Week 3: Injuries Abound

___________________________________________________


___________________________________________________

I had a much better gif of a dude on a four wheeler riding a wheelie in the road before getting hit head-on by a car. Unfortunately uploading large files seems to include problems with different hosting sites, and I don't feel like dealing with them at this late hour.

I don't know if it's because I'm dealing with it on a personal level this season, or I just finished playing against Rob, but it seems there have been a lot more injuries than normal this year.

I've lost Adrian Peterson and Ameer Abdullah for a good chunk (if not all) of the season. Gronk has been injured for the first three weeks and has yet to record a single point. And Spencer Ware has been dealing with a toe injury.

Linhart has it worse with four high quality starters all with asterisk's next to their names; Shane Vereen, Sammy Watkins, Doug Martin, and Arian Foster.

Vic has been struck by the injury bug as well. First losing Kennan Allen during the first game of the season, then Jonathan Stewart, Rashad Jennings, and Delanie Walker all getting hurt.

Devin has five players marked with an asterisk: Thomas Rawls, Tyler Eifert, Antonio Gates, C.J. Prosise, and Kenneth Dixon. And I'm not even including the fact that Le'Veon Bell has missed the first three games due to suspension.

Rock's got Donte Moncrief, Zach Ertz, Corey Coleman, and Danny Woodhead injured. Plus, Dez Bryant is getting an MRI on his knee after having to leave the game Sunday night, and Jarvis Landry is being held out of practice with a shoulder injury.

T-Smoke's got Jeremy Langford & Deion Lewis. Not much concern there.

Joe Pro's only dealing with Willie Snead being out.

Spae: Jamaal Charles, & Virgil Green. Don: Jordan Cameron.

Urgie, B-Shorts and Davie's teams don't seem to have any significant injuries so who knows what their excuse is.

The point is, that this year seems to be hinging on depth more than any other season in the past. If you're lucky enough to have the core of your team remain relatively healthy, you've got a better shot than the rest of the league who seems to be facing more than their fair share of health issues.

Week 2: The Ballad of Barbaro Peterson

___________________________________________________


___________________________________________________

Back when I drafted Adri... Barbaro Peterson in 2007, even I didn't know the fantasy stud he would become. It was a year of dominance I'd never experienced before. My first taste of fantasy greatness. Even though I lost in the championship game to Vic, I knew I had plenty of good years ahead with Barbaro leading the charge.

But even at the beginning of something so great, I knew that like all things, it was destined to end at some point. That's why at the end of 2007, I promised myself I would only keep him for as long as he was a viable starter. I thought I could drop him just before his play began to tail off.

This year I nearly cut him loose. But, much like George Costanza, "I got greedy. Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami."
___________________________________________________


___________________________________________________

I thought I could squeeze one more season of magic from him. It was not to be. Though in all fairness, Devonta Freeman and LeSean McCoy aren't doing much better. Barbaro had only gotten me 5 points out of the first two weeks of the season.
___________________________________________________


___________________________________________________

Now, my Jewggernaut of a roster is down one hall of famer, and I'm not wasting a dollar on picking up Asiata. What's worse is that I'm slumming it up in a group of eight teams at .500. How do you people live like this? In the purgatory of fantasy football mediocrity. I'm not worried though, I've still got David Johnson going up against the Bills defense on Sunday. That alone should guarantee I hand Linhart his first ever loss as a member of our league. Unless this is the time Rob Ryan executes a competent defense. I guess based on the law of infinite probability that it could happen.

It's still too soon to determine which teams are the strongest so I'll hold off on any power rankings/evaluation of the rosters until at least next week.

Until then, I think we can all take a moment and enjoy the fact that Rock is mired in a winless start to the season, and he's indebted to Spae for some booze.

Week 1: ...And We Are Off!

___________________________________________________


___________________________________________________

As I have made a habit of doing the past few seasons, I try not to look too deeply into the outcomes of the first week of the season. A single week isn't really a valid way to measure a team's quality. I like to cite the 2008 campaign when I lost the first two games, only to go undefeated the rest of the way.

Truth be told, I really just want to give the rest of the field a false sense of hope to keep you all from scuttling to your Draft Kings accounts in a feeble attempt to salvage what little fantasy football dignity you have remaining.

But in all seriousness, here are some of my thoughts on the outcomes of the first week's games.

Wadhams v. Ginty

• Don't feel bad Devin, you never had a chance. Even with Rob Gronkowski out and Adrian Peterson only getting me three points, I still had the league's highest score this week. Plus, your boy Le'Veon Bell wasn't playing. I seriously hope you can compete this year so that we can continue the rivalry that's been brewing over these past few seasons.

Rob v. Davie

• It was good to see Rob get his first victory as an official member of the UDFFL, I hope he continues to progress and eventually build his team into a contender. As for Davie, if it makes you feel any better, Devonta Freeman doubled Adrian Peterson's point total this week, and you managed to grab Tevin Coleman in the 10th round. Triple digit points can't be too far away.

Don v. Rock

• Don was able to defeat Rock this week on the strength of the performances Doug Baldwin, Amari Cooper, and Mike Evans turned in. Consistency is the linchpin of fantasy football, and Don has been consistently bad since joining the league. I genuinely would like to see the piss taker's watch the postseason from inside the playoff bracket. Rock's team continued it's failure to impress. The fact that he won a championship is a wound that we all must bear forever, for every one of us (except Rob) need to share in the responsibility of being unable to prevent such a catastrophe.

T-Smoke v. B-Shorts

• In the battle of the hyphenated nicknames, T-Smoke was able to win convincingly due in no small part to the numbers put up by Jew Brees and DeAngelo Williams. We'll have to see how things progress when Le'Veon Bell returns from his suspension. I can't really figure out the quality of either of your teams right now. Some of the players I expected to perform well did poorly, and vice versa.

Vic v. Urgie

• C.J. Anderson and Andrew Luck managed to net a total of 70 points for Vic. Whenever you have that level of production from your keepers, you're off to a great start. The loss of Keenan Allen is a major blow since depth at the RB/WR spot will be crucial with the coming bye weeks. Urgie managed to get a decent number of points out of Jeremy Maclin despite the fact that he's a WR on the Kansas City Chiefs. Hopefully Gurley can iron out whatever it is that held him to only 4.5 points.

Spae v. Joe Pro

• Classic shootout. Neither team was able to pull away from one another until the very end. It's one of those matchups that is great to watch, but horrible to be a part of. Spae, you can blame T-Smoke for this since he was the one who selected the numbers that determined the matchups on the schedule. Brandin Cooks seems like a good draft pick/keeper, and the fact that LeSean McCoy was able to put up 14 points in an abysmal offensive game for the Bills means things aren't as bad as your week 1 loss indicates. The only thing that keeps me from labeling Joe Pro's team as a contender is the lack of point output from his bench. As I stated before, bye weeks force everyone's team into a "next man up" situation. But if his starters continue to do well, he can afford to drop a few points from his week 1 total.

2016 Draft Recap

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________




___________________________________________________

Well, another draft day goes in the books, and to be honest, I think this was one of, if not the most fun we have had in the league's 14 year history.

Whenever you can avoid work related travel, or Elton John concerts, and get everyone at the draft, you're already at a great starting point.

In keeping with my tradition of adding to the draft day recap post I started in 2014, this week's write-up takes place entirely on the league's blogspot page. Draft Day History