Week 4 has come and gone. Sixteen NFL games brought joy, laughs and tears to football fans and, of course, fantasy football faithful.

Today, we’ll focus on the latter sadness and break down just how close some came to achieving fantasy football glory. Critics might call this unnecessary cruelty, while supporters could claim it helps with understanding the full context of what exactly happened last week.

Either way: Welcome to the Sheesh Report.

What follows is a breakdown of all the tilting, near-miss moments from Week 4 that left fantasy managers and fans alike saying, "Sheesh." I’ve watched hours of film and combed play-by-play data to help determine instances when:

  • Pass-catchers could have scored or picked up big yardage with a more accurate pass
  • Pass-catchers did receive an accurate pass that should have resulted in a score or big gain, but the ball was dropped
  • Ball carriers managed to get all the way to the one-yard line, but didn’t score
  • Players scored or picked up big yardage, but the play was nullified by penalty
  • Other random shit tilted fantasy football managers of all shapes and sizes

Let's kick things off with one of the most sheeshy experiences that fantasy managers and anytime TD bettors can go through...

The Eagles RB special: Down at the 1-yard line, and no TD

Getting all the way to the one-yard line but failing to score a TD is objectively a sheeshy feeling — particularly when fantasy managers are forced to watch someone else vulture away the score that was SO CLOSE to belonging to them.

Here’s the full list of Week 4’s players who managed to get the football within three feet of the goal line, but not quite across the plane, and ultimately didn’t score later on the same drive:

  • Panthers RB Chuba Hubbard (x3, same drive)
  • Eagles RB Saquon Barkley (x2, same drive)
  • Jets RB Breece Hall (x2, same drive)
  • Ravens RB Derrick Henry (x2 including the fumble into the end zone, same drive)
  • Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving
  • Jaguars RB Tank Bigsby
  • Browns RB Jerome Ford
  • Browns RB D'Onta Foreman
  • Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase
  • Saints WR Chris Olave
  • Saints QB Derek Carr (x2, same drive)
  • Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence
  • Texans QB C.J. Stroud

Plenty of these guys still put up solid numbers, but fantasy managers can certainly imagine what it would've been like had they managed to gain just one single yard more on those respective runs. Sheesh.

Speaking of productive performances that were nearly so much bigger…

Panthers WR Diontae Johnson almost had a MASSIVE day

Hand up: I actually just copy-pasted this transition from last week … because it once again applies!

Kudos to the Bengals defensive backs for at least making the pair of near-miss TDs contested-catch situations, but there's nobody to blame but Johnson for dropping that absolute pearl down the sideline that coulda, shoulda, woulda been good for an additional 35-plus yards.

Maybe next time, Diontae, but rest assured you weren't the only pass-catcher to leave some production on the field last week…

Unrealized air yards are a helluva drug

We can help quantity sheeshy plays like Johnson's aforementioned near misses and (especially) missed downfield opportunities using “unrealized air yards,” which are derived by subtracting yards after the catch from every player’s receiving yards total before taking the difference with total air yards to pinpoint exactly how much opportunity through the air (not including potential YAC) a player failed to come down with for one reason or another.

We're essentially measuring the total distance of everyone's incomplete targets. A high number indicates a player had lots of fantasy-friendly opportunities, but didn't capitalize on them for one reason or another. Cool? Cool.

ANYWAYS: Nine players racked up at least 75 unrealized air yards in Week 4 (including penalties):

  • Packers WR Dontayvion Wicks (144)
  • Jaguars WR Christian Kirk (127 – including what should have been a 59-yard TD)
  • Falcons WR Drake London (111)
  • Broncos WR Courtland Sutton (110)
  • Panthers WR Diontae Johnson (86)
  • Buccaneers WR Mike Evans (83)
  • Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers (79)
  • Patriots WR Ja'Lynn Polk (79 – including what was nearly a SWEET grab down the sideline that Polk himself maintains was a catch)
  • Chargers WR Quentin Johnston (77)

Sad times indeed, although not all unrealized air yards are created equal…

What's worse than political advertisements? Dropped TDs

While drops are a somewhat subjective stat, the fine folks over at PFF do indeed assign the blame when necessary — and so here we are. The following official drops should have resulted in a big play or even a TD in Week 4:

  • Packers WR Dontayvion Wicks: Would have needed some YAC, but best case could have scored a 19-yard TD.
  • Buccaneers WR Kameron Johnson: One of the worst dropped three-yard scores you'll ever see.
  • Bills WR Keon Coleman: Right in the bread basket for what should have been a chunk gain down the sideline … dropped.
  • Giants WR Darius Slayton: Received a catchable-enough underthrown deep ball down the right sideline that could have been good for 30-plus yards, but alas, here we are.
  • Buccaneers WR Mike Evans: One of many WRs to burn Darius Slay this season; too bad Big Mike dropped the potential 20-plus yard gain.
  • Chargers RB JK Dobbins: Missed out on a potential 20-plus yard gain on what was an absolutely amazing throw from Justin Herbert.
  • Panthers WR Diontae Johnson: Aforementioned sideline dime from Andy Dalton bounced off Johnson's hands and fell incomplete.
  • Raiders TE Brock Bowers: Seemed to get too excited about the YAC possibilities and let a 20-plus yard gain slip through his hands.
  • Ravens WR Zay Flowers: Dropped one of the best throws of the week on what was nearly an amazing third and 20 conversion.

Of course, sometimes sheeshy non-TDs should be blamed a bit more on the person throwing the pass in the first place… 

Would have been a lot cooler if these throws were better

You know the moment. The receiver got open, the QB had a reasonable pocket to work from, the pass was there, the crowd stood up … and sheesh: Overthrown, underthrown, too high, or too low, and all that goes into the box score is an incompletion.

Anyways, I looked at every incomplete pass that was thrown at least 20 yards downfield to get an idea of who just missed out on some big plays last week — and believe me there were PLENTY:

  • Eagles RB Saquon Barkley: Could have had a 70-yard house call to open up the game … but unfortunately Jalen Hurts chucked the football out of bounds instead.
  • Jaguars WR Christian Kirk: Sprung wide open deep on a nifty route and coulda, shoulda, woulda scored a 59-yard TD with something close to a catchable pass.
  • Packers WR Dontayvion Wicks: Wonky play that could arguably be called a drop; ultimately Wicks had every opportunity to walk into the end zone from 32 yards if he had received a better throw.
  • Browns WR Amari Cooper: Got free downfield on what had a good chance to be a 40-yard TD, but clear miscommunication with Cooper going to the post, and Deshaun Watson throwing a streak, resulted in an incompletion instead.
  • Colts WR AD Mitchell: Sadly a regular in this section, this week the rookie looked to be open enough to haul in a 39-yard TD down the sideline, but Joe Flacco's intended target was underthrown and fell incomplete.
  • Jaguars WR Brian Thomas: Ran a SWEET hitch-and-go to break wide open for what should have been a 29-yard TD, but sheesh.
  • Bears WR Rome Odunze and D.J. Moore: The Rome miss was from 17 yards out, and the Moore one from 22. That said, Odunze did seem to get held just a bit on his way to the end zone (no flag), and DJM took the blame after the game for not being on the same page with his QB. Either way: Sheesh.
  • Texans WR Nico Collins: Nearly had an even bigger day at the office, but C.J. Stroud's intended target was too high and out the back of the end zone on a potential 11-yard score.

Man, these sucked. Of course, arguably the only thing sheesh-ier than near-miss TDs are scores that were initially counted … until they weren't.

Touchdown! Yay! Oh No: Flag.

TDs usually get nullified by a penalty for a good reason, but that doesn’t make the roller coaster of adrenaline any less sheeshful for fantasy managers to deal with.

In Week 4 there were four such instances.

*Law and Order Music*

These are their stories:

The Browns offense finally seemed to create a big play when Deshaun Watson found Amari Cooper for an 82-yard house call to give Cleveland a fourth quarter lead. One problem: Browns C Harris was called for holding. You can be the judge on whether or not the call was of the ticky tack variety.

Falcons RB Bijan Robinson took a screen 19 yards to the end zone … until his OT Jake Matthews was called for a hold on (again) what sure looked like a pretty weak holding penalty.

I swear we don't usually bicker about every flag in this section, but Week 4 was particularly wonky because 49ers RB Jordan Mason had a 38-yard catch-and-run TD taken away because of ANOTHER objectively meh holding call on TE George Kittle. The 49ers would also have a seven-yard TD to FB Kyle Juszczyk nullified on an illegal shift penalty on the same drive, before Brock Purdy finally found Kittle for six points. As a wise man once said: Ball don't lie.

Also note that Saints WR Chris Olave (32 yards), Cowboys WR Jalen Tolbert (26) and Saints TE Juwan Johnson (28) each had chunk gains wiped away by various flags as well.

Gotta love when officials insist on making the games about them. Wait, we actually hate that? Right. Of course. Let's focus on more of that hate then…

What if defensive pass interference yards counted for fantasy points?

Defensive pass interferences can be finicky and don’t always occur in instances when the targeted receiver would have FOR SURE made the catch.

That said: They are very annoying for fantasy managers to deal with when the result could’ve, should’ve, would’ve been a chunk gain — and maybe even a TD.

The top seven players in most yards gained courtesy of drawing DPI flags were as follows:

  • Commanders WR Noah Brown (47)
  • Jets WR Allen Lazard (34 – down to the 1-yard line)
  • Falcons WR Darnell Mooney (30)
  • Packers WR Jayden Reed (20)
  • Bengals WR Tee Higgins (two DPIs totaling 20 yards, one of which got the Bengals down to the 1-yard line)
  • Buccaneers WR Mike Evans (16)
  • Jets WR Mike Williams (15)

Also note that Bears WR Keenan Allen and Vikings WR Justin Jefferson drew penalties in the end zone to set their offense up at the 1-yard line, only to not personally cap off the drive with six points. What a shame.

Our final category of sheesh involves providing a bit more context to some of the interceptions thrown last week.

Was that interception REALLY the QB's fault?

From pressure, to a bad route, to an essential arm punt on third and forever: There are quite a few reasons why any given interception might not necessarily be the QB's fault, even if that context isn't provided in the box score.

Good news for you, a scholar: Our Fantasy Life Sheesh Experts (just me, actually) have looked closely at each and every interception thrown in Week 4 to get an idea of which QBs probably deserve a bit of slack despite technically committing a turnover.

Specifically: 

There's also an argument that one of Jordan Love's three picks should have been caught by his team, although the original pass was a bit high so you can decide for yourself.

I think I speak for all of us when I say for one last time: Sheesh.

Thanks for stopping by. We're on to Week 5.