Good thing I didn't promise that this postgame analysis would be early...
Rhode Island Drive (3-3) d. Stevies Scapegoats (2-4)
108-55
Who's to blame for the Scapegoats losing (get it? scapegoats, blame... oh, never mind)? Not Larry Johnson and the Detroit DEF; they scored 13 and 10, respectively. No, it was the rest of the team that was to blame.
Way too many scores on the lower end of single-digit territory. Though even if the rest of the team did step up, they faced the Rhode Island Drive's second triple-digit score in as many weeks. Now, I'm going to mark out for the Drive for a moment here (and I swear it's not because I'm biased): RHODE ISLAND HAD 7 PLAYERS IN DOUBLE DIGITS!!! Among that crowd are the Washington DEF, McGahee, Brees (quarterback by committee FTW!) Barber III, & Akers. Special mention goes to DeMeco Ryans's 25 and London Fletcher's 20. For those of us paying attention, that's a combined 62 on defense, and that's barely half their total! Yowza.
Koko's X-Cats (1-5) d. Nor Cal Crushers (2-4)
91-60
Hey, Pennington was actually useful! And by useful, I mean his 21 points were the main reason the X-Cats have a winning streak going. Wes Welker hitting the end-zone twice helped, as did the pair of 10s put up by Marshawn Lynch and Jason Taylor. On the flip side though, is the Crushers' losing streak. They just haven't been able to catch a break. This week, they had respectable performances from Josh Brown and Jericho Cotchery, but Westbrook and Williams were quiet, and the Nor Cal defense was held to under 20 fantasy points. So, as previously mentioned, the X-Cats now have a winning streak. w00t!
Isotopes (2-4) d. What Am I Doing Here (4-2)
57-53
What am I doing here? Well I'm not saying great things about WAIDH's running game this week, that's for sure. It was Portis and Robbie Gould doing the heavy lifting this week for WAIDH, but it seemed like nobody else on the offense wanted to do even light lifting. The defense did some light lifting, but that was all it was: light. Alright, it was slightly heavier than the Isotopes' defense, but the 'Topes at least backed up Anquan Boldin and Reggie Bush with Santonio Holmes and Donovan McNabb. With things like 0s in their QB slot, it's no wonder WAIDH got edged out.
Silver Lobos (5-1) d. Indiana Ironmen (4-2)
95-62
This matchup seems oddly familiar... Anyhow, surprisingly, the Roethlisberger/Peyton Manning battle went Roethisberger's way. But while the Ironmen won that battle, the Lobos decidedly took the war. The afforementioned Manning held his own with 14, and he was complemented by Burleson's 16, Tennessee's 11, & Kevin Jones's 10. This is all extra to the fact that nine of the Lobos' ten players scored 7 or more, and even at the minimum, the Ironmen have already lost by 1. This is because Roethlisberger's 16 wasn't
that great, there are no other scores in double digits, and half the single-digit scorers for the Ironmen were on the low end. This result seems oddly familiar too...
The Stud Man Clan (2-4) d. Youngstown Hitmen (2-4)
72-63
It's a real good-news, bad-news situation for the Stud Man Clan. First the good news: Cutler, of all people, tallied 14, Randy Moss was his usual self, scoring 19, Dallas tacked on 12, and the rest of the Clan defense wasn't slacking. Then the bad news: Neil Rackers actually subtracted points from their total, and the Clan lost Ronnie Brown to the IR. I suppose we can do the same analysis for the Hitmen: the good news is that TO, Leon Washington, & Roddy White (who?) combined for 35. The bad news was, well, just about everything else, including a -1 from Jason Campbell in the QB spot. The Clan got the better of the good news, but will their bad news kill their future?
Team Jack (5-1) d. The XaulZans (5-1)
95-59
Holy palindromic scores, Batman! Long story short, Team Jack had Tom Brady squishing the fish and taking in 32 fantasy points. That's halfway to the win right there. The other half was provided by the Giants' DEF 18, Maurice Jones-Drew's 16, & LenDale White's 13. The rest was just gravy. The totaled XaulZans were stuck relying on Mike Nugent's 11 and Jared Allen's 12. Not exactly fear-inspiring, is it?
FIRST Force (3-3) d. Dunedain (2-4)
77-71
A Seattle 23: that's what keeps Dunedain from being completely blown out. Because despite only a six-point difference in the final score, this game wasn't even close. I'm not really knocking Dunedain; if it means anything, FIRST Force's win was quite ugly in and of itself. Their usual scorers, Palmer, Parker, & Houshmandzadeh (talk about a law firm that uses too much ink on its letterhead) were kept in the upper single-digits. It fell upon Laveranues Coles's 19 to be the cornerstone of their victory. The defense pitched in as well, with Keith Bulluck and Terrence McGee combining for 23. Dunedain really only had Seattle's 23. Brandon Jacobs tried to help with 12 of his own, but Addai, Hasselbeck, & Galloway were relatively quiet this week. FIRST Force claims victory, even if it was a bit on the ugly side.
Code:
Rank Team W-L-T Pct. Pts. Streak F.Rank Change
1. Silver Lobos 6-1-0 .857 578 W-5 1 ±0
2. Team Jack 6-1-0 .857 491 W-6 5 +1
3. The XaulZans 5-2-0 .714 473 L-1 7 -1
4. Rhode Island Drive 4-3-0 .571 551 W-2 2 +3
5. FIRST Force 4-3-0 .571 527 W-1 3 +1
6. Indiana Ironmen 4-3-0 .571 494 L-1 4 -2
7. What Am I Doing Here 4-3-0 .571 484 L-2 6 -2
8. The Stud Man Clan 3-4-0 .429 395 W-1 12 +4
9. Isotopes 3-4-0 .429 374 W-1 14 +4
10. Dunedain 2-5-0 .286 462 L-2 8 -2
11. Koko's X-Cats 2-5-0 .286 439 W-2 9 +3
12. Youngstown Hitmen 2-5-0 .286 433 L-2 10 -3
13. Nor Cal Crushers 2-5-0 .286 415 L-4 11 -3
14. Stevies Scapegoats 2-5-0 .286 393 L-1 13 -3
Koko's X-Cats are on a winning streak! Yay, Koko!
Anyhow, the first-half analysis and awards will be up, um, Soon™ (that is, sometime before noon on Sunday). See you then!