The fantasy draft is complete and your teams are set! Which means the dreaded wait of a long off-season is almost over and week 1 is finally here!
I didn’t hear from many of you so I am assuming you are all a little tense about your teams! No one is confident enough to guarantee anything even the two time defending champs in BIGBOY! remained quiet. Week 1 is always interesting and I expect nothing less this year. I for one can’t wait, so let’s get to this and take a look at the week 1 match-ups!
Pack Attack (0-0) vs Rapids Plungers (0-0)
100 seasons… NFL… Packers vs Bears… 16 seasons… Fantasy Football… Pack Attack vs Rapids Plungers… Ok so those two are not even close in comparison however this is a great week 1 match-up against the two teams with the highest regular season winning percentage in the league! Not to mention two GM’s that look at the start of the NFL season similar to the excitement one might feel on Christmas Day as a child! Rapids Plungers had a very clear strategy in the draft, which he usually does. This time it was all about the WR’s. Their first drafted RB was Latavius Murray in round 7. However, they came away with 4 quality WR’s in Hopkins, K. Allen, C. Godwin and C. Kupp. The pick I love the most however is Evan Engram in the 5th round. Outside of Kelce he was my #2 TE. These alone won’t be enough to win the league so they are going to have to hope some of the late round fliers they took on RB’s turn out to be home runs or this might be a team that is looking at yet another early post season exit. I will hold off on talking too much about their post season woes other then to say.. they have the 2nd best regular season winning percentage with a record of 88-55. Their postseason record is the 2nd worst at 1-13! Really, how is that possible? They will be looking to change all that this year as they strive for their first ever championship!
Prediction:
Check out the Yahoo predictions for this one!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 10
- Record: Rapids Plungers holds the edge 7-3
- PPG Avg: Rapids Plungers holds the edge 127.58 to 122.78
16hrs Ahead of You!! (0-0) vs PackerFANatic7 (0-0)
16hrs ahead of you!! comes into this season trying to get off to a good start and really trying to get themselves into a position not to finish last place. Oops.. did I just type that? I like to look at the facts and unfortunately for 16hrs they don’t paint a very good picture. It’s been 8 seasons since 16hrs last experienced playoff football. That can certainly change and it starts with going to yahoo.com and clicking that fantasy button. Last I checked, most players that are on IR or on a bye don’t score a lot of points! There’s some free advice for you! And yes.. I can send the last place item whatever that may be to Australia! Now.. that I am done motivating 16hrs ahead of you let’s get to their opponent in PackerFANatic7. They are coming into this season after finishing a disappointing 5-8 last year. They will be looking to change that this year and get back to the playoffs. They had the 4th pick in the draft and went with Nick Chubb. That is a risky pick at #4 but one they were willing to take. It will be interesting at the end of the year to look back at this one and see how it turned out.
Prediction:
Week 1 and predictions are always difficult and it makes it even harder given who I think is going to win. I don’t love the WR’s for PackerFANatic7 and right now I am just not seeing that star player that is going to go off for 30 points this week. With 16hrs, I think they go into Monday down by 40 points but pull off the win thanks to solid games from Watson, Kamara and R. Freeman.
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 2
- Record: Tied at 1-1
- PPG Avg: 16hrs holds the edge 126.02 to 109.91
Big Papa (0-0) vs DaUnderdog (0-0)
Both of these teams come into this season looking to get back to the playoffs. They both finished 6-7 and missed the playoffs last year. DaUnderdog is showing some signs of momentum despite missing the playoffs last year. In 2017 they finished as the #1 overall seed and last year just under .500. I know for some you might consider this average but considering how poorly they fared in some of the years previous I would consider this a step in the right direction. Big Papa has now missed the playoffs for two straight years and will be looking to change that this year! Maybe the fact that they didn’t get one of the top Yahoo draft grades is a good thing given they did the past two seasons. DaUnderdog went RB heavy in the draft and landed Cook, Mixon and Carson in the first three rounds while Big Papa took a very even keel approach and drafted Gurley, Mahomes, Henry and Landry with their first four picks. Will that be enough to carry them through this season or at least week 1?
Prediction:
I really like DaUnderdog’s RB’s this week. Lockett has the potential to be a really solid WR this year and this week and Will Fuller.. well all he does is catch TD’s. Big Papa has too many guys that before week 1 I just don’t know how things are going to look. Guys like… Pettis, Cohen, Landry and even Gurley to some extent. These are all guys that could way outperform their projections or I could just as easily see them struggling. With that said, I am going to go with DaUnderdog to start the season out with win!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 18
- Record: DaUnderdog holds the edge 11-7
- PPG Avg: DaUnderdog holds the edge 109.39 to 98.54
BIGBOY! (0-0) vs teamAlaska (0-0)
BIGBOY! is coming off back to back championships which has been done three other times in league history and now they set their sights for something that has never been done…. a three-peat! BIGBOY! took the RB heavy approach in the draft and came away with D. Johnson, L. Bell and J. Jacobs. That is a group of RB’s that if healthy could be the best in the league. As is usually the case when you go heavy in one position you lack in other areas. The WR and TE position specifically will be tough for BIGBOY! but there is potential their with D. Westbrook and K. Golladay. Overall this looks like another solid team for BIGBOY! teamAlaska is currently on the complete other side of the fence. They have missed the playoffs the last 7 seasons but in talking with their coach it seemed that maybe just maybe there was a bit more excitement this year or maybe it was because their coach doesn’t want anything to do with the last place “gift” whatever that may be. They have one of the best fantasy players on their team in C. McCaffrey and a solid base around him. I am not sure that I see a playoff team just yet but we should learn more after week 1.
Prediction:
The match-ups really seem to favor BIGBOY!’s players this week. I think those three running backs I mentioned are going to put up solid #’s and I expect both Westbrook (whose team will be playing from behind) and Golladay to be enough for them to start off this new season where they left off which is winning! BIGBOY! with the W.
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 9
- Record: BIGBOY! holds the edge 6-3
- PPG Avg: BIGBOY! holds the edge 138.75 to 102.41
Bossman (0-0) vs PackMan12 (0-0)
Bossman comes into this season in unfamiliar territory. Only one other time have they gone two straight years without a playoff berth and that was over 10 years ago! This is one of those teams that you just usually expect to figure out a way to get into the playoffs but unfortunately the last two years they have not been able to do that. Never in their history have they missed the playoffs three straight years. Will they be on the wrong side of history when this season comes to a close or will they be in the post season chasing their third championship!? PackMan12 had their best regular season ever last year winning 11 games and scoring their most ever points in a regular season however no one remembers it because they didn’t win a game come playoff time. You want to get noticed in this league? Winning in the regular season is nice, but winning in the post season is what needs to happen to get some true respect in this league! PackMan12 will be looking to do just that after a frustrating playoff run last year!
Prediction:
Bossman had the unenviable task of picking last in the draft and they came away with Tyreek Hill and Ezekial Elliott. That is about as good as could be expected when drafting last in a 14 team league especially given that Zeke is now back for the full season. PackMan12 outside of J. Conner in round 1 loaded up on WR’s with his next 3 picks. Evans is good but I am not loving the Woods and M. Williams picks. There are a number of guys on both teams that workload in my opinion isn’t clear and obviously that is a big factor in how they perform. I really like Winston this week against SF and that might be the difference. This one is going to be close. Look for Bossman to be down 10 points going into the Monday night games. JJ Watt (Swatt) gets a pass defensed and a sack while the NO defense does just enough and gets 1 point to lead Bossman to the 1 point win!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 8
- Record: Bossman holds the edge 5-3
- PPG Avg: Bossman holds the edge 123.86 to 120.17
HHH (0-0) vs pack slayer (0-0)
Is this the game of the week? Oddly enough, this is the only match-up that features two teams that made the playoffs last season. HHH finished off the season as the #5 seed but lost in the first round of the playoffs. pack slayer finished as the #6 seed but then they went on an impressive run all the way to the Super Bowl where they came up 13 points short of winning their first ever championship. Those are the kind of things that keep you up at night and I am sure they are more motivated then ever to get back this year. HHH has made it to the playoffs in back to back years but with not much to show for it. They went GB heavy in the draft with D. Adams and A. Jones in rounds 1 & 2 and then followed that up with Cooks in round 3. There is a solid core but as the season goes on I wonder if they will have enough firepower to keep that playoff streak alive. pack slayer’s draft was filled with risky type of picks. Kittle at 20, M. Gordon in the 4th round and J. Gordon in round 5. These could turn out to be great picks but when you seem multiple risky plays it is hard to hit on all of them. This is a team coming off a Super Bowl run so I am sure they had been doing their research and we will find out in Week 1 if their strategy will pay off.
Prediction:
The GB combination of Adams and Jones might struggle a bit against one of the best D’s in the league in the Bears. I think that M. Thomas has a monster game this week for pack slayer and I think the match-ups fall into their favor. I am going with pack slayer in another close game!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 8
- Record: Split at 4-4
- PPG Avg: pack slayer holds the edge 118.36 to 115.38
Sportsfreak (0-0) vs U Don’t Know (0-0)
U Don’t Know is coming off one of their best seasons ever last year. They finished the season with an 11-2 record and the #1 overall seed. However, like PackMan12 when it came playoff time they were no where to be found and lost in the first round to pack slayer. It was clearly disappointing but the playoffs are not something U Don’t Know is used to experiencing as they have only made the playoffs twice in their 13 seasons. They will be looking to get back their this year and getting the #1 overall pick sure helped! You always look for low risk, high ceiling type of players and with Barkley they have what could turn out to be the #1 overall RB, they picked up AB in the 2nd round which I don’t think anyone would be surprised if he finished in the top 5 WR’s (a risk yes, but potential is there), and Ertz in the third round gives them a TE that again the upside would be the #1 or #2 TE in fantasy and then Rodgers at QB who if he did finish as the #1 QB in fantasy no one would be extremely shocked. I say all this because anytime that you have a guy or guys each week that could rank at the top of their position you then just need to fill in the pieces around them. Do they have those pieces to lead them back to the playoffs? For Sportsfreak, they are coming off a disappointing last season that saw them finish at 3-10. Their worst season ever. To put it into perspective, prior to last year their worst season was 6 wins which if you think about it is quite impressive! This all happened after their demoralizing 2017 season in which they lost the Super Bowl by 0.35 points to their little brother! I guess we will find out this season if they have overcome that or not. They grabbed two top Tier WR’s in the first two rounds of the draft (OBJ & JuJu).
Prediction:
Like most teams in Week 1 there are questions marks and the trend is somewhat of a wait and see approach as I try and pick these games but I am going to go with U Don’t Know to get the win in this one thanks to a big game from A. Brown on Monday night.
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 13
- Record: Sportsfreak holds the edge 8-5
- PPG Avg: Sportsfreak holds the edge 115.96 to 106.13
Good Luck everyone!
