Yes…I am a day late again…but there was a good reason…I…um…I mean…Yeah…alright I was slacking this time…We get the irony of Brits cheering for a team that represents their defeat…TDQBITU® returns…Another Buccaneer makes our honor roll?…WTF?…A pair of TE’s duel for the trophy…Bubba Army knows Kickers…2 familiar playoff foes battle for Defensive Honors…Elvis has left the building…So has Paul McCartney?…or maybe Ringo?…Chump Survivor…and our 1st look at the 2012 TBFL Playoffs…all in this week’s report…

Tom Brady (BAT)

Fly him 3,283 miles (or 5,283.48 kilometers) from home to the land where Football means Soccer…and he is still The Dreamiest Quarterback in the Universe®…Showing no signs of jet lag…he left the Bubba Army defense at 6’s and 7’s…managing to go 25 of 35 (71.4%) for 304 yards (277.98 meters)…12 1st Downs…and 4 Scores (and 7 years ag-…wait wrong war)…Good enough for a QB Rating of 135.9 (urm…for metric we double it and add 30 right?…like 301.8 metric QB Rating)…It is the 2nd time TDQBITU® has reached the 30 point threshold and he is the 2nd Quarterback to claim a 2nd Quarterback of the Week trophy in 2 Weeks…the 3rd award earned for Bay Area Thrashers…

Doug Martin (HUR)

Apparently the best course for a Running Back to be successful in the TBFL is for Runs N Throses to waste your talents and then trade you to another team…Averaging only 11 points per game and totaling 1 score in the 6 game stint with Shawn…Martin has already matched the point total (55) and found the end zone 3 times in 2 games with the Hurricanes…He was a workhorse in Week 8 getting 29 carries for a league leading 135 yards (4.65 yards per carry) and a Touchdown…he kept the chains moving with his season best 7 1st Downs…then managed to pull in 3 of his 6 targets to finish as the top receiving back as well with another 79 yards from scrimmage (26.3 yards per catch) and a 2nd trip to pay dirt…35 points this week is the highest by any Running Back in 2012…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Martin and the 2nd trophy in the case for Hurricanes…

Rob Gronkowski (RNT)

We have 2 players tied this week at the top of the receiving heap…In early action across the pond…Gronk put up the best game of his career…pulling in 8 of his 13 targets for 146 yards (133.50 meters)…He pulled in 2 of TDQBITU®’s 4 scores with all 6 of his other catches going for 1st Downs…and totaled out at 34 points…the 2nd most ever scored by a Tight End in the Receiver slot (35…Crumpler…2006 Week 7)…In the afternoon games…Jason Witten took a different approach…he set a Cowboys franchise record pulling in 18 catches from the 22 targets that were force fed his way…for a Week 8 leading 167 yards in the air…tying the 34 point mark…Witten had the better catch % (81.8 v 61.5)…but Gronk had almost 2 times as many yards per catch (18.3 v 9.2)…and the most important 2 to 0 Touchdown advantage…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Gronkowski and the 3rd trophy for Runs N Throses…

Lawrence Tynes (BBA)

Apparently if the Bubba Army coaching staff has learned anything this year…it is how to maximize the Kicker position…they managed to give Tynes 7 opportunities in Week 8…and he went perfect nailing 5 Field Goals (Now leads the league with 24) and 2 Extra Points to total out at 17 points…tied with 3 other Kickers who have finished 1 point short of the TBFL record (18)…He breaks the Franchise Record set by team mate Jason Hanson in Week 3 (16) when he won the 1st of his 2 Kicker trophies on the year…As a Kicker by Committee unit…they lead the entire TBFL with 91 points scored…and have the only 2-digit scoring average over 8 games…a full 4 points per game better than the 7.75 league average…and 2 Field Goals per game better than the worst starting committee…it is the 1st Kicker of the Week trophy for Tynes…the 3rd Kicker award for Bubba Army…and their 7th overall award on the season…

New York Giants (BAT)

2 Defenses that met in the 2011 Playoffs battled back and forth for this award in Week 8…The Giants and 49ers both managed to put their opposing Quarterbacks in the dirt 4 times…The 49ers got a huge boost from the 12 point bonus by holding the Cardinals to only 1 Field Goal…but the Giants matched the total with 6 takeaways from the Cowboys (4 Interceptions and 2 Fumble Recoveries)…The 49ers managed 1 Interception of their own to cap out at 18 points…but one of the Giants picks went the distance giving them a 4 point cushion at 22…It is the 1st Defense of the Week award for the G-Men…and the 4th trophy won by Bay Area Thrashers…

Team of the Week

Both teams competing for the award this week were in the same game…Hurricanes fired the 1st shot with 35 from Player of the Week Martin on Thursday…but Playground Legends battled back with impressive numbers from Matt Ryan…Julio Jones…and the Packers Defense…Hurricanes countered with the 2nd highest rushing yards on the day from Stevan Ridley (127)…but Miles Austin actually gave the Legends the lead 99-95 going into Sunday Night…26 from Demaryius Thomas gave Hurricanes a cushion for Monday when it would be Michael Crabtree vs the 49ers Defense for the title…Crabtree played his best game of the year getting 5 catches for 72 yards and 2 scores…giving Danny’s squad 4 players over the 20 point threshold to Hurricanes 2…but the 49ers Defense held the Cardinals off and sealed the 1st Team of the Week victory for the Hurricanes on the year…the 9th award in their Franchise History…Playground Legends earned themselves the first Elvis Score of the year and tied for the 12th Most Points Scored in a Loss…maybe they are still on track for a 10 LOSS season?…

Chump of the Week

Just like our Team of the Week battle…the 2 teams vying for this prize were also in the same game featuring 2 former Team of the Week winners…X-Factor got the fast start here picking up 31 points from his Vikings players on Thursday…Husslers suffered through sub-par performances from Steven Jackson and Philip Rivers…but still fought back to a 58-50 lead after Sunday Morning contests…In the Afternoon games it was X-Factor who suffered as Bradshaw and the KC Defense could only muster 8 more points combined…but Victor Cruz stalled too giving Husslers only a 69-58 advantage as he capped out on players…this left the door open for X-Factor to escape going Back-2-Back in the Chump spot with a nice performance from Eric Decker…It is the 2nd Chump Award for Husslers on the year…X-Factor takes the first…Beatles Score?…(What else is the opposite of Elvis?)…we have had since Week 10 of the 2010 season (AND beat WAR 88-73)…

Chump Survivor

And then there were 5…This week’s Chump of the Week being a 2nd timer for Husslers means we lose a team that was not the actual Chump for the 1st time this season…After claiming the top spot last week…Armed N Dangerous is the low man on the totem pole in Week 8…going out with the highest elimination score so far at 87 points…Average scoring in the league fell to its lowest point of the year at 98.8 but Money Inc. and Warriors fell a touchdown short of that metric…Thrashers remains the Sole Storm Division Survivor…

Notes & Numbers

UO Grandmasters win over Runs N Throses is their 90th Regular Season TBFL Victory…they are 1 short of becoming the 4th team to reach the 100 overall win plateau…Warriors extends their record for Total Losses to 104…

Bubba Army may have come up short in points needed to win their Week 8 battle with Thrashers…but they do find enough to become the 1st team to cross the 19,000 point threshold…now sitting at 19,058…

Extending their franchise longest losing streak to 7 games…Runs N Throses is now tied for the 9th longest negative trend of all time…and tied for the 6th longest in 1 Season…

Money Inc. continues to ride their franchise best ever win streak to 6 games…They take over sole possession of the Bandits Division lead for the 1st time in almost 7 years…going back to their 2005 Division Title…

Playoffs

Can you believe it?…It is already time for our 1st 2012 TBFL Playoff Picture!…

If the Playoffs started today it would actually be a pretty clear cut:

#1 Seed - XFA (7-1) - Div Champion
#2 Seed - MNY (6-2) - Div Champion
#3 Seed - AND (5-3) - Div Champion (by Div Record over BAT)
#4 Seed - BAT (5-3) - Wildcard (by H2H Win over BBA)
#5 Seed - BBA (5-3) - Wildcard
#6 Seed - UOG (4-4) - Wildcard (by H2H Win over HUR)

On the Outside Looking In:

HUR (4-4)
PLA (3-5)
FUD (3-5) (by H2H loss to PLA)
WAR (3-5) (by H2H losses to both PLA and FUD)
HUS (2-6)
RNT (1-7)

With 4-4 currently the bottom rung of the ladder…no team has been eliminated from Playoff contention yet…but now 6 games back with 5 to play…Runs N Throses is out of the running to win the Buccaneers Division title…4 out with 5 to play puts Warriors and Husslers on must win status to have a chance at their Division Titles…Top of the Division Standings matchups in Week 9 with Armed N Dangerous v. Bay Area Thrashers and Money Inc. v. Bubba Army will either make tight races even closer…or give the current leaders a tie-breaker cushion going into the Gauntlet Weeks…

Strength of Schedule Remaining

X-Factor is assuredly a lock for the playoffs already sitting on 7 wins and the 2nd easiest schedule going forward…Money Inc. has a decided advantage if they get past Bubba Army this week getting to face 3 other teams with a combined 37.5% win rate…Armed N Dangerous will have the toughest challenge holding their lock on the Storm Division facing a 60% win rate in the final 5 games…Hurricanes remains the only team to have scored 100+ every week…and while missing the cut right now by only a tie break…they have the easiest schedule the rest of the way with 4 of their next 5 against teams that have averaged under 100…