With the season now in full swing, we have started our quest to get to 8 wins. I know it's too early to be thinking about the playoffs, but 8 wins has guaranteed you the playoffs every year in our history -- and it seemed like a fun title to put 8 in a word somehow. Anyway, let's move on to the elephant in the room -- Rob tanked again week 1, but I'll cut him some slack since he actually picked up a K and DST, and they performed really well, and there was only 1 TE that was a FA that Rob could have picked up and got the win, but he wasn't on anyone's radar. So shame on you Rob, but also thanks for making a better effort this week -- as a reward, I will not bring back my Beauty and the Beast parody. Anyway, let's get to the good stuff.
Game Recaps
Skyler vs Tommy: As I started writing this post, I realized I hadn't actually looked at how all of the games went, and this was somehow the biggest blowout of the week. Tommy had a great showing from King Henry, who was 8 yards from 30 points. Sadly for him, that was nearly 1/3 of his points this week. No one else got 20, and only 2 players beside Henry even scored double digits. Skyler didn't have anyone to match Henry, but three 20 point players (Daniels, Bijan, Deebo) and 3 other double digit scorers was enough for the most comfortable win of the week. This was also the battle of ineptitude with how low the total score was.
Scott vs Brady: The Weekly Bonanza was between the top 3 scorers, and was also a top 3 closest game of the week. Scott had three (Purdy, Flowers, and the Broncos DST) players who scored 20+ and another 4 in double digits. Against 10 other players, it would have been enough, but he played the top scorer. Brady got the top scorer slot even though he only had 2 players (Herbert and Egbuka) scoring 20+ points. It helped that Herbert had 33+, and having 5 other players in double digits certainly helps. In this 7 point game, it's easy to point at any one person changing the outcome with one extra TD catch, but instead I will highlight the bottom two players on each team. MAndrews and Ridley combined for 8.2 points on Scott's team, while Pollard (7.9) and Elliott (8), nearly beat that combination individually.
Matt vs Rob: Skyler 3, Brady 4, Sam 1, TJ 1, Tyler 1. Those are the current win streaks for teams in week 1. In case my explanation sucks, Skyler has won on week 1, 3 years in a row, Brady has won 4 years in a row on week 1, and Sam, TJ, and Tyler all just started their winning streak this year. Matt's streak is currently at 5 years. You might say to yourself, "Self, that's not a big deal if Skyler and Brady are right there", and you would be right, but let's dig in a little deeper. Skyler's average winning margin during that streak is 22 points, Brady's average winning margin is 19, and Matt's winning margin is 38 over his 5 game win streak.
For actual game analysis, Matt only had one guy score 20+ (Mahomes) as did Rob (McArthy). Rob actually had more players score double digits (5>4), and I already mentioned above that there wasn't a free agent tight end that would have got him the win. Let's just call this karma?
Sam vs Trevor: Sam has the highest lifetime winning percentage in the league at 100%. I'm sure this a sustainable rate, and the only way to end his reign of terror is to kick him out and bring Brandon back. This was the first Monday Nightmare/Miracle of the year, with Sam making a comeback by getting 14.8 from Justin Jefferson -- which isn't a lot for him historically, but it was enough. The real heavyweight fighter for Sam was Jalen Hurts being the lone 20+ point scorer in this whole match -- and he was the biggest difference as Trevor had more double digit scorers. As a side note for Sam, when I say double digit, that is specifically 10-19.99 scorers. If someone is in the 20+ point category, I exclude them from the double digit group. Trevor was playing behind the 8 ball after AJ Brown's horrible Thursday night game.
TJ vs Jordan: This was the nail biter of the week, and was nearly a Monday Nightmare/Miracle as Jordan almost won thanks to Odunze, but instead fell 1.26 points short. TJ's win came from having a well balanced team -- Puka was the only 20+ point scorer for his team, but the rest of his team all scored double digits. Jordan had Josh Allen score 42.76 of his 118.06 (36.2%), but couldn't get enough help from anyone else. I don't want to add salt to the wound -- oh who are we kidding, of course I do -- Jordan's kicker missed a field goal, and TJ's kicker nailed a 50 yarder, which meant 2 bonus points. If either one of those things are different, Jordan would have won.
Tyler vs Kyle: Last year, TJ was on a heater and was 'The King of the Court', but Kyle took it from him in the last game of the season by winning, but was still eliminated from the playoffs. This is more for Sam, but the King of the Court, or sometimes referred to as The Belt, or even The Crown, was an idea that I got from somewhere about having a king of the court who maintains his title until he is beaten. There were two arguments about when to start the belt -- Did Jordan start with it in the first game of our post mission league since he was the champion before we left, or was there no king of the court that first year until the first champion was crowned (Geoff), and then that person had the belt going forward? I tracked both for a while just to see how it rotated, and they were eventually unified, making my job easier. Most times, the champion finishes with the belt, but last year was not one of those times. We did decide the belt would not be passed during the consolation bracket, and so Kyle won the belt from TJ, and then held it throughout the consolation bracket since he missed the playoffs.
Anyway, Kyle opened the season as the King of the Court but he lost it in the back and forth game he had with Tyler. Tyler won King of the Court thanks to 30+ points from Lamar, and another 23 points from CMC. Kyle tried with Mayfield and James Cook getting 20+, and they each had 3 double digit scorers, and Tyler even had a negative scorer, but it wasn't enough for Kyle to hold on.
Award Season
MVP: Justin Herbert was the highest scorer on the highest scoring team in a game that was decided by 6.64, so he wins this weeks award.
LVP: AJ Brown scored 1.8 in game that was decided by 6.6, so he will be the LVP this week.
Unluckiest Team of the Week: Scott would have 10 teams this week, but played the 1 team who could beat him.
Luckiest Team of the Week: Sam was the lowest scoring winner, and only won after a Jefferson scored 8.3 points in one play in the 4th quarter of Monday Night Football.
High Scorer of the Week: Brady comes in hot week 1, and is the only person to score 140+.
Low Scorer of the Week: Tommy starts out slow and is the only person under 100 this week.
King of the Court: As discussed above, Tyler is now the King of the Court after beating Kyle.
Green Jacket: Do we want to bring this back? Sorry, does anyone besides Tommy want to bring it back?
Game Previews
Skyler (2) vs Scott (7): Skyler has 2 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. Scott has 0 player on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. If one week of points is anything to go on, this has the potential to be the bonanza.
Tommy (12) vs Brady (1): Tommy has 1 player on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. Brady has 0 players on Thursday and 0 players in primetime. If one week of points is anything to go on, this has the potential to be the blowout of the week.
Sam (6) vs Matt (3): Sam has 0 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. Matt has 1 player on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. In the running for the bonanza if we are going off of standings.
Rob (10) vs Trevor (11): Rob has 0 players on Thursday and 3 players in primetime. Trevor has 2 players on Thursday and 1 player in primetime. In the running for the battle of ineptitude if we are going off of standings.
Tyler (4) vs TJ (5): Tyler has 0 players on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. TJ has 1 player on Thursday and 3 playesr in primetime. In the running for the bonanza if we are going off of standings.
Jordan (8) vs Kyle (9): Jordan has 0 players on Thursday and 3 players in primetime. Kyle has 1 player on Thursday and 2 players in primetime. In the running for the battle of ineptitude if we are going off of standings.
With two games on Monday night this next week, almost every matchup will be affected by Monday. The only one that doesn't is Tyler vs TJ. I'm sure TJ is thrilled to not be the victim of a Monday Nightmare.
Good luck to everyone but Scott this week.
