Week 1

The Pigskin Junkie Football League (PJFL) enjoyed its inaugural week of competition. Who took an early lead, and who lost out?

High rollers face off

Third season manager, Mike Wallbank, of the Naperville Bearcats (NAP), took a win and an early points lead, topping the table with 129.06.

Wallbank commented "Very happy with the result, good reflection on the work the boys have put in. Hoping Herbert can keep it up against the Chiefs of Thursday". Indeed, Herbert had a great day, and almost every player for NAP met or outperformed expectations with the notable exception of the Packers Defence.

In fact, the loser in the matchup - Jonny Hubble and his side, Burrow row row your boat (BRR) - became the league's highest scoring winless team.

The match was close thanks to unexpectedly great performances by Miles Sanders and Ja'marr Chase, as well as the Ravens D.

But, Hubble had trouble at tight end, with second choice Uzomah coming away pointsless, untargeted, neglected by the QB. The manager vented his frustration with his benched would-be-star, "I wanna call out George Kittle for being injured every week, I don't think he realises the stakes I have on the line"

Benched hench

Many coaches and managers complained this week about the points on their benches, as starters disappointed, and their would-be replacements excelled.

Andrew Trebble couldn't hide his frustration with side Country Road Take Mahomes (CRT), as Fields, Carter, Gibson, and Kirk all outperformed their on-field teammates.

Around the league

Elsewhere in the league, newcomer Grace Joslin, of The category is 'country love' (CCL), endured a bad start, hampered particularly by Dak Prescott excusing himself from an already poor effort by breaking his thumb on a linebacker.

Bryn Joslin and The Brady Bunch (TBB) were projected a close game against The Cheetahs (CHE), and did in fact put in a solid performance, but lost out due to some underwhelming depth at WR and world-ending scores from opposition players Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Cooper Kupp, who laid down a combined 54.2 points on their own.

Naz El-harrati's side were in the top-four despite naysayers to his idiosyncratic draft technique. The Cheetahs look to repeat the trick this weekend against Beginners Luck (BGL).

The final joke of the weekend's games came in the form of bitter payback for Younghoe Koo, who, taking umbridge with words from the opposing coach ("You don't need to draft a kicker" or perhaps "Who cares about kickers" - I wasn't there), put up 18 points on the board, creating the swing that Beginners Luck needed to defeat Kendrew's Mayfield Bakery (MFB) by 116 to 102. "Well... I lost week 1 of 13" said Kendrew, putting the loss in perspective.

Will the top four - the 120 club - go on to win again in Week 2? Or will fortunes be reversed? Who will be the surprise victors as the competition enters its second week?

Anything can happen and the numbers are all wrong. That's the NFL, baby 🏈👶