Rhode Island Voltaic (9-3) d. Your Ad Here (8-4)
70-43
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was YAH making the playoffs; it was YAH getting their butts kicked. Injuries made their only worthwhile scores a 16 from Ward and a 12 from Adrian Wilson. Rhode Island was playing a full squad, including Tampa’s 15, Dante Hall’s 13, Peyton Manning’s (ugh, I actually have to differentiate between the brothers these days) 12, and an overall good offense and defense. But interestingly enough, Rhode Island didn’t really gain anything from this (other than a cool looking five game win streak); YAH still hit the jackpot.
Akshar Did It (5-6-1) d. Koko's X-Cats (5-5-2)
67-43
“…Ben Roethlisberger looks to exploit the shaky Bengals' defense who could fall victim to Big Ben's play action game if the Steelers have success in the running game.” We’ll start off by handing a psychic point to Ed. Roethlisberger had 12 for the X-Cats thanks to play-actions, despite losing.
“Speaking of the running game, the X-Cats' fortunes lay on if McGahee, Lamont Jordan, and especially Michael Pittman put up worthy numbers.” And there’s the problem: they combined for 5. ADI was running Houshmandzadeh and Tab Perry on the other side, combining for 25. Their defense added a total of 23, and everybody contributed something. We have the first .500 team to lose this week.
Nor Cal Crushers (10-2) d. Coco's Monkeys (4-8)
57-56
Lack of a QB killed the Monkeys. Lack of the standard Crusher offense (with the exception of Steve Smith’s 9) and losing Westbrook killed Nor Cal. So what made this game so exciting? Surprisingly, defense. The Monkeys had a respectable 34, but the Crushers kept even with 30. What would finally put the Monkeys in the hole is the fact that Nor Cal had a QB playing. A very close game, but yet another victory for Nor Cal.
The Tacoites (7-5) d. Jc's Evil Empire (6-6)
39-28
“Brady vs. Bledsoe.” Brady by 8.
“Jones vs. Jackson.” Jones by 4. Both those go to the Tacoites.
“So what's the matchup that could settle this one? How about the Colts D vs. the Titans offense. They could put the Tacoites over the top.” Indianapolis took the only decent score of the game with 15, putting the Tacoites over the top, scoring Ed another psychic point, reserving a playoff spot in the Tacoites’ name, and giving a second .500 team a loss this week.
Stevies Scapegoats (4-7-1) d. Feisty Klowns (7-5)
54-50
Palmer’s 15. James’s 12. It looked great for the Klowns until they just stopped playing. The Goats took over from there. They started with Brad Johnson’s 12, got a boost from Galloway’s 9, and ended with Antonio Pierce’s 16. But despite the Scapegoats crawling back from the lower tier these past weeks, they still get eliminated from the playoffs.
sigmakittens (4-8) d. QC Elite (2-10)
69-48
The Kittens had Seattle on Monday. That was prettymuch the game. It got them 32 points. Add some offensive support, and the Elite just couldn’t top it, even with the Giants’ 18 and Bennett’s 15.
hurricanes (5-6-1) d. Pelan's Bobcats (3-9)
Who would’ve thought one team could benefit so much from a Buffalo/Miami game? The Cane’s had Losman, Evans, and Chambers for a combined 47. The Bobcat’s main men (Alexander and Gates) combined for 22, and even Green contributed 9. But neither team had much else, making this a low margin, “do the math” scenario.
IwillCrushYou (5-6-1) d. Dunedain (5-7)
69-50
Both teams needed this win to stay alive in the playoff race. Dunedain really tried, but beyond a 10 from Brees, there wasn’t anything in the double digits. They’d need those those scores too, because IWCY came loaded with a Larry Johnson 19, a Clinton Portis 18, and a Kaeding 10. IWCY puts themselves closer to a playoff spot while knocking out Dunedain in the process.
FIRSTforce (9-3) d. Cooney Quest (6-6)
75-31
A grand total of -5 for the Green Bay dependency on Cooney spelled this one out early. Their greatest achievement was a combined 30 on defense. Actually, it was their only achievement. FIRSTforce didn’t really need Boller’s 9, Mike Anderson and Rudi Johnson’s twin 16s, and Carolina’s 9 (note that they would’ve won with just their RBs). But it looked really pretty, making this the third loss in the .500 bracket.
Team THRUST (7-5) d. west coast style (6-6)
42-35
Quite an ugly game for two playoff contenders. WCS’s problem was a 0 from the QB spot, and two more from the receiver slots. Their kicker had their best score with 10. Team THRUST at least had everybody score (albeit with a -2 from their QB). But what clinched the win as well as a playoff birth for them was 9 each from Jason Elam and Ricky Williams. This would also make the fourth loss this week for a .500 team.
Code:
Rank Team W-L-T Pct. Pts. Streak Change
1.x Nor Cal Crushers 11-2-0 .846 909 W-3 ±0
2.x FIRSTforce 10-3-0 .769 793 W-1 ±0
3.x Rhode Island Voltaic 10-3-0 .769 764 W-5 ±0
4.x Team THRUST 8-5-0 .615 756 W-2 +1
5.x The Tacoites 8-5-0 .615 648 W-3 +2
6.x Your Ad Here 8-5-0 .615 635 L-1 -2
7. Feisty Klowns 7-6-0 .538 752 L-2 -1
8. IwillCrushYou 6-6-1 .500 662 W-3 +4
9. Akshar Did It 6-6-1 .500 584 W-1 +4
10. hurricanes 6-6-1 .500 570 W-4 +4
11. Koko's X-Cats 5-6-2 .462 696 L-3 -2
12. west coast style 6-7-0 .462 691 L-2 -4
13. Jc's Evil Empire 6-7-0 .462 620 L-1 -3
14. Cooney Quest 6-7-0 .462 550 L-3 -3
15.z Stevies Scapegoats 5-7-1 .423 643 W-2 +1
16.z sigmakittens 5-8-0 .385 672 W-1 +1
17.z Dunedain 5-8-0 .385 671 L-2 -2
18.z Coco's Monkeys 4-9-0 .308 516 L-5 ±0
19.z Pelan's Bobcats 3-10-0 .231 661 L-1 ±0
20.z QC Elite 2-11-0 .154 532 L-4 ±0
x=Clinched Playoff Birth
z=Mathematically Eliminated
You see those +4s in the Change column? It was all the 5-6-1 teams winning while all the 6-6 teams lost. Can't say I saw that coming. Playoff picture will be up by tomorrow morning.