WEEK 1 PICKS RECAP

Checking in on my game predictions for week 1 - I’m currently 5 - 1 with one game (The UPSET SPECIAL!) still up for grabs. I also reviewed my Waiver Wire Darling prediction which weren’t nearly as succesful. A great first Sunday of football and fantasy mayhem!

FANTASYPROS MATCHUP OF THE WEEK!

COLIN VS. ANDY — PICK - ANDY / WINNER: COLIN
Last time I trust FantasyPros for the Game of the Week. All that’s left to sort out on Monday is if Andy can avoid this being the Blowout of the Week. Javonte Williams was the difference; outscoring Jerome Ford, Calvin Ridley, Jameson Williams, and Isaiah Pacheco combined.
THE QUESTION
COLIN: Can/Will Colin sell high on Justin Herbert to add someone who can fill-in for Xavier Worthy or fill the second Flex spot (assuming Javonte can hold down the RB1 spot for Dallas)?
ANDY: Can Pacheco hold down the RB spot? Jerome Ford seems to have ceded the RB1 spot to Dylan Sampson. RJ Harvey broke one nice run but still probably isn’t someone you want to start. Andy seems to have a boom-bust squad and they all busted this week.

UPSET OF THE WEEK!

BRENDAN VS. JUSTIN — PICK - JUSTIN / WINNER - TBD
The upset special is the only game that is still up in the air but, at the very least, it looks like Justin will cover the spread. Currently, Justin is down 5 with T.J. Hockenson left to play.
THE QUESTION
BRENDAN: How much FA money will he spend this week? Does he have faith in Darren Waller (who could light up the Patriots next week if healthy) and Woody Marks? The starting lineup seems pretty set but the bench mustered 5.5 points this week.
JUSTIN: Can he find someone for the second Flex spot? Week 1 of the Travis Hunter experiment ended with Hunter scoring a pedestrian 6.8 points while Rashod Bateman likely has a negative WAR, mustering just 2 points in a shootout vs. Buffalo.

CONTENT GAME OF THE WEEK

DEREK VS. MARK — PICK - MARK / WINNER MARK
Let’s see how the content battle went:
Bryce Young vs. Trevor Lawrence - Both remained disappointing but Bryce Young was terrible and was a defensive penalty away from a Will Levis-esque Pick 6.
TreVeyon Henderson vs. Omarion Hampton - Neither was spectacular but showed promise. TreVeyon won Week 1 8.9 - 7.1
Chris Olave vs. Marvin Harrison: Marvin looks like a real threat in the Cardinals offense. Chris Olave wasn’t bad but Spencer Rattler set him up to get his head knocked off at least twice.
Rome Odunza vs. Ricky Pearsall.- Ricky looks like the real deal; we’ll see what Rome does on Monday Night.
THE QUESTION
DEREK: Does he trade for a QB? Bryce looked terrible and the Jags defense isn’t good. Cam could have better days ahead because the Broncos are a great defense but his receivers weren’t doing him any favors.
MARK: How important was Ben Johnson? Green Bay has a solid defense and Detroit’s starters basically didn’t play all pre-season so this might have been their pre-season game but it was a lackluster offensive effort this week.

DEADZONE GAMES OF THE WEEK

ELI VS. JOHNNY — PICK - Eli / Winner Eli
Apologies to Eli and Johnny as they delivered the GAME OF THE WEEK! Not surprising for Johnny, he is one of the top scorers of the week but ran into the #1 scorer of the week and is heading towards an L.
THE QUESTION
ELI: Do we believe?! Is this the beginning of the record breaking 4th title run? Week 2 will give us a better sense of how real this squad is with Mahomes and Henry facing tough matchups and Taylor/Pittman facing Denver. Zach Charbonnet could be a difference maker who I should have traded for. Whoops!
JOHNNY: Can/Will Johnny trade a QB for an upgrade at WR/RB? Johnny found out the downside of having great fantasy depth and that is you lead the league in points on the pine. He should have been a winner this week so there’s no rush to make a move but it feels like he has the pieces to score a impact upgrade at WR or RB.

DANA VS. RAHUL — PICK: RAHUL / WINNER - RAHUL
I was right to bet on the Ravens stack - for fantasy purposes, at least. Rahul might have struck gold with the Jaxson, Keon, Zay trio that sounds like the members of a Aughts boy band but they seem like they could be heavily targeted this year.
THE QUESTION
RAHUL: Why doesn’t Rahul use the IR spot? Now that Bill! isn’t playing the Giants, will Rahul start him over Tyrone Tracy Jr.? Once Jordan Addison comes back, the reigning ACTION! award winner might look at trading a WR for a RB.
DANA: Was Week 1 a blip? Breece Hall and Cameron Dicker were the only starters to outplay their projection (and Hall looked damn good against a great defense.) Burrow is a slow starter, it seems, but I think the rest of the roster has legit concerns.

THE OTHER GAMES

JEFF VS BRETT — PICK: JEFF / WINNER: JEFF
Like his namesake, JD gave us an uninspiring win. But Travis Etienne and Jakobi Meyers put up numbers on the bench and the Veep’s team lived up to the offseason hype.
THE QUESTION
JEFF: Does he consider making a trade this year? He’s sworn off trades because he doesn’t trust himself much like our VP doesn’t trust himself in a furniture store but his team had a solid game and still put up a rather middling point total. Does he try to push his team over the top?
BRETT: Will he fix his defense? One would assume that this will be one of the worst weeks for Devonta Smith, Tee Higgins, Matthew Golden, and maybe even Malik Nabers but the defense still looks to be an Achilles heel.

MENDO VS BERNIE — PICK: MENDO / WINNER: MENDO
Matcups were in my favor this week. Next week? Not so much.
THE QUESTION
MENDO: How badly hurt is George Kittle? My unwillingness to spend landed me Kittle and the reason he was a “value” has arisen - he’s dinged up again and, personally, I would sit him against the lowly Saints. This is a team that could easily drop an 80 point game; there’s no real room for error.
BERNIE: Is there an answer at QB? Tampa Bay just let Michael Penix Jr. throw up a 20+ spot so we’ll see how CJ does next week but he seems to have two no floor, low ceiling QBs. And with Drake “Not Brian Thomas Jr.” London potentially out, I’m not sure Bernie has the horses to carry a sub-par QB.

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My Waiver Wire Pickup Predictions

Jayden Reed or Romeo Doubs (WRs/Packers) - Reed looked good and hit paydirt. Doubs only had two catches for 68 yards. That means Reed will be picked up and get hurt next week and Doubs will stay available and catch two TDs.

Wandale Robinson (WR/Giants) or Theo Johnson (TE/Giants) - Well, Russell Wilson was lousy and Wan’dale had himself a very Wan’daleish game with 8 targets, 6 catches for only 55 yards. Theo Johnson is on nobody’s radar after a one catch, 5 yards game.

DeMario Douglas (WR/Patriots) - How about this statline: 7 targets, 2 catches, -2 yards, 1 touchdown. The Patriots look like they’ll be battling for the #1 pick this year - big matchup vs. the Dolphins in Week 2. Still, he could be a spot starter against an awful Dolphins team.

Chris Rodriguez (RB/Commanders) / Keaton Mitchell (RB/Ravens) - Both guys were healthy scratches. So much for the “experts”.

Dyami Brown (WR/Jaguars) - His three catches all went for first downs but Travis Hunter seems like a focal point on offense so Dyami will likely find himself on the waiver wire when the games begin next Sunday.

Mason Taylor (TE/Jets) - I had no idea that Mason Taylor was Jason Taylor’s son. After his first catch, the announcers talk about how good he is and how the coaching staff was raving about him… and then he didn’t see another target for the rest of the game. I still think he has Cole Kmet like boom potential but who knows when that will be. I mean, Patriots can’t defend TEs so that’s two potential spot starts for him but besides that, who knows?

Tory Horton (WR/Seahawks) - Horton didn’t register a target. I’m not sure if he even played. But outside of Jaxson Smith-Njigba, this Seattle passing attack seems like one to avoid in fantasy football.