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. 

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.

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!