Week one of the inaugural No Coast Bias Fantasy Football League has come to an end. Week one is always tough. We never have a real idea of which players will end up busts, who’s going to live up to projections or, in the case of the Washington Redskins, who is even going to start at running back. We learned a lot about the fantasy teams in this league after the first week. Namely, that most of us are screwed already.
First of all, there are some things you should know about this league. The average score of the week was 89. There are no fractional points. This is an immensely deep league, 14 managers with 16 players per team. We get one QB, two RBs, two WRs, one TE, one Flex (RB/WR/TE), one K, one D/ST and seven bench spots. This is also not a points per reception league. It’s a brutal league. Teams are stretched thin, and so, you likely have one or two exceptional players and then a hodgepodge of bench players and super sleepers. But that’s the game: gambling on players you’ve never heard of prior to grabbing them on the waiver wire.
Let’s take a look at how it all broke down in week one:
MEXtra Points vs. Replacement Officials (110 – 78)
First of all, I am Replacement Officials. I was shamed this week. Before the games started, I had the highest projected point value of any team. Yeah, that didn’t work out. I took the sure bets this week: Rashad Jennings and Toby Gerhart. They were easily going to have more carries than their respective teams’ 2011 starters — contract-holdout-Maurice Jones-Drew and totally-injured-and-not-playing-Adrien Peterson. Right? Wrong. Just how terribly wrong was I and most of the “fantasy experts” out there? I got a combined 4 points from these two. The projections had me at 25. My RB corps is easily the worst in the league. After dropping Jennings, I’m still stuck starting Gerhart for week two. My number one guy? Kevin Smith from the Detroit Lions. At least he’s the starter for now. He also put up a respectable 20 with two TDs. That performance will not be matched this week, though. The two guys I have in reserve are Brandon Jacobs and Jonathan Stewart. Both were out in week one and questionable for week two. And so . . . I’m totally screwed. Aaron Rodgers leads my team, but he didn’t find fantasy point success against the 49ers defense this week. Wes Welker was non-existent. A.J. Green barely made a dent and Aaron Hernandez was respectable as the second best TE of the week. On the other side of the ball, MEXtra Points dominated all over the place. Drew Brees, Frank Gore, Ahmad Bradshaw, Steve Smith, Reggie Wayne, Shonn Greene and Shayne Graham were all on fire this week. I wouldn’t expect them to keep up this pace in future weeks, but MEXtra put up the second highest points total for the week and is already a powerhouse in this league. What can you do?
Cromartie Kidz vs. Dirty Birds (83-99)
Whereas I have the worst RBs in the league, Dirty Birds has the best on won on their strength. This is the luck of a deep draft. Birds picked up AP (and amazingly started him, unlike most of the country), Matt Forte and even has C.J. Spiller on the bench. Spiller lit it up this week, putting up the most fantasy points by any RB, after Bills starter Fred Jackson went down with an injury. Birds also had Brandon Marshall and Jeremy Maclin who produced some huge receiving points this week. In fact, this team might only be weak at the undervalued D/ST position. The Chiefs netted him -3 points. That is a minus sign. We’ll see what happens at the bye weeks though. Half of this bench is out with injury already. Kidz’s weak showing was a combination of Trent Richardson (and really, all of the Browns) not doing much, starting the Redskins’ third string RB and quiet days from Dwayne Bowe and Vincent Jackson. This team has some upside though with Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, a surprising Lance Moore and the Ravens’ D/ST.
Virginia Beach Cornhawks vs. Steeler Virginity (83-81)
GAME OF THE WEEK
The closest match of the week came down to quarterback play. The Cornhawks’ Matt Ryan put up the most fantasy points of any player this week with 31. No one even came close. Tony Romo came in second with 23, by comparison. Besides Ryan, only Jimmy Graham and LeSean McCoy had more than 10 points. In fact, excluding the kicker, the rest of the team put up a piteous 17 points. Stephen Gostkowski did have 10 points though, so . . . the kick game is working, at least. Virginity’s top performer this week actually was a kicker. David Akers scored 16 points, more than Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush and Ben Roethlisberger. Things are looking not too good. Honestly, though, I think this team just underperformed because of the tough matchups. Those three, plus Jared Cook, 49ers D/ST and Roddy White should have better showings in week two. That said, Cedric Benson is a question mark. One point this week and we know the Packers don’t run.
Monstah Lobstah vs. Team leftcoastbias (93-116)
The highest scoring matchup of the week has me a bit stumped. Both of these teams did exceedingly well, but mostly without any fantasy all-stars. Sure, leftcoast is headed up by Ray Rice who put up some great numbers this week, but the rest of the team looks like positional leftovers: Jay Cutler, Kyle Rudolph, Nate Washington, Doug Martin and Antonio Brown. I’m not saying that these aren’t great players, mind you. Just that they were not highly sought after in the draft. That said, what do I know? This team is a monster and currently the team to beat in this league. Lobstah has Matt Stafford and Darren McFadden, but again, here’s a team that every player was outscored by the kicker, Matt Bryant. The entire team is strong, though. It was just a rough matchup week. Besides the headliners, we should see an increase in points from Darren Sproles, Percy Harvin and Donald Brown going forward.
Blue Bengals vs. Show me your TDs (53-100)
BEATDOWN OF THE WEEK
I had actually told someone that Blue Bengals won the draft before we started. Wow, was I wrong. This is pathetic. The second worst team destroyed Blue Bengals. Let me defend my pick really quick. Peyton Manning heads up this team. I think that he was a steal in fantasy drafts this year and he did go on to put up 20 points. Then Bengals drafted Chris Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Vernon Davis, Hakeem Nicks, Ben Tate and Beanie Wells. Respectable, I thought. But let’s exclude Davis for a sec, because he had a great week. And we’ll exclude kicker Robbie Gould who put up 11 (maybe we overscore kickers?). CJ2K, Fitzy, Nicks, Tate and Wells combined for 16 points. Now let’s add back in the Bills defense. So excluding Davis, Manning and Gould, Bengals got 12 points. Twelve points between six players. Mind = blown. What sucks for this team, too, is that the bench is all QBs and TEs. There’s no depth at the positions that need help. I smell a trade. TDs has to be pleased, though. This team killed it this week and the bench is just as good. Michael Vick, Arian Foster, Demaryius Thomas, Tony Gonzalez and Texans D/ST starting, with Martelleus Bennett and Randall Cobb on the bench, with no waiver work. Pretty solid. And the most hilarious win this week.
Rollin’ Up Blounts vs. Team Pymps (97-73)
Blounts had a great showing this week. There’s little weakness to this team, everyone putting up nearly 10 points, headed by Julio Jones with 22 and Matt Schaub with 14. And actually, most of the guys that didn’t get to 10 points were down this week versus where they should be. I’ll bet this team becomes a power in the coming weeks. Pymps on the other hand was anything but a team of pymps. I’ll actually chalk this up to weak kicking and defensive picks. Mason Crosby only had two points in Green Bay’s loss and the Steelers defense put up just three. The rest of the team is respectable, headed by three Cowboys, DeMarco Murray, Dez Bryant and Tony Romo. Hope is not lost here, by any means.
Bye Week Players
Our league will have two players on bye each week. This week it was D’s Nuts with 89 points and Lincoln Cowfish with 97. Both great teams.
Stay tuned next week as we learn a little bit more about these teams and find out our favorites for the fabled trophy at the end of the season.
I really do have to get my defense situation corrected. But my Dirty Birds are looking good!
I hate to say I told you so….but didnt I suggest that it would be a really good idea to find another defense? Any other defense?!?!?
Week 1 coming up starting tonight for my team. Derek – You better get ready to be MEXecuted this week.
HA. My team is too MEXceptional!