Ten crews went out this week, and the one that sailed cleanest came home with nothing in the hold. Gabes started every point he owned, not one left on the bench, scored 107.3, and lost to Bolek by 26.26. Out here the water doesn't care how tidy your ship is.

Right. Dry land.

I spent my first column in this job yelling at Gabes for benching the wrong guys, so fair's fair: he fixed it. A perfect lineup has happened sixty-seven times in one thousand and seventy manager-weeks on record, and he put one up. It got him beaten by twenty-six. The lineup was never the problem — the problem is that forty-five dollars of Bijan Robinson scored 5.8 against his own average of 24.24, and that his second-best starter was a one-dollar Ravens defence that Eric/Blakey bought at the auction. Forty-one-dollar James Cook gave him 25.3 and nobody else showed up. He's got 820.52 points, third-most in the league, and a 2-4 record, and he went 2-7 against the field this week. Here's the part that should actually sting: in week 6 of 2023 he hung 171.82 on Nate, and in week 6 of 2022 he put 163.7 on Mario. He used to own this week. Now he owns a clean bench.

I said last week the standings would catch up to Nate. They caught up for exactly one week, and then Tyler Shough — the man who gave him minus-nothing and took his season down with it — came back with 27.96. Nate scored 138.18, high score of the week, 9-0 against the field, 5-1 and first. He also had 33.08 on his bench, including Michael Penix at 23.1 while Sam Darnold went 11.52 in the lineup, which is the kind of thing you can do when you win by 21.4. He's now 8-3 lifetime against Daniel. I was wrong and I blame Shough for it either way.

Bill, though. I told you it would stop all at once. He lost to Jack by 14.3, he's dropped three places in the table, and he's 4-2 sitting behind three teams with the same record because his points won't hold him up. Forty-six dollars of Josh Allen got him 18.8. He's running 86.13 percent efficiency, still the worst in the league, and 3-6 against the field. That's not a slump, that's the bill coming.

Jack's the opposite and nobody's noticed. Best efficiency in the league at 93.35, a seven-dollar Bryce Young at 19.84, a twelve-dollar Bhayshul Tuten at 22.2, and thirty-six-dollar Jaxon Smith-Njigba finally acting like a thirty-six-dollar receiver with 19.4. Seven and two against the field. That's a real team.

Bolek is still the best auction in this league by a distance. He scored 133.56 with a four-dollar C.J. Stroud at 24.98 and a three-dollar Chuba Hubbard at 23.6, while his thirty-one-dollar Justin Jefferson sat on the bench with zero. D'Andre Swift, the man who cost him a game a fortnight ago, chipped in 20.5. Eight and one against the field, first in the power rankings, second in the standings. Somebody is going to have to beat him on purpose.

Mario has won three straight and his forty-nine-dollar Jahmyr Gibbs scored nothing from the bench while a one-dollar Matthew Golden (20.4) and a one-dollar Aaron Rodgers (16.02) got him past Eric/Blakey by 7.4. I said people would start talking about him. They still aren't. Their loss.

Eric/Blakey, meanwhile, has lost four in a row with 646.64 points, fewest in the league, and his best week came from a Kansas City defence he didn't draft going for 19 against an average of 3.5. Worse: the one-dollar men he actually did buy are winning other people's weeks — Braelon Allen scored 14.4 for Daniel and the Ravens defence scored 12 for Gabes. Daniel, for his part, got 116.78 and 22.7 out of a one-dollar Tre Tucker that Mario bought, with forty-two dollars of Lamar Jackson on his bench at zero for the second time I've written about it. That's not a bad week. That's a habit.

And then the ugliest game on the slate, which I watched all of, because somebody has to. Justin 99.06, Bryan 95.8, decided by 3.26. Justin wins! First of the season, ninety-eight career wins, two short of a hundred, and he got there by scoring the ninth-best total of the week. I'll take it for him.

Bryan I owe an apology to, except I don't, because I gave him props a week ago and he responded by going 0-9 against the field, losing with 6.4 on his bench and thirty-seven dollars of Joe Burrow on it at zero, and wasting 29.34 from Trevor Lawrence. He's wearing the belt. Also: Justin beat him in week 6 of 2025 by 40.24, and Eric/Blakey beat him in week 6 of 2024 by 35.98. Whatever this week is to him, it isn't his.

Calling it now: Gabes finishes the season with more points than anybody not named Nate or Bolek and misses the playoffs anyway, and he'll have the cleanest benches in the league while it happens.

1. Bolek — 8-1 against the field with a four-dollar quarterback. Nobody drafts like him.

2. Nate — 5-1, 9-0 this week, and Shough has now ruined and saved his season in consecutive weeks.

3. Mario — three straight, 4-2, and his forty-nine-dollar running back contributed zero from the bench.

4. Gabes — perfect lineup, 107.3, loss. Fourth here, sixth in the table, miserable everywhere.

5. Jack — 93.35 efficiency and 7-2 against the field. Quietly the most competent man in the league.

6. Bill — 4-2, 3-6 against the field, 86.13 efficiency. The fall has started.

7. Bryan — 0-9 against the field and the belt. I take back the kind things.

8. Daniel — 116.78 is fine; forty-two dollars of quarterback at zero on the bench again is not.

9. Justin — one win, ninety-eight career, two from a hundred. Breathe.

10. Eric/Blakey — 646.64 and four straight losses, propped up by a defence he didn't draft.