The North (or at least the teams now in the North) have been considered the strongest in recent times but it is starting to look like times are changing. The North does not have the most wins out of the divisions and it only has one team with a winning record; with that, it looks like the power is shifting to the South which has three teams over 500 after three games. The Bandits and the Seahawks are the two remaining unbeaten teams so far and whilst the Bandits have scored the most points overall (436.92) they have also faced the lowest in the league so far (263.62). The Seahawks have had a favourable start with two matchups against the Midlands and that looks set to continue with a week 4 matchup against bottom of the league Sandslashers. Both teams are looking likely to keep their unbeaten records through week 4.

My usual confidence in securing a playoff spot looks in serious trouble with the Fireflies picking off former champion and buzzsaw Spartans even with an efficiency rating of 65.7% for the starting line-up. Even though there were a flurry of trades last week, there could be some more happening this week and next as teams look at their chances and look for that extra push for this season or the next.

The Buzzsaw: Nottingham Bandits

Second highest score in week one, second highest score in week two, but the Bandits finally get the buzzsaw with a week three leading 165.1 points in their matchup with my Eagles. That was even with Jordan Akins at TE with Kittle missing time! Pretty all of the starters did their part as the Bandits had the top QB, the 7th RB and the 1st, 3rd and 22nd WR of the week and none of it was a fluke like a Cedric Wilson coming out of nowhere. The starting line up for the Bandits could be the best the league has seen.

Gateshead Spartans - πŸ†
Chippenham Beavers - πŸ†
Nottingham Bandits - πŸ†

Highest Point Scorer - Nottingham Bandits

Watching the Chiefs Ravens highlights and seeing some of Mahomes’ throws was unreal, the ease at which he just throws a 30 yard pass exactly on target, or just lobs one up and over a covering defender (Dermy feels my pain when we watch some of Wentz’s throws this season). The only thing that could make watching this sweeter would be to have him in my fantasy line up but that honour goes to the Bandits and the 4 thrown TDs, 1 rushed TD and 385 yards passing gives a perfect 40.00 points for the week.

The fifth and sixth highest scorers of the week were on their team’s benches as the Leopards missed the week that Burkhead is the thing in New England and the Seahawks had Josh Allen on the bench behind third overall Wilson.

Wigan Wombats – πŸ†
Chippenham Beavers – πŸ†
Nottingham Bandits - πŸ†

Unluckiest Loser - Coventry Eagles

Despite it being a 63.5-point blowout, my Eagles were still the unluckiest losers of the week. Both the Wombats and the Fireflies won with lower scores this week than my 101.52 points which was the fifth best score this week. Kamara getting 37% of my total points was my only bright spot and even if I had played my optimal line up, I still would have been 40 points shy of the Bandits so I’m not the unluckiest unlucky loser we’ve ever had!

Chippenham Beavers - πŸ†
Gateshead Spartans - πŸ†
Coventry Eagles - πŸ†

Closest Matchup - Flitwick Fireflies

With most of the matchups being comfortable, there was only one which could be classified as close and that was between the Fireflies and the Spartans and both teams could be kicking themselves about points left on the bench. Going into the Chiefs v Ravens game the Fireflies needed CEH and Hollywood Brown to outscore Mark Ingram by around 10 points and although Brown was kept to a low score, CEH did the work himself.

Oxford Seahawks – πŸ†
Coventry Eagles – πŸ†
Flitwick Fireflies – πŸ†

Most Impactful Injury - Coventry Eagles

Thankfully, week three was nowhere as near as bad as week 2 for big names going down with long term injuries and those names that did pop up on the injury list will not have as big an effect on our rosters.

Desean Jackson (Leopards) and Dallas Goedert (Otters) are due to miss time but the way they have been used by the Eagles and their UKD owners means there should not be any difference. Somehow Jordan Reed (Beavers) lasted till week three before suffering an injury but the Meadowlands turf corrected its mistake from the week before. Chris Godwin is questionable for week 4 which highlights a little lack of depth at the position for the Bandits.

The worst injuries happened to a pair of running backs who both feature in the Midlands, Cohen for my Eagles and Carson for the Fireflies. Cohen is done for the year and my already shaky RB corps is now relying on Sony Michel (why can’t coaches see and use Brieda, he is really good!!!) whilst the Fireflies lose Carson for a while due to the horrifically dirty roll by the Cowboys defender. The Fireflies do have CEH and Jacobs to soften the blow, Mattison and Moss have looked decent in their limited time and Jeffrey Wilson is suddenly a thing, so I think Cohen edges this one.

Gateshead Spartans – πŸ†πŸ†
Coventry Eagles – πŸ†

Worst Decision - Andover Sandslashers

So, I just discovered this week that the weekly report on MFL has efficiency ratings on it for each team! Before I was just looking through the line ups for any significant points left on a bench and if that had any impact on the result but this revelation has made it a little easier and a little more interesting.

For example, the Seahawks set their best possible line up, not a single point wasted. The same cannot be said for the Sandslashers who only managed a 58.3% efficiency rating. The QB carousel continues for them with Minshew scoring less than all three QBs that were on the bench and almost every other position could have been upgraded with people on the bench. Burrow was one of the big trades from last week and if he and Boyd would have been started, it is a win for the Sandslashers. In fact, the optimal line up would have been 140 points but do not worry Scott, you were not the only one who left a lot of points on the bench. Dermy fared only slightly better with a 63.8% rating and Michael with 65.7%.

All that combined means the Sandslashers are the β€œwinners” this week.

Chippenham Beavers - πŸ†
Gateshead Spartans - πŸ†
Andover Sandslashers – πŸ†