Housekeeping:
Hey everyone, thank you all for a fully rostered Week 1 of Big League! Nothing makes me happier than not having to remind almost 30-year-olds (and beyond) to submit their Fantasy Football lineups. One thing to go over before we get into the awards:
Phone Updates – after a couple feints by me, the phone updates should be LIVE. If you would like to get reminders to submit your lineup OR if you’d like to receive scoring updates once we’ve kicked off, please go into the User Profile section of the site and update your preferences. Once you’ve done so, importantly, scroll to the bottom and hit UPDATE. That will cement your phone preferences.
Highest Scorer: Ocean’s 9 (163.14 points)
Big League long-timer Logan Moose fielded a wildly impressive Week 1 roster with double-digit points from everyone but Chris Godwin (8.3 points). The highlights are obvious and unexpected. D’Andre Swift torched the grass in Carolina for 3 scores. Olave looked like he was carving up college defenses, tallying 182 yards. And Likely was positively dominant in the new-look Giants, leading the air game with two scores to boot. The effort by Moose was the rare mid-budget splash play – narrowly avoiding the upper crust of elite players to find the gems of some high-flying affairs.
As a result, Ocean’s 9 strikes the chalk for a stroke in the win column, and wins $15 as the weekly top scorer. Logan Moose, today you are a rich man.
Biggest Blowout: Krusty Krab Pizzas vs. Eating Poop @ The Eagles Parade (59.3 points)
If the previous roster was one manufactured by crafty maneuvering, Rob’s almost-150-point total was more of an autocomplete. It would be akin to someone sitting at a bar with the games on and asking Who’s good? I shouldn’t make fun of the Pizzas, though. They won, and that’s what matters. At the end of the day, costs are just what you spend to get what you want. And in this league, you want to win. By my count, his roster had four 1st-round Redraft players and two 2nd-round picks. I mean, this very well might be the NFL All-Pro team by year’s end. Compare this to the team across the partition and Joe’s Poop Eaters went dumpster diving with picks like Chris Rodriguez, DK, and Nailor. The bummer here being Hubbard and Kincaid exploded – won’t be able to get those picks back. Oh well, if you’re gonna lose, you might as well lose to the Mon-Stars.
Closest Call: Zurich Fins vs. Endzone Jones (6.1 points)
While these two powerhouse teams didn’t neutralize on any players, they both sold out for a week one hopeful dub. Interestingly, they both rostered NFC East starting QBs and RBs – in Dart & Skat as well as Dak & Javonte. Endzone Jones walked the easy path to 143.1 points with the no-brainer picks of Gibbs, JSN, Puca, and McBride. Meanwhile, Rafi and the Fins opted for a more measured path – medium tier guys with high upside. However, as is ever the case in our league, these fellas are done and dusted now. A slew of second options were just guttered by Rafi in Burden, Higgins, and Jame-O. Not to mention the ole reliables like Goedert, Etienne, and even the solid kicking option of Evan McPherson. Nonetheless, this Kirkland brand version of greatness almost did the trick. 6.1 points is chump change for any of these guys. However, this will be far from the closest call we’ll have this season. Stay tuned.
Best Find: Jalen Coker (33.8 points, played by TWO teams)
Coke heads, UNITE! The third year route runner hauled 8 balls on 9 targets for a field-stretching 138 yards and TWO SCORES! The Panthers offensive output has been nothing shy of an enigma. Is the lead runner Chubba or Brooks? Is Tet an elite option? Is Bryce Young tall enough to ride Space Mountain? But maybe least interesting to fantasy navigators was who is the #2 option in this Carolina scheme. It’s kinda like asking whether you’d like you flu vaccine via shot or nasal spray– neither are particularly appealing. Nonetheless, when pitted against the relentless Bears offensive deluge, the Canales had no retort except to spray it. Coker caught 33% of the completions in Sundays loss and scored basically as many fantasy points. Jalen “where’d I leave my” Coker is the #1 wideout on the week, but time will tell if this is a LEGIT breakout, or just a product of running on the field after Chicago scored 7.
Biggest Bust: Titans Defense (-1 points, played by SIX teams)
Defensive head coach. Jeffey Simmons. Geno Smith is throwing the ball. And they’re playing…….. THE NEW YORK JETS! This was a lay-up. On paper, the Tennessee defenders had every opportunity to enjoy the spoils of our newly added 20-point reward for a shutout, but instead we all forgot that the Music City team is the least harmonious, most atrocious assemblage of 52 almost-athletes put on screen. The offense is offensive, the defense can’t be defended, and the special teams is anything but. GET THIS TEAM OFF MY SCREEN! A SIXTH of our league had the wisdom of a flickering, should-be-replaced lightbulb to type T-E-N-N into our Defense slot, and those six teams should have known better. The -1 that the Titans recorded is symbolic. It’s a number that really tells you we could’ve done worse. It’s a warning shot. It’s patient 0. Let it be known and heard and acknowledged – the team from Tennessee is poison to your fantasy rosters. You have been warned.
