10 QBs benefitted from the new yardage bonus point levels in Week 1. KWarner (Shiv), PManning (Gary), JKitna (Brad), MBrunell (Joebob), BFavre (Richard), DCulpepper (Cals), ABrooks (JoePa), KCollins (Clark), EGrbac (Brodz) and BGriese (Josh) all received 3 more pts than they would have gotten last year.
2 QBs - DMcNabb (Ali), JGarcia (Adam) - ended up between 350-400 yds. These 2 therefore scored the same # of pts this year as they would have last year, but lost a net of 3 pts compared to the 10 QBs noted above.
4 QBs were totally lame - MHasselbeck (Kevin), VTestaverde (John), DFlutie (Stan), JGeorge (Wang) - and couldn't even hit the 200 yd mark.

No game's outcome was directly influenced by the new rule.

RUN WITH THESE GUYS?

Even with an Emmitt who won't get much running room this year, the following team would be considered most fearsome:
DFlutie (Stan, 4th round)
ESmith (Vesh, 3rd)
JBettis (John, 4th)
RMoss (Ali, 1st)
MHarrison (John, 1st)
FWycheck (Richard, 5th)
GAnderson (Brodz, 8th)

How did they do in Week 1? 1 point.

The League's decision to schedule Draft "neighbors" (i.e., 3 vs 4, 5 vs 6, ...) against each other in Week 1 failed to produce any trend this year. Disregarding the Brad vs. Joebob matchup, 4 TEAM Bs (Clark, Gary, Josh, Wang) defeated TEAM As - while 3 TEAM As (Richard, Ali, Kevin) held serve.
Getting to the bloody point... on to WIR #1!

****************************
**** GAME OF THE WEEK ****
****************************
Pimps de la Nast 28
Everyone Go Deep 29

Oh, the humanity! Back in the day, Terrell would have *easily* gotten the 50 yds + a TD in Monday Night Madness action that Shiv's Pimps de la Nast needed for a come-from-behind win. But in these pussy-footin' around days... you've got TD running between the 5s, you've got MAnderson and PHape trying to crack the goalline, and you've got OGary playing safety on the QB kneeldowns. A huge key for Gary's Everyone Go Deep was clearly the last minute free agent call-up of Snoop "all he does is catch TDs" Minnis. Minnis' sole catch against the Raiders was a big difference in this game. But in the end... it was Nedney's garbage time trey on Sunday Nitro that decided Week 1's GOTW.
Scrub win for Gary.

warner 9 tdavis 6 tyrone 3 cris 6 chrebet 0 clewis 0 l'well 4
peyton 9 stewart 3 watters 6 freeman 0 snoop 6 dudley 0 nedney 5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Blue Collar Workers 28
Mahatma's Minions 49

Responding to being made 48 point underdogs, Brad's Blue Collar Workers put up a most respectable fight against last season's Aglione Bowl runnerup - Mahatma's Minions. Joebob obviously had his Minions playing from 10% of their playbook - as MM saved themselves for next week's crucial contest vs. Clark's Dude. Brunell had a very strong game - clearly in response to pregame talk questioning whether he was actually better than the BCW's free agent QBs (Kitna and Weinke). Weinke's dozen bench pts actually added fuel to this debate's fire. MM had this game in hand 30-28 after Sunday's action. Rod and Jason piled on another 19 pts in Monday Night action. Dayne looked the same as last year.

kitna 6 moe 0 randerson 9 reidel 0 tai 3 dilger 0 cortez 10
brunell 12 mfaulk 12 dayne 0 rod 12 isaac 3 walls 3 elam 7
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richard's nameless 51
boobies! 35

After paying his dues last season with a most offensive (4-13) TET squad, Richard is focused on doing some serious damage this year. To that end Richard's nameless bunch of buffoons made a major statement in Week 1 by firmly squeezing League Founder Cals' Boobies!! Concerning the keys noted in the preview of this game... Cals' Culpepper could not gain separation from Favre, Hearst and Allen could not keep up with Edgerrin, and Holt and Crowell failed miserably against JJ and Johnnie. Priest did not have the look of a starting RFL RB, but Richard did have the better of the 2 Lion WRs. TAllen and Bubba did manage to bumble into the endzone once each for Cals, but Holt and Crowell need to produce more than 3 pts for 3rd and 5th round picks.
Scrub loss for Cals.

favre 9 ejames 18 priest 0 jj 9 morton 6 wycheck 0 v'jagt 9
daunte 12 hearst 3 tallen 6 holt 3 crowell 0 bubba 6 akers 5
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Black Knights of the Charles 35
Dude 55

Clark needed 2 pts from Kerry or Ed on Monday Night to secure this victory. Dude QB KCollins hit a trey early in the 2nd quarter. The Dude win did not come without a price; however, as Easy Ed looks to be lost for the season. Janikowski Polish cannoned his way to a baker's dozen, and Cam Cleeland amazingly hit paydirt for Clark. JoePa's RB tandem failed to impress this week - as Taylor and Bennett combined for a muddy 6. But expect bigger numbers from these 2 in the very near future. ABrooks and MMuhammad blackjacked for the Black Knights - as this duo looks primed for a big season. BKotC's MWestbrook and JRiemersma might not have futures as bright - as both are stuck with miserable QBs.
Scrub loss for JoePa.

brooks 12 fredt 3 bennett 3 muhsin 9 w'brook 0 riemer 0 wilkins 8
kerry 12 egeorge 3 duce 3 mccaffrey 9 oronde 9 cam 6 j'kow 13
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Short-Changed Bastards of Persia 30
Fighting Poopy Diapers 13

No one would call this "W" a work of art, but Ali's defense of last season's Steamroller and Aglione Bowl double dip got off on the right foot. Usually when Bastard RMoss gets shutout, his team takes a loss. But the Short-Changed Bastards of Persia D got the job done - shutting down the not-so-fearsome offense of Fighting Poopy Diapers. DMcNabb took over nicely for HTTA's DCulpepper (and RMoss could roughly be equivalent to HTTA's MFaulk), but the surprise retirement of Robert Smith has left Ali's franchise in quite a lurch. FPD co-GM Baby Brodz has managed to avoid 2nd-guessing for now. Although the 2 "special K" starters (Kevan and Koren) for FPD were held scoreless, their 4 backups also all put up goose-eggs. In fact... including TCouch's 0, FPD's ENTIRE ROSTER scored 13 this week!
Scrub win for Ali.

mcnabb 12 mand'son 6 cgarner 3 rmoss 0 rice 3 alex'der 0 hanson 6
elvis 6 sdavis 3 kevan 0 horn 0 koren 0 tonyg 3 gand'son 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Uffdalators 57
Jersey Juggernauts 12

Ahhh... there's nothing like the sound of a rookie GM's bum getting spanked quite soundly! John's Jersey Juggernauts were feeling quite confident about starting their franchise's history with 3 wins (with Adam and Brad the opponents in Weeks 2 and 3). But... Kevin's Uffdalators pierced those lofty dreams with a 45-pt thrashing. RWilliams, CDillon and TiBrown brought in a dozen each to support Uffdalators' fearless leader Amani. vINTy's measly 6-pack was enough to lead the so-called Juggernauts. WDunn only got 3 against Dallas? Bettis and MHarrison got shutout against JAX and NYJ? Clearly a higher power was at work here. Starting JThrash over PPrice and JGreen? Clearly a lower power was at work there.

h'beck 0 rw''ams 12 dillon 12 timb'n 12 amani 15 sharpe 0 carney 6
vINTy 6 dunn 3 bettis 0 har'son 0 thrash 0 brady 0 hollis 3
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Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids 19
Cleveland Steamers 68

Coming off his 3rd last place finish in 5 years, Vesh apparently means business this year. 4 Steamers (Brian, Ahman, Jimmy and Ernie) combined to outscore every other RFL club. RB #2 on the Cleveland Steamers should be an ongoing concern, but don't expect WR #2 to continue to be a weakness. The juiced-up Rappin' Rabbis got off to their expected weak start. This club will continue to be in trouble until Adam can dial in from his honeymoon. Jamal and Sylvester are still on the roster - giving Brad at least a little more time to outhustle Adam for free agent scraps. RRR QB JGarcia picked up where he left off last season. With a real #1 RB (Tiki's still a #2 in this WIR editor's eye) and a healthy Marvcus Robinson, RRR could go places.

garcia 9 tiki 3 chapman 0 moulds 0 mrob'son 0 freddie 0 omare 7
greasy 15 ahman 21 emmitt 0 jsmith 18 djax 0 conwell 9 stover 5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasive Species 20
Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant 43

Flutie vs. JGeorge... F'UGLY!!! At 4:30pm (CA time) on Sunday, Wang was kicking himself for starting LSmith against TEN over LTomlinson... but it all evened out in the end. Getting 7 from Keyshawn and Martin against DAL was unacceptable, but getting 6 from BUBEs Kevin and Lord Byron was a pleasant surprise. This WIR Editor didn't see the SD or NE games, so I cannot comment directly on the performances of Flutie and Redmond. But I did have the pleasure of watching DAlexander "play" for Stan against the Raiders. Derrick certainly treated the pigskin like it was an Invasive Species. The dropsies, alligator arms, broken off routes, ... You name it, and DA did it to avoid catching the ball. JAnderson started the season well for Stan. Few other ISs did. For the 3rd straight season, Wang has taken an early season game against Stan (Week 1 of '99, Week 2 of '00).

flute 0 jamala 9 redmond 0 towens 3 alex'der 0 dclark 3 v'tieri 5
jgeorge 0 cmartin 12 lsmith 18 key 3 kevj'son 3 byron 3 gr'tica 4
----------------------------------------------------------------------

To clear up some of the confusion (including some in the Commish's office) regarding multiple dibs, here is how the dibs queue action went down this morning:
1) at 9am (CA time) the League Secretary gathered all the dibs request emails, faxes, phone messages, etc.
2) GMs with more than 1 dibs request had their requests ranked in order of preference (GMs who did not specify this order had their requests ranked in the order in which the requests were received)
3) starting with the lowest ranked team (worst record, fewest pts scored) to submit a request, this team's #1 request was fulfilled
4) after going through a round of all the teams (clark was the highest ranked team to dibs a player), stan and brad still had a request each in for detmer
5) since both teams are 0-1 and stan scored fewer pts than brad, ty was given to stan - and koy was assigned to brad's taxi squad.

Walking on Eggshells

When I received the 1st draft of Foge's preseason forecast, I was a bit alarmed to see phrases like "dead weight," "dead roster spots" and "dead bone in left foot" in Foge's narrative. Mr. Fazio was most understanding when I informed him that I had to edit any such wordings that could be deemed insensitive to Wally's situation.

However... I feel the need to unmuzzle everyone from this point forward. If something is written that could be interpreted as insensitive towards Wally, please understand that no disrespect was intended.

Entry fees:

We'll try last year's policy regarding entry fees again. Since we are all respectable MEN in this league, save for the obvious exceptions... I will not collect entry fees until the end of the season. Once we know where all the RFL bucks should go, I will tell each GM where to send his $. Anyone got a problem with that?

*************************************************
RFL GM Profiles: John Park, GM, Jersey Juggernauts
*************************************************

NOTE FROM WIR EDITORIAL STAFF: John tried to upgrade his PC this past week, but forgot to discharge his static before zapping every component on his motherboard. We hope to have his interview complete by *next* week.

This has been an RFL interview. The rights to all proceeds made from this interview belong to the RFL WIR and exclusively to the RFL WIR.
********************************************************
SEASON POINTS LEADERS
*********************
QB
15 B Griese (Cleveland Steamers)
12 A Brooks (Black Knights of the Charles)
12 M Brunell (Mahatma's Minions)
12 K Collins (Dude)
12 D Culpepper (Boobies!)
12 D McNabb (Short-Changed Bastards of Persia)

RB
21 A Green (Cleveland Steamers)
18 E James (richard's nameless)
18 L Smith (Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant)
12 C Dillon (Uffdalators)
12 M Faulk (Mahatma's Minions)
12 C Martin (Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant)
12 R Williams (Uffdalators)

WR
18 J Smith (Cleveland Steamers)
15 A Toomer (Uffdalators)
12 Tim Brown (Uffdalators)
12 Rod Smith (Mahatma's Minions)
9 O Gadsden (Dude)
9 E McCaffrey (Dude)
9 M Muhammad (Black Knights of the Charles)
9 JJ Stokes (richard's nameless)

TE
9 E Conwell (Cleveland Steamers)
6 C Cleeland (Dude)
6 B Franks (Boobies!)

PK
13 S Janikowski (Dude)
10 J Cortez (Blue Collar Workers)
9 M Vanderjagt (richard's nameless)

be sure to check:
The Season Points Leaders Page
...for a more complete listing of scoring leaders.

Kevin	Advantage	Josh
MHasselbeck		BGriese
RWilliams		AGreen
CDillon		ESmith
TiBrown		JSmith
AToomer		TrBrown
SSharpe		EConwell
JCarney		MStover

Normally Cals vs. Brodz would be the hands-down GOTW. But based upon their Week 1 performances, perhaps it's time to acknowledge that there are new sheriffs in town.
Kevin vs. Vesh is one of three Week 2 matchups featuring a clash of undefeateds. And these 2 undefeateds scored the most points in Week 1. Hasselbeck was surging up draft charts just before the season started, but his Week 1 output was 6 pts less than Kitna's. Despite the loss of McCaffrey, Steamer Griese could provide a huge advantage in the QB matchup.
Uffdalators has a better balance in the RBs, so look for Kevin to grab a slight advantage here. Vesh is clearly showcasing Troy Brown for a potential trade, but perhaps this move will backfire and cost him some pts. S Sharpe might not even be the #1 TE on BAL anymore, but he should still hold his own against Ernie.
On paper this game looks too close to call, but perhaps the bravado coming out of Cleveland Steamers HQs has swayed the oddsmakers.

**** Unless H'beck can put up a 9-spot, Steamers by 3 ****

5-Black Knights of the Charles (0-1, 35.0) by 27 over 1-Blue Collar Workers (0-1, 28.0)
JoePa's running game gets untracked, while Brad's gets held in check.

2-Mahatma's Minions (1-0, 49.0) by 14 over 6-Dude (1-0, 55.0)
Clark's loss of McCaffrey gives Joebob an insurmountable WR advantage.

3-richard (1-0, 51.0) by 1 over 7-Short-Changed Bastards of Persia (1-0, 30.0)
Ali's supporting cast might be a touch better, but Richard should have the edge in Edgerrin vs. Moss.

4-Boobies! (0-1, 35.0) by 5 over 8-Fighting Poopy Diapers (0-1, 13.0)
As long as Cals' RBs match Brodz' SDavis, Cals' passing game should outpoint TGonzalez.

9-Pimps de la Nast (0-1, 28.0) by 4 over 16-Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant (1-0, 43.0)
Classic passing game (Shiv) vs. running game (Wang). With Wang's QB situation in a shambles, Shiv's RBs should outscore Wang's passing attack.

10-Everyone Go Deep (1-0, 29.0) by 6 over 15-Invasive Species (0-1, 20.0)
Gary has tangible advantages at QB and RB#2, Stan needs a WR#2 to step up.

12-Jersey Juggernauts (0-1, 12.0) by 7 over 13-Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids (0-1, 19.0)
Don't know if either team *deserves* a win this early in the season, but John does have a slight overall talent edge over Adam.

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All rights reserved.

Revised: September 11, 2001