The only football I watched this weekend was the second half of the Colts/Broncos game. I think I made a good choice.
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.
Code:
Rank Team W-L-T Pct. Pts. Streak F.Rank Change
1. stantheman 7-1-0 .875 459.00 W-2 8 +2
2. Amazin' Blue 7-1-0 .875 451.00 W-7 9 +2
3. Evil Trav's Minions 6-2-0 .750 548.00 L-1 2 -2
4. Nor Cal Crushers 6-2-0 .750 525.00 L-1 3 -2
5. T-Hawks 5-2-1 .688 489.00 T-1 4 ±0
6. Rhode Island Dynamic 5-3-0 .625 569.00 W-2 1 ±0
7. Indiana Ironmen 5-3-0 .625 487.00 W-1 5 +1
8. Silver Lobos 5-3-0 .625 477.00 W-2 6 -1
9. Eat My Shorts 5-3-0 .625 433.00 W-4 11 ±0
10. Koko's X-Cats 4-4-0 .500 472.00 W-1 7 +1
11. Meatball Artists 4-4-0 .500 391.00 W-1 14 +2
12. FIRST Force 3-4-1 .438 444.00 L-2 10 -2
13. Boilers 1529 3-5-0 .375 400.00 L-2 13 -1
14. Cooney Quest 2-5-1 .313 419.00 T-1 12 +1
15. Cromer Smash! 2-5-1 .313 387.00 L-2 17 -1
16. RPI10 2-6-0 .250 389.00 L-6 15 +1
17. Stevies Scapegoats 2-6-0 .250 388.00 L-5 16 -1
18. {} 2-6-0 .250 367.00 W-1 18 +2
19. The Very Fast Blitz 2-6-0 .250 353.00 L-1 20 -1
20. sigmakittens 1-7-0 .125 360.00 L-1 19 -1
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.