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Random Shots From Week 1

Joe Bryant's Random Shots From Week 1
By Joe Bryant, September 13, 2023

Random Shots From Week 1
Photo: USA Today Sports

Hi Folks,

We do a ton of insightful, thoughtful, and serious features here at Footballguys with smart people thinking deeply for you.

This is not one of those features.

This is Random Shots, and it's a few pages of me downloading my brain that gets stuffed with way too many random items from too many hours watching, reading about, and listening to football every weekend and throughout the week. It's the only way I manage. Here's hoping it has some value for you.

We'll see. Now let's get to it.

J

It's On.

Me (and probably you) Sunday Morning.

Another year. Another draft in my beloved local league, THE LEAGUE. We got so excited this year we failed to get a new picture so here's a throwback with some of us. And yes, that's my friend and site poster boy, Casey, with the trophy.

On the Soapbox.

I love the big fantasy football contests. I love the NFFC leagues, with their killer Primetime High Stakes leagues and the $350 entry mid-level leagues. Nigel Eccles, co-founder of FanDuel is a good friend, and I'm an early investor in Underdog. I love all that.

But the regular local Home League has always been and will always be the backbone and foundation of fantasy football for me.

And therefore, it'll be the foundation and focus of Footballguys. The smack talk, community, and camaraderie are the heart and soul of this industry, and it'll always be at the forefront of how I think of Fantasy Football. All the other ways to play are great. But they're all in addition to the Home League.

Friends enjoying each other and enjoying football always has been what I love about Fantasy Sports. And yeah, this is what I said last year. My guess is I'll say it next year too. The big stuff is fun. But the Home Leagues are where my heart's at. And where Footballguys will be.

And yes, you need a Draft Local shirt. It's where I'm steering Footballguys.

To that point, this was fun:

Some of you may have seen we did a contest where we randomly picked a Premium Subscriber to co-own my NFFC Primetime team with me.

$1,750 entry fee and $250,000 grand prize. They don't pay anything to own the team with me, and if we win prize money, they get all of it.

We picked John McDill Thursday night.

Turns out he's a long-time subscriber and message board guy on our forums. He was a beta tester for the Draft Dominator years ago.

The offer was I'd do a Zoom call on Friday with the winner and discuss strategy. I messaged him Thursday night to set up the Zoom call, and he said, "Can I come to the draft?"

I said I'd love that.

John had never been to Las Vegas or flown in an airplane before. He figured it out and showed up ready to roll.

Super fun guy and talked to everyone. Our draft was all high-stakes sharks doing a ton of big-ticket drafts, plus me and John. He drafts online mostly. This was his first live draft since 1998.

We had the four spot and I love our draft. We made every pick together.

As I said, the high-stakes stuff is fun, and the zillion-dollar DFS contests are rad. But the industry is built on the shoulders of folks like John and I love this so much I can hardly stand it.

I know nobody cares about my league, but lots of people are pulling for John to win here. Let's go.

Off the Soapbox.

If a fantasy football season were 9 seconds like this video, we're about half a second in.

But so far, this feels pretty accurate.

Make sure to have the sound on.

Focus Level for this official: 10 of 10.

And it gave us a fun meme.

Ja'Marr Chase was salty.

"We just lost to some elves".

This one felt personal...

Myles Garrett just toyed with this offense.

Can Matthew Stafford still play?

Yes. Yes, he can.

I still like this guy.

Because I know you folks need to know things like this.

We're in a golden age for camera technology.

Note to DJ Moore: You're not in Charlotte anymore...

What an end to Week 1. The Jets lose Aaron Rodgers early, rally around the defense and Zach Wilson, and rookie Xavier Gipson takes it home.

Here's how he made the team.

Seems about right.

At least they get this.

Ok then...

You're killin' me, Smalls.

A Wisconsin bar offered free drinks if the Jets lost.

Karma ensued.

How much did the league miss Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews?

Not funny.

But not wrong.

Plus...

Wait. So Derek Carr isn't terrible? Who knew?...

My friend Scott Barrett has a word for anyone who drafted Garrett Wilson with a top-15 pick.

Here's a thought.

I love the wide-open offense-heavy type teams. Give me a great quarterback and a bunch of offensive weapons, and we'll patch together something on defense. Basically, the Chargers.

But the two best teams I saw this weekend were San Francisco and Dallas. And it didn't seem close.

Good, not great quarterbacks, strong running backs, and a dominant defense.

Just one more way the league is fun with different ways to win.

On that note.

And...

Just going to leave this one right here...

Brutal. Although I loved what I saw from Anthony Richardson on Sunday.

Desmond Ridder's start Sunday:

Yards per attempt: 0.0 Passer rating: 118.8

It's a weird game sometimes.

NFL players, in many ways, seem otherworldly, doing things we could never do.

But with an unblocked Aaron Donald headed for them, they react just like we would.

And this:

It's a throwback. But still gold.

Fantasy Football Public Service Announcement: Blind waiver wire bidding is a zillion times better for picking free agents than giving the worst team the first pick and two zillion times better than first-come-first-serve.

I love my job. But "49ers Boom Box Guy" seems like a sweet gig.

Knowing what happened minutes later, this one got me.

With that said, this was one of the most electric starts to a game I can remember in some time.

Fantasy Football can be a cruel game. This was how things were looking heading into Sunday night.

Goals.

C.J. Stroud's first completed pass was to... himself.

On the upside, he's in good company. Brett Favre did the same thing.

Derrick Henry is stiff-arming defensive backs. Football's Back.

Joe Buck spoke about working with Troy Aikman for 22 years and breaking a record for a duo calling games.

And took his shot at ESPN.

Hayden Hurst caught Bryce Young's first touchdown pass.

And threw the ball into the stands...

After the game, he said, "Yes, I blacked out and threw Bryce’s first touchdown in the seats"

Bijan Robinson is going to be a problem.

How good is Brock Purdy? He can recover a fumble with his butt.

I was thinking Colts by 100 after this...

This is how I felt Sunday morning...

Thanks to Footballguy Timothy Moore for that one.

Music Note this week is a throwback to a few years ago.

The Rolling Stones are the greatest Rock and Roll band of all time. Everyone knows this.

But I stumbled on this video a few weeks ago and remembered watching it back in April of 2020. Mostly, I was struck by the power of music and how it could bring people together. So so good.

A good reminder for all of us.

This game is fun. It can be maddening and cruel. But it's meant to be fun.

Some things are out of our control but I believe most people have more control than they might think.

Do what you have to do to keep the game fun for you.

It's no wonder the Browns rolled over Cincinnati.

More on the "cruel" part.

And this.

And this.

Wrapping with this one.

It's one of those “Football is life” things for me.

Watching the Lions beat Kansas City Thursday night, the lesson here seems to be something about the unicorns.

People go along with life pretty much accepting the normal rules.

And then a unicorn comes along. And somehow, the rules don’t seem to apply to them. And we push a little further. And the rules still don’t apply. So we push it a little further still. It’s easy to think that somehow the rules just simply don’t apply to this unicorn.

When the reality is, the rules still apply. Patrick Mahomes II is a unicorn quarterback. The “rule” is great quarterbacks need good, if not great, receivers. And removing those receivers will cause the quarterback to suffer.

Taking Tyreek Hill away, one of the best receivers in the game, should have been a significant negative for Mahomes. That’s the rule.

He didn’t seem to miss a beat.

With Kelce gone, it was easy to think, "Mahomes is different. We’ve seen this pattern before. He’ll be ok without Travis Kelce."

The reality is that Patrick Mahomes II, with a bunch of average to below-average receivers, has to play by the rules.

Where I think this matters to me and you is being careful with the unicorns in our life. That co-worker who's always taking on extra work. That spouse or friend who doesn't seem to mind when you're a little unkind. Lots of different situations where it seems like the person isn't playing "by the rules." The rules are still there. So be considerate to the co-worker. Be kind to that spouse or friend. The rules are real.

Rock on.

Thank you for being part of this goofy journey with us.

And thanks to Footballguys Keith Overton, Jake Bryant, Timothy Moore, and Clayton Gray for the help. If you've got a Random Shot of your own, email me at bryant@footballguys.com.

Thanks for playing along, and I hope you make the most of whatever you're doing in your life. Love your neighbor and stick together.

Peace and Grace to you.

J

Photos provided by USA TODAY Sports
Tags Fun Timeless Mark Andrews Jacoby Brissett Joe Burrow Derek Carr Ja'Marr Chase Aaron Donald Myles Garrett Xavier Gipson Breece Hall Derrick Henry Hunter Henry Tyreek Hill Sam Howell Hayden Hurst Travis Kelce Drake London Patrick Mahomes II Baker Mayfield DJ Moore Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah Brock Purdy Anthony Richardson Desmond Ridder Bijan Robinson Aaron Rodgers Geno Smith C.J. Stroud Carson Wentz Garrett Wilson Zach Wilson Bryce Young

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