I know it's only been 2 weeks into the season, but I thought this would be a fun early season exercise seeing we have 3 teams that are undefeated and 3 teams that are winless. Last season we all know the drill, two teams started 3-0 (me and Dad) and two teams started 0-3 (Leland and Mark). At the end..me and Dad didn't even place while Leland and Mark met in the finals, so an early season start, bad or good, is not indicative on what's going to happen at the end of the year. Here's my take on how the season has started for these 6 teams and if it's sustainable for the entire season.
The Undefeated
Mayra (Bigger Balls)
In A Nutshell: Mayra's team has impressed so far, starting in Week 1 scoring the most points in the league and then in Week 2 having a mediocre performance overall but still winning easily by double digits. She also heads into Week 3 with a highly favorable matchup against my Dad's struggling team, so there's a very good shot she ends up 3-0.
Is it legit? I believe so. With how things have shaken up, I think Mayra's team is not just a hands down playoff contender, but a serious title contender. I'd put Mayra's team just behind Leland's in overall talent and I definitely think barring injuries, it's sustainable. It's not a stretch to see this team in the Finals, and though I'm not proclaiming a repeat of 2014's domination going undefeated, I do think from what I've seen this team is going to be a force to reckon with.
Eugene (Rocket Man)
In a Nutshell: So it's hard to really go on a couple wins early, especially when the first one was against a very depleted team in Matt's (no Gronk, no Charles, no Josh Gordon), but the 2nd win definitely raises some eyebrows. Playing against the most talented team in the league, Eugene was able to squeak out an impressive win and withstand Leland's monster team and did it with another average Aaron Rodgers performance who just has been out of sync again. His week 3 matchup is tough as he takes on Mike Posey, who might have a beast in the making in Stefon Diggs to replace the injured Keenan Allen.
Is It Legit? It can be. I still wouldn't put this team in the tier with Mayra and Leland. It'll definitely contend for a playoff spot, even for a bye, but a couple things concern me. Aaron Rodgers needs to be AARON RODGERS to win. It showed last year that as good as Eugene's 3rd place was, having an average Aaron Rodgers at the helm limited his upside to winning it all. Every week, even last year, I kept thinking to myself, this is the week we see the real Aaron Rodgers, and it just doesn't happen. Julio Jones's ankle concerns me as well as in both games so far he has somewhat tweaked it. Eugene cannot lose Julio for any kind of time. The running back situation also stills scares me. It's great Melvin Gordon is starting off so hot, hopefully it's sustainable, especially with Woodhead's injury, but Duke Johnson is just not a great RB2. I feel there's a lot more questions here than Mayra's situation, but not enough to think this some kind of fluke.
Ryan (Hoosier Daddy)
In A Nutshell: Ryan has the "best draft" award according to Yahoo and so far if you look at his record, you would think Yahoo has gotten it right. If you look deeper though, Ryan's 2-0 record is the luckiest 2-0 record of the 3 Undefeated teams. He played the team who scored the 2nd lowest points in the week last week and this week played Drew, who scored the lowest points in the week this week. He's also been the lowest scoring winner both weeks. A win's a win, but you gotta think that comes back to work against him soon. He's definitely got a winnable matchup against Alex next week, so he could be 3-0 easily.
Is it legit? Sorry man, I'm not buying this start. And honestly neither is Ryan. He said himself, after Week 3 he thinks his luck ends. His best player by a longshot has been Deangelo Williams so far. Well, after week 3, Deangelo becomes a non factor and that's going to be a huge blow to Ryan's roster. Big Ben is great, but a combination of a pretty bad Wide Receiver trio, and very disappointing running backs (Freeman is in a timeshare with Tevin Coleman, Mark Ingram just sucks period, and Zeke Elliott hasn't looked like the once a generational running back everyone was banking on). Plus Ryan doesn't have a real tight end. If this group gets it together, it can still compete for a playoff spot and a fast start helps greatly, if it doesn't though, I can still see Ryan missing the playoffs entirely.
The Winless
Matt (Light's Broken Bots)
In a Nutshell: Unfortunately, this is kind of going as planned as Matt drafted a team with high injury risk and suspensions. So far after 2 games, Matt hasn't had his top two draft picks play a snap (and with Gronk on a short week, there's a good chance he doesn't play Week 3 either, while Charles MIGHT be back, it'll be against the tough Jets D), he's got a top flight receiver in the middle of a 4 game suspension, a highly drafted QB in Russell Wilson who's been a bust so far, and a top flight QB in the middle of a 4 game suspension himself. He's lost both games, but his early schedule has been ok enough that he's actually been competitive and came really close to beating Mark this past week. He has another winnable match against fellow winless leaguemate Drew.
Panic Time? Matt should be a little panicked, only because by the time his team gets it all together, it might be a little too late. Matt won't have a completely full squad until Week 5 at the earliest. His schedule for the first 6 weeks gives him plenty of winnable games (playing against Drew, Me, Alex, Dad are his next 4). To me, he needs to get 2 of those in those before the harder teams start rolling in. Again, what gives me the most hope that Matt can survive this out of three teams is again A)his early schedule and B)when the schedule gets harder, he should have his team at 100% full strength. Kelvin Benjamin has been a pleasant surprise and you combine him with Jordy Nelson, Josh Gordon, Gronk, Jamaal Charles, and whatever QB Matt goes with Brady or Wilson, that's not going to be a team you'd want to face.
Drew (Belfast Bruiser)
In a Nutshell: Things are crumbling for Drew at a rapid pace. I really thought Drew had a nice team going into the season, but his has by far been the most disappointing. Two straight weeks of being the lowest scoring team in the league, and in both weeks Drew hasn't even gotten to 75 points. Thanks to disappointing players in Allen Robinson, Eddie Lacy, Adrian Peterson (who's hurt now), and Coby Fleener, and an above average QB in Kirk Cousins, Drew just hasn't been competitive at all. As we speak, he might also be out Donte Moncrief who was hurt in week 2. He plays fellow winless Matt in a must win.
Panic Time? Yes, definitely. Drew's highest upside guy (Tajae Sharpe) plays in a low passing offense. Sharpe's the kind of guy you can afford to have as a flex when you have talent around him, but as a main cog of your team, it won't work. Unfortunately Allen Robinson has been a dud in the two games he's played so far and it's not like Blake Bortles ISN'T throwing it 1000 times a game. He's the one who needs to step up the most, because I still think he can. Jury's still out on Donte Moncrief, who had a nice game 1, but not a great week 2 before getting hurt. The running back situation is the bustiest of all busts. Even before Peterson got hurt, he was terrible. It might officially be "that time" for Peterson as age catches up for everyone eventually. Now that Drew will be out his services for a few weeks, it makes it that much worse because so far Fat Fuck Eddie Lacy is playing exactly like he did last year. By the time Lacy gets going, it'll be too little too late just like what happened when he was on Alex's team last year. Even his backup running backs are getting hurt. Ameer Abdullah might not be available due to a foot injury and Ryan Mathews is ALWAYS an injury risk ready to happen. Can Drew turn it around? Sure he can, but losing Peterson is rough and I don't know if even a return to form from Allen Robinson is going to be enough to keep this from being a bad season for Drew.
Dad (BigBadBob)
In a Nutshell: Dad's been competitive in his losses, but it's not great to start 0-2 and go into week 3 playing Mayra. Unfortunately Dad has a lot of guys on his roster that offer little upside. This team is built on Cam, Brandon Marshall, and Greg Olsen, but look even when Cam has gone off (20+ points both games) he still can't win because his supporting cast has been so bad. Golden Tate is looking like a mega bust, so is Thomas Rawls, Emmanuel Sanders is what he is, a WR3 thanks to the QB situation and Jeremy Langford looks awful and if not for a couple of cheap TD's he'd be just as much as a bust as Rawls, he's on thin ice in Chicago and might lose his starting job before it's all said and done. Brandon Marshall has been OK, but dad wants more from his 1st round pick and now he's dealing with a knee issue that might hamper him. Willie Snead at least has been a nice surprise. As said earlier, the prospects of Dad going 0-3 are real as he takes on Mayra next week.
Panic Time? Oh yeah..for sure. It can't be the Cam/Olsen/Marshall show ALL TIME TIME. What happens when Cam goes quiet? Dad's going to have to go the old boring route now with Frank Gore over Thomas Rawls and though I think Tate won't be THIS bad...his ceiling is still high end WR3 to me, just like Sanders. Dad's trade assets aren't even great but nobody really trades for QB's and TE's and those are Dad's best players. Brandon Marshall might be his best trade chip, but I don't know how much his value is with a nagging knee injury. It's way too early, but how things are shaping up, it's not lookin too good for Dad.
