Are you ready for some football!? I know that I am. I am in Toronto for work and the main concern or question I had to figure out is.. Do Canadians watch the NFL? Am I going to have to stream the game? Am I going to be done working in time (Thank goodness I am in the EST time zone) :). Tonight kicks off the 2018 NFL season as well as the 15th year of this league. I am looking forward to another fun and competitive Fantasy football season! Let’s not delay and lets take a look at this weeks games.
Pack Attack (0-0) vs Rapids Plungers (0-0)
Rapids Plungers is coming off another year of making the playoffs which is good. However, they are also coming off another year of losing in the first round of the playoffs, not so good. This is a team that knows how to win in the regular season however come playoff time they just cant seem to put it all together. The Plungers drafted 4 WR’s with their first 4 picks in the draft. It will be interesting to watch this one throughout the year to see if the lack of RB talent will come back to haunt them or will the stud WR’s carry them to yet another playoff berth? Pack Attack is coming off a tough 6 win season which saw their streak of 6 straight years in the playoffs come to an end. They will be looking to get off to a good start with a win here in one of the better rivalries in the league.
Prediction:
Check out the Yahoo predictions for this one.
Historical Look at this Match-Up
Rapids Plungers holds a 6-3 head to head advantage over Pack Attack and has outscored them 129.49 to 124.20 in those 9 meetings.
Bossman (0-0) vs 16hrs Ahead of You!! (0-0)
Bossman finished last season in tough fashion as they lost their last two games of the year and missed out on the playoffs by 1 game. Bossman is one of those teams that you know their coach didn’t let them get too down about things and I fully expect that they will come back stronger and have a really solid year ahead. Bossman ended up with the last pick in the draft and I think they did an excellent job of forming a solid team on paper. To get Keenan Allen, Fournette, Brady and Alex Collins with his first 4 picks is solid given where he was drafting from. 16hrs I am sure is excited about starting off another year with a clean slate. They have struggled to get wins and they are hoping that this is the season they can turn things around.
Prediction:
16hrs suffered a big blow when their 3rd round pick, Jerick McKinnon was lost for the year with a torn ACL. I am sure they were hoping for a breakout/big year from him. Bossman will be looking to take advantage of this and I think they will. I look for Bossman to come away with the relatively easy win in this one.
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
Bossman has dominated the overall season series winning 10 of their 12 meetings. They have been averaging an impressive 134.03 pts in those games to 16hrs average of only 112.66.
Big Papa (0-0) vs Sportsfreak (0-0)
Sportsfreak has been inching their way closer to that elusive first championship. In 2016 they finished 3rd and last year they lost in the Super Bowl by a mere 0.35 points. So if this trend continues that would mean that your Keepers Fantasy Football XV Super Bowl Champion will be… Sportsfreak. I am not predicting that, I am nearly looking at the trends of the past couple of years. Sportsfreak ended up taking David Johnson with their first pick. I think having him for all of 2 quarters last year didn’t sit well and they are ready for a huge season from DJ.
Big Papa had a down year, last year only winning 5 games. They are consistently one of those teams that make for a tough matchup throughout the season. One thing, I think is worth mentioning is the fact that yet again Big Papa has been awarded the paper champ of having the best draft grade of all teams. Big Papa started out their draft with two WR’s (Thomas and AJ Green) both of who could have big years. They then took a wildcard in Kenyan Drake. Overall it looked like a solid draft but the best grade in the league? Time will tell. So who wins this one in the Father vs Son match-up?
Prediction:
I think this could turn out to be one of the better games of the week. Both teams carry with them some ?’s such as Deshaun Watson, Kenyan Drake, Jimmy Graham, etc. In the end I am going to give the slight nod to Big Papa. Big Papa starts the season out 1-0
Historical Look at this Match-Up
Sportsfreak holds a 12-5 overall record in their 17 meetings. He also has been dominating on the scoreboard by averaging 120 pts per game to Big Papa’s 107.
BIGBOY! (0-0) vs. PackMan12 (0-0)
BIGBOY! is coming into this season with a little more swagger, a little more confidence knowing that they are the defending Super Bowl champions! They have had all summer to think about and relive their title run however it is now back to business as they go for a repeat championship. BIGBOY! had a solid draft and it would look even better if we knew what the long term situation with McCoy is going to be.
PackMan12 is coming off another playoff-less season. After having started off making the playoffs in their first 5 seasons in the league they have slipped a bit and have now missed the playoffs the past two seasons. They are hoping to start off quick with a win against one of their biggest rivals and now Super Bowl Champ BIGBOY! PackMan12 is banking on the fact that Saquon Barkley lives up to the hype and has a monster first season. I am not all that crazy about their draft this year but who am I to say as this was a team that drafted the Packers D in the 3rd round (# 34 overall) and yet they finished in the Super Bowl and came up just short of a championship that season. So will PackMan12 come out on top or will BIGBOY! pick up right where they left off last season, with a victory.
Prediction:
This seems like this could be another close game. I expect it to be a bit on the lower scoring side of things but a close game nonetheless. I am going to go with BIGBOY! to win by 10 points.
Historical Look at this Match-Up
BIGBOY! currently owns a 5-2 record in their 7 previous meetings. BIGBOY! has outscored PackMan12 in those meetings 128.46 – 116.99.
DaUnderdog (0-0) vs pack slayer (0-0)
DaUnderdog is coming off one of their best seasons as they finished the regular season as the #1 team. This faded quickly by losing in the semifinal round of the playoffs to Sportsfreak. However, you certainly have to consider this a big step in the right direction as they look to build on last seasons success and bring it into this year. DaUnderdog had a solid draft. Nothing spectacular but also not a complete train wreck. The pickup of AP might turn out to be a steal by the end of the year.
pack slayer has had a couple of down years. Three to be exact as they have failed to reach the playoffs in each of the past three years. Drafts are hard to get a good read on before any real games are played but I am not loving this draft overall. There are a few key players (D Henry, J Edelman, S. Michel, Amendola) that are going to need to perform at a high level for this team to make some noise. I know they will be doing whatever they can as not making the playoffs for a 4th straight year is not acceptable to this coach.
Prediction:
This is another one of those tough ones to call. If the combination of Matt Ryan and Julio Jones hit their projected total points of 35 in tonight’s game then I would pick pack slayer to win. If not, I would go with DaUnderdog. I think it is going to be difficult for them to hit that mark as D. Freeman will likely be the star of the night! 🙂 I am going to go with DaUnderdog to get the week 1 win in a low scoring game.
Historical Look at this Match-Up
pack slayer holds a 4-3 edge in their 7 regular season meetings. pack slayer holds the ppg game edge in those meetings 113-99.
HHH (0-0) vs PackerFANatic7 (0-0)
HHH is coming off a solid season in which it saw them finish with 9 wins and in 3rd place! They will be looking to build on that momentum and are looking to become the third team to have won at least 3 championships. I liked HHH’s draft. Picks 1-7 for them are filled with guys that are stars or have the potential to be very solid contributors in a ppr league. On the flip side of that these are also guys that could flop, even Kamara at #1 isn’t in my book the safest bet for putting up top 5 pick type of #’s. This will be interesting to follow throughout the year.
PackerFANatic7 came into the league last season and like most rookie managers in this league they right away made the playoffs and had a solid season. They didn’t do much in the playoffs as they were blown out by the eventual Super Bowl champion BIGBOY! This will be an interesting year for PackerFANatic7. They drafted the best TE in the game in Gronkowski and have potentially the #1 RB in the game in Elliott (granted I could say that about 5 RB’s this year). For this team to get back to the playoffs they are going to need some guys to make a big leap from a year ago and perform at a high level. So who wins? The Dad with the experience and championship rings (HHH)? Or the Son who is new up and comer in the league looking to gain some respect (PackerFANatic7)?
Prediction:
This is a fun one for many reasons but besides another father vs son matchup we also have the only matchup of the week which features two teams who made the playoffs last season. This looks to be another close matchup and I fully expect it to come down to Monday night. Look for Crowell to get a garbage time TD in Monday nights game against Detroit which will be enough to hold off PackerFANatic7 and get the win.
Historical Look at this Match-UP
In their only regular season meeting PackerFANatic7 defeated HHH by the score of 129.38 – 122.66.
teamAlaska (0-0) vs U Don’t Know (0-0)
teamAlaska comes into this season hoping they can get break the streak of seasons in a row without making the playoffs. We are now up to 6 straight seasons without a playoff berth for this team and unfortunately the news of their #1 pick Bell not showing up for camp was not what they wanted to hear. With the uncertainty surrounding Bell that certainly makes things more difficult and will force other bench players to step up.
U Don’t Know is in a similar position as teamAlaska as their seasons without a playoff berth has extended to an absurd 10 straight years. 10… I am starting to agree with U Don’t Know’s name at this point because I don’t know how that has happened and apparently the coach of U Don’t Know doesn’t either! They did draft the #1 QB in the league in Rodgers and potentially the #1 RB in the league in Gurley so those two alone should help them win some games but they are going to need guys like Allen Robinson and Kerryon Johnson step up for this team to not make it 11 straight years without playoff football.
Prediction:
Without Bell in their lineup expect teamAlaska to struggle like most teams would without their top pick and in this case the #1 overall pick. It doesn’t sound like he will play and with that said I am giving the win to U Don’t Know.
Historical Look at this Match-Up
U Don’t Know holds a 7-4 edge in their 11 previous meetings. Interestingly though teamAlaska actually leads the PPG totals in these matchups 117.56 – 116.80.
Enjoy the games everyone!