Let the Holiday
Season begin....Yes...its already Turkey Day week...From the healthy, Norton virus protected notebook of your commish. Tuesday November 22nd, 2005 9:04 PM Rambling after week 11... The time is flying....hard to believe that we are already 75% done with the fantasy season. But, believe it or not, here we are. Week 12 brings the final week of divisional play - and also the Thursday Turkey Day games. Then we'll have a couple non-divisional weeks to finish up the regular season before the top 4 move on to chase the BIG prize for the year. Who will those 4 be? Well, we know that Smith will make his second career playoff appearance - and will hope to get his first post-season W. On the other side of the spectrum, we know that Juice and Mike will not make the playoffs and that Jonny C and Jason are all but mathematically eliminated. That leaves your other current division leaders Wong and Jugs along with Suomala, Rich, Jonny, Ben and myself in the hunt. If you want to consider that Juice and Mike are fighting for (or to not win) the golden toilet, that means that everyone is still playing for something. Let's hit some short points from this past football weekend.... How about those Vikings? As much as I haven't really given 'a rat's patootey' about them this year -- you gotta love going 2-0 against the Cheese in a season. It is great to have bragging rights over Ryan Johnson for the next year (for those of you who know him and are Vikes fans -- feel free to give him a hard time about the Pack). Steve Smith -- apparently he is making up for last year's lost stats. Does that mean I can go back and add those points to my 2004 fantasy points? And, since Eric Johnson had such a great year last year -- and I know at least one of you is trying to remember who Eric Johnson is - he must have been getting all his points for this year ahead of time.....before his foot went bad. I never have really been a huge fan of guys like TO or Chad Johnson -- but you gotta love the way Chad Johnson gets the job done. I watched the Colts/Bengals on Sunday -- no question that Chad showed me something there....I'm a fan now, at least of his on the field stuff. And that includes his 'proposal' celebration. Does anyone out there think the Bears can actually win a playoff game with Kyle Orton playing quarterback? (This is the type of rhetorical question to which I almost expect an answer from Wong). How bad is the Rams defense? Kurt Warner can still get the job done.....but won't be able to hang on long enough to see the Cardinals make the playoffs. Seattle is really good -- and how does a guy like Shaun Alexander do what he does and look nothing like a RB? Oh yea....he runs behind a great offensive line. Why does Michael Bennett even see the field on game day? Mewelde is by far a better back. Rueben Droughns may be the most underrated starting RB in the league this season. Peyton Manning is good.....very very very good.....much better than Eli.....way way way better. So on to the BIGFFBL. There were some huge games this past week. In the Bison....who would have guessed that Jugs would get a total of 8 out of his backfield and still easily win with 127 over JC. That win coupled with Suomala's slim win over Mike sets up a huge week 12 matchup between Your Fantasy Superior and The Flying Hellfish. A win for Jugs gives him the divisional championship while a 'Fish win would put the two teams even up with two weeks to play. In the Bulldog....Smith's week 11 win clinched the division title outright with three weeks to go. He has a great chance to match his franchise best record of 11-3. As for the other three -- there just isn't much to say, other than that the wildcard will not be coming out of here and that Jason still has a chance to get to his standard 7-7 record. The Husky Division is where the log jam is this year. Wong holds a 2 game lead over Rich, Jonny and Ben -- but Wong plays Rich this week and a win by GOO would certainly close up that gap. I haven't done the in depth analysis, but I'm pretty sure Wong will clinch the division title with a win this week -- and for sure at least a playoff spot. Rico is also leading the league in scoring this season with 1183 (160 in week 11) - only 31 points more than Nookie who is the lowest scoring team in the division. Quite parity thus far - especially if you consider that Wong only beat Ben by a single point this week. Had that matchup gone the other way, this division would really be interesting. And not to leave Jonny out of the discussion.....quite a year he has put together considering he's gotten about nothing out of his keeper (Daunte) this year. So, let's talk about "IF THE PLAYOFFS WERE TODAY" - Bulldogs: Smitty's Fat British Pigeons (8-3) How about I close it out with a TOP 10 list.... Top 10 Reasons Your Fantasy Team is in Last Place (**For the love of God
please know that this is fun and that I am not picking on any single team in the
league**) 9....Someone offered you McSuck and a 5th for Rothlisberger and a 2nd and instead of clicking the "what the hell are you thinking" button, you accidentally clicked "accept". 8....You posted on the message board at least 18 times per week, but couldn't remember to change your starters before you went hunting all weekend. 7....You drafted more than two Lions on your team. 6....You actually thought it was the National Football League on strike rather than the NHL. 5....You drafted more than two Dolphins on your team. 4....You actually thought this was the year Aaron Brooks wouldn't such hind tit. 3....You actually thought Joey Harrington was a steal in the mid-rounds. 2....You hit www.fantasygirls.com a few more times than www.fantasyfootball.com. 1....You couldn't focus on anything that happened on Sundays other than Jillian Barbarie. Need I say more? BIGFFBL senior writer Jeremy Carlson sounds off whenever he feels like it on www.bigffbl.com |