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.