John E. beat Anthony 142.38 to 77.26, his fourth straight win after an 0-5 start, and the numbers do not describe a team that came back from anywhere. He scored 122.60 and 126.70 in two of the five losses. He has 1,054.76 points for the season, second in the league and the most in the Magic Castle by 17.28. He has beaten his projection in seven of nine weeks. And he has 138 regular-season wins in this league, five more than anyone else; he has been here for years. What changed is the last three weeks — 146.98, 145.60, 142.38, three of the twelve highest scores of the season, in a row. Only Michael, in Weeks 2 through 4, has also put three 140s together. On Sunday it was Ja’Marr Chase 31.5, Luther Burden 20.7, Jonah Coleman 18.8, Trevor Lawrence 15.58, Spencer Shrader 15.0 and Trey McBride 11.4, with 65.3 more on the bench. Anthony needed 46.63 net from Justin Jefferson on Monday night and got 8.8; Mike Gesicki, won on waivers Thursday, scored 3.1 with Dallas Goedert’s 10.0 on the bench, and Anthony finished 33.39 under his projection. The series is 13-4 Anthony. John E. stays first in the power ranking and is one game behind the 5-4 teams.

Josh 105.24, Jeff 94.54. Josh’s 100th regular-season win; he is the tenth manager in the league to get there, three weeks after Timothy. He trailed 76.78 to 63.54 at Sunday’s filing with four starters to play, and the three in the Bears–Buccaneers game scored 34.4: the Bears defense, signed Thursday night, 15.0; Chase McLaughlin 10.0; Colston Loveland 9.4. T.J. Hockenson added 7.3 on Monday. Jeff had Josh Allen, Aaron Jones and Dalton Kincaid on Monday night needing 21.17 net, and they scored 17.76 between them — Allen 8.86, his lowest of the season in a lineup — with AJ Barner and Dominic Zvada scoring 15.0 each on his bench. Joe Burrow scored 27.54 and Tee Higgins 20.2 for Josh, who was 1-5 and has won three straight. Jeff is 6-3, and his lead in the Smith House is down to one game. The series is 9-6 Josh.

Michael 112.48, John P. 82.94. John P. benched Bryce Young for Kirk Cousins after four weeks of Cousins out-scoring Young from the bench, and Young scored 17.34 on the bench to Cousins’ 11.64. It was not the margin. John P. carried the week’s highest projection, 126.25, and finished 43.31 under it, the largest miss of the week and his second of 43 in three weeks: Jahmyr Gibbs 13.4, Kyren Williams 9.1, Rashee Rice 9.9. Kenneth Walker scored 36.3 for Michael, the week’s top line, and James Cook 16.7 on Monday; Davante Adams, on injured reserve, started for a third straight week, the fifth straight game Michael has played with a dead slot. He is 2-3 in those games, 5-4 overall, and ends a three-game losing streak. John P. has lost three straight and stays on 109 wins. The series is 11-7 John P.

The week

Fourteen teams scored 1,382.66 points, an average of 98.76 — the second week of the season under 100, after Week 6’s 93.90. Two teams finished under 70: Tim, 58.60, and Kevin, 60.48. Tim now owns three of the four lowest scores of the season. The season average is 106.58.

mike 129.52, Nick 88.80. Six straight wins for mike, the longest streak of the season, from 0-3 to 6-3. Puka Nacua scored 35.0, Bucky Irving 27.5 on Sunday night, Isaiah Likely 16.3, and the Texans defense — won on waivers Thursday, the seventh defense he has rostered — 12. George Pickens was ruled Out and Demarcus Robinson, signed Sunday morning, scored 5.2 in his place. Nick finished 30.89 under projection: Jared Goff 2.3, D’Andre Swift 3.1 against a projection of 19.14, the week’s largest individual miss, and the Falcons defense 1.0 with the 49ers defense scoring 17.0 on his bench beside Darren Waller’s 23.0. Nick is 3-6. The series is 11-10 Nick.

Sean 118.28, Tim 58.60. Sean ends a four-game losing streak with Brock Purdy back in the lineup for 24.28, CeeDee Lamb 33.5 and Chris Olave 16.8; Josh Jacobs scored −0.5 and is now listed Out with a finger injury. Tim started Lamar Jackson, who went on injured reserve during the week, for a fourth straight zero, and TreVeyon Henderson, Out with an illness for a second straight week; Brian Thomas also scored 0.0. Rome Odunze’s 16.0 and Chris Godwin’s 4.8 on Sunday night kept Tim clear of his own season low of 42.60. He has lost five straight and stays on 74 wins. The series is 10-7 Sean.

Timothy 130.40, Owen 99.28. Matthew Golden scored 32.4, 17.54 over projection, the week’s largest individual beat; Bijan Robinson 25.7; Cam Little, signed Thursday for Chris Boswell’s bye, 15.0. Jordan Love scored 33.18 on Timothy’s bench, the week’s top bench score, behind Dak Prescott’s 16.5 — the third straight week the quarterback on Timothy’s bench out-scored the one in his lineup. Owen scored 99.28, his third-best of the season and within 0.25 of his projection, with Pat Freiermuth left in on a bye, Tyler Allgeier scoring 6.6 a week after 36.1 on the bench, and Tank Dell (19.5) and DeMario Douglas (15.2) on the bench. Timothy’s 101st win breaks the 9-9 tie in the series. Owen has lost five straight and is 2-7.

Jonathan 82.46, Kevin 60.48. The third-lowest winning score of the season, 31.58 under projection, with 52.5 on the bench: Denzel Boston 15.8, Audric Estime 14.7, Seth McGowan 11.2, Xavier Worthy 10.8. Amon-Ra St. Brown’s 16.6 led the lineup; Tucker Kraft scored 1.9 and Jaxon Smith-Njigba 12.1 against a projection of 23.98. Kevin scored a season-low 60.48 with MarShawn Lloyd, Out with a knee, in the lineup for Jaylen Warren’s bye, and Jaylen Waddle, now Out with a head injury, scoring 3.2. Kevin has finished under his projection in eight of nine weeks. Jonathan’s 112th win makes him 7-2; the series is 13-4.

Standings

Jonathan (974.46) leads the Magic Castle at 7-2, one game ahead of mike, 6-3 (1,037.48). Anthony and Kevin are 5-4, John E. 4-5, John P. and Tim 3-6. Jeff leads the Smith House at 6-3, one game ahead of Sean, Michael and Timothy at 5-4; Josh is 4-5, Nick 3-6, Owen 2-7. Sean’s 1,077.66 points are the most in the league. The Smith House leads the conference scoring 6,986.90 to 6,442.10.

The playoff line, five weeks out: six teams make it, and sorted the way Sleeper sorts the standings — record, then points — today’s six are Jonathan, mike, Jeff, Sean, Michael and Timothy. Five teams are 5-4, and the two with the fewest points, Anthony (944.06) and Kevin (835.90), are the two outside; a week ago both were inside at 5-3, and Michael and Timothy were not. John E. and Josh, at 4-5, are one game back, and John E. has more points than five of the six teams above the line.

Magic Castle

Smith House

Records and streaks

Josh reached 100 regular-season wins, the tenth manager to do so. Timothy has 101, Jonathan 112, Sean 121, John E. 138; mike’s 108th ties him with Jeff; Michael has 86. John P. has been on 109 for three weeks and Tim on 74 for five. mike has won six straight, John E. four, Josh three. Tim and Owen have lost five straight, John P. three. John E.’s 142.38 is his third straight score above 142. Jonathan’s 82.46 is the third-lowest winning score of the year, behind Tim’s 68.30 in Week 2 and John P.’s 76.44 in Week 6. Michael has started a dead slot five weeks running, the last three of them Davante Adams from injured reserve; Tim has started Lamar Jackson while Out or on injured reserve four weeks running, and lost all four.

Stat corrections. Sleeper has adjusted three Week 7 totals since that week’s recap: Nick’s 107.62 is now 108.62, Timothy’s 94.26 is now 93.26, and Kevin’s 95.18 is now 95.08. No result changed, but Kevin’s win over Timothy, reported here as a 0.92 margin, is now 1.82. That makes it the fourth-closest game of the season, not the third; Jonathan’s 1.42 over John P. in Week 8 moves up to third. Season totals in this edition, the standings and The Numbers use the corrected figures.

Projections and injuries

The projected favorite went 4-3 and is 38-25 for the season, 60 percent. The three favorites who lost were John P. (−43.31), Nick (−30.89) and Jeff (−16.12); Jonathan missed his projection by 31.58 and won. John E. (+26.07) and mike (+10.47) had the largest team beats. Kevin is 116.58 under his projections for the season, John P. 115.49 and Owen 108.57; Michael is 131.77 over and John E. 105.11. Among starters: Matthew Golden +17.54, Kenneth Walker +14.68, Christian Watson +14.20, Ja’Marr Chase and CeeDee Lamb +12.11 each, Puka Nacua +11.50 and Joe Burrow +11.15 on the high side; D’Andre Swift −16.04, Josh Jacobs −15.44, Jared Goff −13.84, Ladd McConkey −13.00, Jahmyr Gibbs −12.15 and Jaxon Smith-Njigba −11.88 on the low. Five starters carried projections of zero and scored zero: Tim’s Jackson and Henderson, Michael’s Adams, Owen’s Freiermuth and Kevin’s Lloyd. As of Tuesday morning: Josh Jacobs (finger) and Michael Wilson (neck) are Out for Sean; MarShawn Lloyd (knee), Jaylen Waddle (head), A.J. Brown (knee), Jake Ferguson (knee) and Dontayvion Wicks (ankle) for Kevin; Rhamondre Stevenson (knee) for Michael; George Pickens (hamstring), David Montgomery and Zonovan Knight for mike; Xavier Worthy and Cam Skattebo (both hamstring) for Jonathan; Garrett Wilson (concussion) for Timothy; Deebo Samuel (hamstring) and Carnell Tate (shoulder) for Josh; TreVeyon Henderson (illness) and Kyle Monangai (toe) for Tim; DeVonta Smith (Nick), Mike Evans (Anthony) and Sam Darnold (Jeff, quadriceps). Lamar Jackson (Tim) and Brian Robinson (Owen) have joined Davante Adams, Travis Etienne, RJ Harvey, Jeremiyah Love and Tyrone Tracy on injured reserve. Questionable: Patrick Mahomes (elbow), Puka Nacua (knee), Luther Burden, KC Concepcion (leg) and Ladd McConkey (back).

Transactions

Sixteen completed moves since last Tuesday and no trades; the season total stays at five, with the deadline in Week 11. mike released Kendrick Bourne on Tuesday and Owen released Devin Singletary on Wednesday. Thursday’s waiver run: mike won the Texans defense, releasing the Commanders defense; Adonai Mitchell, releasing Chig Okonkwo; Chris Rodriguez, releasing Elijah Mitchell; and Kaelon Black. Anthony won Chad Ryland, releasing Tyler Loop, and Mike Gesicki, releasing Jaydon Blue. Jonathan won Emmett Johnson, releasing Kimani Vidal. After the run, Timothy signed Cam Little and released Samaje Perine; Josh signed Jahan Dotson, Deebo Samuel and the Bears defense and released Tre’ Harris, Austin Ekeler and Aaron Rodgers; Anthony won Singletary on Friday’s waivers, releasing Tyler Higbee; Jonathan signed Audric Estime on Saturday, releasing Kendre Miller; and mike signed Demarcus Robinson on Sunday morning, releasing Keon Coleman.

Power ranking

Market value, not results: 70 percent the FantasyCalc value of each roster’s best legal lineup, 30 percent the whole roster. John E. is first for a second straight week; his best lineup rose 2,120 to 28,940, and his roster value, 36,224, is 3,782 ahead of Anthony’s. Timothy climbs one to second with the most valuable best lineup in the league, 29,004, and Jonathan one to third. Jeff and Michael each climb two, to fourth and sixth. Sean falls six to eighth, the week’s largest move, on a best lineup down 3,309 with Jacobs and Wilson both Out. Josh’s best lineup gained 2,132, the most of the week, and he stays eleventh. The bottom four — Josh, Kevin, Owen, Tim — are unchanged.

Values from FantasyCalc redraft, 14-team, 1QB, full PPR, pulled Tuesday morning. Best lineup = QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, TE, FLEX by value; kickers and defenses carry no market value. Last week = the Week 8 recap’s ranking; Draft = the post-draft ranking of September 9. Projections are Sleeper’s pre-game player projections scored with this league’s settings; injury designations are Sleeper’s as of Tuesday morning. Transactions are the league’s completed moves. All-time rankings this week are against the league record lists (top ten scores, top five margins, each manager’s career high and low).