Chu's First Weekly Blog

Alright boys, I've been given the keys to this newsletter read by thousands of subscribers, so I'll be running the show. Since it's just week 1, the power rankings aren't that interesting. If you really want power rankings, just look at the standings.

Before I get to my Week 1 Takeaways, here's the perfect lineup that you could have won 1M dollars with on DraftKings. Did I mention this post is brought to you by DraftKings?

Week 1 Takeaways

1. Team Name Rankings

We'll kick off the season with some official team name rankings in reverse order.

1. Browntown - Unoriginal

2. Straight Cash Homies - recycled name from previous years

3. 4 Time Champion - Too narcissistic. But good picture though.

4. Saquon Moore of my Tucking Nut - To be honest, I still don't really get it. Maybe that's a good thing.

5. Curb Your Odunziasm - The name is average, but I had to bring down the score because he got hurt. Get another name ready.

6. Dell Technologies Inc - Not particularly humorous, but the logo fits perfectly.

7. We're not Worthy! - He went off so you get bonus points for that. However, the reference makes this league (and myself) feel really old.

8. Ja'Marr-A-Lago - I definitely laughed. Good pun.

9. Christian McCatsFree - Original, humorous, and it rolls off the tongue nicely.

10. Like a Good Nabers - the logo image works perfectly. Well done. A+.

11. NFL Kickoffs

It looks super awkward for 19 NFL players standing 5 yards apart just staring at each other, but it seems like the intended change is happening. Credit this tweet for data below.

• Kickoff returns are up (20% to 34%) instead of watching balls sail past the end zone.
• 1 Kickoff returned for a TD in week 1. There were 4 in all of 2023.
• Big plays (kickoff return past the 40) are up. There were 3 in week 1. Last year's average was 1.3 per week.
• Interesting strategies are being developed: I saw a team (I forgot who) kick a knuckleball intended to land in the center of the field around the 10-15 yard line to force a return and hope the returner bobbles/fumbles it.

My conclusion? I like it. It's always good for the viewer when any play has a higher chance to significantly affect the outcome of the game.

1. Fantasy Defense

With the overhaul on defensive points, I'll be tracking how defenses perform this year relative to previous years to know if their average points per game are staying the same. Also, I want to check that a top 10 defense performs better than a top 10 defense in previous years. If so, then that brings more skill into the game to reward those who have that top 10 defense.

Here's a quick glance at scoring from week 1 this year relative to week 1 last year. For all defenses, scoring is up just slightly from 8.53 to 8.94. That difference is definitely coming from the top 10 defenses where there's a 1.65 pt difference. It may take a few weeks to get more sample size, but I think it's doing as intended. At the very least, I could celebrate more frequently for TFLs and 3&Os.

That's all me. Thanks for getting this far.

-Chu