Week 1 Recap

Much like smoke from a fire settles in the valley and then dissipates, much like sawdust falls to the floor only to be picked up by the wind and become one with the larger world, much like time only exists once it's in the past and has become nothing more than a memory, Week 1 of the 2017 fantasy football season has ended.

This week didn't have the sheer huge number of injuries that last year week 1 had, however David Johnson and Allen Robinson are gone, presumably for a long time.  

This weeks biggest story actually ends up being the lack of TDs.  Last year opening week there were 79 TDs, this year we got a measly 44.  That's a total of 210 points that just disappeared, and it definitely shows in some of the scores your terrible teams had, not mine, but some of yours.

We will get into that.

I've got a feeling that there's few surprises in the top 5 of each position this week, but why not take a quick little gander:

QB

1. Alex Smith - 38 points.  Yeah seriously guys, Alex Smith starts as the #1 QB in fantasy.  I'm here to warn you that if this doesn't strike you as proof the Chiefs are fools gold, I don't know what will.  The Patriots D must be real bad, especially considering I bet Hilland Hunt show up on these lists.
2. Matt Stafford - 34 points.  In true Stafford form he looked like he was going to have a bad game until well into the 3rd quarter.  He had one of his good weeks, and definitely was part of the magic that helped Alex win his first matchup.
3. Sam Bradford - 31 points.  Noodle arm Sam shredded up the Saints, something that pretty much everyone can do.  Thielen and Diggs look great, so maybe just maybe we're seeing someone that could become a pretty damn good weekly start.
4. Trevor Siemian - 25 points.  What the hell is this week.  Siemian? Bradford? Alex Smith?  Anyway, I don't think his throws looked very good but he did look confident in the team.  Chargers D isn't bad, but they don't look like world beaters either.
5. Philip Rivers - 23 points.  Rivers is pretty good so this doesn't particularly surprise me, MNF was pretty lucrative.  Keenan Allen survived so his team is about 400% healthier than it was week 2 last year.

RB

1. Kareem Hunt - 44 points.  A pattern emerges, my intense dislike for the Chiefs and two top players at their position.  Hunt looked good, I don't think this good but it is probably very reassuring for Jared to see that Hunt is capable of it.
2. Tarik Cohen - 24 points.  Who are these people?  Anyway, this is like a WR in the RB slot, and considering that there are no longer any WRs in Chicago, this guy is valuable.  He's totally not on waivers though so please don't check.
3. Mike Gilislee - 22 points.  Dude settled into the role that once was Blount's.  Pats RBs aren't typically easy to understand.  However, the Pats are going to be angry most likely so expect some good offensive showing.
4. Leonard Fournette - 21 points.  I didn't catch this game, but I do know that the Texans were garbage.  Was this a good game by Leo Four or just a huge game of kill the clock.  Either way, that's a pretty damn good stat line for his first game.
5. Shady McCoy/Todd Gurley - 20 points.  Gurley still had a god awful ypc, but he had some nice catches and a TD.... sounds oddly like last year to me.  Shady looked good, but it was against the Jets, but I can't imagine that he'll get worse.

WR

1. Antonio Brown - 29 points.  I'm not going to brag much but it makes sense you know.  And it was pretty rad.  11 of 11 sounds pretty sweet.
2. Stefon Diggs - 28 points.  It was against the Saints, but the fantasy community knew he was capable.  Dudes a beast, and if those injuries were just flukes before he could have a special year.
3. Tyreek Hill - 26 points.  Oh boy another Chiefs player.  Dude is fast though, and if Alex Smith has truly learned how to go deep than dammit that's probably gonna be a good connection. I'll believe Alex has learned that when I see it though.
4. Adam Thielen - 24 points.  This is actually a similar pattern to the Chiefs, this is a lot of Vikings players.  Could be the Saints are just bad.  What I think is that the Vikings are going to be solid, they probably won't blow up like this every week, but they should be alright.
5. Kenny Golladay - 22 points.  Is he Ogletree or is he some other WR that actually played well the whole season?  Your guess is as good as mine, but since he's on Alex's team I know what most of the league is hoping for.

WEEKLY MATCHUPS:

Yuriy Yedinak vs Chris Cone

The game came down to MNF, Denver D vs Melvin Gordon and Keenan Allen.  

This was the battle between the best draft and the worst draft from what I had seen in the beginning, and it was a close close game.  A 4 point difference, and if Cone had played either of the 2 QBs of his bench over the 1st round pick Tom Brady he would have won.  Cone definitely needs to get an RB that's going to be helpful though, cause Samje Perine isn't going to get you any points at all.  

Yuriy, I have to ask if you know that Mixon was involved in DV, because your name fits that.  Just curious.  I think you got yourself a pretty good team even if Martavis looks bad with Roethlisberger and Bennett is probably going to get himself into some sort of suspension.  You got yourself some good pieces so keep up with em.

Yuriy wins 118-114.

D Smith versus Jake Yorke

The second closest matchup, and the only other one where both teams score above 100 points.  

Adrian Peterson really blew this game for D Smith, and my guess is that's why he was so mad at Sean Payton at the end of the game.  He was yelling "but what about D Smith!"  He knew, but how can you bench AD the first game of the year?  Of course knowing what we know now, I wouldn't be surprised if he got traded but just remember if you had played Sproles or Kamara you would have won, hell if you had played Forte you would have tied.  Good news is as long as Landry isn't suspended you won't have to worry about his bye week anymore.

Jake, you didn't have your best RBs out either, of course Shady will carry you when asked, but Dez, Graham, Powell and Brown have to have you a little worried.  You leave week 1 with a win, but it was close, and those guys all have major issues.  Your division looks to be pretty damn close as every team scored within 12 points of each other (seriously, 12 is the biggest deficit from one team to the next in your division).  Feel good about the early lead, but be careful.

Jake wins 111-106.

Alex Gomez vs Oscar Meyer

This one became something of a blowout after looking like it was going to be close heading into Monday.  

Dad, I know Brees put up respectable points, but is it worrisome to you that Payton seemed to want to use his insane RBBC instead of trust his HOF QBs arm most of the night?  Hunter  Henry didn't receive a target, and Hooper only received 2, so not a lot of usage there, but Hooper at least capitalized.  Your starters are pretty good but the depth behind them leaves something to be sought after.  The good news is that you have Beckham coming back soon and Rawls could be pretty useful after the disaster that was Lacy on Sunday.

Alex,  you came out with a win and the second highest score in the league, that has to feel good.  What I know doesn't feel good is the injury of the #1 overall pick DJ.  Now I know you have some RB depth, but at the same time the backups behind DJ are completely underwhelming.  So idk, but Golladay and Snead on your bench gives some room for an RB upgrade.  The most bittersweet of victories I must imagine.

Alex wins 121-97

Ory Yaslinskiy vs Jared Grube

One of those god awful matchups that's over on Thursday before the real games begin, Hill and Hunt gave Ory a gigantic Hill to climb and he was only able to make it up halfway before his team surrendered the Hunt.  

Ory, I don't think this was an awful showing by any means.  I think you need to replace Wilson because that shit is gonna happen all season long with that terrible o-line.  Rob Kelly isn't going to do you any favors, but do you have trust in the Panthers enough to play both of their RBs?  Could have been the good play this week.  ARob died, but at least Cobb and Kearse looked good on your bench.  You should probably look at this week as a test after how it went down, and know where you passed and where you failed.

Jared, I know I'm not going to be able to convince you but be wary, when that many players on one team have a huge week it usually ends up being because the other team is bad.  Hunt and Hill are relatively new, but Alex is a known commodity and suddenly he looked like Brett Favre out there minus the ints.  The rest of your team looks solid too, if Zeke is back all year (sometimes it looks that way other times it doesn't). You'll be strong, but as far as I remember, the team that's looked the best in regular season hasn't one the Chip yet.  So don't get complacent.

Jared wins 172-99

Matt Burke vs Andrew G-Mos

Andrew ended up winning rather convincingly despite a whole -4 from the Red Rocket (remember, I told you not to rely on him).

Matt, you played Eli the dead over Rivers, you should not do that until Rivers loses every single one of his receivers.  Bell had an uncharacteristic terrible outing, but TyMo actually got a lot of use as a RB. Your WRs do not inspire anything that even slightly looks like confidence at this point though, BMarsh couldn't catch even 2 passes with Beckham out?  TY Hilton is good but man, Tolzien is just so so bad.  Chris Thompson as the best RB on the Skins was one I would not have called though.

Andrew, Dalton lol.  Dalton Dalton Dalton Dalton Dalton Dalton.  Your WRs looked great because of Diggs.  I don't think 28 is his average as it was against the Saints, but it shows he's got himself a nice ceiling.  Eifert looked like death but then again Dalton Dalton Dalton.  You've got yourself a GLARING hole at QB DaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDaltonDalton.

Andrew wins 115-74.

Nic Meyer vs Valeriy Shishkin

This one was over before SNF.

Val, your team fell so damn flat.  I don't think it's awful, and you were missing Ajayi but holy shit this shows your lack of RB depth is serious.   Lacy did absolutely nothing.  Worse than nothing really, it was embarrassing.  Crowder almost scored negative points for you, and still only got 2 by the end of the game.  Demarco didn't look bad but the Raiders scored too quick to let him get rhythm, and Henry played more snaps than I thought he would.  I mean, really the positives for this week for your team are:  Rodgers is good, and Ertz caught some balls.  Also seriously, drop your second kicker dude.

Me, shits good.  Didn't have Parker or JizzRod, but AB looked like AB, Kupp is probably gonna catch 90 passes this year, and Benjamin didn't need to catch anything because the Niners can't keep it competitive. Third highest score in the league, so I'll take what I can get.

I win 120-75

POWER RANKINGS:

1. Dog Don't Mind (draft grade: B-)

2. Chicken Parm (draft grade: B)

3. 12 Bar Bruisers (draft grade: A)

4. Mixon Up Her Face (draft grade: A-)

5. Duke Nukem (draft grade: C)

6. DonSeans Underdogs (draft grade: B)

7. Facecleaters (draft grade: C-)

8. Run N Hyde (draft grade: C+)

9. Runs n Throwses (draft grade: B-)

10. Rip Lips (draft grade: B-)

11. Greenbowl Packers (draft grade: D+)

12. Buffalo Soldier (draft grade: C+)

Also congrats Yuriy on winning the poll for best draft.  YAY