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Week 1 Preview

2026-09-10

Pack Attack (0-0) vs DaUnderdog (0-0)

We open the season with a brother battle and this is one of the oldest rivalries in this league! 26 regular season meetings and Pack Attack holds the 15-11 edge along with a healthy scoring advantage at 121.10 to 108.47 per game. Pack Attack has won the last two including a 137.52 to 117.33 win a year ago, and in the postseason they are 2-0 with wins in 2004 and 2011. But before DaUnderdog gets too discouraged, the last time these two opened a season against each other was week 1 of 2024 and DaUnderdog took that one 102.38 to 89.69 and sent Pack Attack to an 0-1 start! Yahoo has this at 106.40 to 102.66 which is about as close as it gets. Thursday night is going to matter more than usual here too, as Pack Attack has P Nacua going in that game while DaUnderdog counters with D Adams and C McCaffrey in the same one. Get off to a bad start Thursday and it's a long weekend.

Prediction:

I don't pick my own games and I'm not about to start now, so I'm handing this one off to my AI friend. Yahoo has Pack Attack at 54% and 106.40 to 102.66, and 26 games of history say about the same thing with Pack Attack up 15-11 and winners of the last two. But it isn't as comfortable as that sounds! L Jackson and P Nacua are 32 of those 106 projected points, which means Pack Attack is leaning on two guys and just about everything after them is single digits. DaUnderdog is the more balanced roster top to bottom with B Bowers, T Higgins and T Warren all projected in double figures, and they get C McCaffrey going Thursday night to set the tone before Pack Attack has half a lineup on the field. So it comes down to this: if the top two show up for Pack Attack they win this game, and if either one lays an egg DaUnderdog has a lot more places to make it up. Give me Pack Attack, but nobody should feel good about it.

Historical Look at this Match-Up:

Regular Season Match-ups: 26
Record: Advantage Pack Attack at 15-11
PPG Avg: Advantage Pack Attack 121.10 to 108.47
Current Streak: Pack Attack W2
Last Meeting: 2025 — Pack Attack 137.52, DaUnderdog 117.33

16hrs Ahead of You!! (0-0) vs U Don't Know (0-0)

If you were looking for the most evenly matched game on the board this week, here it is! These two have played 20 regular season games against each other and they are dead even at 10-10. The scoring is just as tight with U Don't Know holding a 103.76 to 101.52 edge, which spread across 20 games is basically nothing. And then Yahoo comes along and projects this one 110.97 to 110.53 and flat out lists it as a 50/50 game! I am not sure I have ever seen a matchup line up this evenly on every single measure we have. There is a lot more riding on this season for 16hrs than most though, as they have been here since the very beginning in 2004 and are still chasing that first championship. This is the year the hat finally cooperated too, as 16hrs pulled the #1 overall pick in the lottery and used it on J Gibbs, who just so happens to be the highest projected player in this matchup! And before anybody starts in with how the top pick doesn't matter in this league, the #1 slot has produced three championships, which is tied for the most of any spot in the draft. Now having said all of that, 16hrs has quietly owned this thing lately as they have won the last two meetings including a 91.08 to 61.70 beatdown a year ago, and when these two have met in the postseason it has been all 16hrs at 2-0 with wins in 2021 and 2024. There is also a fun wrinkle here in that J Gibbs and A St. Brown are teammates in Detroit and they are lined up on opposite sides of this matchup, so that Lions game against New Orleans is going to swing this thing in both directions at the same time.

Prediction:

Week 1 is always tough to make predictions because you think you know what you are doing and the roles guys are going to play but someone always surprises. I love Josh Allen for the season but I don't love him this week going up against a tough Houston D. Jeanty is in a good spot and A St. Brown should have a nice game but I expect Gibbs to outperform him this week. One of the more interesting things I will be watching is B Irving for 16hrs, there is a lot of question marks surrounding him coming into the season but if he could perform well and you couple that with the #1 overall pick and I think 16hrs might be looking solid! I like them to start off the season with a win here!

Historical Look at this Match-Up:

Regular Season Match-ups: 20
Record: Tied at 10-10
PPG Avg: Advantage U Don't Know 103.76 to 101.52
Current Streak: 16hrs W2
Last Meeting: 2025 — 16hrs 91.08, U Don't Know 61.70
Playoff Meetings: 2 (16hrs leads 2-0)

Big Papa (0-0) vs HHH (0-0)

And here is another one Yahoo cannot separate! That is now two games on this board sitting at 50/50, and this one is projected 109.68 to 109.22, a difference of less than half a point. These two have played 24 times with Big Papa holding the 13-11 edge, but HHH actually owns the better scoring average at 115.06 to 113.55, so you can grab whichever number supports the argument you feel like making today! What is not up for debate is who has owned this lately and that is Big Papa, winners of three straight including a 110.37 to 80.74 shellacking a year ago. HHH is also carrying the longer wait of the two as they have not won a championship since going back to back in 2009 and 2010, and that is now 15 seasons and counting. Even the kickers are pointed at each other in this one, with Big Papa running out H Mevis of the Rams while HHH counters with E Pineiro of the 49ers in that same Thursday night game.

Prediction: Nabers / Chase / McBride those three are the trio I think we will be coming back to all year long for HHH as they have tremendous upside! Also it is worth noting that there could be a 4th player in Brian Thomas Jr who just a year ago was being drafted in the first round! For this week though are we going to see a full workload from Nabers? Will Brian Thomas Jr be a 3rd option for Jax? For Big Papa I like Saquon this year and this week. I think he has a nice bounce back season and it should start with a solid week 1. The WR's for Big Papa are suspect though and a potential real weak point for them. For week 1 I am going to go with the names I trust and pick HHH to get the W!

Historical Look at this Match-Up:

Regular Season Match-ups: 24
Record: Advantage Big Papa at 13-11
PPG Avg: Advantage HHH 115.06 to 113.55
Current Streak: Big Papa W3
Last Meeting: 2025 — Big Papa 110.37, HHH 80.74

BIGBOY! (0-0) vs Sportsfreak (0-0)

Well here we go. The Lindgren brother battle to open the season and I could not have scripted this one any better! Let's set the table first. Sportsfreak has been here since 2004, has been to three Super Bowls, and has lost all three of them. Two of those came against his little brother, including the 2017 game that BIGBOY! won by 0.35 points and the 2024 game where BIGBOY! hung 158.81 on him. BIGBOY! meanwhile has four championships and is coming off back to back titles. That is the backdrop for absolutely everything that happens between these two.

Now here is the part that makes this one so good. Sportsfreak had the very last pick of the first round at #14 and he used it on C Brown, who is the exact player that just won BIGBOY! a championship as the MVP of last year's title game! And BIGBOY! still has D London, who was the MVP of the 2024 title game. So the two players who have decided the last two championships in this league are lined up on opposite sides of a brother battle in week 1. You cannot make this stuff up.

The history is closer than all that postseason pain would suggest. Sportsfreak actually leads the regular season series 9-7 and holds the scoring edge at 123.38 to 120.60, so this is not a case of BIGBOY! simply owning him. It is that BIGBOY! keeps winning the games that matter, as he leads the playoff meetings 3-2 and has taken the last three head to head. Yahoo has BIGBOY! at 53% and 110.46 to 107.85, which feels about right. One thing I will be watching closely: Sportsfreak is running the Packers defense and X McKinney against Minnesota, and BIGBOY! has J Jefferson in that very same game. The big brother is going to spend Sunday afternoon rooting for his own defense to shut down his little brother's best receiver!

Can BIGBOY! make history this season by finishing the first ever three-peat and pushing their championship trophies to a league leading 5? It all starts this week and the best part is that these two teams will close out the regular season as well in a game that I expect will have playoff implications!

Prediction:

So who gets off to the fast start? Historically speaking it is BIGBOY! as he is 10-5 in week 1's and I do like the team they put together again this season as they look for that three-peat! I love BIGBOY!'s pass catchers (Jefferson, London & G Wilson) this week and really for season long as well it would be hard to find a better trio then the one they will be putting out there each week. If they are going to win, they are going to need production from those three. Sportsfreak's team is a bit of the opposite with their strength being the RB spot. I love both C Brown and O Hampton this week and also for season long. I am going to go with BIGBOY! to start their title defense with a nice win. The path for Sportsfreak to win is likely the J Daniels to T McLaurin tandem. If those two get hot then I could see Sportsfreak finding a way to win however I just don't trust that at the moment. BIGBOY! with the win!

Historical Look at this Match-Up:

Regular Season Match-ups: 16
Record: Advantage Sportsfreak at 9-7
PPG Avg: Advantage Sportsfreak 123.38 to 120.60
Current Streak: BIGBOY! W3
Last Meeting: 2025 — BIGBOY! 132.18, Sportsfreak 126.09 (playoff)
Playoff Meetings: 5 (BIGBOY! leads 3-2)

Bossman (0-0) vs PackerFANatic7 (0-0)

On paper this one ought to be a mismatch of experience, as Bossman has been here since 2005 with three championships and a dozen playoff appearances while PackerFANatic7 is one of our newer managers at nine seasons in and is still hunting that first title. Except the head to head says something completely different! These two have met nine times and it is PackerFANatic7 holding the 5-4 edge along with the scoring advantage at 121.16 to 118.11, and he took the last one 128.50 to 112.84. So much for the kid being intimidated by the resume. There is some real motivation on the Bossman side of this one though. Last season ended 6-8 with no playoffs, which does not sound like a catastrophe until you realize it was their first miss since 2018 and it snapped a run of six straight trips to the postseason! This is a franchise with three championships, 13 playoff berths in 20 seasons and a career record of 163-104, and their scoring fell off a cliff last year from 1836 points down to 1530. A year on the outside looking in is simply not something this team is used to, so I would expect them to come out of the gate looking to fix that in a hurry. Bossman does have one real structural edge here too and that is timing, because he has two starters going in the Wednesday night opener with J Smith-Njigba and the Seahawks defense. That is roughly 22 projected points on the board before PackerFANatic7 has a single player take the field. PackerFANatic7 counters with the Dallas stack of D Prescott and C Lamb on Sunday night, so this one may not settle until very late in the weekend.

Prediction:

The duo of Prescott and Lamb for PackerFANatic7 is one that could make or break this week and their season. I expect they will be solid this week against the NYG. Also, I fully expect a nice bounce back season from L McConkey and everyone is really high on Burden (not sure I agree). For Bossman the headliners for this team are Burrow, Henry and JSN. They will be relying heavily on those three. Burrow tends to start slow but is in a dream matchup against TB but outside of that I don't love many of the other spots their players are in. Pittman Jr could surprise and have a nice 17 point game which will keep things close but in the end I think PackerFANatic7 will have too much firepower and will get the win!

Historical Look at this Match-Up:

Regular Season Match-ups: 9
Record: Advantage PackerFANatic7 at 5-4
PPG Avg: Advantage PackerFANatic7 121.16 to 118.11
Current Streak: PackerFANatic7 W1
Last Meeting: 2025 — Bossman 112.84, PackerFANatic7 128.50

pack slayer (0-0) vs Rapids Plungers (0-0)

Finally, a game where Yahoo actually has an opinion! After a whole lot of coin flips on this board, this one comes in at 57/43 in favor of Rapids Plungers with a projection of 113.36 to 106.16, and that seven point gap is the widest of the week. Rapids Plungers is coming off a season where they rode the #1 overall seed all the way to the Super Bowl before running into BIGBOY! and getting held to 73.49 in the title game, so there is some unfinished business sitting there. They also finally caught a break from the hat this year. This is a franchise that historically has the worst average draft position in the entire league at right around 9.6, so pulling the #2 pick and landing Bijan Robinson has to feel like the lottery apologizing for two decades of bad luck! Now the history in this one is my favorite kind. pack slayer actually outscores Rapids Plungers across these 15 meetings at 124.48 to 118.86 per game and still trails the series 8-7, which is just about the definition of scoring a bunch of points and having nothing to show for it. And keep an eye on Thursday night, because these two have the opposing quarterbacks in that game with pack slayer running out M Stafford of the Rams while Rapids Plungers counters with B Purdy of the 49ers. Whoever wins that one gets a head start on the entire week.

Prediction:

Week 1 is always so exciting because you just don't know how things are going to look until we see the players in action and then of course we will all overreact to what we saw or didn't see and it will take until week 4 to really be sure about things. For Rapids Plungers I love Olave this week and I get that Yahoo can't project him for 20 points but this feels like an easy 20 to 25 point game for him. Rapids Plungers also gets a boost with T Henderson ruled out for tonights game which means we should see a lot of R Stevenson! I see pack slayer struggling this week and while for entire season I do like DJ Moore and K Walker I don't like their matchups this week. Rapids Plungers should get the win in this one.

Historical Look at this Match-Up:

Regular Season Match-ups: 15
Record: Advantage Rapids Plungers at 8-7
PPG Avg: Advantage pack slayer 124.48 to 118.86
Current Streak: Rapids Plungers W1
Last Meeting: 2025 — pack slayer 111.52, Rapids Plungers 129.44
Playoff Meetings: 1 (pack slayer leads 1-0)

Starrfavrerodg (0-0) vs teamAlaska (0-0)

We close out week 1 with the newest manager in the league up against one of the seven originals, and if you go strictly by the history this one should not be close at all. Starrfavrerodg has only been around since 2020 and yet they have absolutely owned this matchup, taking 5 of the 7 meetings and outscoring teamAlaska by a staggering 124.31 to 97.84 per game. That is better than a 26 point per game gap, easily the most lopsided scoring of any matchup on this board, and a year ago Starrfavrerodg won it 146.09 to 95.22. And yet here comes Yahoo projecting teamAlaska to win at 52/48! Somebody is very wrong here and I am extremely interested to find out who. In teamAlaska's defense, the one time they really did get Starrfavrerodg it came in the playoffs back in 2022, so they have picked their spots. They also have something nobody else in the league has this week, and that is volume on Wednesday night, with four starters in that opener between D Maye, A.J. Brown, J Price and J Love. That is roughly 42 projected points potentially on the board before anybody else has played a snap! Starrfavrerodg loads up on Thursday instead with K Williams, the Rams defense and M Garrett all in that game. Both of these teams are going to know an awful lot about their weekend very early.

Prediction:

Starrfavrerodg showed his Packers fandom by drafting three Packers players to their starting rostder so these Packers games got a little more fun or frustrating for Starrfavrerodg. I just have to say if you are an NFL kicker and your last name is Smack... pretty sure you have to be good right!?

teamAlaska has some solid players and 4 guys in particular that I think will make or break them most weeks. They are J Taylor, J Price, AJ Brown and Z Flowers. Those are 4 solid names and I expect them to all be good this week.

I am not sure how much T Kraft will play and outside of J Cook I am not overly excited about anyone on this Starrfavrerodg team this week. I am going to go with teamAlaska to get the week 1 win!

Historical Look at this Match-Up:

Regular Season Match-ups: 7
Record: Advantage Starrfavrerodg at 5-2
PPG Avg: Advantage Starrfavrerodg 124.31 to 97.84
Current Streak: Starrfavrerodg W2
Last Meeting: 2025 — Starrfavrerodg 146.09, teamAlaska 95.22
Playoff Meetings: 2 (tied 1-1)