Dynasty League 2026 Week 1: The Return of the League
Worst week 1 ever. And I mean that literally. This is just the 4th time in our league’s history that every game has ended in a 20+ point differential, and it’s the first time it’s ever been in week 1. It’s also the first time this has happened since 2021. There’s more fun stats from the week, all surrounding Alex and Fred, so let’s jump in. Here are your week 1 results:
Bolt Battalion 99.94 over Storm Surge 79.02
Some of us had a bad start to our seasons in the scoring category, but that’s alright, we’re just kicking the rust off right? RIGHT?! Sorry, lost my composure a little, much like Bo Nix seemed to do last night. But hey, Matthew didn’t need him in order to get the W. All he needed was Christian Watson, Nico Collins, and some side characters. And that’s because Joel’s team didn’t realize the season had started. Guess they were still on Pacific time while playing in the Australian Eastern Standard Time Zone. On the plus side dad, you are the current front-runner in the Jeremiah Smith sweepstakes!
Fear Itself 105.66 over ay_Bilat 80.14
Nathan’s probably yelling at his guys in the locker room despite the win. I know I would be, cause let’s be honest, how do you have two guys go for 30+ points and only barely make it over the 100-point mark? But hey, a win is a win, and Allen and Gibbs are firmly in the MVP running to start the year! Trey on the other hand has some soul searching to do with his team, maybe kick them all out into the desert and let them wonder around for a few days, or weeks. Just a suggestion, that I may or may not be considering for a majority of my team. Not starting Mahomes in a return from that major injury makes sense, but he chose the wrong the backup QB to fill in. Fortunately for him, Bryce Young’s 29.44 points would not have gotten him the win.
NUKEM 134.96 over Shadow Legion 102.20
Rob told me before the season that if Jefferson and Daniels return to form it could be a good year. So far, so good. Daniels’ 15.66 was solid given the opponent, but it was Jefferson’s 27.2 points that led the way to victory. Of course, a surprisingly dominant week 1 by Isaiah Likely, and solid outings by Chase Brown, Cam Skattebo, Tyler Loop and Detroit’s defense certainly helped. Anthony’s two biggest offseason acquisitions had opposite effects on the Legion. Zay Flowers led the team in points despite going down with an injury halfway through the 2nd quarter. On the flip side, Saquon Barkley mustered just 8.5 points. It also didn’t help that he got a whole lot of nothing out of Loveland. Four starters this week scored 0, two of them were on losing teams with Addison for me being the other (so trust me I feel your pain Anthony). I’ll save you curious ones some time, the other two were Romeo Doubs for Nathan, and Houston’s defense for Matthew.
The Empire 150.96 over Kade’s Dawgs 120.70
Watching Red Zone Sunday and within 20 minutes I saw two of Bryar’s players cross the goal line and I though “oh man, my champion pick is trying to prove me right!” And boy did The Empire ever. Lamar, Javonte and Olave all scored over 20, Pitt’s defense, Washington and McConkey all over 15, and we can’t leave out SMACK, smacking through 13 more. That’s our early front-runner for Rooke of the Year by the way! Curt, you had a really solid week, one of the heartbreaking kind since you would’ve beat 7 other teams. So take solace in this, this was your best regular season game since week 7 of last year, and just the second 100+ point game you’ve had since then. Signs of life are always a positive.
Fantasy Fairies 150.42 over Space Rangers 99.96
Great time for Ryan to set his team’s new highest score record, really just crazy good timing. I know I personally would have asked for it to be next week, but whatever works for you. I also don’t know what I did to make you mad at me Ryan, but I will figure it out before our week 14 meeting and make it right, I promise! Fun little stat, Ryan and I started just 2 Running Backs each, the four of them would’ve combined to outscore 8 teams this week. I also thoroughly enjoyed knowing that Ryan’s Kicker scored more than 8 of my starters because two of my superstars just could not figure out how to get the ball into the endzone. As for me, I got three words for you: Walker Texas Robinson. New team name I’m working on, since only two of my players actually remember how to play, what do y’all think?
Michael Style 184.76 over Ferocious Felines 112.54
Here’s every top ten category this game hit: Alex’s total becomes the highest we’ve ever had in a week 1 game and the third highest in league history. Their point differential hit the biggest blowouts top ten, coming in at 8th (it’s the second time Alex has destroyed Fred to land on that list, week 11 of season 3 being the other time). This also comes in as the highest combined scoring week 1 matchup, and 7th on the top ten list. With a point total like Alex’s you would expect the Player of the Week to be on his team, and that was the case, Caleb Williams takes home the honors for week 1. He also had four other starters score 20+ points, and one on his bench as an exclamation point. Crazy that he came just 15.24 points away from being the first team over 200 in our league’s history, and it’s just week 1. Fred, I’m not going to point out any of the flaws with your team because I think you already got beat bad enough, so why would I point out Jaylen Waddle’s dud in his first appearance as a Bronco or D.J. Moore’s great performance on your bench in his first appearances as a Bill. No, instead I’ll just say that the cyborg that goes by the name Derrick Henry is still running wild!
Here’s a look ahead at next week:
The Empire (1-0) vs Fantasy Fairies (1-0)
Ryan is up 4-3 in the series. This is the only game this week where both teams won in week 1. They also almost finished with the exact same score, so this should be an exciting one. Bryar has started a year 2-0 three times, he made the playoffs in all three years. Ryan has never started a season 2-0.
Michael Style (1-0) vs ay_Bilat (0-1)
Trey leads 9-6 in the series. Trey has never started a season 0-2, bad news for him though, the one year he lost in week 1 is the only year he missed the playoffs. Alex has started a season 2-0 twice, the first was in 2022 when he missed the playoffs entirely, and the second was last year when he got upset in the second round of the playoffs.
NUKEM (1-0) vs Storm Surge (0-1)
Rob is up 2-1 in this series. And despite it being a small sample there’s actually a lot of history in this matchup, with Rob being the first coach to hand Joel a loss, and accounting for 2 of his 3 losses in year 1, and Joel exacting his revenge to get his first win last season. Rob has started 2-0 twice, making the playoffs both times, he’s also had two seasons where he won week 1 and lost week 2, he missed the playoffs in both of those years. Joel started out 0-2 last year and missed the playoffs.
Fear Itself (1-0) vs Ferocious Felines (0-1)
Nathan leads Fred 6-4. Nathan is also one win away from tying his league record for longest win streak when including the playoffs (11 straight). Nathan has started out 2-0 four times, making the playoffs each time and winning the championship in three of those years. Fred has started out 0-2 twice and one of those years was 2020 when he won the championship. Nathan has started 1-1 after winning week 1 twice, he made the playoffs each time but did not win the title in those years. Fred has started out 1-1 after losing week 1 twice, he lost to me in the opening round of the playoffs in each of those years.
Bolt Battalion (1-0) vs Shadow Legion (0-1)
These two entered the league together last year and only played each other once, a low scoring affair that Matthew pulled out the win in. Both teams started out last year 1-1, but in the opposite way that they potentially could this year. Meaning, Matthew lost week 1 last year and Anthony won his week 1 game.
Kade’s Dawgs (0-1) vs Space Rangers (0-1)
Old East division rivals, I lead our series 9-6. Last year was the first time Curt has ever started out 0-2, and it was the first time he ever missed the playoffs. I’ve started out 0-2 three times; I only made the playoffs in one of those years. Curt has started out 1-1 three times after losing week 1, he made the playoffs all three years obviously, he also won his first playoff game in two of those years before losing in the next round. I have started out 1-1 after losing week 1 twice, I made the playoffs the first time, beating Fred in the wildcard before losing the next round, and I did it last year when I missed the playoffs.
That’s all for this week, good luck to you all in week 2!