Week 1

Let’s get to it! The 2023 season has started off with a bang!

I want to apologize for publishing the Week 1 Notes late. This past week was extremely busy for me. I was in Vegas all week for work and let me tell you: it was a grind. I am like the Mayor. I was having to talk to so many people, I am like a celebrity. I literally had a line of people waiting to talk to me like I am Mickey Mouse at Disney World. But I mean just check out my performance for my adoring fans:

And seriously check out my hotel room. We need to figure out how to have Draft Weekend in this place!

But let’s get to football, no one wants to hear about my celebrity jet setting life style. In Week 1, we had a number of interesting results, but still many questions left unanswered. Only two teams scored over 100 points, and only 3 teams scored over 85. In fact, the average points scored for Week 1 of the 2023 season (80.6) was the 2nd lowest average points scored in Week 1 in league history (not counting 2001 when we had different scoring rules). The lowest averaging scoring Week 1 in league history was 2008 when the average was 77.2. 2008 also turned out to be the lowest scoring season in league history with 12,510 total points scored so let’s hope that history doesn’t repeat itself.

Before we get to the awards let’s check this week’s episode of Gridiron Heights:

P.S. This was one of the funnier ones in a while.

Manager of the Weak

Travis Kelce getting ruled out before the game due to an injury sustained in practice, Joe Burrow looking like he had never played football before, Aaron Rodgers getting hurt on the 4th play forcing Garrett Wilson from preseason hype monster to “uh oh”, Najee Harris becoming a backup running back. I think it’s fairly obvious that Week 1 didn’t go well for “This is The Way”. I don’t think this is the way he wanted to go. But hey look on the bright side, Darnell Moody caught a touchdown. On your bench.

I was curious about Aaron’s 52 points scored in Week 1 and went to look up how that compares to league history. Well to confirm, it is no where near the worst point total in the league. That distinction belongs to none other than black is for sunday himself when he scored an unfathomable 33 points in Week 14 of the 2018 season. Jared Goff had -2 points, Kenny Golladay and Kyle Rudolph scored 0 points (I can relate to that feeling right now) and only 1 player (Davante Adams) scored in double figures. Ouch. The funniest thing about this picture is that it reminds me of the love affair that Jeff Smith had for Josh Gordon. Fun times.

But with all that said and all of that mediocrity Aaron didn’t win Manager of the Weak. VZ did. Because I said he would at Draft Weekend. No Manipulation needed. Just the cold hard truth.

Move of the Week

Hayden Hurst – 10 points, 7 targets, 5 receptions, 41 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown.

Another top TE missed Week 1, Mark Andrews, but Brent Cozart handled this miss dramatically better by snagging Hayden Hurst on the Waiver Wire before Week 1. All he did was drop a cool 10 points and those 10 points were critical in his Week 1 victory beating Umphlett by only 7 points. Considering that TE was a waste land and there were plenty of options that could have scored less than 3 points, I am going to call this a pretty impressive move.

MVP

Christian McCaffery, Tyreek Hill, Austin Ekeler, Kirk Cousins (huh?), Mahomes

Austin Ekeler – 21 points, 16 rushes, 117 Rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 5 targets, 4 receptions, 47 receiving yards

Some big performances in week 1, but none were bigger than Austin Ekeler. He scored 21 points in Overbay’s 18 point win over Preseason Favorite black is for sunday. While this is amazing news, Ekeler promptly got hurt and is now doubtful for Week 2 which is not fantastic. Overbay’s team had the 3rd highest point total of the week and while Ekeler was a big storyline, I am sure he is fired up about the results that were produced by Calvin Ridley’s reemergence into the NFL. He looked like an alpha WR1 and I would imagine that sports books around the country are quickly moving odds for Ridley to be a top 10 WR. Overbay can only hope Ekeler is back soon, because he makes his team dramatically better and in Week 1 he was your MVP!

Manager Of The Week

Kayak Pirates

Maybe Jeff & Jacob knew what they were doing when they decided to make a trade for Tyreek Hill immediately after the draft ended. Because if Tua stays healthy and they are going to keep slinging the ball up and down the field, the Kayak Pirates are in a fantastic spot with his Miami Monster trio of Tua, Hill, and Waddle. And when you throw Tony Pollard into the mix (and watch out if the Lions figure out what they have in Gibbs) then you have maybe the strongest lineup the Kayak Pirates have fielded in years. Their ways are unorthodox (is it just me or have they started to rival Umphlett as most contrarian manager in the league over the past three years) but with results like week 1 you won’t see Jeff or Jacob complaining. Congrats to Jeff and Jacob and the entire Kayak Pirates franchise for winning your Week 1 Manager of the Week!

Until Week 2…

- The Commish