Boo, Bus! Yay, everything else on my team!
Rhode Island Voltaic (4-1) d. Pelan's Bobcats (1-4)
78-60
This would be the second week in a row Rhode Island would come against a very tough team from the basement. At least this time, their high score wasn’t from Jerome Bettis (hilariously, he scored 0 this time). Their high score was Santana Moss’s 20. Alone, that’d be nigh worthless. But hello, offensive and defensive support. Manning and Dunn both added 11, and the defensive tally was 31. The Bobcats tried to fight back, including a fear-inducing 31 from Shaun Alexander. But beyond Trent Green scoring 12, there really wasn’t enough support to beat the Voltaic (who pulled a 180 from last week and actually had players scoring
).
Stevies Scapegoats (1-4) vs.
Koko's X-Cats (2-3)
draw
53-53
This is one that came down to Monday night and- wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Sunday for the X-Cats consisted of a LaMont Jordan 15, a McGahee 14, and a Pittman 12. The Scapegoats had Atlanta’s 14 and Galloway’s 10. This is one that came down to Monday Night and with the X-Cats up by 12, it should have been over. They even got another point from Freeney. But the Scapegoats had an awesome performance from Cato June adding 13 to their side. We got ourselves a tie, folks!
Nor Cal Crushers (4-1) d. QC Elite (1-4)
85-65
This is the second week in a row the last-place Elite would bring it against a top team. This week, they looked to crush the appropriately named Crushers. And it looked pretty good for them. The Giants DEF led with 16, and was followed up by Chris Brown’s 14, Tatum Bell’s 12, and Aaron Brooks with 11. Unfortunately, as I keep implying week after week, there’s a reason their opponent is called the Crushers. And Nor Cal started their trademark crushing with Tomlinson throwing, catching, and running for a TD in the same game to score 24 fantasy points. He also had some great support from Plummer, Smith, and McGee (they all put up 12), and was capped off by Chicago’s 14. The Elite lost this one, but at least they looked good doing it.
The Tacoites (2-3) d. west coast style (2-3)
53-51
Ignore what the final score says, this game wasn’t a close one at all. Despite having two players off, The Tacoites led out with their receiver trio combining for 33. Brady would add 8. The “not close” part came from the fact that WCS’s defense was their only real threat, scoring almost half of their points (28). Three donuts existed on that side of the scorecard, which was essentially the killer.
Dunedain (2-3) d. hurricanes (1-4)
54-46
And this one was much closer than the final score says. The Canes looked pretty good with their defensive 28 and Lindell’s 11 But they had two players who never got to touch the ball. Dunedain capitalized on this by keeping up on defense with 23. You’ll notice that Dunedain has no single spectacular score this week. But the fact is, everybody scored (and most added at least 5). Dunedain is now at .500 (yeah… I’m going to go buy some meteor insurance right now
).
FIRSTforce (5-0) d. sigmakittens (2-3)
78-63
You can’t tell by their record, but the Sigmakittens have a squad of pro-bowlers for their offense. Their problem is that they tend to hit or miss depending on the situation. Or like this week, only half of them could hit. Holmes topped their charts with 17, and Horn came through with 14. Their kicker added 11. The rest of the offense combined for 8 though, leaving a hole for FIRSTforce to squeeze through. Their defense only made that hole wider, combining for 39. Donté Stallworth and Rudi Johnson both put up 10s. What also worked for the Force was that except for a -1, everybody on their team scored at least 6, leaving them the sole undefeated team.
Feisty Klowns (2-3) d. Team THRUST (4-1)
60-39
It’s the game where defense meant absolutely nothing! And unfortunately for the Thrust, neither did their offense. Prettymuch their sole score was Rod Smith and his 12. Moving along to the other side of the scoreboard, the Klowns offense actually mattered. Edgerrin James put up a wicked 25, Carson Palmer continued to be strong with 12, and Matt Stover actually had a chance to kick, scoring 10. I think we can all do the math here.
Jc's Evil Empire (2-3) d. Cooney Quest (3-2)
43-31
Behold the Green Bay dependency! The Quest became practically reliant on the Packers this week. But Green Bay wasn’t playing, so they just stuck in some second-stringers. I think we know where this one is headed. The Empire’s high scores were dual 9s by Steven Jackson and Kevin Curtis. But here’s the kicker (no pun intended): the Empire had players that actually played. It wasn’t a pretty win, but it was a win nonetheless.
Akshar Did It (3-2) vs.
IwillCrushYou (2-3)
draw
40-40
We got ourselves a tie… again. Neither team had their greatest week. For IWCY, it was lack of a kicker (OT, Brien is proof that even the best of kickers can get cut). For ADI, it was their injuries. Also, the New England DEF gave them -2. High points for IWCY: Davis (9) and San Diego (8). High points for ADI: Brunell (11) and Deltha O’Neal (8). No matter how you slice it, you still get a draw.
Coco's Monkeys (2-3) d. Your Ad Here (5-0)
39-20
“It's very unusual for an undefeated team to be so negligent of their own roster.” I have to quote this, simply for the fact that there really wasn’t much YAH could do this week. McNair was playing injured, Hines Ward and Randy Moss were hurt too much to even play, and any replacements YAH could put in were on byes. The Monkeys played a defensive game this week (IOW, their offense was el crapo), with a combined 35 in that department. Sure, it made up prettymuch their entire score. But it’s not like they needed much.
Code:
Rank Team W-L-T Pct Pts Streak Change
1. FIRSTforce 6-0-0 1.000 349 W-6 +1
2. Nor Cal Crushers 5-1-0 .833 461 W-5 +1
3. Rhode Island Voltaic 5-1-0 .833 376 W-1 +2
4. Your Ad Here 5-1-0 .833 304 L-1 -3
5. Team THRUST 4-2-0 .667 350 L-1 -1
6. Akshar Did It 3-2-1 .583 249 T-1 +1
7. Dunedain 3-3-0 .500 332 W-3 +3
8. Feisty Klowns 3-3-0 .500 317 W-1 +3
9. The Tacoites 3-3-0 .500 296 W-2 +4
10. Jc's Evil Empire 3-3-0 .500 290 W-2 +2
11. Cooney Quest 3-3-0 .500 262 L-1 -5
12. Coco's Monkeys 3-3-0 .500 233 W-1 +4
13. Koko's X-Cats 2-3-1 .417 342 T-1 -5
14. IwillCrushYou 2-3-1 .417 272 T-1 +1
15. west coast style 2-4-0 .333 339 L-1 -6
16. sigmakittens 2-4-0 .333 299 L-2 -2
17. Stevies Scapegoats 1-4-1 .250 309 T-1 ±0
18. Pelan's Bobcats 1-5-0 .167 287 L-3 ±0
19. hurricanes 1-5-0 .167 255 L-3 ±0
20. QC Elite 1-5-0 .167 235 L-1 ±0
Wow, my last postgame analysis as a teenager... so I added a new feature to the standings as an early birthday gift! You'll notice after Streak is a new column called Change. Simply put, it tells how many spots you gained or lost compared to the previous week (now if only I had thought of it earlier; we could've seen The Tacoites stuck in that 11 spot for three weeks
). Oh, and the scoreboard actually fixed itself. The standings aren't quite as messy as last week. You'll also notice a new first place team, the last of the undefeateds (and apparently I can claim that plural form as an Eddieism
). Will it last, or will the high fantasy points of Nor Cal and Rhode Island take over the place?
Tune in early next week for the postgame anaylsis, and later in the week comes the annual "first half of the regular season" awards! w00t!