The BFL rolls into Week 3 of it’s inaugural season with high stakes matchups across the board. Uniquely after the results of week 2, this week will see #1 @ #2, #6 @ #5 and #3 @ #4, which promises some explosive and important matches.
Cookies @ Dezzys
The Dope continues to feel sorry for the Maryland Cookies. After two weeks of scoring incredibly highly, they are currently winless and last in the BFL, despite scoring the second most points in the entire league. An incredible performance from DE Chandler Jones was not matched across the rest of the team, with WR Keenan Allen having the most disappointing day. The Cookies will look to put last week’s unfortunate performance behind them and this week’s matchup seems to favour them.
The despite losing WR Dez Bryant, the Dezzys ran the Winos close, and could have won the contest were it not for very disappointing performances from QB Andrew Luck and RB Frank Gore. The duo were extremely disappointing in a match that should have easily favoured them. The Dezzys continue to be hit by injury and it remains to be seen how they will cope with losing such important players, although The Dope anticipates that if TE Rob Gronkowski continues to perform strongly, they can still perform favourably.
The Dope’s Prediction: The Cookies will finally get off the board, whilst the injury hit Dezzys will start week 4 as the basement dwellers.
Morgan @ Clowns
Team Morgan showed signs of being the highly-tipped dark horse (if you can have such a thing…) in last week’s matchup, with an outstanding performance from WR Antonio Brown and QB Peyton Manning showing signs of returning to his old form. Such is the competitiveness of the BFL that Week 1’s turkeys of the week won Week 2’s Hyundai Player of the Week award. The Dope believes that to win this week’s match, Morgan will hope for a similar performance from Manning, or will they be tempted to play Ben Roethlisberger instead?
The Clowns ran away with their week 2 matchup against the Rage and it could have been a better week had RB Eddie Lacy not been taken out of the game, and his status for week 3 will be watched closely by the Clowns faithful. QB Tom Brady continues to impress and LB Jamie Collins was the second highest contributor to the Clowns’ week 2 total, showing the kind of strength and depth that will favour them at the tail end of the season.
The Dope’s Prediction: Clowns improve to 2-1.
Winos @ Rage
This week’s top of the table clash between the Winos and Rage will be watched intensely by the rest of the league, who will be hoping to capitalise on the inevitable defeat of one of the two leaders.
As you might have expected from their line-up, the Winos can thank QB Aaron Rodgers and WR Odell Beckham Jr. for their week 2 win, with typically magnificent performances from both men. In a high stakes clash this early in the season, the Waterton fans will be hoping that WR Roddy White bounces back from a disappointing performance last week and hope that RBs Joique Bell and Mark Ingram will also contribute to their total this week.
It was a bitterly disappointing performance from the Rage in week 2, and whilst they didn’t need their DTs and DE Cameron Wake in week 1, they certainly would have helped them in week 2. The Dope has been informed that the Rage’s GM knew the writing was on the wall after the early Sunday games. An injury to LB Luke Kuechly and an underwhelming performance from RB Jeremy Hill may pale into comparison when, at press time, rumours of a significant injury to QB Drew Brees will dent the Rage’s chances not just for the week, but for the rest of the season. Early indications are that the Rage will go with Brees’s backup Cam Newton this week regardless of injury, although come next week’s Dope Sheet, they may be back on the look out for a QB.
The Dope’s Prediction: With the Rage’s uncertainty at QB, expect the Winos to capitalise and remain unbeaten.
The Dope’s Week 2 Predictions: 2-1
The Dope’s Overall Predictions: 2-4
From the Commish’s Desk
* First off, apologies from the real dope a.k.a. this league’s Commissioner for not understanding his own rules. The rosters do not lock all together at once, but instead at an individual’s scheduled game time.
For example: this week’s Thursday Night Game is the Washington Football Team @ New York Giants, so if Eli Manning is in your QB slot when that game kicks off, he will be your QB for that week’s game. Therefore, it is important that if you want to maximise your chances to win each week, keep tabs on your team through the Sunday games for the status of not just your players, but the other players on that player’s team – e.g. if Eddie Lacy is out, like last week, you will see an increase in James Starks’ numbers as he is bumped up the depth chart and will have most of the carries; so it would be worth dropping him to your bench and picking up another RB who is certain to play. There were two settings for the league that you could choose for locking settings and as it turns out, I picked the one that allows you to be reactive instead of proactive.
* On a related note, remember that each team has two Injured Reserve slots for players that are Out or on IR. These two slots do not count against your roster limits so at that time you can have three QBs for example, but when that player returns from IR you will need to drop one of them.
* If you have free agent kickers on your squad – I’d advise dropping them completely and picking up someone who is active on an NFL roster. With how close some of these matchups have been over the past two weeks, it could be the difference between bragging on social media, or being this week’s turkey.
As always, good luck to everyone in week 3, I’m enjoying the craic on social media at present and fantasy football reaffirms my love for the NFL.