Two players involved in the draft-day mega-trade -- Christian McCaffrey and Puka Nacua -- are both sidelined with serious injuries in Week 1
WTNE's Puka Nacua is carted off the field in the second quarter on Sunday. A knee injury has him out at least four games.
Typically, if your star player is suddenly ruled out of the Monday Night game, you're screwed. Sometimes, it just doesn't matter.
The 49ers made star RB Christian McCaffrey inactive about an hour before kickoff in their opener against the Jets on Monday night with a previously undisclosed achilles injury. That left the Tirades with a gaping hole in their lineup -- no one at RB1, because the only possible replacement was Nick Chubb, and he's on
the PUP list. Sure, the Tirades could have made the one move that was possible last night: Drop Chubb and pick up 49ers backup Jordan Mason (who scored 20 points in McCaffrey's absence). But someone (I won't say who) has too big a man crush on Chubb to take that route. And that person, who I will not name, was in position to not have to worry about it. The Tirades held a 90-78 lead over the Recliners with two (active) players still going Monday night: the Recliners had
WR Garrett Wilson, who is certainly capable of big things with Aaron Rodgers healthy; and WR Deebo Samuel of the Tirades, who is, well, Deebo. The result wasn't close.
Jordan Garcia's WTNE also won his Week 1 battle despite having only one quarter's worth of Nacua (which turned out to be 3 points), defeating newcomer Matthew McConaughey's Who Dey. Alright, alright, alright! Always a thrill having a celebrity owner.
Other serious Week 1 injuries: Who Dey's backup QB Jordan Love strained his MCL and will be out 4-6 weeks. If Blayze were still in the league, he'd have lost his starter. The Tirades are holding out hope their QB, Josh Allen, will be able to go on Thursday despite banging up his non-throwing hand on a TD run. The Tirades also lost rookie WR Rome Odunze to a knee injury, making him expendable for the handcuff pickup of Mason today. Also knocked out of action were TEs Jake Ferguson (Packers) and David Njoku (Who Dey).
Here's a look at the week 1 results.
TIRADES 103, RECLINERS 84: They were predicted to be the highest-scoring team of the week and came through, making all the odds-makers happy. The Tirades won a season opener for the first time since 2021 thanks to a super-heroic effort from second-round pick Josh Allen, who ran for two TDs and threw for two more en route to a league-high 31 points.
Sure, not having McCaffrey was costly, but the two other RBs in the lineup helped offset that loss as David Montgomery had 15 (9 of those in overtime) and Aaron Jones added 16. With McCaffrey likely out again this Sunday in Minnesota, the Tirades grabbed his backup earlier today (the aforementioned Mason). Chris Zimnoch had some hope early in the Monday night game for a win, but he needed a huge night from Wilson and those hopes petered out quickly. Wilson had 4 points in the first quarter but scored only one after that, and Tirades counterpart Samuel ran for a score to ice the win. RB Joe Mixon led the Recliners with 22 and K Cairo Santos added 13 but rookie (and high draft pick) WR Marvin Harrison Jr. had a big fat donut. On the Bench: 49ers K Jake Moody had 26 wasted points for the Tirades; starter and team misogynist Harrison Butker only had 9. WR Stefon Diggs scored 15. RB Zach Charbonnet had 9 points for the Recliners.
SPREAD BEATERS 98, GERBILS 83: This one also went as expected. The two-time defending champ Beaters got 19 from keeper Tyreek Hill, 18 more from first-round pick Cooper Kupp (Matt Pringle says thankyouverymuch to Nacua's injury) and a surprising 19 from Chargers RB JK Dobbins to defeat the Gerbils, whose keeper-via-trade, AJ Brown, led the team with 18. QB Pat Mahomes had a disappointing 13 in his first start with the Gerbs. On the Bench: RBs Tony Pollard and Jerome Ford combined for 27 for the Beaters. No one on the bench would have helped the Gerbils.
RANGERS 98, PACKERS 90: John Lambert won the battle of the brothers as his quest for his first JSFL title is officially under way. WR Mike Evans led the way with 18 points and QB Jalen Hurts added 17 as John was the only team to use a WR at Flex (Evans) that won last
weekend. RBs Breece Hall and Kyren Williams combined for 24 and WR Nico Collins added 11. Jeff Lambert's Packers were led by QB Anthony Richardson's 25 points (maybe he's not overrated after all, eh Jeff?) and 36 more from his triumverate of RBs (Travis Etienne Jr, Kenneth Walker III, and De'Von Achane IV). The problem was the single-digit scoring everywhere else. On the Bench: WR Jayden Reed of the Packers scored 28 (but who'd start him over Ja'Marr Chase and George Pickens? Not Jeff. Probably not me either, though he was my Flex in my work league, so Yay!). The Rangers somehow decided to start a non-Steelers K instead of Chris Boswell or this would have been a total blowout. Boswell scored 26 (tied for the top kicker score for the week with also-benched Moody of the 49ers) but was left sitting in lieu of Justin Tucker's 8 points.
WTNE 91, WHO DEY 75: While the Christian McCaffrey trade effects are yet to be determined, RB Saquon Barkley, who was traded with Nacua to WTNE during the opening moments of the draft last month, paid immediate dividends for Garcia, scoring a team-high 30 points in a rout of newcomer McConaughey's team. RB Alvin Kamara added 16 more in the Flex spot and 10 more from WR Rashee Rice helped mitigate the disaster WTNE had at QB, where early-round draft pick Joe Burrow managed only 7 points in the Bengals shocking loss to New England. QB Tua Tagovailoa had 18 for Who Dey, who also got 17 from kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn. On the Bench: Nothing would have helped Who Dey enough for a win. Jordan could have gone with Commanders QB Jayden Daniels and would have had 20 more points.
BAND AIDS 88, INVAIDERS 87: Ouch. I could hear Vern Ahrendes' belly-aching from 2,000 miles away. All he needed was 12 points from QB Brock Purdy on Monday night to win this one. That's basically one TD pass and 200 yards passing (and losing QB Aaron Rodgers
managed to do that). Nope. Through the 49ers had eight consecutive scoring drives in the Monday night win over the overrated Jets, six of those ended in FGs and (woe-is-me!) Purdy finished with 10 <insert sad trombone sound here>. And oh, the irony: Bob Garcia was laughing all the way to the end zone because his QB, former Invaiders stud Lamar Jackson, led the way to victory with 25 points. "How could Brock not throw for a couple more yards or just one TD?" Vern asked. That's an easy answer, Vern: Kyle Shanahan is so risk-averse that he'd just as soon run 45 times and kick six field goals instead of scoring a TD. He even eent for a field goal instead of going for it on a fourth-and-one at the Jets 2! With a 13-point lead! Sheesh. The Band Aids won despite a whopping three total points from Bob's two WRs and Flex position (yes, they scored one each. Yikes). Also, given that today is also World Suicide Prevention Day, I say to Vern: Hold on for one more week. On the Bench: WR Khalil Shakir and even RB Ezekiel (who is now as old as his name suggests, Old Testament times) Elliott scored 10 each on the pine for the Band Aids. Vern will be in the doghouse with wife Bonnie because he had Cowboys K Brandon Aubrey (and his 21 points!) sitting idle.
Waiver wire activity: In addition to the Tirades picking up RB Mason as McCaffrey insurance (dropping injured rookie WR Rome Odunze) and exchanging defenses (Commanders replace Dolphins), several other teams also made moves. Who Dey grabbed Detroit WR Jameson Williams, who scored a TD on Sunday night, and dropped WR Dionte Johnson. The Band Aids upgraded at TE, dropping Cole Kmet of the Bears in favor of Isaiah Likely of the Ravens. The Spread Beaters triple-dipped, continuing the revolving door at TE with Juwan Johnson (dropping Tyler "One Catch" Conklin of the Jets) picking up Saints kicker Blake Grupe and again swapping defenses (Chargers picked up, Eagles dropped).
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