It's a small rookie class this time around -- two brand new players joining in and an old veteran coming back into the ranks. For the fresh meat, we have Chocolate Mudbuttons and Secretly Victorious, while season 1-3 vet Mike W rejoins the fold. And if you see one other unfamiliar name on the board, it's because SlomoRomoNomo is now known as Why Not Zoidberg?.
Because of the light turnover, the divisions and conferences look mostly the same from last year. We didn't have to shuffle much around, so here's how the league looks this season:
So to the rookies, we say "welcome"; and to everyone else, "welcome back"! Good luck to everyone this season...
Match-Ups & Results - Shows you who is going to be playing against whom, in both real NFL games and our 1-On-1 Matches. All 17 weeks are covered, so you can see past, present and future match-ups.
Submit Picks - Where you go to get your picks in. Picks are generally due by Friday at 8:00pm, unless there is a Thursday game that week (such as the one this week).
Weekly Standings - Shows how each player is doing. Contains a breakdown of all players by division and conference, plus their records. Also shows Power Rankings and a history of the season's Players of the Week.
Rules & Info (FAQ) - Pretty much every little thing you could possibly want to know about the NFL 1-On-1 Pool.
1-On-1 Pool History - Want to relive the previous seven seasons? Here's where you can do it.
1-On-1 Pool Facebook page - If you're on facebook, you can use this to talk crap to other players, as well as keep abreast of pool developments. It's a closed group, but simply use the link to request membership and it'll be approved quickly.
Ok, that's it for announcements and such. Now, let's get down to our Week 1 business:
The other half of the division is in action as well, with StuB and Waterboys squaring off. After three-straight regular season losses to StuB, Waterboys finally put up a win in their Week 15 matchup last season. These two combined for only 10 wins last year, so getting off to an early divisional lead will be important for each of their long-term prospects this season.
The AFC South is seeing full divisional action as well, first with Jr. Barnes facing off against Yellow Jackets. Jr. Barnes won their initial meeting last season, a Week 6 contest that gave him the lead in division -- a position he never relinquished despite a loss to Yellow Jackets when they met again later that year. Historically, Jr. Barnes hold the slight edge here, winning three of their five meetings overall.
Ever since getting the season sweep over Horns en route to winning the 1-On-1 Pool Super Bowl in 2007, Mother Cluckers has been had a tough time getting one over on her father. The past two seasons have seen Horns put up four-straight wins over Mother Cluckers, and it's likely no coincidence that she hasn't seen the playoffs during that time. That's not to say everything has been bright in Horns' camp either, as both of these AFC South players are on currently on a postseason drought.
Over in the AFC East we have Vlad M trying to rebound from a 31st-ranked showing last year. The first test will be again Deesato, who put a season sweep over on him last season. These two have a long history and Deesato has come out on top much more often than not -- a situation Vlad M will need to make a push back to the postseason this time around.
After spending his rookie year last season in the NFC West, Better Name Pending has been shifted over to the AFC West to accommodate this year's new players. Now he'll be sharing a division with Why Not Zoidberg? (formerly SlomoRomoNomo), a player he hung a solid win on last year. It'll make for an interesting setup -- last year an 8-8 record was good enough to win this division, but it was also good enough to make it to the Super Bowl.
And over in the NFC West, we have one of the aforementioned rookies getting her first test -- Secretly Victorious will be kicking things off against perennial powerhouse Fighting Sporks. Will Fighting Sporks be able to keep up his current three-year opening-match winning streak?
Finally, we have Hyena and Ragesters going at it once again in the NFC East. These two often play some very tight matches, and so far it's been Hyena with the slight lead, going 4-3 against Ragesters since 2006.
Ok, that's it for the early preview. Remember, the season opens this Thursday, so we need your pick for that game by noon on Thursday. It's up to you if you want to put in picks for the weekend games at the same time or not -- those are due in by 8:00pm on Friday. And as always, if you don't submit your pick, then you're assumed to have picked the "away" team. So, head over to the pick submission page and get 'em in. Good luck this season, all!
We have one specialty match on the board here, a Diverse Picks Match of the Week between Lyle Alzado and Bassturds. If you're new here (or if you've just never known before), a DPMotW is when the two players have a difference in more than half the matches that week, and this one qualifies -- these two went separate ways in nine of these week's 16 games.
And that's it for the preview -- check back on Sunday after the early games to see who chalks up the first W's of the season. And welcome back, football!
Congratulations also go out to Schwantoes -- he was one of two players to get 11 picks correct this week, and he was only off by one point on the MNF score, earning him this year's first Player of the Week award and the fat $15 that goes along with it.
Ok, one down, 16 to go. Check the finalized pick chart, see how things are looking in the first Standings of the season, and get a jump on your Week 2 pick submissions if you like. Have a great week, all!
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