Yep….this is the one….that post you have been waiting for….the big Playoff Scenario Breakdown post….well as many of them as I could tolerate before my brain started to hurt….oh yeah….and we give away some Player of the Week awards….And some other awards to teams that flipped the standings all to hell this week….What a Monday Night….
Going into Monday Night this looked to be Tom Brady’s 3rd trophy on the year as his team had a comfortable lead and he sat at 32 points….But Drew Brees 40 points ties TDQBITU’s Week 1 performance as the 2nd highest in the league this year and the 8th highest of all time….24 of 38 for 363 yards and 4 touchdown tosses was good enough for a 129.6 Quarterback Rating….The former Boilermaker then added on 1 rushing score as insurance on his way to claim his 3rd Team of the Week award….This is the 7th for the surging Money Men….but they are not done yet….
As Husslers tries desperately to claw their way into the top spot in the Bandit Division, they are using every resource available….Cedric Benson had ridden the pine for the last 2 Weeks but when called upon by his coaching staff he delivered in a big way….Averaging over 5 yards a carry he cracked the 100 yard mark for the first time since Week 4 when he was still on the Warriors roster…Add a trip to the end-zone and 4 receptions for 24 yards against the Whales defense and it was just enough to keep Arian Foster from claiming his 3rd award on the year….This is the club’s 5th trophy on the year and their 2nd at the Running Back position….
Again….going into Monday Night this trophy was packed up and ready to ship to Runs N Throses headquarters as Wes Welker hauled in 8 catches for 115 yards and 2 scores against the Hurricanes defense….But it was stripped away by Victor Cruz as he manage 9 catches for 157 yards and 2 scores of his own including a 72 yard scamper in the 4th Quarter as Money Inc tries to stay alive in the Playoff Hunt….This is the 8th Player of the Week trophy on the year for the club and they join X-Factor as the only teams to hit for the cycle collecting 1 award at every position….
The Warriors did not have many highlights this week but Mike Nugent did go perfect on Field Goals from 23, 26, and 40 yards and tacked on 2 Extra Points to land this Player of the Week trophy for his club….their 5th overall and 2nd from the Kicker position….Unfortunately the 11 points generated equalled or bested 6 of the other starting 7 positions on the squad as they fall to their Sibling Rivals….
Playground Legends needs to get both sides of the team on the same page if they want to stay in the race for the Storm Division title….Their Baltimore Ravens defensive unit performed amazingly again harassing the Grandmasters quarterback all day sacking him 9 times and getting 1 interception….but the offensive side of the ball could not get anything going and they were edged out by a UO Grandmasters squad that looks to play spoiler one more time this week against the Thrashers….This is the 4th Player of the Week trophy on the year for this squad and the 6th for the Legends clubhouse….
Team of the Week
The tsunami of scoring on Monday Night gave us 3 contenders for this award in Week 12….Money Inc scored 76 points from 2 positions trying to repeat their award splitting performance from Week 11 ending at 130….but the 2 highest scores would come from the 2 teams deadlocked in a tie atop the Buccaneer Division….both Hurricanes and Runs N Throses kept swinging with everything they had till the final whistle was blown….Ultimately the outcome of the race can be traced back to a single play on Monday Night:
1-10-NO18 (4:33) E.Manning pass deep middle intended for J.Ballard INTERCEPTED by W.Herring at NO 0.
Ballard pulls in that pass and the outcome flips the other way, but instead Runs N Throses 132 points becomes the 2nd most ever scored in a loss and the combined 266 points scored ties for the 8th highest of all time….Hurricanes 134 points wins their 3rd Team of the Week trophy in 4 Weeks and claims their 3rd Buccaneer Division Title in 4 Years….It is the 12th time a team has managed to reach the 10 Win plateau tying their own club record from 2008….They also are now the fastest team to reach 2500 points scored in Division Games taking 23 games to reach the milestone….RNT has now reached 1446 points on the season….tied for 7th highest ever….and is 101 away from the record currently held by Armed N Dangerous….
Chump of the Week
Fudgie Whales may have become the 13th team to reach 10 losses this week….but the Warriors will fall in line at #14 if they don’t turn this mess around in Week 13….The loss to the Other Riley squad ties them for the longest losing streak on the year with 7….tied for 6th longest ever in 1 season….They join the Whales and Grandmasters as the only teams to claim this award in back-2-back weeks managing only 58 points scored with 61 potential points on the bench included highly touted trade recipients Roy Helu (28) and Beanie Wells (27) who almost outscored all the starters on their own….
It took 12 Weeks….but we finally have a Division Winner locked in….Hurricanes with their sweep of Runs N Throses is guaranteed the Buccaneer Divison title and the #1 Playoff Seed….Throsers cannot be caught by any other Wildcard contenders and is locked into the #4 Seed position guaranteeing them a home game against the ultimate #5 Seed….
In the Bandit Division….Bubba Army is doing their best impersonation of the Boston Red Sox….Up by 4 games over the competition after Week 9 with 4 to play….they have managed to lose 3 straight when 1 victory would seal the deal….They still control their own fate and are in with a win over Fudgie Whales this week….or they can back-door their way in if Husslers loses to Money Inc who has been the hottest team in the Division over the last 3 Weeks….but an an Army loss with a Husslers win will give the title to Husslers based on Division Record….
In the Storm Division….Armed N Dangerous wins their 45th Storm Division game (their 15th victory over Bay Area Thrashers) to take over 1st Place in that race….They also shake up the Playoff Picture by kicking Bubba Army down to the #3 Seed position by benefit of better Division Record….They have to get a win this week over Playground Legends to lock up the title….a loss opens the door for Thrashers to jump back into the top spot if they can finish off the UO Grandmasters who played spoiler this week scoring the most points in the Division….both teams losing would create a 3-way tie with AND, Thrashers, and Legends….Legends would claim the title by benefit of a .750 head-2-head record among the tied teams:
PLA 3-1 .750 (Swept BAT, Split with AND) AND 2-2 .500 (Split with PLA, Split with BAT) BAT 1-3 .250 (Split with AND, Swept by PLA)
If the Playoffs Started Today:
#1 HUR 10-2 (Locked In)
#2 AND 7-5 (By DIV Record over BBA)
#3 BBA 7-5
#4 RNT 9-3 (Locked In)
#5 BAT 7-5
#6 XFA 6-6 (Head-2-Head over PLA, Total Pts over HUS)
On the Bubble
HUS 6-6 (By Head-2-Head over PLA)
PLA 6-6
MNY 5-7
UO Grandmasters may be out of playoff contention but they still played the spoiler role this week taking down Playground Legends and keeping the Wildcard Door open to a 6 win team….The loss moves the Legends back into a 3-Way tie at 6 wins with X-Factor and Husslers over which they have 0 wins….those 2 clubs did not face each other this year, have the same 3-2 Division Record, and settle the tie for the last Wildcard position on Total Points….
Scenarios
Yes Money Inc….the 2nd highest scoring team over the last 4 weeks….is still in the Wildcard Chase at 5-7….If they defeat Husslers they will move into 2nd Place in the Bandit Division….If Hurricanes beat X-Factor and Armed N Dangerous beat Playground Legends….it will force a new 3-way tie at 6 wins….there will be no clear head-2-head winner and the Money Men will get in based on Division Record:
MNY 6-7 .500 (Beat XFA, Lost to PLA) 4-2 Division Record XFA 6-7 .500 (Beat PLA, Lost to MNY) 3-3 Division Record PLA 6-7 .500 (Beat MNY, Lost to XFA) 3-3 Division Record
A win by any of the 3 teams currently at 6 will eliminate them from contention….
Lucky #7
With 2 Divisions still able to claimed by a 7 win team….it creates a plethora of scenarios….only one 7 win team can enter a tie-break situation from the same division (The first tiebreak would be the Division Standings)….
In the Buccaneer Division….only X-Factor can end on 7 Wins….
In the Bandit Division….Bubba Army can win to gain the title and Husslers can win ending on 7 Wins in Wildcard Contention….Or Husslers will win the Division and Army will have 7 Wins as a Wilcard Contender….
In the Storm Division….If Armed N Dangerous beats Playground Legends they win the title….Thrashers can still lock up the #5 Seed with a win going to 8….If Thrashers lose they are still a contender at 7 wins….
If Armed N Dangerous lose to Playground Legends….Thrashers can take the title with a win….this would leave Armed N Dangerous and Playground Legends tied at 7 wins….Legends would win the tiebreak based on sweeping AND and compete for the Wildcard….
If Armed N Dangerous lose to Playground Legends….And Thrashers lose to Grandmasters….the result is the 3-way tie example above with Playground Legends winning the title and Armed N Dangerous would win the tiebreak over Thrashers based on better Division Record to compete for the Wildcard….
If X-Factor goes to 7 wins they are guaranteed a Wildcard Slot and another 7 win team will head to the Empire Cup.
Here is every possible scenario:
BAT 7-6 1.00 (Beat HUS and XFA) XFA 7-6 .000 (Lost to BAT, Did not play HUS) 4-2 Division Record 1384 Points HUS 7-6 .000 (Lost to BAT, Did not Play XFA) 4-2 Division Record 1143 Points
BAT takes the #5 Seed based on best H2H record among tied teams….
XFA would have a 145 point tie break buffer over HUS for the #6 Seed….
XFA 7-6 .500 (Beat BBA, Lost to BAT) 3-3 Division Record BBA 7-6 .500 (Beat BAT, Lost to XFA) 3-3 Division Record BAT 7-6 .500 (Beat XFA, Lost to BBA) 2-4 Division Record
Div Record would eliminate BAT….XFA would take #5 Seed with H2H tiebreak over BBA….
BBA would take #6 Seed with H2H record over BAT….
XFA 7-6 1.00 (Beat AND, Did not play HUS) 4-2 Division Record 1384 Points HUS 7-6 1.00 (Beat AND, Did not play HUS) 4-2 Division Record 1143 Points AND 7-6 .000 (Lost to XFA, Lost to HUS)
H2H record would eliminate AND….XFA would have a 145 point tie break buffer over HUS for #5 Seed….
HUS would take #6 Seed by H2H record over AND….
XFA 7-6 1.00 (Beat AND and BBA) AND 7-6 .000 (LOst to XFA, Did not play BBA) 4-2 Division Record BBA 7-6 .000 (Lost to XFA, Did not play AND) 3-3 Division Record
XFA would take #5 Seed based on best H2H record among tied teams….
AND would take #6 Seed based on Divisional Record….
XFA 7-6 1.00 (Beat PLA, Did not play HUS) 4-2 Division Record 1384 Points HUS 7-6 1.00 (Beat PLA, Did not play HUS) 4-2 Division Record 1143 Points PLA 7-6 .000 (Lost to XFA, Lost to HUS)
H2H record would eliminate PLA….XFA would have a 145 point tie break buffer over HUS for #5 Seed….
HUS would take #6 Seed by H2H record over PLA….
XFA 7-6 1.00 (Beat AND and BBA) PLA 7-6 .500 (Beat BBA, Lost to XFA) BBA 7-6 .000 (Lost to XFA and PLA)
XFA would take #5 Seed based on best H2H record among tied teams….
PLA would take #6 Seed based on H2H win over BBA….
The majority of the other possible 2 team tiebreakers if X-Factor loses are already described above….my head hurts….
If you want any other scenario explained….punch yourself in the face….then post a message and I’ll figure it out for you…
Commish