2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

[quote=Koko Ed]

The FIRST Robotics League

Evil Trav's Minions
Koko's X-Cats
Indiana Ironmen
stantheman
Cooney Quest
Cromer Smash!
Eat My Shorts
Nor Cal Crushers
sigmakittens
FIRST Force
Amazin' Blue
Stevies Scapegoats
Meatball Artists
The Very Fast Blitz
Boiler 1529
Rhode Island Dynamic
{}
Silver Lobos
RPI10
T-Hawks

Rhode Island Dynamic vs. Koko's X-Cats
This one is tight all the way with Peyton Manning leading the Dynamic and Larry Johnson leading the X-Cats. What it really comes down to is how Drew BLedsoe performs for the X-Cats and how Corey Dillion performs the the Dynamic.

FIRST Force vs. Cooney Quest
Both teams feature running quarterbacks but FIRST Force features a real quarterback in Daunte Culpepper while the Quest have a glorified running back taking snaps in Micheal Vick. Shaun ALexander and Thomas Jones is where the Quest will be a real threat. FIRST Force needs Domanic RHodes to produce.

Silver Lobos vs. Eat My Shorts
EMS features the ever deadly Ladanian Thomlinson and Duece McCallister who is comming off a major knee injury. They also feature the underrated Trent Green who could surpise some people. Silver Lobos hope Carson Palmer is all the way back or they're basically dead in the water.

The Very Fast Blitz vs. Cromer Smash!
The Smash need to fix up their roster but so long as they have TIki Barber they are dangerous. Not sure to expect from Willie Parker. The Blitz have players who are variables. They could be explosive or they could easily be duds. I certainly wouldn't trust my fortunes to Brunell and who knows what Westbrook can do?

Amazin' Blue vs. Nor Cal Crushers
Amazin' Blue is hamstrung using Domanic Davis who is on the IR. Tatum Bell has to split carries in Denver and Leftwich is incinsistent. The Crushers will have Clinton Portis ready to kick butt on Monday night and Kurt Warner gets to throw all over a helpless 49ers defense.

Boiler 1529 vs. T-Hawks
The T-Hawks are going to rely on the arm of Jake Delhomme and the hands and feet of Steve Smith. That's tough going up against Boiler 1529's combo of Cadillac Willaims and Warrick Dunn.

Meatball Artists vs. RPI10
Meatball Artists are going full bore with three running backs but who knows how much Fred Taylor has left? How long til Julius Jones ends up on the bench? Stephen Jackson could be big though. RPI10 counters with RUdi Johnson running all over the CHiefs defense and Eli Manning should play well against the Colts.

sigmakittens vs. Evil Trav's Minions
ETM has McNabb hungry to make a big comeback without TO publicly dissing him in the lockeroom every Sunday but I'm not sure if Frank GOre is what I'd call a good bet for your running game. THe kitties have a pair of dissapointing backs looking to rebound i Willis McGahee and Lamont Jordan. If Plummer doesn't betray them they could win this one.

{} vs. Indiana Ironmen
(How the heck do you pronounce {} ?}). Ronnie Brown and Mike Bell are their best bet to survive but going with Kyle Boller is a huge mistake. The Ironmen are putting alot of faith in AHman Green and how effective is Tom Brady going to be without Deion Branch?

stantheman vs. Stevies Scapegoats
OK this one is weird both teams have turnover prone quarterbacks ( BRett Farve for the SCapegoats and Aaron Brooks for the stantheman) and part time running backs. The SCapegoats are hoping that Edgerring James blows up big for them but I don't trust that o-line. Sould be OK this week.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

[quote=Koko Ed]

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni
Koko's X-Cats
Aces High 176
FIRST Force
Santosh1002
Indiana Ironmen
Gopher
Nor Cal Crushers
T-hawks
Mechanicatz
sigmakittens
Cromer Smash!
Stevies Scapegoats
MC Shea
CD League 2 Champs
Jedimasters1511
Piss Poor Piñatas
ROFLvaders
The Jaguar Sharks
FreedomForce

The Jaguar Sharks vs. Koko's X-Cats


Ni vs. Cromer Smash!


Stevies Scapegoats vs. Aces High 176


ROFLvaders vs. Jedimasters1511


sigmakittens vs. MC Shea


Gopher vs. T-Hawks


Nor Cal Crushers vs. Indiana Ironmen


Santosh1002 vs. FreedomForce


CD League 2 Champs vs. Mechanicatz


Piss Poor Piñatas vs. FIRST Force


Well we just finished the draft a couple of hours ago and alot of folks need to fix thier roster so I'll wait til tomorrow afternoon to preview the leauge.

Week 1 Preview
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni
Koko's X-Cats
Aces High 176
FIRST Force
Santosh1002
Indiana Ironmen
Gopher
Nor Cal Crushers
T-hawks
Mechanicatz
sigmakittens
Cromer Smash!
Stevies Scapegoats
MC Shea
CD League 2 Champs
Jedimasters1511
Piss Poor Piñatas
ROFLvaders
The Jaguar Sharks
FreedomForce

The Jaguar Sharks vs. Koko's X-Cats
The X-Cats have Larry Johnson leading the charge and Kurt Warner should stay relatively healthy this week against the weak Niners defense and should put up decnt numbers against them. The Jaguar Sharks hope lies in Tom Brady mostly and that going to be tough sailing without Deion Branch.

Ni vs. Cromer Smash!
Both teams need to fix a blank roster spot!
The Smash have Peyton Manning to bomb opponenets into submission with but Ni is the favorite with a healthy and hungry Donovan McNabb back in action and Ronnie Brown and Reuben Drougns running the ball for them.

Stevies Scapegoats vs. Aces High 176
Both teams need to fix a blank roster spot!
The SCapegoats atre hoping for big production from Edgerrin James while Aces High has Rudi Johnson, Kevin Jones and the underrated Trent Green on their side. Aces High is looking solid.

ROFLvaders vs. Jedimasters1511
ROFLvaders have 3 spots to fix on theior roster and Jedimaster1511 has one!
Until the ROFLvaders fix ther roster they are doomed to a crushing defeat. Jedimaster only needs Tiki Barber to produce to win this one.

sigmakittens vs. MC Shea
The kitties have two blank spots to fix and MC SHea has one!
THe kitties and MC Shea come ready to battle with a pair of backs but MC SHea may or may not haveCedric Benson this week thus they need more form Cadillac Willaims. The kitties counter with Deshaun Foster and Joseph Addia. Not sure how much they'll get from Mark Brunell and that's where they could fall because Marc Bulger is still a capable quarterback.

Gopher vs. T-Hawks
T-Hawks have two blank roster spots!
Gopher is on solid ground with Jake Delohme, Brian Westbrooke and Julius Jones (at least this week). The T-Hawks need a big game from Daunte Culpepepr and to fix their defense.

Nor Cal Crushers vs. Indiana Ironmen
The Indiana Ironmen have a blank roster spot!
The Crushers have a significant advantage with Fast Willie Parker, Clinton Portis (who should be healed) and Drew Bledsoe who get to throw to his newest toy TO. The Ironmen have no running backs and Jon Kitna. That is a sure recipe for disaster.

Santosh1002 vs. FreedomForce
FreedomForce has a blank roster spot!
Snatrosh has an advnatage at running back with fantasy stud LaDainian Thomlinson and the underrated Warrick Dunn at back while Freedom FOrce has Stpehen Jackson and the aging Corey Dillion. Matt Hasselbak is also an advantage for Snatosh over Freedom Force's Byron Leftwich.

CD League 2 Champs vs. Mechanicatz
CDL2C has a significant advantage at quarterback with Carson Palmer over Rex Grossman (unless Palmer gets hurt again, of course who knows how long Grossman will last....). The running backs are a wash with me waiting to see who steps up their game or loses thier job (like CDL2C's Thomas Jones or Mechanicatz Domanic Rhodes). It'll be interesting to watch this one...

Piss Poor Piñatas vs. FIRST Force
Triple P is hoping McGahee or Jordan can bounce back strong this year but they both still may not be able to overcome Shaun Alexnader. The question isn't which quarterback will win the week for them but who will damage their chances the least (Triple P's Aaron Brooks or Double F's Jake Plummer. Pick yer poison).

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

[quote=Koko Ed]
The Smash better get all they can out of Barber the first week, because they traded him to Evil Trav's bunch for a bag of footballs. Evil Trav would love to start Barber this week but noooooooooooo he has to wait an interminable amount of time for the trade to go through. :( He shall overcome regardless. :D

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

[quote=T. Hoffman]How many votes does it take to veto? ;)

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

Wow, I have an 0-1 record… that’s a first. Anywho, onward to a new season of the Pre & Post Game Analysis Brought to you by Ed & Eddie Show!

Koko's X-Cats d. Rhode Island Dynamic
75-56
It’s that time of year again: the annual Pregame vs. Postgame rivalry game! Yeah, it wasn’t that exiting. The players you’d expect to score big (namely, Rhode Island’s offense) didn’t, and the players who you don’t expect to score much (namely, the X-Cat’s offense) did. Both defenses did okay, but where the Cats really struck was with their three 9s from Moulds, Jenkins, and Stover, plus a 12 from Nick Saban’s inability to throw a challenge flag- er, I mean Heath Miller. Rhode Island’s best score came from Manning’s 8 while kicking his little brother’s butt, and while everybody put up numbers for the Dynamic, they weren’t nearly enough to take down the 2003 champ.

Cooney Quest d. FIRST Force
53-44
“Both teams feature running quarterbacks, but FIRST Force features a real quarterback in Daunte Culpepper…” Let the quoting of Ed begin! Culpepper only had 2, which leads me to: "…the Quest have a glorified running back taking snaps in Michael Vick.” Ed makes that sound like a bad thing. Vick scored 12. That wasn’t the only difference in the game, but it was a big factor. The Force’s kicker never got a chance to score, and their defense had two donuts (though props to McGee’s 15). Cooney was running with Atlanta and their 11, helping make this a victory for the Quest.

Eat My Shorts d. Silver Lobos
58-49
It’s the battle of quarterbacks who did nothing! Pamler and Green combined for -1 points, but at least Palmer can still play. EMS now needs to search for a new QB for the next few weeks. Back to the game, the Lobos had a Vinatieri 14 and a Buffalo 10, but that was all that was noticeable. EMS lost a QB, but at least nabbed 14 from Stallworth and 13 from Tomlinson. The rest of their non Trent Green players contributed, and put that 1 in their win column.

Cromer Smash! d. The Very Fast Blitz
47-39
Is it ironic that the Blitz had prettymuch no defense? Owens and Westbrook did the majority of their scoring, with 10 and 13, respectively. Whereas Cromer actually had a defense (even if it was really only Cincinnati’s 14). Tiki Barber contributed 10, and both Coles and Brown scored 8, easily surpassing the offensive accomplishments of the Blitz.

Nor Cal Crushers d. Amazin' Blue
79-42
Talk about horribly one sided. The Blue lost their second round pick, Domanick Davis, to the IR, meaning they really didn’t have a quality RB. Byron Leftwich scored 12, but there wasn’t much to add that 12 to. Nor Cal came out strong, living up to their name. Who’d have thunk Kurt Warner could score 17 (you know, other than Ed)? Certainly not me. And who the heck is London Fletcher-Baker? I have no idea, but he finished with 19 this week. And Chester Taylor had the best game of his career, giving the Crushers an additional 12. Those three would’ve won on their own. Long story short, the Crushers crushed Amazin’ Blue.

T-Hawks d. Boilers 1529
44-41
While this game was closer than it ever should’ve been thanks to Steve Smith not playing, to the Boilers credit, they did keep it interesting. Their highest score was only a 7 from Warrick Dunn, but the rest of the offense kept pace. Defenses were only slightly in the Hawks favor (more on that later). The Hawks offense was led by Shockey’s 8, and their offense kept pace as well. But in the end, it came down to this game's highest scorer: Ray Lewis with 9. T-Hawks had him, and it was just enough to edge out the Boilers.

RPI10 d. Meatball Artists
62-44
“Meatball Artists are going full bore with three running backs, but who knows how much Fred Taylor has left?” At least enough for 11. “How long til Julius Jones ends up on the bench?” Not this week. He also had 11. “Stephen Jackson could be big though.” Only 7. I say the word only, because while Ed was wrong about the backs, he was right about the rest of the team. Three goose eggs on defense left this game open for RPIs taking. And take it they did. Two 10s from Rudy Johnson and Plaxico Burress and an 11 from Shayne Graham led the offense. And the defense combined for 22, 15 points more than the opponent’s. It’s safe to say that this was an easy victory for RPI.

Evil Trav's Minions d. sigmakittens
84-36
The Minions had Donovan McNabb. The Kittens had Jake Plummer. Yeah. I could just end it there, but I’m contractually obligated to at least mention those twin 17s (McNabb and Frank Gore) and 10s (Bennett and Rackers). The Kittens had a 9 coming in from Jamal Lewis (nice week for the Lewis’s). It obviously wasn’t nearly enough to stop the Minions on their way to first place.

Indiana Ironmen d. {}
63-51
“How the heck do you pronounce {}?” That’s a very good question. I’m sure it’ll bug us all season long. All naming issues aside, Murphy’s Parentheses had one problem: their starting QB had an appendectomy, and their backup didn’t play (well, okay, two problems in one position). Their defense was also lacking. They had a few good things going; Jeff Wilkins scored all of the Rams 18 points, and Ronnie Brown scored 14 on Thursday. While Indiana had their fair share of problems as well (their three receivers combined for 6), they had an excellent defense led by Baltimore’s 17 and Shawne Merriman’s 12. Their non-receiving offense all cleared 6 as well. So in the end, an appendectomy and a missing defender cost the Parentheses the game. Murphy’s Law, huh?

stantheman d. Stevies Scapegoats
62-16
I think I’ve finally been stumped. I really have no clue how to analyze this one. I guess I should start by saying that the Scapegoats’ best (and practically only) score was Edgerrin James’s 9. Their defense combined for a grand total of 0. Double take if you have to, but I did just say zero. And even worse: Favre scored even lower than that! StM at least had a QB score positive points, and an actual defense (a pretty good one at that, with a combined 34). The rest of their offense contributed mostly solid numbers. Not that they needed it; this one was a massacre already.

A rather humerous note is that for every game except the last, I had to cut and paste the teams around because the second team Ed had listed kept winning this week. Okay, it maeans absolutely nothing in terms of analysis, I just found it funny. See you all next week.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

He's only one of the top 3-5 LB's in the league :D

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

Except to Bills fans.
He always makes the tackle down the filed.
Waaaaaay down the field......

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

I'll be happy with him as long as he makes the tackle... doesn't much matter where it is, to me ;)

Re: Week 1 Preview
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Koko's X-Cats ROFLvadersSantosh1002 NiFIRST Force Mechanicatz Nor Cal CrushersT-hawkssigmakittensAces High 176 FreedomForceJedimasters1511Cromer Smash! MC Shea Gopher Indiana Ironmen CD League 2 ChampsPiss Poor PiñatasThe Jaguar SharksStevies Scapegoats Koko's X-Cats101.64The Jaguar Sharks38.97
The X-Cats scored over a hundred points in spite of a dissapointing performance from Larry Johnson who only scored 10.85, Kurt Warner scored a team leading 22.08 points which wasn't surprising but 31.08 points from the San Diego Chargers and Sean Merriman was very surprisng. The Jaguar Sharks hope lied in Tom Brady anhd they died with him as he only scored 10.77 to lead the team. Three goose eggs finished them. Reggie BUsh added 10.83 points for the X-Cats.

Ni 77.45 Cromer Smash! 62.29
McNabb scored 23.00 points for Ni who outscored the Smash's dissapointing Peyton Manning who only scored 9.52 points. Although the Smash got 27.92 points from Joey Porter and the New England Patriots defense and 11.00 from Plexico Burress the 17.29 points Ni got from Ronnie Brown, 11.00 from Nate Kaeding and 10.27 from the Seattle Seahawks defense more than made up for it.

Aces High 176 50.31Stevies Scapegoats 38.88
The Scapegoats are a mess. Outside of 13.89 from Edgerrin James the Scapegoats got nothing from the rest of their rosters (2 blank roster spots don't help). Aces High 176 didn't exactly tear it up but 14.75 from Rudi Johnson and 11.00 points from John Kasay is enough to beat the league lowest scoring team.

ROFLvaders 91.64 Jedimasters151164.17
ROFLvaders have 3 spots to fix on their roster and Jedimaster1511 has one!
Until the ROFLvaders fix ther roster they are doomed to a crushing defeat. Jedimaster only needs Tiki Barber to produce to win this one.
Well I can't be right all the time..... :o
Who knew the Bear were going to blow up for 24.44 points, Adam Vinateri would put up 18, Terrence McGee would rack up 13.24 points and Eli Manning and Chris McAlister would both score 12.00 points easily making up for the four blank scores.
Tiki Barber did his part for Jedimaster1511 scoring 13.76 and Josh Brown scored 11.00 points. No one else did much of anything though...

sigmakittens 64.77 MC Shea 62.25
If MC Shea had done something with their defense they may have won the game. 15.76 to 12.60 is not much but it was the difference in the match. The kitties 12.00 from Neil Rackers, 11.50 from Terrell Owens and 10.10 points from Anquan Boldin. MC Shea got 22.00 points from Jeff Wilkins, 12.60 points from the Pittsburgh Steelers defense and 12.55 points from Tony Gonzales.

T-Hawks70.21Gopher 57.97
T-Hawks have two blank roster spots!
Gopher is on solid ground with Jake Delohme, Brian Westbrooke and Julius Jones (at least this week).
Well Westbrooke and Jones did their part combning for 31.91 points but Delohme lost them 1.28 points
THe T-Hawks got 18.00 point s from Robbie Gould and more consistemcy from their roster to win outright.

Nor Cal Crushers 70.48 Indiana Ironmen 56.63
The Crushers have a significant advantage with Fast Willie Parker, Clinton Portis (who should be healed) and Drew Bledsoe who get to throw to his newest toy TO.
Bledsoe is flirting with gettinng benched, Portis is hurting and Parker was adquete. Portis was benched in favor of Mike Bell who responded with a team leading 14.59 points. Willie Parker added 10.88 and Kieth Bullock and Mike PEtersen both scored 10 points. The Cincinatti Bengals defense had 17 and Ahman Green scored 10.43 points but it wasn't nearly enough.


Santosh1002 81.67 FreedomForce70.70
Snatosh nearly cost himself the victory with poor defensive productio. 20.50 points from the Baltimore Rvens defense, 18.32 points from LaDanian THomslinson, 15.00 from Shayne Graham and 11.36 points from Warrick Dunn.
FF got 15.52 from Byron Leftwich and 15.32 points from the Atlanta Falcons defense and 11.39 points from Stephen Jackson. Jay Feely's feeble 1 point production doomed Freedom FORSCE to defeat.

Mechanicatz72.85CD League 2 Champs 56.49
No one scored in double digits for CD League 2 Champs. All it took was MAtt Stover's 11.00 points, Dominic Rhodes 10.38 points and Jeremy Shockey's 10.20 to win the game.

FIRST Force 76.74Piss Poor Piñatas 45.51
No doubler digit scoring for Triple P niether, And though First FORCE got -5.24 points from Jake Plummer they also got 21.45 points from Frank GOre, 19.00 form London Fletcher-Baker and 14.55 points to win the match.

Re: Week 1 Preview
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Koko's X-Cats ROFLvadersSantosh1002 NiFIRST Force Mechanicatz Nor Cal CrushersT-hawkssigmakittensAces High 176 FreedomForceJedimasters1511Cromer Smash! MC Shea Gopher Indiana Ironmen CD League 2 ChampsPiss Poor PiñatasThe Jaguar SharksStevies Scapegoats Koko's X-Cats(1-0) vs. T-Hawks(1-0)
Kurt Warner is facing a much tougher task going up against the Seahawks today so the X-Cats are depending on Larry Johnson bouncing back and rookie sensation Reggie Bush. The T-Hawks are hoping Daunte Culpepper gets his act together and are actually lookin gfor big plays from the passing game from Marvi Harrison, Antonio Gates and ANdre Johnson. A risky proposition.

Cromer Smash! (0-1)vs.Stevies Scapegoats(0-1)
The Smash have a big advantage having Peyton Manning over a very past his prime Brett Farve. The Scapegoats best hope lies in Edgerrin James and hoping the bottle top spins towards Travis Henry in the undefined Titans backfield. Might not matter against the very tough Chargers defense anyways.

FIRST Force (1-0)vs. Ni (1-0)
Donovan McNabb will have a tougher time against an improved Giants defense so Ni is looking for ROnnie Brown to run all over a suddenly pourus Bills run defense. FIRST Force is looking for Jake Plummer to bounce back but Shaun ALexnader is their killing blow this week.

Aces High 176(1-0) vs. ROFLvaders(1-0)
The ROFLvaders surprised last week with 91 points in spite of a swiss cheese roster but it's hard to favor them when they have Kevin Faulk and Maurice Hicks vs. Rudi Johnson and Brandpn Jacobs. The ROFLvaders wildcard is the Bears defense which got motivation against the inexplicable confident Lions offense so they'll probably destroy them.

Jedimasters1511(0-1)vs.MC Shea (0-1)
MC Shea needs Carnell WIlliams To start making plays because Cedric Benson is no where to be seen and Jedimasters1511 has Tiki Barber and Duece McCallister. Marc Bulger could be MC Shea's answer (actually the San Fracisco 49ers inept defense is MC Shea's hope for victory).

sigmakittens(1-0) vs. The Jaguar Sharks(0-1)
The Jaguar Sharks are looking for Tom Brady to play much better this week and Jamal Lewis to abuse the Raiders uninterested D. The kitties escaped with a narrow victory and are looking for Terrell Owens to be bigtime and Deshaun Foster to come up big as well.


Gopher (0-1) vs. Nor Cal Crushers (1-0)
So which quarterbak is more likely to bounce back this week? The Crushers Drew Bledsoe or Gopher's Jake Delhome (my money is on Delhome. Bledsoe does not like facing the blitz). The problem for Gopher is Westbrooke is hurting and Julis Jones is sharing carries. Things aren't much better for the Crushers Willie PArker who could find it tough running agianst the Jags run D and who is Mike Bell?

Indiana Ironmen (0-1) vs.FreedomForce (0-1)
In spite of a blank spot on the roster FreedomForce has an advantage with Stephen Jackson running the ball (not sure what Corey Dillion can contribute but he is thunder to Lawrence Moroney's lightning and thunder usally gets the goal line carries). The Ironmen has Ahman Green who seems invisable. Perhaps Chad Johnson and the Cincinatti defense are the answer.


Santosh1002(1-0) vs. Mechanicatz (1-0)
The difference is the running backs. Lawrence Moroney is a rookie sensation but he has to split carries with Corey Dillion and unless he breaks a long run he is a speed guy and a bruiser like Corey Dillion usually gets the red zone carries. Who knows what to expect from Dominic Rhodes? No such problem with LaDanian Thomlinson or Warrick Dunn for Santosh.

CD League 2 Champs (0-1) vs.Piss Poor Piñatas (0-1)
Usually going with 2 featured back to the other teams 1 is usally a key to victory but when those 2 backs are the dissapointing Willis McGahee and Lamont Jordan vs. Fred Taylor that is no garuntee. Triple P has bigger probem having Charlie Frye going up against CDL2C's Carson Palmer.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

[quote=Koko Ed][quote=Koko Ed]

The FIRST Robotics League

Koko's X-Cats(1-0) vs. stantheman(1-0)
Having Aaron Brooks as your starting fantasy QB is like playing chicken with a train five feet from you with your back turned. Not really reccomended. Also who knows how much impact Lwrence Moroney can have splitting carries with Corey Dillion. Steve McNair is a better bet for the X-Cats since he will play it low risk against a disinterested Raiders D and Larry Johnson has to play better this week.


Cooney Quest(1-0) vs. Rhode Island Dynamic(0-1)
So long as the Dynamic have Peyton Manning who owns the Texans and Corey Dillon who may have to split carries with Moroney but is more likely to get end zone carreis they are looking good. The Quest are strong with Shaun ALexnader and Reggie Bush. Micheal Vick has demons to slay on SUnday agianst his personal enemy the Buccaneers.


Eat My Shorts(1-0) vs. FIRST Force(0-1)
EMS has LaDanian Thomlinson. They don't really need much else. FIRST Force needs Daunte Culpepper to play much better and something out of Domanic Rhodes.

Cromer Smash!(1-0) vs. Silver Lobos(0-1)
The Smash are looking for Tiki Barber to have a good day and good things from Willie Parker because Chad Pennington is probably not going to tear up New Englands D. The Lobos got Carson Palmer who will probably be more comfortable this week and DeShaun Foster to make a bigger contribution.

Nor Cal Crushers(1-0) vs. The Very Fast Blitz(0-1)
The Blitz Brian Westbrooke is hurting and their other two backs are part time contributors who aren't expected to do all that much ( Look out for Joseph Addai in the passing game though). How good can the Blitz Marc Brunell be aginst the nasty Cowboys D without Cinton Portis. My bet is not very good. The Crushers Kurt Warner should find the Seahawks D much tougher than the Niners D and Chester Taylor has a very angry Pantehrs D on the other side of the line from him.

T-Hawks (1-0) vs. Amazin' Blue(0-1_
Not much from the running game from either team but I'll take the T-Hawks Matt Hasselback over Amazin' Blue's Byron Lrftwich any day.

RPI10 (1-0) vs. Boilers 1529(0-1)
This is a tight one but Boilers 1529 has two backs capable of big games (Warrick Dunn and Carnell Williams) and RPI10 has Rudi Johnson but who knows what Cedric Benson can give? The QB matchup is pretty close as well with Eli Manning for RPI10 and Drew Brees for Boilers 1529. This one could go either way.

Evil Trav's Minions(1-0) vs. Meatball Artists(0-1)
Not sure is the Minons Donovan McNabb can repeat last weeks production nor if Frank Gore can do the same. Meanwhile the Meatball Artists have a trio backs in Stepen Jackson, Fred Taylor and Julius Jones and Marc Bulger facing a Niners D that is far from good.

Indiana Ironmen(1-0) vs. sigmakittens(0-1)
The kitties need Jake Plummer to play better whle Lamont Jordan and Willis McGahee Need to produce Jamal Lewis could be more than enough. The Ironmen have a lonelly Tom Brady and an invisable Ahman Green on their side.

{} (0-1)vs. Stevies Scapegoats(0-1)
The Scapegoats are a hurting outfit. Edgerrin James is their best bet and he didn't exactly tear up a weak Niners defense and plays a much tougher Seahawks defense this week. {} is better off with Ronnie Brown romping through a Bills run D that has seen better days and the return of Ben Roethlisberger.

Week II Postgame Analysis
 

This episode is brought to you by STECOP: the Society To Eventually COmbat Procrastination. Yay, STECOP!

Rhode Island Dynamic (0-1) d. Cooney Quest (1-0)
80-64
“So long as the Dynamic have Peyton Manning who owns the Texans and Corey Dillon who may have to split carries with Moroney but is more likely to get end zone carries, they are looking good.” Peyton Manning: 400 yards, 3 TDs, and 21 fantasy points. Dillon also added 10. “The Quest are strong with Shaun Alexander and Reggie Bush. Michael Vick has demons to slay on Sunday against his personal enemy the Buccaneers.” Michael Vick: 127 rushing yards, 1 passing TD, 1 Rushing TD, and 16 fantasy points. Alexander and Bush also combined for 14. While this was a hard fought game by Cooney, they were a little lacking in the middle offensive and receiver positions. Whereas Rhode Island’s fleet o’ receivers combined for 22, and was the major difference in this game.

stantheman (1-0) d. Koko's X-Cats (1-0)
53-43
“Having Aaron Brooks as your starting fantasy QB is like playing chicken with a train five feet from you with your back turned.” No real reason for me quoting that, I just wanted to hear it again. Plus, that’s one psychic point for Ed. Aaron Brooks subtracted 5 from StM’s score. Luckily, they had Maroney’s 12, Chicago’s 13, and Urlacher’s 11 to help offset this. Also important to note was that everyone (other than Brooks) contributed at least a point. Half the X-Cats defense looked great; Carolina had 10 and Julius Peppers scored 18. The other half, unfortunately, was a grand total of 0. There were also two 0s on offense, and nobody really stuck out for them. So despite a -5 from StM’s QB, they manage to hold on for the win.

FIRST Force (0-1) d. Eat My Shorts (1-0)
70-55
“EMS has LaDanian Tomlinson. They don't really need much else.” That first sentence is accurate; he had 17. The second sentence, not so much. While that 17 is certainly impressive, only two other players cleared 3. “FIRST Force needs Daunte Culpepper to play much better and something out of Domanic Rhodes.” They combined for 16. Good, not great. Enter Antonio Bryant and Adrian Wilson, who added 27 more. And all but one of the Force’s players cleared 3. So yes, EMS had LaDanian Tomlinson. But no, they really needed more.

Silver Lobos (0-1) d. Cromer Smash! (1-0)
66-40
It was a game full of surprises for the Smash; Pennington scored 13 in a losing effort against the Patriots, a Packer receiver scored 9, and their defense had three zeroes. The Lobos had a normal game though; Palmer scored 12, Vinatieri tallied 13, and their most remotely backward score this week had Buffalo taking in 15 points. Everybody contributed at least their small share, allowing the Lobos to sail to their second victory.

Nor Cal Crushers (1-0) d. The Very Fast Blitz (0-1)
65-30
Blitz: Defense: Non-existent: Irony. And other than Westbrook and Addai combining for 16, that was their story. Crushers: Defense: Actually there: Crushing. It was worth a combined 25. And wait, there’s more! (you see, that’s my way of making this sound more exciting. :p) Nor Cal added 14 thanks to Darrell Jackson. And while they didn’t have the greatest showings at QB and RB, they at least held their own. Alright, you all know Nor Cal won, I’m just trying to make this review look longer.

Amazin' Blue(0-1) d. T-Hawks (1-0)
42-31
We have a pretty lackluster game here, so I’ll give the basics. QBs were even, defenses were even, kicking was prettymuch even, and receiving was nigh even. Amazin’ Blue opened up this game though with their three running backs. Tatum Bell, Kevin Faulk, and Michael Turner combined for 17 points, all unanswered by the T-Hawks. It gave the Blue their first win.

RPI10 (1-0) d. Boilers 1529 (0-1)
81-45
You know, even if the Boilers could put up more than Glenn’s 10 and Brees’s 8 (plus a couple 7s), they still would’ve lost. They were already outdone with Manning’s 18 and Burress’s 12. And to top things off, RPI’s Rudy Johnson scored an unanswered 20. This gave the rest of the offense the ability to slack off (which, in all fairness, they did). But the defense was right there picking up the slack, making this game over before it began.

Evil Trav's Minions (1-0) d. Meatball Artists (0-1)
75-33
This game looks remarkably similar to the last one… On one side is three offensive players with decent scores (McNabb, Gore, and Chambers combined for 35), the rest of the offensive not showing up, and the defense doing their job (and mad props to Adalius Thomas and his 21). On the other side is a couple players scoring decently, but nothing the rest of the way down. Okay, so McNabb, Gore, and Chambers could’ve won on their own. So could the Minion’s defense, which combined for 36. We’re in “do the math” territory here.

Indiana Ironmen (1-0) d. sigmakittens (0-1)
75-38
Hey, Jake Plummer scored 7 more points than last week for the Kittens! Okay, so that’s still only a 1, but it is an improvement. Also unfortunately for the kitties, the best thing they had going for them was their defense, and their combined 23 was barely decent. The Ironmen’s only good offensive score was Chad Johnson’s 9, but they absolutely dominated on defense. Led by Baltimore’s 24 (highest single score of the week, BTW), this defensive outfit took 43 altogether. That alone is enough for a victory. The rest is just icing on the cake. Mmm… icing…

Stevies Scapegoats (0-1) d. {} (0-1)
65-41
The Scapegoats did all their work on Sunday night. Actually, four players did all their work for them: Joey Galloway (10), Jerricho Cotchery (13), Ryan Longwell (14), and Tampa Bay (13). Murphy’s Sunday, not Monday Squad did some work on Sunday too (DeAngelo Hall’s 12, Seattle’s 10, and Donald Driver’s 8), and were hoping to finish the job on Monday. You’d figure Roethlisberger and Porter would at least make this a close one (and in this analyst’s opinion, a good chance at victory). But no, the Steelers got pwned on Monday night, Roethlisberger and Porter combined for -2, and MS,nMS remains winless.

You'll notice a new stat in the standings: F.Rank. This is your ranking when it comes to fantasy points. I added this to help with my playoff analyses in the second half of the season, and because the highest ranking team in fantasy points gets an award at the end of the season (yes, I actually plan on giving out awards at the end of the season, really). It'll be called the Top Gun Award (shamelessly stolen from the list of Battlecry awards, not to be confused with the #1 Seed Award) I'll hopefully have a full list by the time my first half analysis goes up after week VII.

That being said, I'll see you all next week.

Re: Week II Postgame Analysis
 

The FIRST Robotics League

Koko's X-Cats (1-1) vs. Cooney Quest (1-1)
The X-Cats are in big trouble. No Larry Johnson (who hasn't been exactly lighting it up this year they now have to rely on backup Mike Anderson to provide the running game but their defense to probably provide points. THe Quest could simply kill them with Shaun Alexnader. WHat Reggie Bush does will be icing on the cake.

Eat My Shorts (1-1)vs. Rhode Island Dynamic (1-1)
It's bad enough the the Dynamic have Peyton Manning on their side but they also have two very capable running backs in Ronnie Brown and Cprey Dillion while EMS only have Duece McCallister who has to split carries with Bush.

FIRST Force (1-1) vs. [/b] Cromer Smash! (1-1)
Alex is angry at Eddie again and is basically sabatouging his own team (why do you keep joining Eddie's league when you never ever get along with him?) so FIRST Force gets a break.

Silver Lobos (1-1)[b] vs.Nor Cal Crushers (2-0)
The Crushers get a eager to show what he can do Clinton Portis to go with Minnasota workhorse CHester Taylor. THe Lobos got Carson Palmer who is looking for revennge against the Steelers but DeShaun Foster could be losing hi starting job.

The Very Fast Blitz (0-2) vs. T-Hawks (1-1)
The T-Hawks best bet is Matt Hasselback (CHris Brown hasn't shown much this season). The Blitz need more from Brain Westbrook and very much more from Marc Brunnel (they also need to fix thier roster. TO is on a bye and hurt and there is a not available defender and in this close matchup they cannot afford any blank spots).

Amazin' Blue(1-1) vs. RPI10 (2-0)
Both teams are going with two backs unfrotunately for Amazin' Blue they have three and Micheal TUrner is on a bye so his roster spot is wasted. RP110 has Rudi Johnson and Cedric Benson while Amazin' Blue has Tatum Bell and Kevin Faulk. I like RP110's backs better and RP110 has Eli Manning to Amazin' Blue's Byron Leftwich. Advantage RP110.

Evil Trav's Minions (2-0) vs. Boilers 1529 (1-1)
McNabb could put up some bigtime points for the Minons but as Travis pointed out to me at Wonderland he would hope more for a 41-38 game to a 41-0 game because he needs production from Frank Gore. Boilers 1529 has the NFL leading rusher Warrick Dunn but Cadillac WIlliams is not productive at all and Drew Brees is gonna be on the run all Monday night from that ferorcious Falcons pass rush.

Indiana Ironmen (2-0) vs. Meatball Artists (0-2)
I would have more confidence in the MEatball Artist chances if they didn't have the on a bye Julius Jones and two non existant defenders (one on IR) tking up roster space. THe IRonmen can be taken with an aging Ahman Green as their featured runner and Tom Brady now having to simply manage games.

Stevies Scapegoats (1-1) vs. sigmakittens (0-2)
The kitties are looking to bounce back and WIllis McGahee could be the key as he has previously owned the Jets at home as has Jamal Lewis agianst the Browns and Deangelo Willams is comming on strong. The SCapegoats have three backs as well but Edgerrin James is struggling behind a weak o-line, Maurice Hicks is stuck behind Frank Gore and Travis Henry is comming off and injury. Both teams have scary turnover prone quarterbacks. Brett Farve for the Scapegoats and Jake Plummer for the kitties. WHich ever quaterback makes less mistakes will win.

stantheman (2-0)vs. {} (0-2)
No that he would have been much help but giving a roster spot to Aaron Brooks who is on a bye and hurt is a big loss. Ben Roethlisberger is not a big fantasy contributor but you don't give up easy points to the competition. Now they need even more out of Laurence Maroney but if ROnnie Brown or Mike Bell produce for {} it won't matter.

Re: Week 1 Preview
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni Koko's X-Cats MechanicatzBig Pappi Nor Cal CrusherssigmakittensSantosh1002 FIRST Force ROFLvadersCromer Smash! Jedimasters1511T-hawksWe Inhale AudiblyIndiana Ironmen Gopher FreedomForceStevies Scapegoats Piss Poor PiñatasMC Shea The Jaguar Sharks

WEEK 2 RESULTS[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(2-0) 76.80 T-Hawks(1-1)64.07
Julius Peppers lead the X-Cats with 18.00 points. Darrell Jackson added 14.60 and Larry Johnson added 10.39. Robbie Gould led the T-Hawks with 13.00 points and Ray Lewis added 10 points but Daunte Culpepper continues to dissapoint.

Stevies Scapegoats(1-1) 91.80Cromer Smash! (0-2)71.81
The Smash have a big advantage having Peyton Manning over a very past his prime Brett Farve. The Scapegoats best hope lies in Edgerrin James and hoping the bottle top spins towards Travis Henry in the undefined Titans backfield. Might not matter against the very tough Chargers defense anyways.
Farve held his own agianst Manning (26.26 to 22.80) but James only scored 8.79 points and Henry was injured and did not play. Plexico Burress scored 13.20 points, Laveranues Coles scored 12.50 and Sebastian Janikowski scoed 11.00 points. The Scapegoats got 13.55 from Jerricho Cotchery and 10.00 from Dave Rayner.

Ni (2-0)112.14 FIRST Force (1-1)97.21
Thsi was one high scoring affair with Ni Having three players scoring over 20 points ( Donovan McNabb 21.32, Adalius Thomas with 21.00 and Nate Kaeding with 20.00) to FIRST Force having six players scoring in double figures ( Riann Lindell with 15.00 points, Frank Gore with 14.28, Shaun Alexander with 14.26, Joey Galloway and Dante Stallworth both with 11.30 and Lofa Tatupu with 10.00 points). Reuben Droughns added 13.26 points and the Seattle Seahawks added 10.00 points for Ni.

BIg Pappi(2-0) 99.08 ROFLvaders(1-1) 70.08
ROFLvaders surprised last week with 91 points in spite of a swiss cheese roster but it's hard to favor them when they have Kevin Faulk and Maurice Hicks vs. Rudi Johnson and Brando Jacobs.
27.59 to 5.94. Advantage Big Pappi (what's up with the name change)
ROLFVaders wildcard is the Bears defense which got motivation against the inexplicable confident Lions offense so they'll probably destroy them.
The Bears scored 16.02 points but the Jaguars D scored 13.96 for BIg Pappi.
Big Pappi also got 16.38 frpm Chad Pennington and 11.00 points from Rashean Mathis and 10.00 points Derrick Brooks. The ROFLvaders got 23.42 from Eli Manning and 17.00 from Adam Vinateri.

Jedimasters1511(1-1)79.14 MC Shea (0-2) 32.12
MC Shea needs Carnell WIlliams To start making plays because Cedric Benson is no where to be seen and Jedimasters1511 has Tiki Barber and Duece McCallister. Marc Bulger could be MC Shea's answer (actually the San Fracisco 49ers inept defense is MC Shea's hope for victory).
MC SHea got nothing from Williams and nothing from Bulger and liked it (ok they got 3.40 and 6.70 but it might as well be nothing) while Deuce McAllister scored 17.33, teh Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense scored 16.90, Drew Brees scored 11.04 and Chris Chambers scored 10.01 for the easy win.

sigmakittens(2-0) 59.36 The Jaguar Sharks(0-2) 51.93
The kitties outsciored the Jaguar Sharks 30.02 to 22.44 on defense to escape with a victory. Joseph Addai led them with 11.07 while Terry Glenn led the Jaguar Sharks 12.20 points.


Nor Cal Crushers (2-0)73.37 Gopher (0-2) 71.16
So which quarterbak is more likely to bounce back this week? The Crushers Drew Bledsoe or Gopher's Jake Delhome (my money is on Delhome. Bledsoe does not like facing the blitz).
Bledsoe 16.74 Delhome 3.62. Missed that one.

The problem for Gopher is Westbrook is hurting and Julis Jones is sharing carries. Things aren't much better for the Crushers Willie PArker who could find it tough running agianst the Jags run D and who is Mike Bell?
Gopher's crew came out on top 17.79 to 7.67.
The different is the kickers with the Crushers Lawrence Tynes scoring 8 points to David Akers 5.

Indiana Ironmen (1-1) 66.22 FreedomForce (0-2) 52.21
John Carney scored 14.00 points and Chad Johnson scored 11.40 points. for the Ironmen. The Atlanta Falcons defense scored 12.76 points and Corey Dillion scored 12.58 points but a blank roster spot and a 18.61 to 4.30 defit in the passing game cost them big time.

Mechanicatz (1-0)98.81 Santosh1002(1-0) 93.51
There were some big time scroign in this matchup. The Mechanicatz got 21.18 from Micheal Vick, 16.00 Matt Stover, 13.93 from Laurence Maroney, 11.00 from Jonathan Vilma, 10.94 from Dominic Rhodes and 10.18 from the Denver Broncos defense. Santosh1002 got 30.58 from the Baltimore Ravens defense, 22.22 from LaDanian Thomlinson, 10.25 from Warrick Dunn and 10.00 from Shayne Graham but two big fat zeros from their defenders killed Santosh in the end.

We Inhale Audibly (0-1) 70.54 Piss Poor Piñatas (0-1)64.48
Another name change.
Triple P got a huge boost from a 15.32 to a negative 9 points from Ryan Longwell over an innefective Michael Koenen but We inhale Audibly got 15.29 points from Carson Palmer over 4.80 points from Charlie Frye and the dfense 25.08 to 13.78 to make up the deficit. Antonio Bryant scored 13.55 points for We Inhale Audibly while Donald Driver scored 10.78 for Triple P.

Re: Week 1 Preview
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni Koko's X-Cats MechanicatzBig Pappi Nor Cal CrusherssigmakittensSantosh1002 FIRST Force ROFLvadersCromer Smash! Jedimasters1511T-hawksWe Inhale AudiblyIndiana Ironmen Gopher FreedomForceStevies Scapegoats Piss Poor PiñatasMC Shea The Jaguar Sharks

WEEK 3 SCEDULE[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(2-0)vs. Nor Cal Crushers (2-0)
The Crushers could take it with a hungry Clinton Portis and Willi Parker running all over the Bengals D but could lose it without a kicker. The X-Cats better hope for a breakout game from JP Losman.

ROFLvaders(1-1) vs.Cromer Smash! (0-2)
Another battle of the Manning brothers. Both have tough tasks today with the Smash's Peyton taking on the tough Jaguars D and the ROFLvaders Eli taking on the Seahwks in Seattle. Both mey be all both teams have with the wildcard being both teams D. New England for the Smash and Chicago for the ROFLvaders.


Ni (2-0)vs. Stevies Scapegoats(1-1)
Donovan McNAbb could be rediculous today for Ni as could Ronnie Brown.Thomas Jones could be the only hope for the Scapegoats unless Farve could make more plays than mistakes.

BIg Pappi(2-0) vs. MC Shea (0-2)
From the look of things MC Shea te Donald Sterling of the league and is nowhere to be seen and has left his roster unatended. Looks like Big Pappi gets an easy win.

Jedimasters1511(1-1)vs. The Jaguar Sharks(0-2)
Jedimaster could stand to fix the wasted roster spot on defense but so long as they have Duece McCallister and Tiki Barber there shouldn't be a problem at least agianst the Jaguar Sharks who's hopes lie in Tom Brady and Ron Dayne.

sigmakittens(2-0) vs. T-Hawks(1-1)
Nither teams quarterbacks inspire confidence but at least the T-Hawks Culpepper gets to play the Tennessee Titans and the kitteis Marc Brunnell gets to play the Houston Texans so both could bounce back. The kitteis have Deshaun Foster and Joseph Addai compared to the T-Hawks Chris Brown. So there may lie the difference.


FreedomForce (0-2) vs. Gopher (0-2)
Freedomforce has hamstrung themselves with a blank roster spot on defense.Hopefully Stpehen Jackson and Croey Dillion can make up the difference. Gopher needs Jake Delhome to show up and produciton out of Brian Westbrook again.



Indiana Ironmen (1-1) vs. Mechanicatz (2-0)
The Ironmen get Steve Smith back and Micheal Vick gets to run all over the place against a very weak Saints D. The Ironmen are missing a player on the D and Ben Roethlisberger will be hard pressed to keep up with Vick. Can Ahman Green pick up the slack?

Santosh1002(1-1) vs. Piss Poor Piñatas (0-2)
Santosh will miss Thomlinson terribly. SO much so that they left him on the roster even though he's not playing. Triple P could steal it if Mcahee runs all over the JEts like he usually does in Buffalo. Snatosh needs Warrck Dunn to save them.

We Inhale Audibly (1-1) vs.
FIRST Force (1-1)
FIRST Force is missing a defense (of course it's the CHiefs defesne so didi they ever really have one). The one two punch of SHaunn ALexnader and Frank Gore is more than enough. We Inhale AUdibly has Fred Taylor who needs to be big if they hope to beat INdy so he'll get alot of carries for sure. Carson Palmer face the Steelers and he could be big today too.

Week III Postgame Analysis
 

First off, I’d like to thank the good people of the City of Dallas for providing snarky analysts like myself enough material in the past week to last a full season.

Rhode Island Dynamic (1-1) d. Eat My Shorts (1-1)
58-55
Sadly, this was not the offensive shootout it was meant to be. Rhode Island’s fleet o’ receivers didn’t do much and their running game was non-existent, making Peyton Manning their only good offensive score with 14, 6 of which was from a naked bootleg. EMS got nothing from their QB, and their best score was John Casey’s 18, 10 of which were from two 50+ yard field goals. However, we had a surprisingly good defensive match here. Despite the Dynamic pulling a single goose egg from a pro-bowler who shall remain nameless, Vilma and Thomas both gave RI 10 points, and St. Louis added 9. For EMS, it was Josh Bullocks leading with 11, and the other three defensive spots adding 13. So in conclusion, defense played an important role, and Rhode Island won with a naked bootleg. Yes, all that leadup was just so I could say “naked bootleg” again. Naked bootleg, naked bootleg, naked bootleg. :D

Cooney Quest (1-1) d. Koko's X-Cats (1-1)
49-42
Holy Monday nighters! “The Quest could simply kill them with Shaun Alexander.” I quote this only because if you take Shaun Alexander out of the lineup (which BTW, Cooney will have to do for the next few weeks), this game is the X-Cats’. As it stands, this game was in limbo going into Monday night, with five Falcons and a Saint between the contestants (which would actually explain why this was such a low scoring match). The good stuff was on Sunday though, with McNair scoring 10 and Stover scoring 11 for the X-Cats. But Cooney was already better off, with Lindell, Brooking, and the aforementioned Alexander all giving Cooney 8, and Dallas Clark adding 7. It was a game of small-ball for sure, but the Quest came out of this one bigger.

FIRST Force (1-1) vs. Cromer Smash! (1-1)
draw
54-54
First off, let’s all take a moment to stare at Ed’s massive butchering of the word “sabotaging” :p. There’s a theme to this review now! Cromer’s upsides were Willie Parker (19) and Cincinnati (16). The Force’s upsides were the New York Jets (12), Dante Culpepper (9), and the fact that the Smash left a roster spot open on defense. Yes, had the Smash plugged in a single defender who got one little tackle in a game (I won’t even start with the two zeros from the other two defensive spots), they would’ve won. But instead, we have our first tie of the season.

Nor Cal Crushers (2-0) d. Silver Lobos (1-1)
61-54
Carson Palmer’s 12 is the only thing that really stands out for the Lobos, though I will give them credit for a decent conglomerate, with only four players scoring under 6. If they can bring their lower scores up a tiny bit, they will be a contender. Nor Cal, of course, is already a contender. Clinton Portis came out strong with 19, and was backed up by Darrell Jackson’s 15. Those two big scores were a solid foundation for the rest of the Crushers to do their job. Okay, so they got a -3 from their kicker. Pobody’s nerfect.

T-Hawks (1-1) d. The Very Fast Blitz (0-2)
58-52
What do you say about a team who has Brian Westbrook’s amazing score of 26, Mark Brunell’s 10, and five zeroes, one of which was T.O. on a bye? Suicidal, perhaps? Sorry, couldn’t resist ;). The T-Hawks played a lot like the Lobos did this week (and I mean that as a compliment), except they had and 18 from Hasselbeck to build upon. Everybody contributed. Which is more than I can say about the Blitz. Don’t let the score fool you; this game was not even close.

Amazin' Blue (1-1) d. RPI10 (2-0)
61-39
You know, I totally expected this to go the other way, or at least be a lot closer. But RPI just had problems scoring. Their receivers combined for -1, and other than Eli Manning’s 12 (most of which came from the fourth quarter again), the offense just wasn’t there. Even the defense’s combined 21 was outdone by Amazin’ Blue by 4. Speaking of the Blue, their two backs combined for 9 (a third was on a bye), and Torry Holt came through with 13. Just add Leftwich’s 8, and you have a well rounded victory for Amazin’ Blue.

Evil Trav's Minions (2-0) d. Boilers 1529 (1-1)
68-34
This seems to be a standard Minions game: just have as many guys as you can score big points. The big guys this time around were New Orleans (back in the Superdome!!!) with 17, McNabb with 14, and Ronde Barber with 12. We’re at the point where those three guys would’ve won on their own. The Boilers were barely there anyway, with only Philadelphia’s 9 standing in the way of the Minions. It and they were obviously steamrolled.

Indiana Ironmen (2-0) d. Meatball Artists (0-2)
55-26
I must say, even losing, Tom Brady looked good. Him and Baltimore led the Ironmen with 11s. And despite three zeroes from the offense, Indiana had everyone else clear 6. The Artists just had Bulger’s 9. Really, that was all. Okay I’m exaggerating a bit, but my point still stands.

Stevies Scapegoats (1-1) d. sigmakittens (0-2)
62-57
The best week the Kittens have, and they happen to be facing the surging Scapegoats. I mean, they looked like a solid team this week. So what went wrong? Nothing really. Heck, they even got a 14 from Plummer. McGahee and Indianapolis both scored 8. Maybe a better question isn’t how the Kittens lost, but how the Scapegoats won. I’ll give you three names: Favre (who, by all rights and means, should have actually blown the game for them), James, and Longwell. That’s a 19 and two 10s, respectively. See what happens when Brett Favre plays a team as bad as the Lions? The Scapegoats win.

stantheman (2-0) d. {} (0-2)
59-33
It seems that Murphy’s Sideway Seagull Thingies (seriously, turn your head sideways, those braces look like seagulls in the distance) just can’t catch a break. Roethlisberger was a dud again (you’d figure the Steelers would just go back to Charlie Batch), and their running game, which should be top notch, combined for just 4. Yes, STM was out a quarterback this week, but it really didn’t matter. Javon Walker’s 19 and John Carney’s 13 were plenty enough. Combine that with a decent defense, and woe is MSST.


::giggles at the fact that there are two .500 teams after an odd number of games:: Week III, other than the top two, looks NOTHING like it did after Week II. Still it's early, and fluctuations like that are bound to happen. I'll see you all next week.

Re: Week III Postgame Analysis
 

[quote=Koko Ed]

The FIRST Robotics League

Koko's X-Cats (1-2) vs. Eat My Shorts (1-2)
The main event of this battle is the X-Cats Larry Johnson vs. EMS's LaDanian THomlinson. The difference is while Thomlinson will be wrangling with the super nasty Baltimore Ravens defense, Johnson will be in cruise control vs. a porous Niners D. The X-Cats Drew Bledsoe could be the deciding factor against the Titans.

Rhode Island Dynamic (2-1) vs. Cromer Smash! (1-1-1)
GRUDE MATCH! While it would probably be more fun to watch these two in a cage match that's not what this game is about. So instead of watching Alex to to apply a smackdown on Eddie Alex is the one who could get smacked down by Peyton Manning. Jake Delhomme could hold his own for the Smash but LaDell Betts sure aint the answer in the running game.

stantheman (3-0) vs. Cooney Quest (2-1)
Technically the Quest have three running backs (Reggie Bush, Thomas Jones and Micheal Vick) while stantheman has Laurence Maroney and even more scary has Andrew Walter who was an embarrasment to the keystone kops in his NFL debut against the Raven a couple of weeks ago.


Nor Cal Crushers (3-0) vs.FIRST Force (1-1-1)
Not sure how long the Crushers Kurt Warner is going to be on the field due to his recent poor play but it shouldn't hurt them too much since they have CHester Taylor and Clinton Portis. FIRST Force's Daunte Culpepper has been a dissapointment so far but Houston is a great cure all as is the Jets defense for Domanick Rhodes. The question is; is it gonna be enough?

T-Hawks (2-1) vs. Silver Lobos (1-2)
Absentee owner alert!
The T-Hawks are making things easy for the Silver Lobos by sporting four blank spots on their roster. Matt Hasselback can only do so much for them (especially when he's afacing the Bears without his MVP running back). All it takes is Carson Palmer to do what he does best and it's over for the T-HAwks.

The Very Fast Blitz (0-3) vs. RPI10 (2-1)
Poor roster managment makes this an interesting game. Otherwise somebody pulls away. While The Very Fast Blitz is wasting roster space on an unavailable defender RP110 is missing Eli Manning and hasn't replaced him. That is just plain bad news. Now Rudi Johnson has to take up the slack. It's not as if The Very Fast Blitz running backs scare anyone (Brain Westbrook is a miscast third down back, Samkon Gado is a backup at best and Joseph Addai is splitting carries. Still if they do anything thiey will win.

Evil Trav's Minions (3-0) vs. Amazin' Blue (2-1)
Amazin' Blue didn't look like they had much of a chance even before three of his players went on a bye. WHo's gonna save thier butts now? Byron Lrftewich? Nate Clemens? Kevein Faulk? What McNabb does on Monday night and GOre does against KC will probably be more than enough to guide the Minions to victory.

Indiana Ironmen (3-0) vs. Boilers 1529 (1-2)
A close matchup that could be decided on how much Ahman Green makes a difference on Monday night, If the Packers fall way behind like I expect them to. The Ironmen would have no one else to turn to except Tom Brady who is looking for someone to thrown to. Warrick Dunn will run for the Falcons no matter what the score is and Drew Brees could be playing catchup all day with the Panthers.

Stevies Scapegoats (2-1) vs.Meatball Artists (0-3)
Doing without a kicker is not a good way to go in ot battle but the Meatball Artist want to go in that direction so whatever flauras your fauna. Stephen Jackson and Marc Bulger have to be bigtime but Julius Jones who has a history of big post bye weeks can carry the team on his bacvk himself. The SCapegoats could stand another big passing night to keep it close.

sigmakittens (0-3)vs. {} (0-3)
Both teams are missing a player on the roster but the kitties missing a quarterback is far worse than a defensive player (even if that defensive player is Joey Porter). First thing Murphy’s Sideway Seagull Thingies need is JP Losman to make something (good) happen. They also need Ronnie Brown to show up this week. Now while the kitties are missing Plummer they have three capable backs in Jamal Lewis, Willis McGahee and DeAngelo Williams to make up for the loss. Will it be enough? Tune in next week. Same FIRST time! Same FIRST channel!

Re: Week 1 Preview
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Nor Cal CrushersMechanicatzBig Pappi Ni Koko's X-Cats ROFLvadersWe Inhale AudiblyT-hawkssigmakittensFIRST Force Santosh1002 Gopher Jedimasters1511Stevies Scapegoats Cromer Smash! Piss Poor PiñatasIndiana Ironmen The Jaguar SharksFreedomForceMC Shea






WEEK 3 RESULTS[/center]
Nor Cal Crushers (3-0)100.96 Koko's X-Cats(2-1)52.96
The Crushers could take it with a hungry Clinton Portis and Willi Parker running all over the Bengals D but could lose it without a kicker. The X-Cats better hope for a breakout game from JP Losman.
The running backs did settle the matter scoring 46.83 points combined. Nearly the whole X-Cats point total by themselves. JP Losman did his part giving the X-Cats 11.68 points but outside of Darrell Jackson scoring 17.60 points no one else on the X-Cats stepped up. Roy Williams added 14.65 points, the Miami Dolphins defense scored 11.88 points, and David Carr scored 11.55 points.

ROFLvaders(2-1) 62.16 Cromer Smash! (1-2) 42.87
Another battle of the Manning brothers. Both have tough tasks today with the Smash's Peyton taking on the tough Jaguars D and the ROFLvaders Eli taking on the Seahwks in Seattle. Both mey be all both teams have with the wildcard being both teams D. New England for the Smash and Chicago for the ROFLvaders.
The Manning brothers battled to a near standstill with Eli winning this one 17.50 to 16.57 but the defensive battle told the tale of who won this one. While the Smash's defense totaled 4.96 points the ROFLvaders got 28.26 points. Tatum Bell added 11.34 points for the Smash.

Stevies Scapegoats(2-1) 88.61Ni (2-1)68.30
Donovan McNAbb could be rediculous today for Ni as could Ronnie Brown.Thomas Jones could be the only hope for the Scapegoats unless Farve could make more plays than mistakes.
WHile McNabb had a nice game with 18.17 points Farve had a big day scoring 24.53 points. The SCapegoats got 14.24 points from the Indianiapolis Colts defense and Gerald Hayes scored 12 points. The Seattle Seahawks scored 11.30 points for Ni.

BIg Pappi(3-0) 78.29 MC Shea (0-3)43.79
MC Shea got good play from three starters with 12.00 points from Jeff Wilkins, 11.69 points c from Carnell Willims and 10.30 points from Marc Bulger but they also have six big fat zeros on their score sheet. Easy pickings for Big Pappi who got 24.00 points from John Kasay and beatdown just went form there. 10.68 points from the St. Louis Rams defense and 10.38 points from Chad Pennington was more than enough for Big Pappi to pull away.

The Jaguar Sharks(1-2)74.12 Jedimasters1511(1-2)69.27
Jedimaster could stand to fix the wasted roster spot on defense but so long as they have Duece McCallister and Tiki Barber there shouldn't be a problem at least agianst the Jaguar Sharks who's hopes lie in Tom Brady and Ron Dayne. OK mayber they could've used the blank roster spot as niether Barber or McAllister made it into double figures ( 8.84 and 8.24 points respectively) it was the defense who showed up with 11.28 points from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense scoring 11.28 and 11.00 points from Josh Bullocks. While Ron Dayne didn't make it into double figures neither he did score 9.64 points and Brady scored 12.99 points. Add 11.70 points for the Minnesota Vikings defense and 10.75 points for Larry Fitzgerald the Jaguar Sharks pulled off the upset.

T-Hawks(2-1) 68.50 sigmakittens(2-1) 62.94
Niether teams quarterbacks inspire confidence but at least the T-Hawks Culpepper gets to play the Tennessee Titans and the kitteis Marc Brunnell gets to play the Houston Texans so both could bounce back. The kitteis have Deshaun Foster and Joseph Addai compared to the T-Hawks Chris Brown. So there may lie the difference.
Both quarterbacks accounted for themselves very well with Culpepper scoring 10.07 points and Marc Brunnell scored 11.35 but none of the running backs did much of anything. It was actually the kicking game that settled the matter with the T-Hawks Robbie Gould scoring 18.00 points to the kitties Neil Rackers only scoring 2.00 points. The Tennessee Titans defense added 12.04 points and Andre Johnson scored 10.35 points for the T-Hawks. The Philadelphia Eagles defense scored 11.60 for the kitties.


Gopher (1-2) 88.90FreedomForce (0-3) 52.67
Freedomforce has hamstrung themselves with a blank roster spot on defense.Hopefully Stpehen Jackson and Corey Dillion can make up the difference. Gopher needs Jake Delhome to show up and produciton out of Brian Westbrook again.
Jacksonand Dillon combined barely made it into double digits. THe New York Jets defense's 14.46 Byron Leftwich's 11.45 points was all they had to stand on. Brian Westbrook was sick with 29.65 points and Keyshawn Johnson scored 18.93 points.



Mechanicatz (3-0) 70.30Indiana Ironmen (1-2) 56.87
The ultimate irony occured for the Ironmen. Thier best scorer was the Cincinatti Bengals defense who scored 20.12 points but it was at the expense of their own startig quarterback Ben Roethlisberger who scored a disaterous -1.84 points. John Carney added 15.00 points but the damage has been done. No one else stepped up. The Mechanikatz didn't exactly have any cold blooded killers being led by Matt Stover with 15.00 points and Jonathan Vilma scored 10.00 points but while no one else scored in double figures they did score enough.

Piss Poor Piñatas (1-2) 73.31 Santosh1002(1-2) 55.47
Santosh will miss Thomlinson terribly. SO much so that they left him on the roster even though he's not playing. Triple P could steal it if Mcahee runs all over the JEts like he usually does in Buffalo. Snatosh needs Warrck Dunn to save them.
Triple P did steal it with McGahee's help scoring 12.28 and 13.00 points from Rian Longwell but who expected 16.49 from Charlie Frye? Warrick Dunn didn't come through but Matt Hasselback scored 28.54 points and the Baltimore Ravens defense scored 12.58 points but three zeroes on the scoresheet is too much to overcome.

We Inhale Audibly (2-1) 89.16
FIRST Force (1-2)73.47
21.38 points from Carson Palmer is no surprise. But 22.06 points from the Saints defense sure is! Add 14.00 points from Torry Holt and 10.00 from Zach Thomas and you have the makings of an upset. FIRST FOrce made it interesting with 20.00 points form Antione Winfield, 11.48 points from Shaun Alexnader and 11.27 points from Steve McnAir but it's obvious that they missed having any kind of defense to make some points for them.

Re: Week 1 Preview
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Nor Cal CrushersMechanicatzBig Pappi Ni Koko's X-Cats ROFLvadersWe Inhale AudiblyT-hawkssigmakittensFIRST Force Santosh1002 Gopher Jedimasters1511Stevies Scapegoats Cromer Smash! Piss Poor PiñatasIndiana Ironmen The Jaguar SharksFreedomForceMC Shea






WEEK 4 SCHEDULE[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(2-1) vs. FreedomForce (0-3)
FreedomForce seems to be desperate to give the X-Cats the vicotry this week by having three blank spots on the roster. The X-Cats could practically kill the FreedomForce with Larry Johnson.

Cromer Smash! (1-2) vs. MC Shea (0-3)
See preview above and apply it to MC Shea except it's Peyton Manning who could kill MC SHea by himself instead of Larry Johnson.

Ni (2-1) vs. ROFLvaders(2-1)
OK this is getting rediculous!
A third owner in a row who has ignored their roster and has two blank spots with players on a bye. All it take is DOnvan McNAbb blah blah blah blah blah...

FIRST Force (1-2) vs. Stevies Scapegoats(2-1)
Finally! Someone who is taking care of their rosters (what does it take, all of five minites?). Unfortunately for the Scapegoats Brett Farve is about all they really have. The wildcard is Chester Taylor for FIRST Force running on the undersized Bills run D and Frank Gore could get some today as well.

The Jaguar Sharks(1-2) vs. Big Pappi(3-0)
The Jaguar Sharks biggest problem is they have to rely on Jamal Lewis slogging through the nasty Chargers run defense and Tom Brady navigating the opportunistic Bengals defense.. Big Pappi Chad Pennington lighting it up this year for them and Rudi Johnson frunning strong for them.

T-Hawks(2-1)vs. Jedimasters1511(1-2)
Back to the non-roster amnagement again...
Let's see T-Hawks could beat the Jedimaster1511 with uhm.. err...Daunte Culpepper? No! NO! Marvin Harrison! That's who I meant. Marvin. Harrison.

Nor Cal Crushers (3-0)vs.sigmakittens(2-1)
Not sure if Marc Brunell will have as good a week for the kitties he had last week agaisnt a much tougher Jags defense but I suspect Drew Bledsoe will play better against the Titans who just plain seem overwhelmed. Not sure if Clinton Portis will be a big factor for the Crushers this week which opens the door for DeShaun Foster to steal one away for the kitties.




Mechanicatz (3-0) vs. Gopher (1-2)
Gopher looks like a live underdog with Brain Westbrook facing another weak defense and Julius Jones who has a history of strong performances off of byes. The MEchanikatz need Micheal Vick to make something (good) happen.

Piss Poor Piñatas (1-2) vs. Indiana Ironmen (1-2)
Triple P is lacking a D but Charlie Fry could be guy (at least this week) and if they can get anything form Jordan and McGahee Triple be could be celebrating (whee!). Ahman Green is the Ironmen's best hope cause anyone who puts their faith in a lions quarterback (Kitna) could end up looking like a dope.

We Inhale Audibly (2-1) vs. Santosh1002(1-2)
Santosh needs big games from THomlinson and Dunn because Hassleback cannot be counted on going against the Bears D without Alexander. WIA has Carson Palmer who looks like he has recovered from his injury and Fred Taylir and Edgerrin James could be factors for them. If not they could possibly lose this one.

Week IV Postgame Analysis
 

Okay, so all but one of the undefeated teams lost, and all but one of the winless teams won. That won’t turn things upside down, will it?

Rhode Island Dynamic (2-1) d. Cromer Smash! (1-1-1)
86-46
And we start off the week with a bang. Rhode Island came out shooting, firing a Peyton Manning 14. But it hit Cromer’s bow, not doing too much damage. The Smash were even able to fire back a Jake Delhomme 11, even though it barely scratched the Dynamic’s armor. But then the Dynamic shot a nasty 18 points from Dante Hall into the Smash’s flank (see what I did there: flank, flanker… oh, nevermind, most people under 30 won’t understand this one), followed up by two 11s from their twin guns named Zach Thomas and Olindo Mare. While the Smash learned from last week to pack three defensive players (which, to their credit, held the bulkheads pretty well with 19), when they loaded Cincinnati into their main cannon, it up and ‘sploded on them (a -3). With Rhode Island’s remaining shots (all but two of which cleared 5), they easily sunk the Smash.

Koko's X-Cats (1-2) d. Eat My Shorts (1-2)
57-49
Hey, Larry Johnson actually did something! Which is good, because his 20 was desperately needed for the X-Cats. Their only other relatively decent scores were Ed Reed’s 10 and Drew Bledsoe’s 9. Luckily, they were also playing EMS. EMS started off great with Santana Moss’s 25, but unlike the X-Cats, didn’t have anything backing it up. Heck, their defense totaled a combined 3 (this is including San Francisco’s -5). So sadly, Moss’s inspired performance in that overtime game against the Jaguars went to waste.

stantheman (3-0) d. Cooney Quest (2-1)
62-49
Wow, the Quest looked good, what with Jones’s 16, Atlanta’s 18, and Vick’s 7. They also had… well, you see… they had a backup of… Oh, they didn’t. My mistake. It also probably didn’t help that they were facing STM’s Laurence Maroney on the best week of his still short career (that’s 19, for those of us counting). They also had that stonewall of a defense, Chicago, score 12. And while the rest of the offense put up sub-par numbers, the rest of the defense came through, adding 23. Compare this to the rest of Cooney’s defense, who only added 4, and you can easily see why STM is now the league’s lone undefeated team.

FIRST Force (1-1-1) d. Nor Cal Crushers (3-0)
67-45
“Not sure how long the Crushers’ Kurt Warner is going to be on the field due to his recent poor play but it shouldn't hurt them too much…” Uh huh… And here we begin the story of Nor Cal’s utter collapse this week with a Kurt Warner -3. Yes, Portis had 13 and Scobee contributed 12, but the rest of the Crusher’s powerhouse offense was anything but. “FIRST Force's Daunte Culpepper has been a disappointment so far, but Houston is a great cure-all, as is the Jets defense for Dominic Rhodes.” Ed got this right; they combined for 17. Add the one Cardinal who actually did something this game, Adrian Wilson, and his 14. “The question is: is it gonna be enough?” The answer is: yes.

We now pause for intermission because Miss Kitty Fantastico wants me to play with her, and she won’t stop meowing until I do.

…

And now the cat’s sleeping, so we’re back!

Silver Lobos (1-2) d. T-Hawks (2-1)
77-66
See, I’d have thought this one would be a quarterback shootout. Boy, was I wrong. Both Hasselbeck and Palmer scored zeros, and that was only because their tackles helped negate one of their interceptions. Nonetheless, I’d still put this as my game of the week. The T-Hawks had three 10s from Steve Smith, Jason Hanson, and Ray Lewis, topped off by the Kansas City DEF’s 20. Imagine what would’ve happened had Matt Hasselbeck (and the rest of the Seahawks for that matter) actually showed up? They may have won. But it wasn’t meant to be. The Lobos with Maurice Jones-Drew’s 14, Andre Johnson’s 13, DeShaun Foster’s 12, Cato June’s 10, and all around better numbers at their lower end of the spectrum were just too much. Now imagine if Carson Palmer (and the rest of the Bengals, for that matter) actually showed up. The Lobos’s score would’ve been through the roof. But they’ll still take the victory.

The Very Fast Blitz (0-3) d. RPI10 (2-1)
44-31
OMG, the Blitz had a defense this week! Okay, not the greatest defense in the world with only a combined 14, but every score helps in this low scoring match. In other words, Mark Brunell’s 17 and Joseph Addai’s 10 really helped. RPI’s problem was that their good players were on byes. They tried to compensate with Rudi Johnson’s 10, Miami’s 9, and Graham’s 7. Unfortunately, you can count the rest of their scoring on a single hand. So the Blitz manage to steal their first win.

Amazin' Blue (2-1) d. Evil Trav's Minions (3-0)
73-63
“Amazin' Blue didn't look like they had much of a chance even before three of his players went on a bye. Who’s gonna save their butts now? Byron Leftwich? Nate Clemens? Kevin Faulk?” Survey says: Justin Miller?!? I’m sure you’re all joining me now asking who the heck Justin Miller is. The short answer is that he scored 24. Also, the aforementioned Leftwich, Faulk, and Clemens combined for 28, and Torry Holt added 12. And let’s be fair: the Minions prettymuch played like they had Sunday off, with their only noticeable score being Bernard Berrian (again I say: who?) and his 12. Yes, McNabb had 25 on Monday, but the game was already over; all that accomplished was keeping the Minions up on top of fantasy points. While that’s helpful, we still lose another undefeated team.

Boilers 1529 (0-3) d. Indiana Ironmen (3-0)
61-46
The Boilers performance this week can be summed up with two words: Glenn (16) and Brees (15). Not to mention that their two other receivers combined for 10, and they had a running game. Brady gave 10 points to the Ironmen, and their defense was the better of the two. But the rest of their offense was pretty lackluster, allowing a winless team to knock off an undefeated team.

And now my cat wants food. Apparently, you need to feed them… Feel free to twiddle your thumbs for the next couple minutes.

…

And we’re back.

Meatball Artists (0-3) d. Stevies Scapegoats (2-1)
63-47
“Stephen Jackson and Marc Bulger have to be bigtime…” I’d consider a 13 and 23, respectively, pretty big. “…but Julius Jones, who has a history of big post-bye weeks, can carry the [Meatball Artists] on his back himself.” A 13. Not quite their best score, but very helpful, Okay, I can count the rest of their scoring on one hand once I add New England’s 9, but let’s look at what the Scapegoats brought. Favre scored 26 fewer points in the QB spot. Their defense was okay with 24 points, but that’s where a good deal of their scoring came from. The offense just couldn’t keep up, and while 58 of the Artists’ points came from only four players, it was still more than enough to win their first game.

{} (0-3) d. sigmakittens (0-3)
59-41
How humorous is it that the one week Roethisberger is on a bye is the week Murphy’s Anti Steelers get their first win? Heck, J.P. Losman is having a better season than Roethisberger; he tallied 8 this week. Which, BTW, is 8 more than Plummer got for the Kittens on a bye this week. You’ll notice that their best score was a 9 for McGahee. That’s right, nobody on the Sigmakittens hit double digits. Meanwhile, the Anti Steelers got three double-digit scores from Marques Colston (13), Jeff Wilkins (13), and DeAngelo Hall (12). Somebody had to get their first win here, and this time, it was MAS.

Aww... I didn't get to use the ±0 this week. Actually, that just goes to show you how much jumping there was this week. Heck, Koko Ed and his X-Cats jumped up six spots. And ironically, all the chaos with the undefeated teams losing and the winless teams winning actually evened all the brackets out.

Now my cat has to pee. So I'll see you all next week.

Re: Week IV Postgame Analysis
 

The FIRST Robotics League

Koko's X-Cats (2-2) vs. Cromer Smash! (1-2-1)
This game is all about Larry Johnson. If he runs wild on the Cardinals the X-Cats win. If he doesn't then it's anybodys game with most of the players facing tough matchups, Cromeir Smash's Jake Delhomme could go big against the Browns


Rhode Island Dynamic (3-1) vs. Nor Cal Crushers (3-1)
The Crushers biggest weakness is relaince on the now benched Kurt Warner. Now they have no one to combat Peyton Manning who's getting a ton of free shots at the non-existant Titans defense. Now the point difference has to be made up by their threee backs Fred Taylor, Clinton Portis and Kevin Jones and I don't know if they can do that.

Eat My Shorts (1-3)vs. Cooney Quest (2-2)
When you leave three roster spots blank including the quarterback you don't really have much of a chance at all. Eat My Shorts did such a thing. If McAllister and Thomlinson do their thing the Quest run away with it.

FIRST Force (2-1-1) vs. T-Hawks (2-2)
There is no one player who really stands out here unless you consider the two feature recievers (The T-Hawks Steve Smith who is probably still rusty recovering from his injuries and FIRST Force's dissapointing Randy Moss). I really have no idea who will win this one.

Silver Lobos (2-2) vs. RPI10 (2-2)
Another tough game. The hot Bear offense (I need to say that again so I can actually believe it) is featured. On one side the Lobos have quarterback Rex Grossman while RP110 has Cedric Benson. Who steps up?

The Very Fast Blitz (1-3) vs. Evil Trav's Minions (3-1)
The Very Fast Blitz are in trouble with players on a bye or injured thus maing things very easy for the Minions McNabb to be good and either Barber or Gore to have a good game (and for Gore to stop fumbling).

Amazin' Blue (3-1) vs.Indiana Ironmen (3-1)
Amazin ' Blue is the first team I have seen that has three running backs and they may not even get 10 total points from these guys. The Ironmen aren't much better. Their top scorer could be the Ravens defense.

Boilers 1529 (1-3) vs. Stevies Scapegoats (2-2)
Another close matchup. Another game featuring two dissapointing running backs (Boilers 1529 Carnell Williams and the Scapegoats Edgerrin James). Boilers 1529 could get the win from Drew Brees production.

Meatball Artists (1-3) vs. {} (1-3)
Another perplexing matchup featuring unattended rosters (that somehow equalled out beteen the two teams. Lucky them) I guess if I had to pick an advnatage it would be for the Meatball Artist who have a quarterback more likely to have a good day (Marc Bulger over JP Losman) and three backs who are more ikely to be productive to two (Stepehn Jackson, Julius Jones and Fred Taylor vs. Ronnie Brown and Reuben Droughns).

stantheman (4-0) vs. sigmakittens (0-4)
Well if you just went by the records alone stantheman should be pencille din for a win right away but something is nagging me. I think it's that they have Andrew Walter at quarterback. This kid could end up taking points from him. The kitten need two of their three backs McGahee, Lamont Jordan and Jamal Lewis to bring something to the table in order to get the win.

Re: Week 1 Preview
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Nor Cal CrushersMechanicatzBig Pappi Ni Koko's X-Cats T-hawksFIRST Force Cromer Smash! Santosh1002 sigmakittensPiss Poor Piñatas ROFLvadersWe Inhale AudiblyGopher Jedimasters1511Stevies Scapegoats The Jaguar SharksIndiana Ironmen FreedomForceMC Shea






WEEK 4 RESULTS[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(3-1) 80.05 FreedomForce (0-4) 71.43
FreedomForce seems to be desperate to give the X-Cats the victory this week by having three blank spots on the roster. The X-Cats could practically kill the FreedomForce with Larry Johnson.
Thank GOdf for Larry Johnson because without him the X-Cats would have lost. His 23.66 points covered for disappointing production from Reggie Bush, Darrell Jackson and Micheal Jenkins who all combined for 9.01 points. FreedomForce made it interesting by getting 23.05 points from Byron Leftwich, 17.53 points from Stepehen Jackson and 11.53 points from Corey Dillion but they lost because they didn't do anything with thier roster. They could have gotten 4.35 points from Jermaine Wiggins. A healthy 16.00 points from John Hall and inexcusably wasted 21.84 points from Justin Miller. 5 minutes was all it took. No one to blame but themselves.

Cromer Smash! (2-2) 90.63 MC Shea (0-4) 61.41
See preview above and apply it to MC Shea except it's Peyton Manning who could kill MC SHea by himself instead of Larry Johnson.
Manning did his part scoring 16.47 points but they also got help from Reggie WIlliams who scored 18.70 points, 18.00 points from Josh Scobee, and 13.66 points from the New England Patriots defense. MC SHea made it a little interesting with 28.56 points from Marc Bulger and 18.00 points from Jeff Wilkins. Unlike FreedomFORCe there was no help waiting on the bench for them as they had no backup defense or defenders and only Samkon Gado and his measley 1.43 point s to make up for the absence of Carnell WIlliams.

Ni (3-1) 79.02 ROFLvaders(2-2) 43.67
OK this is getting rediculous!
A third owner in a row who has ignored their roster and has two blank spots with players on a bye. All it take is DOnvan McNAbb blah blah blah blah blah...
Well McNabb basically did almost outscore the ROFLvaders with his hearty 30.21 and he was Ni's only double digit scorer. All the ROFLvaders had going for them was the Bears D who scored 16.44 points. SO what's the ROFLvaders story? Well they had no backup quarterback (Charlie Batch wouldn't have played anyways) Daniel Wilcox scored 7.60 and Orlindo Mare scored 12.00 points. They wouldn't have won but it would have been more respectable.

FIRST Force (2-2) 77.48 Stevies Scapegoats(2-2) 60.77
You know it's not your week when you lose becuae of the Kansas City Chiefs defense (27.08 points). Steve McNair added 12.02 points for FIRST FOrce, The SCapegoats got 20.98 points from THomas Jones and 14.00 points from Dave Rayner but getting -2.84 from Brett Farve is the tack in the road to blow out their tires on the road to victory.

Big Pappi(4-0) 85.87The Jaguar Sharks(1-3)85.58
Big Pappi escaped by the narrowest of margins with 20.84 points from Kevin Jones, 13.26 points from Rudi Johnson and 12.55 points from Bernard Berrian
The Jaguar Sharks got 18.48 points from Terry Glenn, 15.29 points from Tom Brady and 12.00 points from Chris Hope. The final margin was provided by Eagles linebacker Matt McCoy and his 7.00 points to give Big Pappi the win.

T-Hawks(3-1)67.50 Jedimasters1511(1-3)51.12
Back to the non-roster amnagement again...
Let's see T-Hawks could beat the Jedimaster1511 with uhm.. err...Daunte Culpepper? No! NO! Marvin Harrison! That's who I meant. Marvin. Harrison.
OK T-Hawks win with the tag team of Robbie Gould (16.00), Andre Johnson (14.30), Daunte Culpepper (10.98) and Ray Lewis (10.00). Jedimasters1511 got 17.18 points from Drew Bress and nothing much more from anyone else. So what was on their bench? Well theres 1.90 points from Ryan Moats and no backup defens eor defenders so they were basically screwed.

Nor Cal Crushers (3-0)98.68 sigmakittens(2-1) 84.44
The Crushers did it with six double digit contributors. 17.05 points from Clinton Portis, 14.00 points from Adrian Wilson, 13.58 points from Drew Bledsoe, Lawrence Tynes with 13.00 points, 11.28 points from the Miami Dolphins defense, and 10.28 points from Roy Williams. The kitties kept it close with 22.58 points from Marc Brunell, 14.55 points from DeShaun Foster and 11.26 points from the Philadelphia Eagles defense.


Mechanicatz (4-0) 89.78 Gopher (1-3)73.19
Gopher looks like a live underdog with Brain Westbrook facing another weak defense
ANd there lies the architech of their defeat. No Westbrook to play for them and he was a last minute scratch.
and Julius Jones who has a history of strong performances off of byes.
15.57 points is pretty good as is Jake Delhomes 15.37 points but that'a all they got.
The Mechanikatz need Micheal Vick to make something (good) happen.
Well he made alot happen. He threw an interception for a touchdown and scored 8.48 points but who expected 22.27points from Laurence Maroney, 12.85 points from Steve Smith ( I guess he's feelig better), and 11.94 points from Dominic Rhodes?

Piss Poor Piñatas (2-2) 85.66 Indiana Ironmen (1-3) 52.40
Triple P is lacking a D but Charlie Fry could be guy
18.02 points.
if they can get anything form Jordan and McGahee Triple be could be celebrating (whee!).
16.93 and 13.40 points respectively.
Ahman Green is the Ironmen's best hope cause anyone who puts their faith in a lions quarterback (Kitna) could end up looking like a dope.
Late pregame scratch. Kitna scored a respactable 10.66 points but outside of Santana Moss' 25.90 poits there was nada from the roster.
Todd Heap scored 10.00 points for Triple P.

Santosh1002(2-2) 52.79 We Inhale Audibly (2-2) 46.34
A battle of epic futility,
WIA got 12.60 points from TOrry Holt and 11.00 points from Zach Thomas but Carson Palmer laid a particlarly rancid rotten egg with 0.90 points. Santosh got 12.28 points from the Baltimore Ravens defense and 11.00 points from Shayne Graham but kept it close but getting zero points from all of their defenders

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Nor Cal CrushersMechanicatzBig Pappi Ni Koko's X-Cats T-hawksFIRST Force Cromer Smash! Santosh1002 sigmakittensPiss Poor Piñatas ROFLvadersWe Inhale AudiblyGopher Jedimasters1511Stevies Scapegoats The Jaguar SharksIndiana Ironmen FreedomForceMC Shea






WEEK 5 SCEDULE[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(3-1) vs. Mechanicatz (4-0)
The X-Cats are depending on Larry Johnson because JP Losman could be a big laibility against the Bears defense. Meanshile Rex Grossman, Laurence
Maroney and Steve Smith are huge threats for the Mechnicatz. The X-Cats second best hope is actually the San Deigo Chargers defense.

Cromer Smash! (2-2) vs. The Jaguar Sharks(1-3) Manning could be just plain nasty today for the Smash which might be good because no one else really stands out on the roster.Brady is the Jaguar Sharks best bet is Tom Brady. Jamal Lewis should be a better bet than he is.

Ni (3-1) vs. MC Shea (0-4)
MC SHea is waitng for Carnell Williams to show up this season so for now Marc Bulger is their best bets. Ni has Donovan McNabb but the Cowboys D is pretty tough as is the Patriots D for Ronnie Brown so Ni is vulnerable.

Stevies Scapegoats(2-2) vs. ROFLvaders(2-2)
The ROFLvaders are ignoring their roster again so they need Eli Manning to be red hot. The Scapegoats are hping Farve doesn't kill them again but THimas Jones could be great for them.

Big Pappi(4-0) vs. T-Hawks(3-1)
The T-Hawks are hoping Daunte Culpepper doesn't lose them this game. Their best bet may be their kicker Robbie Gould. Big Pappi has potential for breakout players in Chad Pennington, Kevin Jones, and Robbie Brown but they could also be non factors and the interment of their demise.

Jedimasters1511(1-3) vs. Nor Cal Crushers (4-0)
The Crushers know what they are getting from Clinton Portis but it's what Drew Bledsoe brings to the table that will really dertime how they will go. Well maybe not so much since Jedimasters1511 didn't bother adjusting his roster and unless Drew Brees and Tiki Barber play knockout games they really don't have a chance.

sigmakittens(2-2)vs. FreedomForce (0-4)
FreedomForce hasn't bothered with teir roster at all and is gonna lose (I have a proposal. All the owners who have not taken care of their teams should not be invited back. All the other owners have put in the time and effort and if they cannot be bothered they should not be here).


Gopher (1-3)vs. Piss Poor Piñatas (2-2)
Triple P needs WIllis McGahee to make things happen and Lamont Jordan to take advantage of the Niners. Gopher has capable players in Jake Delhome and Julius Jones who can make big things happen for their respective teams, If they do not Gopher is going to be in pretty big trouble.

Indiana Ironmen (1-3) vs. We Inhale Audibly (2-2)
WIA is hoping Edgerrin James can pentrate the CHiefs defense which is playing much better under Herman Edwards. Damon Huard could be a mystery guest with him maing plays against the Cardinals defense. The Ironmen need Ahman Green back on the field and Santana Moss to continue his high level of paly.

FIRST Force (2-2) vs. Santosh1002(2-2)
Santosh ahs a quarterback, a running back and a kicker on a bye. So why bother analysing this game? They have no way to win.

Week V Postgame Analysis
 

No opening remarks today. Oh, wait...

Nor Cal Crushers (3-1) d. Rhode Island Dynamic (3-1)
78-58
On a good note for Rhode Island: they win the QB battle 9 to -4. On a good note for the Crushers: well, just about everything else. Where they faltered in quarterbacks, they made up everywhere else. The rest of their offense outplayed the Dynamic’s, with Anquan Boldin’s 10 and Josh Scobee’s 11 having a cakewalk against Wes Welker’s 10 (and virtually no offensive support) for Rhode Island. Rhode Island’s defense played better, but came across Nor Cal’s 22 from Jacksonville and a combined 25 from Bulluck, McGee, and Fletcher (that’s 44 points from the defense alone). The Dynamic didn’t stand a chance.

Koko's X-Cats (2-2) d. Cromer Smash! (1-2-1)
60-52
I’m sensing a pattern to QB battles this week… the Smash won that one 7 to -3. They also won the rest of the offense, with only Larry Johnson’s 12 providing any relief for the X-Cats there. But then we move to defense, where Cromer has been having trouble all season. The Smash could only score 10 on defense, leaving the door wide open for the X-Cats. They stepped through said door with a Carolina 12, a 10 from Julius Peppers, and a 13 from Karlos Dansby (who?). So we have another game where the team with the best defense wins.

Eat My Shorts (1-3) d. Cooney Quest (2-2)
58-26
“When you leave three roster spots blank including the quarterback you don't really have much of a chance at all.” Not that there was anything Cooney could do about it (no backups in any of the positions on a bye). Reggie Bush finally gave some quality pointage (hooray for Eddieisms) with 13, but that was all the Quest had. EMS prettymuch won just by the fact that they had more players. Their big scores from McAllister (13), Bullocks (10), and San Francisco (17) were all they needed anyway.

T-Hawks (2-2) d. FIRST Force (2-1-1)
58-35
Heh, Randy Moss did better than Steve Smith this week. Of course, the same can not be said about their respective owners. Randy Moss’s 8 was the Force’s best score. Steve Smith’s 3 was among the worst for the Hawks. Now like Ed said in the pregame analysis, there was no one player sticking out, and the scores say the same thing. But led by Phillip Rivers’s 11, the T-Hawks had all but three of their players clear 4. It was an impressive conglomerate, and more than enough to defeat the Force.

Silver Lobos (2-2) d. RPI10 (2-2)
60-52
“The hot Bear offense (I need to say that again so I can actually believe it) is featured.” And I need to quote that because I still can’t believe it. “On one side, the Lobos have quarterback Rex Grossman, while RP110 has Cedric Benson. Who steps up?” Both of them. Grossman had 11, while Benson had 14. RPI also had the services of Eli Manning, who added 10. And Maurice Jones-Drew is starting to make a name for himself, giving the Lobos 15 points. So on the upper end of the scoring spectrum, it was a very even match. But it was on the lower end that the Lobos ended up taking this one. They had one fewer donut than RPI, and all their players who scored had at least 4 points. So the difference in this game was minor, but it’s what gives the Lobos a winning record.

Evil Trav's Minions (3-1) d. The Very Fast Blitz (1-3)
65-47
The Blitz had their best defense of the year this week. Which isn’t saying much, because most of that score was Minnesota’s 19. In fact, that was most of their overall score, which was equaled by Donovan McNabb for the Minions. The Minions also had Gore (who didn’t fumble), Rackers, and Barber combine for 23. And their defensive players actually scored, which means the Minions coasted to victory.

Amazin' Blue (3-1) d. Indiana Ironmen (3-1)
58-46
“Amazin ' Blue is the first team I have seen that has three running backs and they may not even get 10 total points from these guys. Ironmen aren't much better.” Ed was right. Both QBs scored 10, but the rest of both offenses were quite underwhelming. So we have to look at the defenses. And it’s clear that Amazin’ Blue won it here. Their top scorer was Justin Miller’s 11, and he led a combined 28 on the defensive side. The Ironmen’s defense fell 13 points short of that, and they lost because of it.

Stevies Scapegoats (2-2) d. Boilers 1529 (1-3)
61-38
I have to say, the Boilers have done a complete one-eighty in the past two weeks. I suppose it helps that neither of their last two opponents put up very good scores (exhibit a: Trent Green’s replacement, Damon Huard, had the Scapegoats only score worth mentioning, an 11). But the Boilers still had to fight. A 20 from Philadelphia was their high score, Feely added 11, and Brees contributed 7. That fighting took them to their second straight win.

Meatball Artists (1-3) d. {} (1-3)
58-30
It seems that Murphy’s Lawyers just can’t catch a break. This week, in the Roethlisberger/Losman competition for the starting QB job, the Lawyers went with Losman. Of course, we all know how both the Bills did this week. And they had two byes for which they had no backups for. The Artists, while having no defense, at least had an offense. Taylor and Bulger scored almost enough to win on their own. The Meatball Artists, much like the Boilers before them, take their second straight.

stantheman (4-0) d. sigmakittens (0-4)
51-35
The Sigmakittens best score (a 9) came from their kicker spot. So you can probably see where this review is going. Only one other Kitten scored more than 5. Now I’ll be honest here: STM played a relatively bad game this week, if only because this is STM we’re talking about. But they had it where it counts; Chicago gave them 11, and Gates and Barnett had dual 8s. Plus, other than their QB (quite possibly STM’s only weakness), everybody scored. So our last undefeated team defeats our last winless team. And really, who couldn’t see that coming?

I should probably mention that I was in a hurry writing this. Anyhow, other than the top and bottom two teams, there was a lot of jumpage in the standings. The bigger jumps were towards the bottom of the standings, proving that nobody is even remotely out of the season yet.

Well, until next week.

Re: Week V Postgame Analysis
 

The FIRST Robotics League

Nor Cal Crushers (4-1) vs. Koko's X-Cats (3-2)
One of the biggest tell all of this matchup is the direct competition of the X-Cats Drew Bledsoe vs. The Crushers David Carr. Obviously Bledsoe ahs the easier day lined up for him. On the otehr hand the Crushers have Clinton Portis running wild on the NFLs worst rusing defense while the X-Cats stud Larry Johnson is nursing a neck injury and going against a desperate Steelrs team so he could be neutralized.

Rhode Island Dynamic (3-2) vs. T-Hawks (3-2)
The Dynamic don't have Peyton Manning this week so they are already in trouble nevermind that they don't even have a backup to put in. That opens up an opportunity for the T-Hawks Phillip RIvers who gets to apply the smackdown to the Niners D.

Cromer Smash! (1-3-1) vs. Cooney Quest (2-3)
Micehal Vick is a Fantasy Football enigma. His remarkable talent rarely cash into big points and some weeks he just outright bombs. This week the Quest hopes he can break through against the Gaints defense but they also have Thomas Jones and Reggie Bush to take up the slack. The Smash are looking for a big bounce back from Chad Pennington and Willie Parker to cut through the improved Chiefs defense.

Eat My Shorts (2-3) vs. stantheman (5-0)
stantheman has been the surprise of the league so far but the run could be ending this week if they don't move fast and replace Laurence Maroney who is on a bye and fix a blank on defense. EMS may not take advantage though because Trent Green may not be ready to come back yet and having the Niners as your starting D is suicide especially when the opposing defense is CHicago. It's up to THomlinson and McCallister to save the day.

FIRST Force (2-2-1)vs. RPI10 (2-3)
2 blanks.
FIRST Force ahs hobbled their hopes to win by leaving two spots empty and now they have no running back and are relying on Joey Harrington to cme through for them. If RP110s Eli Manning or Rudi Johnson have any kind of a big day it's over quick.

Evil Trav's Minions (4-1) vs. Silver Lobos (3-2)
The featured quarterback matchup will provide the fireworks (the Minons Donovan McNabb vs. the Silver Lobos Rex Grossman) but the Minons have a secret weapon. If Grossman has any type of success it will probably come though Bernard Berrian who is on the Minons.

The Very Fast Blitz (1-4)vs. Indiana Ironmen (3-2)
Ther blitz are missing four players and aren't going to win because they can't score enough.

Stevies Scapegoats (3-2) vs. Amazin' Blue (4-1)
This is an odd matchup. The Scapegoats have all their players but no one really stands out. Amazin' Blue is missing two players but if their backs Tatum Bell or Michael Turner do what they do best they can overvcome those losses.

Boilers 1529 (1-4) vs. {} (1-4)
Well someone has to win this one...
biolers has the advantage at quarterback with Drew Brees over JP Losman and may have the advantage at runningback with Warrick Dunn vs. Ronnie Brown.

Meatball Artists (2-3) vs. sigmakittens (0-5)
There are six missing players on both roster combined due to byes and injury in this underwhelming matchup.
So who has the advantage?
Well the MEatball Artist have a strong running game with Stephen Jackson and Julius Jones. Marc Bulger is playing very well for them as well but they won't get much of anything from the defense. The kitties have three runningbacks but none of them have done much of anything this year.They need a big day from Jake Plummer.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni Nor Cal Crushers Koko's X-Cats MechanicatzBig Pappi T-hawksFIRST Force Cromer Smash! sigmakittensWe Inhale AudiblyGopher Jedimasters1511 ROFLvadersStevies Scapegoats Piss Poor PiñatasSantosh1002 The Jaguar SharksIndiana Ironmen FreedomForceMC Shea













WEEK 5 RESULTS[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(4-1) 80.19 Mechanicatz (4-1) 56.52
The X-Cats outscored the Mechanicatz in the running game 32.2 to 11.86. Outside of Rex Grossman (15.64) the Mechicatz did not have a scorer in double figures. The X-cats also got 13.42 points from the San Deigo Chargers defense and 10.00 points each from Stephen Gostkowski and Julius Peppers.

Cromer Smash! (3-2)83.89 The Jaguar Sharks(1-4)80.98
Cromer Smash! won the match with five players in double figures ( The New England Patriots defense with 15.84 points, Josh Scobee with 15.00 points, Lee Evans with 13.95 points, Peyton Manning with 13.92 points and Reggie Williams with 10.31 points) to The Jaguar Sharks two ( The Minnesota Vikings defense with 21.64 points and Tom Brady with 14.85 points).

Ni (4-1) 99.37 MC Shea (0-5)76.54
MC SHea made it interesting with big point totals from four players Cedric Benson (17.28) Marc Bulger (17.25) Jeff Wilkins (12.00) and Carnell Willims (10.10) but offset that with three zeros on defense. Ni also had four players in double figures. Donovan McNabb (22.21) the San Francisco 49ers defense (20.86) Greg Jennings (12.50) and Nate Kaeding (12.00) and no zeros.

Stevies Scapegoats(3-2) 58.32 ROFLvaders(2-3)54.79
The ROFLvaders had three palyers in double figures (the Chicago Bears defense 17.40 points, Eli Manning 11.77 points and Maurice Hicks with 10.94 points ) to one for the Scapegoats ( Thomas Jones with 10.30 points) but the ROFLvaders had 3 zeros and one player in negative numbers ( Kevin Faulk -1.28 points) while the Scapegoats got consitent production from almost everyone.

T-Hawks(4-1)70.42Big Pappi(4-1) 49.83
The T-Hawks are hoping Daunte Culpepper doesn't lose them this game. Their best bet may be their kicker Robbie Gould. Big Pappi has potential for breakout players in Chad Pennington, Kevin Jones, and Robbie Brown but they could also be non factors and the interment of their demise.
Culpepper got himslef benched and was a non-factor and GOuld was the T-hawks main threat with 24.00 points but Pennington, Jones and Brown combined for 12.89 points. Big Pappi got 11.85 points from Bernard Berrian but nothing much more.

Jedimasters1511(2-3) 59.12 Nor Cal Crushers (4-1) 50.86
Jedimasters1511 outscored the Nor Cal Crushers 26.98 to 7.62 in the running game. The also got 10.00 points from Josh Bullocks. The Crushers got 14.00 points from Lawrence Tynes and 10.00 points from Keith Bulluck.

sigmakittens(3-2)87.46 FreedomForce (0-5)51.42
FreedomForce got 15.18 points from Byron Leftwich and 15.00 points from Jay Feeley but three zeros and a negative point total ( the New York Jets defense with -0.56 points) while the kitties got 23.64 points from the Philadelphia Eagels defense, 12.00 points from Niel Rakers, and 11.68 points from Anquan Boldin.


Gopher (2-3)96.90 Piss Poor Piñatas (2-3)40.11
Not 1 player was in double figures for Triple P. Meanwhile Gopher got 17.55 points from Maurice Jones-Drew, 15.32 points from the Carolina PAnthers defense, 10.64 point s from Julius Jones and 10.60 points from Keyshawn Johnson.

We Inhale Audibly (3-2) 89.90 Indiana Ironmen (1-4) 56.43
Outside of Walt Harris' 16.00 points there were no scorers in double figures for the IRonmen. We Inhake Audibly got16.56 points from Fred Taylor, 14.82 points from Damon Haurd and 12.98 points from the New Orleans Saints defense.

FIRST Force (3-2)68.04 Santosh1002(2-3) 22.76
Santosh basically sabotauged themselves with three blank spots so it's mo surprise they got smoked. All FIRST Force needed was 13.56 points from the Kansas City defense, 13.27 points from Frank Gore, 12.63 point s from Chester Taylor and 12.50 points from Joey Galloway.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni Nor Cal Crushers Koko's X-Cats MechanicatzBig Pappi T-hawksFIRST Force Cromer Smash! sigmakittensWe Inhale AudiblyGopher Jedimasters1511 ROFLvadersStevies Scapegoats Piss Poor PiñatasSantosh1002 The Jaguar SharksIndiana Ironmen FreedomForceMC Shea













WEEK 6 SCEDULE[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(4-1) vs. Piss Poor Piñatas (2-3)
Triple P has problems. Aaron Brooks isn't playing and Ryan Longwell is on a bye. They need Willis McGahee and Lamont Jordna to show up. The X-Cats aren't exactly in the clear. Larry Johnson is facing the Steelers, Reggie Bush is facing the Eagles and JP lOsman is still a question mark.

Cromer Smash! (3-2)vs. T-Hawks(4-1)
The Smash have three blank spots. You need scorers to win.

Ni (4-1) vs. The Jaguar Sharks(1-4)
Ni is the surprise leader in the league and seem interested in getting out of there ASAP as they have left two spots blank on the roster. Ah well.

Stevies Scapegoats(3-2) vs. MC Shea (0-5)
BOth teams have CHicago Bears backs but the Scapegoats have the starter in Thomas Jones but MC Shea also has Carnell Williams on their side so they have a real chance.

ROFLvaders(2-3) vs.FIRST Force (3-2)
Like so many other team the ROFLvaders is misisng two players on their roster so why should they expect to win?

Big Pappi(4-1) vs. Nor Cal Crushers (4-1)
Let's see the Crushers have Clinton Portis and Willie Parker for their runnign backs. Big Pappi has Brandon Jacobs and Kevin Jones. Not good for Big Pappi. Big Pappi does have Bernard Barrien so they could be dangerous.

Jedimasters1511(2-3) vs. FreedomForce (0-5)
FreedomForce has three roster blanks.
Next.

sigmakittens(3-2) vs. Mechanicatz (4-1)
The Mechnicatz are going to try to win without a defense. That means they need Rex Grossman and Steve Smith to be bigtime for them. The kitties got Terrell Owens exploting the worst pass defense in the league and that could be enough right there.


Gopher (2-3)vs.We Inhale Audibly (3-2)
Gopher has Julius Jones and Brian Westbrook (who is hurting so that has to be watched) but Joey Harrington is touch n go. We INhale Audibly has Carson Palmer but Edgerrin James has been a dissapointment and Micheal Turner has to wait his turn for carries. This is going to be close interesting game.

Indiana Ironmen (1-4) vs. Santosh1002(2-3)
Santosh is trying to make up for last weeks embarrasment and it's a good start having their roster filled. Now having Warrick Dunn, LaDanian THomslinson and Matt Hasselback playing is even better. The Ironmen need a big game from Stephen Jackson because Jon Kitna cannot be counted on.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

Even I'm surprised I'm leading right now... :eek:

Re: Week V Postgame Analysis
 

(underlining mine)

And who exactly am I going to replace him with? All the league's starting QBs are taken.

Sadly, half my starters are off this week. Good news: I wont have to worry about byes after this week. Bad news: I have to rely on a fleet o' returners this week.

Re: Week V Postgame Analysis
 

You didn't think to get a backup before the season began?

Re: Week V Postgame Analysis
 

I had a backup (Losman). I dumped him because I needed a defense in Week III. And there were a few other QBs left, so I figured there'd be at least one available for when Peyton was off.

I do feel okay about it though, because even if I had Peyton this week, I still wouldn't have won due to my opponent getting the highest score this season. Gotta love being 5 points off the fantasy point lead, and in eighth place...

Week VI Postgame Analysis
 

Who'd have thought that one Monday night game could cause so much chaos?

T-Hawks (3-2) d. Rhode Island Dynamic (3-2)
96-68
You might notice something missing from Rhode Island’s lineup: Peyton Manning. Not that him playing would have done the Dynamic any good (ok, they’d most likely be in the lead for fantasy points). Despite some excellent team effort (all but one player cleared 5) led by Reggie Brown’s 19, they had the unfortunate situation of having the T-Hawks as their opponent. It goes simply like this: Joe Horn and Steve Smith combine for 34, Phillip Rivers adds 15, Troy Polamalu scores 13, and Ray Lewis has 12. Their only unfortunate situation was the Kansas City DEF’s -2. Literally no one could touch the T-Hawks this week.

Nor Cal Crushers (4-1) d. Koko's X-Cats (3-2)
83-52
Let’s ignore, for the moment, the fact that Nor Cal was fielding David Carr and his -2; That Crusher offense was NASTY (and I mean that in a good way). Clinton Portis, Anquan Boldin, Kevin Jones, and Darrell Jackson all combined for 51. From four players. THAT’S INSANE! The X-Cats had Bledsoe’s 11. While certainly good this week, their only other decent offensive score was Larry Johnson’s 8. They kept up on defense, but the game was already decided by the offenses.

Cromer Smash! (1-3-1) d. Cooney Quest (2-3)
82-51
“The Smash are looking for a big bounce back from Chad Pennington, and Willie Parker to cut through the improved Chiefs defense.” I’d call 11 a nice bounce-back. And Willie Parker just ate the Chiefs alive, taking them for 15. And those two weren’t even the most impressive scores from the smash; that honor belongs to Coles (18) and Branch (15). Defense was a non-factor in this game, which is where Cooney very well could’ve taken the Smash. Now I’ll give the Quest credit: all but two players on Cooney scored at least five. But while I’m all for team effort (see Rhode Island a couple reviews up), they had no big score to lead the way, so the Smash basically overpowered them for the win.

Eat My Shorts (2-3) d. stantheman (5-0)
73-60
In its four year existence, the FIRST Robotics Fantasy Football league has never had an undefeated team at the end of the regular season. So basically, STM was due to lose any moment. This was that moment. I wonder if it has anything to do with Tomlinson scoring 30 for EMS… That highly unexpected score is definitely what gave them the win. I mean, despite a missing QB and a might-as-well-be-missing RB, STM played pretty well. Gates, Ward, and Carney combined for 26, and the defense combined for 29. But EMS was already half way to victory with Tomlinson. They kept pace on defense with 21, and Kasay’s 11 sealed the deal. And down goes the last of the undefeated.

FIRST Force (2-2-1) d. RPI10 (2-3)
67-26
I still don’t get how RPI has lost four in a row. They’ve fallen fourteen spots in the process. I only say this because RPI has a good team on paper. That, and I’m trying to fill up space, because RPI had nothing going for them again. Quoth the Ed: “If RP110’s Eli Manning or Rudi Johnson have any kind of a big day it's over quick.” And that’s how it should be. The problem is it hasn’t happened all season. The Force could’ve won with just their defensive 38. The 11 from the K spot just made them look good. Whereas RPI has essentially Dunedained (YES, I found an excuse to use that one again!).

Evil Trav's Minions (4-1) d. Silver Lobos (3-2)
53-32
The Lobos looked a lot like the Cardinals on Monday Night Football this week. Which is ironic, because it was Rex Grossman who cost them the game. This match was even going into Monday night. The Minions had McNabb (10) and Barber (13), while the Lobos had a nice defense (25 combined). But then that fateful Monday nighter happened. Grossman had six turnovers, giving him a -12 (which has got to be the biggest bomb ever). I dare say that this game would have turned out extremely different had the Bears offense actually done something (other than singles for tackles, which Davis having four of for the Minions is so wrong). But as it stands, this game was just like the Bears/Cardinals game, with the Lobos on the losing end.

Indiana Ironmen (3-2) d. The Very Fast Blitz (1-4)
54-39
The Blitz had T.O. with 20. The Blitz also had no defense, making that 20 go to waste. Two 9s from the Ironmen’s Heap and Gradkowski, a 12 from Kaeding, and a defense that scored 21 more points than the inappropriately-named Blitz’s were more than enough to secure victory.

Amazin' Blue (4-1) d. Stevies Scapegoats (2-3)
82-72
This was the game of the week… at least until Monday night came along to deliver a disappointing end. We were tied at 73 going into that game. The Scapegoats had three 11s from Maurice Hicks, Josh Brown, and Denver, plus a 15 from Roy Williams. Amazin’ Blue countered with Pittsburgh’s 11, Houshmandzadeh’s 12, and Holt’s 26. But on Monday Night, the Scapegoats got a grand total of -1 from Edgerrin James. The Blue got a 9 from Leinart (the good QB in that game). That was the difference. The Scapegoats unfortunately caught a tough break this week (lousy Monday Night Game…).

Boilers 1529 (1-4) d. {} (1-4)
59-50
Hmm… ever think Murphy’s Byes would’ve been better off playing Roethlisberger this week? Though Roethlisberger’s 5 point edge over Losman wouldn’t have been enough, had the Byes not lived up to their namesake and actually had a defensive backup or two, they probably would’ve won this one. But lets talk about the good things: the Boilers had 14 points from both Brees and Dunn, plus another 10 from Chris McAlister and 9 from Feely. The Byes had Ronnie Brown’s 13, plus two donuts from the defense because they don’t have any defensive backups. While I do feel like I’m repeating myself here, it’s worth repeating, because those two byes are what cost the Byes the game.

Meatball Artists (2-3) d. sigmakittens (0-5)
55-29
In its four year existence, the FIRST Robotics Fantasy Football league has never had a winless team at the end of the regular season. So basically, the Sigmakittens were due to win any moment. This was not that moment. Again, we have another team with defensive byes, and no backups to put in. Actually, we have two teams, as the Artists were in the same sitch. But then again, they also had an offense. Bulger had 18, and Jackson had 10. Do the math.

Okay, I know I'm biased when I ask this, but does anyone else find it odd that Rhode Island is 5 points off the fantasy point lead and in the .500 bracket? Anywho, I'll be back early next week with the Week VII postgame analysis, then around Thursday-Friday (possibly Saturday if I'm running late), you'll see the first half analysis and awards. So I'll catch you all next week.

Re: Week VI Postgame Analysis
 

The FIRST Robotics League

T-Hawks (4-2) vs. Koko's X-Cats (3-3)
The X-Cats relaince lies in the fading Drew Bledsoe and the disapointing Larry Johnson facing the toughest defense in the NFL. The T-Hawks have Philip Rivers and Steve Smith on their side and their prospects look much more inviting.

Rhode Island Dynamic (3-3) vs. RPI10 (2-4)
Another battle of the Manning brothers. Peyton has no running game so for his team to survive he has to suceed. Against the Redskins slacking D his chances are pretty good which is probably the Dynamics best shot at winning because JJ Arrington isn't going to cut it.. Manning faces a pretty tough Cowboys defense but has Rudi Johnson on his side (at least in fantasy football on RP110) and that could make all the difference.

Nor Cal Crushers (5-1) vs. Cooney Quest (2-4)
Against a tough opponent like the Crushers you want to bring all of your guns to the party. So leaving a blank roster spot is a good way to garuntee a loss.

Eat My Shorts (3-3) vs. Cromer Smash! (2-3-1)
Both teams are sportng blanks on the roster so it's even. Thomlinson looks to be in line for another big day for Eat My Shorts but no one else stnds out so he may not be enough. The Smash are hoping for more of the same from Pennington and Parker but Parker may find the Falcons defense is much harder to pentrate.

FIRST Force (3-2-1) vs.Evil Trav's Minions (5-1)
FIRST Force neglects thier roster. The Minons sgo 6-1. Ho hum.

Indiana Ironmen (4-2) vs. Silver Lobos (3-3)
Jerious Norwood is your team's starting running back but isn't the starting running back on his own team. That's a really bad sign for the Ironmen. Their next best bet is Tom Brady and the struggling Chad Johnson. The Lobos aren't faring much better with the equally struggling Carson Palmer (if Chad Johnson is struggling then obviously Palmer is). The best player could be Marvin Harrison.


Stevies Scapegoats (2-4)vs. The Very Fast Blitz (1-5)
The sins of non roster managment has caimed another victim. Witness the Very Fast Blitz. Now everyone give them your sympathy followed by stern dissaproval.

Amazin' Blue (5-1) vs. {} (1-5)
Amazin' Blue has a good thing goin gso far and are looking to screw it all up by forgetting to replace their players on a bye. Thank God their opponent is equally careless.

Boilers 1529 (2-4) vs.sigmakittens (0-6)
For the kitties to break through they need something (preferably good) from Jake Plummer since Boilers 1529 doesn't have a quarterback. Boilers have the better running game with Warrick Dunn and Carnell Willaims while the kitties have Willis McGahee and Lamont Jordan who have yet to priduced.

Meatball Artists (3-3) vs. stantheman (5-1)
Nevemind who's playing. It's who's not playing. The MEatball Artist are missing two players and stantheman is missing four. Who's gonna win? Who cares.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni Koko's X-Cats Big Pappi T-hawks Nor Cal CrusherssigmakittensMechanicatzGopher FIRST Force Santosh1002 We Inhale Audibly ROFLvadersJedimasters1511Cromer Smash! Stevies Scapegoats Piss Poor PiñatasThe Jaguar SharksIndiana Ironmen MC Shea FreedomForce



















WEEK 6 RESULTS[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(5-1) 81.92 Piss Poor Piñatas (2-4) 46.14
Triple P got two players in double figures. The Dallas Cowboys defense with 12.10 points and Todd Heap with 11.00 points but unfortunatly two blanks negated that. The X-Cats had five players in double figures ( JP Losman 12.39 points, Julius Peppers 12.00 points, Darrell Jackson 11.70 points, the San Deigo Chargers defense 11.18 points and 10.72 points for Larry Johnson) and no zeros.

T-Hawks(5-1) 78.15 Cromer Smash! (3-3)34.06
The Smash have three blank spots. You need scorers to win.
What a surprise. They didn't.

Ni (5-1) 77.43 The Jaguar Sharks(1-5) 76.56
Ni won by the tiniest of margins (0.87 points) and looking up and down the scoresheet nothing in particular really stands out on why they won. Ni got 15.84 points from Ronnie Brown, 14.94 points from Donovan McNabb, 14.00 points from Nate Kaeding and 10.25 points from Micheal CLayton. The Jaguar Sharks got 18.94 ponits from Phillip Rivers and 14.08 points from the Denver Broncos defense.
Thining back on Michael Clayton's touchdown if it wasn't for that phantom roughing the passer call Clayton would not have had the opportunity to score his late TD and his score would have been much less significant and Ni would have come up short. So the Jaguar Sharks got screwed by the refs.

MC Shea (1-5) 61.11 Stevies Scapegoats(3-3) 58.15
MC Shea finally breaks through and Marc Bulger outsocring Damon Haurd 23.20 to 1.24 certainly stuck out. MC Shea needed to hang on as the Pittsburrgh Steelers defense with 15.18 points. The SCapegoats got more double figure scorers with the Detroit Lions defense with 13.42 points, and Mile Nugent and Gerald Hayes with 10.00 points a piece.

ROFLvaders(3-3) 93.70 FIRST Force (3-3)64.63
Like so many other team the ROFLvaders is misisng two players on their roster so why should they expect to win?
Well having six players make up for the two missing players (who totaled 59.63 points all season) with double figures sure helps. The amazing Chicago Bears defense got 22.16, Deion Branch got 18.63, Terrence McGee got 13.08, Eli Manning got 11.60, Maurice Hicks got 10.18 points and 10.00 from Chris McCallister. FIRST Force started out badly with -1.92 from Steve McNair adn outside of Charles Tillman 14.00 points and Lofa Tatupu's 10.00 points no one came to their rescue.

Big Pappi(5-1) 101.72 Nor Cal Crushers (4-2)95.08
This is probably going to be the highest scoring game of the year when it's all said and done. If the Crushers played 17 other teams in the league they would have won. Unfortunately they played one of the other two who could beat them. Everyone whowas suppoesed to provide the charge for the Crushers did. Clinton Portis had 18.84, Willie Parker had 17.28, Roy Williams 16.55, and Drew Bledsoe had 15.36. Big Pappi matched the Crushers tit for tat with 20.61 points from Ronnie Brown, 19.20 points from Kevin Jones, 15.50 points from Chad Pennington, 11.22 point s from Brandon Jacobs but the real difference lies in John Kasay's 12.00 points to Lawrence Tynes 1.00 points. And there i nlies the difference.

Jedimasters1511(3-3) 82.91 FreedomForce (0-6) 48.60
FreedomForce has three roster blanks.
Next.

sigmakittens(4-2) 90.75 Mechanicatz (4-2) 60.48
The Mechnicatz are going to try to win without a defense. That means they need Rex Grossman and Steve Smith to be bigtime for them. The kitties got Terrell Owens exploting the worst pass defense in the league and that could be enough right there.
Well the Mechanicatz got a defense ( The Raiders so maybe not) . Grossman and Steve Smtih did their parts ( 11.40 and 17.45 points respectively). Jeremy Shockey scored 16.25 points, Marion Barber III scored 10.43 and Drew Carter scored 10.25 points. Not bad. The kitteis got 21.50 points from Terrell Owens, Anquan Boldin scored 15.80 points, Marc Brunell scored 11.99 points and 10.00 points from Neil Rackers.


Gopher (3-3)88.33 We Inhale Audibly (3-3) 75.49
Gopher won out with the defense. Outscoring We Inhake Audibly 42.82 to 24.7 points. We Inhale Audibly got an amazing 27.70 points from Torry Holt and 11.41 points from Carson Palmer.

Santosh1002(3-3) 124.33 Indiana Ironmen (1-5) 51.01
Santosh is trying to make up for last weeks embarrasment and it's a good start having their roster filled. Now having Warrick Dunn, LaDanian THomslinson and Matt Hasselback playing is even better. The Ironmen need a big game from Stephen Jackson because Jon Kitna cannot be counted on.
I'd say Santosh made up for last week.
Thomlinson had 35.00 points. Hasselback had 24.95 points. Warricl Dunn had 16.61 points. Add in 19.00 points from Joe Horn and you realize what a devastating roster Santosh had and wonder why there are three losses to their record. The Ironmen got 11.00 points from John Carney and 10.08 points from Santana Moss. Stephen Davis put up a big fat zero.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni Koko's X-Cats Big Pappi T-hawks Nor Cal CrusherssigmakittensMechanicatzGopher FIRST Force Santosh1002 We Inhale Audibly ROFLvadersJedimasters1511Cromer Smash! Stevies Scapegoats Piss Poor PiñatasThe Jaguar SharksIndiana Ironmen MC Shea FreedomForce



















WEEK 7 SCEDULE[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(5-1) vs. We Inhale Audibly (3-3)
The X-Cats have the better record but are in worse shape with Larry Johnson facing the airtight Chargers defesne and Brad Johnson facing the Seahawks defense on the road. We INhale Audibly has Carson Plamer, Fred Taylor and Edgerrin James (vs. The Raiders) in the chamber.

Cromer Smash! (3-3)vs. Nor Cal Crushers (4-2)
Well at lest the Crushers are showing up with a full team this week.
Peyton Manning is their best scoring chance and he looks money going against the Skins defense. Unfirtunately the Smash are facign the Crushers who have Clinton Protis facing the weak Colts run defesne and Willie Parker and Drew Bledsoe being counted on to make big plays.

Ni (5-1) vs. T-Hawks(5-1)
Ni is looking pretty good not just with Donovan McNabb but also Ronnie Brown and Reuben Droughns who are both better than JJ Arrington. The T-Hawks best hopes lie in Bruce Gradkowski and Marvin Harrison, Recivers are hit and miss in fantasy football and Gradkowski a rookie. So it's looking kinda scary for them.

Stevies Scapegoats(3-3) vs. The Jaguar Sharks(1-5)
This is one weird game.
No one really stands out. The Jaguar Sharks have Tom Brady who has deferred his game to the running game and the top scorer on the roster this week for the Scapegoats is Jerricho Cotchery.
Who?

ROFLvaders(3-3)vs. MC Shea (1-5)
Leaving blank spots on the roster worked one week for the ROFLvaders so why not?

Big Pappi(5-1) vs. FreedomForce (0-6)
FreedomForce doesn't care so why should we?

Jedimasters1511(3-3) vs. Mechanicatz (4-2)
Five blank roster spots for Jedimaster1511.
What's to analyse?

sigmakittens(4-2) vs. Piss Poor Piñatas (2-4)
Triple P must be totally demoralized because they didn't bother fixing their roster and made things very easy for the kitties.


Gopher (3-3) vs. Santosh1002(3-3)
Thomlinson had 35.00 points. Hasselback had 24.95 points. WarrickDunn had 16.61 points. Add in 19.00 points from Joe Horn and you realize what a devastating roster Santosh had and wonder why there are three losses to their record.
Hmmmm. Perhaps leaving three blank spots on the roster explains why Santosh lost three times.Fortunately Gopher tres to help Santosh out by doing much the same.
Hurrah.

FIRST Force (3-3)vs.Indiana Ironmen (1-5)
Another odd matchup with no real standout perfomers. Two struggling quarterbacks. Disaapoiting recievers (though the IRonmen's Satnana Moss could be bigtime) and running backs who are past their prime (the Ironmen's Ahaman Green) , career backups now in starting roles and not making much of an impression ( FIRST Force's Chester Taylor) or change of pace backups who only real opportunity for points is making a big play ( FIRST FOrce's Jerious Norwood),
Somebody please step up!

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

Yea, about that.....I tried changing players to help my team but all its doing is removing players and not adding them! HELP!!

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

Make sure you're adding FA (Free Agents), instead of W (Waiver) players. You won't have an annoying waiting time then.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

You can put Marcus Robinson and Cedric Houston in. You can go search the waiver wire for defenders. Marquand Manuel, Victor Hobson, Lemar Marshall and
Ken Hamlin are good bets.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

I think you miss read Grossman's Score, he was far from doing his part with a -11.40 0tds 4ints and 2 fumbles dont help much.

James

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

Your right I did.
I was wondering how you could have so many double figure scorers and only have 60 points.
That makes more sense.

Re: Week VI Postgame Analysis
 

Underlining mine.

That's why I put Dillon back in. Two TDs. :D And Reggie Wayne with 122 yards and a TD on my bench...

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

Whomever got Shaun Merriman on their team take note.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

Yeah.......quite possibly my best defensive player........just my luck. :p

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

The combined ineptitude of Drew Bledsoe and Tony Romo cost me in both leagues. :mad:

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

Ugh, Reggie Wayne with a 13 from my bench...

Rhode Island Dynamic (3-3) d. RPI10 (2-4)
85-48
“Another battle of the Manning brothers. Peyton has no running game so for his team to survive he has to succeed. Against the Redskins slacking D his chances are pretty good which is probably the Dynamics best shot at winning…” If the Peyton/Eli battle was any indication, Rhode Island absolutely creamed RPI. The Manning battle went to Peyton 23-9. Corey Dillon/Rudi Johnson also went to the Dynamic 14-6. Then Rhode Island took the receiving game. Then they took the kicking game. Then they took defense. Then they dominated the battle of the benches. It was all Rhode Island this week in a much-needed win.

T-Hawks (4-2) d. Koko's X-Cats (3-3)
71-69
Now THIS is how Monday-nighters should decide games (not like last week’s disaster). In this case, it was Dallas’s (well, mostly Tony Romo’s) ability to throw interceptions, letting the Giants DEF get 19 points for the T-Hawks. You see, the X-Cats had a decent lead after Sunday, mostly thanks to Larry Johnson’s 20. But they also had Drew Bledsoe on Monday, who only got 6. Now, we don’t know for sure if the X-Cats still would’ve won had the Tuna kept Bledsoe in (for all we know, it could’ve been worse), but it’s this analyst’s opinion that the X-Cat’s got shafted. Not to take anything away from the T-Hawks, who fought back tenaciously on Monday to win.

Nor Cal Crushers (5-1) d. Cooney Quest (2-4)
73-62
Props to Cooney for holding to the same conglomeration it had last week (all but two players cleared 4). They even had a solid 18 from Michael Vick to lead them. Their problem was that they were facing the Crushers. Nor Cal somehow got 12 from David Carr, and when that happens, you know they can just do no wrong. Darrell Jackson added 14, Kevin Jones also had 12, and their three Ds combined for 28. So while Cooney played their best game of the season, the Crushers were better this week.

Eat My Shorts (3-3) d. Cromer Smash! (2-3-1)
29-28
Holy close games! Yes, I’m overselling the excitement on this game. Actually, this one was rather dramatic, even if it was pitifully low-scoring. In fact, had this game been all positive points, the Smash would’ve won. They had 10 from Gerald Hayes, 8 from Janikowski, and 5 from Pennington. EMS only had Tomlinson’s 13 and Brad Johnson’s 7. Here comes the drama: Washington had -2 points. That cost Cromer the win. Ed pinpointed the rest accurately: “[Willie] Parker may find the Falcons defense is much harder to penetrate.” A fumble and low yardage gave Cromer a -1 from him. That gave them the loss.

Evil Trav's Minions (5-1) d. FIRST Force (3-2-1)
89-54
Both teams looked like they were playing the same game here: get as many high scores as possible. This is great for the Minions, as it’s essentially their game. Though I do give credit to the Force for trying. On offense, they had a Harrington 15 and a Randy Moss 13. I could also count the rest of the offensive scoring on one hand. Their defense was also decent with a combined 23. But back comes the Minions and their big scores, including Ronde Barber getting 27 and winning the defensive battle on his own. The offense seemed lackluster in comparison, and that’s counting McNabb’s 16, Furrey’s 12, Andersen’s 10 (go, Morten!), and Gabriel’s 8. Okay, I could also count the rest of their offense on one had, but I’m essentially grasping at straws here, as the Minions won this shortly after I said McNabb.

Silver Lobos (3-3) d. Indiana Ironmen (4-2)
85-44
You’d figure with Tom Brady scoring 11 for the Ironmen that their stock was looking good this week (Brady, believe it or not, usually doesn’t provide high fantasy points; great leader, not-so-great stats). Unfortunately, that was their only score worth mentioning. Meanwhile, the Lobos were playing hard and scoring big. Their scores worth mentioning included (but not limited to) Marvin Harrison’s 15, triple 12s from Palmer, Vinatieri, and Andre Johnson, a 10 from Cato June, and Maurice Jones-Drew’s 9. Both teams now stand at 4-3.

The Very Fast Blitz (1-5) d. Stevies Scapegoats (2-4)
65-47
“The sins of non roster management have claimed another victim. Witness the Very Fast Blitz. Now everyone give them your sympathy followed by stern disapproval.” I tried giving them my sympathy and pity, but it turns out, they didn’t need it (though for the record, I’m fairly certain we’re in ‘non playing team’ territory here). The Blitz’s DEF, Minnesota, pulled in 14. Westbrook, Brunell, and Owens combined for 45. The Scapegoats were also too busy showing pity for the Blitz, because other than Denver’s 12 and Huard’s 9, they forgot to score. The Blitz had a combination a few high scores and an underplaying opponent to get to their second win.

Amazin' Blue (5-1) d. {} (1-5)
31-21
And we once again get to learn of the woes that are Murphy’s Mathletes. Losman gave them an unceremonious -5. Roethlisberger had 13, but was on the bench. Had the Mathletes switched QBs, they’d have won. Misnomer, perhaps? Irony, at the least. And even worse, Roethlisberger may be hurt and lose some playing time. I’m prettymuch eating up space here, because there isn’t anything else to talk about. Amazin’ Blue had 9 from Houshmandzadeh and their K, and an 8 from Justin Miller. It was enough to beat the Mathletes, and I guess that W is what counts.

sigmakittens (0-6) d. Boilers 1529 (2-4)
86-41
Did the Sigmakittens just score 86? They had Alge Crumpler, you say. He had 24? Okay then. Being a completist, I should also mention the combined 41 from their three Ds (Woodson, Rossum, and Trotter). The Boilers had 10 each from Dunn and Feely, but that was half their score. It was the Sigmakittens moment to win (as opposed to last week), and they took it.

stantheman (5-1) d. Meatball Artists (3-3)
62-31
The only reason this game looks exciting is because of Hines Ward’s 27 for STM. But beyond that, there wasn’t much. The Artists had New England’s 11 and Cartwright’s 8. STM had Ward’s albeit impressive 27, plus two 9s from Gates and Sims. It’s obvious who won this match, even if it was quite dull.

Wow, not much jumping this week. Anyway, I'll have the first half analysis and awards in the next couple days, so stay tuned.

Mid-season Review/Awards
 

And we’re back! After an interesting first half, we now have our best-of-the-best list.


Most Valuable QB

Donovan McNabb (Evil Trav’s Minions)
How can this not go to him? He’s the highest scoring player in the league on the highest scoring team in the league. My job has never been simpler.

Honorable Mention: Peyton Manning
Any other season, the Rhode Island Dynamic’s star would be up top. But right now, he’s the second highest scoring player in the league on the second highest scoring team in the league. My job: still simple.


Best Running Game

Clinton Portis, Kevin Jones, & Chester Taylor (Nor Cal Crushers)
A lot of teams are lucky to get two solid running backs. Nor Cal’s THREE backs are not only solid, but are all in the top fifteen among fantasy points for RBs. Talk about your nasty trios.

Honorable Mention: LaDainian Tomlinson & Deuce McAllister
Eat My Shorts (ew) is on a three-game winning streak thanks mostly to these two. Tomlinson is the highest scoring RB right now, and McAllister provides solid points as the thirteenth highest.


Best Receiving Game

Reggie Brown, Wes Welker, Reggie Wayne, & Dante Hall (Rhode Island Dynamic)
Perhaps four receivers is overkill. Brown and Welker are top five receivers. That alone would probably only get them an honorable mention. But both Wayne and Hall are solid scorers, giving Rhode Island that extra oomph in both fantasy points and in receiving overall.

Honorable Mention: Darrell Jackson & Anquan Boldin
Nothing against the Nor Cal Crushers: they have two receivers who are only slightly behind Rhode Island’s top two, and they are 6-1. But the rest of their scoring is up in the running game, so they just get the honorable mention here.


Most Valuable Kicker

Nate Kaeding (Indiana Ironmen)
The Indiana Ironmen are only 4-3, but I can swear that every time I’m typing up a postgame review on them, Kaeding’s name pops up. He’s the second best kicker in the league right now, and has only missed two FGs (both 40+ yards).

Honorable Mention: Robbie Gould
The kicking game is the only thing {} has going for them. Gould is easily the top scoring kicker in the league, and it’d be a shame not to give him mention.

Honorable Mention: Jeff Wilkins
The kicking game is the only thing {} has going for them. Wilkins is the third best kicker in the league (only a point behind Kaeding), and it’d be a shame not to give him mention.


Most Productive Offense

Nor Cal Crushers
Nor Cal is 6-1. How did they do that? Well, all five non-QBs are listed already (Portis, Jackson, Jones, Boldin, and Taylor), but we can also add David Carr to that list, who is doing surprisingly well in the fantasy stats this season. He’s also how the Crushers have five guys in the top 30 overall. Nor Cal’s only fault is that they have too many good players, and not enough spots for them. And really, is that such a bad thing?

Honorable Mention: Silver Lobos
This one was tough due to all the decent offenses out there. But let's look at the Lobos’ offense. They have a well-balanced offense, with a couple QBs they can choose from depending on their opponent, plus a kicker who’s good when not hurt (Vinatieri). None of their scorers are big, but they have a larger amount of moderate scorers, as well as a winning record, earning them this mention.


Most Dominating Defense

FIRST Force
Choosing defenses was difficult, because most of the defensive scoring has been even. But FIRST Force has just enough all around to give them this award. Adrian Wilson, Lance Briggs, and Chris Carr do their D scoring, while San Diego picks up the rest. They’re also at .500, which while not great, could be worse.

Honorable Mention: Stevies Scapegoats
I had to at least give them an honorable mention. Their defense is actually pretty good, and they have Denver. It’s their offense’s fault they’ve lost five games.

Honorable Mention: Silver Lobos
I’m starting to see why they’re 4-3; their defense is exactly like their offense. While they have no top scorers, they have a bunch of moderate ones. The Lobos have five players to choose from that have scored at least 37 points each, and while Cincinnati isn’t the greatest defense in the world, with how even DEFs are this year, it could be much worse.

Honorable Mention: Nor Cal Crushers
McGee gets most of his points from returning (though 35 tackles makes him eligible for placement) and they’re stuck with Jacksonville, but Fletcher adds enough to make this an honorable mention.

Honorable Mention: Rhode Island Dynamic
I hesitated giving this one out, but this defense is just as good as the other three honorable mentions (plus if I gave Nor Cal one, I had to give Rhode Island one). Vilma and Thomas provide high scores, and Bailey contributes when need be.

Four honorable mentions… that’s gotta be a record.


Playoff Picture

Teams won’t start clinching or being eliminated for another month at least, but it’s never too early to give predictions.

The Minions and Crushers, barring about fifteen broken legs, look great. STM and the Blue are the lower scoring of the top bracket, but with only moderately difficult schedules, they’ll probably be fine. The T-Hawks have a tougher second half schedule, so if anybody in the top five slips, it’ll probably be them.

Rhode Island has a very high fantasy score and they only have two challenging games left, so the five-team basement trip on their schedule should get them in. The Lobos have an even easier schedule, so I like their chances as well. All the Ironmen’s wins are against sub-.500 teams, and their second half is loaded with teams floating above or very near that mark. This means they could be in trouble late. EMS has four good teams left, but they’ve shown that they can win against them, so they’re at least in the fight. And the lone .500 team has only an okay schedule; FIRST force will still have to fight to make it.

All the X-Cats losses have been close enough for me to say that with their schedule, they’ll at least be in the hunt. The Boilers though, are the exact opposite, and I don’t like their chances. It’s the same with the Artists, who had a three-game streak, but that was against teams in the basement. I wouldn’t expect to see them in. Cromer has a schedule where, with enough close wins, they may very well be fighting for a playoff spot.

Cooney’s second half should be better than their first, and their fantasy score should at least give them hope. The Scapegoats, if they tune their offense, could also be fighting in Week XIV. RPI has lost five straight, and their schedule won’t help that, so count them out. Count out the Blitz as well. The Kittens have pulled their team together finally, but their terrible first half may very well cost them in the end. And what can I say about {}? The rest of their schedule inhales audibly, and they seem to have extremely bad luck. While I don’t like their chances, their bad luck in the first half was so improbable that they could have just as improbable of a good-luck streak in the second half. Stranger things have happened.

But I go back to my first sentence here: nobody is out of the playoff picture, and nobody is guaranteed in yet. Last season, we had a team in 17th place after Week X, and they came back to make it into the playoffs and eventually, the finals. So I say this again: nobody is out. Not even Murphy. :p

I’ll be back next week, where probably all my predictions will be proven wrong.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

OH YEAH BABY I GOT A HONORABLE MENTION HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

Week XVIII Postgame Analysis
 

The only football I watched this weekend was the second half of the Colts/Broncos game. I think I made a good choice. :D

Rhode Island Dynamic (4-3) d. Evil Trav's Minions (6-1)
78-51
With the exception of four plays, this game was actually pretty lackluster considering that the top two teams in fantasy scores were playing. Those four plays were Manning to Wayne for a 12 yard TD, Manning to Wayne for a 5 yard TD, Manning to Wayne for a 19 yard TD, and that TD’s resulting Manning to Wayne two-point conversion. Not counting the yardage, that was 38 points right there for Rhode Island. Reggie Wayne finished with 29, and Peyton Manning finished with 23. The Minions lacked high scores this week, with only Morten Andersen’s 11 being notable for them. I don’t have much else to say because nothing else happened.

Koko's X-Cats (3-4) d. RPI10 (2-5)
74-50
It’s about time Larry Johnson lived up to all his hype this season. The X-Cats’ (quoth Ed) season was on the line, and LJ came through for them with 33. But let’s not discount McNair’s 18 in the Superdome, doing what no other QB has done there this season. RPI put up 10 from Burress and 11 from Graham, and while the rest of the offense was decent, their defense came up short, allowing the X-Cats to take this one.

T-Hawks (5-2) vs. Cooney Quest (2-5)
draw
65-65
Poor Cooney. They’ve been playing very well the last three weeks, but haven’t amassed a win since Week III. They finally win a game come Tuesday morning, only to have Kansas City gain a single point for a sack for the T-Hawks on Thursday (so if I was actually on time with these postgame reviews, this game would be reported inaccurately). Anyhow, Cooney played really well this week, including a 20 from Michael Vick, a 13 from Thomas Jones, and 10 from Ken Hamlin. Let’s be fair though, the T-Hawks stayed even. They had 14 from Marion Barber III, 10 from Ray Lewis, and 11 from Vrabel on Monday (which, added to their extra point they got on Thursday, is the reason they survived for the tie). Great game by both teams, but sadly, we have another one sullied by Yahoo’s scorekeeping (or lack thereof).

Eat My Shorts (4-3) d. Nor Cal Crushers (6-1)
56-41
Some weeks, you have it. Other’s, you don’t. Nor Cal fell into the “don’t” category this week. Nor Cal played decent on defense with a combined 25 from three players, and even got a bit of offensive support with Darrell Jackson’s 10. But when you have a -6 in the QB spot from Carr and an extremely lucky opponent, that won’t be enough. I say “extremely lucky” because EMS only had two scorers: LaDanian Tomlinson with 30, and Oakland with 20. Everything else is countable on one six-fingered hand. But they got the win against a very tough opponent, so all is good in the land of shorts.

stantheman (6-1) d. Cromer Smash! (2-4-1)
50-38
I really just said “land of shorts”, didn’t I? Sorry, I’m still in that last review. There really wasn’t much to this game anyway. Whatever Cromer did, STM did it better. Cromer got a -2 in the QB spot, STM got a +2. Cromer gets 11 from Willie Parker, STM gets 13 from Chicago. And STM’s auxiliary scores were just plain better. While not a flashy win by any means, STM is able to retake first place.

Indiana Ironmen (4-3) d. FIRST Force (3-3-1)
104-56
You know what? FIRST Force played a pretty good game. This review won’t be about them (sorry). What this review will be about is the first team this season to break into triple digits. We’ll start low here: four 8s from Heap, Kaeding, Brackett, and Pierce, and a 9 from the grammatically incorrect Ocho Cinco. Then we go higher: 17 from Baltimore, 19 from Ahman Green (about time), and 22 from Tom Brady. The good news for FIRST Force is that their acquiring of Tony Romo seems like a good move for the future, as he got them 12 this week. Of course, nobody had a chance against the Ironmen this week. THIS was a flashy win.

Silver Lobos (4-3) d. Stevies Scapegoats (2-5)
54-41
The week after I give them an honorable mention in the defensive awards, the Scapegoats get a -3 from Denver. So is the woes of the Scapegoats. While Damon Huard has done a remarkable job filling in for Trent Green (this week he had 12) and Edgerrin James stepped onto the scoreboard with 11, they got no more help from their offense, and their defense (the Scapegoats one good thing), as you can tell by the first thing I said, didn’t come through either. The Lobos played better all around with a better offense (led by both Carson Palmer’s and Andre Johnson’s 11s), better defense, and Adam Vinatieri taking advantage of the Manning/Wayne connection mentioned in the RI/Minions game (not to mention the Scapegoat’s Denver DEF) for 14 fantasy points. The Lobos win their second straight.

{} (1-6) d. The Very Fast Blitz (2-5)
82-37
Bad News: Murphy’s Braces (yes, they’re called braces) only got 3 from Roethlisberger. Good news: Just about everything else. First off, they were facing the Blitz, who I’ll just say have problems, and move on. Secondly, the Braces had Marques Colston scoring 21 (who?) and Mike Bell scoring 19. Third, they had support from Droughns and his 14, and top-of-the-line kicker Gould’s 11. So we learn that the Braces can win, and do it pretty well. Now if only they could get their quarterback problems settled…

Amazin' Blue (6-1) d. sigmakittens (1-6)
62-38
Well, easy come, easy go. The Sigmakittens were right back to their losing ways. Plummer did well with 12 in a losing effort and Crumpler added 9, but that was all that was left from the kittens’ awesome charge last week. Amazin’ Blue had an off week last week (despite winning), but came back this week with 18 from Justin Miller, 10 from Michael Turner (who?), and 9 from Pittsburgh. So we had a complete reversal for both teams compared to last week, and Amazin’ Blue wins their seventh straight.

Meatball Artists (3-4) d. Boilers 1529 (3-4)
79-58
This was a surprisingly good game from two 3-4 teams. QBs were even at 15, and defenses were dead even. Where the Artists took this game was at running; Julius Jones, Fred Taylor, and Steven Jackson combined for 34. The Boilers had nothing of the sort, and even their receiving game was lacking enough for the Artists to pull away for the victory.

Playoff Picture: Just the basics right now. STM and Blue can clinch by winning 4; Minions and Crushers' magic number is 5; and Hawks, Dynamic, Ironmen, Lobos, and EMS will be in the playoffs if they win out (the Dynamic/Ironmen game in Week IX allows this). That's about as far as I dare to go right now, as this will all change by next week.

And seeing as how I've been working at this analysis on-and-off all day, I really need some sleep. See you next week.

Re: Week XVIII Postgame Analysis
 

The FIRST Robotics League

Koko's X-Cats (4-4) vs. Evil Trav's Minions (6-2)
It's the tale of two running backs as Fantasy Football studs Larry Johnson of the X-Cats and Tiki Barber of the Minons go head to head and both are in line for good days but what could really settle the matter is what the starting quarterbacks (the X-Cats Steve McNair and the Minions Jon Kitna) do.

Rhode Island Dynamic (5-3) vs. Indiana Ironmen (5-3)
Manning and Brady face off in the game of the year in FOxboro and face off in virtual terms here for the Dynamic (who have Manning) and the Ironmen (who have Brady). Ironically the player who may go furthert in settling the matter on the field is playing for the Dynamic. He's Corey Dillon. But the Ironmen's Ahman Green is facing a pretty awful run defense in Buffalo as well.

RPI10 (2-6) vs. Cooney Quest (2-5-1)
The Quest have to be pretty excitied seeing Micheal Vick blossom into an NFL quarterback. ANd having Brandon Jacobs clean up at the goal line for the Giants and Thomas Jones at home against the demoralized Dolphins has them looking pretty. RPI10 has the other Manning who will get to roll up points on the hapless Texans and Cedric Benson who will eventually get his shot at points for the Bears but Rudi Johnson could be in for a struggle today agianst the Ravens.

Eat My Shorts (5-3) vs. T-Hawks (5-2-1)
Eat My Shorts is going to ride LaDanian Thomlinson til he drops dead from exuahstion. The question is are they going to get anything from anyone else? Duece McCallister should do some damage today. The T-Hawks have Thomlinson's quarterback who benefits from his presence and takes advantage of it. Jeremey Shockey could be brutal today.

Nor Cal Crushers (6-2) vs. Cromer Smash! (2-5-1)
Looks like Alex is on schedule for his annual meltdown.

Stevies Scapegoats (2-6) vs. FIRST Force (3-4-1)
Both quarterbacks are enigmas. Brett Farve for the SCapegoats and Tony Romo for the FIRST Force. Both could be big but both are gunslingers and can hurt you as well. The running backs have potential but are not top flight backs so if the Scapgoats Travis Henry or FIRST Force's Dominic Rhodes may just decide this matter.

Silver Lobos (5-3) vs. {} (2-6)
The Silver Lobos got Rex Grossman who lives off of weak opponents at home. Does he need any one else? {} has JP Losman and who knows what JP will do week to week? Their top scoring threat could be Robbie Gould.

sigmakittens (1-7) vs. The Very Fast Blitz (2-6)
The Very Fast Blitz are now under league control (a move I heartily appove) but the results could be the same. Marc Brunnel, Josheph Addai and Samkon Gado need to step up huge to make it happen. Watch out for Willis McGahee for the kitties today.

Amazin' Blue (7-1) vs. Meatball Artists (4-4)
Man! Did Amazin' Blue screw this week up! Their in second place and left their roster in disarray. What's up with that?

stantheman (7-1) vs. Boilers 1529 (3-5)
Laurency Maroney and the Chicago Bears defense could go a long way in keeping stantheman at the top. Boilers 1529 need Warrick Dunn to run wild and Drew Brees to regain his forum.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni Koko's X-Cats MechanicatzT-hawkssigmakittensWe Inhale AudiblyCromer Smash! Big Pappi Nor Cal CrushersFIRST Force Gopher ROFLvadersJedimasters1511Santosh1002 Stevies Scapegoats Indiana Ironmen MC Shea Piss Poor PiñatasThe Jaguar SharksFreedomForce



WEEK 9 SCEDULE[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(6-2) vs. Indiana Ironmen (3-5)
The X-Cats are relying on Larry Johnson obviously but for once would like to get a big play or two out of Reggie Bush. Not sure how much Seneca Wallace can help out the Ironmen but Ahman Green could be huge for them against the Bills.

Mechanicatz (6-2) vs.COLOR=YellowGreen]Cromer Smash! (5-3)[/color]
The suddenly adept Micheal Vick and good looking rookie Laurence Moroney lead the Mechnicatz. The Smash on the other hand are playing against themsleves with Peyton Manning and the New England Patriots defense going up against each other. If one does well it may be at the exspense of the other. That is a serious problem.

Ni (7-1) vs. FreedomForce (1-7)
Both teams are without a quarterback so scoring will have to come from somewhere else. For Ni their best bet is Ronnie Brown. For FreedomFOrce it's Stepehen Jackson.

Nor Cal Crushers (4-4) vs. Stevies Scapegoats(3-5)
The Crushers are in an epic freefall and need Willie Parker, Clinton Portis and even Tony Romo to put a stop to it! The Scapegoats need Brett Farve to continue to be productive and THomas Jones to be big.

ROFLvaders(4-4) vs. T-Hawks(6-2)
The ROFLvaders have two backs but are really depending on Eli Manning to lead the way as their backs are not featured backs. The T-Hawks aren't going to scare anyone with Bruce Gradkowski at quarterback. Robbie Gould looks like their best scoring threat.

Big Pappi(5-3) vs. Piss Poor Piñatas (2-6)
Triple P needs plays from Lamont Jordan and Willis McGahee becasue Charlie Frye cannot be counted on against the Chargers. Big Pappi is looking for good play from Rudi Johnson and Kevin Jones to make plays and hope for good plays from Joey Harrington.

Jedimasters1511(4-4) vs. We Inhale Audibly (5-3)
We Inhale Audibly leans heavily on the arm of Carson Palmer and the legs of Fred Taylor but Jedimaster1511 has a strong counter with Drew Brees and the gruesome twosome of Tiki Barber and Duece McAllister.

sigmakittens(5-3) vs.Santosh1002(3-5)
Santosh should be alot better than they are and as long as they have LaDanian Thomlinson they are a real threat but they have no quarterback with Matt Hasselback gone so that hinder their ability to compete. The kitties shave MArc Brunell who is adequet but I bet he could outscore a quarterback who is injured.


Gopher (4-4)vs. FIRST Force (4-4)
Gopher is looking for gold by starting David Garrand. Julius Jones is splitting carries and Maurice Jones-Drew is not a big part of the Jacksonville offense yet. FIRST FOrce has Steve McNair but has better backs with Chester Taylor and Frank Gore.

MC Shea (2-6) vs.The Jaguar Sharks(1-7)
MC Shea neeeds Marc Bulger to continue his high level of play and get some sort of production out of Carnel Williams and Cedric Bneson. The luckless Jaguar Sharks are hoping Tom Brady's luck will rub off them. Not much from the backs though.

Week IX Postgame Analysis
 

Yay, Ed’s back!

Rhode Island Dynamic (5-3) d. Indiana Ironmen (5-3)
73-36
All I’m going to say is that Manning/Brady should’ve been better. But it was completely one-sided in favor of the Dynamic’s Peyton Maning with a fantasy score of 13, which is 17 more than Brady (with -4) had for the Ironmen. And here’s the irony: the only Patriot to hit the end zone (Corey Dillon; he did it twice) was on Rhode Island’s roster giving them another 11 points. Add Wes Welker’s 10 (for those of us who aren’t my biased self, I ask: who? :p) and Champ Bailey’s 15 from the defense, and Rhode Island easily wins this one.

Koko's X-Cats (4-4) d. Evil Trav's Minions (6-2)
72-52
“It's the tale of two running backs as Fantasy Football studs Larry Johnson of the X-Cats and Tiki Barber of the Minions go head to head and both are in line for good days…” 15 and 14, respectively. In fact, the only edge the Minions got in this game was the QB battle, with Kitna of all people scoring 10. Everything else was either even, or widely skewed in favor of the X-Cats. The two biggest discrepancies were in the kicker spot (Stover had 14) and on defense (led by Rashean Mathis’s 12, the X-Cats’ defense combined for 35), allowing the X-Cats to take their second straight.

RPI10 (2-6) d. Cooney Quest (2-5-1)
59-54
It’s official: Cooney Quest just can’t catch a break. The one week Michael Vick underperforms is the one week Cooney really needed an extra five points. Though to be fair, the only reason the game was so close anyway was because of a 19 from Phil Dawson. Which was equaled by RPI’s Miami marching into Soldier Field and out-Bearing the Bears. Other good things for RPI included 10 from Graham, 9 from Rudi Johnson, and 8 from Rashied Davis. They were smaller scores, but large enough for RPI to finally break their six-game losing streak.

T-Hawks (5-2-1) d. Eat My Shorts (5-3)
53-44
“Eat My Shorts is going to ride LaDanian Tomlinson til he drops dead from exhaustion. The question is, are they going to get anything from anyone else? Deuce McAllister should do some damage today.” If this doesn’t get Ed a psychic point, nothing will. LT gave EMS 28 points, and that “some damage” from McAllister equaled 7 points. But, to answer Ed’s question, they didn’t get anything from anybody else. Brad Johnson even took away six points from EMS’s total. “The T-Hawks have Tomlinson’s quarterback who benefits from his presence and takes advantage of it.” Phillip Rivers scored 8. “Jeremy Shockey could be brutal today.” He had 9. Not quite brutal, but a nice contribution nonetheless. The rest of the T-Hawks victory came from Hanson’s 12 and EMS’s lack of defense.

Nor Cal Crushers (6-2) d. Cromer Smash! (2-5-1)
108-43
You know what? Even if Cromer had backups for their three byes, they still would’ve gotten their butts kicked, bruised, and handed back to them on a platter. I’ll just mention their 18 points from Willie Parker going to waste, and move on. And what we’re moving onto is the second team to hit triple digits in the same number of weeks. Nor Cal’s defense was simply amazing, with Fletcher, McGee, and Jacksonville combining for 44. Their offense was just as amazing, with Kevin Jones, Josh Scobee, Clinton Portis, and David Carr combining for 52. So I’m reasonably sure the appropriately named Crushers won.

Stevies Scapegoats (2-6) d. FIRST Force (3-4-1)
75-43
After five straight losses, the Scapegoats were looking to stop the bleeding against FIRST Force, who has been struggling as of late. FIRST Force’s struggling was only exacerbated by having no running game and a receiving game not likely to induce fear in anyone. They won the QB battle with Romo, but said receiving game was dominated by the Scapegoats’ Joey Galloway and Roy Williams combining for 29. While defense wasn’t quite as lopsided, the Scapegoats’ also got some insurance scoring from Denver (16) and DeMeco Ryans (10). The Scapegoats needed this game badly, and they won it.

{} (2-6) d. Silver Lobos (5-3)
67-64
“The Silver Lobos have Rex Grossman who lives off of weak opponents at home. Does he need any one else?” Apparently so, because as early in the review as this is, the -1 at the QB spot was easily the difference in this game. Murphy’s Streakers (ew) incorrect QB decision only cost them 1 point this week (Losman had 6). I’ll be fair: the Lobos played well, with impressive scores coming from Marvin Harrison (20, in the process of helping Peyton Manning kick both the Patriots’ and Ironmen’s collective butts), Darrent Williams (15), and Cato June (11). But the Streakers (ew) got a lot of that defensive scoring back with a combined score of 26. Their offensive scores were slightly better too, including two receivers who combined for 23. In a game that could’ve gone either way, it all comes back to Grossman not doing his job, and the Streakers (ew) having a QB contribute enough points to give them their first winning streak of the season.

The Very Fast Blitz (2-6) d. sigmakittens (1-7)
57-47
Truth be told, this game wasn’t very exciting. The Sigmakittens’ best score was Jake Plummer’s 16 while the Blitz had Tony Gonzalez with 15. But here is what the league takeover added to the Blitz: an actual defense. Not a great one (it only combined for 17), but one that took advantage of a Tampa Bay -3 and a bye from their opponents’ defense. With the rest of the game even (and not in a good way), defenses were the factor in the Blitz’s third win.

Meatball Artists (4-4) d. Amazin' Blue (7-1)
47-23
“Man! Did Amazin' Blue screw this week up! They’re in second place and left their roster in disarray. What's up with that?” Actually, while they could’ve replaced one of their defensive players on a bye, they still weren’t looking too good. And when your best score is T.J. Houshmandzadeh with 9, it’s time to call it a day. The Artist’s roster was in less disarray. It even had Stephen Jackson’s 14 and Marc Bulger’s 9. For the first time this season, the Artists have a winning record.

stantheman (7-1) vs. Boilers 1529 (3-5)
88-63
The Boilers had two faults this week. The first is that two of their players were on byes (one even had a backup they could’ve put in). They had good scores such as Brees’s 19, Muhammad and Ayodele’s matching 10s, and Dunn’s 9. Then you see those two goose eggs from byes, and it hurts your eyes to see. Their second fault was not actually their fault, but it hurt them nonetheless. It was facing the "not quite dominant, but wins when they need to" STM. And didn’t Javon Walker’s 28 for STM look pretty? Of course, that wasn’t all. They also had Garrard’s 15 (Leftwich who?) and a pair of 10s from Maroney and Urlacher. STM, as usual, remains in first place.

Two teams tied at 13th, both with the 13th highest fantasy scores. What are the odds?

Playoff Picture: We're still in magic number territory here. STM will clinch with 3 wins, Crushers, Blue, and Hawks will clinch with 4 wins, and Dynamic and Minions will clinch with five wins (i.e., winning out). I know, there are a zillion other possibilities and permutations to the playoff picture right now, but what do I look like, Supernerd? Uh, don't answer that.

Well, I'll see you all next week.

Re: Week IX Postgame Analysis
 

The FIRST Robotics League

Koko's X-Cats (5-4) vs. Indiana Ironmen (5-4)
The X-Cats of course rely on Larry Johnson but now have a revenge minded Steve McNair going up against his old team. The wildcard for the Ironmen could be the Ravens defense. Tom Brady will do his damage against the Jets but Ahman Green will be hard pressed to get results agaisnt the Vikings very tough run D.

Stevies Scapegoats (3-6) vs. Rhode Island Dynamic (6-3)
The Dynamic is standing tall with a high performing Peyton Manning and Corey Dillon is due for a big day as well. The SCapegoats are going to be hard pressed for points with Brett Farve regressing to his turnover prone ways and Edgerrin James being a non entity this season. Their best bet is the Broncos defense who get to beat down the Raiders offense.

Evil Trav's Minions (6-3)vs. Cooney Quest (2-6-1)
The Minons are relying on a desperate to rebound Donovan McNabb and Tiki Barber who will have to sludge through the tough Bears defense but on the other side is his teammate Brandon Jacobs who can syphon points away from him with end zone carries and take them to the Quest. Mciheal Vick is also looking to continue his new passing prowess at home.

RPI10 (3-6) vs. Eat My Shorts (5-4)
Eat My Shorts will ride LaDanian Thomlinson obviously but the catalys of vicotry may come from what Duece McAllister does in Pittsburgh and what Brad Johnson does at home against the Packers. RPI10 has Thomlinson's opposite Rudi Johnson who will be hard pressed for yards against the tough Chargers run defense. They really need Eli Manning to come through against the Bears to get the win.

T-Hawks (6-2-1) vs. Cromer Smash! (2-6-1)
Well outside of the idiotic drama happening with the Smash the actual game features Jake Dellohme and Willie Parker leading the Smash while the T-Hawks have Phillip Rivers and ironically Delhommes recievers Smith and Johnson thus pretty much negating his points.

Nor Cal Crushers (7-2)vs.stantheman (8-1)
Game of the week!
Niether team has quarterbacks that inspire tremendous confidence (David Carr for the Crushers. David Garrard for stantheman) but the Crushers have a three headed hydra at running back with Clinton Portis, Kevin Jones and Chester Taylor to stanthemans one running back Laurence Maroney. Maroney is good but he can't overcome three good backs production all by himself. stantheman needs the Bears defense to be their big play selves tonight to get the win.

{} (3-6) vs. FIRST Force (3-5-1)
{} has a problem. First they are depending on the undependable JP Losman for points at the quarterback. Secondly JP's favorite target is on FIRST Forces roster. Not good. Reuben Droughns and Mike Bell have to somehow make up the point deficency. FIRST Force hopes to get something good out of Tony Romo and Dominic Rhodes in his limited touches.


Silver Lobos (5-4) vs. sigmakittens (1-8)
Only the kitties could have players missing after the byes are over (no Willis McGahee). I doubt Jamal Lewis can carry this team alone to victory (I've given up on Lamont Jordna making anything happen). The Silver Lobos are seeking positve production from Carson Palmer and Deshaun Foster. Both have been hit or miss so this one could be closre than the records indicate.

Meatball Artists (5-4) vs. The Very Fast Blitz (3-6)
The Meatball Artist look for Marc Bulger to continue his efficent play and Julius Jones and Steven Jackson to counter Jospeh Addai and Brian Westbrook of the Very Fast Blitz. Not sure how much the Blitz can expect from Marc Brunell. Terell Owens could be a big factor for them.

Amazin' Blue (7-2)vs. Boilers 1529 (3-6)
For a 7-2 team Amazin' Blue's roster does nto seem all that scary. Tatum Bell is the top threat this week unless Torry Holts blows up again (recivers are up and down in fantasy football). Boilers 1529 has a worse record but better looking players in Drew Brees and Warrick Dunn and if they perform as advertised they could steal this one.

Re: Week IX Postgame Analysis
 

It's always a good week when two of the guys ahead of you in the standings are playing each other muahahahaha.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni Koko's X-Cats MechanicatzT-hawksBig Pappi Nor Cal CrushersFIRST Force sigmakittensWe Inhale AudiblyCromer Smash! Jedimasters1511Gopher Santosh1002 ROFLvadersStevies Scapegoats Indiana Ironmen MC Shea Piss Poor PiñatasThe Jaguar SharksFreedomForce






WEEK 9 RESULTS[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(7-2) 70.61 Indiana Ironmen (3-6) 64.16
Though Brad Johnson did his best to derail the X-Cats run to victory (-4.95 points) Larry Johnson and the San Deigo Chargers defense made up for it with 19.15 and 14.36 points respectively. The Ironmen got 12.97 points, 11.22 points from Ahman Green and 11.00 points from Cato June. But they came up just short.

Mechanicatz (7-2) 68.77 Cromer Smash! (5-4) 60.56
The Smash got four players in double digits ( Peyton Manning with 16.51, Josh Scobee with 16.00, the New England Patriots defense with 10.12, and Aaron Kampman with 10.00) to the Mechanicatz 3 ( Matt Stover with 18.00, Jeremy Shocley with 11.30 and Laurence Maroney with 10.77 points ) but the Smash alos had two big fat zeros on the scorecard to none for the Mechanicatz.

Ni (8-1) 65.35 FreedomForce (1-8) 42.53
Both teams are without a quarterback so scoring will have to come from somewhere else. For Ni their best bet is Ronnie Brown. For FreedomFOrce it's Stepehen Jackson.
FreedomForce got 19.82 points which unfortunately is nearly half of ther points as no one else produced. Ni got 14.43 points from Ronnie Brown. They also got 16.78 points from the Seattle Seahawks defense and 10.60 points from Mushin Muhammed. That was all they needed.

Nor Cal Crushers (5-4) 102.44 Stevies Scapegoats(3-6) 52.45
The Crushers stopped the bleeding in a big way led by the surprising Dolphins defense 22.66 points, Tony Romo's 17.81 points, Roy Williams 14.40 points, Clinton Portis 13.74 points, and Lawrence Tynes 10.00 points. All teh Scapegoats got was 10.88 points from the Detriot Lions defense.

T-Hawks(7-2)81.72ROFLvaders(4-5) 67.92
Both teams

Big Pappi(6-3) 100.61 Piss Poor Piñatas (2-7) 57.22
Big Pappi ruled from the get go with 23.46 points from Kevin Jones, 17.12 points from Joey Harrington, 14.62 points from the Jacksonville Jaguars defense, 12.61 points from Rudi Johnson, 12.00 points from Rasheen Mathis, and 10.05 points from T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Triple P got 13.05 points from Donald Driver and 13.00 points from joe Nedney. That means the other 31.17 points came from the other 8 team members. That's 3.89 points per player. Not cool.

Jedimasters1511(5-4) 75.58 We Inhale Audibly (5-4) 53.15
We Inhale Audibly leans heavily on the arm of Carson Palmer and the legs of Fred Taylor but Jedimaster1511 has a strong counter with Drew Brees and the gruesome twosome of Tiki Barber and Duece McAllister.

Santosh1002(3-5) 80.09
sigmakittens(5-3) 66.85
I have never seen a scoresheet like Santosh's last week. There were 5 blanks on their side. The other five players were in double figures including LaDanian THomlinsons monsterous 32.34 points. Add in 13.86 points from the Baltimore Ravens defense, 12.00 points from Shayne Graham, 11.84 points from warrick Dunn, and 10.05 points from Chris Cooley. The kitties got didn't do too badly with 15.40 points from Darrent Williams, 11.55 points from Terell Owens and 10.52 points from Wes Welker but did not match Santoshs deep shots.


Gopher (5-4)106.31 FIRST Force (4-5) 103.06
What a battle!
Gopher had 31.06 points from Javon Walker, 22.60 points from David Garrard and 10.00 points from Brian Urlacher to FIRST Force's 21.00 points from London Fletcher, 17.85 points from Joey Galloway, 14.90 points from Marques Colston, and 12.28 points from Chester Taylor. And after all that it was Lofa Tatupu's 6.00 points that made the difference.

MC Shea (3-6) 62.74 The Jaguar Sharks(1-8) 59.52
Tony GOnzales scored 16.40 points and 10.94 points from Marc Bulger for MC Shea. The luckless Jaguar SHarks got 13.80 but obviousdly wan't expecting -2.93 points from Tom Brady.

Week X Postgame Analysis
 

One of these weeks, I’ll actually get the postgame out before Friday…

Rhode Island Dynamic (6-3) d. Stevies Scapegoats (3-6)
67-61
Uh, did Brett Favre just score 15 for the Scapegoats and take the high score of a match that had Peyton Maning? Not that it mattered: the rest of their offense didn’t show up (this game was over Sunday anyway; Galloway’s 6 on Monday only made it look close). The defense combined for a respectable 26, but that was only peanuts compared to Rhode Island’s 32. The Dynamic had no one score that stood out, but six of their players scored at least 8 points, and all but one player cleared 4 (that one player being Reggie Brown, lousy NFL scorekeepers taking away the 1 point he originally got ;)). So despite Peyton Maning having an off day and actually losing the QB battle, Rhode Island still scores enough to win.

Koko's X-Cats (5-4) d. Indiana Ironmen (5-4)
84-79
This game was FAR better than that Dynamic/Scapegoats game :p. However, as close as this game was, I still think the X-Cats had this one all the way. The big score here was the Ironmen’s Chad Johnson with 26, and that’s what made them look good (that, and Brady’s 12). But the X-Cats were even better. “The X-Cats of course rely on Larry Johnson but now have a revenge minded Steve McNair going up against his old team.” Quoth Khan, revenge is a dish best served cold. McNair scored 16 in one of the best games this week, and LJ tallied 9. Then the X-Cats’ Monday night defense struck, with Julius Peppers and the Carolina DEF adding 26 to their score. In what was probably the fantasy game of the week, the X-Cats storm forward to a 6-4 record.

Evil Trav's Minions (6-3) d. Cooney Quest (2-6-1)
72-61
As if beating up on poor Cooney Quest wasn’t enough, the Minions were still adding points to their score three days after the Monday nighter had ended. I use the term “poor”, because in what seems like a recurring theme, they just can’t catch a break. I know I say it a lot about this team, but it’s true. This week, it was facing a really strong opponent who really needed to stop a small losing skid, and it was Mike Vick underperforming for the second week in a row. Cooney also has a problem of having great conglomeration (six players all scored at least 6), but no big scores to back them. Enough about Cooney. The Eagles broke a three game losing streak themselves, and Donovan McNabb was a prime benefactor of that, giving the Minions 14 points (even if 6 of those were tacked by the NFL yesterday). Frank Gore matched that as well. And their conglomeration was slightly better than Cooney’s with seven players all clearing 7. It’s the story of Cooney’s season, really.

Eat My Shorts (5-4) d. RPI10 (3-6)
87-49
I’m noticing three big scores on RPI’s side: Gibril Wilson and Dave Rayner both with 11, and 10 from Rudi Johnson. I’m also noticing a -5 from Eli Manning. So I took a gaze over to EMS’s scorecard, where I immediately see three big scores (actually two big scores and a REALLY big score): 32 from LaDanian Tomlinson, 15 from McAllister, and 13 from Stallworth. I also noticed a positive 5 from Brad Johnson. “Eat My Shorts will ride LaDanian Tomlinson obviously, but the catalyst of victory may come from what Deuce McAllister does in Pittsburgh and what Brad Johnson does at home against the Packers.” Ed called it perfectly.

Cromer Smash! (2-6-1) d. T-Hawks (6-2-1)
72-60
For those of us keeping score, Cromer Smash’s Willie Parker has scored a combined 52 points the past three weeks (his tally was 23 this week). That’s more than he got in the entire first half. He was joined by twin 10s from Delhomme and Drummond, and their three defensive players totaled 19 points. Rivers’s 19, Steve Smith’s 14, and Marion Barber’s 9 actually gave the T-Hawks a slight edge on offense, but their defense dropped the ball, only totaling 6. This is the T-Hawk’s first loss since Week IV.

Nor Cal Crushers (7-2) d. stantheman (8-1)
66-51
I’m saying it up front: Nor Cal got lucky. Believe it or not, they had an off week this week. The ONLY reason they won was Terrence McGee and his 23 points. But I do have to be a bit impartial here; STM could’ve done better. STM is one of three teams to not have a single game score below 50 (the other two being the Minions and Dynamic), but they only have one game score above 62. They’ve stayed up top because generally, their opponent scores lower than them. But obviously, that wasn’t the case here. David Gerrard scored -2 in the QB slot (Leftwich, where?), which only made things worse. And other than Ward’s 10 and Chicago’s 11, their roster felt a bit underwhelming. Had it played out like a normal week, by all means, STM would have won. But it wasn’t a normal week (as you can tell by {} winning this week :D), and that one huge score by the Crushers did them in.

{} (3-6) d. FIRST Force (3-5-1)
58-50
How has Murphy’s Something-or-Others (it’s 2am, you try putting any thought into a name that’ll only last one review) been doing so well these past weeks? Well I’ll tell you one thing, it’s not due to their choices for the QB spot. Roethlisberger had 17 more points than Losman, and MSoO had Losman in the lineup. The good news is that they had a killer receiving game this week, with Driver and Colston combining for 26. The other good news (unless you’re FIRST Force) is that the only score worth mentioning of their opponents’ was Tony Romo’s 15 (go Cowboys!). So MSoO has won their third straight; is the end of days truly upon us?

Silver Lobos (5-4) d. sigmakittens (1-8)
50-42
Ugh, it’s too late to have to describe a bleh game like this. Keeping in mind that the Sigmakittens have only cleared 50 twice, 50 seems like a nice, round number to aim for. Carson Palmer (18) and Maurice Jones-Drew (10) did most of the work for the Lobos this week. The rest of their offensive scoring I can count on my fingers. Their defense at least scored enough for me to need a third hand to count it (or possibly a foot). But their score added up to 50, and against the Sigmakittens, that’s enough for victory.

The Very Fast Blitz (3-6) d. Meatball Artists (5-4)
45-43
Addai, Owens, Westbrook, Gonzalez, Vanderjagt. That is the Blitz’s offense (because Marc Brunell inhaled audibly and put up a big donut). It’s a pretty effective offense too, with all of them combining for 41 points. Their defense was terrible, but the Artists' only score above 6 was Steven Jackson’s 12, so they actually didn’t need it this week. They take their second straight win in a squeaker (and that’s with three Es).

Boilers 1529 (3-6) d. Amazin' Blue (7-2)
56-48
“For a 7-2 team Amazin' Blue's roster does not seem all that scary.” I actually agree here, because even though they were in third place, they had the eleventh highest fantasy score over the course of nine weeks. Keep in mind though that you only have to win by 1. That was not the case for Amazin’ Blue this week. Their best score was Michael Turner (who?) with 10. While not quite as good in the running game, the Boilers turned up the heat (sorry, had to say it) with their receiving game, defense, and Drew Brees (he led this entire game with 12). So instead of the Blue winning by a small margin, it’s the Boilers who put that one in their win column.

z=Mathematically Eliminated

A lot of good scoring games this week. In fact, only five teams scored below 50 this week, and the lowest score was only 42.

Playoff Picture: Yeah, y'all are going to have to wait until tomor- er, later today for that. I need my sleep. :cool:

Playoff Analysis: Pre-Week XI
 

z=Mathematically Eliminated

Playoff Picture: We're ten weeks into the season, and the top 18 teams are more than capable of making the playoffs, and even the 19th place Cooney Quest isn't out of it yet. Unless otherwise noted, fantasy scores aren't taken into consideration here.

• Crushers and STM will clinch with 3 wins, or 2 wins and a loss from one of the X-Cats, Lobos, or EMS.
• Dynamic, Minions, Blue and T-Hawks will clinch with 4 wins (winning out), or 3 wins and a loss from one of the X-Cats, Lobos, or EMS (yeah, yeah, 2 wins plus two losses from one of those 2-2 teams works too).
• The afforementioned X-Cats, Lobos, and EMS are the border straddlers this week. They can clinch if they win out, and one of those three has one loss. After that, we're prettymuch in "gonna need a supercomputer" land.
• Ironmen and Artists can get into the playoffs in as little as one win, but can not afford to lose out.
• Boilers, {}, and Blitz can go 2-2 and still have a chance, but they can't have more than three losses.
• Force and Smash are those rare teams that can afford a tie (though I wouldn't recommend it as that half game can be a difference maker). They can also afford a single loss. But two losses eliminates them.
• Scapegoats and RPI can't even afford the tie. Two losses will outright eliminate them as well.
• Cooney Quest can also afford a tie (though again, I wouldn't reccomend it), but other than that, they need to win out. Two of the X-Cats, Lobos, and EMS getting a single win also eliminates them.
• And finally, Kaplan's Kittens are the first ones out this year.

A few tidbits with the schedule:

• What's truly scary is that with Cooney's schedule, they are quite capable of winning out (trust me, if you've kept track of them all year, they aren't as bad as that 19th place standing indicates). Sadly, their playoff chances are looking slimmer every week.
• Nobody in the 6-4 bracket face each other in the last four weeks. Same with the 5-5 bracket. However, the Artists have both the Lobos (Week XI) and X-Cats (Week XIV) left to play. If they win both, things look pretty good for them.
• On the same subject, EMS and Ironmen face off in Week XII. It's a pivotal game, and might spell disaster for the loser.
• Remember when I said the Ironmen could be in trouble late? Well, they have yet to beat any teams above .500, and they have EMS and the Crushers on their schedule (and Cooney, which could go either way). Eep.
• The T-Hawks are in less trouble, as they've shown they can beat the good teams. But they're still in for a test as they must face the Crushers, STM, and Minions.
• {} is on a roll, and have three games that can directly help them if they keep their momentum: Dynamic, X-Cats, and EMS. But losing just one of those gives a team above them better standing, and will probably end {}.
• Of the 6-4 and 5-5 brackets, the X-Cats by far have the easiest schedule, with their only notable foe being the Artists. Thenagain, they did give Cooney one of their two wins...
• Speaking of easy schedules, the Dynamic just defeated the Scapegoats, and face {}, Kittens, Artists, and Boilers. Notice anything? That's right, they're all in the lower half of the standings. It must be nice having what is most likely the easiest schedule of the league remaining.
• I myself am personally looking forward to Crushers/Minions in week XIII, if only for the ramifications it will have on any battles for the coveted/cursed #1 Seed Award.
• And while I'm still talking about it, mathematically, the top 14 can all reach #1. Realistically though, we're looking at the top 9 teams (minus Blue; their fantasy score is too low) fighting for it. Crushers, Dynamic, and Minions have the best shot due to all them having at least 40 more fantasy points than the X-Cats, who have the fourth highest fantasy score (who themselves have a decent buffer beteen them and the next two highest fantasy scores). In the Crushers and Dynamic's cases, it's nearly a 70 and 80 point difference, respectively.

Now, I'd like to toss a question to the field. Are there any matches (either your's or someone else's) in the next four weeks that entice you, and why? I myself have a rivalry game this week that I'm looking forward to :p. Other than that, I'll see you early next week.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

FIRST Robotics League 2

Ni Koko's X-Cats MechanicatzT-hawks Nor Cal CrushersFIRST Force Big Pappi We Inhale AudiblyJedimasters1511sigmakittensCromer Smash! Gopher Santosh1002 Stevies Scapegoats ROFLvadersIndiana Ironmen MC Shea Piss Poor PiñatasThe Jaguar SharksFreedomForce








WEEK 9 SCHEDULE[/center]
Koko's X-Cats(8-2) vs. FIRST Force (6-4)
Well the X-Cats relaince on Larry Johnson goes without saying but if the X-Cats want to court victory they need points from JP Losman and Reggie Bush because FIRST Force will get their points from Frank Gore and Steve McNair.

Cromer Smash! (5-5) vs. We Inhale Audibly (6-4)
We Inhale Audibly should get their points from Carson Palmer but needs more from Edgerrin James even with Fred Taylor sharing the backfield. The Smash will get their points from Peyton Manning and Anthony Thomas is looking like a given against the Texans run D. Which recievers step up will determine the victor.

Ni (9-1) vs. Piss Poor Piñatas (3-7)
Triple P could be destroyed by Donovan McNabb alone.But Ni has Ronnie Brown and Reuben Droughns as well. Looking up and down Triple P's roster I cannot see much hope outside the failure of the aformentioned players.

Mechanicatz (7-3) vs. Stevies Scapegoats(3-7)
The Mechnicatz are wondering which Micheal Vick will show up? Fortunately they have Laurence Maroney and MArion Barber the III to take up the slack. The Scapegoats are hoping Brett Farve does not make many mistakes against the Patriots and that THomas Jones and Travis Henry are very productive.



FreedomForce (1-9) vs. ROFLvaders(4-6)
How is FreedomForce 1-9 and mired in last place? Well when the byes are done and you have a blank roster spot there is no need for explanation.

Nor Cal Crushers (6-4) vs. MC Shea (4-6)
The Crushers have Tony Romo and Willie Parker. MC Shea has the dissapointing Carnell Williams and backup for the Bears Cedric Benson. Will it be Marc Bulger to the rescue?



T-Hawks(7-3) vs.The Jaguar Sharks(1-9)
The poor Jaguar Sharks can't buy a break! They've lost more close games than the rest of the leauge combined. Is this the week the ball finailly bounce their way? Depends on what TOm Brady does for them and if Najeh Davenport or Bruce Gradkowski step up?

Big Pappi(6-4) vs. Santosh1002(4-6)
Santosh is celebrating the anticipated return of Matt Hasselbeck and it couldn't have come at a better time with LaDanin Thomlinson struggling for yard against the Broncos and Warrick Dunn facing the Ravens. Big Pappi is alos clebrating the return of Trent Green and hopes to get big yards from Rudi Johnson.


Jedimasters1511(6-4) vs. Indiana Ironmen (4-6)
You know you are in trouble when Jon Kitna is your best threat. The Ironmen may get points from Ahman Green but they will be hard pressed to match Drew Brees and Tiki Barber.


Gopher (4-6) vs. sigmakittens(5-5)
Gopher has a possibly powerful twosome in Brain Westbrooke and Julius Jones on their hands nevermind Jake Delhome and the Carolina Panthers defense. Triple digits is a possiblity. The kittes are taking a chance on Jason Campbell and I don't think Joseph Addia can match Gopher's running game.

Week XI Postgame Analysis
 

What? Mr. Math and I aren’t supposed to tie! One of us is supposed to beat the other badly!

Rhode Island Dynamic (7-3) vs. {} (4-6)
draw
61-61
In a rivalry game between the Rhode Island Dynamic and Murphy’s Tiers, they, well, tied. But in a decent scoring game, so much went wrong. The Tiers had Ronnie Brown run for a whopping 2 yards and a fumble (that’s -3 points). The league’s then-leading receiver in yardage, Marques Colston, got hurt early and didn’t return, adding 0 points. The good news is that they kept Losman in; he got 17. But if the Tiers keep Brown on the bench, they win. The Dynamic had problems of their own. Peyton Manning had three turnovers (though he connected with Reggie Wayne enough for Rhode Island’s taste). Reggie Brown was effected by McNabb’s injury and only took home a single point. And all three of their game-time decisions (Brown, Mare, and St. Louis) were the wrong ones. Both teams were very lucky they didn’t lose.

Koko's X-Cats (6-4) d. Stevies Scapegoats (3-7)
58-39
Ah, finally, something one-sided. Actually, Larry Johnson’s 20 and Carolina’s 19 were all the X-Cats needed (and that’s all the X-Cats’ defense could muster up anyway). We all know how badly Favre got pwned for the Scapegoats, and from there, it was all downhill (must be a pretty low hill). Their best score was Joey Galloway’s 9. It was nowhere near enough to stop the X-Cats from winning their fourth straight.

Indiana Ironmen (5-5) d. Cooney Quest (2-7-1)
92-54
Cooney: excellent teamwork, no big score to back them. It’s how they came in, and it’s how they’ll leave this season. Not a knock against them; they had six players clear 6 fantasy points this week. Generally, that’s pretty good. But nobody on their team scored more than 8 (Vick got that, for the record). Also, their opponent had the high score of the week. Props to the Ironmen, who really went out of their way to show us they belong in the playoffs. They had Ocho Cinco (which really should be Orchenta Cinco, but I digress) lead the way with 28. We all know how much Tom Brady pwned in Lambeau Field (consider this an extension of the Scapegoats woes from above), and that got the Ironmen 17 more points. Finally, their defense combined for 38, putting any hopes for Cooney out of reach.

Eat My Shorts (6-4) d. Evil Trav's Minions (7-3)
59-47
EMS has LaDanian Tomlinson. Do they really need anything else? Well, yes, they do, but my point still stands. His 33 (yes, I said 33) is easily why EMS won. The Minions dominated EMS on defense, but their offense led by Frank Gore’s 10 wasn’t enough to offset Tomlinson. Even worse is that the Minions have Donovan McNabb. Or should I say “had”. Long story short, the Minions have problems.

Cromer Smash! (3-6-1) d. RPI10 (3-7)
59-42
When you have two negatives from a receiver and a kicker, you know you’re just not going to have a good week. RPI tried to offset this with Miami’s 15 and Burress’s 10, but the Smash scored too many positive points. Willie Parker continued his awesomeness with 14, and Deion Branch proved his worth with 13. Also, Cromer didn’t have to deal with those nasty negative points. RPI joins the teams in the eliminated category with this loss.

Nor Cal Crushers (8-2) d. T-Hawks (6-3-1)
70-64
The Nor Cal Crushers are dropping like flies. First Portis, now Kevin Jones. And on Sunday, the rest of them were only decent. Chester Taylor and Darrell Jackson both put up 10s and their three defensive players combined for 21. Meanwhile, the T-Hawks were staying even on defense, and getting 14 from Marion Barber and 11 from Steve Smith (though take note that his partner in crime, Keyshawn Johnson, put up 0 for the T-Hawks). It looked like Nor Cal was going to die a painful death. But Monday Night Football saw the Jaguars cream the Giants. And guess what? The Crushers had Josh Scobee and the Jacksonville DEF. An extra 22 fantasy points were scored on Monday night for the Crushers, and it pushed them to victory.

sigmakittens (1-9) d. FIRST Force (3-6-1)
55-53
Heh, I have a feeling you guys are going to like this one. This was a pretty even game, even if the majority of the scoring was done by two players. For FIRST Force, they had number eighty-three score two eighty-three yard touchdowns in the first quarter (IOW, Lee Evans scored 26). The Kittens had Jamal Lewis with 22. The rest of the offenses were dead even, and so were the defenses. Here’s where the differential was: the QB spot. Jake Plummer looked like he did at the beginning of the season, only getting 1 point for the Kittens. Luckily for them, it was two more than Tony Romo got for FIRST Force. In what was a very weak performance (though to his credit, he still led the Cowboys to victory), Romo got a -1. And that’s your ballgame. The Sigmakittens come up from the grave to pull FIRST Force down with them.

Silver Lobos (6-4) d. Meatball Artists (5-5)
72-53
This was the first of two games the Artists really needed to win. And I’m pretty sure they were ecstatic watching New England shut out the Packers, because they had the New England DEF worth 11 points. Even the Sunday night game gave them Jason Elam and 9 points. But that was all they got. The Lobos outdid them the rest of the way. We all remember the Bengals victory from when I played Spanish Grammar Nazi with Chad Johnson up above. Carson Palmer got 16 points from that one. Darrent Williams was the man for the Broncos defense, tallying 15 for the Lobos. Finally, Maurice Jones-Drew is having a heck of a year, scoring 9 this week. The Lobos stay in that jumble of teams in eighth-or-better.

The Very Fast Blitz (4-6) d. Boilers 1529 (4-6)
59-46
Who here actually thought Alex Smith had a chance against the Seahawks? Not me, that’s for sure. But he gave the Blitz 13 points. They also had Watson’s 9, Westbrook’s 8, and a better defense than their opponent. Yes, The Very Fast Blitz actually played better defense than an opponent. There really isn’t much to say about the Boilers anyway. The only thing they were even close to the Blitz in was at the QB spot with Drew Brees equaling Smith with 13 points. Everything else was worse than the Blitz, giving the Blitz their third straight win.

stantheman (8-2) d. Amazin' Blue (7-3)
56-53
Jeff probably going to murder me for this one, but notice how Amazin’ Blue lost this game by the exact same amount of points the Wolverines did against the Buckeyes (much to Trav’s enjoyment). This one was another one decided on Monday as both teams had one player playing, and I seriously thought the Blue could hold their lead. Obviously that wasn’t the case. But lets go back a day to Sunday, where the Blue had three 0s on offense. Holt, Houshmandzadeh, and Tatum Bell were all held scoreless. That’s gotta hurt. They had some pretty good scores with Matt Leinhart (14), Thomas Davis (12), Pittsburgh (9), and Michael Turner (8). But there was some extreme separation between their high scores and their low scores. It left a door open for STM. Granted, they were behind going into Monday, but it seems like they held it together better. Their high scores were 11s from both Maroney and Chicago, and their defense was the better of the two. The offense all scored too. What won it on Monday though was David Gerrard and his 5 points. It wasn’t big, but it turns out they didn’t need a big score to get STM back to winning.

z=Mathematically Eliminated

Wow, we lost four more teams this week. Anyhow, before noon on Thursday, you will see both the playoff picture, and then, because Ed is away for Thanksgiving, the pregame analysis done by me. Should be interesting.

Playoff Analysis: Pre-Week XII
 

Well my math will certainly be easier this week...

z=Mathematically Eliminated

Playoff Picture: Look at how many of the top 10 won and how many of the bottom 10 lost. It made a rather noticible gap between the ones in good playoff standing and the ones who are going to need a lot of help now. Keep in mind that unless noted, I haven't figured in fantasy points yet.

• Crushers and STM will clinch with a single win, or if both the T-Hawks and Ironmen lose a single game.
• Dynamic can clinch with two wins and a tie. They're really part of the three-wins crowd, but since they are one of the few teams who can actually afford a tie, I figured I'd mention it for completeness.
• Any of the Minions, X-Cats, Lobos, EMS, and Blue will clinch upon winning out (that's three wins). There's also a bunch of other situations that can happen, all of them too numerous to mention here.
• Here's an interesting one: the T-Hawks will clinch if they win out. This is due to the Lobos/Blue game in Week XIII, and if they win out, they'll have at least a half-game lead on the loser and thus be guaranteed at least eighth.
• The Ironmen will be eliminated if they lose out, or two losses and each of the 7-4 bracket win a single game.
• The Artists and Blitz must win twice to avoid direct elimination.
• A single loss will eliminate the Smash, {}, and Boilers. Also, a single win from each of the 7-4 bracket eliminates them.
• Finally, the number of teams eliminated from the playoff race grew significantly this week. Force, Scapegoats, RPI, Cooney, and Kittens are all out of it.

Now here's where things get interesting:

• Week XIII has the match that will shake up the playoff standings: the Silver Lobos vs. Amazin' Blue. This game will knock one of those teams out of the 7-4 bracket, and is probably the best chance for any of the ninth through fifteenth place teams to make a late playoff run.
• The Week XIII matchup between the Minions and Crushers is not going to be as great as I thought it was last week due to McNabb getting hurt, and the Crushers facing injuries from Portis and Jones. It should still be pretty good though.
• The Dynamic continue their five-game basement tour with the Kittens this week, followed by the Artists and Boilers. Not only do they look good for the playoffs, but they also have a chance to spoil two teams' playoff dreams.
• The X-Cats have a similarly easy schedule, with {} this week, followed by the Kittens and Artists. Not only do they look good for the playoffs, but they also have a chance to spoil two teams' playoff dreams. Yay, cut and paste!
• EMS, after a rough first half, are all of a sudden looking golden. Their final three oponents (Ironmen, Scapegoats, & {}) are below them in the standings, but two of which can still make playoff runs. So winning those games only puts them farther ahead of the teams on the outside looking in.
• Amazin' Blue better watch out. They've lost three straight, and their next two opponents (Blitz and Lobos) are teams hungry for the playoffs. At least they have Force in Week XIV, but will it already be too late for them?
• The Artists admitedly have a tough road ahead, but with the mess going on above them, victories against the X-Cats and Dynamic will make their playoff chances greater.
• Same thing with {} and Boilers. They both have two opponents in the 7-4 bracket. It won't be easy as neither team can afford a single loss, but at least in winning out, they're directly helping themselves.
• Here's where Fantasy points may make a difference: The Ironmen will most likely clinch a playoff spot if they win out. This is because defeating EMS in Week XII will knock EMS down to their bracket and the Lobos/Blue game in Week XIII will knock the loser down to their bracket (making it a moot point whether or not the T-Hawks win out). The coup de grâce to this is the Ironmen's currently fourth place fantasy point standing, which will break any ties those two games cause.
• The battle for the #1 Seed Award got considerably narrower this week. While mathematically, anybody in the Top 10 can reach #1, realistically, it's down to STM and the Crushers (with an outside chance for the Dynamic). My pick is going to STM due to their easier schedule and because the Crushers are fighting injuries at the moment.

That should keep you all excited until I get the Thanksgiving pregame up. Which, BTW, will be posted within the next 18 hours. Until then, sayonara.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

I wasn't expecting McNabb to destroy myself this week... Now I need a QB in 2. Anyone want Brown in a trade for a decent backup QB? :P

Week XII Pregame Analysis
 

Horray for Turkey Day! :D

z=Mathematically Eliminated

Rhode Island Dynamic (7-3-1) vs. sigmakittens (1-9)
It’s fleet o’ receivers vs. fleet o’ backs. Welker, Wayne, and Hall will probably provide the bulk of points for Rhode Island, which makes it a rough trip for the Sigmakittens because they’ve lost LaMont Jordan for this week and possibly the season. Defense and kicking could go either way, so the Kittens best chance is to take those two categories and pray that Manning and Dillon don’t supplement the Dynamic’s score too much.

Koko's X-Cats (7-4) vs. {} (4-6-1)
Here’s a game that could go either way depending on how real-life matchups shape up. If {} (I can’t give them a nickname, it’s a pregame!) can get Ronnie Brown and Marques Colston holding on to the ball this week, it could be enough to offset Larry Johnson for the X-Cats. If that doesn’t work, {} needs Losman to perform like he did last week. Where this game’s fate will lie is the Steelers vs Ravens. If the Ravens are as nasty as they’ve been all season, it’ll just be more points for McNair, Stover, and Reed; all of them are on the X-Cats’ roster.

Stevies Scapegoats (3-8) vs. Cooney Quest (2-8-1)
A pity a game like this couldn’t have happened earlier in the season. Despite both Cooney and the Scapegoats being eliminated from the postseason, this could shape up to be very exciting. Cooney needs a large score to back what will most likely be excellent conglomeration; Vick playing against New Orleans is the best chance for this (and if Vick does well, chances are, so is Cooney’s Atlanta DEF). The Scapegoats have Favre (seriously, how do you get that pronunciation from F-A-V-R-E?) playing at Seattle, so that’s not going to be a great source of points. It’s my opinion that the Scapegoats best chance is actually in Cooney’s fault. The higher Cooney’s score gets, the easier this win becomes.

Indiana Ironmen (6-5) vs. Eat My Shorts (7-4)
LaDanian Tomlinson versus Oakland. Yikes. In all seriousness, that could be enough right there for EMS. It may have to do too, because Stallworth has no QB to throw to him and Brad Johnson isn’t all that good. Brady will be taking to the air against the Bears for the Ironmen, so his passing TDs and yards should be above average. The Ironmen also have Chad Johnson at Cleveland and a much better defense than EMS. It could go either way, but EMS really needs Tomlinson to do well.

Evil Trav's Minions (7-4) vs. Cromer Smash! (4-6-1)
The Minions are going to be missing Donovan McNabb. But they have a secret weapon: Jon Kitna. You heard me, I said Jon Kitna of the Lions. He’s not McNabb, but he can hold his own (and has been better than the Smash’s Delhomme too). The Minions also have the services of Barber and Gore, and if either one has a big day (my money is on Barber in Tennessee), the Minions will win. The Smash have gotten a recent one-two combo with Branch and Parker, but if the aforementioned Delhomme doesn’t put up points, they won’t win.

RPI10 (3-8) vs. Nor Cal Crushers (9-2)
This is the period of time when Nor Cal is at their weakest. But even if Kevin Jones doesn’t play on Thursday, even if they’ve lost Portis to the IR, and even with David Carr being hit-or-miss, the Crushers still have Taylor, Jackson, and Boldin. And don’t get me started on their killer defense. The only hope I can give RPI is that they have Eli Manning and Plaxico Burress playing at Tennessee, and they could get tons of points from that hookup. But that’s just about the only way RPI is going to win.

stantheman (9-2) vs. T-Hawks (6-4-1)
Eddie’s official pick for game of the week. This game looks exciting. In the offensive arena, the T-Hawks bring Marion Barber, Jeremy Shockey, Steve Smith, and his partner in crime, Keyshawn Johnson. STM brings Maroney, Gates, Walker, and Ward. These matchups are dead even. So where does the edge go? Well, Ward may not play this week, and even if he does, he will be playing at less than optimal. The T-Hawks also have a slight advantage on defense. But where the real edge lies is at the QB spot. Phillip Rivers gets a nice and tender Raiders defense to pass against, while David Gerrard has only had one good week in his four starts. And if that’s what the battle comes down to, the T-Hawks will win.

FIRST Force (3-7-1) vs. Meatball Artists (5-6)
On FIRST Force, I see a good defense and Tony Romo. The other half of their team is severely lacking though. The Artists have Marc Bulger and Steven Jackson, but are also lacking a middle offense. FIRST Force is going to have to nickel-and-dime their way to victory, while the Artists need to outdo the Force on defense.

Silver Lobos (7-4) vs. Boilers 1529 (4-7)
Something tells me that the Boilers are going to be eliminated this week. Forget their not-so-great defense; their offense, at best, is just as good as the Lobos’. Brees, Dunn, and Glenn are going to need excellent games if they want to keep the Boilers’ playoff hopes alive. The Lobos have Cincinnati, Cato June, Darrent Williams, and Lofa Tatupu making up their defense and are guaranteed to give out plenty of points. Where they are most likely to lose would be if Maurice Jones-Drew, Marvin Harrison, Andre Johnson, and Adam Vinatieri all have off days. But keep in mind that even if that is the case, the Lobos still have Carson Palmer as insurance.

The Very Fast Blitz (5-6) vs. Amazin' Blue (7-4)
Both teams need this one badly. Amazin’ Blue is on a three-game losing streak, and if they’re not careful, could fall right out of the playoffs. And their mediocre roster isn’t going to be helping things any. Houshmandzadeh and Holt have favorable matchups for them, and they can win if their defense steps up. The Very Fast Blitz are on the outside looking in, and really don’t want a loss. Their defense has been a running gag this season, but has improved over the past couple weeks. But despite having Gonzalez, Owens, and Westbrook, their only favorable matchup is Alex Smith at St. Louis. This one could truly go either way.

As fun as that was, I think once a year is enough for me and pregame analyses. Luckily, Ed's back next week. We'll see if I was even remotely psychic after these games are over and I go back home to postgameville. Until then, have a fun, safe, and gluttonous holiday weekend. :)

Week XII Postgame Analysis
 

Something tells me I should’ve put J.J. Arrington in…

Okay, before we start, we have a change in scoring that drastically alters the playoff picture (and this time, I’m not trying to build up the drama; I really mean it). You’ll notice that the Dynamic/{} game last week tied, putting {} on the brink of elimination and giving Rhode Island a half-game lead over the fourth through eighth place teams. Well, somewhere along the line, Ronnie Brown’s fumble got taken away (I’m still not sure how; even the box score says he still has a single fumble). Net result: a -3 points subtracted from {}, which, as all us math people know, subtracting a negative number gives a positive 3 points to their final score, making them edge out the Dynamic. So going into this week, the Dynamic were still in third with their high fantasy score, but {} got bumped up to eleventh and now a lot less hopeless for the playoffs. It also ruined the nickname I gave {} that week. See, this is what happens when I actually get my reviews up on time.

Of course, this postgame review would’ve been up a couple days ago had I remembered there was a game yesterday (and I STILL would’ve had the EMS/Ironmen game wrong)…

sigmakittens (1-9) d. Rhode Island Dynamic (7-4)
62-61
Who would’ve thought Joseph Addai would get four TDs? This left Peyton Manning with one passing touchdown for Rhode Island. Lucky for them, that touchdown was to their own Reggie Wayne. Welker, Wayne, and Hall did their jobs. “Defense and kicking could go either way, so the Kittens best chance is to take those two categories and pray that Manning and Dillon don’t supplement the Dynamic’s score too much.” Combining both categories, the Kittens took that 39-36. Normally, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But the Dynamic’s Manning and Dillon combined for a total of 4 points. It left the door open for the Sigmakittens’ upset.

{} (5-6) d. Koko's X-Cats (7-4)
53-45
The X-Cats must be thrilled to have Larry Johnson on their roster right now, because his 14 was all the scoring they got. Murphy’s Four-Leaf Clovers were lacking a bit on offense with only Donald Driver’s 10 being of any significance. But defense was where this game was won, with Seattle’s 12 and Antoine Winfield’s 13 being the key to MFLC’s now five-game winning streak.

Cooney Quest (2-8-1) d. Stevies Scapegoats (3-8)
53-39
“It’s my opinion that the Scapegoats best chance is actually in Cooney’s fault.” I expected for Cooney to have a higher average score, but no big scores. Instead, they get two big scores (Brandon Jacobs with 14 and Michael Vick with 10), but a very low average. The rest of their offense was a hindrance, and their defense couldn’t carry them. In the very game which cost the Scapegoats the QB battle came their biggest score this week; Josh Brown with 14. The defense took it from there, combining for 30. And not counting Edgerrin James, the Scapegoats offense wasn’t a hinderance, giving mostly solid numbers. Sadly, this game was meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Eat My Shorts (7-4) d. Indiana Ironmen (6-5)
72-71
Ugh, way to go, Yahoo. This is the second tie in as many weeks that you’ve broken with scoring changes well after the games were over. Which is sad too, because both teams really deserved this game, and a tie would’ve been the perfect ending. I mean, look at the top of EMS’s scorecard (er, don’t look at Stallworth). Tomlinson, Brad Johnson, and McAllister combined for 55 on their own. The Ironmen’s scores were a bit more conservative with their only double digit score being Baltimore rolling all over the Steelers for 23 points. But look at their six other players who scored at least five points. Sadly, Donald Driver lost a point sometime in the middle of the week, leaving him with 9 points, and leaving the Ironmen with their unfortunate situation.

Evil Trav's Minions (7-4) d. Cromer Smash! (4-6-1)
67-29
Well let’s see here, the Smash had a decent defense. That defense finished with a combined 23. I’m drawing this out because that’s all I can say about the Smash. I can count their offensive totals on a six-fingered hand. “The Minions also have the services of Barber and Gore, and if either one has a big day (my money is on Barber in Tennessee), the Minions will win.” Gore had 14 and Barber had 6. Chris Cooley adding 10 was enough for victory. The rest was just gravy.

RPI10 (3-8) d. Nor Cal Crushers (9-2)
61-57
The only thing on Nor Cal’s roster less reliable than David Carr is Charlie Frye. You can tell by the -5 he added to the Crushers' scorecard. “…the Crushers still have Taylor, Jackson, and Boldin.” That’s 32 points. But their “killer defense” I went on and on about in my pregame analysis wasn’t so killer. In fact, RPI took the defensive scoring by 10. They also had two 8s from Burress and Bennett and a 9 from Rudi Johnson leading their offense. I think this also qualifies as an upset. But the Crushers at least clinch a playoff spot.

stantheman (9-2) d. T-Hawks (6-4-1)
71-53
“In the offensive arena, the T-Hawks bring Marion Barber, Jeremy Shockey, Steve Smith, and his partner in crime, Keyshawn Johnson.” In this corner: 23 points. “STM brings Maroney, Gates, Walker, and Ward.” And in this corner: 26 points. Defenses were tight enough where STM needed to take the QB fight. I figured Phillip Rivers would pwn the Raiders defense, but all he did was put up a goose egg for the T-Hawks. David Gerrard may be inconsistent, but he managed 11 fantasy points in his loss this week. It pushed STM to both victory, and once again, first place.

FIRST Force (3-7-1) d. Meatball Artists (5-6)
97-68
“On FIRST Force, I see a good defense and Tony Romo.” Oh yeah. Said defense (consisting of San Diego, Adrian Wilson, Charles Tillman, and Lance Briggs) had a grand total of 42 points. Tony Romo had more than half of that at 27. Beyond Stephen Jackson’s 16 and a couple good defensive scores (which they really needed to outdo their opponent in to have a chance at winning), the Artists were more on the low scoring side. Half their team couldn’t clear 5, and with the amazing performance FIRST Force put out, the Artists couldn’t keep up.

Silver Lobos (7-4) d. Boilers 1529 (4-7)
92-53
“Something tells me that the Boilers are going to be eliminated this week.” I may as well start there. As you can tell by just plain looking at the score, the italicized text is 100% accurate. “Where [the Lobos] are most likely to lose would be if Maurice Jones-Drew, Marvin Harrison, Andre Johnson, and Adam Vinatieri all have off days.” Harrison sure had an off day (for those of us still in shock about Addai scoring four times), but the other three combined for 37. “But keep in mind that even if that is the case, the Lobos still have Carson Palmer as insurance.” I know, making my job easier by quoting pregame analyses is wicked fun. :p That “insurance” was worth 16 more points. They didn’t need it, but insurance is always nice to have.

The Very Fast Blitz (5-6) d. Amazin' Blue (7-4)
92-28
I mean seriously, how in the blue shades (see what I did there? :D) of that place I can’t mention without the Chief Delphi censors swarming all over me like a fly on manure did Joseph Addai hit the end zone four times? Rhode Island suffered for it; so did Amazin’ Blue. Actually, even if you took away Addai's 34 fantasy points, the Blitz still would’ve dominated this game. I mean, the Blue may have gotten 9 from Leinart (and to be fair, Houshmandzadeh as well), but that only decent score is meaningless unless the rest of your team steps up. Like the Blitz’s Owens, Westbrook, and Minnesota. They all hit double digits. If you like lopsided games, this is the one for you.

x=Clinched Playoff Birth
z=Mathematically Eliminated

If the Change column looks odd, it's because unlike what last week's standings say, due to the scoring change, {} would've been in eleventh last week, not fourteenth (note that the Dynamic would still have been in third).

Well that was a mess and a half. I'll be back before gametime on Sunday with the Playoff Picture. Let's just pray that no more scores change.

Playoff Analysis: Pre-Week XIII
 

x=Clinched Playoff Birth
z=Mathematically Eliminated

Playoff Picture: The losses from the Dynamic, X-Cats, Blue, T-Hawks, and Ironmen left the bottom three playoff spots wide open to everyone in the top 12. Unless noted, fantasy scores are not considered.

• STM and Crushers will be selling postseason tickets in their respective front offices.
• Minions, Lobos, and EMS will clinch a playoff spot with one win, or a single loss from each of the T-Hawks, Ironmen, {}, and Blitz.
• Dynamic, X-Cats, and Blue will clinch upon winning their last two games. They'll also have a playoff spot if they win once, and each of the T-Hawks, Ironmen, {}, and Blitz lose once (and yeah, if those four teams lose out plus the Artists lose once, they're in).
• The T-Hawks, Ironmen, {}, and Boilers can't afford two losses. They'll also be eliminated if they lose once and each of the Dynamic, X-Cats, and Blue win one game.
• The Artists have to win both of their last games to have a shot at the playoffs. But even if that happens, if each of the Dynamic, X-Cats, and Blue win once, they're done.
• And among the people watching the playoffs in the comfort of their own homes are the Force, Smash, Boilers, Scapegoats, RPI, Kittens, and Cooney.

Here's what the last two weeks brings us...

• I'll start at the bottom: the Artists have almost no chance. Even if they do manage to beat both the Dynamic and X-Cats, in order for those wins to make a difference, one of those teams would still have to lose out, and they'd have to make up at least a 130 fantasy point difference (and that's if they're fighting the X-Cats; don't get me started on fantasy points and the Dynamic). I'm not saying they can't do it, I'm just saying it's going to be immensely difficult. The Artists' outside chance is if Blue loses out and they win out, as both teams are currently tied in fantasy points.
• Speaking of the Dynamic and fantasy points (I know I said I wouldn't, but it's actually important), they are nearly 70 points ahead of anybody below them in the standings. This means that realistically, the Dynamic only have to win once. Of course, after the not-a-tie in Week XI with {}, the question of whether they can win on the home stretch of their five-game tour of the basement becomes relevant.
• The other half of that not-a-tie, {}, is in no direct position to help themselves (Cooney is below them and EMS has a two-game and 85 fantasy point lead on them). They'll want to win both, and since their winning streak is so improbable, if they do, I'm willing to wager that the stars will align in {}'s favor.
• I figure I should mention that the X-Cats have just as easy of a schedule as the Dynamic. Their matches against the Kittens and Boilers leave them with a very good chance of being in the playoffs.
• The Ironmen's high fantasy score should help them claim a playoff spot. Their game against the Smash shouldn't be a problem, and the Crushers have a couple holes as of late. They'll ideally want to win both (and they have a good chance of making the playoffs should this happen), but even one win with a high-scoring loss could be enough.
• Amazin' Blue is falling from grace, and have the Lobos this week. They're also so far back in fantasy points that if they lose this game, they have a very good chance at missing out.
• Believe it or not, there are no matches among the 7-5 and the 6-6 crowd (T-Hawks included here for simplicity). This means that very few teams are masters of their own fate. So anybody who hasn't yet clinched should just win, win, win.
• Mathematically speaking, anyone in the top five can take the #1 Seed award, but like last week, it's almost certain to be STM or the Crushers. STM has a rare opportunity to clinch #1 in Week XIII if they beat the Blitz and Nor Cal loses to the Minions.

Depending on how this weeks' games turn out, due to the schedule, it's very possible that all eight playoff spots could be clinched going into Week XIV (it would certainly make my job easier, that's for sure). Stay tuned.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

As far as I can tell, there’s no massive scoring changes this week! Also, those Thursday games on the NFL network are really starting to annoy me. Anyhow, I’ve been busy most of the week and am coming down with a cold as I type this, so the postgame analysis will be a bit on the short side this week.

Meatball Artists (5-7) d. Rhode Island Dynamic (7-5)
67-62
As Peyton Manning falls, so do the Dynamic. Rhode Island was led by Corey Dillon hitting the end zone three times, but their middle-offense was underperforming. Whereas the Artists had two non-scorers. But they turned it up on defense, and a New England 15 kept their slim playoff chances alive.

sigmakittens (2-9) d. Koko's X-Cats (7-5)
66-54
The Sigmakittens are all of a sudden giant killers. This is the second week in a row they’re trying to be playoff spoilers. This week’s victory was brought to them by DeAngelo Williams’s 15 and a bunch of players that wouldn’t stop scoring (with the exception of Brian Griese who didn’t play, everybody on the Kittens scored at least 4 points). The X-Cats offense looked like it would keep up with a Norwood 15 and McNair 9. But three players didn’t contribute positive points and the X-Cats defense didn’t score high enough to prevent another Sigmakittens upset.

Cooney Quest (3-8-1) d. {} (6-6)
78-53
So, who had Reggie Bush this week? Why, it was Cooney. Finally, they get that big score they need to win games (even if it comes in week XIII). That solid 32 from Bush added to Vick’s 12 gave the Quest a high score for Murphy’s Hopeful to shoot for. But three things that stick out on the Hopeful’s roster were three 0s in key positions. Their defense looked awesome, combining for 36. But with Bush getting almost that on his lonesome, this was Cooney’s game all the way.

Stevies Scapegoats (3-9) d. Eat My Shorts (8-4)
74-63
Another playoff hopeful getting beat by someone already out of it. We already know EMS has LaDanian Tomlinson, and he got 21 this week. But LT isn’t a guarantee of victory, especially when you have a -7 coming from Brad Johnson (IOW, they should’ve used Trent Green. :p). Most of the Scapegoats’ scoring came from the defense (a total of 46), and Josh Brown’s even 10 put them ahead for the win.

Indiana Ironmen (6-6) d. Cromer Smash! (4-7-1)
44-42
Sebastian Janikowski missed three field goals this week. Note the closeness in score. It was bad enough that the Smash only got points from Delhomme. But their kicker clearly cost them the game. The Ironmen were underwhelming this week, but everybody scored, with eight players taking in at least 3 points. The Ironmen didn’t have their greatest week, but they’re still alive in the playoff race.

Evil Trav's Minions (8-4) d. Nor Cal Crushers (9-3)
54-50
It’s official: Jeff Garcia owns us all. The Crushers looked victorious after Sunday with both the offensive and defensive leads. But Philly hadn’t played yet. Garcia did an exemplary job filling in for McNabb on Monday Night, giving the Minions 19 points, and clinching them a playoff spot.

T-Hawks (6-5-1) d. RPI10 (4-8)
89-66
It’s big scoring versus big scoring. This match came down to who could churn out more big scores. RPI came with Eli Manning and David Thornton (who?). The T-Hawks came with Detroit’s kicker (for some odd reason, that was a good thing this week), Marion Barber (definitely a good thing) and Mike Vrabel (not a good thing if you hate the Patriots). Not only were the T-Hawk’s scores higher, but there were more of them.

FIRST Force (4-7-1) d. Boilers 1529 (4-8)
58-38
A very meaningless game in the big picture, this game came down to the defense. Both offenses were very even (albeit low scoring). But FIRST Force’s defense scored huge, netting them 36 points, 20 more than the Boilers’. For what it’s worth, this was a pretty interesting win for FIRST Force.

Amazin' Blue (7-5) d. Silver Lobos (8-4)
76-57
Amazin’ Blue was on a four-game fall from grace, so they really needed this one. Luckily, other than Harrison’s 15 and Jones-Drew’s 11, the Lobos had a below-average week for them. All but two players on the Blue had 6 or more points, including Holt and Houshmandzadeh combining for 25 fantasy points. Now both teams go into Week XIV fighting for a playoff spot.

stantheman (10-2) d. The Very Fast Blitz (6-6)
77-70
The Blitz were looking to make their position in the playoff race better; STM was looking to be only the second team ever to clinch the #1 Seed Award before Week XIV. Both teams were fighting like they wanted it too. The Blitz looked excellent with 18 from Gonzalez, 11 from Westbrook, and a defensive 26… which Chicago almost equaled on their own for STM (with 25 points). STM also had 10s from Urlacher and Gates, and were topped off with 13 from Garrard. All hail the #1 seed.

x=Clinched Playoff Birth
y=Clinched #1 Seed
z=Mathematically Eliminated

Only one more team's fate was decided this week as we welcome the Minions to the playoffs... but more on that in the playoff picture which will be up by gametime on Sunday.

Playoff Analysis: Pre-Week XIV
 

x=Clinched Playoff Birth
y=Clinched #1 Seed
z=Mathematically Eliminated

Playoff Picture: Um... so not much has changed. The eleventh through thirteenth place teams are going to have a rough time because at best, they can only hit eighth (and it's so unlikely it's not funny; more on that later). For everyone else, there's five playoff spots available. All in all, half the teams not already in the playoffs and not technically eliminated will be left at the roadside. For this first part, I haven't included fantasy points.

• STM has clinched the #1 Seed Award and the gaudy trophy that goes with it. Of course, the #1 Seed is cursed, so that may not be a good thing.
• The Crushers and Minions are in the playoffs, and are not cursed... yet.
• It's "win and in" for the Lobos, EMS, and Blue. They will also clinch in a tie, or a loss if each of the Dynamic, Ironmen and X-Cats lose.
• The T-Hawks are in the same sitch as the three teams above them, except they can't directly clinch with a tie (though in their case, it's still better than a loss).
• Dynamic, Ironmen, and X-Cats are on the border, where a win doesn't necessarilly guarantee them a spot (more on that in the second section), and if things work out, they can still lose and get in. Long story short: if one of them wins and the other two lose (or one plus the T-Hawks losing), the winner is in. Anything else is a bit more complicated.
• Blitz, Artists, and {} can only reach eighth, and the only way they're doing this is if they win and the Dynamic, Ironmen, and X-Cats all lose.
• Force, Scapegoats, Smash, RPI, Boilers, Kittens, and Cooney are all still sitting tight waiting for five more teams to join them in the eliminated bracket.

Let's add fantasy points back in!

• ... and the second we do, we can prettymuch write the Blitz, Artists, and {} out of the playoff picture. Even if they win, and even if the Dynamic, Ironmen, and X-Cats all lose, they still have to make up 200 fantasy points on the Dynamic. So barring a few shutouts and a roster full of 30-point scorers, the playoff race is really just for the current top ten.
• While I'm here, I may as well say that if the Dynamic win, they're in. They've led the league in fantasy points for the ENTIRE second half of the season, and even if the other two teams in their bracket win (Ironmen and X-Cats), they'd have to make up 84 and 108 fantasy points respectively (this also means that if both the Ironmen and X-Cats lose, the Dynamic would be in). Though woudn't it be something if the leader in fantasy points fails to make the playoffs?
• Amazin' Blue stopped their fall from grace in Week XIII, but they still need to win. If they lose this week, not only will they be ranked below the other two 8-5 teams, but also any of the T-Hawks, Dynamic, Ironmen, and X-Cats who manage to win due to their very low fantasy score. In fact, there is a decent possiblity that the Blue could finish in tenth because of this. So winning is paramount.
• Both the Ironmen and X-Cats have good enough fantasy scores that they are well in the race if they win. Right now, the Ironmen could very easily overtake the fourth place Lobos in fantasy points, and the X-Cats are only 24 points behind the Ironmen, so even them overtaking the Lobos on fantasy points is possible. In fact, other than the Dynamic and Blue (the two extremes of the point I'm trying to make here), the fantasy point battle between the fourth and tenth place teams is a mess. The Lobos are only 45 fantasy points ahead of EMS, the lowest in my example, and that can be overcome in a single week. So if all five of the Lobos, EMS, T-Hawks, Ironmen, and X-Cats end up in the same bracket, someone is going to be very disappointed.
• I just want to say "hi" to the Lobos and EMS and let them know that I'm not ignoring them. I know I haven't said much about them in the last two weeks, but that's only because there isn't much to say. They won't need help from anyone if they win anyway.
• In the Toilet Bowl, we have the Sigmakittens vs. Cooney Quest. Who will inhale audibly slightly less?
• Other matches that mean absolutely nothing include Scapegoats/Smash and STM/RPI. So feel free not to pay attention to either. :p
• And ending where we started: STM is #1 and there's nothing you can do about it. :D

So we essentially have seven teams fighting over five spots (and none of those teams face each other). We WILL have closure in next week's postgame analysis, plus a second half analysis and review/awards before the games on the 17th. See you then.

Week XIV Postgame Analysis
 

You know, when I woke up Sunday morning, I wasn’t exactly thinking “Devin Hester is going to decide my fate”… Anyhow, I was even busier this week, and I still have a bit of a cold, so I’ll keep this short.

Boilers 1529 (4-9) d. Rhode Island Dynamic (7-6)
82-47
With their high fantasy score, all Rhode Island had to do is win to make the playoffs. Instead, they bomb so badly that now, they’re only getting a share of the Top Gun award. Peyton Manning and Dante Hall both got 11s and Neil Rackers scored 10. But they literally stopped there. Drew Brees scored 30 against the Cowboys (I died a little watching that game), but what really gave the Boilers the win were the five players who scored at least 8 points. So Rhode Island was left hoping the X-Cats and Ironmen would lose.

Meatball Artists (6-7) d. Koko's X-Cats (7-6)
81-49
Hmm… this game looks almost exactly like the first one. Anyhow, with the Dynamic’s loss, the X-Cats were now in position to steal a playoff spot. And in an awful similarity to the first game, the X-Cats got 10s from both Steve McNair and Devery Henderson and Matt Stover scored 9, but that was prettymuch all the X-Cats got. The Artists’ large scores were split into twin 18s from Marc Bulger and Steven Jackson and 12 more were added by Julius Jones. So the X-Cats miss the playoffs.

Cooney Quest (4-8-1) d. sigmakittens (4-9)
64-52
Welcome to the Toilet Bowl, which surprisingly, didn’t stink. Cooney took it’s game plan to another level: dismal low scores, but plenty of high scores. E.J. Henderson, Reggie Bush, Atlanta, Keith Brooking, and Thomas Jones all cleared 10. Unfortunately for the Sigmakittens, only McGahee and Lewis did that. Their lower scores were better than Cooney’s, but their lack of higher scores plopped them back into last place.

Eat My Shorts (8-5) d. {} (6-7)
58-44
I could just say that LT (LaDanian Tomlinson, not Lawrence Taylor) gave EMS the win which secured their playoff spot, and I wouldn’t be exaggerating too much. His 24 provided a nice backbone for his four teammates who also scored at least 6. Donald Driver and J.P. Losman combined for 26 for Murphy’s Eliminated, but they didn’t have the auxiliary scores to back them up.

Stevies Scapegoats (4-9) d. Cromer Smash! (4-8-1)
52-41
You know what they say: offense wins games (the Smash’s Willie Parker and Eddie Drummond versus the Scapegoats’ Brett Favre and Edgerrin James), defense wins championships (well, okay, not exactly with this game’s participants, but you get the point). The Scapegoats outscored the Smash by 10 on defense, ending the season with their third straight win.

Indiana Ironmen (7-6) d. Nor Cal Crushers (9-4)
79-64
Game of the week. With both the Dynamic and X-Cats losing, the Ironmen would definitely be in the playoffs with a victory. Nor Cal knew this, and brought their A-game. They had Kevin Jones, Josh Scobee, London Fletcher, Jacksonville, and Dareell Jackson all hit double digits (though just to prove that the Crushers are cursing their players, they lost two more of them to the IR). The Ironmen had been thoroughly owned after Sunday and had no hope of winning with their one player playing on Monday. Rhode Island was going to take the last playoff spot, and the Ironmen were heading home. But unfortunately for the Dynamic, the Ironmen’s one player on Monday Night Football was Devin Hester. Yes, THAT Devin Hester. His miraculous 28 points pushed Indiana over Nor Cal, giving the Crushers their third straight loss, sending the Dynamic back to Newport for the postseason, and securing a playoff spot for the Indiana Ironmen. I mean, seriously, how exciting was that?

Evil Trav's Minions (9-4) d. T-Hawks (7-5-1)
74-51
With all the drama that happened above, the T-Hawks could also celebrate their arrival into the playoffs (in the #8 spot, nonetheless; they’re practically guaranteed a first round win). Which is good for them, because whatever they brought to the Minions, the Minions fired back harder. Jeff Garcia continues to own us all, and Frank Gore and Braylon Edwards each contributed their fair shares. The T-Hawk’s only good scores were Philip Rivers and Jason Hanson. But while they lose, they still hang on to their playoff spot.

RPI10 (4-9) d. stantheman (11-2)
92-52
Before this game, I probably would’ve said two, maybe three sentences about this game, and moved on. But this upset is too good not to elaborate on. RPI’s offense finally came together, with Eli Maning, Plaxico Burress, Rudi Johnson, and Dave Rayner hitting double digits, and a defensive 31 put them in the lead. STM played a decent game, But you could tell that with only Gates’s 18 standing out on the scorecard, that this game was RPI’s. Not that this game meant anything…

Amazin' Blue (8-5) d. FIRST Force (5-7-1)
90-61
Amazin’ Blue were already in the playoffs, but with my constant bashing of them in the past, I guess they felt the need to show me my erroneous ways. FIRST Force was a very good opponent too. They brought it on defense, totaling 34 on the lower portion of the scoreboard. But the Blue had that covered, combining for 40. And with the offensive powerhouse that was Holt, Houshmandzadeh and Leinart (yes, I said Leinart), Amazin’ Blue showed why they belong in the playoffs.

Silver Lobos (8-5) d. The Very Fast Blitz (6-7)
97-57
So, it looks like Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jaguars and Lobos has a good shot at Rookie of the Year. I mean, he only scored more than a third of the Lobos’ already high score (adding 34). Only one other player was in double digits (Shawne Merriman with 12), but only one of the Lobos missed scoring over 5 points. The Blitz’s best attribute this week was their defense (‘bout time) with 31, but they lacked offensive power. This time, the Lobos demonstrate why they are in the playoffs.

x=Clinched Playoff Birth
y=Clinched #1 Seed
z=Mathematically Eliminated

I unfortunately can't add the standings since I can't change from WYSIWYG to Standard upon previewing my post (I'm assuming it's a bug since I could do it last week) and reformatting everything would just take way too long (EDIT: well, an edit in Standard mode seems to do the trick, even though it's an annoyance). I'm also not doing the second half awards, because it dawned on me that they'd be mostly redundant with the end-of-the-year awards coming in less than a month. I do have time for a brief playoff picture though. Here are the teams playing for the Kamen Bowl:

stantheman (11-2) vs. T-Hawks (7-6-1)
It's #1 vs. #8. In other words, the T-Hawks are going to win. :D In all seriousness though, STM won against the T-Hawks in Week XII, and the T-Hawks have lost four out of their last five. Though for the record, the #1 Seed has never won in the first round in the FIRST Robotics Fantasy Football League...

Silver Lobos (9-5) vs. Eat My Shorts (8-5)
There's a reason the Lobos are ranked higher, and it's due to a rather considerable fantasy point margin. Thenagain, in Week I, EMS beat the Lobos by 9. But that was an eternity ago, and the Lobos have since shown repeatedly that they can win big.

Nor Cal Crushers (9-5) vs. Amazin' Blue (9-5)
In another rematch from an eternity ago, back in Week I, Nor Cal creamed the Blue. And while it looked like the Blue were going to fall right out of the playoff race, they rebounded in the last two weeks with big wins. Meanwhile, the Crushers have lost three straight (all by less than 15, mind you), and their squad is succumbing to injuries.

Evil Trav's Minions (10-4) vs. Indiana Ironmen (8-6)
First off, let me say that I am completely in the Ironmen's fanclub after what happened in Week XIV. These two teams have never faced off. That being said, the Minions have won three straight, and never really were in any trouble throughout the season. The Ironmen are in the playoffs thanks to luck, and really, what good would luck be if it just stopped after one week? I personally think that this game could go either way, and nothing against the Minions, but I REALLY want the Ironmen to go all the way. :)

Alright, I'll be back in a few days for the Round-I postgame.

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

My team is imploding. Warner got benched early in the season. Portis is on IR. Kevin Jones is on IR. Darrell Jackson is out indefinitely. Chester Taylor was hurt last week. Terrence McGee missed a game or two the last few weeks.

Re: Week XIV Postgame Analysis
 

Of course Cory had to implode again last week so I'd have to face this team this week. Gosh. I think it's a California-Indiana conspiracy. ;)

So far so good with Gore and Gramatica though, so we'll see.

Playoffs: Round I Postgame Analysis
 

Kamen Bowl Quarterfinals
stantheman (#1) d. T-Hawks (#8)
59-55
It’s #1 versus #8. And in a big upset, STM wins! :p I’ll even back my upset claim here by saying the T-Hawks should have won. Had Phillip Rivers done more than diddly (I believe his -3 actually qualifies as less than diddly, if that’s possible), the T-Hawks would have kept the tradition of #8s winning in the first round. Though to be fair, they were only kept so close because of Marion Barber’s 17 and their defensive 25. For a #1 seed, STM doesn’t have many high scoring games, but they keep winning. This week, they have Javon Walker (10), Lawrence Tynes (11) and Jermaine Phillips (12) to thank. As good of a fight as the T-Hawks put up against the #1 seed, STM proved that they were, indeed, The Man.

Kamen Bowl Quarterfinals
Silver Lobos (#4) d. Eat My Shorts (#5)
91-51
Allow me to quote myself for a moment: “There's a reason the Lobos are ranked higher, and it's due to a rather considerable fantasy point margin.” This was actually more of a mismatch than the seed numbers show. Now, I know what you’re saying: “EMS has LT!” That’s all well and good, and his 22 would’ve been a significant boon had the rest of EMS done something. Even Santana Moss and Deuce McAllister combining for 16 was helpful, but they were outmatched. The Lobos were firing with all cylinders. That 22 that Tomlinson got? Already nullified by Marvin Harrison’s 22. The 16 in receiving? Outdone by Tennessee’s 21 (gotta love it when your offense is off the field for twenty minutes because the defense is so darn good). The rest of EMS who did nothing? Meet the rest of the Lobos (Jones-Drew, Holmes, Vinatieri, and June combined for 42). The Lobos advance in the most lopsided game this week.

Kamen Bowl Quarterfinals
Amazin' Blue (#6) d. Nor Cal Crushers (#3)
53-51
I suppose momentum is more important than placing. The Blue went into this week having won their last two games. The Crushers were on a three game losing streak. And to quote Cory himself, “his team is imploding” thanks to injuries. A good deal of Nor Cal’s starters are either out, or playing hurt. On the plus side, this allowed them to play Jake Cutler, who scored a respectable 12. Their defense also played well for a total of 25 points. But injuries made it so that the Crushers were forced to play someone who didn’t, and that 0 was costly. Amizin’ Blue had the high scores this match, including Pittsburgh’s 18 in their trouncing of the Panthers. Jeff Reed was also a benefactor in that game, kicking for 13 more. Michael Turner’s 10 put the Blue to a tie (which everybody knew would be broken on Monday). If you were watching this one closely, it was a very exciting game, with Amazin’ Blue moving on.

Kamen Bowl Quarterfinals
Indiana Ironmen (#7) d. Evil Trav's Minions (#2)
70-60
Ironmen fans unite! Seriously, what else can be powering the Ironmen? Well for starters, the Pro-Bowl snubbed Tom Brady (I have to rub it in) scored 10. But where they really won the game was on defense. Baltimore and Antonio Pierce led the Ironmen’s defense to 33 (that, and 6 more points from offensive players making tackles). Compare that to 11 on the Minions’ side, and you can really see the difference. They tried to keep up with a Frank Gore 15 and a Tiki Barber 11, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Ferrum the Ironman (the Ironmen’s mascot; please tell me somebody else gets this joke) is dancing on the sidelines, because the Ironmen have pulled off another one.


So, here are the teams who lost this week; they’ll be playing in their own little consolation tournament.

T-Hawks (#8) vs. Eat My Shorts (#5)
These two teams fought in Week IX. It was the second-to-last victory in a five-game undefeated streak for the T-Hawks; they’ve now lost five out of six, and EMS is looking to take out some anger on them. EMS won four out of their last five in regulation. Despite their hiccup in Round I, they are very capable of winning this one.

Nor Cal Crushers (#3) vs. Evil Trav's Minions (#2)
Talk about quick rematches… the Minions took this game back in week XIII, but bear in mind that it was a very close game, and both teams had prettymuch clinched by then. This time, it really could go either way.


And here are the teams still fighting for the Kamen Bowl.

stantheman (#1) vs. Silver Lobos (#4)
Now this is one we haven’t seen before. STM successfully broke the #1 seed curse, but it was by a small margin – like the majority of their victories this season. The Lobos are the exact opposite, wining their Round I game by a lot. Three of their last four games have broken the 90-point mark, meaning this’ll be a tough fight for STM

Amazin' Blue (#6) vs. Indiana Ironmen (#7)
Back when Amazin’ Blue were winning seven straight, smack dab in the middle of that streak (Week V) was a convincing win against the Ironmen. The Blue have now won three straight, but the Ironmen, after first making the playoffs, then pulling off the upset in Round I, have all the momentum in the world. Also keep in mind that the aforementioned Week V game took place before Amazin’ Blue’s “fall from grace”.


And now that the unbiased portion of this is done: Go Ironmen!

Playoffs: Round II Postgame Analysis
 

It’s semi-final time. Go Ironmen!

I-am-JVN Bowl Qualification
T-Hawks (#8) d. Eat My Shorts (#5)
37-36
Ugh, the one week Tomlinson doesn’t score is the one week it would’ve made a difference. EMS was really looking for the now single season record holder of touchdowns to do his thing; sadly, all he got was yardage. And in a low scoring game, their 12 from McAllister needed some backing up. The T-Hawk’s leading score of 15 from Kansas City had backing up: Phillip Rivers defeated the Seahawks (I watched that game, a very good watch) adding another 11 points. The rest of both teams’ players didn’t add much, so that was the difference.

I-am-JVN Bowl Qualification
Evil Trav's Minions (#2) d. Nor Cal Crushers (#3)
61-31
It’s official: Nor Cal’s injuries have finally reached their peak. They’re stuck relying on Jay Cutler, and while he did have a respectable 9, that was their highest score. Their defense only combined for 14, and the rest of the offense had less than Cutler did. The Minions only real pain was at the QB spot, and we all know how Jeff Garcia did against the Cowboys last week (probably better I didn’t watch that game). The Minions only got better from there, with a Frank Gore 15 and a Ladell Betts 17. They even won the defensive battle, something I’d figure the Crushers would’ve won. This game was all Minions.

Kamen Bowl Semifinals
Silver Lobos (#4) d. stantheman (#1)
100-65
I get to quote myself again! “Three of [the Lobos’] last four games have broken the 90-point mark, meaning this’ll be a tough fight for STM.” Make that four of their last five. While STM had some remarkable scores from Furrey, Brooks, and Phillips (12, 15, & 10, respectively), the lower half of their team left something to be desired (you know, like higher scores). The Lobos were devastatingly awesome this week anyway, just barely hitting triple digits (Yahoo added half a sack on Thursday). Leading this charge was likely Rookie of the Year Maurice Jones-Drew and his 21 points. Marvin Harrison did enough despite that nasty loss at the Texans to add 18. Then you have the defensive trio of Adam Jones (12), Lofa Tatupu (11) and Shawne Merriman (also 11). STM played their usual good game, but they played it against a much superior Lobos this week

Kamen Bowl Semifinals
Indiana Ironmen (#7) d. Amazin' Blue (#6)
59-36
Ahh, Amazin’ Blue finally went back into “fall from grace” mode. You knew it had to happen sooner or later. It doesn’t help that they were facing the surging Ironmen either. The Ironmen’s victory easily came on defense, with a combined 32. It doesn’t hurt to mention Brady’s 9 and Kaeding’s 8 either. Amazin’ Blue’s one good score came from Houshmandzadeh’s (is it sad I know how to spell that?) 10. Their defense had nothing going, just like their offense. So one more victory, and the Ironmen will have done the impossible.

Which leads us to Bowl Week!

EddieMcD Bowl (sponsored by me)
Eat My Shorts (#5) vs. Nor Cal Crushers (#3)
Yes, I named the lowest bowl after myself. Deal with it. :p Anyhow, between Week V and Week XI (which incidentally was the last time Nor Cal won), the Crushers had only one loss, and guess who it was to? Yep, EMS. And this was pre-injuries. Nowadays, Nor Cal is hurt badly, and EMS is looking to score one last win. This should be a down-and-dirty matchup.

I-am-JVN Bowl (sponsored by Friends of JVN)
T-Hawks (#8) vs. Evil Trav's Minions (#2)
If this matchup seems oddly familiar, it’s because the Minions creamed the T-Hawks in the last week of the regular season. By all rights and means, it should’ve knocked the T-Hawks out of the playoffs (the Dynamic and X-Cats both losing their final three games is the only reason the T-Hawks are still playing), and I see no reason why this game would be any different.

Leverette Bowl (sponsored by the CD Caption Contest)
stantheman (#1) vs. Amazin' Blue (#6)
I think Amazin’ Blue is back to falling from grace at this point. If they do manage to pick it up for this last game, we could have a very tight matchup. But if that doesn’t happen, all STM has to do is play the way they’ve been playing all season, and this Bowl is theirs’.

Kamen Bowl Championship IV (sponsored by the KCS)
Silver Lobos (#4) vs. Indiana Ironmen (#7)
The final two. All the numbers say the Lobos have this one in the bag. Just like all the numbers had the Ironmen back in tenth, just like all the numbers had them losing to the Minions, and just like all the numbers had Amazin’ Blue going to the finals. I seriously believe that the Ironmen can win this match. Nonetheless, after Sunday night’s game, we’ll have a champion.

I’ll be back for the final postgame review next week. Until then, Go Ironmen! :D

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

You wanna know the crazy thing? I am the Ironmen...........Silver Lobos is my dads team. Is that insane or what? Father and son in the final game. Needless to say, he's not getting any help from me this week! lol

Playoffs: Round III Postgame Analysis (Bowl Week)
 

Yay, Bowl Week!

EddieMcD Bowl (sponsored by me)
Nor Cal Crushers (#3) d. Eat My Shorts (#5)
57-33
It’s about time the Crushers crushed someone (I mean, it’s bad enough they’re stuck in a bowl named after me :p). How did they do it? The casual observer would say defense, and they’d be on the right track. This is the first week in a long while that Nor Cal’s defense has been at full strength, and they showed it with a combined 32. Let’s not knock their offense though, who, other than two goose eggs, all scored at least 6 points. EMS’s problem (other than Nor Cal getting their groove back) is that they were WAY too reliant on LT this postseason, and they suffered due to it (he only had 3 this week; someone please point me in the general direction of the idiot(s) who projected him with 22 points…). Santana Moss’s 12 alone won’t do it. So in conclusion, a team that’s been around all four years of this league wins the bowl named after its commissioner. Irony FTW.

I-am-JVN Bowl (sponsored by Friends of JVN)
T-Hawks (#8) d. Evil Trav's Minions (#2)
80-67
I have to say, I didn’t see this coming. But if you look at the Minions' roster, you can see that the only player who truly had to fight for his future was Tiki Barber. He contributed 31 points, but that was the Minions’ only double digit score. Four other players scored more than 7 points, but the T-Hawks really brought it this week. I mean, 15 from Jason Hanson at Dallas (I cried a little during that game)? Asante Samuel finally became a big scorer with 10. And let’s not forget Steve Smith and Phillip Rivers, who played in prettymuch meaningless games this week, going for 17 and 10, respectively. I think this qualifies as an upset.

Leverette Bowl (sponsored by the CD Caption Contest)
stantheman (#1) d. Amazin' Blue (#6)
56-20
Amazin’ Blue fell harder than Michigan in the Rose Bowl this week (I am so dead for that…). Their best score was Jeff Reed (a kicker, mind you) and his 5. Moving along quickly, STM played as usual. Their highest score was Mike Furrey with 12 at Dallas (again, I cried a little during that game). They were backed by a defense combining for 24 and half the team clearing 5. STM actually had the third-lowest score of all teams this week, but a bowl win is a bowl win.

Kamen Bowl Championship IV (sponsored by the KCS)
Silver Lobos (#4) d. Indiana Ironmen (#7)
90-65
In the end, there can be only one. May it be the Ironmen… I learned something this week: this was a father/son matchup. I myself was rooting for the son. Sadly, Vader bested Luke this time around. The Ironmen did fight well. Leading the way was a pretty nasty defense worth 36. But the Lobos did the defense thing better. Adam Jone’s (who?) 20 and Cato June’s 10 led a defensive 40. And then, where the Ironmen were lacking on offense, the Lobos dominated. Palmer and Jones-Drew combined for 30, and Vinatieri and Harrison both had 9s. The closest Indiana could get was Kaeding’s 9 and Rattay’s 7. I cried a little watching this game unfold (wow, I did a lot of crying this week…), but the silver Lobos fought VERY hard during the post season. Five of their last six games, the Silver lobos have scored at least 90 points. And this time, their 90-point effort wins them the Kamen Bowl. Hats off to the Lobos.

My Ironmen lost :(. But congrats to the Crushers, T-Hawks, STM, and the Silver Lobos for their bowl wins, and props to the Ironmen for making it as far as they did. I’ll have awards going up in the next week or two, as well as a possible season recap, plus a brief agenda for next season (mostly so I can remember once the league is formed next season, but maybe it can spur a bit of discussion).

End-of-Season Awards
 

My January was busy, so I set aside the date I was going to post the fantasy football awards. That date was February 11th, the day of the Pro Bowl… except for some odd reason, the Pro Bowl was moved to a Saturday. Anywho, here’s the best of the best this season. We start with personnel awards.

Most Valuable QB: Peyton Manning (Rhode Island Dynamic)
Um… I really can’t give this to anybody else. Yes, I know Rhode Island just barely missed the playoffs, but three of their last four losses were by less than 5 points, and the highest QB on a playoff team had 84 fewer points (heck, the next closest QB period had 53 fewer points). Peyton Manning was the one constant for Rhode Island this season, even if their season ended on a sour note.

Best Running Game: LaDanian Tomlinson & Deuce McAllister (Eat My Shorts)
LT absolutely dominated the second half of the season, securing EMS’s position in the playoffs (now if only they won something there…). McAllister had a big year with the Saints’ surge this season, providing another source of points for EMS.

Best Receiving Game: Reggie Wayne, Wes Welker, Dante Hall, & Reggie Brown (Rhode Island Dynamic)
Again, I know Rhode Island missed the playoffs, but no receiving corps came close to these four this season. They were all in the top 20 in fantasy points, with a combined 5906 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 405 total fantasy points. Keep in mind that the Dynamic tied for the highest fantasy score this season, and 43% of that high fantasy score were these four.

Most Valuable Kicker: Nate Kaeding (Indiana Ironmen)
Ah, finally a simple one. Kaeding led all kickers in fantasy points. The Ironmen won the silver medal. It’s not a coincidence. Okay, the Ironmen had more than just a kicker, but the extra scoring is what got them to the playoffs in the first place, and that extra scoring is thanks to Kaeding.

Then we move on to awards that are about more than one player/entity.

Most Productive Offense: Silver Lobos
They didn’t dominate in any particular category, but when it came to total offense, our champs took control. Their four biggest scorers were Carson Palmer, rookie Maurice Jones-Drew, Marvin Harrison, and Adam Vinatieri, and they all hit triple digits. The rest of their offense wasn’t dazzling, but they also didn’t drop the proverbial ball.

Most Dominant Defense: Nor Cal Crushers
When you have two of the top three defensive players (Terrence McGee and London Fletcher-Baker), and two more in the top 15 (Donnie Edwards and Keith Bulluck), this award is prettymuch a gimmie. Add middle-of-the-pack Jacksonville as their DEF, and you have a dominant defense.

And now, the FIRSTified awards:

Judges’ Award; Rising from the Ashes: Indiana Ironmen
Much to Rhode Island’s dismay… Okay, it wasn’t a “long distance comeback”, but it was an exciting one nonetheless. Back in Week X, the Ironmen were in tenth. They didn’t budge until Week XIII… where they move up a whole one slot to ninth. Even with the Dynamic’s loss in Week XIV, the Ironmen looked out of it. That was before Devin Hester (for the last time, yes, THAT Devin Hester!), a returner, scored twice on Monday Night in St. Louis. It was literally how they got their upset win that week, and into the playoffs. Now this alone wouldn’t be enough for an award like this. But then they took that playoff birth, and took it all the way to the finals, where even in their loss, played an excellent game. If that’s not excitement, I don’t know what is.

Judges’ Award; Excellence in Analyses: Koko's X-Cats
Just reminding Ed that he’s appreciated. :) Every week, he provides his perspective on the matchups that are about to occur. They’re always a good read, and are useful when making my postgame reviews as well.

#1 Seed Award (hereby renamed to The Man Award): stantheman
If you watched STM play all season long, they were actually quite dull. There were no fantastic wins, nor fantastic losses. But they were easily the most consistent team this season. They kept winning and wining, and they even managed to clinch this award before Week XIV. That’s why the judges (i.e., me) have seen fit to rename this award in their honor.

Top Gun Award (hereby renamed to The Commissioner’s Award for Fantasy Points): Nor Cal Crushers
Their wins were big and their losses were small. At least until they got to the playoffs, but the playoffs are meaningless when it comes to this award. We can tell that by the fact that my team (Rhode Island Dynamic) tied with Nor Cal for the number one spot in fantasy points, yet failed to even make it to the playoffs. And let’s face it, something as bad as tying for the lead in fantasy points and still failing to make the playoffs could only happen to me. That’s the reason for the rename. Irony FTW.

Featherweight in the Finals: Amazin' Blue
We’re going old-school here with an award not seen since 2000. This award goes to the team with the fewest fantasy points to make the playoffs. Why is this important? Because that means the team was more concerned with wining than making it look good. I may have ragged on the Blue quite a bit this season, but that doesn’t take away the fact that they won enough to secure the number 6 seed.

EddieMcD Bowl Winner: Nor Cal Crushers
I have to admit, I was a tad disappointed that the Crushers lost their first two postseason games after their domination in the regular season (see above), but I’m really glad they at least won their bowl game. You all saw how Nor Cal played all season long, and this award, while probably not the game they would’ve wanted to win, is the culmination of their efforts.

I-am-JVN Bowl Winner: T-Hawks
Props to the T-Hawks: they held on to the last playoff spot against the fierce competition of the X-Cats and Dynamic. They also pulled off an incredible upset against the Minions to win this bowl game.

Leverette Bowl Winner: stantheman
STM’s one playoff loss came to the eventual champion, so it wasn’t that bad. As the number one seed (and officially “the man”), they won twice in the postseason, including a total routing in this bowl game.

Kamen Bowl IV Runner-Up: Indiana Ironmen
I already spoke about the awesomeness that was the Ironmen up top. They shouldn’t have made the playoffs, but they turned that around, making it all the way to second place, and gaining themselves a few fan(atic)s along the way.

Kamen Bowl IV Champion: Silver Lobos
In five of their last six games, postseason included, the Silver Lobos cleared the 90-point mark. Nobody came close to that type of run at any time this year. And half of it was in the playoffs, when it mattered the most. It’s no surprise these Lobos are the alpha wolves this season, and they’ll be taking home a (hypothetical) shiny trophy to show for it.

Well, I finally got an end-of-season awards done. I have to admit that it’s a bit lacking, but hopefully by next season, it’ll be all fleshed out. I welcome any and all suggestions for improvement. Speaking of next season, there’s a couple things I’m going to be experimenting with in other fantasy leagues. The main two things are the possibility of a live draft, and using commissioner approval for all trades. I’ll bring these issues up over the summer when registration opens up.

I had a great year with you guys, and I hope to see you all back next season. :)

Re: 2007 FIRST Fantasy Football
 

I thought you had forgotten! Lol.........great analysis and everything, thanks for all the work you put into it! See ya next year!