Week 1 is in the books for our 12th season here at the Card Night Kangs. It was a hectic offseason with a very active draft and 6 teams labeling themselves contenders. We’ll take a look at where those teams stack up after Week 1 shortly but I think we need to acknowledge the two tankers first. Mitch and Abel both began a slash-and-burn rebuild this season and it shows with the starting line-ups during our first week. In an 8-team league with lots of Flex spots, you shouldn’t see some of the guys from each of those rosters starting but here we are. I am going to set the over/under total wins for Mitch and Abel at 3.5 currently, knowing that 2 of those wins will come against each other.
There has also been many other changes, including expanding rosters to 30, getting rid of IR and taxi squads and implementing some kind of injury contingency that likely nobody remembered. Then there was the platform change to Sleeper. Reviews are mixed but MANY people are saying it’s terrible, hard to navigate and worst decision for this league and maybe the country. The only saving grace is that Yahoo also redesigned their fantasy site and it now looks worse than Trump did in the debate. Yeesh…
But enough of that, let’s get back to the contenders and see where things stand with our new season’s first Power Rankings…
1. Rollin’ 4 Deep – Finken came roaring out of the gates with high points (by far) on the week, almost doubling up Mitch. It looks like Philly has replaced the tush-push with the Barkley RB Extravaganza, so that’ll be fun for Finken while it lasts. Gibbs, AJ Brown, Conner and Evans picked right back up where they left off and Kupp could get back to his triple crown form with Puka banged up. But with Jordan Love already injured and several other aging veterans carrying this team, he’d better hope Daniels doesn’t get folded like chair or he’ll soon be relying solely on Rodgers and his tinfoil hat to stay in contention. If the Jet’s turf-monster gets him again, Rodgers may just hang it up and shoot for a cabinet position with his buddy RFK.
2. Off Suit 10s – Despite getting his head chopped in the Guillotine
league on the first week, Kyle’s off to a way better start to his reclamation
project in the CNK. After toiling away
for a few years at the bottom of the standings, he reshaped his roster into
what appears to be a contender and is ready to roll. Not that he needed much to topple Abel in
Week 1. A stiff breeze could’ve done
that. Unlike his Hawkeyes, he used the
transfer/trade portal to bolster his flex spots and added good depth. Unlike his Hawkeyes, Kyle solved his QB problem
and also added playmakers to strengthen the offensive attack. Unlike his Hawkeyes, he took the lead and
then smothered his opponent, leaving no doubt.
Unlike his Hawkeyes, he now sits at a perfect 2-0 and ready to compete
for the playoff. Unlike his Hawkeyes, there
is now excitement around the program and a reason for the fans to be hopeful.
3. If We’re Using Logic – After dubbing himself in “Elite Company” in
his season preview and stating he’s the top dog in his own patent-pending power
rankings, Chris came out with a bit of a whimper, just getting by Riley in Week
1. His QBs held up their end of the
bargain but the rest of the roster was fairly ho-hum. The good news is that CD got his contract and
Chase appears to be willing to play out the year before getting his. If there were holdouts, that could’ve gotten
ugly/hilarious with Puka going down for the next few weeks. Especially if he’s going to be relying on
Daniel Jones to make Nabers relevant and Brooks to score a bunch when finally
healthy on one of the worst offenses we’ve seen since Deacon Hill…
If Chris says it enough times, it'll come to fruition.
4. Ah It’s Early – Seth was dreading this weekend; Cyclones going to
Kinnick and he was playing South in dynasty.
Neither of which are usually harbingers of good. But alas, he was mistaken. ISU’s last second victory gave him bragging
rights for the next year over the most volatile members of the league and South
made a calculated error (we’ll get to that in a second) which led to Seth
holding onto victory. It was a
workman-like win with everyone basically putting up an average score (something
Seth’s not used to doing with his prowess in the bedroom). Well, everyone except Kelce. If this is how the Chiefs are going to use
him all year, Abel had better at least send Seth a fruit basket at Christmas
time in thanks for that gift of a first round pick.
Seth all weekend long.
5. Fuck It Three – It is so rare that South is this low in the
rankings, I think we just need to take a second and reflect on how badly he
F-ed up. With an injured CMC heading
into MNF, he left him in the RB spot instead of moving him to a flex position
in case something went haywire. And
about an hour before kickoff, the dreaded alert popped up. CMC was out and Mason was sitting on Mitch’s
bench. Maybe South will sleep better
knowing that Aiuyk or Kittle wouldn’t have gotten him the win but the king of strategy
and game theory failed the most basic fantasy test. Most likely he’ll bounce back from this and
climb his way back up the rankings. But if
CMC is out for a while, Tyreeeeeek keeps getting profiled on the way to the
game and Darnold can’t give JJ a reason to do the Griddy, South could be in for
a longer season than expected. We’re
sure that Broncos WR he blew most of his FAAB money on will save the season and
definitely not be a one week flash in the pan.
6. Smells Low – Our final contender couldn’t quite sniff out the right
choices to make in Week 1, leaving Reed, Dobbins and Worthy on the bench. Breece kept him in it on MNF but in the end,
he fell short by just a nose. And if the
Eagles new center can’t unclog the line of scrimmage like Afrin for Hurts to
push his way to double digit TDs again, Riley may have preemptively stuck his
snout into the contenders circle without actually having the credentials. He’ll get another chance this week against
Finken to clear those sinuses out and prove he belongs.
Riley after Week 1
7. Play It Backwards – While Mitch lost as he hoped this week, several
things went very well for him. Jamo
broke out and may actually be an NFL player going forward and not just a
knucklehead. Bowers looked good and Penix
watch has begun. And now he gets to
trade Mason to South for a ransom if CMC is actually out for any length of
time. While his dynasty team is down
this year, his future is looking bright enough, he may want to start looking
for shades.
Mitch might need Blue-Blockers to check in our his future.
8. I’m Out – Yes Abel, this season…you definitely are. Please start watching a lot of college
football because half of the next draft is going to be on your roster. Be ready to choose wisely.
 |
| Abel finally taking his team seriously. |
No comments:
Post a Comment