Monday Night Observations

Before I get into this game, I should mention, I just opted in for something called “Substack Boost.” When I logged into Substack today, they offered it, and apparently it’s some kind of marketing scheme to get more signups that costs me nothing (money or time-wise). What it might cost, though, is annoying readers, so please let me know if that’s the case, and if so, I will kill it.

That game went about as well as I could have hoped. I have the 49ers defense in two leagues, had the Niners -2.5 in my picking pool and sat Matthew Stafford this week for Trevor Lawrence. The Niners won me an NFFC matchup to put me at 3-2 on the week (despite my Travis Etienne blunder.)

But the biggest relief was Stafford’s poor game on my bench. It shouldn’t matter once you have him benched, but there’s nothing I hate more than starting a guy for two weeks (I was able to bench him per NFFC rules after the opening Thursday night) while he does nothing, and then the week you finally sit him he goes off. That probably played into my thinking with Etienne too — I don’t mind being wrong about someone, it’s being right and still taking a loss due to bad timing that kills me. It’s a variation of the Mark Twain quote:

It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.

My version:

It ain’t what you got wrong that kills you, it’s what you got right, but that you squandered anyway.

• The Niners pass rush was the story of this game. Seven sacks and a fumble, no touchdowns allowed. The pick six was icing on the cake.

• Stafford looks for Cooper Kupp (19-14-122-0) like Liam Neeson for his abducted-into-sex-slavery daughter in Taken (Simplistic revenge movies are so satisfying!)