2016-01 Dope Sheet

The nights are growing longer. Leaves are beginning to fall. The shorts are getting packed away for another year. Business time is upon us. After a successful first season, the Bridgend Football League kicks off with the original six charter teams joined by four expansion teams. Some GMs bring with them added weight – experienced winners in other leagues and with the smack talking to match. Newer GMs and their (potential) inexperience could be feasted upon by the league veterans, who will look to hoodwink and deceive their opponents as much as possible. The Original Six face-off against each other this week, with the expansion teams also looking to establish an order of supremacy amongst themselves very early in the season.

After a summer full of intense trash talking, it’s finally kick-off weekend and The Dope has been unpacked from his hibernation, ready to prognosticate on each of the week’s match ups.

The Dope Sheet is brought to you by Verizon, the official wireless carrier of the BFL. Verizon. Better Matters.

Orlando Rage @ Cleveland Clowns
We kick things off with last season’s #2 seed and the defending champions, resuming the longest-running rivalry in the BFL.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the Rage would be content with being last season’s #2 seed, but it could have been so different. By week 7 last season, they were the only team to hang a loss on the, at the time, dominant Winos – the Bridgend Shiva Bowl seemed inevitable. But the second half of the season proved to be the team’s undoing and ultimately, fourth place was seen as a huge disappointment. The Rage have a proud tradition of drafting well and after their D was found lacking last season, the overhaul may just work – spending relatively high draft picks on the likes of DT Aaron Donald and LB NaVorro Bowman, might just be what the team needs. Last season’s bogey position of RB appears to have been more than addressed – Eddie Lacy looks in tremendous shape and is determined to prove the doubters wrong, whilst the amount of witch dances being performed in the vicinity of the team’s training facilities to prevent yet another key player going down with a season-ending injury early on, has reportedly increased.
The defending champions enter this season with a massive bullseye on their chest – every team is looking to take them down, hoping to prevent a second championship. Clowns look stacked up front and that’s without the currently suspended RB Le’Von Bell. Bell’s draft position could be the story of the Clowns’s season – if the Clowns begin their first four games well, then when a fit and healthy Bell returns to the team, it was a shrewd move to draft him. However, if the Clowns lose more than 2 games, The Dope argues that drafting Bell so high, knowing he would be missing the first few games, was a mistake given the other players available on the board. After his pre-season injury last year, football fans will be delighted to see WR Jordy Nelson back this weekend and the Clowns will hope to be the beneficiaries of a fantastic comeback performance.
The Dope’s Las Vegas sources are of the opinion that despite the lines and projections of several teams this week, this will not be a close game.
The Dope’s Prediction: The Clowns hit the ground running with a strong offensive display to kick-off the season.

The Super Touchdowners @ Team Jones
The Super Touchdowners were wise to pick The Dope’s favourite player in the draft this season, WR Antonio Brown, who the team have built around, with a solid if unspectacular front seven. The likes of QB Phillip Rivers and RB LeSean McCoy will certainly get the job done, but aren’t as exciting as other front sevens. However, given the presence of the top ranked WR, they might not need to be – flash is very nice, but it doesn’t win games – great performances certainly do. A post draft trade to acquire QB Tom Brady will be of much interest come the return fixture in week 5 – will Rivers have done enough to win the starting job? Or will the return of (one of the) greatest quarterbacks of all-time ensure that based on past performances, he starts the next game?
After a several season hiatus, Team Jones have returned and their reputation for being at home at the trading table has returned with them. In this week’s match their front seven doesn’t look the strongest against their opponents, but on the defensive side of the ball, Jones will be delighted with the depth spread across the various positions. QB Tyrod Taylor got plenty of attention last season, but whether he becomes another “one-season wonder” remains to be seen – a favourable Week 1 match-up for him is unlikely to dampen expectations. On their D, look for a strong performance from DE Robert Quinn, a man who will be a defensive leader in the Team Jones locker room.
The Dope’s Prediction: Team Jones picks up where they left off, with everyone trying to find a flaw…somewhere.

Maesteg SheepSkins @ Dallas Sucks
Somewhere deep in the halls of NBC, a jobbing writer struggling for a pitch will gloss across the SheepSkins roster and realise that the A.J. and Juilo Show is quite a good idea and turn it into a buddy cop drama. WRs Julio Jones and A.J. Green, two of the best in the game, could form one of the best double teams this side of Crockett and Tubbs if both stay healthy. S Kam Chancellor, one of the hardest-hitting men in the game, leads a good looking defence that features a Super Bowl winning linebacker core of Danny Trevathan and Clay Matthews III.
Dallas Sucks have already set their sights on their rivalry with the Dezzys, but the long established GM has built a formidable team that looks to be a real contender. Any team to feature the talents of RB Adrian Peterson is going to contend and the tools around him are there for him to succeed. Don’t sleep on the Sucks’s defence, which could be the best in the league. DE Khalil Mack is an absolute monster and The Dope argues was one of the steals of the draft. And ask the Rage’s GM how important LB Luke Kuechly was to their success before dropping him after his concussion last season.
The Dope’s Prediction: Dallas Sucks get the W in a game closer than the lines are projecting.

Shotgun Shenanigans @ Waterton Winos
The 2015 Shannys were a lesson in self-belief. Nameless and directionless for so long, a magnificent turn around capped by a third place finish was just reward after being bottom of the league for much of the opening half of the season. The Dope believes that the Shannys had the best draft of the 2016 season, with a line-up that covers all of the bases and an incredible amount of depth. When LB Von Miller is on your bench in week 1 because of your defensive starters, that tells you from the start this team will be a contender. Not to mention that QB Aaron Rodgers and TE Rob Gronkowski are together, this team has a really good shot to win it all.
The Dope has been informed that he is contractually obligated to mention the Waterton Winos and this sentence fulfils this requirement.
The Dope’s Prediction: The fact that this section is necessary is ridiculous. Shenanigans.

This week’s Game of the Week is presented by Advance Auto Parts, the official automotive replacement parts supplier of the BFL. Service is our best part…
Dezzy Does Dallas @ Maryland Cookies
With the #1 overall pick in the draft for the second consecutive year, the Dezzys were worried of making a terrible choice. Whilst taking QB Cam Newton first overall was criticised in some quarters – The Dope believes that the Dezzys were justified given he was the highest scoring single performer in the BFL last term and is projected to do as well in 2016. RB DeAngelo Williams will do brilliantly in the first few games, but once Le’Von Bell returns, will his value be decreased to the team? LB D’Qwell Jackson is advancing in age, but remains one of the best linebackers in football and will lead a solid defensive unit over the coming season.
Last season’s Bridgend Shiva Bowl runners-up got everyone talking on draft day by selecting the highly fancied rookie RB Ezekiel Elliott with their first pick. As always, picking a pure rookie is a massive risk – but as the game evolves, the elite running backs are becoming a smaller and smaller pool of young RBs straight out of college. The bets are already off on whether Elliott will win Offensive Rookie of the Year, but the Cookies have a defense that is built to match the expectations of their offensive counterpart. CB Tyrann Mathieu’s formidable reputation from college has carried over into the pros and with his team being a Super Bowl contender, huge performances are expected from him to help his teams reach their goals.
The Dope’s Prediction: In a game that goes down to the wire, the Dezzys get an upset W to get their season off to the best possible start.

From the Commish’s Desk…
* The first Dope Sheet of the season is one of the more difficult ones to write because you’ve yet to see any real football being played. (All together now – PRESEASON DOESN’T COUNT) If this one isn’t up to scratch, please know that from next week on, The Dope will actually have games to discuss and it will be a little bit more in-depth.
* A reminder for the n00bz, the line ups are locked by slots, so you can change your team at any point during the weekend prior to that player’s game kicking off. As always, keep an eye on the injured reserve list to see if a player you have previously benched through injury becomes available. It could be the difference between a W and an L.

* Be sure to join our Pigskin Pick’em group > http://games.espn.com/nfl-pigskin-pickem/2016/en/group?groupID=100396/.
* Be sure to join our Eliminator Challenge group > http://games.espn.com/nfl-eliminator-challenge/2016/en/group?groupID=44840

** The password for both groups is BFL2016.

Happy to finally get the season under way at last. Hope we have lots of fun this season gents and that everyone’s team has a good weekend. Except Mike’s.