Week #1

The GloriousBastards exploded for 200+ points to start the 2022 in dominating fashion by blowing out the competition.  Bas should not get overly excited however because the last time a time started with more than 200 pts it was OldNo7 in 2019 with 205.5 pts but followed up with last place in week #2.  This week most of the boost was defense, with the top scorer of all 14 starters being DB Minkah Fitzpatrick with 30 points including a TD.  Usually when a DB is the top scorer on a team it’s a very bad sign but in this case it was the opposite.  Since Bas also started the Steelers defense, Fitzpatrick’s TD double-counted and the Steelers ended the game with 21 pts by completely crushing their weekly projection which was somewhat low because they were playing on the road against the Super Bowl finalists the Bengals.  On offense Bas is supposed to be unbeatable at the WR position and both WRs even outperformed with 22.25 pts from J Chase and 22 pts from D Adams.  Ju Herbert was the best on offense with 27.25 pts which also beat his projection.

WaxOnWaxOff started the season on the right foot and mostly kept in line with their status as 2022 favorites.  Franchise player Josh Allen opened the season on TNF with a dominating performance of nearly 40 pts, on the road against the Rams defense.  It leads one to wonder, how often is he going to score less than 25 points this year?  The other franchise player Ju Jefferson was all over the field against the Packers with a 30-point game, which is something he did not do at any time in 2021 despite a good season.  Jefferson made up for the poor game by co-starting WR Allen Robinson who was completely in the shadow of C Kupp with only one reception.  At RB it was also a tale of extremes with S Barkley looking like his pre-injury self with 21.5 pts but E Elliott could not find running room against the Bucs and finished with only 4 pts.  The worst news of the week for Wax was on defense with TJ Watt having a great game with 18.5 pts but got injured and might be out for the year. 

The BeaudoinBrothers started 2022 with an adequate 3rd place with solid play from almost all positions but nobody lighting up the scoreboard either.  The top scorer was WR Pittman with 21 pts but some of it was due to the Colts playing from behind and playing 10 extra minutes of overtime, otherwise he would have had a good but not great game.  AJ Brown also had a pretty decent game with 10-155 however no TD.  The strong point for Beaud this week was clearly receivers, because in addition to the WR duo, Kelce was also dominant with 19 pts which crushed every other starting TE in the league.  RBs were less glamourous, I guess 12 pts from Mixon gets the job done without any splash but franchise player D Henry with only 6.75 pts at home against the Giants is a concern going forward especially since he’s coming off injury so that bears monitoring.  On defense everybody except Chandler Jones (4 pts) was in a range 7-12.5 pts which was a bit above projections, and the main positive was not the regular IDPs but rather rookie LB Devin Lloyd who played as a starter and did well with 11 pts which was the second best rookie score of week #1 in the PQBFL by beating all offensive rookies except Jahan Dotson (Old) who was on the bench.

The Admirals managed to finish in the top half of the standings with a slightly above average 143.5 pts.  K Murray led the way with 20.5 pts in line with his projection but a lot of it was in garbage time in the 4th quarter after the Cards were already down 37-7 against the Chiefs so it was not a convincing performance.  N Chubb did well with 141 yards rushing but both RB scores by the Browns went to K Hunt which was frustrating.  D Harris is the bigger question mark however because the Pats offense looked dreadful in Miami and Harris had a lesser share of the carries than in 2021 with 9 for Harris versus 8 for R Stevenson.  At this rate, neither of them will have any value.  To make matters worse nobody on the Adm RB bench did anything of note except Gainwell who scored a TD against a poor defense but he does not look like a starter.  At WR Deebo Samuel scored a TD as a runner but as this writer has argued all of 2021 it cannot be sustained if he’s not more involved in the passing game.  His meagre 2 receptions for 14 yards simply won’t cut it, although in his defense it was raining so time will tell.  He did have a fumble lost to end with only 7.25 pts, well short of his projection.  On defense a lot was discussed before the start of the season regarding Adm’s strong defensive saved team and it showed in week #1 with all 4 individual starters scoring 11 pts or more. 

The Decepticons started 2022 with a middling 5th place with a mix of monster games and terrible performances which exposed holes in the Dec lineup.  First off C Kupp does not seem like he will be affected by Stafford’s less than 100% elbow or by the arrival of A Robinson because he had the lion’s share of targets and converted 13 of them into receptions.  Mahomes also did not miss a beat without Ty Hill with 35.75 pts on the road in Arizona.  The main problem is for the second starting WR as noted post draft because it’s slim pickings at least until D Hopkins comes back from suspension.  Starter R Woods only had one reception against the Giants which was a significant letdown, and backup Lockett only had 3-28 on the bench with his new QB Geno Smith.  At RB the situation might become problematic if N Harris has a long-term injury issue, this week he scored a TD by air but on the ground he was useless with 10-23.  At the rookie position Dec threw a lot of darts on the board during the draft and week #1 was a sea of mediocrity from all of them, with starter G Pickens falling flat with 1 reception for 3 yards after his overhyped preseason.

FlyingElvis finished 6th with a subpar 132.75 pts but at least has the injury excuse unlike some other teams; FE leads the league in injury points so far.  Most teams are healthy in week #1 but FE was missing TE Kittle and backup Irv Smith did nothing at all for a costly goose egg.  CD Lamb had a poor game with only 3.25 pts and will be even more affected going forward with Dak’s injury which will not earn injury points for FE unfortunately.  The other starting WR M Brown scored a TD on his new team but did not dominate the stats column with 4-43.  J Taylor ran wild as is expected of the PQBFL’s most valuable player with 161 rushing yards and a TD, but FE’s other franchise player Ekeler was less impressive with only 6 pts.  QB Lamar Jackson decided to play without a long-term contract in a huge bet on himself, he started well with 26.25 pts but it was against the Jets so it tempers the enthusiasm for now.  Defense was solid for FE with double digit scores by everybody including the Ravens defense, the lone exception behind A Donald who had a sack but only one other tackle the rest of the game. 

After dominating 2021, the start of 2022 is under completely different skies as Prof did not finish in the bottom three all of last year and has already found its way there after only one week this year.  As argued post-draft, burning two franchise player spots on Ja Williams and Etienne might be fine for 2023 and beyond but it’s doubtful that it was an optimal strategy for 2022 and week #1 did nothing to change that line of thought.  Ja Williams was active in the passing game but he only carried 7 times compared to Gordon 12 times, Williams did not score and even fumbled at the 1-year line, failing to convert the TD which was a key part of why the Broncos lost.  On his side, Etienne was even worse.  He was outrushed 11-4 by James Robinson and only caught 2 short passes on 4 targets.  That might be only one week, but he better find running room soon otherwise he’s going to end up being even questionable value in 2023, let alone 2022.  Brady did not seem affected by his old age in 2021 but what happened in August 2022 when he missed part of camp?  Does it have anything to do with his on field performance in week 1?  He was not awful by any stretch of the imagination but he played conservatively and even the entire team was conservative with 33 rushes and only 27 pass attempts.  Brady also threw an INT and failed to reach double digits.  At least his lone TD went to M Evans which helped Prof because he started at WR.  On defense, high priced M Garrett is already paying dividends with 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles for a total of 17.5 pts. 

OldNo7 scored a miserable 109 pts in contrast with the strong 2021 start when Old scored 167 pts in week #1 last year.  The worst news was Dak’s injury and he sunk Old with only 2 pts, but thankfully backup Wentz was stellar on the bench with 33.25 pts as the third best QB of the week behind Jo Allen and Mahomes.  Wentz will be needed by Old for the next several weeks.  At RB McCaffrey scored a short TD but was not very involved in the Mayfield-led offense so he fell short of his projection with 11.25 pts.  Kamara was also not used extensively by Winston and finished with a poor 3.75 pts.  However CEH on the bench seemed to be the clear RB in KC with 17.5 pts so Old might be able to afford putting first round pick Kamara on the bench sooner rather than later if Kamara does not click with Winston.  At WR, Ty Hill was ok in his first game as a Dolphin with 8-94 but the TD went to Waddle (Adm) instead so Hill finished slightly below his projection with 11.5 pts.  DJ Moore was far worse with only 5.5 pts and it was a coaching mistake to start him at the last minute over McLaurin who outscored him with 12.75 pts.  On defense P Werner was a star with 12 solo tackles and 1 forced fumble for 17 pts which was the 4th best LB score of the week.

The Ballers failed to reach 100 pts which is less common in week 1 than later in the year when injuries pile up combined with bye weeks.  A Rodgers was an absolute disaster with 0.5 pt at Minnesota but he was also terrible in week #1 of 2021 before recovering so there might be hope, especially since he was missing his WR1 Lazard (FE) this week.  However RB Akers might not have the same outlook after his game of 3 rushes for zero, and no reception or target.  Fortunately backup Cordarelle Patterson did well on the bench with 16.25 pts so he might be needed in the starting lineup urgently.  Diggs was excellent in the season debut with 22 pts but Higgins got concussed after scoring only 3.25 pts which was a drag on the Ballers this week.  Similar to the RB position, excellent backup Amon-Ra StB might be called into action and his 16 pts on the bench this week inspires confidence.  For the rest of the lineup, the Ballers were more affected by injuries than all teams except FE with all three rookies being out of action in week #1.  In addition LB H Landry is out for the year and the defensive flex defaulted to M Golden who only scored 3 pts.





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