Times winding down A look into week 1

GE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
12 days until the NFL season kicks off which of course marks the start of the GFFL season as well so I thought now would be a good time to start looking into some of the Week 1 games and go over some story lines and match ups and predict the winner.

W.Dogz 0-0 AT Mountaineers 0-0


W.Dogz will more than likely be dealing with a hole at RB2 with Stewart very questionable for week 1 leaving her to start Julius Jones or one of her other bench backs in time shares. She has one GE (Gibson Excited) fantasy match up with Calvin Johnson going against the notoriously weak Saints pass D. As for the Mountaineers they have no GE's besides Berrian and Hester are smaller GE's in their first game with Favre and Cutler respectively. The W.Dogz have the better team but I think this game will be closer than people think and without a respectable number 2 RB or a true number 1 QB I'm picking the Mountaineers to slightly edge out a victory.

Carolina Falcons 0-0 AT Kings 0-0

The Carolina Falcons should be competitive all year long...just not in this game. With a definite no Marshawn Lynch for this game their flex is a huge weakness and if Westbrook is out too which judging by his limited playing time in preseason he could be or at least have restrictions on how many times he carries the mail the Carolina Falcons will get slaughtered. If Westbrook is back 100% he is facing a GE match up against the weak Carolina rush only problem is I doubt he'll be 100%. The Kings have tooled their roster and traded away draft picks making it known they're going all out this year and they should start with a win over the defending champs with Moss in a huge GE match up against Buffalo. Kings roll.

Purple Cobras 0-0 AT Heels 0-0

These two teams match up a whole lot more even than anyone would expect. While I think LT will start off the year strong and is facing a GE match up against Oakland, the Heels respond with two huge GE match ups Brady against Buffalo and Colston against Detroit. The Purple Cobras have the better team for the season with a good runningback stable and a number one receiver and QB but I see the Heels winning this on the back of Tom Brady who I think will have a monster performance week 1. Heels win one early.

Ochocinco 0-0 AT Ducks 0-0

No Marshall, no problem the Ducks should easily get past Ochocinco whose top two backs Chris Johnson (AT Pitt) and Portis (At Giants) face horrible match ups not to mention his receiving core is weakened by Crabtree's nonsense. The Ducks should have no problem winning this game with the threesome of A-Rodg, D-Will, and Fitz.

Panthers 0-0 AT Average Joes 0-0

The Panthers will win this game if it wasn't for Brees having a huge GE match up against Detroit they'd win it a lot easier. The Average Joes aren't built to be competitive this year and I think at some point you could see them dealing Brees down the road for a young gun and a bounty of picks for 2010 but who knows crazier things have happened they could be competitive I just don't know how. Panthers roar on.

Rayz 0-0 AT Unbeaten Gators 0-0

Now this is very biased but I believe this starts my climb to the best season the GFFL has ever seen barring some injury. Schaub is ready to explode and be a top 5 QB or better Peterson could go for 2,000 this season Gore's values on the rise in Singletary's offense and Ronnie Brown a year recovered from the ACL injury should find a way to crack into the top 10. As for receiver Steve Smith will be Steve Smith and hopefully Edwards can bounce back. This game will hopefully establish my dominance. I do love Pierre Thomas' GE match up against Detroit though but I don't think it will be enough to over come the talent differential between our two teams and Slaton should be running into a wall against New York. Peterson has a GE match up against Cleveland and the U.Gators should have no problem chomping down on the competition for not only this game but beyond.

U.Gators Rayz make deal, Ducks team suffers hit C.Falcons too

The Unbeaten Gators acquired QB Schaub, HB R.Brown, and WR B.Edwards via trade with the Rayz for QB Palmer, HB P.Thomas, WR Bowe. This is a pretty even trade but I felt the need to do it because I like Schaub to be a top 5 QB and did not feel comfortable standing with Palmer this year and I feel R.Brown has top 10 upside like Pierre Thomas but with a better chance of getting there and a higher ceiling, and when it comes to Edwards I'm one of the few who believe a bounce back could happen due to no other options in Cleveland basically the same situation as Bowe just Edwards had a down season last year.

The Ducks suffered a huge hit with the Marshall suspension which many think will be escalated into the regular season. Their team is still good and can survive it, it just would've been nice to have him as her WR2 with big upside if he would have got his act together.

Roy Williams WR2 for the Carolina Falcons dodged a bullet with no broken collar bone in his future but he will miss the rest of the preseason which could set him back as well as he is starting to come off as injury prone. Westbrook is also yet to make his preseason debut which can't leave Brandon happy with his HB2 if both of these guys miss week 1 Brandon is in huge trouble with Lynch's suspension leaving his runningback and widereceiver2's looking weak.

Eddie Royal receives a huge boost as he is now the number one receiver in Denver and Marshall's targets have to go somewhere.

Unbeaten Gators and Ducks make a swap

Unbeaten Gators Get: WR S. Smith, QB C.Palmer

Ducks Get: QB Rodgers, WR Marshall, HB M.Bush

This deal has two big question marks in Marshall and Palmer but I like the deal for both sides.

The Ducks need some halfback depth so Michael Bush is a good addition Rodgers is a top 4 QB and should help her cover up her runningback weakness.

As for my team I am very excited about this trade adding a top 5 receiver to this already potent line up. I actually think Palmer has some serious upside too watching the way the Bengals offense (especially Ochocinco and Henry) have played. Now he's no Rodgers but he should be hanging around that top 8 or so range. Smitty on the other hand has the upside to be the number one receiver in the league as long as Delhomme can get him the ball and the shoulders alright.

Ochocinco takes a hit

Michael Crabtree's hold out may last to september http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/08/12/report-crabtree-holdout-likely-to-reach-september/ Which means for Ochocinco's already thin receiving core leaving him with Ochocinco, Vincent Jackson,and Jeremy Maclin putting him at a severe disadvantage week in and week out. Ochocinco needs to start making some moves or he's gonna have a rough time putting up a respectable record for this year and years to come.

Rayz become early 2010 favorite...

No matter what happens this year the Rayz can take solice looking ahead to 2010. With his most recent trade of Jennings and Hightower for Edwards and Benson and a slew of picks including a 1st rounder, 2nd rounder, 3rd rounder and 5th rounder. In my opinion the Rayz win this trade big time as Edwards is a down grade but not a huge one and definitely not worth giving up a 1st,2nd,3rd, and 5th that's top runningback trade value.

The Rayz managed to still have a good roster for this year but now will most likely go in to 2010 as one of the favorites to win the MegaBowl as his keepers at the moment would be Slaton, Ronnie Brown, and Edwards not top of the line but pretty good and would have 2 first round picks, 3 2nd round picks, 2 3rd round picks, 2 5th round picks and 2 7th round picks which should allow him to build a powerhouse. This reminds of me of the Cowboys trading of Hershell Walker for a load of draft picks that shaped the Cowboys 90's dynasty.

As for the Kings they gave up way too much but it does make the roster better for '09 where it seems they are going all in for a title and a chance to compete with the U.Gators and C.Falcon. While his present looks bright it may have came at the cost of his future barring some trading of his core players next offseason he won't pick until the 4th round and then he'll skip the 5th round and with each team getting 3 keepers the 4th round should have 7th round talent. So the Kings better bring home a title this year or this trade is gonna look like more and more of a win for the Rayz especially if they're able to win it all 2010.

Unbeaten Gators land top 5 QB

Aaron Rodgers was traded from the Rayz to the Unbeaten Gators for McFadden, Schaub, 2nd and 7th round picks. This shows that the Unbeaten Gators are going all in for a special year in 2009 as they have now dealt their 2nd, 3rd, and 7th round picks.

Unbeaten Gators make move for Pierre

With reports of numerous problems with Reggie's knees and already being high on Pierre I felt now was the time to strike for him. Here's the trade

Unbeaten Gators Get: HB P.Thomas
Mountaineers Get: WR S. Holmes, WR P.Harvin and 3rd round pick

The Mountaineers do help their cause though considering they most likely won't strongly compete in '09 so being able to grab a higher round draft choice was a good move. If Pierre becomes the stud he is predicted to be by some then it won't look so good.

Rayz sell low on Andre3000

Andre had a monster year last year posting 115 receptions 1,575 yards and 8 touchdowns he is one of the top receivers in the league all be it quietly but he has huge potential to better his '08 year.

Andre Johnson is going in the 1st round in some drafts including our own GFFL draft so seeing the Rayz only get back Ronnie Brown and Houshmanzadeh for a top 3 receiver and a top 10 overall player was very surprising. While it did fill the void of a runningback 2 on his team personally I would have just gone with a receiving heavy team especially if that was the value I was getting back. Ronnie does have some upside to be a top 15 back but I'm really low on Housh in a run first Seattle attack and now he'll have to see double teams like the widereceiver one he is not. Housh imo owes his fantasy value to Chad Ochocinco taking two defenders on every play and leaving the middle of the field open for him so the combo of Ronnie(I lost my wildcat value) and Housh for Andre just doesn't come anywhere close for me but maybe Rayz knows something we don't.

This trade was a huge win for the Purple Cobras moving unproven Moreno, Reggie BUST whose knees are swelling and overrated Housh for a top 3 receiver although this doesn't make up for his Forte trade it does greatly help his team and helps his receiving weakness.

The Average Joes may have gotten a little better just for the fact instead of starting one good and one horrible option at runningback he'll have two average which should yield a few more points even if not much and Moreno's future looks brighter than Ronnie's which at this point the Average Joes should be gunning for the future because there is no way they'll compete for anything but a lottery pick in '09 and also 2010.