Your Commish is back with the regular Wednesday dose (hopefully anyway….) of Statistically Speaking….Week 1 of TBFL action leaves us with a few ties to sort out and ultimately 5 Player of the Week trophies to give out to 3 teams….Team of the Week….Chump of the Week….A new contest is born….and a milestone is reached….all after the break….
Danny laid down the gauntlet for the 2012 season with the bold statement that the Legends will claim 10 victories this year….While he and the rest of the Storm Division stare at a 0 in that column after Week 1 action….maybe he meant they would be claiming 10 Player of the Week trophies instead?….3 different Quarterbacks flew off 2012 draft boards in Round 1….Aaron Rodgers put up his usual 25+ per game….Drew Brees extended his ‘Consecutive Game with a Touchdown’ streak to 44 (only 3 behind Johnny U!)….Tom Brady continued to be The Dreamiest Quarterback in the Universe®….but it was Matt Ryan who ends up grabbing our 1st Player of the Week award on the year….Only 8 passes touched the ground as he recorded a 74% completion rate on 31 attempts for 299 yards (someone couldn’t just fall forward for 1 extra yard?) and 3 Touchdowns in the air (almost 1 for every 10 passes thrown) for a Quarterback rating of 136.35….Matty Ice added one more score on the ground with a 5 yard scamper against the Husslers defense to pull himself out of a 28 point tie with the X-Factor rookie sensation RG3 who ends in second place this week….
22 Running Backs started in Week 1….of those not lost to injury right away [grumble….] 6 managed to crack 20 points….familiar names of Foster (20)….Forte (21)….and Rice (23)….all fell to the wayside as Kevin Smith and Darren McFadden both edged them out reaching 24….Smith averaged more than 4½ yards per carry against the Bubba Army defense totaling 62 yards on only 13 carries….29 yards more in the air on 4 receptions left him just under 100 Total-Yards-From-Scrimmage….McFadden earned most of his points in the passing game (Don’t forget Danny….this is a PPR league) reeling in 72% of his 18 targets for 86 yards….he did tack on a measly 32 more on the ground on 15 carries (2.13 avg) to end in the deadlocked tie….MyFantasyLeague voters decided Smith’s twin 5 yard touchdowns (one on the ground and one in the air) were the difference maker and awarded him the 1st Player of the Week trophy on the year….The first for the Warriors and the Buccaneers Division on the year as well….
While he may have finished outside the Top-20 for targets on the weekend with only 9, Julio Jones did manage to make the most of them converting on 6 of those opportunities….4 of those moved the chains resulting in a 1st Down and 2 of them put points on the board as he finished in the Husslers end zone (BONUS)….The 2012 2nd Round Draft Pick averaged 18.0 yards per reception totaling 108 on the day….The 28 point effort just edged out 2 Husslers Wide Receivers….Andre Johnson (25) and Brandon Marshall (26) both cracked the 100 yard mark with touchdowns of their own….but they both saw double-digit balls thrown their way to get there….This is the 2nd Player of the Week award for Playground Legends who are well on the way to reaching the 10 that Danny promised….
The biggest highlight kick of the weekend belonged to grizzled veteran David Akers….His 63 yard shot that bounced over the crossbar for Fudgie Whales tied him for the longest field goal in TBFL history….A feat last accomplished in Week 1 of the 2011 season by Sebastian Janikowski for Armed N Dangerous….But he would be bested in total points by 2 competitors who end up being the 9th and 10th players to tie for the 3rd highest score by a kicker in the TBFL….Nate Kaeding was perfect on Monday Night hitting his 1 Extra Point opportunity, and closing out 5 other drives with points from his leg on the way to Husslers tearing Team of the Week away from Hurricanes….Matt Bryant reaches the mark for the Warriors with a more even split of opportunities going perfect on 4 Extra Points and 4 Field Goals….Ultimately the MyFantasyLeague voters gave this award to the most kicks made and Warriors take home their 2nd trophy on the weekend….
In a week where 6 quarterbacks threw 3 or more interceptions….we knew there would be a close contest for our 1st Defensive Team of the Week award….Armed N Dangerous’ Jets squad came out on top of the pack….and as an additional gift for them….their 2 scores on a punt return and a pick-6 helped to run up the score on their Storm Division rivals….pushing Thrashers’ Bills squad down to the lowest defensive score (-13) since Bubba Army started the Bills in Week 10 of last season (-14)….3 more turnovers were enough to push the 15th Round draft selection past the much higher drafted Ravens (Round 7) and Texans (Round 8) units to claim the 3rd award for the winless Storm Division on opening weekend….
Team of the Week
After the early games on Sunday were completed….Playground Legends held the lead at 113 points….but they had no more players to tack on with….By the end of Sunday Night action….the consensus pre-season #1 team Hurricanes had shot past them to a peak of 134….3 teams still had a legitimate shot with 2 games going on Monday Night….Fudgie Whales fell short at 121….Warriors just edged them out but were still short at 124….It would come down to points in the late-late game for Husslers to take the crown at 141….their 1st Team of the Week award since joining the league last year….They finished in a tie for the best Running Back and Kicker scores, and had the #2 and #3 Wide Receivers on the weekend….The Fantasy Sharks previews proved to be successful in nailing 4 of the 6 victors in the league including this honor for the reigning Empire Cup Champions….
Chump of the Week
After losing Fred Jackson on an early play and seeing no action from 1st Round Draft pick Wes Welker….Your Commish was certain it would be a Bubba Army helmet that was crushed this week….A similar exit by Rashad Jennings and a huge problem of the Bills Defense working against them instead gave the honor to the Bay Area Thrashers….Their 69 point final score was their lowest since the last time they took this award with a 53 point outing in Week 4 of 2010….Their 34 potential points left on the bench and 67.0% efficiency rating were not the lowest on the week….That honor falls on our reigning TBFL Champions (41 on the bench, 66.7% efficiency)….
Chump Survivor
Since I did not announce it till now….I won’t count this week….but I am going to be running another new contest here on the article post called Chump Survivor….basically you just play your regular lineup every week as normal, but if you are the lowest score among surviving teams….you are essentially eliminated….That means we will be down to 11 teams after Week 2, 10 teams after Week 3, etc. till there are only 2 left in the final regular season of the TBFL in Week 13….And there can be only one….Good luck everybody this week….
One last item of note….the 121 points tallied up by Fudgie Whales in their victory over UO puts them at a career total of 5,041 points….they reached the 5,000 point barrier in only 53 games making them the 3rd fastest team to do so averaging 95 points a game over that period….
Commish