Letter From The Commish

Observations from the Commish with Week 1 in the books:

Who's in? Shawn Jefferson with 12 looks in Week 1. Who's out? Tim Dwight with one look and no catches against the 49ers secondary, one of the most porous in all the land.

PMS. By the Commish's reckoning, Y2K is PMS's sixth season in the OFFL. We got to wondering, who knows why, how they've fared in previous Week 1s. The answer: 0-5. Add in last week's 40-13 spanking by league babe-in-the-woods All World (sounds like a WWF wrestler), and PMS is now 0-6 lifetime in Week 1. They've lost to A Team With No Name ('95), NFC Norris ('96), Crawling King Snakes ('97), and Greenback Iguanas ('98 & '99) by a composite score of 216-137. Two week, however, is another story. They won each time between 1995-1997 before losing in Week 2 each of the past two years to the Strange Highways. Unlike in '98 & '99 when PMS faced the Iggy Blow Pops and the Strangeways back-to-back back-to-back, this year at least someone new beat them Week 1. The good news for PMS is that this year's Week 2 opponent is Grandmaster G, he of the 18 point loss to the Retreads; he of the backfield 'anchored' by Warrick Dunn; he who started the aforementioned Tim Dwight in Week 1. PMS is 3-3 lifetime vs. Coach Curious G.

Will the Retreads ever slow down? After scoring 48 points in their Week 1 opening win over Curious Aunt Bee, they continue to average a shade under 43 points...per team history! Coach Detwiler's minions scored 714 points in their inaugural league season of 1998, a year which saw them go 12-3 with a backfield of Terrell Davis and Fred Taylor before getting bounced in Round 1 of the playoffs. Last season, behind Fred Taylor and Edgerrin James, the Retreads scored 558 points, went 11-4 and won the entire enchilada. Oh, and both seasons they captured Howe Division crowns in the process. One week in, the Tards are already in sole possession of...yes, you guessed it, the Howe division.

Don't count on Drew Bledsoe or Terry Glenn much in 2000 based on what we saw against Tampa Bay. There were 19 passes to the RBs and TEs. Without a good offensive line and little to no ground game, the over/under on Bledsoe is 8 games. Perhaps Michael Bishop, with his running ability, has an upside after all.

What's up with the bulletin board this season? Discussions of the qualities of Daunte Culpepper as an NFL quarterback? What will be next? Meanderings on the latest red wine from the Napa valley? Truth be told, the Commish found the discussion riveting. Trash talking taking a back, well, maybe side, seat to actual online debate. Who da thunk?

The P Swords began their reforging process last Sunday with a W. It wasn't pretty but consider this: McNair, Moss, Rice and Wycheck did little and nothing. McNair and Moss, for sure, will be heard from soon. Wycheck and Rice will get theirs at some point. In typical Coach P fashion, this team has more WRs that it can find playing time for. That often leads to leaving the wrong players on the bench. Case in point, David Boston in Week 1 had an outstanding game. The Epees appear to have a team that can remain in the mix late into the season but, aside from Curtis Martin, questions abound about the rushing attack. Priest Holmes' 100 yard effort last week did nothing to enhance Jamal Lewis' value short-term.

The NFC Norris took a novel approach to their running game on draft day. All along, the Commish was of the belief that Jamal Anderson and Terrell Davis would be striving to get to Olandis Gary's level when, in fact, it was Gary who wanted to be like Anderson and Davis. What's a coach to do? Sign Mike Anderson to the roster, of course. The old insurance policy has been voided in favor of a new one, it seems.

Aside from TE perhaps, All World put on a Week 1 performance that made the Commish think that rookie coach Devin Dourisseau can ride his team late into the season and make it a two horse race in the Dewey. The WRs appear to run five deep with the Missile, sneaky nice Plaxico Burress (it's too bad about the Lead Curtain's offense this year), Rod Smith, Hakim and yardage maker McCardell. Barring injuries, Eddie George and Ron Dayne anchor the backfield nicely. Gannon and Banks should suffice behind center. Never one to back away from a challenge, Coach DD made his bulletin board debut after being called out by Coach single D (aka Corky) midweek. Week 4 should be fun. But until then, let's just concentrate on Week 2. I'll get us started.

~Go deep, I'll throw it.

Back To Main Page