The 2019 National Football League is up and running and, following the weekend’s first round of action, so too is this year’s NFL prediction mini-league, brought to you once again thanks to the IT wizardry of Facetheball.com.

A total of 116 hopefuls went to post before the off on Saturday evening (you can still join, by the way, but, to continue the racing analogy, you’ll be carrying top weight as you’ll have missed picking up any Round 1 points), which makes the competition more midi than mini. The first week saw some very accurate predicting and some godawful soothsaying, with close on 120 points separating first place from last.

Leading the pack after Week 1 is Pat Leyden but a mere 15 points separates the top ten on the leaderboard. I’m in the mix myself, sitting pretty on seventh, and happy enough with how I got on, in particular my decision to plump for Monaghan against Dublin yesterday.

But this is only the start and good beginnings can soon get washed away once those gut-feeling decisions start to go against you. Wherever you are in the table after Week 1, then, don’t get too comfortable, as you could well find yourself shifting up or down after next weekend’s predictions.

Here’s the leaderboard after Week 1, featuring the top ten placing in this year’s mini-league.