FanPost

WCG Fantasy Tournament Week 1 Recap

Game of the Week Week 1's closest game, separated by only 1.06 points.

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So It Begins...

Week 1 of the inaugural WCG Fantasy Football Tournament is in the books. With that comes triumph for some, and bitter defeat for others. Pride, and pain. Joy, and sadness. Lolz, and butt-hurt. I could go on, but I'd need to find a thesaurus.

It was a weird week for fantasy football. There were a lot of big names who took a big dump on your fantasy hopes and dreams (Lev Bell, I'm looking at you!), and some new names that stepped up in a big way (Kareem Hunt and Tarik Cohen, come on down!). Many of the games turned out to be defensive battles, with 7 defensive touchdowns being scored. For reference, there were only 2 in week 1 of 2016. Because of this, there were 3 defenses among the top 10 in fantasy points scored, which is never a good sign.

About the only name in the top 10, or even top 20 that you would have 100% expected to be there prior to week 1 was Antonio Brown. None of the other usual suspects made the cut over guys like Kareem Hunt, Alex Smith, Sam Bradford, Trevor Siemian, Stefon Diggs, Tyreek Hill, Carson Wentz, Mike Gillislee, Tarik Cohen, and Kenny Golladay. Some of those names are more surprising than others, but there was no Lev Bell, David Johnson (my condolences to his owners), Julio Jones, AJ Green, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees etc. LeSean McCoy, Melvin Gordon, Jordy Nelson and Zeke Elliott all had nice days, but still weren't able to crack the top 20.

As a result of all that, there were some unexpected week 1 matchup results, and more than a few teams with seemingly strong rosters looking to rebound from a poor week 1 performance. Let's take a quick look at how each Division's matchups played out:

Matchups

As you can see above, our top scorer this week was TJGOBIG (Smokin' Jay Catlers) with 131.94 points. Unsurprisingly, he had a couple of the players I mentioned above (Kareem Hunt and Antonio Brown), as well as the Steelers D, which put up a respectable 17 points. If Hunt can continue to put up good performances, and if Matt Ryan can regain at least some of his 2016 magic, this team could be a legit threat to take the tournament. Therefore, I award TJGOBIG (Smokin' Jay Catlers) with the coveted Dick Butkus - Moby Dick in a Fishbowl Award for week 1. Congrats!

Now, I can't mention the top scoring team without throwing a little shade at the lowest scoring team... and that "honor" goes to Grumpy Middle Aged Man (Mean Masheen) with 45.08 points. With poor performances from Tom Brady, Allen Robinson (who's now on IR), Eric Ebron, an early bye week from Jay Ajayi and an odd choice to play Zay Jones over Stefon Diggs, it was a poo-filled performance all around. It's nothing that can't be turned around, but considering his entire team was nearly outscored by Kareem Hunt alone, it's not a great start. Therefore, I award Grumpy Middle Aged Man (Mean Masheen) with the not so coveted Kellen Davis - Giant Pile of Ineptitude Award for week 1... and may God have mercy on your soul.

With the highlight, and lowlight, out of the way, we'll move on to the current standings. Click on each name to see that team's roster as of this posting.

Halas Division:

1. BOBdaBEAR (Dubble Trubble) - 1-0-0

2. MCMLXXXVII (Secretly Ryan Pace) - 1-0-0

3. WhiskeyRanger (Midway Turf Monsters) - 1-0-0

4. 0034 (34) - 1-0-0

5. Deep Dish Ditka (Team Victory) - 1-0-0

6. Cutler6Fan8 (Phizer Pharmers) - 1-0-0

7. MikeHoncho47 (make it dwayne on them bowes) - 0-1-0

8. Bill Cartwrights Elbow (Halas' Elbows) - 0-1-0

9. Dersour (Chicken and Biscuits) - 0-1-0

10. bearynice (Bear traffic control) - 0-1-0

11. On The Fencik (on the fencik) - 0-1-0

12. runningman (Fuller Long-er Victor) - 0-1-0

Payton Division:

1. sst1856 (Out of Hibernation) - 1-0-0

2. MidnightStaley (Chicago TrubisGOAT's) - 1-0-0

3. Usmcbears (King in the North) - 1-0-0

4. H20HOF (Cohen all Da Way) - 1-0-0

5. Tophop67 (bearpressure) - 1-0-0

6. TrubsforQB (Forgetting Brandon Marshall) - 1-0-0

7. jrn0456 (Trubisky Business) - 0-1-0

8. beardown4ever(Rage Against the Shaheen) - 0-1-0

9. Charles Vaughn (Shaheens Not That Into You) - 0-1-0

10. MadFox (House Halas) - 0-1-0

11. Skrenkthetank (Skrenkthetank) - 0-1-0

12. DitkaRulz (DitkaRulz) - 0-1-0

Ditka Division:

1. TJGOBIG (Smokin' Jay Catlers) - 1-0-0

2. BearAnBullsSoxOhMy! (Mitch N' Biscuits) - 1-0-0

3. Mister.Magoo (Soothsayers) - 1-0-0

4. ChiTownSuperStar (SuperStars) - 1-0-0

5. T. Moore (Chitown Armadillos) - 1-0-0

6. Running is my Forte (Running is my Forte) - 1-0-0

7. Reindeer Games (Sexy Rexy throws Deep) - 0-1-0

8. Bearfan2793 (Who Bears Wins) - 0-1-0

9. macdaddy009 (Warriors) - 0-1-0

10. BigPoppa77 (Da Beers) - 0-1-0

11. Charles Hicks (Chi bears) - 0-1-0

12. Grumpy Middle Aged Man (Mean Masheen) - 0-1-0

Sayers Division:

1. x160630 (X Factor) - 1-0-0

2. Tim Hayworth (Trubiscuits and Gravy) - 1-0-0

3. Ditka's Lawyer (Ditka's Lawyer) - 1-0-0

4. scoop1007 (Scoop's Dogzz) - 1-0-0

5. Beer Down! (Beer down) - 1-0-0

6. finyards (Polk High Panthers) - 1-0-0

7. nmaty34 (Mountain Drew) - 0-1-0

8. ThompsonWay (ThompsonWay) - 0-1-0

9. Indianplayers (Show Me Your TDs) - 0-1-0

10. dragonsteak1776 (Chicken Salad) - 0-1-0

11. BearFan040214 (BearFan040214) - 0-1-0

12. seven11 (seven11) - 0-1-0

It was a good, if somewhat odd, week 1. It's hard to say for sure who the favorites are in each Division, but a number of teams are off to a good start. Looking ahead to week 2, the premier matchups look to be a pair of 2nd place teams facing a pair of 3rd place teams with MCMLXXXVII (Secretly Ryan Pace) facing off against myself (Midway Turf Monsters) in Halas Division, and BearAnBullsSoxOhMy! (Mitch N' Biscuits) taking on Mister.Magoo (Soothsayers) in Ditka Division. These look to be two hard fought and high scoring affairs, so tune in next week to see who comes out on top!

So, who do you think is in the best position to turn early success into a championship run? What week 1 loser do you think has the best chance of turning things around? Post your answers in the comments section below. And remember, I base my entire self worth off of how many comments these posts receive, so don't make me have low self esteem. You wouldn't like me when I get low self esteem...

And as usual, Bear Down boys and girls.

This Fanpost was written by a Windy City Gridiron member and does not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of its staff or community.