Preview - Week 1

Week 1 2017

1st round of Division games. 

$ooner$ (0-0) vs TexasTide (0-0)

1st match-up for these two.

Chad wound up finishing 7-9 last year, 6-8 in the regular season. Kind of an average/below average season really. But what if I told you he started off the season 0-8? He did. For the first 8 weeks Chad topped 100+ only 3 times with a high of 112.5 points. 8 weeks of virtual futility. Then from week 9 to week 14 he ran the tables going 6-0 including victories over soon to be playoff teams John, Beas, and me. During those 6 weeks he averaged 123.13 points per game. Whatever light switch he flipped, it worked. The question is, is that light still on for 2017?  2013 & 2014 Chad had 11-5 seasons and made the Championship Game in 2014. But 2015 & 2016 brought 6-10 & 7-9 down years with a whopping 10 game losing streak mixed in. He drafted back Aaron Rodgers. Can he surround him with enough talent for it to pay off?

Chip's 1st season started and ended 4-4. Not so bad. I mean, that's .500 ball. The problem was the 0-6 streak from week 5 to week 10. Chip only had 4 100+ games all year and averaged 89.77 points per game. That's a tough line to win with. That's all the bad news. The good is that was just year one. Feet are wet now. We look forward to seeing what year two looks like.  He's got Antonio Brown, the player Beas has leaned on for his success the last three years. And if Cam Newton returns to his MVP form from a couple of seasons ago, Chip has a nice foundation on which to build.

Big Breakfast (0-0) vs Hitters (0-0)

LaRon leads the series 2-0, winning in 2013 & week 4 last year.

LaRon finished the regular season at 7-7 last year. He missed the playoffs but brought home the Lucky Loser cash with two victories in the consolation bracket. Folks, that's why you put down the $10 for that pool. Miss the playoffs? That sucks. Now go win some cash. LaRon was actually looking to be in line to make a playoff push. At one point he was 6-4, but 3 losses in a row scoring less than 90 points was his undoing. After his 1st season, in which he made the playoffs, it's now been 6 seasons of no playoffs. Is 2017 the streak buster year?

Since joining the league in 2011, John has missed and made the playoffs every other year. Last year, as you may know, John was our #1 seed at 10-4. Sure, his team flopped and he got pounded in the playoffs, but who hasn't had that happen? (Brent, Kyle, AD, Alex - other #1 seeds who won neither of their playoff games)  FYI - only 2 people (AD 3 times & Rojo once) have won the championship from the #1 seed position. Yeah, out of 18 seasons only 4 times has the #1 seed finished the deal. Crazy. So, if John's pattern holds, and he made the playoffs last year, that means no playoffs this year. I'm just not sure I'd bet on that pattern holding.

Bigg Squad (0-0) vs Hooligans (0-0)

Alex leads the series 3-1, but they did split a couple of scorefests last year. Barns were burning. Women and children fleeing to the hills. Week 3 (73.7-67.1 Rick) and week 14 (68.17-59.76 Alex). It may seem like I keep bringing it up, but Alex ripped through the league in 2015, scoring 100+ 11 games out of 14. He locked down a 12-2 regular season record and the #1 seed. Then, you know what happened. To make things worse, the flop carried into, and basically throughout, all of 2016. Alex wrapped up 2016 with a win, see above shootout, but the season was a 4-10 disappointment. Unlike every cloud having a silver lining, not every 4-10 season has a Le'Veon Bell. Fortunately for Alex this draft it did.

Rick started 2016 4-1. A few weeks later, 7-4. Then... Iceberg.  3 straight losses to end the regular season and two more consolation bracket losses to add to the misery. Wheels meet gravity. Playoff appearances in 2013 & 2014 seem a long time ago after the epic disaster of 2015 (we shall not speak any further of the season that shall not be named) and the late collapse of 2016. On a much brighter side, I've heard from "several anonymous sources" who believe Rick had his best draft ever this year and looks like a total beast. I agree with them. Rick will ball this year. Just... Watch out for icebergs.

Drewid Breeserkers (0-0) vs Raging Bulls (0-0)

AD leads the series 11-10, but Jimmy has won the last three and eight of the last eleven.

I started off 3-5, another bad start, a theme I'm actively trying to correct.  When one starts the season off badly, one needs a winning streak to recover.  Hello week 9 through week 13 winning streak.  I averaged 118 points per game last year, aided by a 150 and a 160 (against Beas, hehehehe) point games.  But still, Adrian was 10-4 scoring 98 points per? WTF!  Made the playoffs though, in your face Lady Luck.  Then got blasted by Jimmy in the playoffs who actually had Luck, literally.  On to 2017.  Yes, I Franchised tagged Drew Brees.  That now makes him my QB for the 6th straight year and 7th year overall.  Drew also entered the team Ring of Honor and I changed the team name in his honor.  Let's see the New England Patriots change their name to "the Bradys".  I even had T-shirts made up.  All in.

Since 2009, here's Jimmy's record in the 6 seasons he's made the playoffs - 72-28.  That's a winning percentage of .720  That's an amazing run, not to mention his two championships during that time.  He did have two down seasons, going 3-10-1 and 5-9.  But still, that's 80-47-1 since 2009, a winning percentage of .629.  Nobody is doing it better than Jimmy right now.  And he has the chance to do what no other team in league history has done, win back-to-back championships.

Bullock Bulls (0-0) vs Killer Beas (0-0)

Dustin leads the series 11-6-1, but they've gone back and forth the last eight games dating back to 2012.  *Re-match of "worst way to lose a game" game*

Coming off his championship season in 2015, Dustin again made the playoffs in 2016.  That's 5 playoff appearances since 2010.  But 2016 did have a disturbing result, even with the playoff appearance.  After week eleven last year, Dustin was 9-2.  That's impressive by any measure.  What happened next was a surprise.  Dustin didn't win another game, finishing the season with 5 straight losses, 3 in the regular season and 2 in the playoffs.  Unfortunate and unusual to be sure.  Making things worse was the way Dustin lost his 1st round playoff game against Beas.  Dustin had the lead, all though a very slight lead, when Derek Carr began taking a knee to end the game.  The problem was Derek Carr was taking the snaps from the Shotgun formation and losing like 4 or 5 yards each time.  Those negative yards counted and Dustin's lead was lost to a "kneel down". Absolutely unheard of by any of us.  I was literally dumbfounded watching.  I've lost games in strange ways.  I think most of us have our stories, but this was a once in 50 years sort of thing.  I doubt we'll ever see it again.

Oddly, Beas, after week eleven, was 9-2 as well.  And even more odd, he too finished the regular season with 3 straight losses.  The difference here is Beas turned it back on for the playoffs making the Championship Game.  I say turned it back on, but Beas did "win" the "kneel down" game against Dustin.  After thumping John in round 2, Beas faced Jimmy in the Championship Game and came up short.  But his three year run of 11 win seasons did have a championship from 2014 and 3 straight playoff appearances putting him in the mix.  He lost his star player this year in Antonio Brown to draft rules, but promptly replaced him with a duo of Odell Beckham Jr. and Ezekiel Elliot.  I think the future is bright even with the loss of Julian Edelman in the preseason.

Cow (0-0) vs Pulled Pork Mafia (0-0)

Adrian leads the series 2-0, winning once in 2015 and again in 2016.

Brent was 4-1 after week 5 and finished the season winning 3 of his last four.  That's 7-2 to start and finish the season.  Shoe drop, from week 6 to week 10 he lost 5 straight games.  The really crappy part of that streak is in one game he scored 122 and lost and another game he scored 135 and lost.  That's unlucky to be sure.  It's been 10 full seasons since Brent made the playoffs, a fact I relish pointing out every chance I can, but it's truly a streak I hope comes to an end sooner rather than later.  A healthy happy Cow is good for the whole league.

Adrian joined us in 2015 and finished the season 8-9. If you remember, Adrian started 0-4 that year and worked his way back to a very respectable season. Last year he was even better finishing the regular season 10-4, making the playoffs, and earning one of the byes.  Jimmy sniped him in round two of the playoffs.  That happens.  Adrian wrapped up 2016 11-5 and clearly placing him among the league's best.  The only negative I could find is his average scoring from last year.  It was only 98 points a game.  That means he won a lot of games scoring below what it usually takes to win games.  So was 2016 as good as what the record showed?  Adrian has 2017 to prove it was.

The Only Bull (BabyBull) (Bull Durham Jr.) (0-0) vs Hawks (0-0)

1st match-up.

Welcome aboard to our first legacy member.  Lane drafted well and is taking up the family business of offering crazy one-sided trades to everyone in the league.  Dustin has taught you well.

Ryan joined us late last year, taking over for the debacle we had with the Irving/Kurt disaster.  I credited Ryan with a 7-5 record from last year.  That was with a team he didn't draft and just kind of had to go with the flow.  He had a tough 4 week stretch that really did him in, but if you look closely Ryan finished really strong.  This year he got to actually draft his team.  So it's all him all season.

Pitch (0-0) vs Porky Piggy Piggy (0-0)

Pitch leads the series 3-1.  Amazing to me they've only played 4 times since 2010.

This is another example, Pitch started the season 3-2 and ended the season 3-2, but went 0-4 in the middle.  I don't know if it's bye weeks or if something else was going on, but he's like the third or fourth team that really suffered in the middle of last season.  I mentioned in the Division Preview that Pitch has a pattern of making the playoffs every third year.  Unfortunately for Pitch this year isn't a playoff year but next year is...if the pattern holds.  But like records and Iphone glass, patterns are meant to be broken.  I like Pitch's team this year, for what that's worth.

Thomas had two 4 loss streaks last year.  That's tough, that's 8 losses.  He was 5-1 other than those two 4 game streaks.  (Sugar coating added)  It's been a tough run for Thomas, not because he's been bad, but because he's always almost good.  That's hard to explain, but most of you know what I'm talking about.  Just right on the cusp, but...  Surely Thomas won't have another year of more of the same?