Week 1 Preview

Game of the Week

Madd Skillz (-13.5) vs. Tice's Partyboat

Two-time playoff qualifiers do battle early on...Wolfman is 0-2 in season openers, Schillinger 1-1...Met three times last season, with SKL averaging 167.33 points in the three games...Schillinger leads the all-time series with the Wolfman 4-2, winning the last 4, two of which were first-round playoff games.

News and Notes, SKL

Preseason #1 has pretty nice matchups for a few of his studs; the Bengals Johnson play KC, while LDT and Antonio Gates get Oakland for some Monday Night Thunder...Will see what kind of role Terry Glenn will play in a Cowboy offense that may or may not have Terrell Owens...Wali Lundy gets the nod at flex over 4 other running backs...Lundy's season could range anywhere from breakout RB2 to absolutely nothing...It will be interesting to see if what happens to Larry Johnson this year- can he continue his torrid pace, or will the Chiefs off-season downgrades break him down...Key Injuries: Steve Smith (questionable)

News and Notes, TPB

Tough draw for week 1, but TPB looks pretty solid for week 1...Only big question mark is over the Titans' running game, and whether or not Chris Brown is worthy of a start this week...Edgerrin James should get off to a great start against the 49ers, and will enjoy playing in the NFC West the same way that Shaun Alexander has...Adam Vinateri's status has been much discussed here around Indy, but he should be kicking on Sunday Night...If he doesn't, it looks bad after he was made the first kicker taken, a round before any other kickers...Hoping Keyshawn Johnson can counter some of Steve Smith's (questionable) production...Key Injuries: Vinateri (maybe)

The 2 Spot

The Nihilist Marmot vs. Cellar Dwellers (-6.5)

Second playoff rematch of the week...Stem and JR have met 5 times, with Stem winning the most recent game- a 99.25-85.75 victory ending JR's remarkable winning streak...JR still leads the overall series 3-2

News and Notes, TNM

Kurt Warner gets a tremendous start to the season, and should reward JR's patience in waiting for a QB with a monster game...Darrell Jackson's injury status has been all over the place, and while him sitting against Detroit would surely hurt, TJ Housh and Antonio Bryant aren't bad replacements...Week 1 will tell JR a lot about his RB depth, seeing what kind of role Travis Henry will have in Tennessee and where Mike Anderson fits in with Jamal Lewis questionable in Baltimore...Will have to stay up well past JR's bedtime to see how three key players do on Sunday night in MANNING BOWL I (did you know Peyton and Eli are brothers?)...Needs some defense; it wins championships, you know...Key Injuries: Darrell Jackson (probable), TJ Houshmanzadeh (probable)

News and Notes, CD

The retooled runner-up has a few tough real-life opponents for his RBs this week, Kevin Jones vs. SEA, LaMont Jordan vs. SD...On the extremely other hand, Larry Fitzgerald plays SF (and borrows from TNM's Warner) and Shaun Alexander plays Stem (and Dave's) beloved Lions...Tom Terrific plays at home against Buffalo and should have a standard good game...Donte Stallworth's move to Philly was fortuitious for Stem after drafting him as a questionable option in New Orleans; he's a good flex play, especially against Houston...Speaking of playing Houston, it's understandable to hedge your bet with the Philly passing game, but LJ Smith is a better matchup than Alex Smith against the Ravens...This is a pretty good defense...Key Injuries: Derrick Mason (questionable), Tom Brady (always probable)

Game #3

ChamPeons vs. Naj Davenport's Poop (-2.5)

Without doing all the necessary checking, I believe this is easily the most competitive rivalry in VUFSA football: the last 3 games have been decided by an average of 1.58 points...Champ has won all three of those games and as a result, he leads the overall series against Viano 3-1.

News and Notes, CHM

The 2nd most important thing in the world (besides Manning vs. Manning) is Terrell Owens' hamstring, which appears to be fine for week 1, he's in ChamPeon's starting lineup...The other storyline in Dallas' offense will be the role and performance of Julius Jones. After exploding in the back half of his rookie year, he struggled with injury and thoughts of demotion last year. Is he back be being a stud back?...We'll keep an eye on 1st rounder Corey Dillon to see if he bounces back from last year to regain his old form...Daunte Culpepper has a really tough go of it in his first game back from a horrific injury- good luck against Pittsburgh's defense...Key Injuries: None

News and Notes, NDP

Is there such a thing as Thursday Thunder? Viano and Morris pulled out a thriller on a Thursday last season, and could do so again this year with Hines Ward, Willie Parker and Ronnie Brown giving NDP the chance to build a huge lead...Viano nervously watches Denver on Sunday, first to make sure Mike Bell sees the ball, second to make sure Javon Walker is his old self; at least one of those should happen, if not both...Joe Jurevicius is a smart flex play against the Saints, assuming Cleveland can score a touchdown...Key Injuries: Hines Ward (probable)

Batting Cleanup

The Slumpbusters (-12.5) vs. Who is Ron Mexico?

I will go on record as saying that Yahoo gave us a tremendous week 1 slate, storyline-wise...This is no exception, as these two franchise played two very memorable games last season...Dave's first win ever came over Eli during Sex Panther's stupifying early season struggles, while Tomke would have thundered Eli in their second meeting if Samkon Gado had stayed alive until Monday Night Football...The franchises are 1-1 against one another all-time.

News and Notes, SLM

Clinton Portis finds his way to the bench in week 1, the fear of a last second empty spot will outweigh the regret of a big game on the bench...The way the rest of the matchups look, SLM can survive without the stud back for one week...As it will be every week until Eli makes one of his big trades, the Rams matchup is key- this week it's Denver. Not ideal, but they'll probably get at least 2 TDs, SLM just has to hope they're to the right guys...Tatum Bell is a fascinating RB3 play, and is destined to be feast or famine...Neil Rackers will have 15 points...Key Injuries: Clinton Portis (Questionable)

News and Notes, WIRM

Jake Plummer should turn in a good performance as a week 1 starter against St. Louis...Dave will insist all year that Braylon Edwards is "going to be fucking sweet" and I believe him. Good matchup against NO, but his lasting impact should come after the Browns have gotten settled behind their new QB...I like the RB tandem of Taylor-Foster, but they're better suited as RB2s than the premier guys on a team...Key Injuries: David Givens (questionable)

The 5 Hole

Fresh Legs (-15) vs. Father Abraham

That whole "great storyline" thing from the earlier italics was written before I remembered this one...Baron holds a 1-0 record against Lincoln lifetime

News and Notes, FL

A lot of questions, but even more potential...I've said my peice on Carson Palmer- he's magnificent...I've also got similar good feelings about the play upcoming of Brian Westbrook and Thomas Jones...As long as Deuce McAllister stays on the field and gets touches, he's a top 15 back...Dominic Rhodes is a good week 1 starter at the flex spot and a nice advantage for Baron to have...Baron has only 2 starter playing at home, both Steelers (Polamalu and Heath Miller)...I haven't checked, but that's not common...Key Injuries: None

News and Notes, FA

There's really not a lot here, Anquan Boldin should have a nice game, and Donovan McNabb is as well, but with Jamal Lewis questionable, the RB spots are in shambles...Derrick Blaylock gets a nod this week...It's a good WR core this week, probably only a matter of time before one of them gets dealt...I'm interested to see what Lincoln does from here after consecutive years torpedoed by injuries to Priest Holmes and Domanick Davis...Key Injuries: Domanick Davis (IR)