Week 2 Rankings
Up is down, East is West and cats are sleeping with dogs!
A great football mind mentioned last week that any preseason ranking needed to be taken with a grain of salt. In case you need a reminder, go back to last week's LM Note. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd ranked teams all went down in defeat, losing to the 9th, 6th and 7th ranked teams respectively. Before the season starts, projections are the only thing we have to go by. But the games must be played and the players must perform. And the one thing the Week 1 Performances showed us is... The NFL Offenses got off to an incredibly slow start. Last year, the average score for each team was 143.64 pts/game. Compare that to the average score of Week 1 2025 that came in at a paltry 122 points/game, a 21-point reduction! Thats like having one less QB in your lineup (or if you are the Ghostbusters, 2 less QBs).
How bad was it? No team scored over 140 points. Versus Week 1 last year, we had 5 teams score over 140, with 2 of those teams going for over 160 points! I don't expect that trend to continue. This is just the product of most teams not playing their starters during the preseason and the defenses being ahead of the offenses early on. If there is any good news to be told after the first week is that nobody suffered any season-ending injuries. Xavier Worthy and George Kittle came away a little banged up, but both should return in a month or so.
Now on to our rankings:
1. Stick Rock (Last Week #9)
Stick Rock was the high scoring team of the week, led by Justin Herbert (33.92), Garrett Wilson (22.5) and Conrad Sutton (18.1). Rocky must be happy with the fast start as last year's team was among the high scorers early on, but still could not win a game due to bad scheduling luck.
2. Wrath of Khan (Last Week #7)
Kahn wins their first game of 2025 with relative ease. Their QBs got off to a slow start, but an explosive 4th quarter by Baker Mayfield (28.58) and Michael Penix (27.02) saw the two light up the scoreboard for the blowout victory. Derrik Henry chipped in 32 points on Sunday Night for good measure.
3. Milford Football Team (Last Week #6)
Milford Football Team has already matched their win total from 2024 with their Week 1 victory. The QBs combined for an astounding 74-points! That total would be expected from QB1 Josh Allen (42.76). But Daniel Jones hanging 31.48 points on the Dolphins? Who saw that coming? CJ Needed it as no other player in his lineup scored more than 14 points.
4. Springfield Flanders (Last Week #4)
The anti-QB team this week was Flanders. Their 2 QBs combined for a paltry 20.81 points. Luckily, a solid day up and down the rest of the lineup scored just enough to get them the Week 1 victory. Puka Nacua (23.1), De'Von Achane (16.5) and Marvin Harrison (18.1) did just enough for the win.
5. Peeping Tomlin's (Last Week #5)
The Tomlins looked like they were going down in defeat late in the 3rd qtr of Monday Night's game as McCarthy and Williams got off to slow starts. But Caleb Willams (26.22), JJ McCarthy (26.22) and Justin Jefferson (14.8) came alive in the 4th qtr to give them the victory.
6. John's Scary Team (Last Week #10)
John came very close to winning his first KAOS game, but fell 6-points short of the victory. The QB's (Hurts-24.28 and Mahomes 28.02) were as good as expected, while keeper Jaxon Smith Njigba chipped in 19.4 points. Unfortunately the RBs killed them combining for only 14.3 points.
7. Mel Kipers Best Available (Last Week #1)
Alert the presses, MKBA will not be going undefeated this season. The early season favorites had trouble getting the offense going in Week 1. Lamar Jackson (33.36), Jayden Daniels (22.12) and CeDee Lamb (18) delivered, but the remainder of the starting lineup combined for only 49-points. Welcome to the frustration of having Tyreke Hill and Devonta Smith in your starting lineup each week.
8. Skoal Bandits (Last Week #2)
The Bandits may have won the preseason, but Week 1 was an entirely different story. Bijan Robinson (26.4), CMC (23.2) and Brock Purdy (20.78) were awesome. The rest of the lineup (46 points) were not.
9. Dark Helmet (Last Week #8)
Bo Nix - 8.84 points. Sam Darnold 5.4 points. Yeah, it was that kind of day for Helmet. The trio of Zay Flowers (28.1), James Cook (21.2) and Saquon Barkley (18.1) played well in the loss. Javonte Williams (20.4) and Ricky Pearsall (14.8) also had solid days, unfortunately they were on the bench.
10. Ghostbusters (Last Week #3)
One of these seasons I am going to have the balls to bench the Burrow/Chase connection in Week 1. How bad has it been.
2023 Week 1 Combined for 12 points
2024 Week 1 Combined for 24 points
2025 Week 1 Combined for 23 points
Only one direction to go after this one!