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