2020: The moment we were all waiting for

 Welcome to another stellar episode of the LOC Report with Commissioner Stubbs and CoHost Chris Leach! With week 3 in the rear view mirror, which the duo will discuss, it has finally happened - COVID has effected the LOC and NFL season. Commish and CoHost will discuss that, as well as covering off the news and the week 4 previews.

2020 Power Rankings: Week 3

Good evening, good evening! First Thursday entry of the year; definitely won’t be the last, but hey better than Friday! Or Saturday… Sunday… missing the week altogether… I like to keep all my options on the table. Spoiler alert: only one big mover in the rankings this week (bonus spoiler: it wasn’t up), so the league year is starting to show its hand. Or, alternatively, this is entirely subjective and I can make people move as much or as little as I like depending on whether my ego needs a boost or not? Again, all options on the table. Enjoy!

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12. Patistan (0-2) Non-mover

Ouch. Coach Allen is cursed, there is no other explanation. David Montgomery was the lone silver lining on an otherwise dark week, and the touches he is getting should mean he continues to shine. Spending big on reinforcements was the right call, and the trio of Gage, Cole and Tannehill are no doubt going to be contributors. 

11. Tom’s Tyrants (0-2) Down 1

Good news: Sanders was back and played well. Bad news: everything else. That was a pretty miserable week, and although there were some positives (primarily larger involvement for benched players), it was still the low score, by a margin. The only way is up.

10. The Tuckfards (1-1) Up 1

Another good score on the week, even if they didn’t get the win this time. The reason I didn’t bump them up last week was on show though, players like Peterson and Watkins in limited rep roles. You’d like to see Hopkins and Juju getting a little more bang for their buck, but the targets are definitely there.

9. Gridiron Gang (0-2) Down 6

We asked if Cam was the guy, and he was. But now he has to be the guy plus another guy, because Saquon is Sa-gone and that is not good. This team still looks like it can overcome that, but they really need Golladay to come back and hit 2019 form from the off (as do the Lions) and someone needs to find out where Will Fuller was Sunday night. 0-2 + losing your first rounder for the season = falling down the rankings = fact. But I still like the team.

8. U R Gould (1-1) Up 1

Another good, if slightly imbalanced, performance for Coach Gardner. I predicted that Chubb and Thielen would balance out, they actually completely reversed, but I’m still counting that a correct prediction (heck, I need to win at something). Jonnu Smith could be a late round darling, but not from the bench.

7. Forge Flyers (0-2) Down 2

Yeah, leaving all those points on the bench was a shame. Some gutsy calls from Coach Leach didn’t pay off on this occasion, but that fact he still made it to triple figures shows there is more to this roster than the limp Week 1 version. McLaurin and Conner in particularly with strong bounce-backs. This team has fallen out of the habit of losing (the dark days were a while ago now), but he won’t want to hit 0-3.

6. Bear Necessities (1-1) Up 2

Last week I said that Allen couldn’t keep putting up big points, but my the AFC East likes to prove me wrong. Jonathan Taylor looked incredible in a featured role, and there are clearly contributions coming from all over this roster. Melvin Gordon could prove to be the dark horse key player here though, he looks set for a guaranteed role each week, the consistency I (wrongly) accused this team of lacking.

5. Buccing the Trend (2-0) Up 2

Another good week, even with Jacobs coming back down to Earth. Ryan looks like he is going to be forced to be a fantasy star (even if he can’t drag his real life team across the line) and Fournette appears to have settled in a Tompa Bay. After being drawn in a division flush with trophies, Coach Taylor has shown he mean business.

4. Folety Towers (2-0) Up 2

All. Da. Points. We may have already seen the season high score, and I think we have definitely seen the high score from one team, over 70 points from Green Bay, crazy. Everything that was lacking in Kamara’s game last year is back with a bang, particularly in the passing game. Outside of Mike Evans, this bench still brings the word meh to mind.

3. Burdettinators (1-1) Up 1

Didn’t hit the high notes quite as smoothly as Week 1 and pick up a loss against a good score, we’ve all been there. Ridley is a star and should only benefit from more targets if Julio’s injury lingers. Plenty of options on the bench to play the inform players, plus Minshew against The Tuckfards? I mean, c’mon, that’s just poetry.

2. IKSAN (2-0) Non-mover

Just when you think everything is going your way, CMC lands on IR, hmm. Take nothing away from a dominant week in the stats, but this is now a notably weaker lineup for the Week 3 matchup. Coach Sherwood has been active on the waivers (and smug in the chat), time to prove why he’s so high up the rankings against his rival. It may be TE time.

1. The Dream Team (2-0) Non-mover

Ooooh, that was a close week. Coach Nathwani owes Russel Wilson a pint I believe. And Kareem Hunt actually, who proved he can be more than effective alongside Chubb. In all honesty, it actually wasn’t a great week though, outside of those two, and perhaps the only thing that kept him on top spot was a certain aforementioned injury. Godwin and Kittle need to get healthy again.

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And there we go. Nice even split at the moment, four teams of 2-0, 1-1, 0-2 each. No doubt Week 3 will set the cat amongst the pigeons so good luck to everyone in advance. As always, see you next week! Unless of course I keep losing and lose interest…

2020: Well, that escalated quickly....

 We're here for another week (well, those of us that aren't injured anyway) to bring you all the goings on in the LOC! We have the week 2 recap (of which there is A LOT to cover) and the week 3 previews (for what is scantly left). Commissioner Stubbs and Co Host Chris Leach are questionable to finish the show in under 1 hour.

2020 Power Rankings: Week 2

 2020 Power Rankings: Week 1

Hello, one and all. Ahh, it’s good to be back watching football isn’t it? Better make the most of it because, you know, it probably won’t last that long. Week 1 is in the books and, as always, roughly 50% of us will be happy (I’m totally not bitter), but even more of a certainty is the massive changes in rankings from Week 1 to 2. Just for fun, I looked back at the changes from last year and it made me realise quite how bad I am at this, you guys really deserve better. I might as well draw the names from a hat, you know like the draft order reveal supposedly did (again, totally not bitter). Anyway, enjoy the ensuing chaos!

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12. Patistan (0-1) Down 8

Yikes, Thomas got injured, not exactly what you would call an ideal start. Equally Mixon proved that the Bengals O-line is going to make him work for his yards. And they put up the low score, by a distance. Joshua Kelley looks like an shrewd late round draft pick though and I feel like Slayton might see a little more starting time too after a big week. Coach Allen’s early season could already be tied to Michael Thomas’s ankle.

11. The Tuckfards (1-0) Non-mover

Always nice to get a win in Week 1, Mahomes and Hopkins gave exactly what you’d expect from them. Smith-Schuster being on the bench was… interesting, but it didn’t cost them on this occasion. There’s a lot of committee RBs on this team which doesn’t bode well for weekly upside, but picking the right player in the right moment has always been a speciality of Coach Merritt.

10. Tom’s Tyrants (0-1) Down 2

Putting up nearly 100 points without your first round pick definitely falls into the category of ‘not too shabby’, but lots of that was thanks to Davante Adams. There were some encouraging signs despite the loss, targets and touches suggest some of their starters will be in for bigger weeks, the bench options could maybe use a bolster though.

9. U R Gould (0-1) Non-mover

The Arizona contingent looks ready to take the league by storm, despite the tough matchup, Coach Gardner will be smiling. They put up a good score despite the loss and Thielen’s gamescript inflated score should be balanced out in the future by Chubb’s gamescript related bust. All in all, they look like they’ll have some nice options for the season.

8. Bear Necessities (1-0) Up 4

So, pretty much every player I called an unknown quantity turned out a pretty decent quantity of points, obvs, even if it was only one week. Josh Allen doesn’t get to play the Jets every week, although the Dolphins in Week 2 might not be too different. Taylor got a massive boost with Mack gone, although Hines did more than anyone (including himself) was expecting, doesn’t matter though because Coach Stubbs Sr. now has both. 

7. Buccing the Trend (1-0) Up 3

That was certainly a statement score to open the season, big props to Josh Jacobs who managed to outshine CMC on the other side of the field. There were decent contributions across the board, mostly coming on limited touches as well. The targets for each of the receivers suggests even bigger weeks await. We’ll give the bench an extra week to, you know, start playing.

6. Damaryiusthomasandfriends (1-0) Down 1

Well, Aaron Rodgers was out to impress, and the result was an impressive score. That’s not coming every week, but it’s still nice to know he has it in the locker. Losing Le’Veon for a couple of weeks probably won’t be as bad as it sounds, hopefully the week on the bench motivated Mike Evans. Missing Mack as well, the roster already looks kind of thin. NB. Demaryius Thomas is clearly not the household name he once was.

5. Forge Flyers (0-1) Down 4

Relying on the reigning MVP each week is far from a broken tactic, but this box score would have looked a little limp without him. They were unfortunate to lose Conner and will be hoping the early positive diagnosis is correct, they’ll need bigger performances from him. Equally, Coach Leach will be waiting for one of his receivers to emerge, my call of lacking star quality was evident in Week 1.

4. Burdettinators (1-0) Up 2

Pretty good return from Week 1 to be honest, even if a lot of points came in the Falcon’s and Texan’s respective garbage times. The Jones-Ridley combo is definitely going to work out all the time Matt Ryan is forced to throw >50 times a game. Equally, watching Edwards-Helaire rushing against 5/6 man fronts could be something we get used to, pretty handy.

3. Gridiron Gang (0-1) Non-mover

Scanning down the list of individual box scores, this looked like a decent week, but 82 points, meh. Certainly less than Coach Stubbs Jr. would have hoped for, but that was mainly down to a distinct lack of TDs. Ekeler’s lack off targets ad Barkley’s lack of O-line were both alarming, hopefully they were just settling into the season. Gridiron Gang won’t be too perturbed after just one week, but they’ll be looking for a response in Week 2, is Cam the guy?

2. IKSAN (1-0) Up 5

I told myself not to question the spreadsheets, you all heard it, if only I had reminded myself. One of the more well rounded performances in Week 1, although the lack of rush attempts for Carson were concerning. Not sure Kerryon Johnson will make many more appearances in the starting lineup after being massively outshone by a man 12 years his senior. Plenty of bench options ready to go in his place though, especially after astutely splashing the waiver cash.

1. The Dream Team (1-0) Up 1

In a week where there were no enormous scores, Coach Nathwani will be pretty chuffed with his. Wilson may not put up 40 points each week, but you get the feeling just about all the rest of the team have more in the locker. A.J. Green looks fully healthy again, that could be huge as we progress through the season. The minor Kittle injury could be the only dampener on a solid Week 1.

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Right, there you are, could have been worse I suppose? (Seriously, check out the 2019 Week 2 edition, wow.) On the upside, this definitely gets easier as we make our way through the season, so onwards and upwards!

2020: It's good to be back

With week 1 in the books, win or lose you have to say it's good to be back playing fantasy and have NFL to watch again. Commissioner Stubbs and Co-host Chris Leach take a look back at the first week of the 2020 LOC season, while previewing week 2. 

2020: Week 1 Is Finally Here!

 The LOC Season officially starts this week, and Commissioner Stubbs is joined by Coach Burdett to bring you the week 1 previews, and some predictions for the 2020 season.

2020 Power Rankings: Week 1

 2020 Power Rankings: Week 1

Good evening everyone and welcome to a brand new season of the LOC! For one of you, this will be the first step towards something good actually happening in 2020. For the rest of course, it will just be several more months of events not going quite as you expected and resulting in general disappointment. Why do we play this again? Anyway, you came here for some EDOTLOCCA brand Power Rankings and, far be it for me to disappoint, I have come to deliver. You’re in for a real treat in fact; the earlier draft date has allowed me a whole week extra to contemplate, to consider, to cast this literary journey we take together. Nah, they’re basically the same as always, all it meant is that they’re actually on time for once – enjoy!

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12. Bear Necessities

You’ve got to give credit to Coach Stubbs Sr. here, he had a draft plan and he stuck to it. Four (4) rookie RBs! This has the knock-on effect of making ranking them near impossible. Assuming Cook stays healthy, I make him only the second known quantity on this team, behind the eternal Kelce. Allen, Gordon, Lazard, Parker and the rookie squadron, the upside is huge, but the floor is approaching Mariana-level. Do I think they’ll end up the worst team? No. Can I possibly rank them any higher at this stage? Well, yes, but I’m not going to.

11. The Tuckfards

Coach Merritt seemed to apply the same player acquisition model as ex-Patriots staff by picking up as many of his former players as possible. Of course, when you had Mahomes in 2019, that isn’t a bad thing. He’ll be hoping Smith-Schuster can regain past form and Hopkins can carry his with him across the desert, they’re pegged as the stars in amongst a generally solid-but-unspectacular roster.

10. Buccing the Trend

So, Leonard Fournette turned out to be much worse, then probably slightly better, a pick than expected, Coach Taylor may just have (inadvertently) nailed it even if the days after the draft were perhaps a little tumultuous. Assuming Fournette does inherit the main role and the goal line work in Tampa, there is a lot to like about this starting roster. My issue is that, after Fournette was unceremoniously dumped by the Jags, N’Keal Harry took his place in the starting line-up… hmmm.

9. U R Gould

Will missing out on the man they are named after cost them? Coach Gardner will be hoping his replacement does-well… get it… kinda like Boswell…? I’ll stick to rankings. Anyway, their top draft picks are electric backs with workload questions, so the coach will be looking for consistency in his middle rounds. He has however assembled the most exciting QB room in the league, he’ll be praying for weekly fireworks.

8. Tom’s Tyrants

A team that seems to be built with a lot more solid players than spectacular ones. For the Tyrants to really push on they will need either Sanders or Gurley to ball out (both would be nice #asunbiasedastheBBC). The Gibson selection may have worked out better than anyone could have expected, he could turn into a solid contributor if Washington can sort their Offense more effectively than their team name.

7. IKSAN

History tells us to never question the draft day spreadsheets, Coach Sherwood literally went into the HOF for them. History also tells us what a key role some bargain TEs can play in the sophomore superflex format. Yet I find myself wondering whether there was slightly too high a premium placed on these TEs – can Waller in this newly crowded Vegas receiving group really challenge the WR2s available at the same time in the draft? PS. CMC is a God and well worth ‘trading’ up for.

6. Burdettinators

Two receivers in the first four rounds on the same team? We’ve seen this before, but something tells me this time round will be a little more successful. To be quite frank, the receiving corps is terrifying and should provide some consistency for this team which has, as always, been built by Coach Burdett to emphasise upside. The early drafted date has capped Ronald Jones, but Edwards-Helaire is their key man.

5. Cat Placeholder

Auto draft strikes again with a classically top-heavy roster and an above average number of TEs. We’ve all seen it before though and, once again, this is a solid group of players. Coach Nunn proved last year, through trades and waiver adds, that he can take an auto draft team to new heights and he has the foundations of a team awash with proven veteran talent.

4. Patistan

The Brees-Thomas connection just rings with points, whilst Mixon and Cooper were arguably bargains where they were drafted. Most of the other players could be working from limited touches, although Montgomery, Samuel and Sutton have all been given the nod to grow into much bigger roles. Coach Allen clearly has faith in them and they could take this team to the next level.

3. Gridiron Gang

This roster is awash with players expected to fill either the 1a or 1b option on their respective depth charts – that’s a good thing. If Saquon can avoid the injuries that hampered him last year, he’ll be the star of the team, and Golladay proved last year he is as close to matchup proof as it gets. Surrounded by a cast of solid contributors, Coach Stubbs Jr. will be challenged to pick the best line-up each week, a classic Gridiron Gang roster basically.

2. The Dream Team

This has got to be one of the most well balanced teams in the league, possessing top 5 players in every position (perhaps excluding Kicker, but meh). Coach Nathwani (similarly to Bill O’Brien) will be hoping that the David Johnson pick plays out, giving him the luxury of 4 every week starters and a pick you poison matchup game in the RB/WR/TE spot. Late rounder DeSean Jackson could be a big contributor out the gate.

1. Forge Flyers

Coach Leach was very vocal in his gratitude for the draft day switch up and historic first use of the Nathwani Rule. To be honest, I can see why. The highest weekly upside QB in the game paired with two high volume RBs in Henry and Conner. The receiving corps may lack premade stars, but has an ideal blend of consistency and potential breakouts. Maybe everyone just likes his division aligning events?

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And there you have it, Week 1 in the books. I’ve said before that superflex format makes it near impossible to rank teams straight out the draft, other than on depth. But there is nothing like the first weekend of games to show me how wrong I can be – I can’t wait! Good luck with 2020 everyone (an oddly topical phrase), peace out!

 

 

2020: LOC Draft Recap & 2020 Preview

The first episode of the in season version of the LOC Report is finally here! The much anticipated LOC Draft took place last weekend, and Commissioner Stubbs and Co Host Chris Leach are here to recap the blockbuster event, and give a little preview of the 2020 season.