In case you missed it, 10 representatives from across Austin’s music community are playing in a fantasy football league called Gridiron Maiden. You can win tickets to a Transmission show by predicting the league winner; to do that, check out our rosters here, and comment on this Facebook thread here. We’re accepting entries through this Saturday! Tell your friends! Here are the scores from week one, along with a list of the five biggest surprises from this first week. #GRIDIRONMAIDEN
These observations are based on no film and are really just personal reactions to the games and fantasy results. So, excuse them if they’re off the cuff or you find them ill-informed. Here were the five biggest week one surprises for me.
- Jamaal Charles’ 2 points. Although some concern existed about the KC offensive line, I didn’t have the same reservations about Charles that I had about some of the other highly ranked RBs. I picked 9th in this league, but own Charles in a few others. Even though it could spell disaster for me later, I’m hoping he turns it around simply out of favoritism for the former Horn.
- Brees and Graham not hooking up for at least one score. Considering his monster projection of 24, Graham’s 8 is quite a disappointment, especially when considering that he didn’t get nearly as many looks in the endzone as I would have thought.
- Justin Forsett’s role in Baltimore. Although Ray Rice’s departure contributes to the level of surprise, I’m amazed at how adept Forsett was a rising to the occasion for the Ravens’ offense. While other lesser known backs impressed throughout the league, this one was the one furthest off my radar. Maybe that’s because we all expected Rice to return, whereas in other cities, (e.g. Cleveland, Carolina) I expected there might be some new names emerging.
- Losses by the Patriots and Chiefs. I know the Patriots were on the border of a much more disastrous season than they ended up having last year, but I thought they’d be sharper this year. (On that note, I think Miami may be legit, having finally tapped into a well balanced set of offensive weapons and a decent defense.) I was also surprised by the margin of losses for these teams and their lackluster on field performances regardless of the score.
- The general lack of scoring by huge names. Whether it was Demaryius Thomas’ 4, Aaron Rodgers’ 9, or Dez Bryant’s 5, the list of highly ranked players who totally tanked in week 1 was astounded. There were almost as many unknown players as recognizable names scoring in week 1. Welcome to fantasy football.
