Oklahoma City Lightning Game Note, Week 4: Memphis Suns

GAME NOTES

Oklahoma City Lightning (2-1) vs.Memphis Suns (1-2)

WEEK 4 – 2018 SCOM FANTASY CLASSIC

Other dates of note:

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9/4/2018 – SCOM Fantasy Classic Draft

9/6/2018 – Official start of NFL Season

9/10/2018 – University of Central Oklahoma football player Derek Loccident crawled under a train in Oklahoma City and lost his foot when the train started moving (link to story)

9/12/2018 – Starting RB2 Phillip Lindsay acquired off waivers

9/17/2018 – Former state senator Ralph Shortey sentenced to 15 years in prison for child sex trafficking charges after pleading guilty last fall (link to story)

9/17/2018 – Lightning wrap up its highest-scoring week of the season (197.52 points)

9/25/2018 – Sonic announces its headquarters will remain in downtown Oklahoma City after being purchased by fast-food chain Arby’s parent company for $2.3 billion (link to story)

Game Recap:

The Oklahoma City Lightning, led by the quarterback duo of Patrick Mahomes and Matthew Stafford, took down the Harrisonburg Valley Bees 149.14-104.68 at Bridgeforth Stadium to move to 2-1 on the young season. OKC overcame a slow start by tight end David Njoku (5.6 points) on Thursday night to finish with the third-highest point total in the league for Week 3.

Mahomes and Stafford combined for 70.74 points in the game, marking the third consecutive week the pair of signal callers has scored 50 or more. Running back Saquon Barkley also continued his impressive rookie season with a 22.7-point performance. Barkley rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown while adding another 25 yards through the air.

The Valley Bees saw encouraging performances out of their quarterbacks Alex Smith (21.8 points) and Russell Wilson (23.58) but didn’t stand a chance after their running backs combined for just 18.4 points between the two of them. Harrisonburg could’ve used the help of tight end Vance McDonald, who scored 25.2 points but was left on the bench for the matchup.

The win puts Oklahoma City in a tie with two other teams for fifth place in the league. Four teams remain undefeated at 3-0, but only two have scored more points on the season than the Lightning (472.94). With the team remaining healthy and facing a Memphis Suns team in Week 4 that’ll be without a starting quarterback, the Lightning are poised to remain atop the league leaderboards heading into the meat of the season.

Match-up Preview:

This is the first time the Oklahoma City Lightning and the Memphis Suns will be facing off this season.

The Memphis Suns will fend without a quarterback this week. Their starting quarterback is in a bye week and their backup quarterback is out for the season with an injury, barring any last minute changes.

The Oklahoma City Lightning are projected to win with 115.33 points coming from the starting line up, while the Suns are predicted to come up short with 82.79.

The matchup will be underway Thursday, with the Vikings at Rams game – the Lightning have WR Brandin Cooks, LA Rams, and the Suns have WR Cooper Cupp, LA Rams.

The last player to play, to provide a late-boost for the Lightning if needed is RB Phillip Lindsay, Denver Broncos, who host Kansas City at home on Monday Night.

Season Notes:

QB Patrick Mahomes is 3rd in scoring overall this season, with 126.44 points, averaging 42.15 points per game, and QB Matthew Stafford is 15th in scoring, with 91.2 points, averaging 30.4 points per game. The Lightning have the highest-scoring QB duo in the SCOM Fantasy Classic. In Week 2, this duo earned the Lightning the Unreal Combinations trophy from NFL.com Fantasy, for the highest scoring duo of the week, with 96.52 points.

Lightning RB Saquon Barkley is 4th-overall in scoring among Running Backs, with 72.3 points on the season, 24.1 points per game.

The Lightning have made the most transactions this season via waiver, free agency, and trades, with nine total. In comparison, the second-most is five, by the Austin Rockets.

The Oklahoma City Lightning are third in scoring this season, with 472.94 total points, averaging 157.64 points per game, and sit in second in Division 2, and third overall out of 16 teams. The Lightning have the 5th-least points scored against them this season, with 385.84, or 128.6 points per game.

The Lightning hold the season-record for largest win margin, 97.96 points over the Orlando Sharks in a 197.52 – 99.56 win.

Only 7.6 points were left on the bench in Week 1, the third-best mark in the league. The Lightning enter this week ranked sixth in waiver priority. 18.9 points were left on the bench in Week 2, and 14.2 points were left on the bench in Week 3, and on the season the Lightning have only left 40.7 points on the bench, the 5th-least points left on the bench thus far this season. In comparison, the last-place Orlando Sharks have left 119.88 points on the bench.