We made it! Football is back! The draft is done, the hours (or minutes for some of you) studying is complete and now it is time to sit back and watch your fantasy team dominate! Well at least that is what all of us are hoping for this season. Some early storylines to start the season:
- Can U Don’t Know be the 5th team in league history to repeat as champion?
- Can Rapids Plungers tie the league record by getting to their 6th straight playoffs?
- Can 16hrs ahead of you! break their 10 year playoff drought or will they make it 11 years and break the all time record?
- Can their highly regarded (by Big Papa) 2nd round pick (Jared Cook) lead Big Papa to their first ever championship?
Also something different for this season is that the team you are playing this week, you will also be ending the season with as we have one extra regular season game! If you lose this one you will get another shot at it in week 14. Here we go! Off to the week 1 previews:
16hrs Ahead of You!! (0-0) vs Pack Attack (0-0)
16hrs comes into this season with hopes of not setting any records! Normally that may not be the goal of a fantasy manager as breaking records usually is a good thing but not in this case as 16hrs will be trying to get back to the playoffs and break their 10 year drought. 16hrs typically has started out seasons strong but has faded the last half of the season. They will be looking to get this season off to a good start against a Pack Attack team that has had their share of troubles the past few years after winning the championship in 2016 this team has not found a way to get back to the playoffs (4 straight seasons). Who will come out on top?
Prediction:
Check out the Yahoo predictions for this one!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 19
- Record: Advantage Pack Attack at 15-4
- PPG Avg: Advantage Pack Attack 117.68 to 101.30
Big Papa (0-0) vs U Don’t Know (0-0)
Here we go! The first big time matchup of the new season and we get to see our reigning champ in U Don’t Know take on Big Papa. If you don’t recall these two teams finished #1 and #2 in the season last year both with identical 9-4 records. Big Papa wasn’t able to do much come playoff time and they will be looking for some revenge against the U Don’t Know team that now has a target on their back! Repeating as Super Bowl champion is a tough thing to do in re-draft leagues but I am sure U Don’t Know is up for the challenge. They did also bring back two of their key contributors from last seasons championship run as both Aaron Rodgers and Jonathan Taylor will be helping to accomplish the repeat and also they brought back that championship D in TB. There is no D. Henry this season but they do have S. Barkley and no DK Metcalf but instead T. Lockett. This is a team that seemed as though they figured out something last season and they are going to try and run it back again this year!
Prediction:
There are a couple of players that as an opposing team you look at and feel a bit uncomfortable. One of those players is Christian McCaffrey the #1 overall pick and the other is on Big Papa’s team and his name is Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes is a 50 point game waiting to happen.
U Don’t Know is countering that with last season’s MVP of the league, Aaron Rodgers! I think Mahomes may need one of those 50 point games OR Big Papa may need J. Cook to live up to that 2nd round pick expectation (Yeah, I may be picking on this one all season) if they want to win. I don’t see that happening and I am going to go with U Don’t Know to start off defending their title with a win in week 1.
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 15
- Record: Advantage Big Papa at 10-5
- PPG Avg: Advantage Big Papa 114.30 to 113.23
BIGBOY! (0-0) vs teamAlaska (0-0)
When you get the #1 overall pick in the draft expectations for your team go sky high. It is expected that you make the playoffs and not just make it but compete for a championship. However, in looking back the last time the team who drafted #1 overall won the championship was back in 2016 when Pack Attack drafted Antonio Brown with the #1 overall pick. Yeah, AB used to be really good! BIGBOY! will be looking to break that trend and get back to the playoffs for the first time since winning a championship in the 2018 season.
teamAlaska will be looking to build on their solid season from a year ago. It had been awhile (8 seasons) since they had found their way to the playoffs but they played well and almost took out a tough Bossman team in the first round. They drafted a solid team and will be looking to get off to a good start and making it back to back playoff berths!
Prediction:
I mentioned in the preview of Big Papa and U Don’t Know that Patrick Mahomes is a 50 point game waiting to happen. Well, as mentioned the other guy who as an opposing team you don’t want to see is C. McCaffrey who is one of those ultimate weapons that can singlehandedly win you a game! Which makes sense given he was drafted # 1 overall. BIGBOY! however isn’t just about CMC as they put together a strong roster that is oozing with young talent. teamAlaska has some homerun talent on their roster as well and I expect them to have a solid season but the matchups are not in their favor this week. Look for BIGBOY! to come out of the gates with a big win in week 1.
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 11
- Record: Advantage BIGBOY! at 6-5
- PPG Avg: Advantage BIGBOY! 137.46 to 115.90
Bossman (0-0) vs Sportsfreak (0-0)
Bossman is coming off back to back seasons where they made the Super Bowl but were unable to seal the deal and get that third championship. However, getting to the Super Bowl in back to back seasons regardless of if you win or lose is tough to do. They will have their eyes set on another return to the Super Bowl but this time of course winning it all. If they do make the Super Bowl and lose again however I think they may need to change their team name to the Buffalo Bills!
Sportsfreak is coming off yet another disappointing season as they finished last year dead last in the league. This team has missed the playoffs three straight seasons and in those seasons they have finished 13th, 12th and 14th in the league. Their combined record the last three seasons is 11-28. I tell you all this because this is not normal for this team as prior to these last three years they were at or near the top in winning % as well as total wins in the league. So which team will we see this season. The one that had a winning record in 9 of their first 14 seasons and made the playoffs 7 of those seasons OR will we see the one that can’t even win enough games to make it to the consolation round come playoff time?
Prediction:
This one has the making of a really close game. There are some question marks on both sides of the ball such as the RB position for Bossman (D. Swift and T. Williams) and for Sportsfreak will one of the most highly regarded TE’s out of college turn out to be worthy of a flex spot? Like I mentioned, I expect this one to be close. Look for Sportsfreak to be losing going into Monday night but D. Waller to have a solid performance and lead them to the W.
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 15
- Record: Advantage Bossman at 12-3
- PPG Avg: Advantage Bossman 123.11 to 112.03
DaUnderdog (0-0) vs Rapids Plungers (0-0)
There are a couple of things that we can “put it on the board” as sure things heading into this season. #1 that the MN Vikings will not win the Super Bowl yet again and #2 that Rapids Plungers will yet again make the playoffs! If there is a team to point to as a model of consistency it is Rapids Plungers. In their 13 seasons in the league they have missed the playoffs 4 times and have made the playoffs in each of the last 5 seasons. If they make the playoffs this season they will tie the all time record for most consecutive playoff seasons (6).
DaUnderdog doesn’t quite share that same success but they have been solid over the years and have made the playoffs in 2 of the last 4 seasons. They will be looking to get back to the playoffs after missing last season and a win here against a perennial powerhouse in Rapids Plungers could be just the jump start they are looking for.
Prediction:
I like Henry and Mixon to have big games for DaUnderdog. Mixon (IF he stays healthy) could turn out to be one of the better fantasy RB’s this season and I think there is potential at their WR position as the matchups would say that however I have my concerns. For Rapids Plungers their WR room is stacked and if you include in the flex spot this may be the best 1-4 group of WR’s in the league this season. If Harris and Williams, both rookie RB’s perform up to their potential it is easy to see this team being one of the top in the league again. I am going to go with Rapids Plungers to get the win and start off their season on their usual winning note!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 13
- Record: Advantage Rapids Plungers at 10-3
- PPG Avg: Advantage Rapids Plungers 128.10 to 105.84
HHH (0-0) vs PackerFANatic7 (0-0)
Well this is going to be fun! Not only do we have the father son matchup to start the season but we will also have it to end the season! HHH saw their streak of 3 straight playoff appearances end last season despite having a 7-6 overall record. They will be looking to not only make the playoffs again this season but they want another Super Bowl win! It has been 10 years since their last Super Bowl win and they are hungry for more!
PackerFANatic7 is now in year 5! They came out of the gates strong by making the playoffs in year 1 but have missed the playoffs the previous 3 years. They were dealt a tough draft draw (13th overall) but they did a nice job of forming a team that should be able to compete and if a few of their “risky” picks pan out this looks like a playoff team again!
Prediction:
Yahoo really likes HHH’s team this week as they have them as the team with the highest projected score. There is a lot of talent on this HHH squad but I am not sure I have them as the highest scoring team this week. I do however have them winning as I expect Cook to have a big game against the Bengals and the rest of the supporting cast for HHH to be enough to handle PackerFANatic7. Here is an interesting stat that definitely gives PackerFANatic7 some hope however and that is Lamar Jackson has started two Week 1 games in his NFL career. He has a perfect passer rating (158.3) in BOTH. I think that is good!
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 4
- Record: Tied at 2-2
- PPG Avg: Advantage HHH 133.83 to 128.53
pack slayer (0-0) vs Starrfavrerodg (0-0)
Starrfavrerodg is coming off a great rookie season in which they finished tied for the 2nd best record in the league and made the post season. Historically, rookie GM’s have done surprisingly well in their first seasons but it is the next handful of seasons that we see what they are really made of. Starrfavrerodg will be looking to prove that last season was no fluke and that they will be a team in the hunt each and every year!
pack slayer will be looking to get back to the playoffs after missing last season for the first time in 3 years. This is a team that seems to always be in contention but has yet to put it all together to make a championship run. They had a rather interesting choice in draft picks as they nabbed two of the Chiefs top skill players in Tyreek Hill and Clyde Edwards-Helaire from rounds 1 and 2. That is not a typical draft strategy you would say as having both the starting RB and WR from the same team doesn’t typically work in your favor but maybe they know something I don’t know and it will for sure be worth watching as the picks right after CEH were J. Mixon, K. Allen, J. Jefferson, AJ Brown and D. Waller.
Prediction:
This should end up as one of the closer games this week. I like the Stafford to Kupp combo for pack slayer but I also don’t see a lot of glaring weaknesses for Starrfavrerodg outside of Pascal as the WR3. Well, on second thought I guess there is quite the glaring weakness! I suspect J. Hurts to outscore his projection and J. Robinson to be one of the top scoring RB’s this week. I am going with Starrfavrerodg to win this one in a nail biter.
Historical Look at this Match-Up:
- Regular Season Match-ups: 1
- Record: Advantage Starrfavrerodg at 1-0
- PPG Avg: Advantage Starrfavrerodg 121.86 to 71.58