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!