If you were to ask me at the beginning of the season, “Who
would be 3-0 after three games: the Eagles or any one of the 16 teams in the
JFL?” I would most certainly have said the JFL. Hell, I would have bet a pair
of teams would have been 3-0.
But alas, the Fear and my squad both faltered in Week 3 to
fall to 2-1.
The Eagles, on the other hand, picked up a convincing
victory over a team that NFL experts were praising and listing at No. 1 in
their NFL Power Polls.
It was pretty incredible.
After very strong performances by both the defense and
rookie QB Carson Wentz in Week 1 and 2, all I heard was: “They haven’t played
anybody yet.”
And it was true. They hadn’t. I was not about to argue that.
What I was arguing, however, was the impressive play of Wentz.
Browns and Bears aside, this is the NFL, and what Wentz did in Weeks 1 and 2
really caught my eye.
What he did in Week 3 blew me away. Smart quarterbacking was
the name of the game. No mistakes and big plays led to the 34-3 win. And as I
noted in the Bears game on Twitter, it’s rather amazing what this Eagles
defense can do when it’s not asked to come back from the sidelines after a less
than 2-minute (in real time) break.
Chip Kelly’s offense often forced this defense to be on the
field for the majority of the game.
Doug Peterson’s offense run by a smart rookie is not, and
that’s why a team that I thought would go 6-10 is all of a sudden 3-0.
And Chalupa Batman is grinning with his random draft pick of
Carson Wentz. He’s perhaps got his franchise QB, and maybe — just maybe — after
the Eagles bye, he’ll get the start for Chalupa, because two starts in the
teens by Philip Rivers isn’t persuading him to keep the rookie on the bench.
Fortunately for Chalupa, his Buccaneers bailed him out in
his 89.4-70.2 win over T-Money.
That’s Charles Sims and Mike Evans, who combined for 40
points, not his kicker who once again made me wonder why he’s still on this
team. Ranked 31st in fantasy — how is there someone worse? — Roberto Aguayo
missed another field goal this past week, and thanks to a tackle he made on a
kickoff, he earned 0.2 points.
Perhaps that’s the way to go here. Aguayo just needs to work
on his tackling.
No, no. I’m wrong. Chalupa needs to work on his Tampa fever.
Five of nine starters is a bit wild.
NOT AGAIN?
So, remember in Week 1 when I said News Team would have Cam
Newton score 40 points more often than his opponents QB, and then in Week 2
when I was right, I said this is what I’m talking about?
You remember that?
Well, technically, it can still hold true because Jameis
Winston only scored 38.3 points — only —
but Cam Newton managed just 18.6 points.
News Team’s WRs — all three of them — scored less than 10
together and that was it against the Generals, who posted the 103.7-71.3 win.
He’s now 2-1 and tied for first in the NFC West. It’s a long way to go, but the
defending NFC Champs have to be feeling pretty good at this point.
AFC CHAMPS FEELING
GOOD, TOO
Carson Palmer had just 10 points, which is why I somehow had
a glimmer of hope on Monday night when trailing by 58 points, but the four
position players for the Choo dominated and handed him his second straight win,
107.6-91.5.
Believe it or not, of the four, Odell Beckham Jr. was the
low scorer at 13.5, but David Johnson (23.7), LeGarrette Blount (23.5) and
Jarvis Landry (22.5) provided the punch.
The Jammers still put up decent points, but unfortunately
hit the highest scoring team of the week. That, and Julio Jones had just one
catch in a game that featured a score of 45-32.
I said earlier to a friend, no lie, I need a 45-38 score to
come back on the Choo. Well, I got the score I wanted, but somehow watched an
NFL superstar land on the side of a milk carton.
Hopefully Atlanta P.D. finds him before next week’s game.
ANDY DOUBTON
Any doubts yet? Andy Dalton was supposed to lead the
Slackers? He was supposed to be as good if not better than Brees?
Well, he got benched for Ryan Tannehill and the Slackers are
super lucky he pulled the trigger on this move. The 13 points Dalton posted would
have sent the Slackers to 1-2.
Instead, Tannehill’s 31.7 points gave the Slackers an
87.9-81.7 win over the Jerk. Who? The Jerk. The Who? The Jerk. Dr. Who? The
Jerk.
If that was at all confusing, I’m sure the Jerk will explain
it in some wild Rick Perry fashion.
OTHER JFL NOTES
The Cheese Steaks
fell to 0-3 thanks to a poor Big Ben outing of just 11.2 points. It also didn’t
help that he still doesn’t have an RB as he waits for Le’Veon Bell’s suspension
to end. That was Week 3 and he’ll gladly take the RB back in the lineup, but at
0-3, one has to wonder if he lost the 2016 season because he took a key player
in a key spot knowing he’d miss him for three games.
He’s lost the three matchups by 0.9 points, 11.9 points and
7.5 points, getting a combined three-week total of 17.1 points from the RB
position. Bell is projected to score 16.5 this week alone.
But so are a few other RBs who were draftable at Pick No. 11.
Take DeMarco Murray, who helped the Toasters beat the Steaks. If he takes him,
for example, at No. 11, he’s currently 3-0 instead of 0-3.
Chew on that.
The Dawson’s Creek
made his team’s abbreviation “#1.” Noise would have you know that it should
read “#4” after this past week. Jawz picked up a win — finally — using Dawson’s
old QB to do it. Noise, meanwhile, easily took care of Fear and Loathing to
take over that #1 position. Perhaps the Noise will change his abbreviation.
That would speak volumes.
The Bombers couldn’t
possibly see this coming. If anything, he had to believe guys like C.J.
Anderson and DeAndre Hopkins would lead him to 2-1 this past week, not his QB
Trevor Siemian. But, for the second week in a row, the Bombers have made the
right move at QB. Last week, he randomly started Blaine Gabbert and he blew up
for 32 points. This week, it was Siemian and he threw 4 TDs to finish with a
Week 3-best 44 points. It was 0.1 point shy of being exactly 50 percent of his
output as he beat Team Boyer 88.2-76.2. So who will it be in Week 4?
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