NFL Fantasy Football - GAABoard Superbowl 2023

[Oraisteach]

DeelRover, who do you have than earned you an A+?  Peterson, Brees, Cal Johnson,  Graham, Martin and the entire Mayo starting 15?

[declan85]

I reckon my week 1 matchup is over before it starts. Mannings 7TDs including 2 to Welker = 70.17 to nil down...

[AZOffaly]

That was unreal. Jsut watched it there on Game Pass (The condensed verison). They absolutely tore the Ravens a new one.Wes Welker looks like he played with Manning for the last 10 years. Shaping up to be a big AFC showdown between the Pats and the Broncos, even at this early stage.

[Oraisteach]

Just to highlight the difference between fantasy leagues.  In our league, Manning scored around 46 pts, but in my other league he racked up 99.  He was drafted 2nd overall.  I, of course, had the 3rd pick.  Ballyhaise Bills have to be deleriously happy, I'd say.

[magpie seanie]

Left Welker on the bench in one of my other leagues and after much contemplation started Decker as my flex in this one. In such an orgy of passing touchdowns and yardage he was pure as the driven snow. Of course my opponent has Demaryius, to rub salt in the wound. Could end up with a decent score but well beaten this week.

[cadhlancian]

Eric Decker dropped 5 passes last night. He will see less action next week methinks.

[the Deel Rover]

DeelRover, who do you have than earned you an A+?  Peterson, Brees, Cal Johnson,  Graham, Martin and the entire Mayo starting 15?

Na Oraisteach just picked 1 Larry Reilly enough said.

[turk]

Great stuff from manning and the broncos but the ravens defence was keystone cops stuff! Missed tackles, lads left open and lads falling over. They would want to sort it out !!

[magpie seanie]

Eric Decker dropped 5 passes last night. He will see less action next week methinks.

I know and one was a walk in TD I believe. My opponent has a huge score this week so I was looking at a loss anyway. Decker is looking at my bench for a while....

[Gabriel_Hurl]

David Wilson will get a boot up the hole from Coughlan and myself after that performance last night

[AZOffaly]

Well week 1 is in the books, and it was the usual NFL feast of high scores, head scratching, upsets and late drama. In our leagues we had some great performances, and some who certainly fell victim to the vagaries of the NFL anything can happen truism.

Montana A Conference Week 1.

Faithful Turfmen B 103.89 - 108.39 New York Jets VII
The Jets rode the Detroit Lions duo of Matt Stafford and Reggie Bush to victory, despite a low return from standout WR Calvin Johnson in the same game. Reggie Wayne of the Colts also added a vital 18+ points in this close win, but the Turfmen could not overcome poor outings from key players like Marshawn Lynch and Trent Richardson.

hegans clowns 110.99 - 130.00 Oraisteach's Browns
The Oraisteach's Browns have taken to the big league like a duck to water. Two consecutive promotions followed by this solid outing in Week 1 will make them feel right at home in this league. Adrian Peterson and Jason Witten were the men who did most of the damage for the Browns, while Drew Brees and Vincent Jackson were the main men for the clowns.

Ballyhaise Bills 199.97 - 170.51 Smackdown Clowns
Unquestionably the high scoring tie of the week sees the Ballyhaise Bills fall just short of the 200 point mark against the poor Smackdown Clowns who must be wondering how the heck 170 points was not enough for a win. Unsurprisingly the main man for the Bills was Peyton Manning and his incredible 46 points on Thursday night, but even at that the contributions of AJ Green, Wes Welker and  LeSean McCoy were all needed to see off doughty resistance from the Clowns. The Bills can thank David Wilson's -3 points for denying them the glory of the 200 point barrier. The Clowns will hope that Michael Vick, Randall Cobb, Deshaun Jackson and excellent work from the IDPs will continue into other games where the win threshold might be a bit lower.

red hand helmets 125.06 - 124.67 Capt. Pats Vikings
If the high scoring tie was between the Bills and the Clowns, this one was the exciting tie of the week. A mere .39 of a point, or about 4 yards from a runner, separated the teams at the end as the helmets scrape through. The teams were very close coming into last nights games, and as it turned out Alfred Morris' precious 7.70 points was just enough to hold off the 10.50 points that Arien Foster amassed for Capt. Pat. Thin, thin margins indeed and lets watch for stat corrections just in case as the week progresses. Hero for the helmets was Victor Cruz, with Vernon Davis, Andrew Luck and Ray Rice also scoring heavily, but really in a game like this every catch and every yard was vital. Given that, even the single tackle made by James Harrison was vital. The Vikings will be encouraged by the displays of Aaron Rodgers and Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald for the upcoming weeks and months.

Dexter Clinkscale IV 176.93 - 131.01 Coolera Bears
The team with the daftest name in the league came up with a solid win as they celebrated their return to the big time in style. Second highest scorers in the league, they were backboned by Brandon Marshall, Demaryius Thomas, Jared Cook (the bastard) and Jordy Nelson. The Bears will be encouraged by a relatively solid spread of scores throughout the team, without any one huge contribution. Danny Amendola top scored for them with 17.20 points, but 8 roster spots returned more than the magical 10 points.


Walter Payton B Championship

Week 1 of the Walter Payton Championship saw some very good scoring, along with a couple of blowouts. The Faithful Turfmen saw off L'Esprit de Biff in a battle of Offaly teams while the Galway Bay Tribesmen had a narrow win over Kildare's finest. Big Apple Orchards had a convincing win in the battle of Armagh, while Meath took down Offaly in the Badgers win over the Bears. Finally, Tyrones Red Hernandez had a very good score and a decent win over the Rossies.

Faithful Turfmen 189.13 - 141.39 L'Esprit de Biff
Galway Bay Tribesmen 133.16 - 128.96 The Curragh Rams
Crossmaglen Hitmen 92.71 - 149.29 Big Apple Orchards
Royal Badgers 171.03 - 145.64 Savage Bears
Ruthless Rossies 117.84 - 172.38 Caught Red Hernandez

Jerry Rice 'C' Championship

Finally, the 12 team C division, which will be a very interesting watch over the year with all the new entrants trying to prove themselves, as well as the grizzled veterans trying to climb the ladder again. Top scoring honours for the week goes to Bacon Sanger Please with an impressive 178.43 points, even moreso when you consider the shallower pool of talent that a 12 team league implies. O'Neill's Chargers gets this weeks booby prize after a sad 69.34. Credit, too, to Gary O'Neill's team who had a greater than double scores victory over 'My Team' (obviously not really *my* team). That's an unusual event.

Faithful Turfmen 'C' 129.19 - 111.49 North Antrim Nuggets
Rehab is 4 Quitters 98.70 - 178.43 Bacon Sanger Please
Hoboken Celtics 121.82 - 97.14 Fighting Vincents
O'Neill's Chargers 69.34 - 123.50 Deelrovers Rad Team
My Team 83.36 - 169.98 Gary O'Neil's Team
jolene's team 111.25 - 144.46 Mayo4Sam


More next week!!!

[AZOffaly]

Finally, in a public service announcement, if you had this team, you'd have been laughing...

QB - Payton Manning (Denver Broncos) 46.14 points.

Unreal from Manning, and a full 15.8 points better than the 2nd place quarterback. Mannings line makes some reading. 27 of 42 for 462 yards, 0 interceptions and a touchdown for every day of the week. He's on a pace for 112 touchdown passes

WR1 - Anquin Boldin (San Francisco 49ers) 38.80 points.

So who said Anquin Boldin was a possession receiver? With Crabtree out injured, and Kaepernick being prolific on the ground in the read option, the conventional wisdom said that 'Q' was going to be a third down sort of possession, 7 yards with a lad on his back for a first down. That may still end up being the case, however in this game he absolutely shone. 13 receptions for 208 yard (a 16 yard average) with a Touchdown made him our most productive receiver of the week.

WR2 - A.J. Green (Cincinnatti Bengals) 34.10 points.

A.J Green is in his third year in the league, out of the University of Georgia, and has lived up to his billing ever since. This week he dominated a very good corner (Charles Tillman) as he almost single handedly kept the Bengals in a game they would eventually lose. 9 catches for 132 yards and a brace of touchdowns was a great start for him and his fantasy owners. The Bengals might like a bit less out of him and more out of some of the others, but that's a different story.

RB1 - Adrian Peterson (Minnesota Vikings) 28.55 points

Adrian Peterson's nickname is AD, not AP as you might expect. It stands for 'All Day' and he is certainly a work hungry back on a Vikings team that is going to need him to be good. It looked like it might be one of those days as he broke off a big TD run early in the game, but after that he was actually held to 15 further yards on the ground for the rest of the game. However his line for the game, 93 rushing yards, 2TDs, 4 Receptions for 18 yards and 1 TD in an opening day loss to Detroit would make sweet reading for any fantasy owner lucky enough to own him. I'm sure the Vikings staff would concur.

RB2 - Joique Bell (Detroit Lions) 21.60 points

The reason why Peterson's efforts didn't end up in a win for the Vikings was due in no small part to the one two punch at running back for Detroit, as Reggie Bush and Bell combined for 43.15 points between them. And it doesn't get much more balanced that 21.6 for Bell and 21.55 for Bush. An unheralded, undrafted 2 year man out of little Wayne State College (Michigan), Bell seems to be a decent bet to be a touchdown hoover. An inordinate amount of Detroit Receivers were hauled down inside the 5 yard line last year, and if that trend continues this year, Bell might end up being the 'goal line' back who vultures TDs. Twice on Sunday he benefitted from Reggie Bush being hauled down close to the line as he punched in twice from less than 2 yards out. His overall line reads 25 yards rushing for 2 TDs, 5 receptions for 67 yards; good enough for 2nd in our overall running backs.

TE - Jared Cook (Saint Louis Rams) 26.05 points

The Arizona Cardinals did a decent job in a lot of areas on Sunday. Their offense looked dangerous, David Givins and Tavon Austin didn't crucify them, but the new man in from the Titans absolutely killed them. They say a good tight end is a quarterbacks security blanket, and while the high profile names like Tony Gonzalez, Jimmy Graham, Vernon Davis, Jason Witten and co all had decent or good weeks, the 5 year man from South Carolina was top of the pile in week 1. 7 receptions for 141 yards and 2 TDs were a huge reason why the Rams came back to take a 3 point victory at home over the Cards. He also helped a few fantasy owners rack up the points.

WR/TE/RB - Victor Cruz (New York Giants) 30.90 points

Our flex position was taken by a WR in week 1, probably a common occurence in a PPR league, but it might be a surprise that the WR in question was Cruz. Salsa man was considered to be hindered by a sore heel in advance of the matchup with the Cowboys, but if this is him hindered, the rest of the NFL and Fantasy Owners are in trouble. Cruz torched the Cowboys secondary with a 70 yard TD catch, and ended up with 5 receptions for 118 yards and a hatrick of touchdowns in an heroic losing effort at the house Jerry built.

K - Greg Zuerlein (Saint Louis Rams) 14 points

Not a huge weekend for kickers, but Zuerlein did enough with 14 points, including a game winning field goal versus the Cardinals, to take the kicking honours for the week. Hitting 4 from 4 field goals with a 48 yard game winner will keep you in a job, and will mean he gets picked up be several fantasy owners.

DEF - Kansas City Chiefs - 39 points

Team Defense/Special Teams can be a bit hard to predict, and the vaunted Niners, Seahawks, Steelers, etc all probably underwhelmed in week 1 but the Kansas City Chiefs certainly didn't. Owned by just 5% of people in all Yahoo leagues, the Chiefs put up a huge 39 points thanks to conceding 0 points, 6 sacks, 2 Interceptions and a Touchdown. It's notoriously dangerous to project next week's performance on the basis of last week, but they have a very good linebacking corps and may be worth keeping an eye on, if not picking up before the Dallas game.

DB1 - Barry Church (Safety - Dallas Cowboys) 21 points

Similar to team defenses, it can be very hard to confidently predict IDP performances, particulary at the DB position. So much depends on the opposition, and whether they throw towards you, run at you, or whether you have them under pressure with a good pass rush. Dallas safety Church, an undrafted 4th year man out of Toledo, made hay with some big hits however, which were largely of his own making in week 1. Unowned (0%) in Yahoo leagues, Church had 7 solo tackles, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery and 1 TD to show for his efforts on Sunday night. Not bad for someone that literally nobody owned.

DB2 - Da'Norris Searcy  (Safety - Buffalo Bills) 19 points

The Bills went down in a heartbreaker to the Pats on Sunday, but fears that they would be exposed due to injury absences in the defensive backfield were largely unrealised as lads like Searcy stepped up big time. In his third year out of UNC, Searcy probably had one of the games of his career to date as he recorded his first ever NFL sack, together with 5 tackles, a fumble recovery and a touchdown. Again, owned by just 1% of Yahoo owners, this lad will pique interest on the Waiver Wire.

LB - Mason Foster (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) 19 points

The Buccs snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the Jets, thanks to a stupid penalty by Lavonte David on a late hit out of bounds on Geno Smith. The Jets were running out of time, 2 points behind when David hit Smith out of bounds with a couple of seconds left. The 15 yard penalty gave Nick Folk a 48 yard opportunity with 2 seconds left to get the win, which must have sickened the Buccs, none moreso than Linebacker Foster. He had a great outing, with 2 sacks and 7 tackles, including a forced fumble, but it was all to no avail for his real life team. 7% of Fantasy Owners appreciated the effort though.

DL - Robert Quinn (Saint Louis Rams) 23 points

The third Ram on this list, and one who will probably keep Cardinals Left Tackle Levi Brown awake at night shivering with horrid memories. Quinn absolutely had his way with with big man, and ended up plaguing Carson Palmer all night. It was to Palmer's credit that he kept producing, but a big reason why the Cardinals couldn't put the game away was the efforts of Quinn, a 3 year vet out of UNC (the Tarheels second on this list). 23 points from 3 tackles, 3 sacks and 2 forced fumbles represented a great nights work, but he won't be facing turnstile Levi every week.

[declan85]

Great work AZ.
Hit the nail on the head here for my team:
"Smackdown Clowns who must be wondering how the heck 170 points was not enough for a win"

[Oraisteach]

Remarkable assessment, AZ.  Well done and thank you.

[ONeill]

Feck yiz all.