Dave Portnoy Dodges A Bullet

Steven Cheah10/31/2023 8:40 PM

Dave Kotinsky. Getty Images.

Founder and President of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy has made savvy moves his entire life, but he's also gotten lucky. That was the case this past weekend as Portnoy put out a good fantasy week led by Josh Allen and Christian McCaffrey.

He also got a surprisingly good performance from Javonte Williams vs. a Chiefs team that layed an egg in Denver. Shane Bieber and Austin Hedges got huge games from their young guys, Jahymr Gibbs, Jordan Addiso, and 2nd year TE Jake Ferguson. But the real issue was benching Gus Edwards against a bad Cardinals team. Edwards racked up 94 total yards and 3 TDs and had he started over Aaron Jones, would've given Biebs and Hedges the win. Portnoy now leads the league in points scored and has moved into 3rd place at 5-3.

Speaking of dodging bullets, Mike Trout avoided one in his big showdown with Mike Napoli this weekend.

Hurts was carried again by Jalen Hurts and Ja'Marr Chase, but has Napoli, who has now lost three straight after winning his first five games started Tyler Lockett over Christian Watson, both team would be 6-2. Lockett has been nicked up and the Browns have a great defense and that's a decision Napoli surely regrets.

In a matchup to determine a 2nd place team, Jake Marisnick and Andrew Benintendi eeked out a win against the trio of Joc Pederson, Austin Barnes, and Alex Wood.

Had that trio started Kareem Hunt over Zay Flowers, we'd be singing a different tune, but it's also very hard to lose when you put up 153.48 points. Kudos to Marisnick and Benintendi who got a game winning performance from Justin Herbert on Sunday night to stay in 2nd place as they move to 7-1 now on the year.

One team I don't think anyone wants to see in the playoffs is led by Manny Machado.

Machado is led by the most explosive player in the game in Tyreek Hill, but he's also got almost equally explosive QBs in Justin Fields and Sam Howell. This team can pull an upset on anyone with their firepower. Meanwhile, Eric Hosmer continues to have a miserable year and a lot of it is honestly the schedule. He's giving up an average of 134.02 points per game to his opponent, where the league leader, Trout is giving up 99.05. A massive different that has led Trout to a 7-1 record and Hosmer to 2-6.

An almost equally explosive team is led by JT Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber. They picked up their 4th win of the year to hold onto the #6 spot for now behind another monster performance from AJ Brown to go along with Dak Prescott, Travis Etienne, and Sam LaPorta.

Meanwhile, Wil Myers, at now 1-7, lacks the explosive firepower to win on a weekly basis, but did get good performances out of Derek Carr, Joe Mixon, Hollywood Brown, and Chris Godwin.

Another contender for the #6 spot is the all of a sudden heating up Mike Moustakas.

He took care of Alex Bregman & Brian McCann, who were let down by his 2nd round pick, Patrick Mahomes. Moose got a terrific performance from Joe Burrow to go along with Evan Engram and Diontae Johnson to move to 3-5 and have an outside shot at the dance.

Here's where we stand through eight weeks: