Week 6 Recap!

Week 6 Recap!

Hey guys, back from the dead!  I'm going to be doing these every two weeks now and they'll be a lot shorter.  The reasoning behind this is that they require quite a bit of time and work to sit and write about it, and mostly I don't think they're creating much conversation.

Anyway, week 6 is going to be my almost half-way through the season stat week!  If there's anything you're curious about that isn't here let me know, I'll see if I can figure it out.

SCORING STATS:

• The average weekly score in our league (this is total points put up by a team, not just football in general) is: 1,603.5.
• The lowest total score of any week so far was week 3, with a pathetic total of 1,481.  After that Week 6 came in second to last with 1,581.  
• The highest total score of any week so far was week week 4, blowing up with 1,691.  The second highest score was week 2 with 1,648.
• All things told through 6 weeks our league has put up a total of 72 different rosters.  The average weekly score of any 1 roster is 133.63.
• Each team's weekly average is:
1. Chris Pender - 162.33 (4-2)
2. Alex Gomez - 152 (6-0)
3. Yuriy Yedinak - 146.5 (6-0)
4. Orest Yaslinskiy - 145.83 (3-3)
5. Gary Meyer - 139.33 (2-4)
6. Valeriy Shishkin - 136.67 (3-3)
7. Nic Meyer - 133.67 (4-2)
8. Andrew Gomez - 128.17 (2-4)
9. Daniel Smith - 121.5 (1-5)
10. Chris Cone - 115.33 (2-4) 
11. Jake Yorke - 114.17 (1-4-1)
12. Matt Burke - 108.33 (1-4-1)
• What I find interesting is that everyone's points against are lower than the average weekly score EXCEPT:
• Chris Pender who is facing 154 points on average each week. 
• Gary Meyer who is facing 140 points on average each week.
• Jake Yorke who is facing 136 points on average each week.
• Daniel Smith who is facing 156(!!) points on average each week.
• Each Division's average weekly score is:
• East: 126.71 
• West: 149.88
• North: 124.38
• The average loss for each team is by this many points:
• Chris Pender: 9 
• Gary Meyer: 15.8
• Nic Meyer: 21
• Orest Yaslinskiy: 22
• Valeriy Shishkin: 23
• Matt Burke: 31.75
• Chris Cone: 34
• Andrew Gomez: 39
• Jake Yorke: 46.25
• Daniel Smith: 47.8
• Furthermore, the largest two blow-outs have both come at the behest of Jake Yorke.  He has lost by 70, and 72.  

Just thought that it would be interesting for you guys to see some of your team's stats.  Get a better idea of where your at both statistically and karmically.  Also, maybe it's time for a switch up on some teams.  After waivers clear tonight we will be halfway through the regular season.  That means there is still time to turn it around or fall off majestically.  Make the choice.

GAME(S) OF THE WEEK:

These two games came down to the wire and could have gone either way for the teams involved.  Talk about sweating it out.

Greenbowl Packers (Valeriy Shishkin) versus Yuriy Yedinak (The Chorne Zhopas)

Let me go ahead and get this out of the way.  For those of you that watched the Monday Night Football game you probably remember this, but for those of you that didn't:  Val plays Juszcyzk over Corey Clement and has to feel awful over it.  First, Breida stays active and messes up his plan, second things are actually looking up for Val.  Juice (I'm not typing that name out every time) is getting catches and actually showing up a bit in the game plan.  Then the fateful pass occurs.  Juice catches the ball and makes the first man miss, he's heading down the sidelines, he gains enough yards to tie the game for Val and he may get more!  Only, someone comes in and hits him fast and hard.  Out pops the ball.  The ball goes into the hands of the Green Bay defense and Val loses 2 points.  And so the score would stay.  Val loses by 2 points, or one lost fumble, 135-137.

Val: How many times over the years have you played Yuriy?  I know, even if you disagree, that this matchup is important to you.  It's your own small version of Ukraine vs. Russia, and guess what?  In this case Ukraine has won.  Val, you should have played Clement.  My question for you is, did you play juice because of how much you love the 9ers?  If so, I'll give you Breida for Ertz eh?  I won't spend too much time here, you know what you did wrong, and honestly I'm very happy you did it wrong.  It gives me a game lead in the division and I still have that early win over you.

Yuriy: Since Fitzmagic ended and AD is looking more human your team looks beatable.  Good, but beatable.  Now there isn't a whole heck of a lot for me to say, except I would ask what you would do if Bell does come back and they end up doing an even split between Conner and Bell?  That sounds unfortunate for your situation, but still better than those that don't have an RB2 to choose from.  Congrats on beating Val by the way, but he will get a second chance to prove that he can beat you, do not let him do that.

Nic Meyer (12 Bar Bruisers) versus Chris Cone (Fresno FaceCleaters)

Not a particularly high scoring affair, this game came down to defense.  And I don't mean that in some weird "oh I didn't score a lot because I needed to play defense" sort-of-way.  What I mean is this, Green Bay D/ST was the last position either of us had going.  I came into that game down by 2 points and was feeling fairly confident as the 49ers were missing The Handsome One and Breida had been banged up recently.  The 49ers came out and shocked the hell out of the Packers by proving that Goodwin can run fast no matter who the QB is.  Anyway, let's fast forward to the 4th quarter.  There was around 4 minutes left, the Packers kick off and the 49ers get the ball.  The 49ers get a 3-and-out, but during that 3-and-out they happen to get 7 yards.  These 7 yards would put them up over 400 on the day at 401, enough to make me go behind by 1.  I was losing, and the 49ers were giving the ball back to the Packers sub 4 minutes left.  Then the Packers had a very quick 3-and-out.  There was another chance.  Watching this I got nervous, I was worried. The 49ers had a 3-and-out of their own, and on 3rd down Beathard got sacked!  Enough to lose the yardage and 1 point for the sack! I was up by 3!  Then Rodgers goes down and scores a TD to tie the game.  The 49ers get the ball back.  They get yardage, I lose my 2 points. I am tied.  I'm going to get a tie.  Could be worse, could be a loss I guess. But then!  What did Beathard do?!  HE THREW A PICK!  I went up by 2!  And then the Packers sealed the game with a FG.  It was so nerve-wracking.  But I did win, 110-108.

Chris: I legitimately think having 3 QBs that are all very good hurts your team.  You're forced to play roulette every week, and sometimes it will lose you the week.  One of those times was this week.  You chose Goff.  If you had Wentz, or Wilson (not Watson), you would have won.  I suggest paring it down somehow, whatever way you choose.  Your team also got stronger with the Freeman injury, now Coleman should be a starter all year. I think that's good for you.  Focus on getting a TE and hope you choose the right TE and your team can compete.

Nic: There are some things I know that makes me believe I have insider information.  Therefore I may not divulge it here.

POWER RANKINGS!

1. Alex Gomez (912 PF) Previously 1.
2. Yuriy Yedinak (879 PF) Previously 2.
3. Chris Pender (974 PF) Previously 3.
4. Nic Meyer (802 PF) Previously 4.
5. Orest Yaslinskiy (875 PF) Previously 8.
6. Valeriy Shishkin (820 PF) Previously 6.
7. Gary Meyer (836 PF) Previously 5.
8. Andrew Gomez (769 PF) Previously 11.
9. Christopher Cone (692 PF) Previously 7.
10. Jake Yorke (685 PF) Previously 10.
11. Matt Burke (650 PF) Previously 12.
12. Daniel Smith (729 PF) Previously 9. 

GOOD LUCK NEXT WEEK!

Week 4 Recap!

Week 4 Recap

You know it's funny, I was sitting in Maui Hawaii at the resort bar sipping on a Pina Colada enjoying life, when out of the corner of my eye I saw Cooper Kupp catch his second touchdown.  In a typical moment like this I would be upset, and while right after that I was certain I would lose, I enjoyed the rest of my night.  Part of it was definitely Brandin Cooks scoring, and part of it was seeing Dalvin Cook look okay despite scoring basically nothing.  The other part of it was definitely being able to drink fruity drinks in tropical weather while getting beat. So really, if at anytime that you are tilting and upset at how the week is going for you just go to a tropical island and get yourself a nice little setup.  And don't let a player come in and leave immediately, more on that later.

Top 5 Players

QB:

1. Patrick Mahomes KC, 140 Points.
• Showtime Showtime, Showtime, Showtime.  The worst thing about Patrick Mahomes is that he plays for the Chiefs and lets Andy Reid make fun of his voice.  The second worst thing about Mahomes is that if you watch the games the announcers will not stop saying that his nickname is Showtime, and that Showtime does this and Showtime does that.  We get it, he's good.  The numbers reflect that as well.
2. Matt Ryan ATL, 124 Points.
• Maybe I was wrong about Matt?  Doubt it, but there's a probability.  He's number two four weeks in, but number 29 in my heart.  The defense for Atlanta looks really bad and that works out quite well for QBs.  Also I guess having a second option other than Ridley is good, and Jones seems like an elite second option.  I wonder how much will change if Freeman looks really good coming back.
3. Ryan Fitzpatrick TB, Jared Goff LAR, 120 points.
• Well, the Fitzmagic is over it appears.  He had a good quote regarding his season though, stating that he would either be MVP or benched and was going to be happy with it either way.  Well maybe it wasn't the best version of this season for him, but you bet your ass he had fun.
• Goff showed that it doesn't really matter what you do against LAR they are going to score.  Will it be Kupp?  Will it be Woods?  Will it be Cooks?  Will it be Gurley?  The answer to all of those is yes.  That offense is looking impeccable right now and while Goff has not done a ton to prove that he's "great" he has done enough to show that he can use the ridiculous level of weapons he has on his team.
4. Drew Brees NO, Kirk Cousins MIN, Philip Rivers LAC, 111 points.
• Defense is bad, but what happens to Brees when Kamara just gets to run in and score every single TD? Brees only scores 8 and loses you your fantasy week.  Ingram is coming back and while he may be less effective after a PED ban, he might also score some TDs and that makes it look somewhat bad.
• Kirk Cousins had an awful week against BUF, but then went and looked amazing against the LAR.  Who knows?  The dude has skills and weapons but needs to show that he won't randomly drop AWFUL games against bad teams.  
• Rivers is abusing that TD magnet he has named Melvin Gordon.  Do you want to give a running back a running touchdown, or do you want to throw a short pass that accomplishes exactly the same but gets Rivers stats as well as Gordon?  Well, we have seen exactly what happens and Rivers likes stats like he likes changing diapers.  A lot.

RB:

1. Alvin Kamara NO, 132 points.
• Any CJ Spiller comps I had ever made were wrong, and I'll admit that already.  Kamara has looked well, and has made a point to prove that rushing does still matter!  He's on pace for over 1000 yards rushing and 1000 yards receiving and seems very exciting to watch and more exciting to plug into your RB slot.  Ingram could eat into some of the rushing and maybe receiving but how much does he have to do to actually take the ball out of Kamara's hands?
2. Todd Gurley II LAR, 103 points.
• Pretty good yard totals this week, only has one week above 100 yards rushing but he is getting TDs every single week.  He's also a part of that LAR offense that teams genuinely seem unable to stop.  They want to take away Gurley?  Okay, the WRs will kill you.  I think that makes Gurley pretty safe.
3. Melvin Gordon LAC, 102 points.
• Sometimes fantasy imitates reality, and in this case it does.  Gordon is the second rated Los Angeles running back, just like the Chargers are the second-rate Los Angeles team.  Much like I talked about with Rivers above, Gordon is a beneficiary of being an end zone magnet and having a QB that wants to toss short side-armed throws to a RB, because throwing it to a WR can sometimes be kind of hard.   Melvin has managed to score every week except the first, and he is apparently a premiere receiver in the league.
4. Saquon Barkley NYG, 87 points.
• So pretty big drop from Gordon to Barkley, 15 points is a fine game.  Barkley is probably at the moment my least favorite RB in the league because of what he has done to that Giants offense.  Let's run and give crappy passes to the rookie to prove that he was worth the 2 overall pick!  Regardless of how I feel though, Barkley has scored over 20 points in each game and has a TD in 3 out of 4.  The problem with Barkley is that his rushing totals look really bad, and the Giants are going to have to change something up if they actually want to win games.
5. Ezekiel Elliott DAL, 81 points.
• After failing to score more than 20 in any of the prior 3 games Elliott has begun to eat again dropping 33 against the Lions.  Elliott has been a good pick thus far and if he can start some momentum after this game then maybe Elliott can blow up and have a hell of a season.

WR:

1. Michael Thomas NO, Adam Thielen MIN, 98 points.
• Michael Thomas is looking a bit down after his hot start, and I don't think that it is a coincidence that Kamara scores 3 TDs and has such a monster game at the same time.  This is the hard part of fantasy knowing how to feel when your stud is in a great offense and then someone else shows up and scores all the points.  
• Thielen is kinda looking like the real second coming of Wes Welker, and that's not just because he is white.  It's also because he manages to get a ton of receptions and finds the open spot in the field consistently.  He needs to be careful about how much he yells at refs for making him get looked at for a concussion.  That's certainly not going to help him get any flags thrown for pass interference.  Also, this guy was an undrafted WR. 
2. Mike Evans TB, 85 points.
• It's probably not any huge surprise that he had his worse game against the Bears, and it's probably also not a huge surprise that he has his worst game when Fitzpatrick got benched.  He still had a good game though!  He will probably drop out of the top 5 because of his bye week coming up, but really we gotta see how he looks with Winston taking back over.
3. DeAndre Hopkins HOU, 84 points.
• No surprises, Hopkins still catches almost everything thrown his way.  He still is doing incredibly well considering that Fuller has shown up across from him too.  I imagine nothing will change as we go forward, as long as Watson and he stays healthy it will be fine.
4. Cooper Kupp LAR, 83 points.
• Oh Kupp, putting together standard weeks the first 3 game.  Then comes game 4, the game where I play my dad and LAR plays on Thursday, and Kupp decides "let's go score 37 points."  Who is this guy?  I like him as a receiver a lot, but that game came out of nowhere.  Being a part of the LAR offense pays dividends.

TE:

1. Jared Cook OAK, 74 points.
• Well I had the idea that it was the year of the Cook, and this seems to be the only true part of it.  I'm going to not-so-humble brag right now and just let you guys know I was the last person to draft a starting TE and boy has it worked out.  Cook has been ridiculous and actually looks like the WR2 on the Raiders.  
2. Travis Kelce KC, 69 points.
• Nice.  Kelce is benefitting from Mahomes but Mahomes is also benefitting from Kelce.  He looked like he was going to have an awful week until the final two quarters of the Monday Night game and then suddenly he had a great game!  Kelce can make points in a big way and very quickly, as much as I dislike Kelce he is a force in the TE slot.
3. Zach Ertz PHI, 62 points.
• With Jeffery back there was rumbling that Ertz might see a bit of a decline, and that showed to be untrue.  Ertz is still getting thrown to by Wentz and he will make good use of that.  He's been as solid as he can be.
4. George Kittle SF, 56 points.
• I just absolutely enjoyed how much Kittle slowed down at the end of that huge TD he had.  He looked like he was going to fall down on his own if the end zone didn't magically appear at the end.  Beathard appears completely willing to use Kittle and he might be one of the few pieces of that offense that is safe even though Jimmy G is out.
5. Eric Ebron IND, 49 points.
• The secondary TE for the Colts is a top 5 TE on the season so far.  Ebron might be good, but man does the TE position just look so poor.  So so poor.

Head-to-Head Matchups

Yuriy Yedinak (The Chorne Zhopas) versus Andrew Gomez (1 'Tree Hills)

I won't tell you what Yuriy's name means, but rest assured he is insulting you.  In a game where Yuriy's team looked mortal and dropped the second worst score of the week, Andrew couldn't get it done and dropped the lowest score of the week.  Just wow!  What luck that Yuriy has.  Yuriy wins 112 - 104.

Yuriy: Yeah you managed to go 4-0 without Ingram playing.  This week however shows you that your players are not unstoppable.  Conner didn't look that good, Bell is reportedly coming back to the Steelers and wil not be traded, Miller didn't put up his usual 10 points, and Evans lost that Fitzmagic.  I'm sure at 4-0 you aren't sweating, but here comes that gradual decline that happens when you stagnate a bit.  Be aware man, be aware.

Andrew: Aside from the Steelers D going negative, the worst part about your team was the complete and total middling performance from every single player.  It's not that any of them had bad games (Outside of Cole and Crabtree) it's just that you didn't see any large performances from Hill or Hilton. If Hilton is out, where is the explosiveness going to come from?  Rely fully on Hill?  Seems risky, might need some boom or bust injected into that lineup.

Alex Gomez (Rivers Football Cream) versus Jacob Yorke (DonCobbs Underdogs)

Alex starts 4-0, another start to a fantasy season that will surely end in a sad sad loss in the playoffs.  Jake can't catch a break and goes against Alex with byes holding his team down in a week where he really did not perform poorly.  Jake plays two of the top three players in this matchup and still loses 144 - 132.

Alex: Boyd is your highest scoring WR, what a strange way to build a team.  Having Gurley and Kelce seems to be nice, and for some reason Rivers keeps on scoring points at a fast pace.  You do have a definite hole at RB2 in your squad but aside from that it seems to be working out.  I imagine there is some worry about Geronimo's concussion and your teams reliance on number 2 WRs, but with surefire Gurley hanging out on your team you probably have a pretty high floor each week on your score.

Jake: If you had CMC in there and played a defense that didn't get you negative points, you probably would have won.  It must be frustrating to have your RBs outside of Gordon underperform regularly.  It must also be very frustrating to have Cooper finally show up and then you lose the game by 12 points.  1-3 looks bad, but it ain't over yet.  

Daniel Smith (Run n Hyde) versus Orest Yaslinskiy (Mustard Tigers)

Ory's team finally shows up in a big way and brings down Daniel handily.  The difference between the two teams can be summed up in two slots, the QB slot was a 34 point swing towards Ory, the WR2 slot was another 31 point swing for Ory and while that is the difference in this game.  There wasn't much Daniel could do as this just appeared to be Ory's week and he wins 177 - 115.

Daniel: That Cam Newton bye week hurt pretty bad didn't it?  You have two incredibly useful pieces in Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski but it has to be clear to this point that they won't do it for you on their own.  There's quite a few holes on your squad, and yeah the QB won't typically put up a goose egg, but if Fitz is out or hurting still that's a big deal when Ted Ginn is your other starter.  Might be worth trying to move some pieces to get more value overall in your lineup.  Either that or play the waiver wire hard.  You still have $200, that's your whole entire budget.  You should probably use it because you can't take it with you.

Ory: Well that has to feel good, getting your first win and doing it while scoring the second highest weekly score.  Jordan Howard was your biggest question mark and I think that's hilarious because the Bears had a perfect game in which to ice the game with Howard.  I hope you're enjoying Enunwa, so far that trade looks good for you.  If you believe that Davis is actually capable of doing that every week than suddenly your team looks strong.  

Chris Cone (Fresno Facecleaters) versus Matt Burke (The Autobots)

Signs of life!  From both teams!  This was a matchup I liked to watch, and both teams looked good and competent.  It comes down to a few huge blowup games and Jared Goff made the blowup the largest.  Chris wins this game 169 - 131.

Chris: How about that QB and WR strength?  Your RBs scored alright too, but look incredibly shaky once Freeman comes back.  Clearly your WRs won't blow up at the same time every single week, but take a look and realize that the potential is absolutely there.  You have $200 left on your waiver budget for the year too which means, maybe you should make a bid and get the guy you want.  You're in charge of course, but it might be a good idea.

Matt: Check it out, when your WRs actually play and Kareem Hunt shows up like a first round pick your team can score some points.  I will say sorry because while Dalvin Cook didn't do better, having Drake and Howard in your lineup sunk your ship a bit.  One of the other RBs would have made it respectable and if Jordan Reed wasn't on bye you really might have won.  I like your team going forward especially if Ridley is the truth.  Keep on it, you're making your yearly run after starting winless.

Valeriy Shishkin (Greenbowl Packers) versus Chris Pender (Dog Don't Mind)

By far the highest scoring matchup of the week, it still ended in a blowout loss for Val.  But man, how do you go against Kamara dropping 40 points and James White dropping 30?  That's a dominant RB game, and it makes all the difference.  -9 from the Vikings D had to hurt but at least Val never really had a chance, losing 181 - 144.

Val: Watkins gets hurt and might be out for a while, and Fitzpatrick gets benched potentially hurting Jackson's value.  Not a great week for your WR 3/4.  You're welcome for Jordy Nelson though.  Your RBs look like absolute garbage honestly, it could just be Freeman out and Thompson on bye but holy cow having to rely on Henry and Riddick might legitimately be the reason you lost this game.  Ertz is a great guy to have in your TE slot and your WRs are showing a lot of competence.  

Chris: No slot on your team under 10 points.  That's asinine.  One player that scores 40, one player that scores 30, and then no bad games by anyone else. Your team looks ridiculous in a good way, but we finally saw Mahomes look like a human, and if someone can figure it out that means everyone can figure it out.  My biggest worry for your team right now is Ingram coming back for the Saints and stealing some of the huge upside for Kamara, because if Kamara and Mahomes don't keep blowing up you could see your scores drop.  Probably not by a ton, but drop enough to lose some games.

Gary Meyer (Rip Lips) versus Nic Meyer (12 Bar Bruisers) 

Well, if this matchup were to happen it would be when I'm trying to enjoy my time and relax.  Surprisingly enough I managed to do that still because as I said before Kupp made me realize I was going to lose early in the week.  My team still decided to make a strong effort regardless of me trading away my opportunity to win for a guy that scored 2 points.  Totally cool.

Gary/Dad:  I'm not too mad that you won this, you deserved to win because honestly your team is very good. That Thursday night game was absolutely asinine and a farce against humanity but that's alright, you did well.  Zeke is looking strong and Rodgers is still respectable (although almost certainly not what you wanted when you drafted him).  That TE slot is probably going to haunt you all season long now that Dissly is on IR, and if Kamara doesn't slow down than Thomas might not be as strong as he had been, but your team clearly has ways to overcome this.

Me: All I really want to say here is that I would have tied with you dad if Fournette had just not played.  I would have played Yeldon and I would have won.  Jared Cook is also my favorite current Raider right now.

POWER RANKINGS

1. Alex Gomez (590 PF). Previously 2.
2. Yuriy Yedinak (589 PF). Previously 1.
3. Chris Pender (656 PF). Previously 6.
4. Nic Meyer (554 PF). Previously 3.
5. Gary Meyer (581 PF). Previously 5.
6. Valeriy Shishkin (525 PF). Previously 4.
7. Chris Cone (501 PF). Previously 7.
8. Orest Yaslinskiy (595 PF). Previously 10.
9. Daniel Smith (509 PF). Previously 11.
10. Jake Yorke (484 PF). Previously 8.
11. Andrew Gomez (471 PF). Previously 9.
12. Matt Burke (387 PF). Previously 12.

Good Luck Next Week!

Week 2 Recap

Week 2 Recap - For Reals Guys

Top 5 Players

QB:

1. Ryan Fitzpatrick TB, 87 points.
• The man with the swag, the dude just having fun, Fitzmagic, the beard, however you want to know him as just remember that the objective fact in our league is that he is known as the QB1 right now.  Those weapons are electric, his play isn't hectic, no receivers feel dejected, are you all still skeptics?  Ryan Fitzpatrick is playing like a man that is totally relaxed and completely in sync and trusting his receivers.  Can Winston still come back and take the job?  Are we really seeing the renaissance of Harvard man?  It's a fun story at the very least.
2. Patrick Mahomes KC, 86 points.
• Has played LAC and PIT.  Both teams that have a high powered offense that can score and keep Mahomes throwing.  LAC was missing Bosa and PIT just looks like it has an absolutely awful defense.  I'm not saying its certain that we see Mahomes regress, but I think its more likely than not.  Remember KC last year?  Hunt blew up through the first half of the season and then dropped off significantly after their bye, it could also happen with Mahomes.  The excitement of Mahomes throwing 10 TDs through his first two games shouldn't overshadow the fact that Fitzpatrick is killing it.
3. Kirk Cousins MIN, 64 points.
• How about that throw to Thielen for a TD?  If you haven't seen it, go and find it.  The ball seems to just go through defenders and magically wind up in Thielen's hands.  Kirk has looked pretty good, but it is worth noting that he played through 5 full quarters before the game ended and that won't happen super often.  With weapons like Diggs, Thielen, and Rudolph Cousins has the weaponry to continue playing incredibly.
4. Philip Rivers LAC, 62 points.
• Bolo tie himself, Philip Rivers has the sweetest schedule for a QB through two weeks.  He has to keep up with KC and their terrible defense week 1, and then gets to just smack around BUF in week 2.  Rivers has weapons and we've seen him be consistent season after season, I think he's a bit ahead of where he'll end up at the end of the year, but Rivers is solid and looking to have more children.
5. Drew Brees NO, 58 points.
• Are the Browns actually a good defense?  They had Brees shut down through most of the day, it wasn't until nearly at the end that Brees actually put up some points.  With Thomas and Kamara balling out though, it is important to remember that their QB will probably feast as well, and Drew Brees might really benefit from a bad NO defense.

RB:

1. Alvin Kamara NO, 59 points.
• 46 yards rushing this last week, a two point conversion and pass catching has helped out quite a bit in keeping Kamara up here. Without giving too many spoilers, pay attention to the rushing yardage totals of the next RBs last week to get an idea of a strong trend in the NFL.  Kamara himself always manages to look fantastic and even against a strong Browns D got some points in without a TD.  Getting these points without a TD gives a strong idea of what Kamara can be capable of week-in week-out.
2. Melvin Gordon LAC, 58 points.
• 28 yards rushing this last week.  3 total TDs though against an awful awful BUF defense and he might have made a player retire by halftime.  Gordon is also getting it done through the air as opposed to on the ground, and it is clearly boosting the play of his QB too.  The top two RBs here are also couple with two top 5 QBs above, and I don't think that's an accident.  Melvin Gordon has been great thus far, and his backup looks great as well.
3. Todd Gurley III LAR, 54 points.
• 42 yards rushing.  42 yards on 19 carries.  Against the Cardinals.  That sounds just awful, but Gurley did what he does best and scored 3 TDs.  The thing about Gurley is he doesn't always get huge yardage totals but that Rams offense is so stacked with weaponry that I have no doubt that they will be able to get into the redzone consistently and that is what they did.  There is room for regression built into a guy that scores with TDs though, and unless you believe that he is going to score 32 TDs he is playing a bit out of his mind.
4. James Conner PIT, 51 points.
• 17 rushing yards.  I remember when an RB that had less than 50 yards rushing just had a bad day.  But instead we have these guys that are exploiting match ups with LBs and making it work.  He did not do as well as he had the week before and that's probably because PIT went down way early.  A couple things you have to face, Conner is not Bell.  At some point I believe that Conner will drop off because he just isn't as good as Bell.  Second, PIT has a very bad defense.  He can get scripted out of games against good offenses and unless he can keep scoring TDs his days will start to look a bit worse.  He's still a good play but I think as the season goes on we see more and more that Bell is as good a talent as his agent believes he is.
5. Chris Thompson WAS, 46 points.
• 1 yard rushing against IND.  1 yard!  22 points!  This is something else.  Thompson has never been a heavy rusher, but at what point do we just start calling him a WR?  13 receptions for 92 yards, that's a lot of volume and frankly just sounds like a real rushing number.  There's something to be discussed regarding how PPR makes these backs better than they actually are.

WR:

1. Michael Thomas NO, 68 points.
• 3 TDs through 2 games and 28 receptions.  Those don't sound particularly sustainable but even if he drops off a bit he is still doing wonderfully.  His QB is Brees and frankly there's no one on that team with the ability to steal receptions from him at any considerable rate.  Last week was against a sneaky good Browns D also, so it's not like he's just picking on PIT and BUF.  
2. Tyreek Hill KC, 61 points.
• After that huge boom game week 1 Tyreek had something of a down to earth week.  If his down-to-earth week looks like 5 receptions for 90 yards and a TD than Tyreek is probably a pretty safe bet.  If Mahomes regresses then we might see Tyreek regress a bit as well, but a regression is still going to make him underdrafted and a strong candidate for top 5 WR.  Last year though we saw a home/away split that stopped Tyreek from completely blowing up, and it's early in the season so we could see that start to develop again especially once KC starts playing more competent offenses.
3. DeSean Jackson TB, 53 points.
• Is it 2008?  Sometime last week was the anniversary of Jackson dropping the ball at the 1 yard line and celebrating before he crossed the goal line.  What a time that was.  Well DeSean is back and Fitzmagic is finding him down the field. His wardrobe looked pretty good too.  If DeSean can keep this up (I'm very doubtful) he could be THE STEAL of the draft.
4. Mike Evans TB, 49 points.
• Another TB receiver, and one that makes a bit more sense to be here.  Mike Evans is also benefitting from the stellar play of Fitzmagic and has actually looked active and buying completely into the offense.  Mike Evans always had the body for playing in the NFL and being elite, and if the motor starts showing up now he could be a stud once again.  
5. AJ Green CIN, 48 points.
• Thursday night games skew things for me.  How much of the game against the Ravens was actually Green being a super wonderful stud, and how much was it the Ravens D aching and sore and finding themselves going against an actual team.  Regardless AJ Green is solid and he always is, 3 TDs is a bit much but Green should be solid most of the time.

TE:

1. Jared Cook OAK, 35 points.
• A super standard game after the week 1 blowup, are we seeing the trend of Jared Cook continue?  He still made some big plays against the Broncos and arguably should have been a little more used as opposed to Cooper in some situations.  Cook looked good and Carr looked a little better, but I'm not sure a Carr that is throwing well is a Carr you want for Cook.  Side note:  lot's of names on Oakland start with a C.
2. Jesse James PIT, 33 points.
• If you've been playing Jesse James through the first two weeks (pro tip: you haven't) than you've done pretty well, hell better than the people below him (obviously).  If in the future you start playing Jesse James you're chasing points and will go down in flames...just like Jesse James (I apologize for Cher references).
3. Will Dissly SEA, 32 points.
• WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?  I know the names but just take a look at this top 3, that's asinine.   I don't think TEs are actually scoring points anymore and we should probably adjust expectations for the rest of the season.  He has a TD both weeks and honestly looks like he really might be the second coming of the Barn Dog.
4. Travis Kelce KC, 30 points.
• Alright this makes me feel more sane.  I dislike Kelce, I still think he's a jerk and his nickname is Baby Gronk.  I'd never say that to his face though because he is a mountain of a man and is playing like one.  After an awful first week he catapults right back into the top 5.
5. Zach Ertz PHI, 29 points.
• He had a great game this last week and Wentz is coming back now.  We could see a surge of points coming from Ertz, and with the complete and total lack of pass catchers on the Eagles Ertz could seriously eat.  

D/ST:

1. Jets D, 35 points.
• Dominates the Lions and then loses to the Dolphins, but loses respectfully.  This Jets D might be seriously underrated because everyone is talking about Darnold.  If Darnold keeps playing well too then we could see the offense stay on the field longer and keep this defense energetic.
2. Bears D, 32 points.
• Watching a Bears game is like rubbing salt-in-wounds for Raiders fans like myself.  MACK MACK MACK MACK MACK.  Listen to MACK grunt, listen to MACK yell, look at MACK as a child, look at MACK miss a tackle.  I love Mack but it is just incredibly hard to watch.
3. Rams D, 26 points.
• Maybe Carr wasn't bad week one, maybe the Rams D is just as good as advertised?  I'm actually surprised they don't have a higher score after curbstomping Arizona.
4. Dolphins D, 23 points.
• A competent and solid looking defense, there is not a lot of excitement here but there is a solid floor that won't kill you.  
5. Cowboys D, 21 points.
• Good until Sean Lee gets injured, the Cowboys benefited strongly from scheming free-runners into the Giants backfield.  That's sarcasm btw, that wasn't a scheme that was the Giants o-line being godawful and Eli literally looking scared out of his mind.

Head-to-Head Matchups!

Daniel Smith (Run N Hyde) versus Yuriy Yedinak (Mixon up Her Face)

Yuriy is showing exactly what he has shown in many of the last seasons, a huge and very capable team.  The highest score of the week, and for the second week in a row.  It doesn't hurt that his opponent didn't drop a huge total, but I know Yuriy is feeling good right now.  Just remember what happens to early season favorites if they get too confident in their team, they burn out.  Anyway, Yuriy wins 180 - 105.

Daniel: Gronk underperformed, Antonio Brown did *just* okay, Fitz got injured, and you went right into the early season star.  Look it does kind of look ugly, its cool to accept that but keep moving forward.  Brown is complaining to the team and press, Fitz was hurt and quite simply looks like Bradford has no ability anymore whatsoever, Lewis has an increasingly annoying Henry to deal with, and Lynch is running for a team that does not want to win.  There are upsides though, you have Bernard so you don't have to waste money on the rental, Flash going to the Pats will probably help out Gronk a lot, and Newton seems absolutely impervious to concussions.  It's week two so there probably isn't a lot of terrifying thoughts that need to be stifled, but remember you can make movements and hell it might help your team.

Yuriy: I know that while you're sitting in your place reading this you've got a little smug smile spread across your face.  Well, you deserve it man, a strong strong start to the points leader for the season and a wonderful start regardless.  So with that said, enjoy it, my job here is to probably bring you back down to Earth a bit.  Kirk Cousins won't likely get 5 quarters to score many times in the future, and while he did good before that it wouldn't be that gaudy 41 that it was.  Now let's ignore Lamar Miller for a second (easy, I know) and look at your other two RBs.  Let's see, James Conner with 17 yards rushing but saved by a TD and some receptions.  The way I see it that PIT D is bad and James Conner could easily have like 4 points, he isn't Bell despite the first two weeks.  Adrian Peterson is already trending down, I won't say I called it but I did defintiely say that exactly like last season Peterson would show up and then immediately disappear.  

Your WRs look good right now too, AJ Green with 3 TDs is not a regular occurrence, and with Mixon out guess who the D will focus on?  Mike Evans has definitely benefited from the ridiculous play by Fitzmagic, but how long can that continue, or will it make no difference if Winston comes in?  Engram was the garbage time king on Monday and Funchess is so uninspiring it hurts.  With all of that said Yuriy, my main point is this: don't get too comfortable.  You know what happens if you get too comfortable, you coast into the playoffs and then get smacked right out of them by a team that has been paying attention.

Andrew Gomez (1 'Tree Hills) versus Valeriy Shishkin (Greenbowl Packers)

A division rivalry as old as the league itself.  This one ended up being far closer than the score would have you believe.  Both teams lineups looked solid if not extraordinary.  In a close game that could mean a close division race, Val holds out and wins 146 - 126.

Andrew: Let's go ahead and address the elephant in the room, you could have won.  It would have been so easy to win this game, but I'll say to you welcome to being a Roethlisberger owner.  The frustration that you must have knowing that if you had just never swapped him out of your lineup you could have tied Val in the division and instead now you are down to him by two games.  That's got to be the worst.  So let's look at your RBs.  Lindsay looked pretty good and put up a respectable score for someone that was supposed to be simply the change-of-pace back.  Scary though that right now he looks like your best RB.  Barber had an awful game despite a good offense around him, Carson has some upside but that o-line is awful, and well David Johnson is stuck with Arizona and quite honestly I know he's not making you happy. Your WRs still look really good though, so you have that going for you.

Val: So tell me the truth, how hard were you laughing after you saw Andrew benched Big Ben?  I bet it was at least a little bit of laughter.  Luck isn't doing you any favors, he looks about what you would expect for a guy who has not played in a long while.  Chris Thompson has looked wonderful just as he did last year, but I do wonder if he's more durable now.  Clement was a great choice man, seriously I wouldn't have done that but it worked out really well for you.  Henry is exactly what I thought he would be, underutilized and completely full of untapped potential.  Theo Riddick is a good backup for now, probably will be until Kerryon makes his big splash game.  Your WRs all showed up, and to me that's hilarious because it means that Sammy Watkins actually had a good game and that's just about the last thing I would expect from Sammy Watkins.  Final words would be, you made it to 2-0 in the division matchups and I will see you next week punk.

Jake Yorke (DonCobbs Underdogs) versus Chris Cone (Fresno FaceCleaters)

Role reversal!  Last week Jake was one of the lowest scores in the league and Chris had one of the highest there was.  This week, well it seems to be quite the opposite.  That's the way fantasy football goes, and Jake wins this 144 - 92.

Jake: Welcome to Matt Stafford!  I hope you're having a good time so far, I remember you were excited to get him for the first time and well, this is what it is.  Alex Smith played you though, he made it appear as though he was actually still good and was going to go against Indy. I thought it was a pretty clever prank he played. Melvin Gordon has been an absolute beast for you, despite the fact that the dude apparently can't rush off a handoff very well.   Speaking of being unable to rush from a handoff, how about that CMC?  Dude doesn't run he just catches, which for all purposes is better for this fantasy league.  Some confidence is being made here, but this big day for CMC also has the caveat that Atlanta has been historically bad at covering pass catching RBs for a while.  Ajayi and Cobb didn't show up for you this week as opposed for the last, but out of nowhere comes a big day from Cooper and Golladay is proving to be a nice late round pickup. A solid team, and Melvin is looking like a potential game changing piece.

Chris: I wanted to avoid making the comment speaking about "thoroughbreds" but I couldn't help myself.  But that's as far as I'll go.  Poor showing from almost every single 100% owned player on your team man.  This will happen though from time to time.  Julio and Keenan didn't have awful games, you're just used to better games.  Thomas looked godawful and he looked godawful against the Raiders D, which if I'm too be trusted at all it's about how bad the Raiders D is.  Your bench looked really nice though, there is some pieces there I really like.  John Brown is seemingly proving he is consistent, Moncrief is getting TDs, and Paul Richardson seems to be getting more attention from Smith than Crowder.  The thing is though, your team kinda looks like it may have a logjam.  There's a lot of solid and must-start WRs but there are almost no startable RBs on your team.  Burkhead looks like he hurts, and he is not exactly reliable.  Coleman is doing well, but he has a shelf life on being a starting RB and it's about two more weeks.  Gore should not be started, and he should probably never be started so be careful!   One bad week does not mean your team is bad, but it does show that there are potentially some serious holes in your lineup.

Alex Gomez (Rivers Football Cream) versus Orest Yaslinkiy (Mustard Tigers .)

Alex and a good start in the season, it feels like these two things are the norm but I remember last year.  I always look forward to Alex versus Ory because it feels like the potential for shit talk is there, but I have yet to see it this season.  C'mon guys!  The first of two meetings, Alex gets the early advantage winning 164 - 141.

Alex: Man, those scored make me miss having Todd Gurley a lot.  He's fun to watch because he gets a ton of TDs and that offense continues to click and keep moving forward without pause. Here's the thing, when you rely on jumping on the "hot new thing" each week you're going to end up getting burned by it.  Kittle and Stills are exactly like that, and you have to wonder what the norm is.  This is how you play though, and I won't hold my breath and die by waiting for that to change.  Mixon got hurt as I'm sure you know, and your RB depth is looking pretty bad.  Mack is part of an ugly, ugly rbbc, Williams has looked pedestrian at best and Jones comes back next week, and Richard is fools gold (a good real life back, but not a fantasy back by any means).  Agholor and Juju have looked really good, which is interesting to me as they don't seem like world-beaters. I'm curious how that's going to look next week after Antonio Brown whined about his usage and Jeffery probably comes back with Wentz. Also one of these days we will see what Rivers looks like when he's not playing against an awful D, but maybe not super soon.  Enjoy the start, I'm sure you remember what happens later in the season.

Ory: Matt Ryan really ran for 2 TDs?  Really?  I like that despite our conversations you still played him against the Panthers and it worked out for you.  And by work out I mean he scored less than Blake Bortles.  Thielen is looking great, Barkley is looking awful in real life but great in fantasy, Hyde looks solid but unspectacular, Howard is complicated, and aside from that it's a bit ugly.  You made a joke earlier in the week, but I do actually wonder how much of a difference that Greg Zuerlein would have made.  Imagine this, if you will, that Greg the Leg is in full health and going at it.  He scores on each of the field goals and extra points, but more importantly some of those 4th down conversions that happened (with some going to Gurley) would not have happened and suddenly Gurley gets 21 and Greg gets 15 and well... I'll let you dive into frustration and despair imagining that on your own.  Your team doesn't have in glaring holes assuming that Edelman does actually come back and Gordon gets a start sometime in the near future, but it is a sad day when starting DeDe Westbrook would have gone super well and actually would have been the second best WR on your team.  Take that with a grain of salt though.

Chris Pender (Dog Don't Mind) versus Gary Meyer (Rip Lips)

Easily the game of the week, this one wasn't solved until the 4th quarter of the Monday Night Football game.  Both of these teams look like heavy hitters and both were in the top 4 scores of the week!  So like every other game, someone had to lose and in this case it was my dad, Gary that lost with Chris taking home the game 162 - 158.

Chris: What an ending man.  Talking to you before the game you never gave up hope, but you seemed to understand that the hope was small.  That small hope paid off and so did apparently dropping bucks for a defense, something that I strongly would have advised against.  But here we are and now your team looks great, and you essentially bought a win off the waiver wire.  I'm not 100% sure what to say about Mahomes, I dislike the Chiefs strongly and definitely suspect some regression will happen, but until then enjoy the ride.  Mahomes really made this week though, no one else on your team blew up.  There were a lot of good scores but nothing fantastic and outside of your D the only player that scored 20+ was on your bench in Adams.  Don't get me wrong, the team looks really solid but I do think you should expect that this is a bit of a team getting carried by a 50 point performance (50 points is really really rare).  Your Crowell and McCoy split appears to be the beginning of a headache, but Landry may have just gotten a boost from Gordon being traded.  RIP Browns btw.  James White and Pierre Garcon don't give me any feeling of hope though, I think they may be slightly playing above their means and will drop off, but I'm generally pessimistic when it's not my team.  You have solid team, but don't rest.

Dad/Gary: What a loss, that looked like a solid win standing up to Patty Mahomes and laughing in his face.  Instead the team in your new city decided to dash your hopes.  The Bears heard you were in town and knew that they had to do exactly enough to make sure you lost and that I could never hear the end of Khalil Mack's name when their games are on.  The good here is clearly Diggs and Thomas, they're playing out of their minds.  Zeke didn't actually look great but somehow he keeps going and keeps giving interviews in crop tops that look absolutely ridiculous.  Hooper really did show up this week, and Dissly might actually be the Baridge of the new generation.  Your RB2 slot looks like a nasty case of "not this week" though, I have faith that you can get the right back but I know I certainly wouldn't want to.  Your team looks good, you just happened to go against a guy playing the Bears in the MNF game, and Chicago will do that to you.

Nicholas Meyer (12 Bar Bruisers) versus Matt Burke (The Autobots)

There was some validation for me this week, that's my main takeaway from this game.  In a game that looked nasty from the Thursday night game, I came away with the win 124-106

Matt: Allen Robinson looks pretty legit this season, I think he could end up being a steal for you.  That Tom Brady guy also seems to be doing pretty well even against Saxonville's tough D. Some things I note from your team: your best two WRs aren't playing, and if they were playing this score could easily be very different.  Kareem Hunt hasn't looked spectacular, but with that offense being so potent now there may be some games where the passing offense isn't as strong and they actually have to run the ball.  Dalvin Cook looks good when he is playing but he isn't producing a ton, and he just got some strange injury.  This is important to your team because it is clear that Duke Johnson is not involved in the offense when Tyrod is playing QB.  That means your RB depth is Penny, Hines, and Duke.  Penny looked better than the score would suggest while going against what appears to be an incredibly deadly Bears D, but you might need some extra help in your RB slot.  Your WRs look covered for all intents and purposes though.  I don't think your team is bad by any means, just hurting right now, and if you can secure a better backup RB and your two WRs come back healthy you could put in some good high scoring games.

Nic: Hey!  Will Fuller showed up!  So did Enunwa!  So did Cooks!  I was most worried about my WRs after Beckham, and it appears that maybe Beckham is the biggest hole.  That's a joke btw, the Giants should realize that the reason they lost to the Cowboys was because they completely stopped pushing the ball down the field and instead decided Barkley could be 100% of their offense, and it turns out he cannot.  They moved the ball when they threw downfield to Engram, and I bet they take note of that and utilize their best player on the offensive side of the ball in Beckham.  Fournette should be back next week, and I'm really curious to see what he can actually do, that will probably be pretty cool to watch.  The 49ers RBs have value, but hopefully it makes a bit more sense soon and I don't just choose the wrong one each time.  Goodwin could come back soon and I would like that a lot, depth and the ability to play matchups sounds cool.  Drew Brees is awesome, and Kenyan Drake is holding down the RB2 slot.  I mean the score certainly didn't look pretty and I could have lost to most other teams in the league but that's with a -2 combined score from my Kicker and my D.  That won't happen all the time.

POWER RANKINGS WEEK 2

1. Yuriy Yedinak (349 PF) Previously 1.
2. Alex Gomez (318 PF) Previously 4.
3. Nic Meyer (270 PF) Previously 7.
4. Valeriy Shishkin (260 PF) Previously 10.
5. Gary Meyer (313 PF) Previously 3.
6. Chris Pender (310 PF) Previously 6.
7. Chris Cone (249 PF) PReviously 2.
8. Jake Yorke (243 PF) Previously 11.
9. Andrew Gomez (260 PF) Previously 8.
10. Orest Yaslinskiy (256 PF) Previously 9.
11. Daniel Smith (254 PF) Previously 5.
12. Matt Burke (186 PF) Previously 12.

GOOD LUCK NEXT WEEK!

Week 1 Recap!

Week 1 Recap - For Reals Guys

You know, for a week 1 recap I have the least amount of injuries to talk about then I remember in a while.  Walker's leg snapped, which sucks as I think he's been one of the best TEs in the league since he was on the 49ers.  Fournette was found lying on the ground after doing nothing, it's to be seen how big of an injury that is.  Mariota can't feel his fingers, and probably can feel the Titans talking about starting Blaine Gabbert for the season.  Angry Doug Baldwin hurt his other knee, so at least now he has complete balance in what he feels.  

Tight Ends really sucked this week.  Sorry for Graham, Kelce, Ertz, Burton, etc.  WRs blew up in a few strange strange games.  RBs looked okay, and we had the longest game ever played in Tennessee versus Miami.  No ties happened so we should feel pretty good about that, half the teams won and half the teams lost.  Either you're starting in a hole or you're feeling good.  Let's take a look at the top players in each position.

Top 5 Players:

QB:

1. Ryan Fitzpatrick TB, 49 points.
• Almost dropped 50.  50 Points!  The beard, Fitzmagic showed up this week.  It's that Harvard education showing, he's smart enough to throw it to his WRs.  Everyone ate against what seemed to be a good defense before the season started.  If he keeps this up then maybe we don't see Winston popping his head back up this season, or maybe this is a sign that maybe someone should be rostering Winston to tap into those juicy TB points that apparently actually do exist.
2. Drew Brees NO, 37 points.
• Good ole Drew Brees really tried his best to keep up with Fitzmagic and he almost made it.  The Saints went way down very early and Brees was playing catch up the whole time afterwards.  How about his connection with Michael Thomas?  That dude caught 16 passes.  He made the most out of what he could and it really could keep up if some of those Kamara touches can continue being receptions.  This is Brees, I'm not surprised he is up here, I'm just surprised how that game went.
3. Patrick Mahomes KC, 36 points.
• Those shovel pass TDs are nasty and hardly fair.  They do exist though and Mahomes certainly took advantage of it.  Mahomes also took advantage of Tyreek Hill who... well he was ridiculous.  This is a great start from Mahomes, but the thing to remember here is that Andy Reid is really strong in his first games of the season and after his bye week.  I also wonder if he gets a little more reserved after throwing picks, because I can guarantee you he will.
4. Philip Rivers LAC, 34 points.
• As a quick aside, this top 4 definitely proves how important game flow is to the points you'll score.  The top 4 are the competing QBs in two different games with the losing team's QB scoring slightly less.  Rivers' team got off to a rough start in this game with two quick Tyreek Hill TDs putting them in a hole.  I've heard that the LAC defense is good and if that proves to be true Rivers probably won't throw up huge points like this often, but this week has to have shown that he can put up if he needs to.
5. Aaron Rodgers GB, 30 points.
• I thought for sure his game was over after that knee injury.  The Bears looked great in the beginning, and Aaron was playing okay.  Then of course in true Rodgers fashion he decided he needed to beat down the Bears in a heartbreaking fashion and threw up many many fantasy points during that.  Gutsy performance by a guy that just got paid, but watch out for how that knee fairs.

RB:

1. Alvin Kamara NO, 42 points. 
• Well it looks like Kamara can not get game scripted out of games.  For an RB it's usually pretty bad when your team goes down heavily.  I have to admit here that I believed Kamara was going to be CJ Spiller the second coming, and it appears I am absolutely wrong.  Kamara still put up huge points in a New Orleans loss and it doesn't appear that Ingram being out or in will determine his role either way.  40+ points is nasty, and if he can do this a couple more times than we could be looking at the start of the RB1 campaign for 2018.
2. James Conner PIT, 33 points.
• Nice trade for Yuriy.  I think this might really mean that Bell isn't a great talent but instead the Steelers have figured out how to run block nearly perfectly.  The Browns were a beast run defense last year and Conner put up points. Conner has shown has resilient he is by beating cancer, and now maybe he can beat Bell despite how insurmountable that sounds.  If Conner keeps this up I could see him keeping his job due to bad blood between Le'Veon and the Steelers.  He did fumble and almost lose the game for the Steelers, but you can't lose when you tie.
3. Melvin Gordon LAC, 27 points.
• So this guy really didn't have any TDs? 9 for 102 receiving line looks super nice, and with the way that Rivers threw the ball to his RBs I suspect it doesn't matter if they're up or down he'll probably get receiving work.  Maybe this was the thing that Gordon needed all along, who cares about YPC went you can get those sweet sweet YPR.  Yards per carry/Yards per reception for those of you confused.
4. Joe Mixon CIN, 25 points.
• I'll admit I was wrong about Mixon when he keeps doing this.  I will say it looks like Coach Marv might have finally understood that you can keep using players that are good and do not have to consistently mix it up.  I still won't trust a Bengals player that admittedly does look talented, but hasn't proven a single thing.  He looked real good.
5. Chris Thompson WAS, 24 points.
• HE'S BACK!  Thompson was the surprise that kept showing up in my recaps last year, and here he is again.  Thompson is something else, but this time not owned by Matt.  I'm curious to see how this goes if he can last the whole year, and he was started at the beginning of this year.  Alex Smith still looks good and a good offense can only help Thompson find the end zone more often.

WR:

1. Tyreek Hill KC, 41points.
• Within the first 10 minutes of that game Tyreek had two TDs.  I was happy he only ended with 41 points.  I very much don't like Tyreek because of his past and his current team but damn, he sure as hell blew right up.  So get rid of that KR TD and he still blew up.  I didn't watch this game because watching two divisional rivals sounds like torture, but I'm assuming he looked as good as the play-by-play made him sound.
2. Michael Thomas NO, 38 points.
• You guys want to talk about how Thomas got 16 receptions and still managed to be only the second highest scoring WR?  That's nuts, he had to be close to an NFL record.  He looked really really good, and having Drew Brees to throw it to you is helpful.  With Kamara on the team as well it's not exactly like teams can afford to double or triple him, so he probably can keep producing at a high level.  The receiver that has Brees locking directly onto him is a valuable player.
3. DeSean Jackson TB, 31 points.
• It's like McNabb never left the NFL and DeSean never left the Eagles.  Wow, blast from the past with DeSean doing amazingly.  Maybe he just really needs Fitzpatrick to play every week to keep this up.  He did get a nasty concussion so he might miss a week or so, but if I remember it right it seemed like no one actually wanted Jackson.  Oops.
4. Emmanuel Sanders DEN, Randall Cobb GB, 29 points.
• Case Keenum has a love connection with Sanders and it showed.  It also showed that the Seattle D is not nearly as good as it used to be. The team won and Sanders threw down a big stat line, you know the Broncos noticed that.  Can he continue being a better player than Demaryius Thomas?  I think with Keenum I'll say yes, but it remains to be seen.
• Cobb has some stat about how Rodgers throws to him ridiculously often out of shotgun.  Once Rodgers got injure they ran exclusively out of shotgun.  This bodes well for Cobb, and you know that the huge TD he had at the end of the game is going to have some fallout regarding how much Rodgers trusts him.  He is still behind Adams, but Rodgers is definitely good enough for two WRs as long as he is healthy.

TE:

1. Jared Cook OAK, 27 points.
• I like pretending that I knew this would happen and it wasn't just a homer pick.  Holy cow Carr only had eyes for Cook and Richard, which is funny considering the WRs on that team should actually be good.  Cook blows up from time to time, but if Carr keeps playing like he is terrified of holding the ball for more than 2 seconds Cook could keep it up, and he really does have the raw talent for it.
2. Rob Gronkowski NE, 23 points.
• There is no surprise here.  I guess the biggest part of him being here is that he isn't number 1.  He didn't let the Pats trade him, and that was cool.  
3. Will Dissly SEA, 19 points.
• So uh, I know that everyone is saying that this isn't a big deal (and I find it hard to completely argue) but does anyone remember when Barn Dog broke out?  That guy wasn't supposed to be anything either.  I did like watching Dissly play because he kinda looked like he was confused about why he was there.  I thought that was funny.
4. Eric Ebron IND, 15 points.
• The guy that is almost Lebrun, he had an okay game.  He caught a TD and a few other passes, which is really all it took for the top 5 of TEs.
5. George Kittle SF, Jordan Reed WAS, 14 points.
• One guy plays for SF, the other is getting thrown to by Alex Smith!  Whoa.
• Jordan Reed is healthy and when he is healthy he is good.  I'd suspect we see him on this list until he is no longer healthy.
• Kittle was a sleeper last season and it looks like he may be more than that this year.  Keep in mind before jumping ahead that Goodwin was injured early in the game so Kittle became a must target because Garçon forgot how to catch.

DEF/ST

1. Jets D, 25 points.
• Haha, this is all about Stafford just coming out and looking awful.  What a way to start a season though.
2. Vikings D, 18 points.
• They made Jimmy G look ugly.  Goodwin went out and then the SF offense just did not click.  Pettis did some good things but aside from that the Vikings just had Jimmy running all around the field and his WRs didn't help a whole lot.
3. Ravens D, 17 points.
• They played the Bills and holy crap Peterman really is that bad.  5 picks in his first start, 3 picks in his second start.  He's starting off his career super well.
4. Rams D, Jags D, Panthers D, Bears D, 13 points.
• They all did good!  Too many to really talk about in depth.

I'm not doing Kickers this year, but Greg the Leg is number 1.  Awesome.

Head-to-head Matchups!

Run N Hyde (Daniel Smith) versus Fresno Facecleaters (Chris Cone)

In a close matchup between two past champs Chris Cone comes out on top.  A very close game, the teams actually scored exactly the same amount of points if you get rid of their QBs.  That's right, the difference here was just the difference between Cam Newton's 17 points, and Russell Wilson's 25 points.  Cone wins 157-149.

Daniel: 149 is a strong game so don't feel too bad.  I know at this point you're sitting there staring at 0-1 and feeling bad but it is just week 1.  Here's the good news, I didn't believe your RBs would do any good, they did do good!  Dion Lewis flashed his same old self and looked good doing so, and Lynch dragged people with him which was just straight awesome. Antonio Brown and Gronk showed up which, trust me I know, is what you should expect.  The biggest problems I see here right now are Kelvin Benjamin and Sterling Shepard, one of which can be replaced by Ginn.  Don't trust the Snead, that might be chasing points very much.

Chris:  Check out that 1-0 dude!  Feels good right?  Don't rest on it man, you did good but you still very desperately need another RB. The RBs did fine, and your WRs actually do look capable of dragging them along but if one of them gets hurt you don't have a starter at all.  Go and get an RB. Other than that man, those WRs look particularly good. Keenan might not always do this good because of game flow but he is a strong target, and maybe Julio can supplement those huge stats with a TD.  Feel good with the second highest score in the league, but don't just sit on it.  Remember it is only week 1 and things change really quickly.

Mixon up her Face (Yuriy Yedinak) versus DonCobbs Underdogs (Jake Yorke)

The matchup won by the largest margin, Yuriy could rest easy going into Monday night knowing he had secured the win unless Stafford put up a career game (which he did, but not in the good fantasy starter sort of way). These teams appear to be completely opposite of each other this week. On one hand you have Yuriy's team that featured an incredibly solid output by all but a couple of players.  On the other hand you have Jake's team that outside of a few players all put up complete duds.  The highest differential in points with 70 we have Yuriy coming out victorious 169-99.

Yuriy: You tested out the new FAAB system early on by trading away 70 bucks for a player before the first week.  In a test to see if people would care if you traded FAAB and made Alex an early season waiver Goliath, I think you actually came out on top.  Now that's not to say your first round pick of Bell feels great now, but at least you're still getting similar output.  Aside from that, you made a trade!  And it worked out for you!  See man, no need to be afraid.  You played the wrong TE, but I don't blame you for that. Now on to the next few weeks to see if Evans and Green can keep up that production, and to find out that Peterson used up all his good runs in the first week of the season.

Jake: That's gotta hurt.  I know when I was texting you last night about Stafford you seemed calm cool and collected, but how about today? You lost Walker for the season ( :( ), Amari Cooper was almost completely invisible last night and Carr doesn't look capable of getting him involved, the Lions were the LOLIONS and it started with Stafford's problems, McCaffrey was vultured by Cam in what is a carryover from last year, Collins lost a fumble and was benched in a blowout, and Crowder wasn't seeing the targets you'd hope for.  Aside from that though it looked good.  Gordon was a baller and Ekeler still put out a good point total as well, and if Rodgers plays while hobbling then Cobb could have a bunch of solid games. Ajayi on your bench most look tasty for the upcoming weeks too.  Don't worry hugely, it is just week 1, but you had the second worst score of the week and if Amari doesn't show up then your WR corp could have some issues.

Mustard Tigers (Orest Yaslinskiy) versus Rip Lips (Gary Meyer)

The war of the first drafted D/St versus the first drafted Kicker.  How I miss both those players.  For a bit it was looking like it would be closer than the score ended up.  When Rodgers went down with 8 points and before Kupp played it looked like Gary might not have the strongest outlook.  However it very quickly changed once Rodgers came back and lit up Da Bears 🐻.  Ory never really stood a chance, even with that first Kicker off the board, Gary wins 155 - 115.

Ory: I do see a lot of good with this team.  No one absolutely blew up and had amazing stats, but players did show up.   Your RBs all did just fine, and while none of them were game winners, it is certainly not on them that you lost.  Thielen even had a good game and what must have been a great showing for you, backing your confidence in his season long chances even with a new QB.  You know that I have to tell you that Matt Ryan was exactly what I imagined he would be, awful.  Hell it was even worse than that.  Good thing you drafted... Bortles?  Hah.  Davis and Wilson I can't say would be my favorite WR corp, especially if Davis is getting passes from Gabbert and not Mariota.  Wilson might have had a problem with the rain delays but still, he didn't really help prove himself much.

Gary: How about that Michael Thomas?  16 catches is absurd and I can't remember ever seeing something like that outside of maybe once from Brandon Marshall.  Pair that up with Rodgers playing a hatred game against the Bears and you've got yourself cooking.  Now I know that you have to be worried about Rodgers' knee, but if he plays you better keep him in no matter what.  I'd be most worried about Greg Olsen though and replacing him with a new TE. Austin Hooper doesn't appear to be the answer at all either, so I don't think your backup should get significant play.  You do have some competition for Free Agent TEs so don't be shy, try and get the guy you want.  Overall it was a good week for you finishing with the third best score of any team in the league.

Rivers Football Cream (Alex Gomez) versus Dog Don't Mind (Chris Pender)

The oft-changed name versus the never changed name and a constant reminder that sometimes, the dog do mind.  Alex completed the first trade and then won despite getting nothing but numbers back in exchange.  Let's be super clear here, Chris would have won if he had just NOT played a D/ST. This game went into the late hours of Monday with Chris hoping that Gurley could somehow be bottled up by a Raiders defense that couldn't bottle water without a funnel.  Much like the Chargers versus Kansas City these two teams scored large and featured Rivers and Mahomes, but ultimately the script was switched and Alex won 154-148.

Alex: Hope that 70 FAAB bucks were worth it.  You lost out on the second highest score for an RB this week, not that it mattered much as you still won. Gurley still looked fantastic and Mixon had, by my estimation, his best game he'll have all season.  Jamaal Williams certainly didn't impress though, wouldn't it have been nice to have one shiny James Conner in that space?  Williams probably won't continue to be the starter for the Packers all season, but I guess it's fun while it lasts right?  Maybe next week he can get you 5 points.  So I'll say realistically you can't expect Kelce to only score 1 point many times this season, but also you can't really expect Kenny Stills to be that fantastic all season.  That 75 yard TD looked good, but by the 5th hour of that game both teams were giving up huge play after huge play.  Your bench looks pretty good too.  Rivers probably won't have that large of a game again, but if Mixon continues looking good your team appears solid. 

Chris: I mean, you should have won.  The Saints D killed you, like literally lost you this week.  They were a good play beforehand too so don't feel devastated but I'd understand if you felt somewhat bad about it.  So Kamara is the real deal, Mahomes looks like the real deal, and if Sanders and Landry can throw up points for you this bodes well.  Now McCoy as your RB2 looked really painful, he might have better days ahead, and won't go down legally, but the Bills need to start Josh Allen and he needs to be able to hook up with someone downfield to win, and for Shady to get some running lanes.  Adams almost lost Rodgers, and while he put up with Hundley, can he put up with Kizer the turnover machine?  It's hard to get TDs if you're throwing to the other team. Finally I'd say just enjoy this team, it looks pretty solid and could be a contender.

Dickson Bells (Matt Burke) versus Greenbowl Packers (Valeriy Shishkin)

In one of those odd ways this always seems to happen, the two teams that look the worst go against each other and somehow one of them gets the win.  This is what we like to call the featherweight fight, or basically two people with missing legs going against each other in a foot race.  Or maybe a drag race in which both cars don't have transmissions.  Or maybe a baking competition done without a kitchen.  Something like one of those at least. Valeriy ended up being the best at being the worst though and came out ahead 114-80.

Matt: So Matt has been unable to access his ESPN.  We're not certain why, but he is having an issue with his team not showing up.  If this has happened to anyone else let him know how to fix it.  Really his team isn't too bad, but losing Baldwin hurts when coupled with the Jeffery that he drafted.  To have both in the lineup makes it feel even more harsh. Kareem Hunt joins Kelce in the "can't happen super often" category of Chiefs players who seem very negatively affected by what happens with Tyreek Hill.  Dalvin Cook has a much better game than his score would suggest, and looked really good overall.  Tom Brady is Tom Brady, you know what you're getting even when you don't know the names of anyone he is throwing it to.  Jordan Reed is healthy right now, but I'd jump on TE free agents while they still exist so when he does get hurt you are ready to go.

Val: Well lets see.  Chris Thompson, your D, and Luck scored some points.  I'm not sure anyone else did though.  Hopkins suffered from a bad game by Watson, and at least if he's suffering you seem to score 15 points anyhow.  Henry was involved in that bad game that took 7 hours to complete and wasn't in any rhythm but he did have a 60 yard TD called back by holding that didn't seem to affect the play much.  Freeman will certainly get more usage if he's healthy, Matt Ryan doesn't look like he should pass the ball more than 15 times a game. Woods was close to breaking a few, and Watkins I imagine is the left behind player on the Chiefs who is really just playing decoy.  But he's got potential!  As always.  You missed the big DeSean Jackson game on your bench, bet when you play him next he'll drop 5 points.  

12 Bar Bruisers (Nic Meyer) versus 1 'Tree Hills (Andrew Gomez)

This is the game of the week for me personally, because it's my team.  Somehow Andrew lost a silly ass game where Tyreek Hill scored 41 points and Goodwin on my team scored a big fat 0.  But what matters is the point total at the end and it went down to the 4th quarter of the Monday night football game.  Andrew's team just couldn't keep up, and I won 146-134.

Andrew: Man I told you Big Ben was frustrating as all hell to own.  I went through his 5 int week last year, and this year he made it up to me by playing for your team and throwing 4.  I appreciate that.  David Johnson had arguably a bad game despite his 17 points.  The dude did not do well until garbage time, getting a TD that meant absolutely nothing.  If Sammy Sleeves is going to play so awful all the time then what hope do you have for DJ to blow up?  Hogan absolutely disappeared and instead Brady fell in love with Dorsett, to absolutely no ones surprise (/s). TY Hilton is back I bet, that was a good pick up.  Honestly Hilton and Hill I wanted to draft but they didn't make it back to me, I think that's a strong start.  Carson split evenly with Penny but looked absolutely better than Penny in every facet minus the fumble.  I dunno if Crabtree is going to do well, or if Snead is going to do well, or if John Brown is going to do well, hope you made the right choice.

Me: I've got my worries sure.  I recognized this problem with Fournette and honestly Yeldon didn't look that good when he was in.  When Yeldon entered the game every single drive afterwards ended with a punt.  Before Yeldon entered the game every drive was a TD or field goal.  Ugh.  I don't know what happened with Drake, that Miami game was an outlier I don't think can be relied upon.  John Ross caught a TD! Hell yeah!  Goodwin smacked his knee against a Viking, something a bit silly looking but his problem is a deep bruise.  Bruises hurt though, but he also now fits my name sake.  Drew Brees threw the ball a lot, I hope their defense really is that bad. I hope I hope.

Power Rankings Week 1:

1. Yuriy Yedinak (169 PF)
2. Chris Cone (157 PF)
3. Gary Meyer (155 PF)
4. Alex Gomez (154 PF)
5. Daniel Smith (149 PF)
6. Chris Pender (148 PF)
7. Nic Meyer (146 PF)
8. Andrew Gomez (134 PF)
9. Orest Yaslinskiy (115 PF)
10. Valeriy Shishkin (114 PF)
11. Jake Yorke (99 PF)
12. Matt Burke (80 PF)

GOOD LUCK IN WEEK 2!