2023 WEEK 2 RANKINGS
Week 1 is in the books, and it was an eventful one. You want Season-ending Injuries? We have them. Stunning returns from injuries? There were a couple of those too. You want rookie break-out performances? Well, maybe “breakout” is too strong a term. But we had some impressive debuts. Oh, and a certain Miami QB/WR duo played out of their minds during the late Sunday afternoon time slot.
Let’s start with the positives. There were a few injury concerns coming into the season. Should Dan have kept Tua as a QB? Was Jimmy insane for drafting Breece Hall so high? Would Calvin Ridley live up to his early 5th round draft position? Is my question mark key on my keyboard getting worn out? The answer to those questions are Yes. No. Yes. Maybe. Calvin Ridley (24 points) looks like he has returned to WR1 status with an impressive debut in Jacksonville. 8 Receptions/101 yds receiving and a TD produced 24.1 points. Breece Hall (16.7) made the most of his limited usage by rushing for 127 yards on 100 carries and 1 reception for 20 yards. Meanwhile, Tua (33) picked up where he left off last year by throwing for 466 yards and 3 TDs. Unfortunately, 215 of those yards and 2 TDs went to Tyreek Hill (45). I am not a big fan of injury optimism, but the week 1 results speak for themselves.
There were also a few surprising Rookie performances in Week 1. Anthony Richardson (23) looked incredibly poised and under control in his first start. I watched a lot of that game and although he took a beating, he kept getting up and delivering. Rookie RB Bijan Robinson (20) lived up to the preseason hype by rushing for 56 yards and catching 6 passes for 27 yards and a TD. Those numbers should continue to rise as his usage increases. Zay Flowers (18) got a lot of touches in his debut, rushing twice for 9 yards and catching 9 passes for 78 yards.
And now the bad news. Injuries were all over the place in Week 1. Travis Kelce, Mike Andrews, Cooper Kupp and Christian Watson all were scratched from the lineup. Then once the games started, we saw season-ending injuries for JK Dobbins and Aaron Rodgers. This is not how you draw it up when you draft a fantasy team, but now is where the real work begins. Hit the waiver wires and look for trades in an effort to re-fortify your rosters.
Now on to the rankings…
#1 Big Rock 2X
No change at the top through Week 1. Austin Ekeler (27), Justin Jefferson (24) and Kirk Cousins (20) lead the way in this one. The Joe Burrows injury situation needs to be monitored as he looked very rusty, putting up only 3 points for the week.
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#2 Mel Kipers Best Available
Mel Kipers BA moves up one spot to #2 in our Rankings despite losing to '69 Olds. Pete received solid production up and down the lineup, but nobody had a big game. Deshaun Watson (22) shook off some of the rust that was their when he returned last season while Derick Henry (14) and Courtland Sutton (13) received high usage but failed to find the end zone. LaMar Jackson (6 points) was a no-show this week.
# 3 - Wrath of Khan
Wrath of Kahn jumps 2 spots this week as Tyreek Hill (45) and company cruise to an easy victory in a game that looked all but lost. Justin Herbert (23) and Justin Fields (16) were okay, while the rest of the lineup combined for just 50 points. Other than Breece Hall, there does not look to be a lot of help coming on the bench, so Jimmy has some waiver work to do. Or he can just keep on leaning on Tyreek Hill. So far, so good!
#4 '69 Olds
Jimmy's gain is Ray-Ray's loss as '69 Olds tumbles two spots this week. Brandon Aiyuk (33), Aaron Jones (27) and Patrick Mahomes (24) had big games, but the Flex, WR2 and TE could be a concern as those 3 spots only delivered a combined 17 points. Ray is eagerly awaiting the return of Cooper Kupp. It better come sooner rather than later if Ray hopes to contend this season.
#5 - Springfield Flanders
Springfield Flanders had a solid game. Unfortunately it was against our top-ranked team. The WR trio of Diggs (26) Brown (15) and Chase (9) will have better days. Travis Etienne (21) was impressive, but a combined 32 points out of the QB spot has to be concerning. Maybe trade that embarrassment of riches at the WR spot for a Top 10 QB. Glenns bench nearly outscored the starters, but unfortunately we only have 3 slots to play a WR.
#6 Black Ghostbusters
The Ghostbusters fall victim to the one-man team Tyreke HIll and lose their opening game. All hope was lost for a come from behind victory once the Giants played one of the worst games in NFL history. With turnovers and special team scores producing points for the Cowboys, Dak Prescott (6 points) and Tony Pollard (22 points) didn't see much of the field in this one. Trevor Lawrence (22) looked good in his season debut.
#7 Milford Football Team
CJ won his game and put up the 2nd highest point total of the week, so I am not sure why the third party rankings were so unkind to his team. Maybe it's because the aforementioned Dallas D/ST put up 42 points this week. Calvin Ridley (24) and CMC (29) were the only two players to crack 20 points this week. The QB's (Allen (11) and Geno Smith (11) combined for 22 points. TE Andrews should be back next week and hopefully this team will not have to be so reliant on their D/ST. Editors note: Dallas DOES play the Jets and Zack Wilson.
#8 Peeping Tomlins
Jared won this week. But seeing as it was against Dark Helmet, nobody was impressed. The lineup had solid contributions up and down, but only one player (Anthony Richardson - 23) was able to crack 20 points. Russel Wilson (19) looked good in his season debut while Nick Chubb and Devonta Smith each chipped in 18 points.
#9 Skoal Bandits
Look who isn't at the bottom! Yeah, I know they only scored 87 points, but some of the early draft picks looked good. Bijan Robinson (20) and Chris Olave (19) impressed in their Bandit debut with the promise of more scoring to come. Jahmyr Gibbs (8) did not get the touches in game one, but the explosiveness was there. Unfortunately, the rest of the lineup produced an anemic 40 points. Yikes!
#10 - Dark Helmet
Dan just needed 19 points out of Aaron Rodgers on MNF and instead got zero. Helmet picks up this season right where last year left off... with Aaron Rodgers royally screwing him. Tua (33) had himself a game while no other position player managed to score more than 11 points. 49ers D/ST chipped in 14 points. The good news is Matt Stafford looked solid, so he can step into Rodgers spot starting this week.