Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Regular Season Wrap-up

First off, sorry about last week. I've been pretty distracted and didn't even realize I forgot to do a wrap-up until Thursday when Jim reminded me. But who cares, I remembered this week and that's all that matters, right? We have finally made it to the end of the season. For a few of us, it was a great year, full of many victories (Cox), highest scoring (Eric) and mid-season comebacks (Ash). For others it was a disappointing wreck of near losses, low scoring weeks and bench players gone wild. But all that is in the past now, and we finally have our playoff bracket set in stone.

The number one seed, quite deservedly, is Cox's Annexation of Puerto Rico with a sexy looking 11-2 record. While his team wasn't the highest scoring team in the league, they consistently put up solid numbers while having the fewest total points scored against them. He'll be paired up with the number four seed, Eric's TGIF. TGIF scored the second most points this season, scoring over 100 points in 8 out of 13 weeks. TGIF's line-up is always potent and capable of putting up huge numbers, so it'll be no easy match-up for Annexation. In fact, one of Annexation's two losses came from TGIF way back in week one, so if anyone can take them down it's TGIF.

The other bracket pairs brother- and sister-in-law against each other in a battle of the comeback kids. Ash definitely takes the comeback trophy here, having started the season with horrible luck and coming back to win 6 games in a row and clinch a spot in the playoffs. The Shittysauruses scored more points than anyone this year, almost 90 points more than Drew's Boomers. However, the Boomers aren't a force to be easily dismissed. After losing his first round pick early in the season, Drew managed to stay in the playoff race all year long and pulled off a killer upset over Giant Octopus that won him Ray Rice. The Boomers put up the fourth most points this year behind a killer season by Fred Jackson before he went down with a season ending leg injury a few weeks ago. It'll be a tough match for the Boomers, who lost the season match-up against the Shittysauruses, but a comeback victory is never out of the question.

No matter what happens in the semi-finals, this years Bo Bowl should be action-packed. For the rest of us, the season isn't over yet. We still have the Toilet Bowl to look forward to. As of now, it's still using the default ESPN structure of two two-week long matches, which kinda sucks since it won't result in a Toilet Bowl champion. However, like I mentioned the other week, we might be able to work around that. If ESPN won't let us customize the bracket into something that will crown a King of the Losers, than we can do it ourselves (set matches on the side and just use scoring, ignoring the match-ups on the league site). I'm talking to Justin about all this right now, so hopefully before Thursday we'll know a bit more. If you've got any ides or an opinion one way or another, please post in the Toilet Bowl post on the message boards.

At some point, perhaps after the playoffs, I'll do my wrap-up awards again. For now, here are the weekly and season points leaders:

Top 10 Players In-play

1. Cam Newton[QB] (SLNF) - 38.3
2. Aaron Rodgers[QB] (PHSH) - 32
3. Percy Harvin[WR] (PHSH) - 29.5
4. Shonn Greene[RB] (ATOM) - 29.4
5. Chris Johnson[RB] (FLUF) - 27.7
6. Ray Rice[RB] (34) - 27.4
7. Marshawn Lynch[RB] (SLNF) - 26.8
8. Demaryius Thomas[WR] (SLNF) - 26.4
9. Drew Brees[QB] (TGIF) - 25.7
10. LeSean McCoy[RB] (MEGA) - 25.3

Season Points Leaders by Position

QB:
1. Aaron Rodgers (PHSH) - 324.5
2. Cam Newton (SLNF) - 288.4
3. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 275.4
4. Tom Brady (34) - 260.8
5. Matthew Stafford (FLUF) - 229.5

RB:
1. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 231.1
2. Ray Rice (34) - 215.3
3. Arian Foster (COX) - 200.6
4. Maurice Jones-Drew (FLUF) - 177.4
5. Adrian Peterson (TGIF) - 172

WR:
1. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 179.2
2. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 175.6
3. Victor Cruz (PHSH) - 147.9
4. Mike Wallace (OCTO) - 147.3
5. Greg Jennings (TGIF) - 146.9

TE:
1. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 177
2. Jimmy Graham (COX) - 152.6
3. Tony Gonzales (ATOM) - 115
4. Jason Witten (ROBO) - 106
5. Jermichael Finley (TGIF) - 96

D/ST:
1. Ravens (PHSH) - 142
2. 49ers (34) - 131
3. Texans (TGIF) - 129
4. Bears (DMPS) - 125
5. Jets (ATOMS) - 110

K:
1. David Akers (34) - 132
2. Dan Bailey (MEGA) - 124
3. John Kasay (COX) - 116
3. Robbie Gould (ATOM) - 116
5. Mason Crosby (PHSH) - 112


Good luck to everyone in the post-season. We'll let you know what's going on with the Toilet Bowl. The time to make huge wagers is now! Someone bet their car! (Not me, though, I need it).

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Week 11 Wrap-up

Revenge of the East
Beast Mode 2.0
Well, kinda. After a couple forgettable weeks against their West rivals, the East seems to have stepped up, taking four out of six games in Week 11. While the upsets might be good for morale, it doesn't make the playoff picture in the East look much better. Instead of five teams tied for first place in the division, we now have four. The once tough-to-beat Fluffy Bunnies lost the Match-up of the Week against the still hot-n-spicy Annexation of Puerto Rico by a heart-crushing 1.4 points. While this doesn't mathematically eliminate Brett from the playoffs, his team's destiny is no longer in his hands. However, if the Bunnies are able to tie it up after Week 13, they might still have a chance. They currently have the second highest points scored on the season in the East, only 37 points behind Drew's Boomers. As of now, the Boomers hold the advantage over the rest of the division, leading with 1039.2 points. Right behind him in terms of standings is Chris' HerpDerp Bergers, who have made a pretty impressive comeback from where they were at the beginning of the season. The Bergers posted an impressive victory over Matt's Mega Shark with solid performances from Jordy Nelson and LeGarrette "Beast Mode 2.0" Blount, who had a crazy run that made the Packers look like, well, not the Packers.

Out West there is a bit more certainty after this week. With his close win over the Bunnies, Cox's team has secured themselves a playoff spot. Even if Annexation loses the next two games, at worst they will be dropped to third place which will still be good enough for a spot in the playoffs. For the rest of the West however, it means there's one less spot for the taking. One of the two wins this week out West went to the skyrocketting Shittysauruses, who beat the Atoms and extended their win-steak to four games. Paired with TGIF's low-scoring loss to my (still pretty crummy) Pumaskulls, Ash has now taken over as the league's top scoring team. Eric is still in a good position to grab a playoff spot. Though he is now second overall in points, he still has a nice 50 points buffer over the next contender in the West. It looks as though it will be these three teams who will make it to the playoffs. However, Matt and Justin are still in it. With a couple of wins and some luck they could still oust Eric and Ash and grab a bit of that postseason glory for themselves.

Kevin Smith - filmmaker, comedian, fantasy football giant
I did manage to watch some football this weekend, which was nice. I saw that crazy Blount run, as well as a few other pretty good runs right through the middle of the Packers defensive line that made me think Blount could be a powerhouse for a few years to come. I got to watch Vincent Jackson tear it up again, which can only mean that next week he'll do absolutely nothing. Elsewhere in the league there were some crazy performances. Top scorer for the week was Kevin Smith of Clerks fame, who has apparently become a football player and is now black. Smith racked up 200 total yards and three TDs in the Lions comeback victory. Unfortunately for Justin, he did this all while sitting on the bench. Justin's bench had a pretty good game all together, with four players scoring almost as much as his starting line-up did.

Top 10 Players In-play

1. Matthew Stafford[QB] (FLUF) - 29.6
2. Ray Rice[RB] (34) - 26.7
3. Cam Newton[QB] (SLNF) - 24.9
4. Aaron Rodgers[QB] (PHSH) - 24.8
5. Jordy Nelson[WR] (HURR) - 24.3
6. Nate Washington[WR] (34) - 23.5
6. Tony Romo[QB] (MEGA) - 23.5
8. Vincent Jackson[WR] (DMPS) - 22.5
9. Rob Gronkowski[TE] (SHSR) - 21.6
10. Chris Ogbonnaya[RB] (COX) - 19.4

Season Points Leaders by Position

QB:
1. Aaron Rodgers (PHSH) - 272.3
2. Cam Newton (SLNF) - 230.5
3. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 212.4
4. Tom Brady (34) - 211.3
5. Matthew Stafford (FLUF) - 197

RB:
1. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 193.7
2. Ray Rice (34) - 179.6
3. Adrian Peterson (TGIF) - 172
4. Fred Jackson (34) - 169.6
5. Arian Forster (COX) - 166.5

WR:
1. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 161.4
2. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 142
3. Steve Smith (HURR) - 131.5
4. Mike Wallace (OCTO) - 130.1
5. Jordy Nelson (HURR) - 129.6

TE:
1. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 140.5
2. Jimmy Graham (COX) - 123.3
3. Tony Gonzales (ATOM) - 98.1
4. Jason Witten (HURR) - 97
5. Jermichael Finley (TGIF) - 77.5

D/ST:
1. 49ers (34) - 112
2. Bears (DMPS) - 110
3. Ravens (SLNF) - 108
3. Texans (TGIF) - 108
5. Jets (ATOM) - 99

K:
1. David Akers (34) - 109
1. Dan Bailey (MEGA) - 109
3. John Kasay (COX) - 102
3. Robbie Gould (ATOM) - 102


Match-up of the Week
There are a few good choices for the MotW, now that a few playoff spots are at stake. The three matches I'd keep an eye on are Shittysaurus/Pumaskulls, Bergers/TGIF and Boomers/Mega Shark. However for THE match-up of the week, I'd have to go (once-again) with the battle between brothers. Drew's Boomers need a win to help keep their current standing as East division leader. Meanwhile Matt needs not only a victory but a high scoring victory to have a chance to comeback and grab one of the remaining two playoff spots out West. The two teams are matched up pretty well, with four of the leagues best running backs looking to battle it out for victory. Should be a real close match and one that will decide the fate of the playoffs.

Toilet Bowl
I've been talking a lot about the playoffs, but for those of us who probably aren't going, the season is over yet! We still have the Toilet Bowl, the last chance for redemption after a disappointing season. While the winner of the Toilet Bowl doesn't get the fame or prestige that comes with winning the Bo Bowl, that doesn't mean they can't reap the benefits of some side bets. I'm encouraging everyone to try and come up with some ways we can spice up the Toilet Bowl this year to make it more interesting for us bottom of the pile teams. I'll make a post about it on the league page, so post your ideas there. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Week 10 Wrap-up

Admission: I once again watched zero football this weekend, so forgive the lack of pictures and highlights from the games. I spent all Sunday/Monday playing video games and didn't bother turning the TV on. I was fairly certain I was going to get my ass beat by Mega Shark after VJax once again put up a stinker of a game on Thursday. Going into the afternoon game I was down by almost twenty points with only the Bears D/ST to play, meanwhile Matt had Frank Gore and Wes Welker left. It was one of those "I'm gonna need a freaking miracle to pull this off" moments, and seeing how I've been like 1-8 on miracles this season, I pretty much threw in the mental towel and was ready for the loss.

Not so fast! It seems the god of fantasy football heard my plight and decided the throw the dog a bone and somehow I managed to win by 10 points. The Bears D/ST went crazy scoring a league-high 34 points. And I missed the whole thing. In my defense, I was playing the Star Wars: The Old Republic beta, which was awesome, but who cares about that. This is about fantasy football.

We are now three weeks away from the start of the playoffs and it continues to be a strange race to the finish. The East continues to just blow like no division has ever blown before. Evidence of that is that, despite my horrible season, I am now tied for first in the division with 4 out of 5 other East teams. We not only all have losing records but we are all at least two games under .500. And it's not going to get any better. For the remaining three games the East matched-up against the West (not sure how that happened, I thought we were supposed to play the teams in our division twice but I guess not). It's a double-edged sword for us Easties trying to get that playoff spot. On one hand, all our division rivals will surely be underdogs against their Western counterparts. On the other, that includes our own match-ups.

It ain't no picnic out West either. Since none of the East teams are competing, that means most of the West is doing pretty good. Five out of six teams are above .500 and only two games back of league-leader Cox. However, there's only three spots available for the taking, and it's going to be a pretty intense battle to see who gets them.

Aside from Cox, who is almost sure to make the playoffs at this point, Eric's TGIF has been on a sweet streak, winning the last 4 weeks. During those four games TGIF has scored an average of 125 points per week and now leads the entire league in points scored overall. This week TGIF plays my Pee-eww-maskulls, so the streak is likely to continue. Also making a strong push for the final playoff spot is Ash's Shittysauruses, who have come back from a 0-3 start to take third place overall in the league. Ash gets to play the bottom three East teams for the final games (Atoms, Pumaskulls and Bergers), giving her a pretty good shot at wrapping up that last spot. As of now, Justin and Matt are the odd men out, both being 2 games ahead of anyone in the East but not having enough points scored to secure a spot. Should be pretty intriguing going forward, especially if the battle for the last spot is between husband and wife, or brother against brother (or brother-in-law against sister-in-law, it's like a freaking soap opera!).

Top 10 Players In-play

1. Bears D/ST (DMPS) - 34
2. Arian Foster[RB] (COX) - 30.6
3. Aaron Rodgers[QB] (PHSH) - 28.1
4. Larry Fitzgerald[WR] (HURR) - 26.6
5. Tom Brady[QB] (34) - 25.4
6. Denarius Moore[WR] (TGIF) - 24.3
7. Chris Johnson[RB] (FLUF) - 23.4
8. Rob Gronkowski[TE] (SHSR) - 23.3
9. DeMarco Murray[RB] (OCTO) - 23.1
10. Tony Romo[QB] (MEGA) - 22.8

Season Points Leaders by Position

QB:
1. Aaron Rodgers (PHSH) - 247.6
2. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 212.4
3. Cam Newton (SLNF) - 205.6
4. Tom Brady (34) - 195
5. Matthew Stafford (FLUF) - 167.4

RB:
1. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 182.2
2. Arian Foster (COX) - 166.5
3. Adrian Peterson (TGIF) - 163.4
4. Fred Jackson (34) - 162.9
5. Ray Rice (34) - 152.9

WR:
1. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 152.5
2. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 139.8
3. Mike Wallace (OCTO) - 130.1
4. Steve Smith (HURR) - 118.9
5. Greg Jennings (TGIF) - 117.5

TE:
1. Jimmy Graham (COX) - 123.3
2. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 118.9
3. Tony Gonzales (ATOM) - 84.7
4. Jason Witten (HURR) - 82.5
5. Jermichael Finley (TGIF) - 74.5

D/ST:
1. Texans (TGIF) - 108
2. Ravens (SLNF) - 105
3. Bears (DMPS) - 104
4. Bengals (COX) - 95
4. 49ers (34) - 95

K:
1. John Kasay (COX) - 102
2. David Akers (34) - 100
2. Dan Bailey (MEGA) - 100
4. Robbie Gould (FA) - 94
5. Jason Hanson (FLUF) - 93


Match-up of the Week:
It's pretty hard to pick a good match-up since all the East teams are pretty bad and all the West teams are kicking butt. I think in terms of the best game it's gotta go to Fluffy Bunnies vs. Annexation of Puerto Rico. Brett is just a few points behind Drew for the division lead, and after a strong start to the season has hit a wall. He needs a big win here against the top team in the league. Should be a good one.

Good luck everyone (especially me, I'm gonna need it). Remember to keep it horizontal.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Week 8 Wrap-up

This edition of the Weekly Wrap-up is brought to you in part by:

Runaway Indeed

I tried, guys. I really did. I tried to stop the Cox Express, bring it to a halt so the rest of us could catch up. But it was no good. Despite a mediocre game from The Annexation of Puerto Rico, my band of less than stellar Numbskulls (our new name if we don't start winning) had a worse than mediocre day, and as a result Cox now sits atop the league with a shiny 7-1 record. While it might be too early to start saying that playoff spots are wrapped-up (hey, that's the name of the show!) it would take a slump of epic proportions for Cox not to make it. And yet anything is possible. Only two games behind him in the West are three teams, all surging to grab those coveted spots. It was a great week for the West as a whole. Each match-up last week was East vs. West, and in all 6 games the West came out on top. This leaves things in the East much as they were last week, with all teams within 2 games of the division leaders and 5 out of 6 within one spot. Meanwhile in the West, 5 out of 6 teams would be leading or tied for the lead if they were in the East. What this means is that in all likelyhood we will see three West teams and one East team in the playoffs this year. If things keep going as they've been going, that might mean one or two teams in the West might have better records than anyone in the East but still not make it. Should make things interesting in the weeks to come.

The Boy Wonder falls...
Aside from the West's domination of the East, things were pretty normal around fantasy football this week. The top three scorers this week are all big name RBs putting up points like they were meant to. Cam Newton and Matthew Stafford continued to overshadow the 2nd Round QBs (Brady, Brees and Rivers). Michael Vick looked more like his old self (although he still hasn't rushed for a TD). Calvin Johnson scored yet another touchdown and continues to lead WRs in both TDs and points overall. On the other side of the coin, some big names are continuing their downward spirals of shame. Chris Johnson had another mediocre performance. At this rate, CJ2K is on track to finish the season as CJ600. After a pretty good 5-quarter debut, Tim Tebow fell back to Earth as the Broncos got romped by the Lions. While he probably won't do this bad each week, there were a lot of glaring weaknesses in his game which might keep him from being the elite QB everyone thought he would be (on a side note, anyone want to trade me a RB for him?)

In the NFL, things keep getting crazier. Buffalo shut out the Redskins to tie the Pats for first place. Detriot put the beat-down on the Broncos to go to 6-2. And in the NFC West the 49ers won their fifth straight to take a 4 game lead over the Seahawks. We've been hearing about these teams all season, some of us waiting for the inevitable downfalls, but it looks as if they might be the real deal. The Eagles finally lived up to their pre-season hype, embarrassing the Cowboys on SNF. Meanwhile the Saints got embarrassed by the Rams, who stole some of that mojo from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Elsewhere in the NFL, some less-talked about teams are making their pushes for the playoffs. In a crazy Monday Night game, the Chiefs came back from sure defeat on a Philip Rivers fumble, winning the game in OT to go to 4-3. The AFC West now has a three-way tie for first, but the momentum looks to be going KC's way. As the Colts continue to suck it up, the Houston Texans have quietly taken over the AFC South behind a revitalized Arian Foster. Another almost invisible team which has crept into the playoff race is the Cincinatti Bengals, who are only 1 game behind the AFC-leading Steelers. It will be really interesting if a lot of these underdog teams can make the playoffs this season. We'll see how it goes.

Top 10 Players In-play

1. LeSean McCoy[RB] (MEGA) - 32
2. Steven Jackson[RB] (TGIF) - 31.1
3. Adrian Peterson[RB] (TGIF) - 28.2
4. Lions D/ST (FLUF) - 28
5. Ray Rice[RB] (OCTO) - 27.9
6. Cam Newton[QB] (SLNF) - 24.9
7. Matthew Stafford[QB] (FLUF) - 24.8
8. Michael Vick[QB] (DMPS) - 24.2
9. Bills D/ST (SHSR) - 23
10. Ben Roethlisberger[QB] (HURR) - 20.7

Season Points Leaders by Position

QB:
1. Cam Newton (SLNF) - 193.6
2. Aaron Rodgers (PHSH) - 188.4
3. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 173.2
4. Matthew Stafford (FLUF) - 158.2
5. Tom Brady (34) - 153.4

RB:
1. Adrian Peterson (TGIF) - 152.3
2. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 149.2
3. Fred Jackson (34) - 143.4
4. Matt Forte (PHSH) - 127.1
5. Ray Rice (OCTO) - 126.2

WR:
1. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 146.4
2. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 120.3
3. Steve Smith (HURR) - 115.6
4. Mike Wallace (OCTO) - 110.8
5. Greg Jennings (TGIF) - 97.7

TE:
1. Jimmy Graham (COX) - 101.3
2. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 79.5
3. Jason Witten (HURR) - 65.7
4. Fred Davis (MEGA) - 63.7
5. Tony Gonzales (ATOM) - 62

D/ST:
1. Ravens (SLNF) - 100
2. Lions (FLUF) - 91
3. Jets (ATOM) - 84
4. Bengals (COX) - 83
5. 49ers (34) - 81

K:
1. Jason Hanson (FLUF) - 86
2. John Kasay (COX) - 77
3. Mason Crosby (PHSH) - 73
3. Dan Bailey (SHSR) - 73
5. Billy Cundiff (HURR) - 71


Match-up of the Week: The Bro-Bowl Take 3

Last week's MotW between the Fluffy Bunnies and TGIF ended up being a pretty close game, with Eric's squad grabbing the win behind AP and SJax's big days. This week's MotW features another battle between brothers. Drew's Boomers are looking to end their three game losing streak to make a run for the playoffs. Meanwhile Justin's OCTO need to put together some wins to separate themselves from the rest of the West. Who will come out on top?

Good luck to everyone this week (except for Jim, who is about to get crushed). Make those waiver picks and set those line-ups and all that jazz. PEACE!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Week 7 Wrap-up

This edition of the Weekly Wrap-up is brought to you in part by:

Despair & Pairity

Week 7 turned out to be a wild one, with injuries and surprise wins galore. I mentioned last week that with the season half over we have officially entered Crunch Time. It seems the teams at the bottom of the standings took note. All three (including my comeback champion Pumaskulls) put up big wins to climb back into the playoff race. On the top of the standings, three of the top four teams lost. Aside from Cox's Annexation, who are separating themselves from the rest of the pack with a 6-1 record, the entire league is within two games of one another. Once again, the playoff spots are anyone's for the taking.

We had some great performances in the league this week. Arian Foster gave us a little flashback to last season, putting up 41.4 points and leading both his teams to victory. Looks like his hamstring woes are far behind him. On the other side of the field, Chris Johnson had a pretty lousy day, which (paired with lousy days from Ray Rice and MJD) helped my (champion) Pumaskulls pull off a surprise victory over Giant Octopus. It was not a pretty win - three of my players scored a total of 2.5 points - but a win is a win, and I'll take it. Chris' HerpDerp Bergers went into the week as underdogs against Ash's skyrocketing Shittysauruses and ended up with the big win. The top waiver wire pickup for last week DeMarco Murray lead the way, scoring 31.3 points, including an impressive 91 yard TD run on his first carry.

Beat. Down.
In the Match-up of the Week, former autodraft champion Shenanihads put up an impressive win against one of the top teams in Juan's Nerfherders. The Nerfherders were curses with a few goose eggs, meanwhile 3 of Jim's players scored more than 20 points. Eric's TGIF put up a monster win over Drew's Boomers, coming close to winning by 100 points. The Boomers were plagued with half the team on byes, meanwhile Drew Brees had a crazy night dismantling the Colts on national television. With the victory, TGIF takes back the title of highest scoring team so far this season, putting up 730.2 points. The West continued its point domination over the East, with five of six teams above the 700-mark for points scored.

Top 10 Players In-play

1. Arian Foster[RB] (COX) - 41.4
2. Drew Brees[QB] (TGIF) - 33
3. DeMarco Murray[RB] (HURR) - 31.3
4. Ben Roethlisberger[QB] (HURR) - 26.2
4. Aaron Rodgers[QB] (PHSH) - 26.2
6. Cam Newton[QB] (SLNF) - 26.1
7. Matt Forte[RB] (PHSH) - 24.3
8. Adrian Peterson[RB] (TGIF) - 23.5
9. Tim Tebow[QB] (DMPS) - 22.9
10. Darren Sproles[RB] (PHSH) - 22.7

Season Points Leaders by Position

QB:
1. Aaron Rodgers (PHSH) - 188.4
2. Cam Newton (SLNF) - 168.7
3. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 162.6
4. Tom Brady (34) - 137.5
5. Matthew Stafford (FLUF) - 133.4

RB:
1. Matt Forte (PHSH) - 127.1
2. Adrian Peterson (TGIF) - 124.1
3. Fred Jackson (34) - 124
4. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 117.2
5. Michael Turner (SHSR) - 105.9

WR:
1. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 127.9
2. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 116.4
3. Mike Wallace (OCTO) - 103.8
4. Steve Smith (HURR) - 98.4
5. Greg Jennings (TGIF) 97.7

TE:
1. Jimmy Graham (COX) - 97.4
2. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 70.1
3. Jason Witten (HURR) - 62.9
4. Tony Gonzales (ATOM) - 62
5. Jermichael Finley (TGIF) - 57.4

D/ST:
1. Ravens (SLNF) - 90
2. Jets (ATOM) - 84
3. 49ers (34) - 68
3. Texans (TGIF) - 68
5. Bears (DMPS) - 65

K:
1. John Kasay (COX) - 75
1. Jason Hanson (FLUF) - 75
3. Mason Crosby (PHSH) - 73
4. Dan Bailey (SHSR) - 72
5. Robbie Gould (34) - 65


Week 8 Match-up of the Week: TGIF vs. Fluffy Bunnies

This week's MotW is a face-off against two of the toughest teams in the league. TGIF is looking to regain their early season glory as they try to climb to the top of the West to challenge Annexation. Meanwhile out East, the Fluffy Bunnies are looking for a win to be the lone leaders of the division. Both teams have some critical byes this week, but the match-up looks pretty even and should be a shoot-out.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Week 6 Wrap-up

This edition of the Weekly Wrap-up is brought to you in part by:

The Glass is Half-something

Week 6 is in the books which brings us roughly to the halfway point in the season. I've been saying each week that the playoff spots are still anyone's for the taking, but from this point forward the competition is going to get a lot stiffer. For those teams that are below the .500 mark the coming weeks are especially important as we try to pull ourselves up from the gutters to gain ground on the division leaders. Every game from here on out is a do-or-die situation. But it won't be much easier for the teams on top of the standings. After all, the counterpart to the epic comeback of a struggling team is the crash-and-burn meltdown of a top team. Competition is especially close in the East division where only three games separate first from last, and with seven weeks remaining, anything might happen there.

Quit playing games with my heart.

Week 6 continued the previous week's trend of one-sided blowouts, at least for half the games. Three matches were decided by a margin of more than 40 points. The most surprising victory came from Chris' HerpDerp Bergers who upset Eric's TGIF to grab their first victory of the year. Congrats to Chris on grabbing the win in stellar fashion. In the Battle of the Mediocre, Ash's Shittysauruses beat out my (say-it-while-I-can champion) Pumaskulls on a 38-yard TD-catch by Santonio "Heartbreaker" Holmes. Congrats Ash on the win, it literally made me sick. We had a great game in the match-up of Phillips brothers, with Matt's Mega Shark edging out Drew's Boomers. Both teams played great but Mega Shark had solid performances from eight of nine positions to grab the victory. And in the Match-up of the Week, Cox's Annexation put the smackdown on Juan's Nerfherders to grab sole possession of the league's best record.

I've made a huge mistake: I drafted Vick.
Now that the season is halfway done, we can take a look back at the draft and start to grade the picks. I'll hardly be the first to say that drafting Vick first round was a mistake. While he ranks sixth for quarterbacks so far this year, it has not been worth the complete lack of a decent running back, and the fact that he has zero rushing touchdowns on the year isn't much compensation. Other first round busts would include Jamaal Charles, who went down with an injury, Andre Johnson, also affected by injuries, and Rashard Mendenhall, who has just generally sucked. On the other side of the coin, there were some great grabs outside of the first three rounds. Since Cam Newton went undrafted, he doesn't really count here, though he is the biggest surprise player of the year. The top running back so far has been Fred Jackson, who was grabbed late in the fourth round by Drew and has paid off immensely. Matthew Stafford ranks 5th among quarterbacks, just a few points below Drew Brees, and now seems like a steal, going at the top of round 6 to Brett's Fluffy Bunnies. The award for best picks might have to go to Matt. Not only did he grab Wes Welker, who leads wide receivers in points, in round 5, but he also picked A.J. Green in round 9. Green ranks 6th among receivers, great worth for his draft position. Other great picks are Jahvid Best (round 4), Jimmy Graham (round 7), Steve Smith (round 9), Tony Gonzales (round 12), and Darren Sproles (round 13).

In other NFL news, the Packers are now the only undefeated team after the Lions lost in the last minutes of Sunday's game against the 49ers. The most exciting part of the game came after it was done, when Niners coach Jim Harbaugh got a little too excited for Lion's coach Jim Schwartz's liking. Schwartz chased Harbaugh down to yell at him, and the whole stadium erupted with "COACH FIGHT!" Unfortunately it was broken up before any punches were thrown, cause let's be honest, that would have been bad-ass.

Top 10 Players In-play

1. Ahmad Bradshaw[RB] (HURR) - 31
2. Michael Turner[RB] (SHSR) - 26.7
3. Aaron Rodgers[QB] (PHSH) - 23.9
4. Fred Jackson[RB] (NWA) - 22.8
5. Matthew Stafford[QB] (FLUF) - 20.6
5. Frank Gore[RB] (MEGA) - 20.6
5. Rashard Mendenhall[RB] (FLUF) - 20.6
8. Josh Freeman[QB] (COX) - 20.4
9. Billy Cundiff[K] (HURR) - 20
9. Jets D/ST (ATOM) - 20

Season Points Leaders by Position

QB:
1. Aaron Rodgers (PHSH) - 161.9
2. Cam Newton (SLNF) - 142.9
3. Tom Brady (NWA) - 137.5
4. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 129.6
5. Matthew Stafford (FLUF) - 122.1

RB:
1. Fred Jackson (NWA) - 124
2. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 117.2
3. Darren McFadden (FLUF) - 104.1
4. Matt Forte (PHSH) - 102.8
5. Adrian Peterson (TGIF) - 100.6

WR:
1. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 116.4
2. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 110.4
3. Mike Wallace (OCTO) - 86
4. Steve Smith (HURR) - 83.5
5. Greg Jennings (TGIF) - 77

TE:
1. Jimmy Graham (COX) - 80
2. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 70.1
3. Tony Gonzales (ATOM) - 55.8
4. Jason Witten (HURR) - 53.4
5. Jermichael Finley (TGIF) - 50.1

D/ST:
1. Ravens (SLNF) - 79
2. Jets (ATOM) - 77
3. 49ers (NWA) - 68
4. Bengals (COX) - 63
5. Lions (FLUF) - 56

K:
1. Jason Hanson (FLUF) - 64
1. Sebastian Janikowski (SLNF) - 64
3. David Akers (NWA) - 61
4. John Kasay (COX) - 60
4. Dan Bailey (SHSR) - 60


Onto Week 7...

Match-up of the Week

This week's MotW was not easy to decide. There was no clear-cut choice, no face-off of division leaders or games of intrigue. On top of that, half the teams this week are going to be hit hard by bye-week holes in their lineups (I'm looking at you, Mega Shark, Boomers, Giant Octopus). As such, I think the best game this week will be Juan's Scruffy Looking Nerf Herders against Jim's Shenanihads. The Nerf Herders are atop the East division with a good looking 4-2 recording and looking to keep their spot as top-dog. Meanwhile, the Shenanihads have had some tough loses in the last few weeks and will seek to upset once again. And as always, the Shenanihads will choose a new taunting logo for the week. Should be a good one.

Good Luck to everyone this week (except for Justin, even if half your team is on bye, I'm not taking any chances).

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Week 5 Wrap-up

This edition of the Weekly Wrap-up is brought to you in part by:

Blowoutville

This week in the league was not very pretty. In fact, it was straight-up fugly. That's right, I said it. Fugly. It's the week that lives in the bathroom in your basement, the week you never let out in sunlight for fear that your neighbors will think the end is finally here. Granted, it wasn't ugly for all of the match-ups. My pick for Match-up of the Week turned out to be a close, down-to-the-wire match (totally called it). The Shittysauruses/Shenanihads match-up came all the way down to Monday night in a RB vs. RB/WR battle. But everywhere else in the league, things were just brutal. In the other four games, the winners beat the losers by a combined 183 points (or an average of 45.75 point differential per game). The ugliest of the bunch was the Roommate Bowl, where Juan's Nerf Herders put the beatdown on Martin's Atoms, winning by 73.6 points, scoring 2.26 times more points. In the Keep Changing Your Name Bowl, Andrew's Boomers spanked Chris' Bergers by 52.2 points. Cox's Annexation gave Giant Octopus a nice big push down the hill as OCTO slides to 3-2. In my own match-up, my (on a roll champion) Pumaskulls scored a measly 75.3 points, ugly in its own right but still enough to beat Brett's Fluffy Bunnies by over 20 points. The combined score for the game (127.1) was still under what Juan alone scored for the week. Fugly.

Standings-wise, things are still pretty tight all around the league. We have two teams leading their divisions with 4-1 records (both of which are new to fantasy football, go figure). Below them are five teams with 3-2, including a few of the early season power-houses. The good thing is that everyone is still in the mix, even the 0-5 HerpDerp Bergers can turn it all around with a streak. There's still a lot of games left to be played so anything can happen. One interesting note is the differences in the two divisions. Every team in the West has scored over 500 points on the year so far, which averages out to at least 100 points per week (otherwise known as not-too-shabby). Out East, only one team has managed to top 500. However, out West each team has given up almost as many points as they've scored. It'll be interesting to see if this trend continues. While the West seems to dominate offensively, only half the teams are currently over .500, while in the East 4 of the 6 have winning records.

Cirque de Bowe
It was another weird and crazy week in the NFL. The "Don't Call us the Dream-Team" Eagles lost to the freaking Bills, who are rolling behind Fred Jackson. Jackson, as you will see below, leads the leagues RBs in points through five weeks, racking up three 20 point plus games. Elsewhere in the league, Adrian Peterson was determined to not be forgotten, scoring 3 TDs and leading the week in scoring overall. As I mentioned last week, we have yet to have a RB lead the week in scoring, so it only makes sense that AP would break through. There are a few other oddities around the NFL standings. Aside from the Bills being tied in first place with the Pats in the AFC East, we have the Redskins leading the NFC East, the 49ers sitting at 4-1 and the Lions still undefeated at 5-0. Armed with a new starting QB, the Colts looked poised to win their first game of the year, only to lose to the Chiefs on a bizarre circus catch by Dwayne Bowe (if you haven't seen it, go YouTube it).

A few hundred miles away, Victor Cruz's spider sense started tingling, notifying him that Bowe had just make a crazy catch, to which Cruz replied "That ain't nothin'." Cruz bobbled a long bomb from Eli Manning over two defenders before catching it with one hand and running it in for the score (if you haven't seen it, again, YouTube it). The Giants still ended up losing to the Seahawks (my boys), even though I played the Giants D/ST and was rooting against them. Cruz had another monster game, putting him back in the spotlight after seemingly fading from memory last week.

Onto the points leaders...

Top 10 Players In-play for Week 5

1. Adrian Peterson[RB] (TGIF) - 30.2
2. BenJarvis Green-Ellis[RB] (SLNF) - 26.9
3. Fred Jackson[RB] (NWA) - 25.6
4. Dwayne Bowe[WR] (COX) - 24.8
5. Pierre Garcon[WR] (PHSH) - 24.5
6. Aaron Rodgers[QB] (PHSH) - 23.7
6. Cam Newton[QB] (SLNF) - 23.7
8. Jahvid Best[RB] (SHSR) - 23.2
9. Michael Vick[QB] (DMPS) - 21.6
10. 49ers D/ST (NWA) - 21

Season Points Leaders by Position

QB:
1. Aaron Rodgers (PHSH) - 138
2. Cam Newton (SLNF) - 128.4
3. Tom Brady (NWA) - 120.3
4. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 114.2
5. Matthew Stafford (FLUF) - 101.4

RBs:
1. Fred Jackson (NWA) - 101.2
2. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 97.3
3. Adrian Peterson (TGIF) - 90.7
4. Matt Forte (PHSH) - 90.5
5. Darren McFadden (FLUF) - 88.8

WRs:
1. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 105.9
2. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 99.1
3. Steve Smith (NYAN) - 76.9
4. Mike Wallace (OCTO) - 72.4
5. Greg Jennings (TGIF) - 68.8

TEs:
1. Jimmy Graham (COX) - 67.6
2. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 62.7
3. Tony Gonzales (ATOM) - 52.9
4. Jermichael Finley (TGIF) - 48.1
5. Owen Daniels (PHSH) - 45.1

D/STs:
1. Ravens (SLNF) - 72
2. 49ers (NWA) - 61
3. Jets (ATOM) - 57
4. Lions (FLUF) - 50
5. Texans (TGIF) - 48

Ks:
1. Jason Hanson (FLUF) - 58
2. Sebastian Janikowski (SLNF) - 57
3. John Kasay (COX) - 52
4. Neil Rackers (TGIF) - 51
5. Mason Crosby (PHSH) - 49


Match-up of the Week: The Annexation of Puerto Rico vs. Scruffy Looking Nerf Herders

No question about this one. The two 4-1 teams face off in a battle of division leaders/FFB newbs. One will walk away with the top record in the entire league, the other will go down in a glorious fireball of disgrace. Should be interesting, everyone rooting against their division leaders. Let's see if we can get some bets going (but leave the beards out of it!)

That's all for this week. Make those waiver pick-ups. Good luck to everyone this week (especially Ash, who's gonna need it to beat me! MUAHAHAHAHA!)

SEACREST OUT!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Week 4 Wrap-up

This edition of the Weekly Wrap-up is brought to you in part by:

Nobody's Perfect

Not anymore. Week 4, among other things, brought upset loses to the league's two undefeated teams, thus crushing Brett and Justin's dreams of perfect seasons much like David Tyree's helmet did to the Patriots a few years back. On the flip side, three of the four 0-3 teams got their first victories, two of which were especially sweet because they came against two of the best. Ash's hard-luck Shittysauruses finally broke the spell and put a thumping on Eric's elite TGIF squad, thanks to yet another impressive 2-TD performance by Calvin Johnson, including on last minute leaping grab that gave the Lions the lead over the Cowboys. (Quick side note: the Lions are now 4-0. That's right....the Lions. And everyone made fun of Brett for drafting practically the whole team.)


Classic 'Damn I'm Good' pose.
Speaking of thumpings and upsets, how 'bout dem Shenanihads? Aaron Rodgers, with a tiny bit of help from the rest of Jim's team, handed Giant Octopus their first loss of the season. Rodgers accounted for one-third of the points put up by the Shenanihads, and even though OCTO had another impressive 100 point plus scoring day, they still managed to lose by over 30 points. When your team starts 0-3, it feels good to get that first win, and when you blow out one of the teams leading the league? It's so good it makes you feel downright dirty. Both of the upsetting teams (Shittysauruses and Shenanihads) meet this week, with Ash looking to continue rolling while Jim's tries to sweep the Phillips' household. Should be a good game, maybe worthy of the MotW...

Week 4's Match-up of the Week proved to be the closest game, with Martin's Atoms taking a 16 point victory to the bank and ruining Brett's perfect season. The previously high-flying Fluffy Bunnies put up mediocre numbers, while the Atoms' newest trade acquisition Beanie Wells put the team on his back, scoring 3 TDs and an impressive 31.8 points.

Elsewhere in the league, some first round picks had their first good performances of the year, giving some much needed justification for their high selections. Michael Vick put up 30.1 points, his best game this season, helping my (reinvigorated champion) Pumaskulls grab their first win of the season (sorry, Chris, I wish it didn't have to be this way). Vick's hand didn't seem to be an issue, but the scare of injuries seems to be keeping him in the pocket, limiting his rushing game to only 75 yards. Four games into the year, he has scored a whopping zero rushing TDs, something I pray to Thor will change in the coming weeks. Arian Foster returned to action Sunday and scored 22 points, a weak performance compared to his shenanigans last year, but still a solid outing. We should see more from Foster as Ben Tate went down in the first quarter with an injury.

One strange sidenote before we get into the Week's top performances, if you haven't noticed, the top scorer in each of the first four weeks has yet to be a running back. Normally the RBs dominate the leaderboards, but aside from a handful of breakout games, it has mostly been dominated by QBs and Wes Welker. We'll see if this trend continues into Week 5.

Top Performers

Top 10 Players In-Play
1. Aaron Rodgers[QB] (PHSH) - 45.9
2. Cam Newton[QB] (SLNF) - 32.5
3. Ravens D/ST (SLNF) - 32
4. Beanie Wells[RB] (ATOM) - 31.8
5. Michael Vick[QB] (DMPS) - 30.1
6. Matt Forte[RB] (PHSH) - 28.8
7. Josh Freeman[QB] (COX) - 24.2
8. Arian Foster[RB] (COX) - 22.6
9. Hakeem Nicks[WR] (OCTO) - 22.2
10. Wes Welker[WR] (MEGA) - 21.8


Season Points Leaders by Position

QBs:
1. Aaron Rodgers (PHSH) - 114.3
2. Tom Brady (NWA) - 105.1
3. Cam Newton (SLNF) - 104.7
4. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 93.8
5. Matthew Stafford (FLUF) - 86.6


RBs:
1. Darren McFadden (FLUF) - 82
2. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 80.6
3. Ray Rice (OCTO) - 77.9
4. Fred Jackson (NWA) - 75.6
5. Matt Forte (PHSH) - 75.4


WRs:
1. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 93.5
2. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 80.1
3. Steve Smith (NYAN) - 63
4. Mike Wallace (OCTO) - 57.4
5. Vincent Jackson (DMPS) - 55.5

TEs:
1. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 59.6
2. Jimmy Graham (COX) - 54.7
3. Tony Gonzales (ATOM) - 46.9
4. Jason Witten (NYAN) - 42.6
5. Jermichael Finley (TGIF) - 41.4

D/STs:
1. Ravens (SLNF) - 72
2. Jets (ATOM) - 55
3. Lions (FLUF) - 45
4. Redskins (COX) - 41
4. Texans (TGIF) - 41

Ks:
1. Jason Hanson (FLUF) - 52
2. Dan Bailey (FA) - 49
3. Neil Rackers (TGIF) - 41
4. John Kasay (COX) - 39
4. Mike Nugent (FA) - 39


Onto Week 5...

Match-up of the Week

Picking the MotW was a bit tricky this week. There are a couple games that look to be pretty good. I mentioned the Shenanihads vs. Shittysauruses earlier. In the East division, the Atoms and Nerfherders face off to see who will stay atop the division. Out West, OCTO and Annexation battle for first place. But if I had to pick a match-up that should be a good tight game, it would have to be Mega Shark vs. TGIF. Both are top teams with deceptive 2-2 records. They've scored within .6 points of each other for the year, which should make it a close match. Winner will move into position to challenge first place while the loser will sink below .500.

Remember to put in your waiver picks tonight. Also, this is the first week with byes, so make sure you set your rosters accordingly. Should make match-ups a bit more interesting. Good luck to everyone (except fucking Brett, you're going down, bitch).

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Week 3 Wrap-up

This edition of the Weekly Wrap-up is brought to you in part by:

The Cliff

First off, I'm feeling pretty sick today (and not just because of the 0-3 start), so this is going to be a bit briefer and also (as you might have noticed) a bit later. But seeing as it's free, I feel like shit, and my team is literally the worst ever, you bitches can just deal with it.

Anyway...we're roughly a quarter through the regular fantasy season and the standing are starting to take shape. A little too much shape, it seems. Just like last season, there's a weird sort of symmetry forming in the standings. If you haven't looked for yourself, go ahead and check it out. I know three weeks in the chances of this happening aren't too low, but it's still odd. Four teams have hit rock bottom with 0-3 records. The other eight all have winning records. Six of the eight are at 2-1 while two teams are perfect at 3-0. And of course, each division looks exactly the same as the other. Weirdness...

After hearing that Padme is dead.
It was another strange week in the NF of L, nothing more strange than the Buffalo Bills coming back again Tim Brady's Pats and moving on to a perfect 3-0 record. You probably heard that Brady threw as many interceptions yesterday than he threw all last year. Yet somehow Bieber Brady still managed to put up 24 points which was good enough for sixth best QB of the week. Not to shaggy shabby. Brady threw a sure touchdown pass to our boy Ochocinco, who promptly dropped it (and that's it for this week's Bradycinco update). In Brady's place a few other second/third tier QBs stepped up to have big games. Joe Flacco had over 21 points in the first quarter, including three touchdowns to rookie receiver Torrey Smith. Mark Sanchez, Matt Schaub and Eli Manning also put up 20+ scoring days. Of course, all four QBs spent the week on assorted benches (womp womp). It was also a good day for unknown receivers. In addition to Torrey Smith, the Giants' Victor Cruz put up impressive numbers, prompting fantasy owners everywhere to ask "Who the hell is that?" No doubt these two will be picked up on waivers this week, although how much of an impact they'll have going forward remains to be seen.

Introducing Torrey and Victor Who?
Onto the week's top scorers:

Top 10 Players In-play:
1. Wes Welker[WR] (MEGA) - 35.6
2. Darren McFadden[RB] (FLUF) - 29.8
3. Ryan Mathews[RB] (COX) - 26.9
4. Drew Brees[QB] (TGIF) - 26.7
5. Jermichael Finley[TE] (TGIF) - 26.5
6. Tom Brady[QB] (NWA) - 24
7. Matthew Stafford[QB] (FLUF) - 23
8. Rob Gronkowski[TE] (SHSR) - 22.9
9. Calvin Johnson[WR] (SHSR) - 22.8
10. Aaron Rodgers[QB] (PHSH) - 22.2

Season Points Leaders

QBs:
1. Tom Brady (NWA) - 88.2
2. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 78.8
3. Cam Newton (SLNF) - 72.3
4. Matthew Stafford (FLUF) - 71.1
5. Aaron Rodgers (PHSH) - 68.4

RBs:
1. Darren McFadden (FLUF) - 69.7
2. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 69.4
3. Fred Jackson (NWA) - 59.8
4. Ray Rice (OCTO) - 58.9
5. Ryan Mathews (COX) - 57.3

WRs:
1. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 71.7
2. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 58.5
3. Mike Wallace (OCTO) - 49.7
4. Miles Austin (FLUF) - 47.1
5. Kenny Britt (TGIF) - 44.9

TEs:
1. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 58.1
2. Jermichael Finley (TGIF) - 38.6
3. Dustin Keller (MEGA) - 36.9
4. Jimmy Graham (COX) - 35.5
5. Tony Gonzales (ATOM) - 35.3

D/STs:
1. Ravens (SLNF) - 40
2. 49ers (FA) - 38
3. Jets (ATOM) - 34
4. Lions (FLUF) - 30
5. Cowboys (SHSR) - 29

Ks:
1. Jason Hanson (FLUF) - 40
2. Neil Rackers (TGIF) - 36
2. Dan Bailey (DA) - 36
4. David Akers (NWA) - 32
5. John Kasay (COX) - 30

Match-up of the Week
Last week's MotW between the brothers Phillips came down to the last game, and though it wasn't as high scoring as most expected, it finished with the closest margin of any game this week, with Giant Octopus coming out on top. OCTO is now 3-0, but you can bet Mega Shark will be back in a few weeks for some sweet revenge.

This week the MotW moves from the West to the East in another battle of top dogs. While Martin's Atoms are no longer undefeated, he has a chance to move into a tie with first place Fluffy Bunnies. But this will be no easy match for the Atoms, who scored the lowest point total in the league last week, as the Bunnies of Fluff are ranked number two in points scored overall. Will Brett's beasts go to 4-0, or will Martin pull off the upset for a chunk of first place?

That's it for this week. Make sure to set your waivers for tonight and keep those trade proposals coming! Good luck (even to Chris, who plays my (champion) Pumaskulls in a preview of this season's toilet bowl).

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Week 2 Wrap-up

This edition of the Weekly Wrap-up is brought to you in part by:

Ouchtown - Population: You, Bro

Week 2 is done, but its presence will be felt all season long. We got our first big-name season casualty in the form of Jamaal Charles' torn ACL. RIP JC, we hardly knew ye. And though his first rounder went down, Andrew's Aquacadets were still able to pull off an impressive victory over my (*sigh* champion....) Pumaskulls thanks to a rockin' performance by Fred Jackson. We also saw Michael Vick go down with his first of possibly many injuries for the year. And while I already had no shot of coming back in my match-up, it was not good to see Vick walk off the field spitting blood or sitting on the bench staring off into La-La-Land. Miles Austin put up a monster game (the week's top performance) before going down with a pulled hamstring. He'll be out for about a month. Arian Foster played Sunday for a bit before his hamstring acted up again.

Otherwise, it was an impressive week in terms of scoring for most teams. Eight of twelve teams scored over 100 points, which is downright amazing given how many teams we have (and thus how the star players are stretched out). We've seen a ton of offense in the first two weeks, and while it's likely to slow down a bit due to more injuries and fatigue as the season wears on, it's encouraging (for most teams).

Last week's MotW turned out to be quite the show, with TGIF and Giant Octopus going right down to the wire. And although TGIF had the top three scorers in the game, Giant Octopus won with consistency. Seven of nine positions scored in double digits, and paired with last week's game (in which six of nine scored in double digits), it's almost scary how good this team is all around. Sitting pretty at 2-0, it's hard to argue that Giant Octopus is the team to beat.

However, GO isn't alone atop the leaderboards. Just behind him is yet another Phillips brother coaching the always competing Mega Shark (also sitting pretty at 2-0). Mega Shark has scored the second most points in the two games so far, but what's more impressive is that the teams they've beaten have been no slouches when it comes to scoring. Mega Shark also ranks third in points against, and has only scored a mere 22.5 points more than their opponents. But winning against top teams is what lands you in the Bo Bowl, and Mega Shark is on the prowl (or whatever it is sharks do).

Of course, the top team in terms of points scored against is none other than my (*wheeze* champion) Pumaskulls. We also rank dead last in points scored, making a deadly combination of suck. In terms of hard-luck teams of the early season, Ash's Shittysaurus take the cake. Though they are ranked fifth in points scored, two close loses (including this week's 2.2 point loss to Mega Shark) puts them at a deceptive 0-2. And last, a shout out to this week's top scoring team, league newcomer Brett and his Fluffy Bunnies, who took their cue from their relatives in Monty Python's Holy Grail and chewed everyone to death in the neck. The Bunnies had 3 of the top 10 scorers this week. Watch out for those cute little bastards...

Ochocinco changes # to QQ
It's now time for our most popular feature this season: tracking Ochocinco's progress in New England. It seems good ole eight-five is still in Tim Brady's doghouse, though he did get a boost from last week by catching two passes instead of one (for a total of 45 yards). Whether it's the coverage or the fact that Brady and Deon Branch are like peanut butter and bananas, it's no fun times for Mr. Chad. During the game there was a nice shot of Ochocinco and Brady chatting on the sidelines, and although I couldn't make out what they were saying, it was pretty obvious Chad was pleading his case for getting a few more targets, to which Brady replied with half-listen "Yeah, uh-huh, Target, great store, well, nice chatting with you, bud..." I'm sure Ochocinco will get more play soon, but he's obviously not top-dog in Beantown, and we all know how 85 feels about that...

Now for Week 2's top scorers and the rankings so far this season:

Top 10 Players In-play:
1. Miles Austin[WR] (FLUF) - 32.1
2. Tom Brady[QB] (NWA) - 29.2
2. Jeremy Maclin[WR] (MEGA) - 29.2
2. Vincent Jackson[WR] (DMPS) - 29.2
5. Adrian Peterson[RB] (TGIF) - 26.1
6. Fred Jackson[RB] (NWA) - 26
7. Matthew Stafford[QB] (FLUF) - 25.9
8. Darren McFadden[RB] (FLUF) - 24.3
8. Jahvid Best[RB] (SHSR) - 24.3
10. LeSean McCoy[RB] (MEGA) - 23.6

Top Scorers this season by position:
QB:
1. Tom Brady (NWA) - 64.2
2. Cam Newton (TGIF) - 57.3
3. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 52.1
4. Matthew Stafford (FLUF) - 48.1
5. Ryan Fitzpatrick (ATOM) - 47.5

RB:
1. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 49.3
2. Ray Rice (OCTO) - 42.5
3. Darren McFadden (FLUF) - 39.9
4. Matt Forte (PHSH) - 38.4
5. Fred Jackson (NWA) - 37.7

WR:
1. Miles Austin (FLUF) - 47.1
2. Kenny Britt (TGIF) - 45.1
3. Steve Smith (DMPS) - 43.4
4. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 36.1
5. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 35.7

TE:
1. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 35.2
2. Aaron Hernandez (NWA) - 28.5
3. Dustin Keller (MEGA) - 28.2
4. Tony Gonzales (ATOM) - 27.5
5. Scott Chandler (FA) - 25.9

D/ST:
1. Jets (ATOM) - 35
2. Texans (NYAN) - 29
3. Lions (FLUF) - 26
3. 49ers (FA) - 26
5. Redskins (FA) - 22

K:
1. John Kasay (COX) - 24
1. Nick Folk (ATOM) - 24
3. Jason Hanson (FLUF) - 23
3. David Akers (NWA) - 23
5. Neil Rackers (TGIF) - 21


On to Week 3!

Match-up of the Week: Giant Octopus vs. Mega Shark
No surprises here, two top teams, both with perfect records, two brothers with a life-spanning rivalry, both team names based off the same monster movie, what more can you ask for? Will Justin's Giant Octopus squad continue it's domination over the league? Will Matt's Mega Shark pull off another down-to-the-line victory? Stay tuned...

And remember waivers go through at midnight tonight, so grab those free-agents. And good luck to everyone in Week 3 (except Juan).
 

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Week 1 Wrap-up

This edition of the Weekly Wrap-up is brought to you in part by:

Week 1 is in the books and was it ever a crazy one. We’ll get to all the craziness in a minute, but first I want to take a moment to talk about strategery.

There’s a lot of strategery in fantasy football, from drafting your team to setting your line-ups each week. You’ve got to consider the match-ups, injuries, who’s hot, who’s not. It’s not just about the players themselves but who they’re playing with, who they’re playing against. You read articles written by experts, check out the projections, weekly rankings. There are hunches you get that tell you to sit your stars and play your sleepers. You gather as much information as you can and let your brain make the right decision.

And sometimes, you need to tell your brain to STFU.

There’s a little saying in fantasy football: “Start your studs.” Last week I made the decision to bench my top-5 (stud) Bears D/ST (who was playing a top offense) in favor of the Chiefs D/ST, who had a much favorable match-up against the shitty Bills. I looked over the facts, analyzed said match-ups, and made the decision with an amount of confidence that I am now embarrassed about. In the end the Bills came out with their best Patriots impression and kicked the crap out of the Chiefs, meanwhile the Bears put up 19 points against the Falcons who could barely score anything. Who’d-a-thunk? But “start your studs” isn’t always the best advice. In another example of my failures as a strategerist, I started my stud Vincent Jackson and sat Steve Smith. VJax scored a very meh 3.1, while Steve Smith...well you probably already know.

The point is, start your studs, but sometimes sit your studs. Yes, this is pretty unspecific (and thus crappy) advice, but what can I tell you? Sometimes the best move is the move you don't make. And sometimes not. There is only so much strategery that can come into play. The rest of it is just pure dumb luck.

And now to the week that was.

The exact moment when Martin's heart broke.
It started off very predictably. The Saints and the Packers duked it out, putting up monster scores. It looked like Brees and Rodgers would end up with top fantasy scores for the week, and rightfully so. It came down to the wire, with the Saints attempting to air-mail Mark Ingram into the endzone for the tying score (and promptly failing). But then Sunday rolled around and everything got....weird. The Steelers looked like the Bills, the Bills looked like the Colts, the Colts looked like a 3rd string peewee football team. And the result, several players came out of nowhere to put up monster points for their fantasy teams. Some of these performances were expected, others not. I’ve compiled a list of the happenings this week in order from the easiest to predict down to the “what-the-fuck” department:

1a. That my (champion) Pumaskulls would put up the lowest score of Week 1: I feel dirty even referring to them as “champion” after that stinker, but let’s face it, we all knew this was coming (at least I did).
1b. Tim Brady and Drew Brees would put up monster numbers: no surprises here.
The only passes going Ochocinco's way.
2. Chad Ochocinco would catch one pass for 14 yards while the two Patriot TEs scored a combined 30.9 points: turns out Tim Brady doesn’t really care for the old 85.
3. Ray Rice would justify his first overall pick status by beating up on the Steelers defense: As the previous Rice owner, and his first victim this season, I knew he was going to go big. But 26.9 points against (arguably) the best defense in football? Who knew he’d be that good? Looks like Justin did. Ray Ray scored more in the opener than he did in his first three games last season.
4. The Colts minus Peyton Manning are horrendous: you might be asking why this isn’t number 1. After all, anyone could have guessed that they would not be the same stellar offense with Kerry Collins behind the helm. But who knew that it would be that bad? Honestly, you did? Shut up, liar.
5. The top two scorers who weren’t QBs were WRs: The top RB of the week (Mike Tolbert) ranked #6 overall in points. He, of course, spent the week on the Shittysaurus’ bench, so all those lovely points pretty much amounted to rainbows and unicorn tears.
6. Out of the top 5 QBs for the week, only two of them were drafted as starters: the other three? Two went undrafted (Henne and Newton) and one was picked up in the 15th round (Fitzpatrick).
Week 1 MVP
7. The benches and free-agency would have so many top-scorers: If you look at the top 5 of each position (posted below), excluding kickers, out of 25 total players, 4 warmed the bench while 5 went undrafted. Out of the top 5 kickers, 3 of them went undrafted (but, being kickers, they don’t really count). [Side note: out of those 25 players, only three of them were first round picks.]
8. And perhaps the most unpredictable, out of the top 4 scorers overall, two of them were on the Panthers: one who went undrafted and one who sat on my bench like a rockstar. Who’d-a-thunk...

And now for the top scorers of Week 1:
Top 10 Players In-play
1. Tom Brady[QB] (NWA) - 35
2. Drew Brees[QB] (TGIF) - 29.1
3. Wes Welker[WR] (MEGA) - 28
4. Ray Rice[RB] (OCTO) - 26.9
5. 49ers D/ST (OCTO) - 26
6. LeSean McCoy[RB] (MEGA) - 25.7
7. Kenny Britt[WR] (TGIF) - 25.6
8. Aaron Rodgers[QB] (PHSH) - 24.6
9. Michael Vick[QB] (DMPS) - 23.2
10. Matthew Stafford[QB] (FLUF) - 22.2


Top 5 QBs
1. Tom Brady
(NWA) - 35
2. Chad Henne (FA) - 34.5
3. Cam Newton (FA) - 30.7
4. Drew Brees (TGIF) - 29.1
5. Ryan Fitzpatrick (ATOM) - 24.6

Top 5 RBs
1. Mike Tolbert
(SHSR) - 27.3
2. Ray Rice (OCTO) - 26.9
3. LeSean McCoy (MEGA) - 25.7
4. Matt Forte (PHSH) - 21.8
5. Cedric Benson (ATOM) - 18.3

Top 5 WRs
1. Steve Smith
(DMPS) - 29.8
2. Wes Welker (MEGA) - 28
3. Kenny Britt (TGIF) - 25.6
4. Calvin Johnson (SHSR) - 20.8
5. Reggie Wayne (FLUF) - 16.6

Top 5 TEs
1. Scott Chandler
(FA) - 18.3
2. Aaron Hernandez (NWA) - 16.3
3. Rob Gronkowski (SHSR) - 14.6
4. Jeff King (FA) - 12.1
4. Dustin Keller (MEGA) - 12.1

Top 5 D/STs
1. 49ers
(OCTO) - 26
2. Ravens (MF) - 21
3. Bears (DMPS) - 19
4. Texans (FA) - 18
5. Jets (ATOM) - 17

Top 5 Kickers
1. David Akers
(FA) - 15
2. Sebastian Janikowski (MF) - 13
2. Robbie Gould (FA) - 13
4. Josh Scobee (FA) - 12
5. Nick Folk (ATOM) - 11

Onwards to Week 2!

Now that Week 1 is over, it’s time to get the waiver war started. The waiver wire opens up tonight at midnight (I believe), so do your research and fill those holes (you whore). Remember to have multiple choices in case your first gets picked by me.

Match-up of the Week
This week’s MotW is not a hard choice. Giant Octopus and TGIF had the top two scores in Week 1, and are conveniently matched-up in Week 2. If anyone can be considered favorites so early in the season, it’s these two, yet one will have to go down in a blaze of glory. Who will it be?
 



Good luck in Week 2 (except for Andrew, you’re going down). Remember to keep up the trash talk!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Hey yo, Justin...


Carrying the whole team on his back


Apparently ESPN is expecting Pierre Garcon to be handling the passing and rushing in addition to receiving this week...