AFFL2022 Week 1 Recap: Maulers-Federals Heads to OT
Highlight Game of the Week – Pittsburgh Maulers 193 AT 2022 Champion Ohio Federals 189
The cash strapped Pittsburgh Maulers vacated most of their roster prior to the game, going into the season opener with a bench of just two, but that was all they needed to put the defending champs on their heels and take a likely week 1 victory as the 193-189 match goes into Fantasy Overtime awaiting stat corrections. With near consistent production across their offense, the Maulers scored 98 points on offense, including 35 from RB2 Corderelle Patterson and that turned out to be the difference in this one. The Federals got 42 points of production from their star receiver Devonte Adams, but the rest of their offense were largely quiet. They outperformed the Maulers on defense with a 4 LB set led by Jordyn Brooks’ 26 points, but it wasn’t enough to cover their offensive deficiencies. Ohio hosts a 1-0 division rival Showboats team next week and risk falling far down the divisional standings tree while Pittsburgh gets a shot at what should be an easy win vs the league sponsored Bandits.
Around The League
Grand Strand Gunslingers AT SoCal Gold 229-279
In an unexpected East Coast-West Coast shootout, the Grand Strand Gunslingers traveled to California and put up 88 point of offense, 107 points on defense and 34 on special teams, getting double digit points from 9 out of 14 positions, and led by 32 points each from safeties Abram and Byard. The home team Gold got just 22 on Special Teams, but matched the Gunslingers on defense, scoring their own 107 points. But the Gold exploded on offense for 150 total points, without even starting a quarterback. Led by Barkley for 47 points, Kelce with 42, and D’Andre Swift for 38, the Gold’s 279 point win was the league high for the week, but tempering the win, SoCal suffered an injury to their WR1 Keenan Allen that may leave them without his services for a few weeks.
Miami Stallions AT New Orleans Raiders 215-197
Riding a highlight real performance by franchise safety Minkah Fitzpatrick who posted 60 points for the Stallions, Miami scored the week’s high 118 defensive points. Scoring just 12 points, the Raiders QB Trey Lance was unimpressive in his AFFL debut.
Wisconsin Dells Invaders AT Prince George Generals 152-252
The invasion did not go so well for Wisconsin as the Generals had a resounding battle plan in all 3 phases of the game. The Generals scored the week’s Special Teams high with 45 points, and racked up 110 on offense and another 94 on defense. The duo of Jonathon Taylor and Ja’Marr Chase gave them 86 points combined and safety Marcus Williams anchored the defense with 44 points. The only bright spots for the Invaders were the performances of Michael Pittman (32) and Budda Baker (29) on an otherwise pedestrian outing.
Italian Wranglers AT Guatemala City Stars 230-157
The league powerhouse Italian Wranglers were a tough first match-up for the new Stars franchise. One they were not up to, scoring less than 70 points on either offense or defense. The Wranglers though looked like the offseason didn’t even slow them down, picking up right where they left off last season, they scored over a hundred on both sides of the line. AJ Brown led the team in scoring with 36, but what makes the Wranglers so dangerous, is their ability to score up and down the roster, with 12 of 14 starting positions posting double digit numbers.
Winston-Salem Express AT Bicton Breakers 156-210
A favorite to have a big turnaround season, Winston-Salem failed to live up to preseason expectations in their opener vs Bicton, falling flat in all 3 phases of play with the exception of Justin Jefferson’s monster 52 point outing- exactly one third of the Express’s total score. The Breakers on the other hand looked sharp out of the gate after a down year, particularly on defense where they posted 100 points. Running with a 2 safety – 3 LB set, all 5 defenders managed double digit scoring, with 2 of them north of 20 and Jordan Hicks leading the group with 34. Despite the high score, their run game underproduced in week 1, and they’ll need every cylinder firing next week when they take on the Generals.
Jefferson Panthers AT B.C. Blitz 177 – 193
With just a 16 point margin, this week 1 win for the Blitz could be overturned by stat correction if the football gods aren’t smiling on the Pacific Northwest. Unexpectedly close, this was almost an upset victory for the Panthers who left their best offensive scorer (Leonard Fournette, 26pts) on the bench and still managed to post a 93 point offensive outing. British Columbia’s offensive captain, Jalen Hurts tried to rally the team with his 40 points; so did defensive captain Myles Garrett, who had almost as many (36), but the rest of the Blitz’s starters were scoring averse thoughout. In the end, B.C. outlasted the Panthers rather than won.
Minnesota Gamblers AT Tampa Bay Renegades 169-182
In another close dog fight, Minnesota’s Patrick Mahomes and Jeffery Simmons showed up to face Josh Allen and the Renegades defense…..nobody else showed up for this one, folks. 90 of the Gamblers’ points were provided by their two stand outs -53% of their total, while across the line of scrimmage, Tampa’s Josh Allen answered Mahomes almost point for point (43 to 46) and the Renegade defense posted a respectable 82 points with all starters contributing. But 13 starters in this game failed to reach double digits, and 11 of those didn’t even make it to 7 points; 4 of them scored 0 or 1. AFFL officials are looking into whether or not the locker room caterer could have introduced some sort of food poisoning that caused so many players to perform so badly.
Tracy Bulls AT San Quintin Showboats 148 – 176
It was not the season start last year’s League Runner-Up was hoping to have as Tracy not only opens with a divisional road loss, but Bulls quarterback Dak Prescott looks like he’ll be headed to IR after this game. A bright spot on the day was play from their receiver corps, with Steffon Diggs and Cooper Kupp working opposite sides of the field as if there were no corners in the game, posting 31 and 44 points, respectively. Relegated to the bench, a moderately productive day for Julio Jones may get him some play time for the Bulls in the near future. The Showboats were sloppy on offense as their defense secured the win for them with a 92 point performance. Their defensive success can be traced to Tracy Walker’s 45 point day…..with traces of football prowess, Tracy almost outtraced Tracy’s entire defense (45 to 49). Pun intended.
AFFL Bandits AT Sleeperville Oultaws 162-172
The Division Captain Outlaws barely escaped with a victory in what should’ve been a gimme to start the season, and there’s still a chance that fantasy overtime puts one through the uprights on them. Sleeperville scored well on both offense (84) and defense (79) with decent to good production from all starters, but could produce just 6 points on special teams. The Bandits were mediocre on all three fronts, but on special teams, mediocre was in this case, much better than the Outlaw’s efforts. Sleeperville also has to be worried about Elijah Mitchell’s injury after he exited the game with just 6 points. Sleeperville will not lose a travel day this week as they play week 2 at home, and they’ll need it to figure out a way to out score the visiting Gold who scored 1.62 points in week 1 for every 1 point Sleeperville posted.