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The best way I can describe this first week of fantasy football is that it was a week where you definitely needed to be smarter than your opponent to win. It was not a week where every #1 receiver or running back went off as expected. More than likely, you had to find that rookie back or sleeper receiver to help get you the W.
If you happen to be the owners of consensus top-2 picks David Johnson or Le’Veon Bell, you were probably left feeling unsatisfied with their performances. If you reached on a quarterback such as Tom Brady or Drew Brees, you may have had a much closer final score than you would have liked.
It was just that kind of week around the league.
But how did it affect the staff and their teams?
Let’s take a look at the standings after one week of play:
- Sam Kweon’s Tweets! (Lou) - 175.88
- Mud Dogs (Richard) - 165.38
- mY BaLl ZaCh ErTz (Michael) - 139.40
- Sans Diego (Jason) - 136.50
- Azor Ajayi (Daniel) - 135.22
- No Punt Intended (Cody) - 131.42
- Backroad Bullies (Derrick) - 155.50
- Cry Me A Rivers (Aaron) - 126.92
- Free OJ With Brunch (Roger) - 125.44
- Trips Right (Ruben) - 110.62
- Go Bears! (Max) - 88.62
- Chargers_UK (Thomas) - 72.60
Looks like I went a very respectable 5-1 in my predictions from last week.
Now for some highlights from each match-up:
mY BaLl ZaCh ErTz v.s. Go Bears!
I actually thought this was going to be a lot closer but I had some players step up in the clutch for guys like Le’Veon Bell who had an underwhelming Week 1. My quarterback play was also significantly better and our defensive point difference was also quite drastic (18.00 to 1.00).
Top Players for Michael
- Adam Thielen - 24.70 points
- Ezekiel Elliott - 19.00 points
- Derek Carr - 18.68
Bad Moves
- Austin Hooper (20.80 points) left on the bench for Greg Olson (3.80 points)
Top Players for Max
- Keenan Allen - 14.50 points
- Ty Montgomery - 19.30 points
- Christian McCaffrey - 11.50 points
Bad Moves
- Jared Goff was left on the bench (16.44) while outscoring his other two QBs, Manning (7.70) and Wilson (8.32)
Mud Dogs v.s. Backroad Bullies
One of the closer match-ups from Week 1 while also having the highest scoring output. This loss shouldn’t be that disparaging to Derrick as he did score the third-most points in the league while losing a close one to one of, if not, the best overall team in the group.
Top Players for Richard
- Aaron Rodgers - 17.54 points
- Drew Brees - 15.64 points
- Stefon Diggs - 27.70 points
Bad Moves
- Pierre Garcon (14.10) was left on the bench for Alshon Jeffrey (8.80)
Top Players for Derrick
- Antonio Brown - 29.20 points
- Leonard Fournette - 21.40 points
- Sam Bradford - 25.54 points
Bad Moves
- T.Y. Hilton underperformed (6.70) while Danny Amendola was on the bench (16.00)
Trips Right v.s. Sans Diego
This was my lone wrong prediction among the first slate of match-ups. Ruben’s team had a plethora of players not perform up to par which included Dez Bryant (6.30), Adrian Peterson (1.80), and Jimmy Graham (3.80). Meanwhile, Jason had several players definitely outperform their projections in Coby Fleener (16.40) and Todd Gurley (20.60). It was also a bloodbath in the running back department.
Top Players for Ruben
- Amari Cooper - 17.20 points
- Cooper Kupp - 17.60 points
- Philip Rivers - 18.68 points
Bad Moves
- Rookie Kenny Golladay (22.90) was left on the bench Eric Decker (4.00) fizzled out in his starting lineup.
Top Players for Jason
- LeSean McCoy - 20.60 points
- Todd Gurley - 20.60 points
- Mike Gillislee - 22.50 points
Bad Moves
- Although he did not perform particularly well, Carson Palmer (11.92) did outscore Andy Dalton (1.00) while on the bench.
No Punt Intended v.s. Chargers_UK
Thomas just got whooped. He got two goose eggs from Luck and Odell. I’m not sure what he is doing. There’s not much else to be said here.
Top Players for Cody
- Philadelphia Defense - 22.00 points
- Golden Tate - 21.40 points
- Carson Wentz - 19.88 points
Bad Moves
- Hunter Henry, unfortunately, received zero looks in the passing game leading to an unfortunate zero in the TE slot.
Top Players for Thomas
- Jeremy Maclin - 13.60 points
- Isaiah Crowell - 10.60 points
- CJ Anderson - 9.80 points
Bad Moves
- Obviously leaving to players in his lineup that did not actually play this week. Besides that, he really didn’t have anybody on his bench play well enough to have made a difference.
Sam Kweon’s Tweets! v.s. Cry Me a Rivers
Lou ran away with the highest scoring output of Week 1 in a thorough beating of Aaron during the NFL’s opening weekend. This match-up would have been a lot closer but Lou took advantage of Kareem Hunt’s insane debut against the Patriots on Thursday night.
Top Players for Lou
- Kareem Hunt - 45.60 points
- Deandre Hopkins - 18.50 points
- Dalvin Cook - 16.70 points
Bad Moves
- Lou made just about all the right moves he could have. If we want to split hairs, Marvin Jones (11.70) could have replaced Brandon Marshall (2.00) in the starting lineup but whatevs.
Top Players for Aaron
- Matthew Stafford - 28.08 points
- Corey Coleman - 16.30 points
- Jordan Howard - 15.60 points
Bad Moves
- Unfortunately for Aaron, he played all of his best players and still came up short. It was just one of those weeks. Sorry, Aaron. :(
Azor Ajayi v.s. Free OJ with Brunch
Another fairly close match-up. Neither left many points on the bench but Daniel’s squad was able to outlast Roger’s team by the end of the weekend, even with Tyreek Hill’s big day.
Top Players for Daniel
- Melvin Gordon - 18.90 points
- Nelson Agholor - 20.60 points
- Randall Cobb - 17.50 points
Bad Moves
- Chris Thompson (15.60) could have easily replaced Derrick Henry (2.50) in the starting lineup. Not the best call choosing a handcuff to start over a viable third-down back in a pass-first offense.
Top Players for Roger
- Tyreek Hill - 26.80 points
- Jordy Nelson - 20.90 points
- Matt Ryan - 17.94 points
Bad Moves
- Either Roger could have replaced Buffalo’s Defense (9.00) with Carolina’s (15.00) or replaced Gronk (5.30) with Fiedorowicz (8.60) but neither would have pushed him over the top.