent years.

Indianapolis Running Backs: While this play didn’t perform as well as most would have expected, the Indianapolis running backs have been a top five scorer at the position and they were significant home favorites against Jacksonville’s very beatable defense.

Buffalo Wide Receivers: This option compliments the Kansas City stack well, as Buffalo was also in a correction spot in New York and that passing offense tends to be reliant on their wide receivers. An unexpected wrinkle here is that Buffalo wide receivers added 41 yards rushing and a score on the ground to their big day in the air. What makes this play even more interesting is that “TooNashty” won the Side Hustle in Week 6 with the Buffalo quarterbacks card, which lead to me checking to see if they played a second version of this lineup with the Buffalo stack instead of the Kansas City stack (they did). I love everything about that.

Kansas City Tight Ends: Stacking the Kansas City quarterbacks with their tight ends is something users with those options have to consider every week. Against Las Vegas, I would have played the Kansas City tight ends over their receivers as well.

Miami Defense: We knew the Miami defense performed well on Thursday night posting 21 points, making them close to a lock button play for users with that option. Not only is it not a surprise that “TooNashty” took down the Main Event this week, but it’s hardly shocking that every one of these plays was supremely smart and logical.

Side Hustle Winner: “RichardCypher”

Kansas City Quarterbacks with Buffalo Wide Receivers: Four users deployed this lineup in the Side Hustle, while “RichardCypher” won the top spot with the lowest serial number. There have been a number of times this year where a winning Main Event or Side Hustle lineup ends up with the quarterback of one high performing offense paired with the wide receiver group of another high performing offense. Stacking can be smart, but it doesn’t always win.

Lowball Winner: “RichardCypher”

Detroit Quarterbacks: Play the worst plays is the name of the game in Lowball, as “RichardCypher” took down the Side Hustle and this tournament this week. Big congrats on double fisting victories in The Owners Club this week.

Miami Running Backs: We knew Miami runners underwhelmed last Thursday, making them a very solid, bordering on a lock, Lowball option.

Atlanta Wide Receivers: With Calvin Ridley out you could argue that Atlanta currently has the worst talent at the wide receiver position. Their poor performance while getting obliterated in Dallas could make them a staple Lowball option for as long as Ridley is sidelined.

Carolina Tight Ends: Sharp play here as few teams are less reliant on their tight end group than Carolina.

New York (American) Defense: Considering that they gave up 45 points to Buffalo last week, it’s quite surprising this defense posted 6 points. Regardless, this was a good play for this format as Buffalo was in a correction spot here and New York has been a below average defense all season.

Island of Misfit Cards Winner: “tjames”

Kansas City Tight Ends with Dallas Defense: Two users deployed this lineup, which is interesting because the Kanas City tight ends card is the standard top play at the position virtually every week while the Dallas defense against Atlanta certainly had a path to considerable success, but it was much more volatile in nature especially considering the 21 points Miami’s defense posted last Thursday. The aggressive play paid off here.

Various Things

There were a lot of Kansas City quarterbacks paired with the Kansas City wide receivers in the Side Hustle. That stack essentially came in second in that tournament this week.

A popular/ high performing Main Event lineup was the Buffalo quarterbacks stacked with their wide receivers, with the Dallas running backs, the Kansas City tight ends, and the Miami defense. That combination was a sharp one that could have easily ended up on top this week. In fact, a lot of the high performing lineups in this week’s Main Event were very sharp, very logical lineups.

More and more I’m noticing that defenses and sometimes tight ends are often the difference between a high end lineup and more of a middle tier cash.

Thursday Night Atlanta vs New England

This is an interesting game, because on the surface Atlanta’s wide receiver group is down their best player in Calvin Ridley and Bill Belichick is famous for making opposing offenses play left-handed, which likely means New England “takes away” Kyle Pitts. With Atlanta’s Swiss Army Knife Cordarrelle Patterson seeking to tough out a sprained ankle in this matchup, Atlanta’s offense could be in serious trouble here as they are already thin on playmakers. Atlanta’s defense has also been a below average unit throughout the season, making this a plus matchup for every New England position group on offense. Ultimately, every New England option has a path to being playable this week while Atlanta could host a number of Lowball options this Thursday.

On the other hand, Atlanta was just obliterated in Dallas last week and this game is in primetime because of what happened between these two franchises when they met in the Super Bowl several years ago. Atlanta may not have the firepower to knock New England off, but they aren’t as bad as they were in Dallas last week and we can expect them to be highly motivated in this matchup.